DapperZoom

I'm not familiar with many Japanese song lyrics, so not familiar with the phenomenon mentioned. I'd also be interested in examples.

There are always several ways to write a word in Japanese. As far as I know, any word can be written in hiragana. Additionally, there are the kanji writing and then katakana. While katakana is primarily used for words that were appropriated from other languages, it has several other common uses. For example, if a robot, alien, child, or non-Japanese is speaking, the words may be written in katakana to indicate the non-fluency of the speaker. Also, many animal names are often written in katakana.

Additionally, there are quite a few pseudo-English words that are written in katakana because they originally arose from English words. Some of my favorites (written in romaji for those who don't read katakana):

- "baabeekaa" : pronounced similar to "baby car", this word means a stroller

- "akogi" : short for acoustic guitar

- "brappi", "jimihen", etc: Brad Pitt, Jimi Hendrix, etc.

- "handoru": pronounced similar to "handle". This is what a steering wheel is called in Japanese, so..

- "handorukeepaa": or handle keeper, refers to a designated driver.

Another interesting thing that occurs in Japanese is referred to as ateji. This is where kanji are used only for the sound they give. In other words, any word can be written by just using a kanji with that sound for each syllable. The meanings of the kanji chosen (there are many with each particular sound) can give additional flavor/wordplay/signifigance to the usage.

Finally, one of the most interesting things I saw in Japanese was a baby soap, called "Arau baby". The first word "arau" is the Japanese infinitive for "to wash" written in romaji, or roman script. Since this is the product name and it is written in roman script, the product label also includes a katakana translation (アラウベビー). So instead of using the kanji for arau, it was treated as a foreign word and then appropriated back into Japanese using katakana. Or something.

I've yet to read the article posted in the OP, but already want to chime in after reading some of the comments.

I tend to walk 5-10mies a day, usually as part of my commute within San Francisco. One of the reasons I love this city so much is the walkability. I'm a fan of the backpack for a book, an extra layer, and in case I buy something on the walk, or in case I find an interesting read in one of those neighborhood share libraries.

My wife will be visiting relatives out of the country for the entire month of July, so I'm planning on a solo trip to some town or city in the United States. Any suggestions on nice, walkable cities? I also like to visit bars and try and see live music.

I find these comments fascinating. I've never heard anyone say this before, but I wonder if it's similar to the phenomenon where a certain percentage of the population thinks that cilantro tastes like soap.

A much better question is "who cares?".

It's like asking how to save a half a bagel or a half of a snicker bar. Man up and finish it.

Yeah, I definitely agree with this. The corporate media is a hive mind of sorts, and look at the unhinged hysteria presented on CNN. I'm definitely not a fan of FOX, but during the Presidential debate, their panel contained two Biden supporters, two Trump supporters, and two never-Trumpers. That diversity of opinion was lacking on all of the other major networks.

I think we're seeing a sort of religious phenomenon here in regards to the corporate media. They're pushing narratives everyone know are untrue, but no-one can come out and say it publicly due to the religiosity of the mob.

Nice writeup, but the word "Pancriticalism" showed exactly zero hits for me in Google.

I'm not sure whether or not this is true. It may be based on personality. I've seen people struggle with it, but I've never had a problem. I've been using Anki for over 5 years, and hardly ever fall behind on reviews.

I've been able to use it about 30-45 minutes per day, every single day for five years. Even when Im sick or traveling. If I know I am going to be busy, I just turn down the number of new cards in advance and by the time I'm busy my review count has usually responded.

Another SF lover here. It is an amazing place. What I like so much about it is that you can just wander aimlessly through the city and stumble upon all sort fo cool stuff. Very walkable.

Also, in contrast to NYC, you can easily string together a day where you're in Muir Woods, then hit a winery or two in Sonoma, and be back in SF in time for the Symphony. Sure, I don't do stuff like that all the time, but on occasion when I have visitors in town.

Downsides are the high cost, the absolutely insane homeless and feces filled streets, and the monoculture.

A knowledge of the historic and philosophical background gives that kind of independence from prejudices of his generation from which most scientists are suffering.

-- Albert Einstein

Relatedly, I was struck by philosopher Bernard Longergan's concept of one's horizon.

He distinguished three classes of questions:

- The questions one can raise and answer satisfactorialy - The questions one can raise, but can not yet answer - The questions one is not even able to raise

One's intellectual horizon sits between the second and third categories. You can only think of humanity's horizon in this same sense.

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better."

-Abraham Lincoln

Close enough

I really loved that quote, but are you sure it is a Lincoln quote?

A Google search leads to this page.

I was going to recommend the Four Pillars of Investing by Mr. Bernstein.

https://www.amazon.com/Four-Pillars-Investing-Building-Portf...

I'd also recommend The Richest Man in Babylon, but not as the only book on personal investing you read. I tried reading it when I first did the deep dive into personal finance and it didn't quite seem worth it since there were very few specifics about actual investment vehicles. But I revisited it after reading several other books and thought it was really good at driving home and solidifying the big picture and major principles of personal finance.

Exactly. We all make these tradeoffs all the time and sacrifice lives for convenience and financial reasons. For example, close to 40K die in the us in traffic accidents every year. That number could be reduced to almost nothing with a 5 mph speed limit. of course, we've decided to take that calculated risk - the benefits of driving at speeds up to 65 or 70 outweigh the low number of annual deaths.

As a student of Japanese, I often get confused when listening to Japanese because there are so few sounds and therefore many homonyms.

This gave me the idea of a language with only two sounds, "ku" and "ka", being used to express everything. Sort of an analogue to the idea of encoding everything using the binary digits of zero and one.

kakakukukakakukukukuka, as the great philosopher once said.