

That can be annoying, but I can usually chase it out with one of the other songs that lives in my head. Sometimes I’ll put on a song in my head just because. It’s not always the same as the real thing, but it’s pretty good, especially the vocals.


That can be annoying, but I can usually chase it out with one of the other songs that lives in my head. Sometimes I’ll put on a song in my head just because. It’s not always the same as the real thing, but it’s pretty good, especially the vocals.


There’s pretty much always time to explain yourself if someone doesn’t understand. You could say it the first way that comes to mind, then pause and say it the second way. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to communicate. Sometimes you have to use your hands and feet, and that’s OK too.


It depends on where you’re staying and how much time you have. LA is big and you’ll probably spend a good amount of time in a car. If you can, get a nice rental car that’s not too big. Parking is often a challenge and some streets are narrow. If renting at LAX, the wait times can be long.
Go to the beach if you can. I like Redondo Beach better than Santa Monica or Venice. Pretty and less crowded. There are wide, paved walkways and places to sit and watch the ocean.
The Getty Villa is pretty and accessible, from what I remember. The museum too.
Hollywood isn’t that interesting unless you’re going to an event. If you want to see it, I’d recommend driving down Hollywood Blvd. between La Brea and Vine. Or check out Cahuenga Blvd. The Hollywood Bowl is great and has accessible options, but you should book well in advance and be prepared for a long drive or shuttle ride.
If you want glitz and glamor, go to Beverly Hills and drive down Rodeo.
Drive down Mulholland for a great view of the city, or go to the Griffith Observatory. Griffith Park is also nice and has picnic areas if you don’t want to walk.
Downtown LA isn’t really a tourist area to me, but there are good restaurants. Some of the hotels have rooftop lounges with great views. Or go to Little Tokyo and get sushi, ramen, or mochi.


It usually sounds like me. I can hear it in someone else’s voice if I’m thinking about something they said or might say. I can use other voices too, or make one up, but that takes more effort.
There’s also one that feels like a ghost of my real voice. That’s the fastest one to think in. It’s very neutral and colorless (for anyone else who thinks of voices in terms of colors).


I’ve been able to hear that too, for as long as I can remember. I don’t think that’s necessarily anything unusual when you’re the type of person who can hear earthworms cough. It sounds different at different times, like if I’m stressed or dehydrated.
There’s really a lot you can hear if it’s quiet and you pay attention. Eyes opening and closing, eyeballs moving, joints moving (neck and spine sounds different than knees and elbows), muscles contracting (different ones sound different).
I don’t need glasses. Haven’t had my hearing tested, but I think it might be better than average. I can hear high frequencies annoyingly well, 20kHz or a little more (checked with a spectrum analyzer). It’s fun to listen to the high harmonics in music. Vacuum cleaners and electric cars are less fun.
I can usually hear my muscles and bones moving. It’s very quiet and low frequency, and the muscles rumble. I can usually tune it out though.
Hearing is a backup sense.
That might vary by person, but for me it’s not. If I had to pick between being able to see and being able to hear, it’d be hearing, hands down. Being able to see is amazing and I’d miss it, but hearing is just a whole other dimension.
Being able to know how someone is feeling, just by hearing their voice. Listening to music and hearing all the shapes, colors, and feelings that come with it. The colors aren’t always ones you can see, like blue or yellow. It’s hard to describe. I’ll close my eyes and just listen at a concert (not the whole time) and same with TV, a lot of times. I usually remember it better that way.
If I have to find something in a backpack, I’ll often do it by feel. I probably look like a raccoon washing its food, but it just works for me. You can tell things apart by feel and sound.


I’ve heard that a lot, and I always thought it had to do with lazy talking (not moving your mouth much). I do think that’s part of it, and some people do that more than others.
But the thing about having a potato in your mouth is it pushes your tongue down and back, into your throat. Which is something you need to say the American “r” and a lot of other sounds, like “w” and the dark L like in “pull.” It’s hard to teach, and very hard to unlearn. It’s part of the characteristic American sound.
German is basically the opposite. You can see the difference here, with a German speaker talking in an MRI. There’s a lot of space between the back of the tongue and the back wall of the throat. And here’s a picture of someone saying an American “r”. The base of the tongue is all bunched up in the throat.


Yep. That works well unless you’re cooking at altitude, then an overnight soak is the best and easiest way. Unless you own a pressure cooker.
Some beans you can get away with not soaking at all, just cook them low and slow for a couple hours. I’ve done that with great northern beans.
That made me think of the screaming choir from Finland. He says
Do people need to shout? Yes, that is necessary. Human being comes to this world, it’s the first thing they do.
It feels good to go to a concert and just scream your head off.
Were you pretty sure the price would go down, or did you just roll the dice? I’ve watched prices at the places I’ve lived, and they only ever seem to go up. As in, I’m paying $1600, about to get raised to $1800, and the unit next door is listed for $1900. But one place used RealPage, and I would bet the other one used something like that too.


Yeah. The voice stays young if you take care of it and are healthy. You can be 60 and sound like 30.


It’s not exactly the same for me, but it’s pretty close. Sometimes it’s a little more faded. Just depends on what it is. Sound, on the other hand, I can picture that loud and clear.
Well I’ll be. 20 times their body length.
Different ways, depending on how I feel.


You can think of “le” as a way of showing that it’s a syllabic L. Meaning that you say a dark L, and there isn’t really a vowel before it. The L takes up the whole syllable. It can sound like there’s a schwa in there (usually just a blip of one), but that’s just part of how you say the dark L. It comes from having the back part of your tongue press down and back.
This happens at the end of a word when the L is in an unstressed syllable. The spelling can vary a little. For example:
There isn’t really a reason why the spelling is different. That’s just how it happened to develop.
The pronunciation can vary a little too. If you hold the L longer, or emphasize the syllable more, it can sound more like a proper vowel is in there. But your tongue stays a tiny bit lower than it does for the schwa sounds.


Smell, not that I remember. Sound, all the time. I’ll have conversations or hear people saying things, sometimes in different languages. Sometimes a word comes to mind that seems totally real, but usually it’s not. Some of the more detailed dreams have had storms, sirens, earthquakes (that eerie rumbling they have). Or even music.


I have some open-back headphones (wired) that I can wear for hours and forget they’re there. Not hot at all. The cushioned part is breathable too. They were a little snug at first, but great since then.


Yeah. And how is it that corporations, or big businesses in general, have elevated themselves to an almost holy status? Why is it murder when Blackrock kills 17 civilians in Iraq (Nisour Square), but not when an insurance company denies an operation that a doctor who’s at the top of their field says could save your life? And the hospital helpfully tells you it will cost over a million dollars. For all the non-Americans, that’s not an exaggeration.
And even with Blackwater, it was only the individual employees who got convicted. The company just kept going under a different name. And the employees got pardoned later.
You can also make tea out of the leaves, root, and flowers (all together, or some combination of the three).
Dandelions have a lot of vitamin A and C, some B vitamins, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, and zinc. It’s good for the skin, liver, and digestion. It’s a diuretic and can help with cramps.