“The word originally had a military connotation, relating to a soldier, though not an ordinary foot soldier. It connoted a military engineer, one who preceded the main body and built bridges, roads and trenches. Hence, “to pioneer” came to mean to prepare or open the way, and a “pioneer” was one who took the lead, forging ahead in the face of odds or opposition, as the early settlers of the North American West did. The term suggests an individual who is intrepid, one who presses ahead until his goal is realized. “
Alexa plugin retiring!
https://support.alexa.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410503838999
It’s hard to believe that such a widely used service is ending…
It’s one of many services that I used long before it was bought by a giant.
(For example: grandcentral before it was bought and made into Google Voice)
I have often been an early adopter. There is hardly a google product I use that I didn’t use before it was bought by google (Writely, Youtube, etc.)
We used to be called early adopters, now it just means we are old.
At 39 years old I am a grandfather on the internet. Grandfathered in.
Some of us know a lot about how the internet works under the hood though.
Anyway, rant, over.
幫助記憶的詞句 – a glace at the use of mnemonics by the Chinese
I was recently looking for websites that teach Japanese hiragana to Chinese speakers using mnemonics.
There are sites like tofugu that have mnemonics for English speakers who want to learn hiragana and katakana, but any for Chinese? I wondered.
Let’s see
Posted in language, language learning tips, 老外日中
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Communication tools
A very quick, but hopefully interesting post about communication.
(I hope I will have time to expand on it one day.)
What do GIFs, Emoji, Character Maps have in common..?
Read MoreHow to use Windows Chinese IME and toggle between English and Chinese
I do a lot of typing in Chinese. (I also use a Japanese IME regularly. This is how to use a Japanese IME.)
To switch between Chinese and English you could switch using “windows key + space bar”
But, as the above link shows, when you are in the Chinese IME you can just hit the “shift” key to toggle between English and Chinese. Yay!
Posted in language, language learning tips
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Life in Asia Cookbook: Frypan Pizza
Pizza dough:
2 table spoons yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water (110F)
2.5 cups flour
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let sit a few minutes. Stir in flour, salt , oil. Mix until smooth. Rest 5 minutes. Make into pie (or pies). Brown one side (medium heat) 10 minutes. Flip over. Top with topping ingredients. Cover and heat 15 minutes.
Posted in cookbook, Life in Asia, Life in Asia Cookbook, Random
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For whom the bell tolls
Ode to Odd Jazz – a B.O.S.S
“Ode to Odd Jazz; or What Instrument does Rahsaan Roland Kirk Play?”
(A poem by Tori Taiyo Johnson, part of Benfii Original Short Stories – B.O.S.S. ©2021 Eagle Land Grace, LLC)
~ Poem ~
Read MoreHow ‘NEW’ is born – a little theory
Jazz – (Buddy Bolden 1895)
Rock-n-roll – (as early as the 1920s or possibly Arthur Crudup’s 1947 release)
CyberPunk (Neuromancer in 1984)
There is nothing new under the sun.
How do “new” things come about?
Posted in Another TOE - Theories on Everything & Thoughts on Theories, Humanity, Jazz, Neuroscience, The Link, Theory
Tagged cheap thoughts
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Travel Lies – “50 Tips from Experts on Ways to Make Money Traveling”
Yeah. Here’s a nice example of a boldface propaganda-to-tickle-your-ears (and maybe get-your-money) blog post title:
50 Tips from Experts on Ways to Make Money Traveling
-claimcompass.eu
Let’s take a moment to think about this…
Read More
Posted in Lies Someone Told You, Travel
Tagged hardships of travel, lies people tell, travel abroad, travel lies, travel the world
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