Yep. That works well unless you’re cooking at altitude, then an overnight soak is the best and easiest way. Unless you own a pressure cooker.

Some beans you can get away with not soaking at all, just cook them low and slow for a couple hours. I’ve done that with great northern beans.

Yeah. The voice stays young if you take care of it and are healthy. You can be 60 and sound like 30.

It’s not exactly the same for me, but it’s pretty close. Sometimes it’s a little more faded. Just depends on what it is. Sound, on the other hand, I can picture that loud and clear.

He said, “Sag mal, wie lange wollt ihr bei dem Scheiß bleiben?” He said the problem was that Trump was rambling (this part of the speech was unscripted). Article is in German. Here’s a partial translation by DeepL, tweaked by me:

His interjection should not be interpreted as a political statement. “No, that would be completely wrong. The political content is not the problem,“ says Deja, adding: ”I interpret all the time for people whose political statements I don’t agree with. The problem with Trump was that he suddenly started associating freely or saying the same thing three times in a row. The difficulty when interpreting is following these confusing leaps of thought.” He explains: “If a speaker has organized thoughts, then as soon as the sentence has started, you can roughly guess what will come next. You can keep surfing that wave. But that’s impossible with Trump.”

I believe it, because simultaneous interpreting is really hard, intense work. You have to listen, remember it word for word, understand it, and give an accurate, natural sounding translation pretty much instantly. You have to try to convey the tone, understand cultural differences, and figure out how to say things that just don’t translate well. It’s so much work that interpreters often work in teams so they can relieve each other every 30 minutes or so.

This is the aria. It’s from an opera called Cosi Fan Tutte.

You can think of “le” as a way of showing that it’s a syllabic L. Meaning that you say a dark L, and there isn’t really a vowel before it. The L takes up the whole syllable. It can sound like there’s a schwa in there (usually just a blip of one), but that’s just part of how you say the dark L. It comes from having the back part of your tongue press down and back.

This happens at the end of a word when the L is in an unstressed syllable. The spelling can vary a little. For example:

• people
• simple
• model
• oval

There isn’t really a reason why the spelling is different. That’s just how it happened to develop.

The pronunciation can vary a little too. If you hold the L longer, or emphasize the syllable more, it can sound more like a proper vowel is in there. But your tongue stays a tiny bit lower than it does for the schwa sounds.

People began to rejoice in their ability to speak freely. Furious debates over the country’s future ensued. In cafes, over cups of coffee and cigarettes, furious arguments were taking place about the direction the rebel-led government would take, voices raised as people tested the new limits of their freedoms.

Still, it was not easy to shake off the idea that the regime was watching. During an interview with a public-sector employee who preferred to remain anonymous, the employee paused as they were asked about their opinion about the new government. They excused themselves and went to the next room, where they threw up.

Returning to the interview with red-rimmed eyes, the employee apologised.

“You ask me if I’m afraid? Of course, I am afraid. I am 53 years old. And in 53 years, this is the first time that I am speaking freely,” they said.

Do you know what kind of things might get turned down and what would count as a good reason? And if your claim gets turned down, do you have any options other than “go bankrupt or suffer” like us in the U.S.?

I’d take hunting for the right form any day over being told to hork down ibuprofen for what I know is a serious problem, and hope the insurance company might eventually deign to approve an MRI. There’s a reason a lot of Americans are out of shape, and it’s not just because of desk jobs and junk food.

Here you go. Courtesy of Courthouse News.

Good posture also helps you breathe better, which can help you feel more energized and concentrate better. Your diaphragm doesn’t work right when you sit hunched over, so your breath gets more shallow.

If you ever need to talk a lot for work or some other reason, good posture is essential so your voice sounds good and doesn’t get tired too easily.

And it helps strengthen your core, which is good for balance and other things.

You get told it’s just pneumonia, but it keeps coming back for years.

Eventually someone figures it out and says you have mesothelioma. You travel the country for a few years, looking for treatment wherever you can. It costs everything you have.

Somewhere along the way, you have to put down $120,000 in cash for a surgery that gives you a few more years. But your last years are still mostly pain and exhaustion.

I wish my uncle hadn’t died the way he did.

Here’s a link to the original song. The part the meme comes from starts around 0:45. It was a hit in 2004.

Oh hey, I love your owl posts. I always read the comments too because I know there will be more pictures and info. I’ve been meaning to comment there, but work got super busy and I forgot to stop by.

You can add salt, sugar, or lemon juice to the yolks to keep them from getting so gelatinous. Link 1 has a good overview and here’s link 2 for good measure.

It’s actually kind of complicated. I did some digging and it looks like the problem is that he wanted a new judge in his case challenging the election results in Georgia. But he made a legal move that prevented that from happening.

This is the case he’s talking about (warning: legal language). Trump originally asked for emergency relief, which means the case could be decided in days or weeks instead of months or years. Then he withdrew that request for some reason. So the original judge said no emergency relief for you. You don’t get it unless you ask for it and the judge decides it’s appropriate.

Well, Trump didn’t like that, so he did two things. He filed an appeal (of an order that you’re not allowed to appeal). That basically puts a stop to your case until the appeal is over. That’s just how it works and even brand new lawyers know this.

At the same time, he asked for his case to be assigned to a new judge. The court couldn’t say yes or no to that request because of the appeal. Thus the complaint that they wouldn’t assign a judge.

He dismissed the appeal a few weeks later and got a new judge.

I checked just now and it’s normal for me. I don’t know if the instance matters, but I’m on mastodon.social.

Yeah. In case anyone was wondering, the down payment on a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor near your heart is $100,000. Cash, or no surgery for you. The tumor is growing fast, so you only have a few days to come up with the money.

That’s all because the insurance company said the surgery wasn’t necessary. Or maybe it was too experimental. I forget. Some family members with high paying jobs managed to come up with the money, and my uncle got to live a few more years. I’m sure not everyone is that lucky. And why on God’s green earth should it have to come down to luck?

Insurance changed their mind after a long appeal. I think it took 1-2 years.

Now, more than a decade after Sylvia’s death, their efforts have landed the Wildensteins before France’s highest court. The evidence she and Dumont Beghi brought forth has persuaded prosecutors that the Wildensteins are a criminal enterprise, responsible for operating, as a prosecutor for the state once put it, “the longest and the most sophisticated tax fraud” in modern French history.

A trial this September will determine if the family and their associates owe a gargantuan tax bill. The last time prosecutors went after the Wildensteins, several years ago, they sought €866 million — €616 million in back taxes and a €250 million fine, as well as jail time for Guy. The consequences could do more than topple the family’s art empire. The case has provided an unusual view of how the ultrawealthy use the art market to evade taxes, and sometimes worse. Agents raiding Wildenstein vaults have turned up artworks long reported as missing, which fueled speculation that the family may have owned Nazi-looted or otherwise stolen art, and spurred a number of other lawsuits against the family in recent years. Financial distortions have saved the family hundreds of millions of dollars, prosecutors allege, but their treatment of Sylvia could cost them far more — and perhaps lead to the unraveling of their dynasty.

What a story. It’s a long read, but fascinating.

I browse by all and new a lot. It’s a good way to find interesting posts that get buried by the memes, but you also find a lot of NSFW stuff.

FWIW, “handy” in the sense of “handjob” isn’t that common (U.S., over 25). I mostly hear it and use it in the sense of “useful, good to have or know.” That’s pretty handy, that could come in handy.

Plus, I can’t imagine I would ever interpret Handy as a handjob if you pronounced it the German way (Hendy). I would just go “huh” because that doesn’t register as a word in English. I’ve been told that the vowels in the German Handy and the English handy sound really similar to native German speakers. But as a native English speaker, they’re worlds apart.

Not trying to change your mind or anything. Just thought I’d give you a different perspective.