The Off Topic Topic

[garbon]

Disagree wholeheartedly.  What's offensive should be determined by consensus, not fiat.

You are just setting yourself up to feel unsafe and oppressed Yi.

Oddly that stemmed from a discussion about white people and how terribly oppressive it is when they have dreadlocks.

[Duque de Bragança]

I would imagine with the internet that is changing though right?

I think so, but the SMS spelling is prevalent on the Internet for teenagers e.g T TRO LOL (I'll let you guess what it means). I still think my generation has a much better English than the parents' generation but I'm not a teenager who only knows SMS spelling if we're going by clichés, with some basis on reality.

[DGuller]

I think we get something like 10 homicides a year here (for roughly 700k inhab). The closest I've ever been to one was when they found the walled in corpse of one of the neighbours down the hall. Found the killer back in Cuba IIRC.

Wow.  That's even more impressive considering you guys don't have guns to protect yourselves.

[Valmy]

Disagree wholeheartedly.  What's offensive should be determined by consensus, not fiat.

You are just setting yourself up to feel unsafe and oppressed Yi.

Oddly that stemmed from a discussion about white people and how terribly oppressive it is when they have dreadlocks.

Man it does not take much to oppress people.

[derspiess]

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

[PDH]

Man it does not take much to oppress people.

We are a people that love our offensensitivity.

[The Larch]

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

Portuguese people are actually quite adept at learning new languages. Us Spaniards get to play imperialist when we visit, as most Portuguese will know enough Spanish to strike a conversation, while it's really difficult to find a Spaniard with enough fluency in Portuguese for that. 

[garbon]

Disagree wholeheartedly.  What's offensive should be determined by consensus, not fiat.

You are just setting yourself up to feel unsafe and oppressed Yi.

Oddly that stemmed from a discussion about white people and how terribly oppressive it is when they have dreadlocks.

Man it does not take much to oppress people.

I really appreciated the depth of thought put into this. Both in research and decision. I have struggled greatly with my white friends who have dreads because they are good people and I love them dearly, but it still hurts when I feel they don't understand why its offensive. I realize it's impossible to relay that concept to every single white person with dreads I run into and I've put a lot of energy into trying to let go of that anger and hurt so it doesn't bog me down.
It gives me a lot of faith and hope that there are people out there like this who are willing to show true allyship, self reflection and solidarity. Thank you.

http://shaynastock.wordpress.com/?p=700&preview=true

[Duque de Bragança]

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

Portuguese people are actually quite adept at learning new languages. Us Spaniards get to play imperialist when we visit, as most Portuguese will know enough Spanish to strike a conversation, while it's really difficult to find a Spaniard with enough fluency in Portuguese for that. 

Unless it's a Galician who speaks a Northern Portuguese dialect anyways. 

Back to der Spiess
Compared to Spain, Italy and France, for sure.
Besides, IKK's English is a good as his Portuguese, his mother language.
I'm more sceptical of Austria being in the top tier as well.

[The Larch]

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

I was analysing this with my co-worker the other day. It really doesn't make sense in places.
http://www.ef.nl/epi/

Portugal is high proficiency?  Did IKK move to Brazil or something??

Portuguese people are actually quite adept at learning new languages. Us Spaniards get to play imperialist when we visit, as most Portuguese will know enough Spanish to strike a conversation, while it's really difficult to find a Spaniard with enough fluency in Portuguese for that. 

Unless it's a Galician who speaks a Northern Portuguese dialect anyways. 

We're an oddity. 

I remember when I was doing my Erasmus in Rome I was at a party, and I started chatting with this Portuguese dude in a room of the house we were in, with plenty of other people around. Then at some point there were only Portuguese people in the room, and somebody started talking about "os fodidos espanhois" and I said something like "hey guys, I'm right here", and somebody else said "You're Galician, you don't count". 

[Valmy]

I really appreciated the depth of thought put into this. Both in research and decision. I have struggled greatly with my white friends who have dreads because they are good people and I love them dearly, but it still hurts when I feel they don't understand why its offensive. I realize it's impossible to relay that concept to every single white person with dreads I run into and I've put a lot of energy into trying to let go of that anger and hurt so it doesn't bog me down.
It gives me a lot of faith and hope that there are people out there like this who are willing to show true allyship, self reflection and solidarity. Thank you.

http://shaynastock.wordpress.com/?p=700&preview=true

Wow you have got to be kidding me.  But that does not even make any sense dreadlocks have been a style in dozens of cultures all over the world, why would it be especially offensive to any one person?

[Grey Fox]

Picking a good headset/headphone is the hardest thing ever. Especially when you don't want to spend more than ~80$

Right now I use Sony MDR-100s but they are dieing & I'd like something louder and maybe something USB based instead of 3.5mm, my front connector on my case died.

I like Logitech's G430 or Afterglow Universal Wireless Headsets.

Languish, any opinion on the subjects?

[jimmy olsen]

PS : Spain and Italy strike me as having English levels comparable to France, judging by work acquaintances with comparable backgrounds, that is not so good.

Yeah the French are really bad at English.  I found that amazing considering they have it every single year of school but according to the French people I met they just never use it.  As an American I totally get that.  You could teach us Spanish 5 hours a day for 20 years and we would still be terrible. 

I would imagine with the internet that is changing though right?

One out of ten Americans speak Spanish though, there's no English speaking minority to speak of in France. Aren't you from Texas? Don't you run into Spanish speakers regularly?

[garbon]

I really appreciated the depth of thought put into this. Both in research and decision. I have struggled greatly with my white friends who have dreads because they are good people and I love them dearly, but it still hurts when I feel they don't understand why its offensive. I realize it's impossible to relay that concept to every single white person with dreads I run into and I've put a lot of energy into trying to let go of that anger and hurt so it doesn't bog me down.
It gives me a lot of faith and hope that there are people out there like this who are willing to show true allyship, self reflection and solidarity. Thank you.

http://shaynastock.wordpress.com/?p=700&preview=true

Wow you have got to be kidding me.  But that does not even make any sense dreadlocks have been a style in dozens of cultures all over the world, why would it be especially offensive to any one person?

Indeed, there were thankfully several comments in that direction on the linked posted.

It seems some people might quite an effort to just be offended at all times.

[Valmy]

PS : Spain and Italy strike me as having English levels comparable to France, judging by work acquaintances with comparable backgrounds, that is not so good.

Yeah the French are really bad at English.  I found that amazing considering they have it every single year of school but according to the French people I met they just never use it.  As an American I totally get that.  You could teach us Spanish 5 hours a day for 20 years and we would still be terrible. 

I would imagine with the internet that is changing though right?

One out of ten Americans speak Spanish though, there's no English speaking minority to speak of in France. Aren't you from Texas? Don't you run into Spanish speakers regularly?

Sure I run into them, but they can speak English.  Generally it is really bad here.  A lot of second or third generation Mexican immigrants can barely speak Spanish.  It makes no sense but there it is.