I've had a few in person ones, I think totalling around 10, most of them I kept for a couple of years at least, before the friendship was ended due to outside circumstances (usually going to different schools or classes).

I was an awkward nerdy kid for most of my school years, who didn't really fit in with the popular crowd. I was also a bit picky with who I'd let myself befriend and once I finally did find someone I like I tended to try to hold on to those friendships rather than let them fizzle for no reason. Unfortunately lots of those type of reasons seemed to exist as a kid. Particularly before smartphones and social media became widely available as a method for communication.

To this day, probably my closest friendships are with a person I met through high school, and another person I ended up getting closer to through him (who went to the same high school). In total we've been friends for around 11-13 years. Even if nowadays we can go periods of not talking for a couple of weeks.

I consider myself pretty lucky for that, even if I often feel like we've drifted apart in terms of the people we've become. It's still a rare and valuable thing to have such a long lasting bond, all of the inside jokes and references that come with and for there to be someone who has known you through several different phases of your life. I've changed a lot from who I was, gone through a lot of self growth and become more social and competent in many areas of life. To have friends who accepted me before all of that always helped me feel more assured in myself.

At the end of the day, it's the kind of friendship where it no longer feels conditional, but you simply know (barring any unexpected life altering events) you're always going to be a part of each other's day to day life, and I think that's what every close friendship should feel like.

There's a few online friendships I've had in addition to that, which I considered close at one point, but on the whole I've found those friendships to be a lot more fleeting over the years. I've had many people just completely disappear and others that quickly fizzled out once the community that originally brought us together no longer acted like a glue. I think it's definitely possible to maintain close online friendships as well, but if anything it might require even more effort than an offline one. You really have to go out of your way to make yourself a mainstay in each others lives.

Barathemos: Generally, I would say the view is a similar one to that of the US in terms of it being viewed as a somewhat "exotic" and there being tons of Japanophiles similarly to the US. If anything I think the view might be more positive here. Given that European countries have not directly fought the Japanese, we lack the same post WW2 stigma.

As for China, much of the same exoticism still applies. Though I would say, it's less common to find people obsessed with the culture in the vein of Japan or South Korea. As I would imagine is also the case in the US.

I think people mostly fall into either being indifferent (because China is less open about their actions on the international stage, and thus stay out of sight for a lot of people). Alternatively, view the country more similarly to Americans. I feel like most Western European countries are inclined to take the US's side in regards to rivalries with Russia and China, owing to their long allegiance with the US, economically, militarilly and even culturally because we import a lot of American media and trends. People identify with the US in a way they generally don't with these countries.

Particularly with Russia, this is amplified even further by their apparent expansionism in Eastern Europe, which drives public fear and in turns drives us closer to the US. China is probably not viewed entirely favorably by a lot of people either, given their apparent expansionism towards Taiwan. National sovereignty is a constant hot button question for a lot of Europeans given the situation with Russia, and because many of us live in smaller nations where the borders have historically been contested during ww2, or in some cases even more recently. Thus we have developed a heightened sensitivity to these types of conflicts.

Although I will say the situation has started to change noticeably ever since Trump took office, and his administration started desroying PR with European countries. Particularly by expressing some seemingly expansionist views as well (wanting to take control of Greenland for one). Whether that is leading to a change in how China is perceived I'm not entirely sure to be honest. But it wouldn't surprise me if it's a contributing factor behind why some people might view the country with more favor.

As for media coverage, we spend more time covering the US (and Trump particularly) than any other foreign country. With Russia being the closest 2nd and then other European countries. More recently the Middle east and Israel - Palestine conflict specifically has seen a lot of coverage as well, with support for Palestine growing. With all of these other situations going on, I don't think South East Asia is paid as much mind in the public media generally. Of course it's hard to avoid China completely, particularly in an economic context.

You're not entirely wrong. I'm not by choice, but I feel as if circumstances have forced me into it. Currently I juggle two jobs and both ended up being busier this summer than anticipated. I was anticipating working maybe 32-35 hours a week tops, but at the moment I've been around 40-60 many of them. Up until yesterday I'd only had a single full day off for the last 2 and half weeks.

I'm not bragging. It's something I'm looking to get out of, even if the extra money is nice. In actuality I value my time outside of work as I like to spend a lot of it indulging in hobby projects and seeing my girlfriend and friends whenever I get the chance. If I could find a job that more closely overlaps with my hobbies maybe my attitude would change. I don't foresee that being the case any time soon though.

The person belows me puts milk into their bowl before cereal.

I have a couple. One as a coordinator for international students at a university, which I've had since March. One as an emergency operator which I've had for about a year now.

The coordinator role tends to be intellectually stimulating as I'm constantly thrown into new situations and picking up skills as I go. My role is basically being a receptionist and after that helping out with just about anything around the office. I appreciate the stable schedule and the paycheck. It follows a standard 9-5 work week, and I always get holidays off which as someone used to working uncomfortable hours is really nice. It's also a nice mix of socializing with students and other visitors, and more independent analytical desk work. The major drawback is that it can also be quite stressful at times and I'm pretty much always switched on and working in some form giving little space for downtime.

As for being an emergency operator it is (to some people's surprise maybe) quite a chill job. I deal mostly with elders, which includes non urgent matters as well like food deliveries, bathroom help etc. So my job is probably more chill than the standard SOS operators. I don't have to stress, just follow the routine. I never have left over work to bring home and if I'm lucky I even have some downtime to chill during the shifts. Talking to coworkers can be fun too. While I feel working full time talking to sick and depressed people can make one a bit cynical... It's a rather easy to maintain side hustle.

Overall if I'm being honest, both come down to the paycheck mostly. I'd rather be doing things more directly related to my hobbies. Once I've built up my financial security, I do hope to take more risks so that I can transition into something more entrepreneurial. But in the meantime I am fine staying where I am and building up my financial buffer.

To some extent I do think so yes. The relative universality of empathy seems to argue for its innateness. I think you can observe this in action too. Sometimes when people do things for the benefit of others it's close to instinctual. Like a parent shielding their child, or a soldier throwing themselves on a grenade to save their comrades. I think it's hard to argue in those cases that it's a purely self-interested action. But I suppose that also depends on what you take "self-interested" to mean.

Many things and even with the things that my stance remains the same on my underlying motivations tend to be a lot more developed.

I feel like my sociology and language background gave me a structural awareness that opened my eyes to a lot of social issues that I had previously ignored. One example being realizing how capitalism influences so many aspects of our lives even on a psychological level. The goals we set, the relationships we keep and the way we participate in society. One of the more highlighted examples being the commodification of dating. Dating apps, changing the way many people connect with others (generally for the worse in my view). Suddenly there's hundreds of people to choose from at any given moment, and paradoxically that leads many of us to struggle with finding any sort of connection. People become a lot more expendable, and as a result we're encouraged to constantly market ourselves. All of this before even making contact with another person.

I do try to avoid taking a deterministic view of society. I don't think there is a single metric that completely orders the world (even if money probably comes the closest). What I feel like a lot of the more diehard SJW fail to acknowledge is that hierarchy is a natural and everpresent part of society, but the standards through which we judge people can change both over time and in different contexts. From more obvious aspects to sex, skin color, money to less talked about ones like educational background or physical attractiveness. Generally if you eliminate one, another equally unfair metric will take it's place. That's why I advocate structural awareness more than I do trying to end any particular form of discrimination. Even though I do still feel like these are topics that we need to keep talking about and reflecting on.

Another aspect I know I've changed on since my teens is freedom and technology. I used to value personal freedom a lot more, and I feel that I've come to be a lot more critical of the concept with age. Partially following perhaps from the above realization. In that sense, I suppose I'm actually more conservative nowadays. People need a social context to fit into, something that to some extent constricts and gives them a clear role. Otherwise you get the kind of rampant identity issues and paralysis of choice that I feel characterizes much of the younger generation today. I think I've fully realized the importance of social cohesion and belonging, and how the increasing lack of it drives so many of the problems we have today.

This goes hand in hand with technological advancement which has in many ways only enabled and exacerbated these problems. While the internet can be a source of community. It also keeps a huge amount people isolated and in a state of having unrealistic expectations. Much of which feels like its down to the rate at which we develop new tech far outpacing our ability to consider the long term effects of it.

I have two registration dates so depends on which one we're going with. I originally registered on 21st of May, 2011, which I remember being pretty close to when the 3DS released as well as the Ocarina of Time remake/remaster. I got the special edition Zelda 3DS much later, but that was quite some time after it had released, the same goes for Skyrim which came later that year.

All the while I was stuck in flashback mode, rocking my brother's modded PS2 and working through the library of games he had burned onto discs from 2007 and prior. Lots of old JRPGs like Tales, Suikoden, Wild Arms etc. I distinctly remember getting to play GTA 4 at my brother's house (at least think it was that year) and being blown away by how realistic it looked. But the biggest discovery of that year for me was emulation. Specifically the 3rd gen Pokemon games and Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team which I first found on Vizzed.

2011 doesn't seem like that long ago, but when I actually try to think back and remember it feels like a lifetime has passed..Not at all a bad year for gaming though. A few days before me registering, LA Noire, Witcher 2, and Fable 3 were all releasing, which is a stellar selection of titles.

becerra95: I can't say I'm a fan, but it's also not something that keeps me up at night as an active follower of the premier league (Sours fan). Beyond buying teams, we're also seeing a massive exodus of players from European leagues that are picked up by clubs in Saudi Arabia on ridiculous contracts for ridiculous fees. So its been a growing trend. Perhaps part of a larger plan to elevate the country's standing internationally.

Even though there's plenty to question about those owners, you kind of have to ask yourself how much worse they really are from some of the rich Europeans and Americans. There's plenty of moneygrubbing and questionable people at the top, and always have been since long before these oil barons rose to the top. I think this is only bound to increase the more revenue the sport creates. That's the nature of wealth and business I feel, you can't get stinking rich without it being at someone's expense, whether you admit to it, or even realize it.

Football as with other sport fandoms, isn't really an area where most people concern themselves with the moral implications. It's an escape from reality, a way to cope. It's an opportunity to get wrapped up in something that's completely detached from your surrounding life, and to unite with others around a common desire (seeing your team succeed). It's a highly irrational thing, that's also the beauty of it in terms of the emotions it can evoke. In that sense it really can turn into a lifestyle, and people will overlook a lot of things if it means success is on the cards for their team. Such as morally questionable ownership, as long as they're subtle enough about it to where people can disassociate those aspects from what they're supporting.

Personally, I feel like the club I support has one of the better ownership groups and that's how I'm able to deal with it. There's Joe Lewis who is about as faceless of an owner as you can be, and isn't really involved with the club directly in any way. So in that sense he is rarely synonymous with the name. Then there's Daniel Levy, who while he has made controversial decisions, clearly seems to be invested in the club on a more personal level as well, making it successful and at least maintaining an image of social consciousness.

That's about all I feel I could expect of someone who is ultimately a business owner.. But I also don't live under the pretense of any of these people being out to do good. If I did I'd probably need to stop watching the sport. But then the same goes for so much else who do in our lives. So much of capitalist society has been built and continues to be built at the expense of others.

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Furret : You're correct that two wrongs don't make a right. Despite what it may seem, this isn't really what I was trying to get at. My (admittedly clumsily presented) angle is calling into question the actual autonomy of a child. Rather than argue about whether circumcision is a violation of a child's freedom we should consider the fact that a child is going to be limited in their autonomy no matter what action is taken. This is part of the power a parent has over a child. I took diet as one example, just to make the point that this will always occur. I think you can find faults like this even in the most perfect parenting examples, where a parent's authority has lasting consequences for a child. This is part of the trade off of parenting. For this reason I don't think increased autonomy is a sufficient argument.

Circumcision permanently modifies someones body, yes. But is this really such a bad thing as you're making it out to be? I'm not going to get into the argument of whether circumcision is healthier or not, but as far as I'm aware the reverse is not the case either. Tons of things that we do alter your body for life, I don't think permanence in and of itself is a good enough argument to disallow it. There needs to be grounds to show how this permanence is in fact resulting in negative consequences to where it warrants public action.

This is what I'm referring to by saying that this is to a large extent a question of cultural fears. Because this resistance to limiting choice and prioritizing individual autonomy over all else, ultimately stem from values and ideals that we hold onto in Western culture, but that in themselves are not necessarily true or untrue. I think it is in this most of the resistance is grounded. Not in a discussion of how it impacts well being.

I'm not saying you can't be against circumcision in spite of that. But, I think what we need to do is base the discussion more on the tangible positive/negative consequences of disallowing it.

It's clear that it is a practice that has gone on since before the Christian calendar even came into effect, it is practiced in multiple religions and cultures. Some people do it for other reasons, but at least in Europe I would say it's mainly based in religion and tradition. Whatever legislative action is taken I sincerely doubt is going to stop it from occurring for that reason. This is also disregarding any social consequences that follow from cultural policing. People will just have it done illegally.

Looking at it from a purely consequential point of view, to my knowledge it is not something that is going to exact lifelong physical or psychological pain or discomfort. The more large scale data we have seem to support this. Rare complications are generally minor and not long lasting. The select cases where it does go very wrong, seem to almost all result from it being done unlawfully in less than optimal conditions so in that sense disallowing it can actually be counter productive. I think it's better to allow it so it can be regulated and exacted in a safe manner with little risk to the child.

Circumcision: The act of removing the foreskin, usually done for religious reasons to babies or young boys. I've seen quite a scare about this in my own country as well as online, and I've always thought it's a concern that is mostly grounded in cultural fears. I'll explain what I mean:

Provided of course, it is done by a licensed physician, it is not a life altering event in any way. I know plenty of people who are circumcised thanks to having grown up around large Muslim populations, and they've never batted an eye to it. Most of the resistance I see to this, seems based on it being a form of "mutilation" but honestly parents are allowed to make way more life altering decisions without anyone thinking twice about it. Ex. deciding a child's diet, and through that potentially leading them into a life of obesity and related health complications. This is also strongly culturally correlated, the difference being that it's very much normalized in much of the western world.

I think if people were more exposed to this practice, they wouldn't care much. It seems like a somewhat misguided use of attention to me, as some dedicate large amounts of time and effort protesting it. However, I'm curious to hear what thoughts people might have.

With the backdrop of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, I would like to take a moment to highlight one of my favorite youtube channels: Bald and bankrupt

This is a British guy with a huge set of travel vlogs going to a bunch of different countries and places. The highlight definitely being his ventures through countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union.

Being a very extroverted and humorous guy, and speaking enough Russian to have conversations, he often goes on spontaneous adventures, making friends with locals. I think it offers more of an insider glimpse into the lives of people in these countries. He holds quite a high level of knowledge about the history of the old Soviet regime, giving little explanatory tours of the places he visits, commenting on Soviet architecture and various phenomena he encounters.

Watching his videos often feels like travelling through those countries without leaving my apartment and has been a great source of inspiration for me. Just below is a video of him going to Transnistria AKA Pridnestrovie, a little known autonomous region in Moldova, the least visited country in Europe. I recommend giving it a watch if you like these types of videos!



Also if you happen to be from any of these regions (or if have traveled through them), feel free to share your general thoughts and impressions! I think we'd all find interesting.

Barathemos : That makes sense. My impression is that Dutch and German are quite similar in some aspects, which can make it easy to confuse them as a learner.

It's definitely the kind of pursuit where you need a good reason to stay motivated. For me, the most fun part of language learning always comes from using what I've learned in real conversations. For some languages, even using basic introductory phrases can leave a lasting impression. It's a great way to connect with different people, and open doors to new places and perspectives.

How organized are you? It's a straightforward question that can be rather complicated to answer.

To take some of the tension off what can be rather personal, I'll go first: I (and likely most of the people around me) would describe myself as a fairly messy person. For the most part, I've never lived with much of a set routine unless external circumstances temporarily forced me into it. Nor do I keep much of schedule in terms of when I do things like cleaning, studying or the like. It's not that I ignore all my responsibilities, but often I'll let my to do list pile up way longer than I'd like to before directly tackling something. Then I'll go about dealing with it in very intense bursts, only to repeat the process after. Textbook procrastination in other words.

Since entering adult life, I've started to realize that it can be a rather stressful way to live, always having something bugging me in the back of my mind instead of just balancing out my time more. I attribute it to two main causes: 1. Taking on too many things at once and 2. my upbringing; "Time management" was not a concept I had to learn when I was younger, so I've never fully confronted these topics until university and work commitments started forcing me to. It's one of the main things I'm looking to improve on this year. To be more well organized both mentally and physically.

As a first step to that, I just recently bought a pocket calendar where I've started writing down all of the things I have to do. Which, incidentally, has made me realize that I'm a lot busier than I thought. It can be a rather mind opening exercise if you're like me, so I recommend trying it.

Do you recognize yourself in my situation, if so how do you cope with it? Or conversely, are you the kind of person who's always on top of things? If so, any tips to share for how to be more organized?

In my case, I would probably have to say Tokyo, Japan. Like a lot of people on here, I was always a bit of a Japanophile when I was younger, and really wanted to go there for that reason. I finally got my chance after graduating high school. Ended up having a really fun time overall, although I wasn't there long. There was so much to see and discover. It's a place that manages to feel both very familiar and different to a westerner at the same time. Some of my highlights included:

- Mistaking an umbrella wrapping machine for a trash can
- Beating a martial arts instructor at the original Street Fighter while at a bar
- Getting weirdly addicted to the arcade games only to get completely dunked on by some professional players
- Watching Japan play during the 2018 WC in football while at a sports bar and soaking in the atmosphere
- Eating lots of ramen and sushi (it was WAY better than all of the places at home)
- Buying a PS Vita and playing Persona 4 Golden

I really want to go again within a few years, because there were a ton of things I never got to do.

Having said that there are also a ton of countries and places I haven't been to, and I'm sure some of them would amaze me even more. Which is part of the reason I made this thread (to get some travel inspiration). Would love to hear about some of your favorite places!

EX Palen : It would depend on when exactly you were using it. When Duolingo started out it was pretty barebones, it really wasn't much more than a slightly more interactive flashcard app. So if it has been a long time, it might be very different.

The big update that they released just a couple of months ago, is completely changing the interface and progression for all the courses. So now there is only set order to do the lessons in, and it also directly incorporates the stories, and practice sessions for old material. Its based on what used to be known as "the waterfall method".

A lot of people don't like it because it locks you into one set way of learning, but I've come to mostly enjoy it. It has created some issues with the smaller courses, but I found it has helped me be more consistent in my progress. Mostly because it forces variety, which is conducive to learning.

For sure. They do have some new features for learning the alphabet of different languages. I used it for learning to read the Arabic alphabet. It's a big improvement, but honestly there's still better ways to go about it since it doesn't teach writing effectively. It also doesn't fully cover languages like Japanese and Mandarin that include 2000-3000 characters. You will almost certainly have to use another method for that aspect.

EX Palen : I do see where you are coming from. I actually do think it can be used as a main resource for SOME languages as it is today. Specifically the flagship ones that have had the most time and resources put in to them, those being: French, Spanish and to a lesser extent German. Those are the ones officially curated by Duolingo, while a lot of the other ones are crowdsourced and as a result, of highly varying quality.

They restructured the order of lessons, added grammar notes for different sections, as well as stories to test your comprehension which I think has gone a long way to making it more than just a flashcard app. It's not going to get you fluent (no app of this type will) but I do think it could probably get you to a pretty solid intermediate level if you take advantage of all it has to offer. Particularly by using the desktop version rather than the mobile app. Maybe supplementing it with some youtube grammar explanation videos and of course using the language in real life contexts.

My own experience is testament to that. I came into it with little communication skill, and at best, lower intermediate comprehension (which is being generous since my French had rusted quite a bit from not using it for years). I had some vocabulary knowledge but knew very little about grammar structures. Now I can hold conversations without much difficulty and my pronunciation is definitely better. I've also learned many concepts that I never mastered when I was taking a class. It's to the level where I'm now able to tutor intro students after going through grammar notes. I attribute the vast majority of that to daily Duolingo use.

Of course you can contrast that to languages like Arabic, Mandarin or Japanese, which are not as comprehensively covered. They are also much more complicated for speakers of European languages to grasp, so they require more precise instruction at the start. This makes the trial and error approach of Duolingo much less suitable. I would agree using it as anything more than an introductory tool or supplement would probably not be advisable. Even for the flagship languages, it is far from the fastest way to learn if you're a disciplined learner. Regardless, it does win points for being accessible and free.

I have a Series S. It's the tiny and lower end digital only version of the Series X. I've been pretty pleased with my purchase. Seeing as I mostly use it to play older games, the lower specs have never bothered me but it's nice to have the option if I do want to pick something up. Together with a game pass subscription it's pretty good value for money.

classgame : That makes sense. We live in a time where it's so everpresent everywhere so it's kind of hard to avoid sometimes. I always check food labels for this reason.

For me it was slightly the opposite case. I was raised by a single mom who spent most of her time working, so she used a lot of unhealthy shortcuts in the kitchen. Once I finally started to claim my independence, I sort of rebelled by trying to be more healthy. During which I also discovered I had a fairly severe case of IBS. So I ended up almost having to be anyway in order to manage my symptoms.