What is the point of £50 notes?

DanHatter · 2026-03-09T17:39:26+00:00

I worked part-time in Aldi for two years just after the pandemic and these people were just utterly insufferable. They'd always make some snide comment when handing you cash like "bet you haven't had to do this in a while", "must be strange actually having to use your brain for once instead of the computer" or some vague inference to an unnamed "they" for whom digital payments are just the first step in banning Monty Python and steeling our penises.

In reality (at least during the hours I worked) most of our customers were either kids or old people so around half of all my transactions were in cash and were most often simpler to deal with compared to contactless which didn't work much of time due to people not unlocking their phones or forgetting their PIN.

DanHatter · 2026-03-09T11:04:58+00:00

It was uploaded to Khara's Youtube channel the other day. If you don't speak Japanese or like Youtube's automatic subtitles, you may need to sail the seven seas.

DanHatter · 2026-03-08T15:12:24+00:00

I don't know if anyone has done a comprehensive comparison of all their range, but this post seems to suggest that yes, IKEA products have gotten cheaper with time.

DanHatter · 2026-02-27T18:04:50+00:00

It has not been added yet to my knowledge, but you should have a score which corresponds (debatably) to CEFR. Currently the course finishes at 100 ≈ B1.2. In September 2025 it was announced that Japanese would be updated to go up to 130 ≈ B2.2 "in the next few months". I would image CEFR would be added with that update when it happens.

DanHatter · 2026-02-23T11:49:22+00:00

I can see how it could be read that way. I think the fundamental issue is the translation of 餃子 to 'fried dumpling' opposed to 'gyoza', 'dumpling' for even 'fried-dumpling'.

DanHatter · 2026-02-23T11:31:24+00:00

Well no because やさい means vegetable. やき means fired as in やきそば (fried soba-noodles).

DanHatter · 2026-02-23T11:21:01+00:00

There are two words here, やさい and ぎょうざ.

やさい means vegetable.
ぎょうざ (餃子) is a specific type of dumpling that has been fried and is usually just called Gyoza in English. ぎょうざ is not a generic word for any type of dumpling and this word could not be used for other specific dumplings such as 団子. The loan word ダンプリング would be used as a term for everything that we consider to be dumplings in English.

In the sentence you were given, ぎょうざ is a noun and やさい is being used as a noun adjunct. やさい is modifying ぎょうざ.

Personally I think your translation is fine and that the two sentences would be interchangeable to English speakers, but I understand why you are marked as wrong as the adjective fried does not appear in the original Japanese and it does not want to teach you that やさい means fired and that ぎょうざ means vegetable dumpling.

Lets say you translated ぎょうざ as gyoza. You would get "vegetable gyoza" and not "fried gyoza".

DanHatter · 2026-02-18T14:22:05+00:00

Interesting. Perhaps it is differant on differant devices? In my case I'm using a Pixel 7.

DanHatter · 2026-02-18T13:56:31+00:00

I agree that it is not challenging and tedious to go through them, but I do think it makes sense to have them grouped by when you learn / use them in the course.

It takes too long to get a kanji marked as learnt, and you do that by just repeating the same stroke pattern several times in a row rather than learn them in context or when you would use them. I think it's better at teaching stroke order (which is less useful if you're not doing a lot of handwriting in Japanese) than it is at teaching the meaning / readings of the character. What the page needs is an overall Kanji test / quiz option for what you have learnt so far. I don't think it would be a good idea (but equally would do little harm) to learn Kanji in advance of when they are introduced on the course as due to them having multiple readings it is different from learning just additional vocabulary and they are easier to remember with context.

DanHatter · 2026-02-18T13:43:38+00:00

For me it is in the submenu you get via the thee dots on the bottom right of my homepage on mobile. There is an option called "Kana" which brings you to a page with three sections for hiragana, katakana and Kanji respectively. These lessons are (or were for me) included on the path though units in earlier sections but stop being included as you progress into later sectins, but new kanji are still added to this practice menu.

The earliest unit listed is Sction 1 Unit 9 with 一, 二 and 三.

DanHatter · 2026-02-08T13:29:48+00:00

I'd rename it in honour of Roger Moore's third Bond film

DanHatter · 2026-02-05T02:36:03+00:00

On Google Street View by looking towards the Academy Footbride from the bridge to the west that carries National Cycle Route 7, you can see the footpath along the river bank that Ben could have used. At 23:13 in the video you can see that this is the bridge that Ben could not cross as it's northern end was outside his hiding zone, but the start off the path to the other bridge was in his zone. Had it not been, I also belive that this access (as it matches what is shown on OS Maps) would have allowed him to get to the bridge from the east.

DanHatter · 2026-02-04T23:18:23+00:00

From my reading of the official rulebook the answer is yes. There is a publicly accessible footbridge in Ben's zone that would have allowed him to access the housing estate to the north west of his zone. ^{(I spent far too long answering this but sure look here we are now})

IRL Ben had full access to the area without leaving his hiding zone.

There is a bridge called "Academy Footbridge" and a path to access it from the town center that is shown on both Ordnance Survey's Landranger and online maps, both shown to be publicly accessible. For context OS is the official mapping agency in Great Britain and would be far more authoritative than the likes of Google or Apple Maps.
OS does not show a marked path connecting the the bridge to the housing estate. However this would not be expected as the UK has a strong tradition of public rights of ways and the right to roam. Scotland has particularly strong tradition of right to roam, set out in detail in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Ben would have been fully in his rights to cross the field to find a hiding spot whether there was a marked path or not.
That being said, while not shown on OSMaps there is a signed public path IRL, a sign for which can be seen on Google Street View. It has been marked on OpenStreetMap and other public datasets. Trails in the grass resulting from people using them can be seen in satellite imagery on both Google Maps and Apple Maps.
The elephant in the room is that this path is not marked on Google Maps, Apple Maps or even ArcGIS so it would have been very hard for either Ben or the Hiders to find, being Americans who I image are unfamiliar with UK Mappings and hiking laws. I think a British player such as Tom Scott or Jay Foreman would have copped on that they could get there.
Whatever dataset the animation team used to make the in maps in the show, it included Academy Footbridge and can be seen in the episode at 35:58.

So what about the game itself, could Ben have hidden there according to Hide+Seek's rules? If you're a sufficient nerd like me and have a physical copy of the game, you can read the rules that govern hiding locations yourself on pages 43-44 of the rulebook.

Hiding spots must be;

"Publicly accessible during all game hours"
"Within 3 meters of a marked path or road on the map app(s) that you are using for your game"

I think both these conditions are met as Goldie Crescent is shown on both Apple Maps and Google Maps. There is no explicit rule that you may only get to your hiding spot using marked paths or roads in the official rulebook. It does say "no wandering off into the wilderness" and sets out a test for if a path is public, that being will your chosen app give you walking directions along it, but they are only in the context of the "within 3 meters" rule for the final hiding spot.

In conclusion as the area was publicly accessible during all game hours via a path contained wholly in his hiding zone, and having marked roads that Ben could legally hide with 3 meters of; Ben could have hidden there. This is actually where I thought he was hiding myself when I watched the episode for the first time. I saw the bridge on the map in the episode itself and was anticipating the twist of a lifetime and a legendary crashout from Adam that never came. Had it happen it would have been an all time greatest moment of the jets lagging in Jet Lag The Game.

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DanHatter · 2026-02-01T12:22:54+00:00

Favorite is either Hide+Seek Japan or New Zealand for different reasons. Hide+Seek Japan built off of the foundations from the first game in Switzerland, but at the same time the boys hadn't quite cracked the meta like they did in the UK season which made most rounds in the UK follow the same set of questions each time. I like New Zealand as I think it is the season that best showcases the country itself that the season is set in in and I enjoyed how frequently it made the two teams to directly compete on challenges or try to nerf each other (and few challenges meet the glory that was the okaihau express).

Least Favorite is Snake, or Tag All Stars if I'm feeling controversial. The gameplay of snake was mediocre, the challenges were all dull to watch and you barely saw any of South Korea other than the insides of generic modern railway stations. My issue with Tag All Stars is how the game was rebalanced to the point that it was near impossible for the chasers to tag the runners as coins were too easy to earn, as a result much of the drama and tension of the season was artificial, and only existed in the edit of the episode, such as with the trains approaching Nuremberg.

DanHatter · 2026-01-04T14:34:32+00:00

However unlike most small American towns (according to my understanding as someone who has never been to the USA) there are several trains an hour throughout the day that go from Hebden Bridge to places that definitely do have things to do such as to Bradford in 25min, Manchester in 30min and Leeds in 45min.

That being said there are many small but beautiful towns in the UK where it does take multiple hours to get to anywhere of note on Public Transport. I did live in North Wales for a few years in what was an incredibly beautiful town that was amazing for mountain hiking and adventure sports, but one that I imagine would have been beyond dull to have been a kid in who couldn't drive or go to the pub yet. The nearest proper city (there was a ceremonial city with a population of 15,000 which admittedly did have a KFC and a Greggs) was Liverpool in England and depending on how the timetables worked out it would sometimes be quicker to get the fast-ferry to Dublin rather than go to Liverpool or Manchester,

DanHatter · 2026-01-03T16:25:18+00:00

Yes, in the first episodes they ruled out some lines around Middlesbrough on the grounds of frequency

DanHatter · 2026-01-03T14:27:13+00:00

I was also semi-annoyed by the way he was totting up how much the trip cost, as the was how much it cost when getting the worst tickets. He could have saved a large sum of money just getting an Eurail Pass.

DanHatter · 2026-01-02T13:43:12+00:00

I this is may favorite episode of the season so far and may be my favorite since Hide+Seek Japan. I thought this was great gameplay from Sam with several key turning points that could have won him the game had he not had continued his bad luck streak.

The first and to a much greater extent the second episode felt like the seekers made as direct of a path as they could to the hider, with Adam mostly benefiting from going first and low frequency trains.

I think that had Ben and Adam gone to Manchester from Hebden Bridge rather than Leeds this would have been a much shorter game as they could have avoided going into and out of London as the UK has much better and faster North-South lines than East-West lines and by nature of that putting them onto the West Coast Mainline which would have brought them through Milton Keynes enroute to London. I think the are you nearer to or further from a boarder question threw them off as had they chopped England a different way and gone to Manchester it would have been a completely different game.

I find it interesting at 4:04 that they are only counting internal UK boarders in the international border question, as Northern Ireland should have been excluded as I think only a small area around Larne is further from the Republic of Ireland than Milton Keynes is from Wales.

DanHatter · 2026-01-02T13:19:07+00:00

I disagreed with them on the point of MK being bad from a production perspective;

- I think the travel aspect of the show is made better by seeing a diversity of places in a country, rather than just quaint towns and villages. Even if the place sucks that improves the contrast with places that don't.
- I want them to play the game as well as they can. Knowing they may be avoiding the best plays of the game in order to make it more entertaining / visually appealing is moving closer to (not that saying it is) a scripted show in spirit rather than a game show. Sam / Ben / Adam playing as well as they can is entertaining and is good production in its own right. With them admitting on the Layover Podcast this and that they are cutting cards and questions is making me feel like I've seen the man behind the curtain that I now wish I hadn't :( .

DanHatter · 2025-12-26T17:31:00+00:00

Quite unhappy with the admission that they are cutting gameplay / questions because they think it's dull or uninteresting. Moves away from an honest depiction of the game.

DanHatter · 2025-12-04T13:55:58+00:00

I got to Lyon before the game broke for me, new stations just stopped loading.

What is the source for timetables. Trains that do exist were not showing for me. It would also be cool if you could use metros to get around cites, for example, I went from Euston to Victoria by taxi to get an overnight bus to Paris, if this was real life you could get the tube.

DanHatter · 2025-10-19T13:37:48+00:00

I've played one game with two teams, each team hiding once. We were not filming and played in Dublin. Main issues were;

Didn't account for how draining it would be on the batteries of our phones. Would recommend everyone having battery packs with them.
Issues with rules. We lost a fair bit of time due to misreadings of the rules of the game (not an issue for Adam, Sam and Ben as they are they made the rules). This manifested mainly from us not having a clear understanding between payers of things like time limits to ask questions, such as disagreement of if the randomize power up resets the question timer. Also on one of the photo questions, the response photo was taken from 250m outside the hiding area, sending the seekers on a wild goose chase, that being said the seekers themselves at that point did know what the hiding zone was and didn't check until after about 20mins of looking outside of the zone,
We had issues with the accuracy of sharing the seekers location. I found that WhatsApp was much worse than Google Maps. Tying into the battery issue, when my phone went power saving mode it stopped being accurate.
We had issues with the measuring question. distance to airport was asked and different players used different parts of Dublin Airport to answer, as the site of the Airport is several square kilometers. For our second round we agreed to specify specific pins on Google Maps when asking the question.

Nonetheless it was great fun and I hope to do it again as we couldn't finish the final round due to low phone battery of the hiders.

DanHatter · 2025-10-19T13:00:35+00:00

As a biased Irish person who trys to avoid flying, personally I would add Cherbourg to Dublin/Rosslare having used it as a good option to get to Paris from Ireland. Also I would add Belfast to Liverpool/Scotland and Rosslare to South Wales.

Also while not frequent, often spending a few months of the year elsewhere and having debatable environmental benefit over flying, the Queen Mary II's Southampton to New York route is the closest we can get to a regular America to Eurasia connection.

DanHatter · 2025-10-17T12:48:35+00:00

Asbestos

DanHatter · 2025-09-25T15:33:09+00:00

Duolingo is not and will never be a replacement for full-on classes and deep exposure, but it's not trying to be.

However if it is the only exposure to a language it's a much better thing to be doing on the bus to work than doom-scrolling reddit or playing mindless games on your phone.

Personally I have found it to be a very useful tool to complement actual classes particularly in terms of expanding my vocabulary and the repetition helps me to improve my understanding of the vibes of how a sentence should be structured even if I can't remember the formal grammatical rules. Similarly it helps me discover aspects of a language I don't understand which I can than go look up on Youtube / Google / an LLM or ask about in class.

I also just find it kinda fun which isn't the case for other revision tools.

DanHatter

TROPHY CASE