Unsubscribed from 99% Invisible after about 8 years. It's not just the Robert Moses stuff, which was too long, but not too awful by itself. It's just that everything there became tired.
Also, the ads became too awful. I can skip them, but juat knowing that they are there makes me cringe.
I pay for a few podcasts, and I'd pay for this one to be how it was in 2019 or at least 2021. AFAIK, it's not an option.
Unsubscribed from Vox's Today Explained podcast after about 6 years. I enjoyed it as one of my main news sources, but then they called someone who writes for Electronic Intifada "a journalist". It is legitimate to agree with that website; it is not legitimate to call it "journalism".
Annual reminder that the holiday celebrated more or less today is commonly called "Lunar New Year" in the U.S. and in some other English-speaking countries, but actually it's the New Year in the culture of China and some other East Asian countries. English Wikipedia correctly says that are lots of Lunar New Years in different seasons—Jewish, Muslim, Indian, Native American, etc.
I am indifferent to pretty much all holidays, but I wish happiness to all who celebrate.
@evan That's certainly one example (relevant, but one sided). The comparison of Benny Gantz to Joe Manchin is another (if anyone really insists on comparing Gantz to an American politician, maybe I'd suggest Mr. Biden, but even that is *far* from perfect). Talking a lot about Israel-U.S. connections (which are true) and not mentioning Palestine-Russia connections (which really shouldn't be ignored). And so much more, not just in this in this interview, but in everything he writes.
For people reading English mainstream media about Palestine and Israel issues... I'd like to say that a lot of it is actually OK! I'm mostly for mainstream media, and you should be, too.
But then there's Thomas Friedman, who is, like, the heart of the mainstream and who is taken seriously by lots of people for reasons I can't comprehend. Some of the things he says are sensible and some are mind-blowing malarkey. If you don't live in the Middle East, telling the two apart is probably too hard.
@sslaia that, and even more. Russian school students learn about six: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional. In advanced linguistics, even more than six are identified, but there's no consensus on how to call them (vocative, partitive, etc.)
(Explanation, just in case you need it: Latin is an Indo-European language, and so is Russian, which already makes them related. So is English, but Russian preserves ancient Indo-European features, such as noun cases, much more than English does, and in that regard, it's even more similar to Latin. So it's not remote at all.)
I actually love Poland A LOT, but you know, people sometimes say that Jews should "leave Palestine and go back to Poland", and events like this are just *one* of the reasons why Jews are not enthusiastic about this.
American schools: Pay so much attention to allergies that there is a (Canadian) brand called "School Safe", which makes snacks without nuts and milk (albeit with a lot of sugar).
Also American schools: Encourage children to play (American) football, in which, according to the New York Times, the only way to avoid severe brain injuries is not to play.
Someone called me on the Be My Eyes app again. Not to ask for help with reading a label, turning on an appliance, or checking the color of a piece of clothing. He said he just felt alone and wanted to talk to someone. It was his first time trying the app, and he said he's very surprised someone would just do it as a volunteer.
He's from Belarus. I told him I am very curious about his country (I really am!) and wished him a happy new year. I think it made him happy.
So I heard this on a podcast, as a conversation between two Americans: — "How did you learn Russian?" — "I went to the University of Vermont, and I needed to choose a language, and I learned Latin in highschool, and it wasn't for me and I wanted to choose a language not even remotely similar to Latin, so I kind of randomly chose Russian."
So I'm filling A form and it begins With the instruction "Do NOT use this form if: You are NOT an individual" And it must be the Best piece of found poetry I've Ever seen.
I already wrote it here, but I just can't stop being surprised about finding more and more Israelis who posted super-radical leftist stuff before October 7, and began posting super-Zionist stuff after it.
It was immediately clear that this event is very different from all the previous escalations that happened every year or two. I immediately expected a more brutal military response. But not such a big change of these folks' opinions.
I created an account on Instagram and then on Threads. I occasionally post on Instagram. I don't post anything on Threads. It does kind of look a lot like Twitter, but almost without anyone I know. It has some celebrities and journalists, but I haven't seen any linguists or Wikimedians yet, which is okay, because I find more and more of them here on Mastodon.
Threads, like Twitter, does have a lot of strangers posting opinions about Israel, though.