The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[93boomer]

Daytona 500 Day
View attachment 264900

Happy Daytona 500 day!!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Impressive. I can muddle through French, only enough to understand the gist if I'm lucky.

My kids are pretty dang good at Spanish. When we were selling some things from the house that I wasn't moving we had many Spanish Bilingual people come to look. Many tried to flip from English to Spanish when they would discuss between themselves. One went as far to tell me in English she was going to her car to get her wallet, her elderly Mother said to her in Spanish, Only bring $100 and tell her that is all you have. My DD pulled me aside a minute later and clued me me. When she came back $100 in hand-no wallet I just looked at her and said we agreed on $150 and I don't agree with your Mom's instructions of only bring $100 'cause I'd take that. It is funny how many Americans speak Spanish these days especially the younger ones. Equally as funny the amount of Spanish speakers as first language don't recognize that fact. My DD deals with that at the Water Park frequently and they are frequently surprised when she flips to Spanish.

Spanish is such a useful language to know. I still plan on learning it one day.

 

[Gabe1]

Rant -- has anyone else noticed on Google lately that you can't copy and paste any images anymore? I'd always go to see pictures and I could copy and paste (funny dog, for example) into a post. Now you can't do that--it directs you to a page and says something about copyright? What the heck??

I've noticed this on twitter too. I can slurp up my own but it takes far more time on goodle and twitter to find ones that are not copyrighted.

There is a big brouhaha going on right now with a major online news company that has instructed their staff to find free images over having to pay to use or hire for photographs. Some of the staff writers are uncomfortable with that because the the associations they belong to are obviously and firmly against plagiarizing in any form without compensation. One of the most respected staff writers from there and other places is questioning if he can any longer be associated with that news outlet because their principles greatly differ. I believe it was last week when this was all over twitter when the poop hit the fan.

 

[Gabe1]

That's terrible! Kids and pools can be a lethal combination and things can go wrong so quickly.

It could have changed since I looked last but Disney and one other Line one that sails with an American Flag posted lifeguards on cruise ships. Most have 'deck' attendants around the pool however like the title describes they have other duties on deck that does keep their eyes off the water.

Disney used the Jeff Ellis system of lifeguarding. If you watch any Disney Lifeguard they have a specific method of scanning the water. You will see the guards heads move right, center up left and then bottom scan tipping their head downward so they can scan near the wall area that falls out of sight lines of the guard chairs or standing at edge of pool. Disney guards stand or pace at times because for whatever reason Disney built blind spots into many of their feature pools. That is also why you will see multiple guard stands and bends/curves. If you pay attention to the lazy rivers you will also see a new guard posted at every turn that creates a blind spot. My son when returning from his internship convened his (then) water-park to move from Red Cross to Ellis because of this and a few other best practices (in his opinion). He was certified as Open Water Search and Rescue, funny cause Disney was the first time he ever piloted a boat and a fast boat at that, but seeing he had been a long term lifeguard in high school and college the plucked him really fast for that role.

 

[donaldtoo]

Rant -- has anyone else noticed on Google lately that you can't copy and paste any images anymore? I'd always go to see pictures and I could copy and paste (funny dog, for example) into a post. Now you can't do that--it directs you to a page and says something about copyright? What the heck??

No problem here...

 

[donaldtoo]

It's a sad morning at our house. Our society finch "Mo" died overnight. We lost his mate "Miney" about 6 months ago, and now he is gone. Wondering if the shovel can break the sound under the snow, so Mo can be buried near his mate. My heart is breaking a bit this morning. Mo was a real songbird. How he loved it when we put his cage near the window in the nice weather. He would sing all day long, and hop from branch to branch. Or perch to perch in his cage. We had 6 finches, and now we have three left. Eenie, Meanie, and their baby Dottie.

Sympathy like.
RIP, Mo.

 

[donaldtoo]

Are you using your computer? What I do is click on the image, then I right click it to open in a new page and then I can right click it to copy. Then it should paste. With my iphone I have to save it to my phone first and then just upload it.

Yep, same here. I just save to my phone and then upload.
I can't remember the last time I was on our laptop. DWifey uses it way more than me, but, even she doesn't use it that often.

 

[Songbird76]

We've gotten slight touches of the flu even though we had flu shots. One year I put it off and was down a couple of weeks. During shortages we can always get the shot because of my DD respiratory allergies.

I've never had the Chicken Pox. My kids have never had the Pox either. My son at 2, 39 out of 40 kids at his daycare got the Pox, guess who didn't? As soon as that Pox vaccine came out they were the first in the Peds office to get it. Funny thing. Nurse berated me for wanting them vaccinated 'cause nothing was known about the vaccine. When the Doc came in I shared the warnings from the nurse and her disapproval and asked him what his thoughts were the same? I could hear his follow up talk with her outside the exam room. I had the same issue with a Nurse when my son was a day old. I had him sleeping on his back (he fell asleep that way) she yelled at me and told me if he spit up he'd die! Wonder what she tells new Mom's now that the recommendation is to put newborns on their back? It drives me nuts.

They recommend putting newborns on their backs there? Weird...here, they tell you to put them on their sides and teach you to brace them with a towel so they can't roll over on their backs, and every time you feed them and lay them back down, you switch sides.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

They recommend putting newborns on their backs there? Weird...here, they tell you to put them on their sides and teach you to brace them with a towel so they can't roll over on their backs, and every time you feed them and lay them back down, you switch sides.

That was what they told me. Eventually they all start rolling around anyway.

 

[Songbird76]

Just 3, Dutch, German and English. I can speak a few words and read a menu in a few others but not hold a conversation.

No French? It seems most schools require English, Dutch, German and French, and of course if you do Gymnasium, Greek and Latin too. My husband dropped French as soon as he was allowed to...he hates French. He can read a menu as you say, but that's about the extent of it. And I think he had some Latin but ended up dropping that, too.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I've noticed this on twitter too. I can slurp up my own but it takes far more time on goodle and twitter to find ones that are not copyrighted.

There is a big brouhaha going on right now with a major online news company that has instructed their staff to find free images over having to pay to use or hire for photographs. Some of the staff writers are uncomfortable with that because the the associations they belong to are obviously and firmly against plagiarizing in any form without compensation. One of the most respected staff writers from there and other places is questioning if he can any longer be associated with that news outlet because their principles greatly differ. I believe it was last week when this was all over twitter when the poop hit the fan.

My kids use Duolingo for foreign language. I started it to improve my lousy high school French, and have thrown in German for myself.

 

[21stamps]

No French? It seems most schools require English, Dutch, German and French, and of course if you do Gymnasium, Greek and Latin too. My husband dropped French as soon as he was allowed to...he hates French. He can read a menu as you say, but that's about the extent of it. And I think he had some Latin but ended up dropping that, too.

I took French in 8th grade and then 9-12 in high school. I can read it, but am not at all fluent. I’ve never taken formal Spanish yet I speak Spanish better than French.

My kid has been taking formal Spanish since preschool.. I honestly could care less if he ever learns French.. pretty language, although not so useful.

 

[Songbird76]

You say that, but pox gives you shingles that can randomly pop up from stress anytime. They're painful and even with medication they take a couple weeks to go away.

You can get medication? Man...my doctor totally sucks. He told me he couldn't do anything for me with shingles, just get this spray stuff that had a pain reliever in it to lessen the itching and pain. Thank goodness it was a very mild case, but it took more than a month to finally clear up.

 

[21stamps]

I think the key to a language is being surrounded by it.. for many years I could understand and speak Hebrew fairly decently, and I could Spanglish with the best of ‘em ... but we’re not around either language on a daily basis now, I’ve found that I’ve lost a lot of vocabulary since.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I took French in 8th grade and then 9-12 in high school. I can read it, but am not at all fluent. I’ve never taken formal Spanish yet I speak Spanish better than French.

My kid has been taking formal Spanish since preschool.. I honestly could care less if he ever learns French.. pretty language, although not so useful.

Being immersed in a language is so much better than just learning grammar which is how we were taught in school. I like your Stitch avatar by the way.

 

[Songbird76]

It's a sad morning at our house. Our society finch "Mo" died overnight. We lost his mate "Miney" about 6 months ago, and now he is gone. Wondering if the shovel can break the sound under the snow, so Mo can be buried near his mate. My heart is breaking a bit this morning. Mo was a real songbird. How he loved it when we put his cage near the window in the nice weather. He would sing all day long, and hop from branch to branch. Or perch to perch in his cage. We had 6 finches, and now we have three left. Eenie, Meanie, and their baby Dottie.

Sorry to hear about Mo. Do you know how it happened? Was he old for a bird? How are the other finches handling it?

 

[Songbird76]

I have to do a 500 word small essay of why I want to study in Ireland and to help my application for college. I'm at 100 words and have writers block.

How did you get the idea to study there? Did someone tell you about their experience and get you excited about it? Did you read about opportunities in a magazine or book? Perhaps you could tell the story of how you heard about it and how that made you feel...let them feel your passion for it.

 

[21stamps]

Being immersed in a language is so much better than just learning grammar which is how we were taught in school. I like your Stitch avatar by the way.

Agree! Thanks, I didn’t even know the “hashtag Stitch” was a thing until this past November.

 

[Songbird76]

You can get to the studio by public transportation, there is a shuttle bus that will take you there from the nearest train station as long as you have valid tickets for that day. The bus costs £2.50 pp return cash. From my apartment it takes about an hour to get to the nearest train station.
When are you thinking of visiting London?

I'm not really sure....I don't want DS to see spoilers and he hasn't seen the last 3 movies and is on book 3, so it may be a while. I also want to take them to WWoHP at Universal in Florida on our next trip, but London is a LOT closer and cheaper to get there. So I wouldn't really need to take much time off of work. We could just do a long weekend and only take 2-3 days off work. It would have to be in a school vacation. We're planning to go visit friends in Germany in the May vacation this year, so it probably won't be really soon, but I'm thinking about that. Also thinking about transportation between Disney and Universal since DME won't take us to Universal and I don't think Universal has a shuttle to the airport, but DH refuses to Uber or Lyft and he won't want to rent a car for 3 weeks if we're staying on property. I guess we'll see how it works out. Mostly I'm just thinking ahead because I'm super excited that my kids are finally Potterheads.

 

[Songbird76]

That was what they told me. Eventually they all start rolling around anyway.

Yep...that's how my DD got her stuffed Lady. My favorite Disney movie is Lady and the Tramp, so when I got pregnant, I wanted a Lady and the Tramp nursery. There was this store in Den Bosche where they had Lady and the Tramp stuff once in a while, which is hard to find. So we went there and they had this super soft, really cute Lady plush. I bought it immediately and when we set up the nursery, I put it in the corner of the crib as a decoration. When DD was about 8 months old, I came in once when she woke up and she had Lady with her. I thought nothing of it, put it back in the corner. When I put DD back down for her nap, she rolled right over and grabbed Lady by the ear and pulled her to her side. I put her back in the corner, and DD rolled right over and grabbed her by the ear again. She was not going to give her up, so Lady became hers. She is now almost 12 and Lady still goes with us wherever we go and sleeps with DD every night.