I think it's important for those responding about their Duolingo experience to include the tier that they are using. Specifically, I wonder if the conversations with AI, and the "explain this" feature in Duolingo Max change outcomes? I'm new to Duolingo, chose the max tier, and feel that I'm learning quite a bit specifically because I am having simple conversations in French daily (albeit with an AI that seems to me to have questionable hearing at times). I haven't used it long enough to provide insight or even judge the platform, but for those using the more expensive tier(s) I wonder your thoughts...
I totally believe that (some) people are achieving great results at the free tier.
I am definitely not saying that Duolingo is useless or a bad (i.e, net negative) use of someone's time. But even good things are not immune to criticism
> I totally believe that (some) people are achieving great results at the free tier.
I am definitely not saying that Duolingo is useless or a bad (i.e, net negative) use of someone's time.
I definitely didn't mean to imply otherwise
> But even good things are not immune to criticism
How reliable are UV indexes? Genuine question. The iOS weather app is far from 100% reliable and I wonder the margin of error regarding the UV index number it provides.
great question! My understanding is the UV index shown online and in apps is “modeled” data, not realtime.
Basically it takes into account things like ozone measurements from satellites, latitude, forecasted cloud cover, and distance from sun (time of year).
On cloudless days it it very accurate because on those days UV strength depends almost entirely on the solar altitude, which can be calculated very accurately from the location, the date and the time.
A sibling comment mentions the ozone layer, but I severely doubt it varies enough to be a source of inaccuracy.
I am in a unique position to confirm that they are a load of bunk. I have solar urticaria and develop hives in response to UV exposure, directly proportional to how much UV is getting through. I’ve developed hives in minutes while the UV index was supposedly only 4 and gone for relatively too long without erupting in hives the next day even when the UV index was supposedly 10.
i hate to be that person that quotes chatgpt, but this seems VERY relevant to your complaint:
“Solar urticaria is a rare condition where the skin reacts to specific wavelengths of light rather than the overall UV intensity. The UV index is a general measure of the total amount of erythema-causing UV radiation (mainly UVB) that can cause sunburn in the average person.
But in solar urticaria, the trigger might be UVA, visible light, or even a narrow band of wavelengths — and the UV index doesn’t capture that nuance.
So it’s not that the forecast is wrong — just that the UV index isn’t designed to reflect the sensitivity profile of solar urticaria.”
In other words, you’re (literally) a special case. :)
> Now they'll slowly die or be replaced quickly by something better like an AI ticketing system.
I highly doubt it. The merger with LiveNation made them much more than a ticketing service. They now also handle artist management, concert promotion, and venue ownership. In fact "Live Nation-Ticketmaster maintains "monopoly control" over the top 100 amphitheaters and 100 arenas worldwide" [1]
How long is the Ticketmaster-LiveNation exclusivity contract with the artists and the venues?
- Whether 1 and 10 years, the monopoly could fall for another provider in half the median duration. In fact, venues could collide together to replace the monopoly.
- Or, if Tickermaster really provides an extra income to venues able to change the type of venue by an order of magnitude, we might see an elitist top-class of artists, and then a non-elitist second class with more popularity, more decent venues, and affordable prices.
- Then we can talk about why we always hear the same artists on radio.
Why the disingenuous response. What I linked was an article entitled "New Report Exposes Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s Monopoly Control of Top Arenas and Amphitheaters Worldwide". The fact that they monopolize venues strongly discounts your suggestion that they will "slowly die or be replaced quickly by something better like an AI ticketing system".
It is not inherently disingenuous when someone disagrees with you or doesn't see the point you're making.
You can link to how they're dominant in the market today all you want, it doesn't change the trajectory of their earned market reputation.
Locally, multiple small ticket companies are popping up to compete with TicketMaster. They've been here longer than a decade and don't even register on your charts. Everytime they sell a ticket, TicketMaster didn't. This will continue slowly over time unless something changes. As mentioned, this isn't a new problem, so why expect them to change? Thus, a replacement will rise... no matter how many charts you link to showing their current market demand.
People also said Internet Explorer would be the browser we all used forever. It's not a hard comparison to understand, nor is it disingenuous. If you have trouble understanding someone's reply, there are tools like Goblin Tools where you can copy and paste what is written and it will help explain how it is not a personal attack against you and your ideas.
You missed out. The stained glass windows are absolutely stunning. I normally don't get too excited about stained glass, but they are truly beautiful as is much of the interior.
> Honestly, within the US I can only think of NYC as having a better payment system as they were first movers on tap-to-pay adoption and it's basically fully adopted.
Chicago is pretty good too. IIRC they also have tap-to-pay. In fact, I think they had it before NYC
> Bluey is one of the best kids TV shows ever made – fact
Does anything detract from the legitimacy of an assertion more than suffixing it with "fact"? I suppose "trust me" is a close rival. (FWIW I love Bluey)
I don’t feel like it’s unjustly trying to assert Bluey an unfitting credit at all.
Instead I feel like the use of “fact” here is a nod to how thoroughly this has been discussed and how common knowledge it has become, at least to anyone who knows what Bluey is, thus preemptively eliminating the need to explain what Bluey is to that part of the audience that found themselves reading an article about the art process of a show that they are unaware of in the first place. To those readers, it’s a concise cue to go do your own research if you’re lacking that context before getting too far into the article.
What show does come close in quality of production? Art, morale and educational value, actual fun ideas on how to play (some are impossible to reproduce, but still), consequence in plot over the seasons and even merchandise?
Plus Polish dubbing that I use is of insane quality.
It's not about the merit of the argument but rather the act of shutting down any argument by declaring something as a fact. It's completely unnecessary and quite off-putting.
I love Balsamiq and it was great to see it mentioned here. While the wireframes are intentionally simple looking, the ease of creating a mockup is unsurpassed IMHO.
balsaqmiq was nice many many years ago, but then i found pingendo. Used it heavily, but it was buggy and short lived... web frameworks moved on and they abandoned the project very soon..
have to say that my customers never seem to understand the mockups created with balsamiq..
That reminds me - we're staying in an Airbnb later this summer and I've been meaning to research gadgets to detect hidden cameras. Now I guess I need to look out for microphones too. We're going in quite the dystopian direction.
Unless you get a nonlinear junction detector, I'm not sure any other device works as well. I remember seeing a news piece where they pay someone to plant a bunch of cameras, and the reporter tries a bunch of different devices and still misses some.
That's wear and tear and not down to negligence on the driver's part. It's abhorrent that a rental company would attempt to charge a customer to fix something like this.
