The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

Practical Pig

Practical Pig

Well-Known Member
I've just learned that a Mountain Lion has been spotted near our back door. I'm used to the bears coming through our yard, and with a little caution they are pretty easy to ignore. They aren't trying to hunt people, just our garbage.

But a big cat is another matter. My mostly-indoor small cats just became indoor only.
 
TROR

TROR

Well-Known Member
I wish I had a better set of knowledge regarding creation. Being able to list the local trees and flowers in a region, or identifying birds, or knowing the constellations and the planets in the night sky. These are such good skills to have.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
TROR said:
I wish I had a better set of knowledge regarding creation. Being able to list the local trees and flowers in a region, or identifying birds, or knowing the constellations and the planets in the night sky. These are such good skills to have.
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Well, learning’s a life-long process, so I’m sure you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your wish before you know it! I’m spending some of my shelter-at-home time trying to improve my Spanish. And I’m no Spring Chicken.
 
TROR

TROR

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
Well, learning’s a life-long process, so I’m sure you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your wish before you know it! I’m spending some of my shelter-at-home time trying to improve my Spanish. And I’m no Spring Chicken.
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Come summer time I'm definitely hoping to read some books (somehow) about regional flora and fauna. I'm signed up for an astronomy class for next semester at college which I'm looking forward to.
 
Rich T

Rich T

Well-Known Member
TROR said:
Come summer time I'm definitely hoping to read some books (somehow) about regional flora and fauna. I'm signed up for an astronomy class for next semester at college which I'm looking forward to.
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Nice! I took one astronomy class in college, and I’m glad I did. Decades later I still remember specific lectures and labs.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Rich T said:
Well, learning’s a life-long process, so I’m sure you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your wish before you know it! I’m spending some of my shelter-at-home time trying to improve my Spanish. And I’m no Spring Chicken.
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I have decided I'm going to try and take all this spare time and try to finally learn ASL. I've been meaning to for years, I only know one friend who knows it because she works as a caretaker for special needs kids and one of them is mute. Another friend has learned a few signs for different objects / phrases just for fun, but he taught me the sign for "let's go" like to leave somewhere, and if we were ever in some large social situation and one of us wanted to get out of there we would slyly sign it to the other and we knew we should make an excuse to go. I have never met a deaf person so I don't even know what I would use ASL for currently, but I think it is a very important thing to know for the future. It's sort of like a "just in case" thing because you never know if someone you might end up working with or befriending will be deaf or someone they know will be deaf and you could communicate effectively with them.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Smooch said:
I have decided I'm going to try and take all this spare time and try to finally learn ASL. I've been meaning to for years, I only know one friend who knows it because she works as a caretaker for special needs kids and one of them is mute. Another friend has learned a few signs for different objects / phrases just for fun, but he taught me the sign for "let's go" like to leave somewhere, and if we were ever in some large social situation and one of us wanted to get out of there we would slyly sign it to the other and we knew we should make an excuse to go. I have never met a deaf person so I don't even know what I would use ASL for currently, but I think it is a very important thing to know for the future. It's sort of like a "just in case" thing because you never know if someone you might end up working with or befriending will be deaf or someone they know will be deaf and you could communicate effectively with them.
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You could talk about stupid people in front of you in line at Disneyland without them noticing or hearing you.
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
Smooch said:
I have decided I'm going to try and take all this spare time and try to finally learn ASL. I've been meaning to for years, I only know one friend who knows it because she works as a caretaker for special needs kids and one of them is mute. Another friend has learned a few signs for different objects / phrases just for fun, but he taught me the sign for "let's go" like to leave somewhere, and if we were ever in some large social situation and one of us wanted to get out of there we would slyly sign it to the other and we knew we should make an excuse to go. I have never met a deaf person so I don't even know what I would use ASL for currently, but I think it is a very important thing to know for the future. It's sort of like a "just in case" thing because you never know if someone you might end up working with or befriending will be deaf or someone they know will be deaf and you could communicate effectively with them.
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I took ASL for fun as an undergrad and it ended up counting as my foreign language.

I have used it multiple times outside of the classroom, including at places of work. You’re right about it being useful, just in case. I’ve also had to use my Spanish as well.

Languages are a lot of fun in general, but ASL is super unique and is much easier to learn than a speaking language, for me at least.
 
smooch

smooch

Well-Known Member
Phrubruh said:
You could talk about stupid people in front of you in line at Disneyland without them noticing or hearing you.
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Funny story that's somewhat related, my mom is from Czech, her and her family fled the country when she was 8 while it was a communist country and was still Czechoslovakia. She and her family are all fluent in Czech and in English and they will talk about people in public in Czech because it is such a rare language to speak here, from what they have noticed anyway. My grandma was in line somewhere with my aunt and said to my aunt in Czech how she thought the lady in front of them had really ugly glasses on and the lady in front of her turned around and in Czech told her "I like my glasses very much, thank you" and my grandma got incredibly embarrassed.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Smooch said:
Funny story that's somewhat related, my mom is from Czech, her and her family fled the country when she was 8 while it was a communist country and was still Czechoslovakia. She and her family are all fluent in Czech and in English and they will talk about people in public in Czech because it is such a rare language to speak here, from what they have noticed anyway. My grandma was in line somewhere with my aunt and said to my aunt in Czech how she thought the lady in front of them had really ugly glasses on and the lady in front of her turned around and in Czech told her "I like my glasses very much, thank you" and my grandma got incredibly embarrassed.
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My grandparents would speak Czech when they didn't want the kids to know what they were talking about. My dad learned Czech just to find out what they were talking about. He would constantly correct them on their grammar.
 
truecoat

truecoat

Well-Known Member
Smooch said:
Funny story that's somewhat related, my mom is from Czech, her and her family fled the country when she was 8 while it was a communist country and was still Czechoslovakia. She and her family are all fluent in Czech and in English and they will talk about people in public in Czech because it is such a rare language to speak here, from what they have noticed anyway. My grandma was in line somewhere with my aunt and said to my aunt in Czech how she thought the lady in front of them had really ugly glasses on and the lady in front of her turned around and in Czech told her "I like my glasses very much, thank you" and my grandma got incredibly embarrassed.
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Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine knew the Korean nail salon employees were talking about her in Korean. She brought George's dad with her as he could speak Korean and busted them. It was pretty funny.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
Mac Tonight said:
Helping run a summer camp that teaches English to kids (been doing it almost every summer since 2010).
Also visiting friends in Prague, one of the most amazing cities on Earth.
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That's wonderful. I trace my ancestry to my great great great grandfather born in 1810 in Hradec Králové , Czech. I've had trouble going back any further since the church our family records where stored in was destroyed in WWI.
 
Mac Tonight

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
Phrubruh said:
That's wonderful. I trace my ancestry to my great great great grandfather born in 1810 in Hradec Králové , Czech. I've had trouble going back any further since the church our family records where stored in was destroyed in WWI.
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Ah man, that's sad. I've never been to that region of the country. Sadder still when you realize how much of the country has been ravaged due to war.
 

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