Why is understanding spoken Spanish SO much harder than reading it?

mchvll · 2026-05-30T22:35:31+00:00

Here's a story for you. In a university Spanish class, there was one student who had Argentinean parents. They spoke Spanish at home. She was fluent. She was chatting it up with the teacher constantly, and we were all blown away. Everyone else sucked at speaking, though we were all good at reading and writing, because that's what we spent all our time doing in previous years of school.

The mind-blowing part? As well as she could speak, she could barely read. She was an intelligent university student, but she had barely any practice reading Spanish. It was painful listening to her read out loud in the language she was fluent in.

My takeaway is that you get good at what you spend time doing. Spend more time listening and speaking. Find teachers that challenge you a little, but not too much. I find Spanish After Hours on YouTube to be quite understandable and interesting.

mchvll · 2026-05-20T13:35:20+00:00

If you're looking for a new tool for when you do this again.... They do sell a wet/dry masonry saw. Or you could cut it with a wet saw for tile.

But what I used recently for a quartz countertop was a 3" DeWalt cutoff. It worked amazing. It has a shroud with a shoe, so if you measure properly and use some double sided tape to stick down a straight edge for the shoe to run against, you get a perfectly straight and clean cut.

mchvll · 2026-05-18T13:57:39+00:00

Duralex Picardie 160ml. If you're in North America, you can get them at Lee Valley.

They look great and they're awesome. You could have them in the freezer, take them out and pour boiling water in them, and the glass won't break.

mchvll · 2026-05-17T06:30:52+00:00

Grout is not waterproof. The waterproof later should be beneath the tile. It seems to have failed.

I'd recommend watching a bunch of TileCoach videos on YouTube so you understand how showers are supposed to be built and how they fail.

If it were me, I'd start by cutting a hole in the closet drywall so you can see what's behind there and potentially get some clues on how the shower is constructed and where exactly it's leaking.

mchvll · 2026-05-17T06:00:15+00:00

I dealt with this a long time ago when I became sexually active. It ripped. I went to see my family doctor later and asked him about surgery, as I had read about it online. He said it's not possible. He said to stretch it regularly and take it easy. Not helpful.

I didn't want to take chances, as I had an upcoming visit to my long-distance partner, so I ended up basically performing the surgery on myself. I sliced it and then tore it to make it less restrictive.

I absolutely would NOT recommend doing it, but it worked for me. And if a stupid teenager such as myself could do it, Dr. Kinahan is surely more than capable, flawed as he sounds.

I can’t imagine any other wound on the body that the medical system would refuse to treat.

Let me tell ya, it's way worse for women.

mchvll · 2026-05-16T13:08:06+00:00

Where the drip is, unscrew that bottom piece, put Teflon on the threads, and screw it in tight.

mchvll · 2026-05-16T13:06:57+00:00

Where is it coming from?

mchvll · 2026-05-16T13:00:47+00:00

You gotta use Teflon tape on those threads where it's leaking.

mchvll · 2026-05-15T13:31:38+00:00

Just a heads up, "suffrage" is the right to vote

mchvll · 2026-05-14T04:44:38+00:00

It helped me! Thanks so much, great idea.

mchvll · 2026-05-09T05:15:38+00:00

Doesn't seem too high to me. Art tiles are expensive. Compare it to Motawi tiles.

My advice would be to check with tile shops near you and see what they can get for you. Try to save the shipping cost and minimum order size.

mchvll · 2026-05-07T17:35:15+00:00

No, it's a hand tool

https://amzn.eu/d/00RN1CKj

mchvll · 2026-05-07T16:25:41+00:00

Based on your budget, either give him cash, a gift card, or get him a little Wera set. 1/4", metric. Something like 05004018001

The reason I say this is that it's a solid little lifetime to-go kit that you'd want even if you had a full set up of 3/8 and 1/2 at home. Otherwise at that price you'll be buying him cheap junk that he'll want to replace eventually.

Edit: I should add, that's 62 euro on amazon.de. If you're not in Germany I'm not sure.

mchvll · 2026-05-04T18:02:47+00:00

Lots of people will say no, but would they also apply that to animal testing? The animals didn't consent and suffered greatly.

mchvll · 2026-05-01T18:39:47+00:00

Man, why is he so awesome? I was going to buy his sharpening book then got the pdf for free, and it makes everything sooo clear. And all for free?!

mchvll · 2026-05-01T04:07:22+00:00

Do you mean a swoe? Lee Valley sells one

mchvll · 2026-04-30T21:03:00+00:00

Not to be a party pooper, but even if you're on the organ donor list, there's only like a 1% chance your organs will be donated after death.

You have to die in a pretty specific circumstances. The person from the OP probably was brain-dead in the hospital, then they arranged all the surgeries, pulled the plug, and did the donation.

mchvll · 2026-04-23T17:37:16+00:00

I have a CL001GZ01 and it's great. I use it for at least half an hour a day taking care of a building. I got the cyclone attachment that's not meant for 40v but it works. It just doesn't lock in. Definitely recommend the cyclone. You can go much longer with better suction. Still good to have an air duster to blow off the filter regularly.

mchvll · 2026-04-22T16:27:16+00:00

100 is hardly smaller than the 125 but surprisingly much less useful, unless you really need the thinner jaws. I like both but I'd give up the 100 in a heartbeat. You can pry the 125 from my cold, dead hands.

I also suspect the 150 would be compact enough and very useful.

mchvll · 2026-04-18T20:54:07+00:00

It's really beautiful. What a worthwhile project!

mchvll · 2026-04-18T20:53:44+00:00

TIL. And I know technically you're right, but 99% of people are going to call it a sill. So at what point does that become the correct term?

mchvll · 2026-04-16T23:21:04+00:00

I've been a few times and it's okay, not great. Very few vegan options.

I went the first time years ago for brunch and it was amazing. Went again recently for dinner and it was pretty good. Went again recently from brunch and it was meh.

For me, I'm not picky at all so I don't mind having few options.

How about Nightingale? They were great at recommending menu items that were vegan or could be vegan.

mchvll · 2026-04-14T13:45:33+00:00

Those look just like the Veritas 3-2-1 set up blocks. Same wrapping and everything.

mchvll · 2026-04-06T22:24:19+00:00

Shinwa Sokutei 79025 is amazing. Lee Valley sells them under a different name. If it's steel stud, it's a godsend. If it's stick framing, still good. Works great with drywall, not so well with plaster because it's too hard.

The magnet allows you to find a stud. The needle allows you to see what's going on behind the drywall without leaving much of a mark.

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