Conversation at a party in Northern California this year:

To be fair, it was about 1 a.m., she'd probably had a glass or two of something, and my accent confuses a lot of people.

I don't usually worry about artificial sweeteners. But this article on acesulfame shows good reason to be concerned, if the claims are true: FDA and NIH Disappoint on Sweetener Safety.

When I say I don't usually worry about artificial sweeteners, I mean that drinking 2 liters of soft drink per day is when I should start to worry about aspartame, based on what I've read. Apply a good safe engineering fudge factor and say half a liter - so personally, I'd avoid drinking more than half a liter per day. Not an issue - that's more than I drink in most months.

More to the point, the "foods" mentioned as containing this additive are junk foods. So while I'm behind the scientist-blogger raising these concerns, I will stick to eating actual food. Speaking of which, there's some sweet pineapple and passionfruit waiting for me (Guatemala is great for fruit n veg!)

When I first went to Indonesia in 1995 I was looking for something. How to make a difference. I threw myself into learning the language and culture, and worked very hard on it. I quickly became conversant in the language, and eventually fluent.

Now I'm traveling more widely, and find myself in Guatemala... and I find it hard to make the time and effort to learn Spanish. Sure, the same methods are helping me pick up vocab day by day, but my focus is on Appropedia and the connections I already have that support my small part in changing the world.

But I am meeting cool people, and learning about the struggles, needs and thoughts of development workers. That's extremely valuable. Now I'd like to just regain that sense of wonder, and make space in my life for that. In other words, I need to get out more.

I am slowly morphing into a Linux geek. My computer died, and I knew what to do.

Normally I'd log into safe mode, but it wouldn't even go that far. So I got my LiveCD, booted up, got in the #mandriva channel on IRC and asked for help. Someone with the handle notech explained how I could log in. It worked (though I don't know how). I then acted on a hunch that once I'd logged on, the system would fix itself (as I've found with logging into safe-mode in the paste.)

So, it wasted almost an hour - but considering the computer wouldn't start at all, that's not bad.

Someday soon I will blog on the importance of a Linux end-user wiki. That could help make Linux a more serious option for non-geeks.

I have a room in Xela. For a month. That will be the longest I've been in one place for 6 months.

There's a new bed, without the fleas or bedbugs so common in Guatemala. There's fast internet, so I can work on Appropedia stuff... and when I start to grow faint and have to leave the computer, there's markets nearby with fresh food, and a share kitchen. It's all I need.

I'm checking Wikibooks and other learning resources on learning Spanish, in preparation for my trip to Latin America.

My main approach will be immersion, with as many language learning tricks as possible (like those used in The Wrong Way To Learn Spanish) This approach served me well with Indonesian - though I did start Indonesian with two weeks of morning classes, in-country, so I might think about that, too.

(I've signed up to Wikiversity, but there's not much there yet. Then again, universities and schools mostly suck as a way of learning languages, so Wikiversity may not be the best model, unless it does something radically innovative - and it might just do that).

The keys to language learning, for me, are (not exactly in order of importance):

• immersion - start by letting your brain and ears adjust to the new sounds and new words.
• an emphasis on vocab
• word association (if they are pre-prepared by others, all the better... but there have been times when I've wracked my brain and only come up with a weak link... but the very process of thinking about it has imprinted the word in my brain for the next day or so.)
• progressively less frequent reviews of new words (double the period betwen each review)
• good written resources - especially a dictionary you carry with you.
• music (thanks Tressie! My hard drive runneth over.)
• having no shame about the methods one uses - they're just games, and the more ludicrous, the more effective, in many cases.
• having no sense of embarrassment, and talking to everyone
• believing that it is far better to make mistakes than to be cautious
• being a parrot - imitate the way people speak enough that it sounds like you're mocking them. You're not learning words made up of your old sounds - you're learning new sounds.

A Chinese friend studying in Sydney would ask people directions at the bus stop. He knew exactly where to go, but he would listen carefully and match what they said with what he already knew. He was sShameless - and that's the way to learn.

I take my first trip to Latin America on Oct 28. I'll be there for several months, but beyond a bunch of contacts in Guatemala (where I begin) I have little concrete planned. 

If you know anywhere in Latin America that's good and affordable for spending time writing and working on Appropedia, with broadband, friendly locals and preferably lots of dancing, then please let me know.

Or possibly appropriate technology villages or eco-villages that would welcome a traveler for a short visit (or a long visit if there's a broadband and we can come to an arrangement).

Catching up with Curt from Appropedia, which is very cool. After working closely for 2 years on knowledge sharing for sustainability, we finally meet.


*I told you it was confusing.

American readers that I haven't met - where in the US are you? I'm heading down the West Coast, and just thought I should find out where my LJ friends are.

I don't know how many read this, but I recently had someone tell me that they'd subscribed to Pablo Garuda, not realizing it was me. But he was a fellow wikiholic, so it wasn't that surprising.

From Vinay, a.k.a. @hexayurt: Ganesh with AK-47 and handcuffs, by the "Will Draw Anything for $2" service.

Hindu gods with guns. It tells you a lot about Vinay.