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.

Oh, she does have a great purr. Sounds kind of like a diesel engine :)

I don’t think I’ve seen a petting technique quite like yours. Maybe one of these days I’ll get a chance to try it out. The cats let you pet them for so long!

Well I’ll be. 20 times their body length.

He said, “Sag mal, wie lange wollt ihr bei dem Scheiß bleiben?” He said the problem was that Trump was rambling (this part of the speech was unscripted). Article is in German. Here’s a partial translation by DeepL, tweaked by me:

His interjection should not be interpreted as a political statement. “No, that would be completely wrong. The political content is not the problem,“ says Deja, adding: ”I interpret all the time for people whose political statements I don’t agree with. The problem with Trump was that he suddenly started associating freely or saying the same thing three times in a row. The difficulty when interpreting is following these confusing leaps of thought.” He explains: “If a speaker has organized thoughts, then as soon as the sentence has started, you can roughly guess what will come next. You can keep surfing that wave. But that’s impossible with Trump.”

I believe it, because simultaneous interpreting is really hard, intense work. You have to listen, remember it word for word, understand it, and give an accurate, natural sounding translation pretty much instantly. You have to try to convey the tone, understand cultural differences, and figure out how to say things that just don’t translate well. It’s so much work that interpreters often work in teams so they can relieve each other every 30 minutes or so.

This is the aria. It’s from an opera called Cosi Fan Tutte.

Different ways, depending on how I feel.

• Music. Metal, mostly. Something I can turn up and get into.
• Sing along or scream. Ideally in the car on the freeway, so I don’t have to worry about scaring the neighbors.
• Something active or active-ish. Cooking something complicated. Practicing the piano/keyboard. Bike ride. Gym, so you can punch stuff. Or a long walk with something to listen to.
• Vent to a friend.
• Write it out and delete it.
• Stew in it for longer than I should.

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:

• people
• simple
• model
• oval

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.

People began to rejoice in their ability to speak freely. Furious debates over the country’s future ensued. In cafes, over cups of coffee and cigarettes, furious arguments were taking place about the direction the rebel-led government would take, voices raised as people tested the new limits of their freedoms.

Still, it was not easy to shake off the idea that the regime was watching. During an interview with a public-sector employee who preferred to remain anonymous, the employee paused as they were asked about their opinion about the new government. They excused themselves and went to the next room, where they threw up.

Returning to the interview with red-rimmed eyes, the employee apologised.

“You ask me if I’m afraid? Of course, I am afraid. I am 53 years old. And in 53 years, this is the first time that I am speaking freely,” they said.

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.

Live music does it for me. It’s best when I’m close enough to make eye contact with the musicians, and when the audience is into it too. It’s a total rush. If I had to pick between music and sex, it’d be music, hands down.

I can relate to the comment about swimming too. I imagine hiking, kayaking, or anything else physical that you really like could give you a similar feeling.

Aww. Looks like her fur is standing on end. But she’s pretty brave, getting so close to the Ungeheuer (monster). Nice to see her exploring her new home.

Yeah. Those keys on the piano are E and F. You can see those notes in the sheet music for the title track. Those long rows of notes are a bunch of E’s and F’s.

If you hit the play button in the bottom left corner, you can hear a computer-generated version of the song. Real version here.

I started learning a little about music theory. I’ve been interested for a while, but always thought I wouldn’t be able to understand it. But it’s doable, a little at a time.

And I’ve been going outside more. I spend too much time in front of the computer. It’s nice to have fresh air and read, listen to music, or just take in the surroundings.

Apparently they taste a little like pineapple. I found some white strawberries at the store a few months ago. They might have been the pineberries mentioned in the article, which are a cross between the white Chilean strawberries and another kind.

They’re white with a pink tinge. They tasted kind of like how a strawberry smells, and a little like pineapple. A little sweet, not very acidic. Kind of like lychee.

Good posture also helps you breathe better, which can help you feel more energized and concentrate better. Your diaphragm doesn’t work right when you sit hunched over, so your breath gets more shallow.

If you ever need to talk a lot for work or some other reason, good posture is essential so your voice sounds good and doesn’t get tired too easily.

And it helps strengthen your core, which is good for balance and other things.

Pünktchen is a very cute and fitting name.

Und doch verbleibt er die flauschige Zicke die ich immer lieben werde.

I love this sentence and your translation “sir floofs-a-lot.” He looks too cute to be a jerk, but I guess appearances can be deceiving :)

For me, it would have to be something nice, but not so interesting that I want to stay awake (Ariadne auf Naxos). Or something I’ve heard a million times (The Magic Flute).

Beethoven has always been calming for me, so maybe Fidelio too.

If you’re looking for beautiful music, maybe Tosca or Rusalka.

There are others that I wouldn’t necessarily fall asleep to, like Don Carlo, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, or La Traviata. This is a pretty good list of some of the best known operas.