paya

You can still keep WinAmp until it becomes obsolete. The programme will still be functioning. The development of audio files is not fast any more anyway.

Enjoy them why you can. Naked flesh apparently is not allowed in the forums of GA, so I expect the prude police to close this down soon...

There is a whole Dr Who dedicated thread. Look before you post!

Have you seen THAT AWESOME prequel minisode??? :D

LONGER version of the second trailer.

PM Westie, he could help you if he has time.

12 days!!!

You have to bear in mind that mostly when we learn English, we are taught by our own speakers who learnt English before us. That is certainly true for beginner and intermediate levels. There of course are listening exercises but they usually are recorded in slow or perfectly pronounced English, depending on the difficulty/experience level. Next thing is, in Europe we study British (Queen's/BBC) English, while listen to American songs and watching American films and TV series (mostly dubbed into our native languages but there are more and more people who watch in original with subtitles if they can). So paradoxically, more people are comfortable with US English accent than the real English one because of the culture experience. I still have sometimes problems distinguishing the English accent from the American, Scottish or Irish one. And then there is the Souther drawl, English regional accents, Welsh, Australian, New Zealand... So how do you sound to us? Well, my experience is that you either sound "right" (meaning I have already met the accent and had time to adjust to it before) or you sound "new" and I have to make an extra effort to understand you 100 % (there usually is an overall understanding of what is going on but you would be surprised how one misunderstood or completely new word can derail the whole thing). Otherwise, you always need to compare to other languages. You might sound harsher than let's say French, but softer than Norweigian or Dutch. You might sound clearer than let's say German (and Dutch again) but less clear than let's say Italian. And believe me, you sound completely different than Czech (or other Slavic languages) or Hungarian. OK, in that case I understand that you feel excluded and I'm sorry you got into such unwelcome surrounding.

I know your frustration as I have felt both sides of this problem. Bigger half of my family are native Hungarian speakers while my native language is Czech. So whenever I visit, I feel similarly "out of place" - but that never stopped me from trying to understand as much as I can. Now since Westie is English, whenever we visit my family, he's the one who feels excluded because he doesn't understand the language. I'm trying to help him as much as I can but you can't force people to speak only in English if it's not their native language and they never really studied English. So even if they revert to German after 31 years of your marriage, it can just mean they are not comfortable enough talking about everything in German, more so if it includes things/people you don't really know (catching up). Or they are just reminiscing about something that happened before you met them. So even if you feel excluded, it doesn't mean they mean to do that. As for your troubles with learning a new language, again, I feel I can relate to you. Being both language student and teacher, I experienced both sides of the problem again. As a student I would LOVE to have every word in Czech = one word in English. But that never happens. You get at least two, three or more meanings to any word, more so if the usage differs from your own language. Then you need to learn the situations in which those words are used and what meaning they convey. Being a teacher, my students always wanted me to present every problem in the language in a short uncomplicated way. And what about all those exceptions from the rule and varying usage (again)? Suddenly I spent several hours explaining and exercising some rule only to be subverted by next first exception. I am sure I could find three completely different meanings of the same English word, as well as three completely different pronunciations of the same group of letters (and let's not forget the popular they're/their/there). Giving up on a language at first obstacle will never get you anywhere. If you feel uncomfortable in the surroundings you don't understand, you can either ridicule it (tried that) or learn about it to understand it (doing now). After all, learning new languages means discovering new cultures and enriching our horizons.

I find it very troubling that this kind of humour is funny mostly to people who have never met or spoken with a real German. Any language can sound unpleasant, especially when they're spouting nastiness. Prejudicial jokes mainly show ignorance.

I thought Isabella was linked with increase in Latino babies? Sophia would work with that as well? Maybe two things piling up?

Should I send my man at you?

That would suggest the optimistic hope they will die out over the time? We thought that about communists, it's 24 years since the revolution and they still are third (now sometimes even second) biggest political force in the system. It seems that the vote is inherited in the families. So how do you get rid of them? I have seen articles where businesses are trying to fund a challenger to a Tea Partier in their district but it still did not look likely they would succeed.

It baffles me that the US have established such a fragile system, dependant on good behaviour of its participants, that its functioning could be derailed single handedly by an individual who can't possibly foresee all consequences of their actions.

Ted Cruz Could Force a Debt Default All by Himself - link to an article whose title says it all, doesn't it?

Thanks everyone for lovely wishes! It's great to realize life goes on after 30!!! :D

Article I usually stayed away from politics since the Soapbox got closed but this article, linking the passing of a great political scientist and the present crisis of governance in the US, got me nodding in agreement. So I thought I would share it with you in case you wanted to know what you are up for.

11.25, almost lunch time!

I was born in a small town (around 15,000 people now) about 100 miles East from Prague. I spent my whole childhood and adolescence there until my high school graduation. I would never voluntarily come out there (and I didn't, even if my family and close friends know now). It had the basic amenities and really good transport links, mainly by train you could get anywhere in the country within 3 hours. But as for opportunities, it's a dead place. I went to university in Brno, second largest city after Prague, about 125 km SE from Prague and only around 80 miles north from Vienna, Austria. Really nice place, a sort of overgrown village with lots of universities, students, and around 400,000 inhabitants. But still, for some things, you had better go to Vienna. Anyway, now I'm living in London, UK - and even if it's EXTREMELY hard for me to find a job, I would still not change, not a bit. If you have money (i.e. if you have a job), you can get anything you think of. Sure, you will never own your own living here, not while London serves as a safe harbour for money invested into property. Cash fleeing Russia, Persian Gulf or European periphery is driving the place crazy. But even with a tight budget you can enjoy your life here and not suffer. I know I will be moving again, at least for my pension. But right now, there is no better place in Europe where I would want to live.

Being gay, isn't it an advantage?

He's going to keep his Scottish accent as the Doctor... That's a whole new challenge for a non-native English speaker like me.

I think your approach to the series is... too American.

Another hottie came out of the closet - while pursuing a noble cause of gay rights in Russia. Let's welcome our newest member in the club with a roaring applause!

sooo... 3 months until the anniversary!

No traffic lights - and yet it works!