That being said, I had a seven year start on learning German prior to moving and there are still challenges. The move would have been doubly terrifying had I moved - as many do - with zero German knowledge.

Outside the office, I speak German with my partner, in gaming (both video games and with roleplaying games), with run club. In the workplace there seems to be a heavy focus on extremely high level vocabulary, but this is part of the challenge I will embrace.

My final challenge will be pronunciation. I feel that with the complex words in German, I always have to slow down for fear of people not understanding me.

It takes me back 4 years ago where I needed to practice saying certain words to get the muscle memory through in pronunciation. (2/2)

On the topic of learning German the last 8-9 years, this has been a marathon, not a sprint. It is so different from Spanish and English and the first 2 years of learning this was BRUTAL. My first "Hill" was cases, then adv grammar and sentence structure. Third was C2 vocabulary after moving. (1/2)

Today I gave my first professional presentation in German. It was highly technical and took much preparation and perhaps my pronunciation of every German word wasn't perfect. But it was a good baseline.

Also a lesson in some of the differences in presentation style from in the US. Baby steps.

So many videos are circulating of ICE agents acting with cruelty and aggression. Behavior that eerily mirrors the “domestic terrorism” they claim to oppose. No one is forcing them to act this way; it’s a choice.

99.4% of new drugs approved by the FDA are the product of NIH funded research.
Remember this every time you see another headline on the NIH funding cuts.
It will directly impact YOU.
#ScienceNOTSilence

Generally please strip metadata e.g. export to pdf -> options -> uncheck document properties (while you’re at it, also make it accessible by making headings a navigation option 🙏). Cover stuff up before taking a photo rather than “markup” in a photo editor. Strip photo metadata.

Elon Musk’s 20-year-old staffers are not only demanding access to highly restricted information but are also displaying aggressive behavior—shouting at anyone who stands in their way, resorting to name-calling, throwing tantrums, and even hitting objects in anger.

With all of the Trump/Musk mayhem, don't ignore the GOP's continued assault on free and fair elections.
www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

Seeing a lot of fox pictures on my bsky feed. Maybe that is or isn't a coincidence...

My brain is mush at the moment. Enter Pathfinder and a band of goblins to lift my spirits. #ttrpg

I’m worried that the exodus from Meta and Twitter is what they want. To isolate us from each other.

Isolation is a big part of autocracy. It makes people easier to lie to and abuse.

I don’t have a global answer, but I am working on building a social media space for our podcast listeners.

I don't really use TikTok that much, but I find it fascinating that our government is on the verge of banning an app for national security reasons that are still unclear in the same week that Meta, the largest social media company, says it's now fine to hate LGBTQ people and call us mentally ill.

THIS FLEW UNDER THE RADAR

Members of the German neo-Nazi political group AfD plan to attend Trump’s inauguration.

They’ve actively been engaging with U.S. conservatives & trying to capitalize on Trump’s momentum. Keep an eye on this, especially in light of Elon’s newly discovered support of AfD.
🧵

Both Texas and Georgia are destroying evidence of all maternal mortality, blocking proof that women are dying from abortion bans.

This story has a lot more going on than you think. Especially since Republicans are lying about the public cases.

www.salon.com/2024/12/02/d...