RBWells
@RBWells@lemmy.world
- Comment on Is possible to learn to swim, just by reading a lot about it? 16 hours ago:
When I was a dancer - if one of us was injured, they made us come & watch the practice because apparently your body does gain knowledge just by watching.
But that was with a baseline knowledge already.
I think it would help, learning about swimming before doing it. More so if you are already physically active in some other way though.
- Comment on Are some people just unable to become fluent in a foreign language? 1 day ago:
English to Vietnamese or Vietnamese to English is harder than, say English to Spanish or Arabic because the sounds are so very different - I am sure I simply can’t hear some of the different sounds in tonal languages, and had a friend who moved here from Taiwan when she was so young she learned better in English than Taiwanese but still she could not hear the difference between ear and year.
I don’t think it’s impossible but do think it’s unusual. My dad was bilingual English and Spanish and I wish my parents had done the “one speaks English one speaks Spanish” language immersion but we only spoke English at home.
- Comment on How can I improve this? It's my current living and bedroom. 2 days ago:
Knee pads?
- Comment on Why don't Americans use electric kettles? 2 days ago:
Huh. I have. Didn’t know what it was, but heated the water, dropped in a spoon and it boiled over aggressively even though it didn’t look like it was boiling.
We do use a kettle, this happened at work - the microwave there was a lot stronger than mine, and I couldn’t get the water to look like it was boiling.
- Comment on Anon has a warning for incels 2 days ago:
You know - the only thing you can really control at all is yourself. So it can be true that the world sucks, but making yourself suck is not going to do anything except hurt you, yourself.
So regardless of the outside circumstances, the best action is always to work on yourself. Generally speaking that does make you look differently at your circumstances too, so that you might be able to improve your situation with some action but even if those circumstances don’t change you are still better equipped to deal with them.
- Comment on is homophobia associated with homosexual arousal 3 days ago:
Has this man never eaten a sandwich? Pizza? French Fries? Tacos? What is this nonsense?
- Comment on Anon describes experience 3 days ago:
Ha! Not religious, but yes from Catholic background both me & husband. I do like kids, and they are all glad now to have such an extensive network of siblings. White mostly by way of Southern Europe on my side, husband mostly by way of Eastern Europe.
- Comment on Anon describes experience 3 days ago:
4 I gave birth to plus 5 step kids - when we married 3 were already grown and 4 were in high school, only 2 were small (and we doubled up on birth control) so we didn’t have an impossible household situation. Enough kids to draw conclusions about the school system though.
- Comment on Anon describes experience 3 days ago:
I can believe this. Not fake, not gay. The math teaching of the past was so dumb. Even now, I have 2 kids who never got a bad math teacher and still love math; two who did (one teacher who actually thought women ought not get higher education) and those two do not
And a good math teacher is a treasure beyond words. Mr. Galing, if I could have had you teach my kids through high school I would have taken them anywhere.
- Comment on The Mayor of Calgary, Canada, just received this letter 5 days ago:
Dishonorable Devin Dreeshen.
- Comment on Why does everyone hate Income tax ? 6 days ago:
I looked at my paycheck (US) vs. one of our Danish colleagues when I was doing our payroll, and yes, the tax was about 45%, my federal withholding is much less but once you add in the deductions for 401k (unsecured pension scheme) and health insurance (that doesn’t cover anything except annual wellness until we pay in 8,000 USD) and social security (the fed pension being paid now to old people, and their healthcare) my deductions also leave about 55% of my pay for net pay.
The part I object to most in terms of cost there is the healthcare - my deductions may mirror the Danes but I don’t think they also have to cover the first 8k of cost out of pocket.
- Comment on Why does everyone hate Income tax ? 6 days ago:
I don’t mind really, just wish it was used for more things that helped society. And it needs to be a little more progressive, though it is the most progressive of the taxes we have here.
My ex MIL, who literally used WIC and welfare when she was a single mom, and leveraged that into a nursing degree, rails against welfare now and doesn’t want her taxes going to that, doesn’t want to pay. Not even in a pull the ladder up after herself way, she just refuses to admit she benefited from it.
- Comment on Look out its the D*tch 1 week ago:
Yes, the height of black and white men averages close to 5’10" here, and the height of black and white women around 5’5" I think, we do just have a lot of everyone here, except apparently not Dutch?
My husband & I are both about 5’9" and he says he feels dead average because sometimes he goes out and is taller than all the guys he passes, and sometimes goes out and is shorter than all the guys he passes, but usually doesn’t notice, I feel tall because I don’t notice if all the women I pass are shorter than me but really notice if many are taller than me.
- Comment on Wanna show me? Send a DM 1 week ago:
What a nice tail your cock has!
- Comment on In heat 1 week ago:
I had a Scottish boyfriend, he visited me in Florida in the summer and I remember him saying "mind you, the heat does make ya horny, don’t it?’ (about himself) so I guess I buy it.
- Comment on What do you call your mom (Or moms what do your kids call you) 1 week ago:
My kids call me Mom, step kids call me by my first name.
- Comment on Might be time to find another job 1 week ago:
The wasted space bothers me more. If I am bringing milk for my own coffee, I decant it into a small container. If bringing lunch that needs refrigerated, I take it out of the insulated lunch bag before putting it in the refrigerator! I see huge insulated lunch bags in there, are you literally insulating it against refrigeration, and do you need to take up a cubic foot for your sandwich and apple?
- Comment on Sign me up 1 week ago:
It’s a little worse than that, believe it or not. That site development was abandoned in the first place because of environmental concerns. So it’s harming the Everglades, keeping it from draining as well, meaning it could actually cause worse flooding in a hurricane, FEMA funds being used to make disasters worse.
- Comment on Moo 1 week ago:
Eee I Eee I oh!
- Comment on bisexual 2 weeks ago:
I always figured bi (or pansexual) was the default setting for humans. Most guys at least are flexible, if there is not a woman around any port in a storm, and if you weren’t raised with any conditioning it seems more normal to love individuals, not categories.
- Comment on My T-shirt size is L 2 weeks ago:
I’m guessing you are a dude. As a woman - I am usually a medium now, which makes logical sense, but sometimes need S or L, even in stuff from the same company. Or something called a 28 or 29, even though no part of me is 29" around. Sizing of clothing for women is wildly inconsistent, and even the size charts don’t help, they lie.
So I do use those recommendations.
- Comment on What are your approaches to donating? 2 weeks ago:
Local community radio, monthly.
A little towards anything I read or listen to, not often but as I can I do.
Towards disasters if work is doing a fundraiser, we have a charity arm and I know where the money is going as I work in accounting.
Directly to people, again as I can. This is the biggest $ category probably. If I have cash I will give it, don’t think about trying to sort out who “deserves” it, that’s not something I can or will do. Will pick up an extra meal occasionally if there is a homeless person around. And have given space in my house occasionally, though at least once did not when I really should have, there is an occasion I regret not offering that to someones I know - I think it would have helped them get back on their feet much faster but I was worried for my safety (from my ex not the people who needed).
I don’t consider myself generous in light of what I have, but still digging out from being poor myself.
- Comment on Why are ghosts never racist? 3 weeks ago:
They are not corporeal so why would they care what your body looks like? To them it is just some envelope holding you, right? Your soul I don’t think would have race, or sex, those are embodied things, skin tone being the most superficial of all.
- Comment on What is your age range for dating? 🤔 😮 3 weeks ago:
In theory maybe 10 years in either direction (I’m old) but in practice I’ve only had long term relationships with guys within a couple years of my age.
Lovers between times, for whatever reason I always ended up with younger guys, that seemed to be the people into me, but still never more than 10 years difference.
When I was your age? One or two years at most. Absolutely not anyone much older or younger, no.
- Comment on Why do some people hate drinking water? 3 weeks ago:
I don’t understand this either, but if you don’t like plain water, there are ways to make it taste different. Squeezed lemon in water is delicious, fizzy water is nice, there’s always Crystal Light, lol.
I love so many drinks but if I could only have one, iced water is it. It’s the best drink of all and goes with every food.
- Comment on what would it take for you to take back a partner who cheated on you ? 3 weeks ago:
The circumstances.
If it wasn’t a situation where it was a recurring character trait thing, but one time, unusual circumstances, quickly disclosed, STD tested before we did it again, and if we’d been together a long time first.
Now, having said that - I don’t think infidelity comes out of nowhere, if it’s not a person who just always will cheat, there are usually problems leading to it. So it’s unlikely to work out. But I might be willing to see if it could.
- Comment on *pat pat pat* 3 weeks ago:
Carlos for scale.
- Comment on [deleted] 3 weeks ago:
I don’t think you are crazy for not wanting to drive, but don’t think it’s a good idea to quit because of the accident, either. Your dad is right, everyone does get on an accident eventually. I had a very bad one that totalled my car (someone ran a stop sign) and the trauma made me a bad driver for awhile, so watch out for that. But getting back behind the wheel, overcoming your fear and becoming a competent and comfortable driver is a life skill that will help you, even if you decide that you don’t want to have a car. The life skill of getting back in the saddle after a fall (metaphorically speaking) is an even more important life skill. But driving in particular really is helpful - I mostly bike now, but being able to drive well comes in handy at least weekly.
- Comment on What are some good places/activities where a middle-aged man can new make friends? 3 weeks ago:
You are in Dallas? The main redeeming quality of Texas is the music. I wholeheartedly agree with this suggestion.
Also going out to the same places at the same time can pay off, you will make acquaintances and some may become friends. I see a group of old guys at the cafe I go to for coffee, pretty sure they are only friends because they go get breakfast at the Cuban place and ended up talking and sitting together.
I will say though, almost all my friends I met as adult came from work or from them going out with someone in my family. The medium level friends you are probably looking for. Do you not have work?
- Comment on Anon's split personality 4 weeks ago:
I think you mean her vulva. It’s fine, good even, to wash the outside bits (though every time you pee seems hella excessive, like OCD levels of excessive) the vagina is the inside part.