Tacherus
11mo ago
Ah! Japanese has an official proficiency exam called the Japanese Language Proficiency Test or JLPT. There are five levels, N5-N1. N1 is the hardest.
Tacherus
11mo ago
I’m officially registered for JLPT N4. I was nervous about getting because I decided last minute to try the N5 last year but it was sold out. It’s December 1 so I’m trying to buckle down on learning the rest of the grammar and clocking time listening to native speakers.
Having a blast with the piano, started some ear training for hearing intervals. My practice regimen right now is working on finishing a song, I’m transcribing a song I like so I can play along, and doing some technique and scales practice.
The running training is hard but I wanted to get faster so it’s to be expected. Was a little worried I wouldn’t be able to match the pace requirements for each workout but so far so good!
Tacherus
11mo ago
Is the value really necessarily diluted by handing out more? I would think the value isn’t exclusively about exclusivity, it’s about who’s in the group.
Tacherus
11mo ago
It depends on the heating system I think. Heat pumps rival gas furnaces in overall efficiency because they move the heat rather than create it.
Tacherus
11mo ago
Nice. I need to explore controllers more, all my stuff is keyboard/mouse. What are you using to make it?
Tacherus
11mo ago
90+% of “news” articles I see are of this form. Someone somewhere said something and now I’m gonna ramble about it a bit and cross-link a bunch of other ramblings.
No wonder ChatGPT seems like it will displace these jobs.
Tacherus
11mo ago
I noticed the triangle button in the screen shot -- are you developing it for some variant of playstation?
Tacherus
11mo ago
Oh nice, I’ll take a look at those.
We’re making our way through Genki but each session is usually 30-40 minutes of conversation with occasional grammar discussion, then 20 minutes working on a textbook section.
Tacherus
11mo ago
I thought the money technically did already run out. Didn’t the federal government borrow all of it decades ago?
Tacherus
11mo ago
It’s been 84 8 years.
In fairness, Obama is the only president we’ve ever had born after the 40s. Gerontocracy is probably too general but there is a dynamic of Clinton, W, Biden, and even Trump all belonging to the same era.
It wasn’t gerontocracy 30 years ago but now it can feel that way. It’s probably more accurate to say the same generation has kept a hold on power. Scanning through a table of presidential birth years it’s not obvious to me how uncommon it is. It’s definitely frustrating though.
Tacherus
11mo ago
I know what you mean. The last time I was there it was mind blowing to see various kanji I’d learned in a vacuum in use. Helped so much with meaning.
I haven’t taken any practice exams yet, I am just doing what my tutor tells me. I am practicing reading more with examples from Genki which is nice. We still have some grammar to get through I think from Genki 2.
Tacherus
11mo ago
I’m not sure it would be feasible if I hadn’t put in time when I was a kid. Being able to jump in and play something simple but enjoyable immediately skips a lot of potential pain.
The available training apps are pretty cool though and I’m finding them helpful. Very different than when I was a kid.
Tacherus
11mo ago
For sure. My point is that whichever way you the implementation might be easier if you make it very general first. You could totally make a thing where the user drags and drops Lego blocks to build a specific subset of spells, but under the hood it’s this general purpose scripting engine.
It’s very easy to develop it using only certain actions, then want to add a new action and it takes a significant amount of refactoring.
Imho it’s easier to make the user experience less flexible than more flexible. Just my two cents though! It sounds like a cool project.
Tacherus
11mo ago
N4! I’ve been going kanji for several years and started taking conversational lessons last year working through Genki. Are you studying on your own or in a class?
Tacherus
11mo ago
I wonder if it would be more straightforward to implement completely scriptable spells. If that’s sorted out then you can always scope down what’s possible and slap UI to generate certain types of scripts.
Tacherus
11mo ago
Did you post about your gaming table before? I’ve looked around a bit for pre-made ones but the prices are insane.
Tacherus
11mo ago
Yeah it seems ripe for some iterating on the formula especially since the studio doesn’t seem known for follow-ups.
I’ve had some tibia troubles but fortunately am near unpaved trails which help with the impact.
Tacherus
11mo ago
My three big projects at the moment are picking up piano after 20 years of not playing, studying for the JLPT in December, and training to run a 10k in November.
They’re all going well so far! I’ve been surprised how quickly piano has come back. I can already run 10k but have a target time so will be working on getting my speed up the next few months.
I have been playing a lot of Unicorn Overlord lately and am also kicking around an idea for a prototype that might improve on it in a few key ways. Happy to share details if anyone is curious.
Tacherus
11mo ago
“They don’t mean it that way they mean it some other way” seems like just another rationalization to me.
Whether it’s something about “historical context” or “power dynamics” or “punching up” seems there’s always a reason X thing that was bad is now ok, actually, once it’s useful.
The same cohort that opposes “fat shaming” will mock Chris Christie. The same cohort that opposes “kink shaming” will mock even a fake story about a horny teenager and a couch. One minute we’re holding hands praising diversity and other life experiences the next we’re mocking the illiterate southern red necks.
It’s too many epicycles for me to follow—isn’t “they don’t mean what they say and will say anything to score a point” much simpler?
Tacherus
11mo ago
I’ve also noticed “gross” and even from the time when I would have considered myself on board with a lot of this stuff didn’t understand it.
What’s also striking to me is for years I recall neuroscientists telling us that conservatives are motivated by disgust but liberals are more open minded and don’t have that feeling as strongly. I guess that was all bullshit.
Tacherus
11mo ago
To me this seems like the next step in a longer trend. In my news bubble by far the most common headline commentary is about how “bizarre” what Trump or whoever said.
A quick google news search for “bizarre”:
“Pete Buttigieg blasts JD Vance’s ‘strange worldview’ and bizarre GOP agenda”
“WATCH: House Dem makes bizarre claim while dodging question on VP Harris' 'border czar' record”
Maybe the weird thing is slightly different but it seems part of the same trend of “who can even understand those guys. It’s just bizarre.”
I think it’s the inevitable result of not being able to handle the idea of disagreement. If you don’t have political views, you’re just right, then it’s not disagreement, it’s a bizarre rant.
Tacherus
11mo ago
For sure. I still can’t believe she didn’t resign more or less immediately. What did she think was gonna happen where it could work out?
In the interests of discussion I’ll say I think A7 is not cancel culture. I’m not even sure A8 is.
Is it cancel culture to post that I simply think an inoffensive podcast, say, has declined in quality and I don’t think it’s worth people’s time?
I think the line is crossed at A9 where I start imposing sanctions on people who disagree. Forcing people to pick a side is how you get people who don’t actually care that much to join a mob.
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