owyn_merrilin's recent activity
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Comment on Why handwriting matters in ~humanities.languages
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Comment on Why handwriting matters in ~humanities.languages
owyn_merrilin Link ParentThe writing utensil also makes a difference. Cursive makes a lot more sense if you're using a fountain or dip pen. It plays into how they make marks on paper and pushes against how ballpoint pens...The writing utensil also makes a difference. Cursive makes a lot more sense if you're using a fountain or dip pen. It plays into how they make marks on paper and pushes against how ballpoint pens in particular -- which need a lot more pressure to make a mark -- do it.
There's also different kinds of cursive. Italic cursive is basically just joined up print. For some reason the US got hung up on hard to read, hard to write, calligraphic styles (primarily the Palmer method mentioned in the article), while Europe was more likely to teach Italic. If you write enough with a fountain pen and you're used to printing you'll eventually develop an italic cursive style on your own. It's that natural for the writing implement.
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Comment on ‘Star Wars’ “looks terrible” in screening of long lost original 1977 version in ~movies
owyn_merrilin Link ParentYes, it is. That's the highest quality master copy. The copy containing the actual film elements that were in the actual cameras on set.Yes, it is. That's the highest quality master copy. The copy containing the actual film elements that were in the actual cameras on set.
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Comment on ‘Star Wars’ “looks terrible” in screening of long lost original 1977 version in ~movies
owyn_merrilin LinkWeird article. The things the first guy listed are all unchanged in all versions, and the main thing the second guy listed is from the blu-ray set and was likely added for the 3D conversion that...Weird article. The things the first guy listed are all unchanged in all versions, and the main thing the second guy listed is from the blu-ray set and was likely added for the 3D conversion that Disney axed when they bought the rights. It's "only" been like that for the last 15-ish years of this almost 50 year old movie, and only that long if you switched to the blu-ray as soon as it was released.
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Comment on What to snack on (other than slices of parmesan) in ~food
owyn_merrilin (edited )Link ParentIf I were you I'd definitely ask my doctor to check my iodine levels the next time I went in for bloodwork just to be safe. Here in the US it's something that's actually hard to get covered by...If I were you I'd definitely ask my doctor to check my iodine levels the next time I went in for bloodwork just to be safe. Here in the US it's something that's actually hard to get covered by insurance, but in Germany I'd expect it to be less of a problem. It really is a growing problem, and in developed countries in particular. It's a recent and gradual enough change that most doctors aren't paying attention yet, which means people are falling through the cracks. We're eating less bread and dairy and using less fine table salt than we used to, and those are the main foods that are fortified with iodine. On top of that, industrial farming is depleting the soils, so vegetables have less nutrients in general than they used to, including iodine.
You pretty much have to be eating seaweed or blood sausage on a regular basis to be getting enough iodine without having fortified salt, flour, or dairy added on top these days. And since you have known thyroid problems and you're using non-iodized salt, there's a good chance that's at least part of your problem.
Edit: Actually, scratch blood sausage. I could have sworn animal blood was a historically important source of iodine for inland people, but I must be thinking of some other nutrient because a serving of blood sausage only has 1% of your daily requirement.
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Comment on What to snack on (other than slices of parmesan) in ~food
owyn_merrilin Link ParentQuestion: are you cooking with iodized salt? Because most processed food doesn't use iodized salt, and a lot of home cooks these days use kosher or sea salt because they're the most widely...(unless parmesan has a connection to my hypothyroidism somehow)
Question: are you cooking with iodized salt? Because most processed food doesn't use iodized salt, and a lot of home cooks these days use kosher or sea salt because they're the most widely available course cooking salts, and they're either never (in the case of kosher) or rarely (in the case of sea salt) iodized. I was starting to develop thyroid problems myself until I put two and two together on that, switched from kosher salt to iodized sea salt, and suddenly my thyroid numbers were good. The bloodwork didn't help, either. The standard panel checked my thyroid but not my iodine levels because they just assume everyone's getting enough iodine from the salt in their diet, which isn't really the case anymore.
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Comment on What to snack on (other than slices of parmesan) in ~food
owyn_merrilin Link ParentI once accidentally aged some of those by forgetting they were in the cheese drawer for a year. They developed salt crystals and ended up being some of the best cheese I've ever eaten. Aldi has...I once accidentally aged some of those by forgetting they were in the cheese drawer for a year. They developed salt crystals and ended up being some of the best cheese I've ever eaten.
Aldi has other cheeses in stick form, too. I'd be curious to repeat my accidental experiment with the gouda sticks.
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Comment on Front Porch Forum is the friendliest social network you’ve never heard of in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentThat's how Facebook started. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long.That's how Facebook started. Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long.
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Comment on US athletes are taking full advantage of free healthcare in Olympic village in ~sports
owyn_merrilin Link ParentThat's actually how most people do taxes in the US, although it's such a default thing that they often don't even realize that's what they're doing. The form is just set up so most people end up...it's a valid strategy to simply overpay taxes before the due date, and then file with the CRA when convenient.
That's actually how most people do taxes in the US, although it's such a default thing that they often don't even realize that's what they're doing. The form is just set up so most people end up overpaying and getting the excess back after they file their taxes. A good chunk of excess, too. People tend to use it as an excuse to buy some appliance they've been holding off on getting.
That said, they changed it a while back so the default withholding was closer to what you owe for a larger chunk of the population (read: lower middle class people are more likely to end up having a bill instead of a refund now, when it used to be more of an upper middle class and rich people thing), and every year someone I know ends up shocked that they either owe money or are getting a pretty pathetic return. I had to pay something silly like $2 one year because it was that close to exact, when it used to be more normal to get hundreds to low thousands back from the government.
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Comment on I worked for Mr. Beast, he's a sociopath in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentWar crimes are only war crimes if they're committed against legal combatants by combatants in an actual war. It's why cops are able to use tear gas against protestors, but soldiers would be guilty...Isn't sleep deprivation is a war crime (they mentioned this)? Bright lights and non-stop rock n roll were used in the middle east by US forces.
War crimes are only war crimes if they're committed against legal combatants by combatants in an actual war. It's why cops are able to use tear gas against protestors, but soldiers would be guilty of a warcrime for doing the same in a warzone.
This is not to excuse it. It's to drive home how fucked up the legal system is. People routinely get away with actions so bad they literally constitute war crimes.
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Comment on US athletes are taking full advantage of free healthcare in Olympic village in ~sports
owyn_merrilin Link ParentIt's not just a conclusion people come to on their own, either, although I guess it's possible some do come to it independently. It's a specific propaganda line that gets disseminated by those who...It's not just a conclusion people come to on their own, either, although I guess it's possible some do come to it independently. It's a specific propaganda line that gets disseminated by those who stand to profit from keeping healthcare for profit.
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Comment on The biggest band in America in 2024 is … Creedence Clearwater Revival in ~music
owyn_merrilin Link ParentThe genre was literally called Southern rock. Blues rock is a different thing entirely, and a lot of that came from England (think Eric Clapton).The genre was literally called Southern rock. Blues rock is a different thing entirely, and a lot of that came from England (think Eric Clapton).
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentAgain, I'm not saying it needs to be a literal rule. I'm just saying that you shouldn't be upset that someone is suggesting more context would be a good idea for what's currently the top post on...Again, I'm not saying it needs to be a literal rule. I'm just saying that you shouldn't be upset that someone is suggesting more context would be a good idea for what's currently the top post on the entire site.
Edit: Or at least was at the time I posted my previous comment.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentLike I said to the other guy, just because it's not literally against the rules doesn't make it good netiquette. This is a ridiculously obscure topic to treat this way.Like I said to the other guy, just because it's not literally against the rules doesn't make it good netiquette. This is a ridiculously obscure topic to treat this way.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentJust because it's not literally against the rules doesn't make it good netiquette. This is a ridiculously obscure topic to treat this way.Just because it's not literally against the rules doesn't make it good netiquette. This is a ridiculously obscure topic to treat this way.
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Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tech
owyn_merrilin Link ParentOkay, great, but at that point the onus falls on the OP of this thread to provide some kind of context. This is ~tech, not ~Voyager_Keyboard.Okay, great, but at that point the onus falls on the OP of this thread to provide some kind of context. This is ~tech, not ~Voyager_Keyboard.
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Comment on Former astronaut William Anders, who took iconic Earthrise photo, killed in Washington plane crash in ~space
owyn_merrilin Link ParentHoly crap. That man lived his dream for his entire life, and died doing what he loved, almost certainly fast enough that he didn't have long to worry about it or suffer. o7 Bill Anders.This really sucks, but also, flying solo at 90 years old is wild to me. I don't know a whole lot about flying but I do know commercial pilots have to retire at 65.
Holy crap. That man lived his dream for his entire life, and died doing what he loved, almost certainly fast enough that he didn't have long to worry about it or suffer. o7 Bill Anders.
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Comment on The beautiful dissociation of the Japanese language in ~humanities.languages
owyn_merrilin (edited )Link ParentThat is an absolutely insane take. The average 6th grader cannot read on the level expected of an adult. Stopping an education at the 6th grade is an easy way to a life of poverty and crime in...A high school education is absolutely not a baseline for literacy. High school literature classes aren't teaching people how to read to the extent that anyone who hasn't taken one is "barely literate". The average 6th grader is able to read well enough that it's an insult to call them "barely literate".
That is an absolutely insane take. The average 6th grader cannot read on the level expected of an adult. Stopping an education at the 6th grade is an easy way to a life of poverty and crime in large part because of how stunted your literacy is. It cuts off so many avenues of employment it's not even funny, and makes it easier for the unscrupulous to exploit you.
Majoring in Chinese as a non-native speaker is not the same as going through school as a native speaker. You didn't spend your entire life immersed in the language, and you didn't have twelve years of school taught in it before even starting on that college major. Native speakers do. And it's well known that early written English becomes unintelligible to native speakers unusually early because invasions by and contact with vikings and, later, the Normans changed the language quite a bit over the course of the medieval period, while Chinese intelligibility goes unusually far back. Not as far as, for example, Icelandic, but still unusually far. It's more than just muddling through by recognizing the ideographs. The fact that you even had a class on Classical Chinese should tell you as much. English majors do not get similar classes on Old English. That's more of a thing for history majors in a very narrow part of the field.
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Comment on The beautiful dissociation of the Japanese language in ~humanities.languages
owyn_merrilin Link ParentA high school education is kind of a baseline for literacy, though. Of course someone who's barely literate won't be able to do it. And the point wasn't even about the difficulty, it was that our...A high school education is kind of a baseline for literacy, though. Of course someone who's barely literate won't be able to do it.
And the point wasn't even about the difficulty, it was that our cutoff for a modern speaker to struggle through an old text is the later end of Middle English, while Chinese is similarly difficult going another half millennium or so back, instead of completely unintelligible.
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Comment on The beautiful dissociation of the Japanese language in ~humanities.languages
owyn_merrilin Link ParentYou're exaggerating. Both Shakespeare and Chaucer are taught in high school literature classes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is Middle English that's effectively unintelligible to modern...You're exaggerating. Both Shakespeare and Chaucer are taught in high school literature classes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is Middle English that's effectively unintelligible to modern speakers, but Chaucer was later and spoke a dialect that was more directly ancestral to modern English. Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur is also relatively intelligible despite being Middle English, although that one is such a door stopper it's not taught in high school.
Gel pens aren't the same as ballpoints. They use a different kind of ink that lets them glide over the paper more like a good fountain pen. I'm guessing the ones you've tried were poor quality and scratchy instead of smooth as a result. (Note that good in this case doesn't mean expensive, there's just a difference between a decent writer and the kind of crappy novelty pen you'll sometimes find in art supply sections that are about the easiest ones to find in an actual store in the US. As an example of a cheap but decent pen, one of mine cost all of $5 at a Walgreens of all places, and it writes surprisingly well.)