Was looking into options here in my city in Canada recently to take a Manadarin class. Specifically I was looking for beginner courses aimed specifically at english speakers, and was surprised at how limited the options were. Then I remembered that several years ago the government went on a racist tirade where they shut down most of the Confucius Institutes in the country for frivolous (racist) reasons. Very disappointing as most of the current options seem to be more aimed at Chinese diaspora who have a background from home but need to practice. I tried before a Mandarin class that was more similar to this when I used to be in uni and struggled heavily as one of the only non ethnic Chinese people in the course. From what I recall the Confucius Institute used to offer classes geared towards adult anglos similar to the way Alliance Française does, but now that option just seems to be gone. Truly this country sucks.
absolutefuckinidiot
Would absolutely love to see some of these interviews if they are easy for you to share !
its so true, and yet when I talk to american friends who live in smaller cities they are envious of the urban development that occurs here even. Sad state of affairs in North America
It's really hard to fathom how quickly things have changed in China in the past ~20 years. I haven't been there since early 2017 which doesn't feel that long ago, but I'm planning another trip there hopefully for next year and I already know to expect massive changes since then.
Meanwhile in my city here in Canada the fact that we have built a half dozen decent residential towers and put in some bike and bus lanes downtown since then is sadly good progress compared to a lot of cities on the continent. Truly just different levels of progress in China.
I want to know how many fortified wines deep you have to be to decide that Dresden should go to the Chinese communists but Munich goes to the nationalists.
They should have just decided that Germany is the one PvP zone in the entire world. Sharpening of contradictions leads to civil war in your country ? No need to totally wreck the place, both sides just send their troops over to Germany where they can fight it out. Instead of the current civil war in Sudan displacing millions and destroying infrastructure, each side could have just sent their best fighters over to Germany to settle things. Something to think about.
Based only on reading this thread I find this all very confusing and unnecessary, but this is the sort of strange niche drama that only small independent message boards can offer, just not the same on corporate social media, sorta gotta love it.
I’m almost finished playing Zelda: Wind Waker for the first time in about 10 years.
Firstly it feels crazy to me that its now been as long since the HD Wii U version was released as it was from that release to the original.
Great game though, amazed I still remember where almost everything is. Exploring the ocean in the first half of the game has always been one of my favorite parts. It does a great job of capturing a whimsical sense of adventure for me.
My biggest criticism of the game is that it feels like its about 2 dungeons light. There should have been one on the Great Fish Island for the last pearl before you get the Master Sword and there should have been one more after that with a 3rd sage.
I remember this being commonly held belief back in the day that the game was probably a bit rushed, but it definitely sticks out more to me now than I had recalled.
Overall still one of my favorite Zelda games, I hope one day they go back to making this sort of style of 3D Zelda because the new ones just don’t do it for me.
I hope not I steal a lot of memes from there
I've done what I feel is a pretty good job ignoring US election (canadian here), but the liberal head loss over this I sadly cannot ignore. Otherwise reasonable people acting as if the world has ended when this man has already been president ? Some of the same people who agreed with me that KKKamala is not in any capacity a "harm reduction" vote acting as if martial law has just been declared or some shit ? Maybe I'm just the disagreeable asshole but I just find this behavior sad.
Obviously fuck Trump should go without saying how pathetically shitty that dude is but I mean come on. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been murdered and terminally wounded under the democrats, not trump. Roe v Wade was overturned under the democrats, not Trump. We have witnessed one of the most acute transfers of wealth to the ultra rich under the dems, not the republicans. The war in the Ukraine started and was goaded on under Biden's admin, not Trump.
I'm not trying to say in any sense that things will get a single iota better with republicans in office but I feel like I'm taking crazy pills seeing the reactions online and from people I would consider to be rational individuals. They might even be right that these things will get worse under another Trump admin more quickly or in different ways than if Kamala won, but still I find the reaction to it ridiculous.
Not that any american needs to or should care about my opinion considering I'm relatively removed from the situation but like, am I being unempathetic or unreasonable ?
I’m going to extremely highly recommend the movie Mandy from 2018 with Nicolas Cage. Its sorta a horror movie but its mostly just an absolutely bizarre and unsettling experience.
Second half might be bit gory I honestly cant recall but I don’t think too bad. Anyway I cannot recommend it enough if you like freaky and disturbing type horror movies.
I would echo other sentiments in this thread and say go attend local non-league matches, by far the best way to experience the beautiful game.
If you gotta pick a PL side though I gotta advocate for Arsenal, been a diehard supporter for almost 20 years even though I’m from Canada. I like other commentators shout for Crystal Palace as well if you wanna follow a not as popular club, always had a soft spot for them.
Premier League football is of an amazing skill level and is wildly entertaining but imo requires a level of cognitive dissonance to enjoy, as do most treats I guess.
If its anything for you there like my city than the Hasidic/Orthodox Jewish people are probably some of the strongest voices in the community speaking out against genocide in Palestine. Ridiculous propaganda angle to go for, anyone actually involved in street level community would know its bullshit.