http://toshuo.com Chinese, Linguistics, Science, Cultural Observations and whatever else I feel like writing about Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:29:53 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I don't think I ever saw Joel look so pleased with Taiwan as when we took him to guānghuá shāngchǎng. Oh, the computer goodness! Unfortunately, our guest had little appreciation for Acer, a local Taiwanese brand. Not even these energetic Acer girls' pitch about the "super super thin laptop ... http://toshuo.com/2009/guanghua-shangchang-goodness/ Joel, a first time visitor to Taiwan, was busy with his camera while he was here. This video is filming from the MRT on the way to Jiantan station while Nate talks about what they're seeing: Here's a shot that shows off some of the greenification in the Dunhua area: http://toshuo.com/2009/short-video-clips-filmed-from-the-mrt/ My old friend and co-worker Nathan has been back in town this past week and it's been great! It's been nearly three years since he left Taiwan and he wanted a chance to come by before starting law school this fall. His friend Joel, who hadn't ever been ... http://toshuo.com/2009/an-old-friend-back-in-town/ I'd been swimming in the ocean several times since coming to Taiwan, but yesterday was the first time I ever went to a swimming pool in Taiwan. I went to the Nángǎng public sports center. Price It was pretty reasonable, probably about 80% of the price it used to cost me ... http://toshuo.com/2009/going-to-a-swimming-pool-in-taiwan/ Over the past month as made my way through the phenomenal guide Remembering the Kanji, I've learned some interesting things. Not only am I writing all the Joyo kanji with an accuracy I could only have dreamt of before RTK, but I'm starting to recognize some of the systematic ... http://toshuo.com/2009/japanese-character-simplification-via-repeat-symbols/ Looking back, it kind of amazes me that I've just this month truly discovered James W. Heisig's landmark work, Remembering the Kanji. Back in 2001 and 2002, I heard Heisig's name pop up a couple of times while I was studying Japanese at UC Boulder. I think my ... http://toshuo.com/2009/remembering-the-kanji-at-last/ I spent most of the winter break at home with a cold. It was almost as if my body suddenly realized it had time to get sick! It wasn't a waste in any sense, though. My interest in Japanese somehow became renewed. I think somehow, getting into Anki ... http://toshuo.com/2009/pinyin-input-firefox-extension-2/ I went to several local video game shops right before Chinese New Year. It had been long time since I'd bought or really played any console games, but the Wii was different enough and interesting enough that I decided to get one to play over my two week vacation. ... http://toshuo.com/2009/buying-a-wii-in-taiwan/ I've made a Firefox extension that converts pinyin with tone numbers into pinyin with tone marks. The specifics of the conversion process are identical to those of the online pinyin converter I wrote earlier. After installing the extension, a blue square will appear on the right side of the status ... http://toshuo.com/2009/pinyin-input-firefox-extension/ Anki is a free software program designed to help people remember what they have learned. It's a flashcard program, with support for a variety of media, including text, sound files, mathematical equations (using Latex) and even images. My use of it so far has been restricted to foreign ... http://toshuo.com/2009/review-anki-spaced-repetition-learning-system/