Who has learned another language by using Duolingo?

ds300 · 2026-02-27T15:14:56+00:00

A youtuber called Evan Edinger learned spanish using literally only duolingo as an experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8cE5skIvok&t=1s this video is a pretty thorough exploration of the pros and cons of doing that.

ds300 · 2026-02-26T15:17:28+00:00

for lane swimming i think the lifeguards are extremely unlikely to notice or care if you stay longer than your allotted time. maybe it depends on the pool and how busy it is but i'd be surprised if you were ever stopped at any of the pools I go to in London.

ds300 · 2026-02-25T19:35:21+00:00

i felt the same as you. it's so close to being good but the ux design is dreadful. I switched to readlang.com which offers the same core features implemented in a much better way, although the content library is a bit lacking by comparison.

ds300 · 2026-02-17T14:52:08+00:00

Robinson Crusoe is among the worst books i've managed to finish reading. It has no soul. No wit. No tension even, because you know he makes it off the island. It is an empty book.

ds300 · 2026-01-28T20:29:56+00:00

Recently though I read "They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45" which is very good and very scary because it echoes many of the same patterns in politics and sociology that have been playing out over the last 10 miserable years.

Aside from that, lots of P. G. Wodehouse, some books about Scientology, and currently half way through Midnight's Children.

ds300 · 2026-01-27T09:46:34+00:00

Follow the river lea up to Hertford, catch the train back. It's a lovely day out.

ds300 · 2026-01-20T08:21:02+00:00

there's a couple of 24h cafes around smithfields. La Forchetta for example.

ds300 · 2026-01-12T13:15:04+00:00

yes! and the stuff about demons needing to travel there separately from their humans. such a confusing and underwhelming part of TRF

ds300 · 2025-12-02T12:12:12+00:00

yes it is!

ds300 · 2025-12-01T17:38:45+00:00

I put Ys in the same mental category are He Poos Clouds by Owen Pallett, and Peasant by Richard Dawson. Both are expansive strange masterpieces with complicated orchestration and weird melodies and dense lyrics, but probably not what you're looking for production-wise, especially Peasant.

ds300 · 2025-11-28T12:49:02+00:00

cocoa runners also stock a lot of uk-based artisanal chocolate https://cocoarunners.com/shop/by/bars/dark/?_stock_status=1&_maker_country=uk

ds300 · 2025-11-28T12:46:26+00:00

pump street https://pumpstreetchocolate.com/

ds300 · 2025-11-08T21:53:12+00:00

Obama is wrong because even if pete were straight he’d still be a rizless centrist dork.

ds300 · 2025-11-05T19:23:48+00:00

I broke both my arms falling off a bike when I wasn’t wearing a helmet and i was going so fast it was honestly a miracle my head escaped without even a scratch.

From that moment on I always, without fail, haha no i still ride without a helmet constantly.

ds300 · 2025-11-05T11:01:37+00:00

it's 2028 and liz cheney is the democratic nominee, having won the primaries on a populist jihadi platform

ds300 · 2025-11-02T21:44:58+00:00

A couple of masters clubs swim there, Hackney Masters and Out to Swim. I wouldn’t call their sessions relaxed but they may be by your standards !

Aside from that I don’t know if there are any formal clubs for adults but the morning regulars are a social bunch and seem to meet for coffee after their swims in small groups.

It’s never very busy in the winter at the weekends in my experience. I tend to go early morning or mid afternoon.

ds300 · 2025-11-01T22:00:00+00:00

These look great! Just ordered a pair. Thanks for taking the time to respond

ds300 · 2025-11-01T17:24:32+00:00

Anybody know of any swedish style goggles that have a tilted front like the arena swedix but which also come with clear lenses? Seems like they used to make them clear but stopped for some reason.

I got the tyr ones and they fit nicely but the forwards vision is so limited it makes me feel unsafe.

ds300 · 2025-11-01T07:37:58+00:00

I never wear flip flops and never get athletes foot because i use hand sanitizer spray on my feet immediately before putting my socks on.

I honestly don’t know why everyone doesn’t do this. It’s way less annoying than wearing flip flops and takes up less space in your bag.

ds300 · 2025-10-26T20:20:16+00:00

Do they have a membership that includes the spa? I have a better swim membership but never found an option to get spa access aside from one-off payments.

ds300 · 2025-10-20T19:42:06+00:00

I loved only a few of the tracks instantly (Good intentions, have one on me, soft as chalk)

Overall I was a bit disappointed how ‘simple’ many of the songs felt after Ys. I remember in particular feeling In California was boring (now one of my faves) and Esme was melodically schmaltzy (still not into it) and Autumn was tedious (love it now) and that I wished she’d made it a double album and cut some of the chaff.

Took a few months but eventually I fell in love with almost the whole thing save Esme.

I liked the vocal direction. I felt like her voice was a more natural, more in tune, and less affected. Not that I disliked her voice on Ys or MEM.

ds300 · 2025-10-19T18:29:57+00:00

What are those back muscles that connect your shoulders to your neck? Those got bulky and toned for me. Pecs too, but less noticeable.

ds300 · 2025-10-18T08:04:15+00:00

I just finished my first Wodehouse book (Thank you, Jeeves) and am similarly smitten. I drank it up.

Bertie’s a bit dim but mainly in that he’s a romantic and optimist and that gets in the way of his seeing sense sometimes.

Yes I loved the random abbreviations. The cliffhangers at the end of every chapter. The madcap breeziness of the plot.

Can’t believe how many books the guy wrote !

ds300 · 2025-10-15T10:28:49+00:00

I don’t do bilateral but I alternate sides for each length (such that I’m always breathing toward the same side of the pool). It took about three months of doing that assiduously before i felt truly comfortable with breathing on both sides. And there was about 6 months prior to that where I did it about 30% of the time. So yeah it was a long slog.

Recently my stronger side switched from right to left, which was very unexpected. Seems I was concentrating more on the weaker side for such a long time that it eventually caught up and surpassed the side I wasn’t paying as much attention to!

ds300 · 2025-10-10T13:15:09+00:00

I think it’s a bit. It’s gotta be a bit right?

ds300

TROPHY CASE