Dawn Casey-Rowe

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. -Henry David Thoreau

I love this! The pronunciation is excellent (I tried to make a hiragana review app w some base knowledge and the pronunciation was off...haven't yet learned to fix that). Also: love the whole immersion school--wish I'd had access to one. If you're interested in keeping up with the kids--Pimsleur. It requires half hour a day and you have to repeat out loud. I learned Chinese on dog walks, then switched my YouTube to Chinese. Then, when I needed to brush up beginner Japanese, I switched languages on the dog walks and Netflixed shows there. There's never been a better time to learn languages:)

You can do this even if you don’t homeschool! My daughter goes to a Chinese immersion school but neither me or my husband speak Chinese, so I’ve been learning along with her. I found a YouTube channel with a format for learning vocab that was super effective for us but the catalog was limited. After we exhausted the basics (shapes, colors, numbers) I started using @Replit Animation to generate short vocab practice videos for us in the same format as the YT channel but using the exact vocab list her school sends us for the month’s curriculum. This month her school's theme is "going to the park". For about $1 I was able to make the video, watch it a few times together, and then we spent the weekend playing 我看到… (I spy…) and pointing out the trees, flowers, squirrels, bees and other vocab words we could find. Took maybe 5 minutes and 3 or 4 prompts to get it exactly how I wanted it.

Shopping for a specific insurance product. After getting two AI chat loops and what looked like a CS human but was actually a bot, I called a human, had a delightful convo, and bought that. Bots be warned. Do it right--or hire a human.

@hkhayford @skylarromines @elonmusk You know what I miss the most--in-field twitter chats. I've moved on from that space and time but I haven't had a lot of back-and-forth connecting convos in a good while. Lots of bots and trolls.

@runningdmc @skylarromines @elonmusk I miss that aspect. I loved finding accounts to learn from. It's almost exclusively random AI content and people stealing from smaller accounts. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to try to collate accounts and threads for research with how sporadic it is now. Yikes.

Algorithm is better today than 3 months ago?

@BankerBeaver @skylarromines @elonmusk Thanks. I often wonder where (actual friends) disappeared to and have to manually hunt them down to see their posts.

@runningdmc @skylarromines @elonmusk Following is better for me, but still has issues.

@BankerBeaver @skylarromines @elonmusk Tried both. Now, trying to craft with the mute/block. Thought about starting fresh with a new account but that's too much work.

@skylarromines @elonmusk Are you using the “For You” tab or “Following” tab? “For You” is bad.

@skylarromines @elonmusk This is my problem. It used to send me authorities in field and I'd connect and learn. Now--it's articles, AI, and people who get paid for engagement. And: because I research for work, I can't get it back to showing things I'm interested in--even using lists.

@elonmusk No. There used to be valuable community here. Now the algo shoves AI slop & random spammers instead of educational or niche content

@KevinEspiritu @epicgardening That looks fun. Here's the unintended benefit--a mouse ate my nicely-ordered seeds. This looks mouseproof. Although I now have one, you could make a nice seed vault, too:)

Fun new product launch @epicgardening - a “mini seed shaker” for easy sowing of flower mixes. Just shake out, water, wait…and a garden grows Our product development process and launch cadence is getting SO much stronger than where we were a year ago

Verdict: Antonio's for the win. Ran some errands, and swung by here--it's not a "swing" by RI terms. It's a "pack-a-bag-and-complain level trip to Oakland Beach. Worth the trip. They had the regular zeppole and an Irish creme that melded the holidays perfectly.

True Rhode Island right here: A committee of Johnstonites rank zeppole for you. It's that season. If you've never had a zeppole, you should. I've always gone to LaSalle (on their 2024 list) but this year, I'll give Antonio's a try. But today's St. Patrick's day (beer day--stay off the roads!). St. Joseph's day (zeppola day--) is in 2 days. I'm giving you time to prepare. reddit.com/r/RhodeIsland/…

@mynameisplatt @octal If I could speak every language, I would, for sure. I was really proud of myself when I had to make a call to Japan and the confirmation email came back--saying what I hoped it would say.

@runningdmc @octal Translation device from Amazon was DoA. I'll try another.

I feel kind of dumb for leaving Japan ever generally. I could almost certainly get a visa and work here/company here if I tried (although for something defense related, US+Japan works better than just Japan), and I wouldn’t mind paying up to 50% taxes to support Japan.

@alain7 @jackfriks Canning...if you know, you know. Funny--these are lost arts. My son's friend asked if I would teach him. Two 18yo boys stoked to learn. This stuff got me mocked in my 20s

@runningdmc @jackfriks Excellent insight. We did a ton of hot bath canning when I was a kid, of jams, fruits, tomato sauces, beans so I know exactly what you mean on the tin taste. If it’s simple as drop the tray in and let the machine do its work (I realize there’s probably a little more complexity)

Over 1K, but it's paid for itself: a freeze dryer. Saves freezer space and my hours of canning. I make my own shelf-stable/healthy meals and preserve seasonal food. Fan favorites: any fruit, dog treats, easy meals. I've got a pantry section called, "Too Lazy to Cook." Lazy? Get some lentil soup or beef stew. No tin can taste, ready in a few minutes. Last week, I rescued a case of peppers, 10 packs of mushrooms, freeze dried 2 trays of guac. I freeze dry soups, leftovers, & bulk prep spices (garlic powder, ginger, tomato powder, blends, onion powder, etc...). I chose Blue Alpine after researching the customer service. I got a bad pump & the founder himself responded and sent me a new one. Impressed.

@alain7 @jackfriks Also funny--avocados don't work (think: little eraser) but guac does well enough to put on some fried eggs or salad. Wonder if it's the acid.

@runningdmc @jackfriks That’s a VERY generous offer. I would never mock. I wondered about the fats.

@mynameisplatt @octal Tell me how the Amazon device works out. For me (languages): consistent use of Pimsleur (best out there IMO for structured repetition) then I switch all my YouTube to target language. In school, we conjugated verbs--made language learning unpalatable.

@octal The main factor preventing me from wanting to live in Japan is my difficulty with language. But a new translation device that doesn't require an internet connection has just arrived from Amazon....

@VicVijayakumar 😂 When our garage fridge died I put the new salvage in the basement. This year: got a Black Friday garage-ready chest "meat" freezer in the garage. I grew up garageless--I want my car to outrank the snow blower & generator but... (below from a month ago...)

@runningdmc It’s a treat. We lived in a garageless house for 16 years and just moved to this one 7 months ago. Living the first gen immigrant dream with a garage fridge.

I’ve been randomly doing a pull up every time I need something from the garage

When properly rehydrated, not bad. Boil the water, wait... Possibly 2% more rubbery. If you're a great cook or foodie, you'll pick it off but it won't be annoying for eggs. For raw eggs--I can use them for baking, etc. What changes the game: I can taste tin can and preservatives a mile away. This is exactly how I want to eat it. There are foods that are spot on, and others that I can tell but compared to canning--which requires THE recipe or you'll kill people--freeze drying--night and day. Example: Salsa. Home canned salsa tastes like tomatoes with vinegar. I do a chopped salsa in the freeze drier (onion, tomato, cilantro, lime, garlic, salt). Rehydrate. Brilliant! Cuban black bean soup: can rehydrate on its own but I'll put some fresh veg/sour cream, and... excellent. I'm veg, but the meat people tell me the meat stuff, casserole and FD stir fried rice is good.

@runningdmc @jackfriks What’s the taste / texture drawback from reconstituting with water? I’ve eaten trail side freeze dried scrambled eggs from a commercial envelope while hiking part of the AT and they filled you up but not sure I would eat them on the regular.

@grover_lou @saniyafatma1278 That's where we are. That and hips. She's always been there for us, and right now I'm here for her. She's staring at me now--she just demanded and got cheese.

@saniyafatma1278 I have had 4 dogs in my life and the German shepard was the best by far. I couldn’t ask him to be a better companion. Those last 2 years when he lost bowel control were tough ones though.

I went to the Humane Society to adopt a small dog. When I arrived, the employees were busy so I stepped to the back of the room to wait my turn. In amazement, I watched a gorgeous German Shepherd behind the counter, unnoticed by the employees, figure out the latch on the gate, open it, & let himself out. He slowly & deliberately wended his way through the crowd to the back of the waiting room, looked up at me and sat at my feet. I had been chosen. Big Fletch, the best boy there ever was.

@jackfriks Yeah, it looks space age or medical. I had buyers remorse, but I use this thing constantly. I made five trays of breakfast burrito eggs I'm still eating.

@runningdmc is this a time machine for bugs?