“That’s a shame,” Walz said, responding to the GOP news. “If your Republican representative won’t meet with you because their agenda is so unpopular, maybe a Democrat will.”
“Hell, maybe I will,” he continued in a post on social platform X. “If you congressman refuses to meet, I’ll come host an event in their district to help local Democrats beat ‘em.”
National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) advised House Republicans to avoid in-person town halls with constituents and instead to host phone or livestreamed events.
If anyone was wondering, Duolingo just got even worse.
Duolingo was already on a downward spiral for years. I discovered it in 2015 and it was an incredible tool and I used it for a few years but then I started to notice a decline. It got worse and worse in a lot of ways.
I actually ended up having a surreal and jarring one-on-one conversation with Luis von Ahn, the founder and CEO, who reached out to me after a scathing critique I posted on Reddit started to get significant traction.
Talking to him was like talking to someone who had been brainwashed by a cult. I told him how I and others in my life had found Duolingo so useful and efficient for language learning, and that its usefulness was evidenced by me noticing a real-world improvement in ability to listen to, understand, and speak the languages I had been practicing, but that recent changes had made it dramatically less useful to where I needed to put much more time in to get the same amount out.
His response was like “But all our metrics are up, our data shows that our changes are working.” It was so frustrating. The metrics were all about engagement. He was showing people were spending more time practicing languages, not that they were getting more real-world ability to converse in those languages. Practice time was going up but actual language ability was going down. I tried explaining that to him but he seemed completely unable and/or unwilling to understand my point.
It was like talking to a wall.
I left the conversation with any remaining faith in the Duolingo leadership completely shattered, and I completely withdrew from using the site.
I now use Clozemaster to learn languages in place of Duolingo, and I think it is far superior it terms of efficiency, especially when combined with listening to material produced by native speakers.
If you’re looking for alternatives to Duolingo, here are some options that I’m aware of (and none of them are Babbel. Don’t use Babbel):
Busuu – Busuu is what I used while studying Chinese and Japanese, and the app is comparable to Duolingo.
MangoLanguages – Many library systems are offering access to this to free! Make sure to check to see if your library card gives you access to this resource.
Great Courses Plus – They also have a ton of language material, and are often offered through libraries!
Linkedin Learning – Multiple language (and other!) options, also available through many public libraries.
Anki – Gives you access to thousands of flashcards and the ability to make your own.
Pimsleur – Pimsleur is one of the most highly recommended language programs, especially if you’re working for a conversational level.
Other alternatives to consider are Youtube, often a great place for smaller schools and creators to post content. I supplement my classes with Easy German, and I used to be pretty reliant on EveryDay Chinese to practice my tones. If you’re looking to learn it, there’s bound to be a channel out there that is tailored toward your language learning.
A second resource to look into is textbooks with app learning. MaGraw Hill, for example, has a free app with practice material for the books you purchase. My German textbook is published by Hueber, and they also have an app. When you’re looking to self study, it’s definitely worth seeing if there’s a textbook to work out of that has built-in app support.
So with Joann going under and as a Fashion/Costume Designer and a cosplayer I need a place to get fabric and notions, and I know many others feel lost as well
So I made a short simple list of online fabric stores as well as notions .
Please share with anyone you would like. If you have recommendations of things to add please let me know.
As President Trump’s administration gears up to cut Social Security, The Washington Postreports that a top official at the Social Security Administration privately admitted that Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency is in charge of the cutting. In a startling concession, the official also allowed that DOGE will “make mistakes,” and expressed serious misgivings about what’s happening.
Musk’s role in ransacking Social Security is alarming, and cuts to Social Security historically face major political blowback. So, do Trump’s political team and the GOP really believe turning over Social Security to Musk’s marauders is a good idea? Do they think their disinformation powers are so formidable that they can overcome this too? […]
amhrancas 