I’ve struggled with autoimmune issues my whole life. Trying to get well involves mapping a complex web of diagnoses, symptoms, variables, highs, and lows, which usually ends in exhaustion. If you’ve ever had a long-term health condition, you likely know what I mean. Getting healthy becomes a recurring thought, minute-by-minute, and hope feels like it’s running out.
I want desperately to help people in the position I’m in. I have learned so much about the immune system, the standard American diet, the gut-brain axis, and so much more. Someday, I dream of making physical inventions that will help people facing these autoimmune conditions, to eat well, to heal their skin, their mind, and regain hope. But for now, I knew I could use app development to make a start. I needed a health journal that could help me discover the patterns behind my ups and downs, to figure out why my health may be worse or better day by day. And I’m proud to say Tend does that very well.
For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on a language learning tool that lets you get immersed in a text in the language you're learning, while giving you all the tools you may need to understand it, and test your understanding with writing and speaking.
This is Immersion - a free, locally-saved language learning powerhouse that works with nearly any language you can think of, and gives you all the tools you need to really understand literature in that language.
It supports short stories, full books, PDFs, and even YouTube videos. It lets you use AI to support understanding, but without becoming a crutch. You can practice with flashcards, have the text read to you, and write essays to practice using the language you are learning.
I'm excited about Immersion, because I believe we have been handicapped in our language learning for too long. Some of the greatest minds of history learned languages this way, by reading a book in their target language, and practicing using it by writing and speaking. Additionally,
you will be learning with whatever content you actually want to read, not just a mass-produced lesson that teaches you how to say 'Giraffes are tall' and moves on to the next random sentence. Click the read more button to learn more and access the site!
This week, I learned about the power of constraints from Dr. Suess (Theodor Seuss Geisel). He began his career because someone bet him he couldn't write a book using 50 words or less. Not only did he, but he ended up writing Cat in the Hat, and going on to create the most successful children's book franchise of all time.
So I got to thinking... could I do the same? and would trying it change the way I approach other endeavors in my life? Already, it inspired me to code my own website from scratch - that's right, the one you're on now! Click the read more button to see how I did on my very own Geiselgraph.