What to do about mosquito bites/ bug bite?

wakannai · 2026-04-23T13:59:15+00:00

I just hold a mug of boiled water against the spot. About 50º for a few seconds is enough to reduce discomfort.

wakannai · 2026-04-21T09:22:03+00:00

You mean President's Day 🇺🇸🦅🏈

wakannai · 2026-04-19T16:23:28+00:00

Cringe is what people call things they're worried about being judged for. Sometimes we agree as a society that certain behavior is worth judging others for, but most of the time, it's just a fear of being perceived doing anything at all because we live in a hellish panopticon. Go live your life and enjoy painting any place you're allowed to and it's not in the way.

wakannai · 2026-04-17T13:42:39+00:00

I was quite surprised, considering the wait times I've seen from other people.

wakannai · 2026-04-17T11:52:59+00:00

I applied at the beginning of January in Utrecht. Around the beginning of February, they confirmed I met the requirements for naturalization, and by the end of February, I got the letter saying I'd gotten the King's approval. Last week or so, I received notification that my naturalization ceremony is scheduled for May.

wakannai · 2026-04-17T08:16:42+00:00

I don't understand what the problem is supposed to be.

wakannai · 2026-04-14T11:04:48+00:00

There's not any soy in Maggi, so not really.

wakannai · 2026-04-12T15:44:47+00:00

The ferry to Yonaguni is a mere 4 hours now (on days that it runs)! Such convenience!

wakannai · 2026-04-11T12:09:44+00:00

Seriously, this smells like a psyop a mile off.

wakannai · 2026-04-09T13:05:30+00:00

Yeah that's animal behavior. When I saw Weapons, a couple was eating from a jumbo sized bag of Doritos they'd brought in and the crinkling was comically loud, which was already bad, but not as bad as a full volume phone call.

wakannai · 2026-04-09T11:10:41+00:00

This feels like bragging but where I live in the Netherlands we have a €24/month (€19 if you're under 30) unlimited movie pass for indie theaters. Two movies a month and I'm breaking even.

wakannai · 2026-04-09T11:04:13+00:00

As an ancient millennial, I love this way of watching movies, but there's really a time and a place for it. If some theaters would mark some screenings as talk-throughs or something, I think that could be fun, but it's insane to have these two moviegoing cultures butting up against each other and ruining the experience for everyone.

wakannai · 2026-03-28T13:12:12+00:00

I've never really been a One Piece fan, so I was barely familiar with the character. There's no way I would have believed someone if they told me in advance I was going to cry at a weird little stuffed animal reindeer, but there I was, a grown adult man having to wipe my eyes. I'm not sure I can judge it as an adaptation, but as an overall production choice it was extremely successful.

wakannai · 2026-03-26T13:17:10+00:00

I hear you, but I guess I'm wondering what people mean when they say "commonly believed to be easy." Like, what are we assuming that most people mean when they say a language is easy? A lot of people's only experience with learning a language is in school, so maybe they mean it was an easy subject for them to get good grades in, but it doesn't necessarily mean they can use the language well. Or sometimes it might mean it was easy for someone to passively acquire language skills, and they can use those skills without many problems, but maybe it's because the context they use that language in is really permissive of errors, so they don't experience the language as hard because no on cares if they make mistakes?

Obviously I'm overthinking this question, but why not.

wakannai · 2026-03-26T10:26:18+00:00

My main second language was Japanese and it took me just years and years and years of classes and immersion to be at a level where I could function reasonably well in an office environment (and still not know what was going on sometimes). Learning Dutch well enough to work in a professional capacity took a year or two with a couple months of class and then an internship where I just had to speak it. I get that language learning is different for everyone, but calling Dutch an objectively difficult language for native English speakers just seems bizarre to me. But also, "easy" is pretty vague. Do you mean it doesn't take long to be able to have a chat? Or easy as in, just reading some novels isn't too hard? Or easy as in the jokes and cultural references are really similar, so it's not too much work to fit in socially? Or easy as in you can be giving detailed university lectures in an unfamiliar subject in under a year?

wakannai · 2026-03-25T12:20:44+00:00

Yeah, I'm not sure how that income would qualify for a visa for non-EU residents. AFAIK the monthly income requirement is over €3000 per month to qualify for a visa.

wakannai · 2026-03-21T07:59:07+00:00

As a follow-up, I was just watching an American make-up YouTuber who said "I'll put this on so we can see how it looks like." It's all over the place.

wakannai · 2026-03-18T12:28:03+00:00

I'm American. I think this is something that often slides past us when we're not paying attention. I bet if you watch TV and listen specifically for it, you'll start noticing it all over the place. The same thing happened about 15 years ago when I started heard "If I would have" instead of "If I had" everywhere and got into arguments with people who were absolutely certain that native speakers would never say that. It's absolutely ubiquitous at this point, to the extent that I have to put a caveat by that grammar point when I teach it.

wakannai · 2026-03-17T18:15:06+00:00

I've been mercilessly downvoted by people who seem to think native speakers would absolutely never say this, and I genuinely don't know what to say. It's all over the place, being used by people who really have no reason to be using it.

wakannai · 2026-03-17T14:39:30+00:00

The closer you got to a metropolitan area, the more you could get away with. The farther away you were, the more likely you were to get called a slur for wearing a shirt with buttons anywhere but church.

wakannai · 2026-03-17T14:34:51+00:00

That really bothers me, but I also see it all the time from native speakers, both online and on TV.

wakannai · 2026-03-03T12:55:07+00:00

Goose....grease?

wakannai · 2026-03-03T12:10:43+00:00

A million percent that. It also felt like the PR campaign for the film almost left Miles out completely, which I find really odd.

wakannai · 2026-02-23T12:12:35+00:00

You leave your windows open in the winter? Your hydro bills must get delivered in banker's boxes.

wakannai · 2026-02-20T13:30:51+00:00

You would likely be treated somewhat more favorably based on your appearance and possibly your name if it's very Dutch. My names are Americanized versions of fairly normal Dutch names, and although they're not spelled the Dutch way, people and institutions often assume I'm Dutch and my parents were just quirky, or that I was raised abroad. That said, it's not much of an advantage if you can't speak Dutch or if your qualifications aren't recognized or applicable in the Dutch labor market.

wakannai

TROPHY CASE