The blog developer community has been going crazy over the last few days with the news that Blogger has been purchased by Google. Big news. And that's about all I've got to say about that. Have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I have to cut some serious code. Going buunta.
Boards again of course. Check Tha Technique. KMD. Master Ace...I Got Ta. I Got Ta.
[originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe]
A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.
One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming.
A person capable of appreciating hack value.
A person who is good at programming quickly.
An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in a Unix hacker. (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.)
An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example.
One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations.
[deprecated] A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence password hacker, network hacker. The correct term for this sense is cracker.
Wise words from Qui Gon [?] this time. I know this to be true as it's been happening in my life for as long as I can remember. Whatever I've put my mind to, and been positive about, I have become. I think now I'm putting my mind on getting my ass to Japan, learning Japanese, working for myself. Basically starting something. Something wonderful ;)
It's really a pretty shit movie. It's on TV at the moment. I've seen it plenty of times and even have the video, but it's way better than anything else the stations have to offer tonight. I crashed out for 2 hours when I got home tonight and therefore missed out on my nightly swim. Bummer eh? Must have needed the sleep though.
Started learning Hiragana last night. It's not as difficult as you expect. That old expectation thing again...best not to have them at all. Just a matter of practice really. Always known that anything can be acheived with patience and practice. Gotta start unlearning what I've learned.
I worked out how to use mod_rewrite in apache, so now I'm going to implement user-friendly urls in deepthought and setup r0nin.org loose. Can't wait. It's the old - If you build it they will come - thing. I'm keen for it. Time to give that shit a go. Get out there and say something. Maybe be heard. Maybe learn something new. I've been swimming most nights since my return. Feels good. Have to keep doing it until it becomes habitual. Same with the Japanese. I've got a real problem with studying though. But still, it's probably out of habit as well. Things change.
The master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.
Nan / nani - what ima - now eg: nanji desu ka? - what time is it? nanji - what time? ima nanji desu ka? what time is it now? ima nanji - what time now?
iki / iku ikimasu - will go, am/are going ikimashita - went ikimasen - won't go / not going ikimasen deshita - did not go
ki kimasu - come / is coming kimashita - came kimasen - won't come kimasen deshita - did not come
kaeri kaerimasu - returning / will return kaerimashita - returned kaerimasen - will not return kaerimasen deshita - did not return
dekake dekakemasu - leaving / going out / will leave / will go out dekakemashita - left / gone out dekakemasen - won't leave dekakemasen deshita - did not leave
oki okimasu - wake up / get out of bed / will wake up okimashita - woken up / got out of bed okimasen - won't wake up okimasen deshita - did not wake up
ne nemasu - go to bed nemashita - gone to bed nemasen - will not wake up nemasen deshita - did not wake up
tsuki tsukimasu - arrive / arriving tsukimashita - arrived tsukimasen - will not arrive tsukimasen deshita - did not arrive
nin - people sai - age / years old ban - order of a series / number ji - o'clock
Kyoo - today
Ashita - tomorrow
Kinoo - yesterday
Asa - morning
Yoru / Ban - night
Gogo - afternoon [PM]
Gozen - morning [AM]
Kesa - this morning
Komban - tonight
Yuube - last night
Konshuu - this week
Senshuu - last week
Raishuu - next week
Kongetsu - this month
Sengetsu - last month
Raigetsu - next month
Kotoshi - this year
Kyonen - last year
Rainen - next year
Mai - every
Saikin - recently
Mainichi - everyday
Eiga - movies
Gakkoo - school
Daigaku - university
Kaisha - company
Jimusho - office
Shigoto - work
Mise - shop
Umi - beach
Toshokan - library
Tokai / Machi - city
Ginkoo - bank
Yuubinkyoku - Post Office
Kuukoo / Hikoojoo - airport
Kissaten - cafe
Byooin - hospital
Koojo - factory
Eki - train station
Basu tei - bus stop
Doko - where
Kusuriya - chemist
Notes: Even though 'I' is not mentioned in the stated Japanese sentence, it is implied in all the above statements. When cinstructing question sentences, the addition of 'ka' after the verb is necessary. eg: ginkoo ni ikimasu ka [Are you going to the bank?] honsha e ikimashita ka [Did you go to the head office?] doko ni ikimasu ka [Where are you going?] In such sentences, 'you' is not mentioned but is implied. ni vs e Both particles mean 'to' or 'towards' Like all particles, both follow the word they effect. However, 'e' is used to mark desitinations ONLY. 'ni' is used to mark destinations or activities. eg: sampo ni ikimashita [I went for a walk] ensoku ni ikimasen [I won't go on the excursion] NOTE: Don't think of 'ni' as meaning 'for' [with activities] but rather think of 'ni' as a marker of an actibity. Now there are just 2 pages of exercises. So far this has taken me 1 hour, so I'll do the exercises tomorrow.
When speaking Japanese, a native English speaker has to come to terms with the verb being at the end of the sentence. The Japanese verb functions as a tense indicator and can be conjugated in many ways. These conjugations are the foundation of the language. Whether a student is a beginner or has years of experience, understanding the verb is the key to attaining 'fluency'. The Japanese Verb has two parts: Example: iki-masu 1. The stem - Contains the verbs meaning and can be found by separating the 'masu' ending of the verb [ie: iki is the stem of ikimasu] 2. The 'masu' ending - Has nothing to do with meaning. It indicates the tense of the verb. Tenses Masu - indicates present tense or future tense. eg: ikimasu - will go, am/are going Mashita - indicates past tense eg: ikimashita - went Masen - indicates negative tense eg: ikimasen - won't go/not going Masen Deshita - indicates past negative tense eg: ikimasen deshita - did not go ##Basic Sentence Construction Let's analyse a simple English sentence and compare the construction to the Japanese version. I will go to Tokyo In the sentence, you have a pronoun (I), a destination (Tokyo) and a verb (to go). 1. Pronouns In Japanese, pronouns such as 'I' and 'you' are rarely used. We will discuss this in detail in Chapter 3 [great], but for now, let's assume the implied meaning of 'I' for statements and 'you' for questions. 2. Destinations Destinations are marked (followed) by the particles 'ni' or 'e'. Both particles mean 'to' or 'towards'. eg: tookyoo ni [to Tokyo] e shidonii e [to Sydney] ni 3. ParticlesProper use of particles is the challenge for the beginner. The first section of this text introduces the most common particles. The particle is the glue that holds the Japanese sentence together. Without them, you have nothing more than groups of words without order or direction. Particles point the listeners' attenion in a certain direction. Although they are small and seemingly innocuous, incorrect use of them will confound the meaning of your sentence and is the major stumbling block for intriductory students. 4. Word OrderThe word order for Japanese sentences is very different to English. as stated, the verb is at the end of the sentence and contains the tense. The destination comes at the beginning. Of course, as your ability increases this word order will be extended and modified but for now you have two components to word order: destination + ni/e + verb. Example sentences: oosutoraria ni ikimashita [I went to Australia] ginkii e ikimasu [I'm going to the bank] honsha ni ikimasen [I'm not going to the head office] yuubinkyoku ni ikimasen deshita [I didn't go to the post office]
I've enrolled in a Japanese language course. $280. 3 hours a lesson. 1 lesson a week. 10 weeks in total. But I enrolled late and missed the first class, so I've had to get the notes from Powlow [who is doing the same course - I got the contact details from him]. It all seems pretty fast paced. Definitely a challenge. But I can do anything, so learning a new language is doable. Anyways, I want to document the notes as I go along so I have a references point, some method of self teaching, and just in case I loose the physical papers. Here we go. For this first lesson I had to take pictures of Powlow's notes, [I should get my own copies when I go to the next class], so I'll just type down all the information that's in his notes and try to make sense of it. ## Particles [definition pending] wa - topic ni - destination [place or activity] e - destination [place only] ka - question ne - after thought [right? yeah? ok?] ## The Sounds Of Japanese vowels - a i u e o added to these consonants - (k) ka ki ku ke ko (g) ga gi gu ge go (s) sa shi su se so (z) za ji zu ze zo (t) ta chi tsu te to (d) da -- tzu de do (n) na ni nu ne no (h) ha hi fu he ho (b) ba bi bu be bo (p) pa pi pu pe po (m) ma mi mu me mo (y) ya -- yu -- yo (r) ra ri ru re ro m/n ; wa Now it seems as the class concentrated on destinations, because the next sheet is a list of destinations on Japanese & English. Eiga - movies Gakkoo - school Daigaku - university Kaisha - company Jimusho - office Shigoto - work Mise - shop Umi - beach/seashore Toshokan - library Tokai/machi - city Ginkoo - bank Yuubinkyoku - P.O. Kuukoo / hikoojoo - airport Kissaten - cafe Byooin - hospital Koojo - factory Eki - train station Basu tei - bus stop Doko - where Kusuriya - chemist Now we get into some more interesting stuff. I'll start a new post for this [what the hell ;)].
Like the Jungle Brothers said [and Sly Stone before that], it's time. Time to put this code on the web and start using it for what it's worth. Get blogging and all that. I know there are a few things I should do prior to this, like security etc, but I'll just have to play it safe. One thing that I must do before I load it on r0nin.org...actually two things. Get the user friendly URLs happening, and get my email server working, so I can receive @r0nin.org email. Gots ta ;)
This morning the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into earth's atomosphere. All 7 crew members lost their lives. It's all over the net, TV & radio [as expected]. But wasn't it bound to happen. Columbia was over 20 years old and had only 2 major overhauls in it's life [the last one being just last year]. I bet the american military industrial machine reaps this event for every bit of tear jearking emotion it can. And somehow they'll work out a way to blame Iraq or North Korea. Or maybe it's China's turn to take a media bashing. I feel sorry for the 7 dead and their friends and family. For all the NASA workers and for the few americas who are actually human beings as well. But for the rest of them, including Oil Barron Bush...suck it.