“As external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other, said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology and gerontology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. This is why so many people meet their lifelong friends in college, she added.”
一ヶ月前に目黒寄生虫館に行った。色々な寄生虫が見えるし、古い寄生虫の本も見た。怖いけれど、一番不思議な見えた物はイルカの胃だと思う。// About a month ago we went to Meguro Parasitological Museum. You can see a lot of different types of parasites, my favorite one was the dolphin stomach, infested with some kind of worms. 虫館は小さいのに無料なので、もし目黒に行ったら、行ってみてください！// There museum is small, but there is no entrance fee, so if you are in Meguro, you should check it out! www.kiseichu.org
Japanese sound symbolism on Wikipedia. Most languages have such words; for example, “bang”, “zap”, “ding”, “slither”, “pop”, etc. in English. Sound symbolic words occur more often in Japanese than in English—they are found in formal as well as vernacular language.
Here are a tiny tidbit of amazing things I have found around the internet lately. This weeks links are mostly documentary and/or science-based, but a couple of self-help and coffee-links are also included. Enjoy!
Incredibly entertaining documentary called “I Won University Challenge“. Smart people who have won the UK game show University Challenge. A collection of very special individuals.
TED-talk: “Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth?”
“Starting interesting things is a worthwhile trait, but perhaps a more important one is finishing those things.” Scott H. Young wrote about “Just finish it.”
Short and sweet on wikipedia about Japanese aizuchi, the frequent interjections during a conversation that indicate the listener is paying attention.
I am plugging away to reach my exam goals right now, so no blogging for me until the exams are over next week! For now – I just wanted to share this absolutely wonderful video – About how to remember more things, better. Truly inspiring for busy students right before an exam. I feel a huge happy boost of energy. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend, I am hitting the books!
If I ever feel a bit lost on the internet, I pop over to Zefrank and play with the little games. So much fun, and slightly useless, but none the less, very fun, eh… stuff!
From the weekly wiki-binge-pile: In geography, the antipodes of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth’s surface which is diametrically opposite to it.
This is not a political blog and will never be, but certain things just need to be mentioned. You have probably already heard about how Wikipedia and various other sites will have a 24 hr blackout in protest to SOPA. Here is how SOPA works, and anyone who cares about the internet should speak up against SOPA. Compare it to the real world. If a person were to ask you where the bank is, and you tell them where the bank is, and then the person goes into the bank and robs the bank, the bank could sue you. It doesn’t make sense, and it shouldn’t make sense. Speak up against this! Tell Congress not to censor the internet NOW! – fightforthefuture.org/pipa
If you are in Norway and have a Nintendo DS, this webshop had great service for R4 cartridges. It took me 4 day in total from I placed the order until I got the package in the mail. (And for being Norway, that is really fast service!)
Reaching the stage of Conscious Competence in Japanese. A nice article about different stages of learning. (I will start writing articles about learning Japanese myself, I just have to get around to it. Until then, the above website is a super resource!)
This might not be funny unless you know anybody from Bergen, Norway, but basically the county has put out a long list of words and expressions used in Bergen. I had not heard about half of them, but it was a fun to see anyhow!
Spoonflower is a website where you can make your own fabrics! A dream come true, I have been wanting to put designs on textile for a long time, and finally a website that seems really promising.
And I am absolutely in love with these Jeffrey Cambell shoes. If anybody knows where to buy them offline, please let me know! I don’t mind buying shoes online, but this design is kind of special and I am not sure how the shoe would actually look in real life, so trying them on would be great.
And again, if you are in Bergen, these guys at Ichiban make fun sushi! It reminds me a lot more of American/Canadian style of sushi than traditional Japanese sushi, but still, a lot of fun rolls and combos!
This website is all about simplifying your life by getting rid of possessions and create smarter and smaller living spaces, both to improve the quality of your life, and to leave less of a footprint. A lot of neat solutions here! When I grow up, I want to live in a space with movable walls.
How much do genes matter? A very nice article about how talent only takes you so far from Scott H. Young, who is all about learning faster and achieving more. (Check out his archive as well, lots of goodies in there about learning techniques.)
Things that made me smile:
Fat bird balls resting up on the lawn enjoying the last streaks of heat from the sun // Norwegian creamy fish soup // Crossing out all the items I had planned for the day in teuxdeux // Rediscovering twitter all of a sudden // THIS // Have empty space in my bookshelves and closets, empty white space on the walls // Small rooms which can be heated up to livable temperatures within 30 min // Sparkling water (elixir of life!) // Some beautiful people who have uploaded a lot of documentaries to youtube lately, thank you ♥ // Norwegian, black coffee // The very big moon a couple of days ago
