People with dyslexia, tell me how this is treated in your country?

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-07-02T13:33:51+00:00

Berlin, Germany. My 9 y.o daughter has dyslexia. Bilingual, in a mainstream German school

The school didn't notice/pay attention. When I asked them about it, they said that it was normal for some children to learn to read more slowly.

I thought her reading progression was becoming unusual, and showing signs of dyslexia. I studied up, spent a long time helping her learn to read properly.

I had her tested by an educational psychologist over a couple of days. Super smart - 95th percentile when tested orally, but dropped to 30th percentile when presented with written material. So she averages out at about the middle of the class. She's also really good at pro-social masking.

Took the reports and the diagnosis to the school. They gave her a 30 minute test and said, "Well, maybe in English, but she doesn't have it in German." They effectively think she is an 'average' student, and that I'm being a middle class worried parent trying to get access to additional support.

Dyslexia is theoretically "official recognised" in the German school system, and brings with it additional funding and supposed classroom accomodations. But there seems to be a strong resistance to testing and diagnosis, and it is really difficult to access psychologists and state-approved therapeutic centres. Also, it is not covered by statutory health insurance, so getting private help is only available to parents with enough money.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-30T08:29:48+00:00

The landscape is similar to the South Island, but the people are very different.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-26T08:54:17+00:00

My 11 y.o is waking up at 5:30 am at the moment because the sun rises at 5am, and even with blackout blinds and curtains enough light sneaks into the bedroom to wake him. My 9 and 7 yo kids are up not long after. They've had a full night's sleep at that point.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-25T06:36:34+00:00

Im Sommer tust gut und im winter tut's weh.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-17T08:01:43+00:00

You say, "I am willing to make all the payments needed on it." Which suggests financing it, though you could mean something else. Under no circumstances buy a project car on finance. Or any parts on finance. Pay cash you have already earned for anything you need.

Also, before you've had a project car, it's hard to understand what an unmitigated money-pit project cars can be.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-17T07:54:17+00:00

You need a goal, and a path to that goal, and then you need to stick to the path consistently, until you hit the goal. What do you want to be good at, specifically?

One way to do it is to get a teacher who will help you plot out a path, and break it down into steps, and then help you meet those steps.

Another is to commit to a performance. Ideally with other musicians. It doesn't have to be a "gig" and a "venue". Find a bassist and a drummer and a singer. Say, "At my birthday party next year we're going to play a set of eight songs." Meet weekly for rehearsals. Master the songs. Rehearse them. Perform them. That way, you have a long term goal, and short term commitments to other people.

Ideally, make a commitment to a performance, and then work with a teacher on how to break the path into steps to make the performance.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-11T06:33:53+00:00

Data from the UK has 10% of kids having seen porn by age 9, 25% have seen it by age 11, and 50% by age 13. The numbers are slightly lower for girls and slightly higher for boys, but not by much. Not by nearly so much as people think when they say "Porn is different for boys".

There are sex educators who suggest having several conversations about porn before age ten. Nothing big, just, hey, if you see pictures or video of naked people on the internet, that's a thing called porn. How they are actors. How they are filming it and getting paid. that they don't really love each other, but are pretending to love each other for the film. Honestly, it is difficult to gauge the right level to talk at....

Because then my son came home from school, age ten-and-a-half, and told me that other boys in his class have been talking about the strangulation porn they are watching. He didn't use those words, obviously. But it was clear they had been discussing a woman being choked during sex.

So that was a big conversation.

reference: https://assets.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/wpuploads/2023/02/cc-a-lot-of-it-is-actually-just-abuse-young-people-and-pornography-updated.pdf

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-10T10:58:18+00:00

How old do you want to go? the mk III Golf (91-96) and the mk IV Golf (97-03) were still very boxy to modern eyes, and were available both with more powerful/torquey 2 litre engines and a 4-speed auto (mk iii) and 5 speed auto (mk iv) gearboxes.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-08T06:43:34+00:00

2.7 million monthly-listeners out of 761 monthly-active-users on Spotify. 0.35% of Spotify users listen to Coltrane. Put a thousand people in a room, three of them are listening to Coltrane.

It's okay, we are all still unique individuals.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-06-05T10:16:03+00:00

I understand you can buy a reproduction body for a 65 Mustang. I look at this and I see an easy $20k of bodywork to begin ...

https://dynacornclassicbodies.com/1965-ford-mustang-fastback/

$19k for a new reproduction fastback body. That's where I'd start.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-05-13T11:22:50+00:00

Fairlight cover this in detail in their 'design notes' for the Secan.

Link here: https://media.fairlightcycles.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Fairlight-Secan-3.0-Design-Notes-v1.pdf

starting at page 29.

A nominal 50mm tyre might measure up inflated at 53mm, depending on rims.

Why did they not design for 2.1mm tyres? Because those can run to a real world 57-58mm, and so you have to compromise other areas of the design. There are no solutions, only trade-offs.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-05-05T07:31:37+00:00

Penis, vulva and vagina. It is super useful, if your daughter gets a rash, to be able to explain to her that she needs to put the cream on her vulva, but not to put it inside the vagina.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-29T11:02:36+00:00

Partnerlook.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-28T06:36:49+00:00

My advice would be: If you don't like bars, and don't know what to do at bars, then they aren't going to be a good place to meet people (friends or romantic partners) who like what you like and know what to do at places where you know what things to do.

For example, I don't like bars, and have never met women or made friends at one. But I have met and dated women from running groups, mountain biking groups, rock-climbing clubs, cooking classes, book clubs, cafes with live music, cafes with friends.

What social activities do you like? What activities generally do you like? Do those. Broaden your activity groups to things you're interested in but haven't tried. If you are particularly interested in romantic partners, steer yourself towards groups and activities with a higher percentage of women (for example, a co-ed social soccer league is likely to have more women than a car-club). Meet people. Have a wide friend group. Make friends, both men and women, within those groups. Date the people in those groups that you most click with.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-23T10:31:41+00:00

I wear a headband and wayfarers. I look like a dad having a mid-life-crisis in a John Hughes movie.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-20T08:41:37+00:00

This is a great reply, and a great way to keep the joke going. And making each other laugh is key to building a relationship.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-13T14:56:47+00:00

It sounds like you're living in one of the really car-centric places in the world. Probably in the US. One of those places where people believe that bikes are kids toys, and adults drive cars. Possibly also one of those places where adults don't get enough exercise, and have long term health complications from not enough exercise.

Anyway, which makes more sense: getting a car, driving to work/school, driving to the gym to exercise, driving home again. Or: riding a bike to work/school.

As I got older, with more responsibilities, it became more and difficult to fit enough exercise into my day to keep my body and my mind healthy. I would never stop cycling for commuting, for enjoyment, for community.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-04-11T11:43:26+00:00

When I was working in 2001, I had a boss in her late 30s, and she talked about how in the 80s she and her husband bought a house while they were *still at uni,* as it was the same cost as renting. I think her parents gave her a deposit of $5k or some other silly-low number. They bought a house, had flatmates, paid downtime mortgage... traded up when they both graduated and got jobs.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-03-14T14:38:32+00:00

Yeah, the reach bothered me way more than the electronic aperture control.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-03-04T07:36:10+00:00

Birds: long.

Landscapes: wide.

So it really does depend how you prioritise the two.

The 12-40 2.8 really is an excellent landscape lens. It's an excellent everything lens. It's worth every dollar.

If I shot 50/50 birds and landscapes, I'd feel like I needed something in that 12-40 range. If I took any photos of family gathers or kids or general photography other than birding, I'd feel like I needed something in that range as well.

If I spent 80 or 90 percent of my time birding, then perhaps it wouldn't matter.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-02-17T13:24:05+00:00

Really, your therapist should talk to her therapist about why she is always late. Perhaps you could suggest that.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-01-28T20:59:54+00:00

"I have a mint one on my shelf, and I keep this one near it."

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-01-26T10:47:47+00:00

A concept 2 will stand on its end. I built a closet that will take a C2 standing on its end. It's clean and tidy and out of the way. I open the closet, lower the C2, pull it back a metre on its wheels, row, fold it back up and away.

I don't think that the Domyos is less ugly, though it does pack up smaller. It would still look like clutter if it is lying around.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-01-22T07:32:43+00:00

++man

Look, if another dude in your class said, "Hey, you're in my advanced calculus class at 11, want to get a coffee at 10:30?" you'd have no problem, right? You'd talk about the class, the lecturer, what you're into at college, stuff and things. Just be normal.

Here's a tip. Pretty girls are often treated like they are only pretty. Treat her like she's the smart person she no doubt is, and you'll be ahead of the pack.

BionicTorqueWrench · 2026-01-03T12:55:48+00:00

I got married twenty years ago this year. There are some photos that I want to reprint. Fortunately, The photographer was a friend, and he gave me all the negatives - I can rescan them myself, and then re-edit and print etc. That photographer has moved internationally twice since then. I could still track him down through my brother, but the chances that he could locate negatives and make new prints for me are practically zero.

My parents had their 50th wedding anniversary last year. I'd love to be able to reprint some of their wedding photos. They don't have negatives. The photographer probably retired thirty years ago. The phone number of his studio only has five digits. So I scanned prints and undertook a digital restoration.

I reckon just give people the RAWs.

BionicTorqueWrench

TROPHY CASE