DELF or DALF?

Here's an article about whether ignoring robocalls makes them stop or not. It's relatively short.

I've decided to go for the DELF B2 exam in French. According to a chart on this page, it takes 560-650 hours to reach B2. I took a short test on a random site I found in a web search, and it said I'm already at B2. However, that's a written test. My Achilles heel is listening comprehension. Plus, my accent isn't that great for every word despite how awesome and masterful it sounds in my head when I read. Unfortunately, I can't just go out and take the test. I need to study a lot first. Testing in the nearest location, Atlanta, is postponed until further notice. That's okay. The next test was scheduled for April 2, which is too soon for the amount of time I need to put into it. I was kind of targeting autumn anyway.

What would a B2 get me? It would allow me to enroll in French universities without language testing. Not interested. It would allow me to teach French. That might be interesting. I would be able to be a substitute French teacher for local high schools and colleges/universities, assuming they would accept that alone and not require a teaching certificate. I believe I could teach French in Europe with a B2 alone. I'd have to look that up. I would be qualified to work in French-speaking countries for a job I'd already be qualified to do. I could also do freelance translation work from home. That's the main reason for my motivation. I could do that from anywhere in the world that I could afford a place to live. Another part of my motivation is learning verb forms and grammar I never learned in a class and correcting my "Algerian" pronunciation. My first French teacher was from Algeria, so I have some speech patterns that need fixing in order to get a more authentic Parisian sound. That will also help me understand spoken French better since I won't be listening for accented sounds that never come.

I've started working on it already with daily reading, listening and going through a course in which I have to verbalize the answers. It's already helping my pronunciation. My goal is to put 15 to 20 hours a week into it. Since I probably wouldn't take the exam until autumn, that would give me enough time to learn French from scratch. Hmm. That got me to thinking. According to the chart linked above, C1 takes 810-950 hours to reach. At most that's 300 hours more than the B2. If I'm already testing online at B2, what if I went for the C1 exam instead? Fifteen hours a week minimum gives me 480 hours in 8 months. Twenty hours would put me at 640 hours. And that's on top of all the hundreds of hours I've already done. Could I get to C1 by autumn? I'm not sure, but I think it could be possible. Putting in hours alone isn't good enough. It has to be the right material.

The B2 is about two and a half hours of written testing plus 50 minutes of listening/speaking. The C1 is 4 hours total, 70 minutes of which is listening and verbalizing. The B2 I could do myself with online materials. For the C1 I would probably need to be online doing a language exchange with native speakers. If chatting with pretty French women online is what I have to do to pass the test, that's just what I have to do.

Book Stuff

I've gotten a wee bit done on the book front. 

Have a great weekend.

George Orwell Called

If you ever read George Orwell's 1984, you remember the Ministry of Truth that decided what was true and what wasn't and how truth changed depending on what the government decided truth was. So-called "experts" have recommended that Biden appoint a "reality czar". The reality tzar would be the person who tells everyone what the truth is based on what the Democrat party decides it is. The reality tzar would, of course, be helped by Big Tech. It would literally be the Ministry of Truth from 1984. Big Brother would be watching and rewriting history.

In other news Florida is cracking down on Big Tech with new regulations, including a $100,000 a day fine for companies that suspend political candidates. The full list is in the article. I hope this gets traction in other states. The attack on democracy by Big Tech and the Democrats has to be stopped.

As part of the attack on democracy, the Pentagon has ordered a 60-day stand down to root out "extremism". In the new reality I assume "extremists" are constitutionalists. Both political parties are in violation of the U.S. Constitution. It serves their interests to remove or intimidate patriots who are loyal to the United States of America and not a political party or who would otherwise put the interests of the nation before the interests of Washington political players. During his terms, Obama removed a lot of generals and replaced them with people friendly to the Democrat party. I wouldn't be surprised to see more of that as well.

Democracy is under attack like never before. When I was in school, I read extensively about World War II and watched WWII movies on television. They were far more common back then. The Democrat party is following the same path the Nazi party followed in the 1920s and 1930s. Before the Nazi party became the evil Nazis, they were a left-wing socialist party that believed in gun control, fought social injustice, didn't care for Christianity or Judaism, embraced paganism and the occult, promoted socialism, etc. They couldn't get traction with voters, so they created it with incessant harassment campaigns like the ones against Trump and his supporters. Their version of Anitifa/BLM was Kristallnacht. The parallels are uncanny, and they're for the same reasons, lust for power that can't be won at the voting booth. The values and beliefs of the Nazis didn't reflect the values and beliefs of the German people the same way the values and beliefs of the Democrat party don't reflect the values and beliefs of the United States of America.

If true Americans don't stand up, democracy is going to fail in the U.S.

Have a great weekend.

Drug Reverses Age-Related Mental Decline Within Days

A couple of links to share. The first is about reversing mental decline with simple treatment. It's a bit longer than I would prefer but has good information and details that typical reporters would leave out because they don't understand science. How many times have you seen an ancient human bone DNA testing article in which the haplogroup isn't mentioned? It happens nearly every time now, when it used to be included nearly every time. Why write a DNA article and leave out one of the main results? Did you know that Tutankhamen's DNA is vanilla European? It's R1b1a2. Because that's embarrassing to the modern Egyptian government, good luck seeing it in an article.

Drug Reverses Age-Related Mental Decline Within Days, Suggesting Lost Cognitive Ability is Not Permanent

The next one is a video that was banned on YouTube for political reasons.

Banned from YouTube: Dr. Simone Gold shares the truth about the Covid-19 vaccines

She talks about how science is being banned from the media for political reasons. Though, in my opinion she's wrong about face masks. The science that they help prevent fluid spread was settled well before the Covid panic. Surgeons wear them for a reason. However, most of the masks on the market aren't very effective. For instance, from what I've researched the blue surgical masks that people are wearing are rated N26 to N40, which is nowhere close to N95. The blue masks are for blocking fluid spray outward caused by coughing or sneezing not for blocking virus particles breathed inward. I personally wear KN95, and even at 95% blockage, I'm not comfortable with it. The rating to block 100% of contaminants is P100, but those are bulky and expensive for casual wear.

That video is on rumble.com, a free-speech alternative to the increasing censorship on YouTube. Over time I'm slowly coming across replacements for Big Tech sites. Once again, Blogger is owned by Google. I plan to replace it at some point.

Have a great weekend.

Some Anti-Aging News

In past blogs I've occasionally posted anti-aging news that actually seemed relevant. According to this story, Chinese scientists have had a little bit of a breakthrough. It's not overly dramatic. It would seem to increase lifespan by about 25%. Nevertheless, that's nothing to sneeze at and seems like an important step in curing ageing.

In other news, Portland left-wing fascists wearing body armor are continuing to target people after Biden's inauguration. The banner in the story reads in all caps, "We don't want Biden - We want revenge!" They attacked a Democrat Party headquarters. The left's coverage of the story is very sparse. I don't think this article mentions that Antifa was heavily involved. They're continuing with the left's attempted Marxist cultural revolution while Democrats focus their hate on a few rednecks taking selfies in the Capitol building. Oh, the hypocrisy.

'Facebook rival MeWe gains 2,5M members in a week as users seek privacy' Maybe shutting down innocent Parler was a mistake.

'Trump Reportedly Considers Exacting Revenge on Republicans By Forming His Own Party' This is an idea I've had, too. It's so obvious. I don't see it as revenge at all. Both mainstream parties are no longer following the Constitution. Republicans don't seem to care about people and don't keep their promises. Democrats have openly incited insurrectionist fascist groups to do billions of dollars worth of rioting but immediately condemned rednecks taking selfies in the Capitol building while calling the rednecks insurrectionist terrorists in a hypocritical double standard. Neither party puts the interests of the country first. They're both almost completely out of touch with real Americans. We need a new party that puts Americans first. The Democrat and Republican parties are 19th-century political clubs that are no longer relevant in the 21st century. We need people in Washington who respect this country and will follow the Constitution.

Have a great weekend.

When Liars Lie

So, the U.S. House of Representatives have shoved an impeachment vote through the chamber as fast as they could. It was a purely political move not based in reality. The Democrats have not offered a single video or a single quote in which Trump incited anyone to attack the Capitol building. They wanted to get the impeachment done before the facts could come out. Too late. The media was already reporting that the people who went into the Capitol building planned things out weeks ahead of time and did so openly on the internet where anyone could see it. In fact, the FBI did see it ahead of time and issued a warning to local officials in Washington, D.C. A pre-planned event cannot be incited.

A pre-planned event cannot be incited.

It may not be obvious at first, but a pre-planned event cannot be incited. The impeachment vote was an act of treason against the government of the United States of America. The Democrat party continues to engage in what they've been trying to do since 2016, cast aside the will of the American people and overturn the 2016 election.

If you believe the Bible, there's a silver lining in all of this.

Matthew 7:1-2 1Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Since 2016, the Democrat party has been unjustly judging Trump as unworthy to rule. May God use that measure to measure out to them. If the Democrats then have dealt truly and sincerely with Trump and with his house this day, then let them rejoice in Biden and Big Tech, and let Biden and Big Tech rejoice in them: But if not, let fire come out from Big Tech and devour the Democrat party and their house; and let fire come out from the Democrat party and their house and devour Big Tech.

As for the people who stormed the Capitol building, what they did was nothing compared to what BLM/Antifa have done. I want them to be put on trial ONLY AFTER BLM/Antifa have been tried. Otherwise, it's not justice. It's discrimination based on political ideology. We can't tolerate a double standard in the judiciary.

 

In other news, in response to the unjustified attack on Parler(which I've never used) and the unjustified censorship by Big Tech, I've deleted my Twitter account. I'm on Gab.com as @MatthewJenkins. I'm on mewe.com at www.mewe.com/i/matthewjenkins5.

I don't know how often I'll be posting to those. I used Twitter to post weekly blog links and follow a few people. I've been on mewe for a while but stopped posting. I'll have to restart. This begins a process of divesting from all companies no matter how big they are who support and anti-democracy activities.

Blogger.com is owned by Big Tech. I'll have to figure something out.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Gab.com is experiencing heavy server loads from Parler people signing up.

Have a great weekend.

That Was Interesting

I happened to check the news on my phone on the 6th and saw the breaking news about people going into the Capitol building. The press is in a frenzy at how vulnerable the criminals in power really are. I thought for so much of 2020 that a few thousand well-armed citizens could take Congress into custody, remove them from power and restore the Constitution. I've now seen that it's as easy as I thought it would be. It's a shame it didn't happen. Unlike Antifa/BLM, those protesters were mostly peaceful.

People in Congress have a fiduciary responsibility to the American people. That means that every time someone in Congress buys, sells, trades or otherwise swaps a vote it's an act of treason. Every time someone in Congress votes at the orders of his or her political party whip it's an act of treason. The votes don't belong to Congress. They belong to the American people. Congress has no right to use those votes for personal gain or anything other than acting on behalf of the American people. They all violate their oaths of office and their fiduciary responsibilities. They have all committed treason and deserve to be removed from power. But they left the Constitution behind a long time ago.

So, the left is in a frenzy over the taking of the Capitol building and calling the protesters traitors, thugs, etc. Let's stop and think. Antifa/BLM have done the exact same thing and far worse. Those groups have murdered people, destroyed and looted property, burned down buildings, raped people, taken over parts of cities, threatened private citizens and elected officials, etc. The Capitol was not set on fire and was not looted. No one was murdered. Why is the left foaming at the mouth now instead of when the real violence was taking place?

Congress is scared to death and angry because they now see how easy it is to replace them. They live millionaire, pampered lives in which they're isolated from ordinary people and the problems of everyday life. They live lives in which they can solve anything through money or power. They've seen face to face that all of that could end in one hour.

There's a lot of talk about impeaching Trump for incitement to "riot", a "riot" that was nothing compared to BLM/Antifa actions. Well, where's the video of the incitement? I'm seeing a lot of congressional screaming and hysteria, but I haven't seen a single video showing Trump inciting anyone or saying anything to cause a riot. Could it be because he didn't? Could the left be lying again? If Trump is impeached(he won't be), then every Democrat mayor and governor who let the crazy left destroy their cities needs to be impeached, too. The same goes for every member of Congress who supported the rioting and destruction on the left.

I saw part of the Biden press conference today. The Big Lie is already here, and he hasn't even been sworn in. The press and the government are going to be on the same page acting against the best interests of the American people.

Have a great weekend.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I suppose.

Have a great weekend.