Daylight Savings Time has ended in my part of the world. I'm still not sure how my body and mind are adjusting. The situation ... just is.

With that out of the way, let's get Monday started with these links:

Where Duolingo falls down: how I learned to speak Welsh with my mother — Dan Fox pens a loving ode to how he fell into the arms of a language that's been decried as dying, and how he still struggles to speak in a tongue that's not quite his own.

From the article:

There is a paradox to my efforts: I am learning Welsh to speak to my family and make it always alive, in the room with me, as it was in childhood, yet I often shy away from the opportunity to speak. In the presence of my aunties and uncles, and even with Mum, the sounds clog in my mouth, and I become suddenly doubtful and halting. I retreat into English. I am so used to being outside their conversations that I find it hard to give myself permission to enter.

Private Worlds — Much of the time, the depredations of predatory capitalism makes me physically ill. That includes the transfer of public lands (and assets) to the uber wealthy, something which has accelerated in the U.S. since a certain person ensconced themselves in the White House.

From the article:

“Land grab” is too quaint a term for what we are witnessing. The old tools of privatization are being helped along by a methodical effort to end regulation and hollow out critical services — what Rebecca Solnit has described as a “blurry invasion from within.” The public domain is being looted. Indeed, the very idea of a public realm is under attack.

So You Want to Build a Tunnel... — Before reading this article, I'd never heard the term hobby tunneling. As a claustrophobe, I wish I never had ...

From the article:

I think one of the reasons that tunneling is so awesome is that the underground seems like a kind of no man’s land. It’s a different kind of wilderness - unexplored territory in a world where everything already feels explored. But it’s not really true. Land ownership is a tricky subject, but in most places, when you own land, you don’t just own the surface but everything below it as well.

The Surprising Benefits of Giving Up — Quit is a four-letter word, but it's not a bad one. There are times when throwing in the towel is the best choice, for a number of solid reasons.

From the article:

Newer evidence suggests that ditching tough-to-attain goals can actually be good for us. According to a review of more than 230 studies recently published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, adjusting our goals in response to stress or challenges, rather than grinding on, is often “a more appropriate and beneficial response.”