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Joined 2 days ago
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Cake day: June 8th, 2025

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  • I don’t think so, BUT the usefulness of it will vary depending on where you live and work.

    I took five years of Spanish in school, last three were honors and I got college credit for them.

    I kept it up on my own, but in my area, mostly useless. Hilariously, I’ve gotta be the one person who who’ve benefitted more from taking all that time to instead learn French; there aren’t a ton of Hispanic immigrants in my area. What there are…a lot of Africans, many of whom speak at least a version of French. (They’re from places like the DR Congo that are former French colonies. Fun fact: a small few elderly Somalis still speak Italian for the same reason.)

    In the field I’m in now (private security,) any extra language skills will be useful. I speak English and Spanish, some Russian, some Welsh (from grandparents,) some Xhosa (South African,) and little bits of numerous others.

    The Welsh is mostly useless today, I’ll admit, haha.



  • Pro musician here.

    There are so many, but a hurdy gurdy has gotta be up there. Played by someone who knows more than the basics, it sounds like something a medieval king would demand played to relax.

    (They’re also among the most expensive instruments out there, as the only makers today are extremely talented individual ones; no big company like Fender or anything makes them. If you see one, you know it was handmade by a master.)

    I also love the sound of the Crwth. It’s from Wales, and is sort of like a regional spinoff/precursor to the violin.





  • See, this is something that can’t happen in the USA (yet,) but is easy-peasy in the rest of the world.

    Don’t give avowed authoritarians positions of power. Yes, their membership in a hate group can be used to limit their opportunities. You make a choice by joining a recognized hate group, you gotta own it.

    ……except in the USA, where hate groups are just fine and dandy for governmental spots. (Perhaps encouraged in some cases.)

    Yet another thing the rest of the world gets right that we’re sorely behind on.