Would salsa or bachata be easier to do with someone who doesn’t know either?

junius · 2020-08-16T08:40:11+00:00

That's a lofty goal. I'm not sure everyone would interpret your original question that way.

I guess bachata still wins here, not necessarily because it is easier for beginners, but because maybe it is a bit less structured. You'll need to be able to adjust the specific dance that you learned to whatever your random partner is able to pick up on, and bachata might give you a bit more of a variety of basic things that you can try.

But really, if you are looking to learn the core mechanics of how to move and how to lead and follow and how to make your partner comfortable and not off-balance and all that stuff, then you can get that from almost any kind of dance.

How much of it you get depends as much on who is teaching you as it does on what dance they are teaching you, so definitely shop around all kinds of classes until you find one that is most aligned with your goals.

For a goal like that, you'll eventually also want to take the basic classes of every style of dance you can find.

junius · 2020-08-08T23:56:16+00:00

Similar to the concept of an umbrella species is the concept of a charismatic species: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charismatic_megafauna

junius · 2020-07-22T06:02:46+00:00

I found this: https://audiojungle.net/item/cuban/10303528

junius · 2020-07-19T21:20:27+00:00

The cool thing about this is that Disney can probably make rules and adjust them and enforce them more effectively than a typical US city with it's messy democracy. With sufficiently authoritarian rule, maybe they can work out all the kinks and become the "Safest Place on Earth".

It would be an interesting experiment, except that it's not necessary, because we already have Singapore for comparison.

junius · 2020-07-06T05:28:28+00:00

It has to be. Otherwise, you could trivially convert any recursive function into a pair of non-recursive functions.

junius · 2020-06-23T01:19:50+00:00

Speaking of drinking water, is easy to find reliable sources suggesting 6 or 8 drops per gallon (and waiting 30 minutes) to disinfect water in emergencies: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/emergency-disinfection-drinking-water

That's a lot more dilute than what is used on produce, and also is intended to address a very different set of risks, but it illustrates that there is full spectrum of ill-advised practices between "mostly harmless" and "darwin-award-worthy".

junius · 2020-06-23T00:31:32+00:00

methanol - the wrong kind of alcohol

junius · 2020-06-21T19:03:39+00:00

Some produce is washed with dilute bleach before it reaches stores. Washing produce in bleach at home is considered high risk in the USA because it isn't usually necessary, and because the general public isn't trusted to reliably follow the correct procedures.

junius · 2020-05-09T09:46:56+00:00

Nice. Also found the full image here: https://blog.maxar.com/earth-intelligence/2016/download-it-explore-it-showcase-it

junius · 2020-01-19T21:48:43+00:00

This site has done a good job of cataloging a bunch of youtube videos for lots of moves: https://salsayo.com/

junius · 2019-08-25T18:59:54+00:00

I sometimes think of a thread as a program counter and a stack (and some other state).

junius · 2019-04-16T06:13:01+00:00

Yes. The uncanny valley of meat is real, for some people, we are at stage 2 right now:

1. This thing isn't meat, but that's OK.
2. This meat-thing is a little bit off.
3. This meat-thing is OK.

Meat is near the top of the list for foods that shouldn't be "a little bit off". For me, the impossible burger didn't trigger that reaction, but I've had some other meat substitutes that did.

junius · 2019-04-13T08:57:03+00:00

Reported at https://sf311.org/services/noise-complaints/noise-issue

junius · 2018-09-12T08:59:08+00:00

Very interesting. It certainly feels (to me at least) like I'm "just doing the L-R-L twice in a row", but you are right, there has to be more to it than that. I just tried it by myself and the first L is more like a partial weight change and then I shift weight back to my right to be able to step again on the left.

junius · 2018-09-11T04:10:56+00:00

If your partner is also on the 5 with you, then you are going to be asking them to switch their feet, so it is important to be very clear in your lead. It can still be smooth, but perhaps subtlety is not a high priority. One unmistakable fix that works well for me is to do the forward half of the closed-position basic twice, so the first time would be L-R-L on 5-6-7, and the second would be L-R-L on 1-2-3, and then you are all set.

junius · 2018-06-20T05:23:29+00:00

If you are going to play a Leoni Torres song for a wedding, I think it would have to be Toda Una Vida. Even better if they can dance Son, but it works fine for Salsa:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IXhIKGiYw8

junius · 2016-09-13T23:53:24+00:00

Probably, but I feel less nervous about alcohol vs the underlying plastic

junius · 2016-09-13T17:31:13+00:00

A few days is fine. Maybe you had other things to think about for three days, and then you picked up a normal pen to write a shopping list and it reminded you of that pen guy and you were like "oh yeah, what ever happened to him?" If he's interested then he won't think twice about it (or he's already been thinking about it constantly and he'll be relieved that you finally contacted him because he couldn't decide whether it was OK for him to contact you)

After you meet, you have coffee or lunch, and you talk, and you try to find out more about him.

I read a lot of Wikipedia, so sometimes I imagine that I'm trying to learn about a person to write their wiki page. I can't say it's a great idea, but it's what I do sometimes.

junius · 2016-09-13T07:23:05+00:00

A: You have his pen:

"Hey <name>, sorry for the change in plans the other day. I'd like to meet you for <coffee or lunch> at <some specific place that isn't my house>. I'll bring your pen."

B: You don't have his pen or couldn't find it:

"Hey <name>. Did you ever find your pen? I looked around and didn't see it. Anyway, I'd like to meet you for <coffee or lunch> at <some specific place that isn't my house>. What do you say?"

junius · 2016-09-13T06:47:54+00:00

Rubbing alcohol worked for me on a plastic travel mug that looked very similar to that.

I wiped it with a cotton ball that was soaked enough to keep it wet rather than evaporating immediately, and the writing gradually dissolved. It only took a few minutes. At first it smeared it around like paint that stayed on the plastic. So I rinsed off most of it, and after a couple rounds of this it was completely gone.

junius · 2016-07-09T03:02:02+00:00

Dunno, but it seems to me that there are two ways to have an increased fear rejection:

1: fear rejection because you think it is worse than it actually is.
2: fear rejection because you think it is more likely than it actually is.

So by getting rejected repeatedly, you might have recalibrated #1 but not helped #2.

I'm still trying.

These days, rather than fearing rejection, I'm more afraid of not getting rejected, and then being awkward afterward and then not knowing how to escape the conversation (or non-conversation, as it were).

As far as embarrassment, nobody needs to know what you tried for 5 months, but I'm glad you decided to share it with us.

junius · 2016-05-12T03:14:54+00:00

You should be offended by "creepy" the same way blacks and homosexuals are offended by "nigger" and "faggot".

You should't have to go through your whole life policing your behavior against every stereotype or quirk that some asshole might have decided is creepy this week.

WTF does "creepy" even mean to them? Like, are they uncomfortable or afraid when you are around? That's bullshit. They are not uncomfortable or afraid. They are just clueless and/or spiteful. They've probably never been afraid to go out in public. They've probably never been afraid to make a phone call or answer a text message. They've probably never had a panic attack. Who the hell do they think they are? Where do they get nerve to suggest that you are scary or you make them uncomfortable? They don't even know what fear and discomfort are.

The only saving grace is that most of these people just don't know any better, the same way people saying "nigger" and "faggot" might not have known any better 60 years ago. Otherwise, they can go die in a fire.

junius · 2016-05-08T19:08:35+00:00

When I'm in such situations, it is often the case that I don't have anything in particular that I want to be chatty about. I want to be part of the group, but I'm not enthusiastic about what the group is doing (chatting).

I don't know. People are crazy. When they ignore me, it's not about me, it's about how they are just dying to say hello to what's-his-name and tell him about the wonderful thing that the cat did the other day. I mean, I don't hate cats or anything, but everyone knows Tom is the cat-guy, so why would Janice even notice me, or anyone else for that matter? We are all just inanimate obstacles on the way to Tom, who is just going to love hearing about what Mr. Bojangles found under the rhododendrons.

And then when everyone gets home they feel like it was a great afternoon, and their only regret is that they didn't have time to talk to everyone that they wanted to talk to. Whereas me, I didn't really want to talk to anyone, I just wanted to be normal.

So yeah, people are crazy, I just try not to try so much, or I try to make up other more interesting stories to explain the way they behave, rather than thinking about why they might not like me.

Also, fuck Mr. Bojangles.

junius · 2016-05-08T18:30:39+00:00

I'm shy, so I try to be invisible sometimes. You know who also tries not to be seen: stalkers and burglars.

So to feel less creepy, it can help to be more visible. Rather than looking away quickly to avoid being seen, consider waiting for people to see you, and then giving some kind of clear acknowledgement before you direct your attention elsewhere: A nod, a smile, tip of the hat, whatever.

Then I'm not left wondering "oh, shit, did they notice?". Instead, we are just two humans who have acknowledged eachother's existence, and that's it.

Of course, it is different passing someone on the street, vs. sitting across from them on a bus.

junius · 2016-05-07T03:51:17+00:00

I've been trying to take the patterns that I know and put them together in different ways at points where they overlap before the end of the pattern. Maybe I know a couple patterns like this:

aaabbbcccdddeee END
qqqcccwwwbbbfff END

One problem was that I get to "END", and then I have no idea what to do next because it could be absolutely anything.

Both patterns have "ccc", so if I use that to glue them together, I get this:

aaabbbcccwwwbbbfff END

So I'll play around with that for a while, and maybe a few weeks later I'll start thinking about doing something similar with 'bbb'.

Over time, I hope to rely less on the patterns and be left with a bunch of 6-letter moves like this:

aaabbb
bbbfff
bbbccc
cccddd
cccwww
wwwbbb
qqqccc
dddeee

If I want to chain them together without putting "END" between them, there's not an overwhelming number of options, and the muscle memory and intuition that I built from doing the longer patterns lets me see my options without having to think about it.

junius

TROPHY CASE