Friday, September 12, 2003

Learning Japanese

As I said previously, learning Japanese is a multi-part problem. The sentence structure is different, it uses a non-western written style, combined with having to learn kana and kanji along with the differences in culture. All of which makes it difficult to get a handhold to start climbing the mountain.

Nonetheless, there are a few book that I have that I find make the process much easier then it would be otherwise.

Easy Japanese by Jack Seward (ISBN 0-8442-8495-5) is aimed at the beginner and concentrates on sentence structure and pronunciation. Japanese words are written using the Hepburn system (similar to r´o;maji) which means you don't have to know how to read kana in order to get through this book. The style is good and clear; and as an added bonus, Mr. Seward adds in a good amount of background information (entomology, cultural information) that help the learner to understand some of the whys and wherefores. My personal recommendation is that you skim through the book at least once at the start of your learning, then come back to it again later and work through it in detail.

Basic Japanese-English Dictionary by The Japan Foundation (ISBN 0-19-864328-4 or 4-89358-004-3) is a reference volume that allows you to lookup Japanese words by r´o;maji or kana (both are displayed side by side) and gives dictionary definitions of the terms. Very useful book to have handy. It also includes sample sentences that use the terms, written in kana/kanji, r´o;manji and translated into english.

The Kodansha Kanji Learners Dictionary by Kodansha (ISBN 4-7700-2335-9) is designed to let you lookup kanji quickly when you don't know it's pronunciation or meaning. It uses a pattern lookup system called "SKIP" where you classify the kanji according to it's visual structure, and then lookup the symbol using stroke counts. It also includes cross-reference entries that point you to the correct entry if you make one of the common stroke counting mistakes. The only bothersome thing would be that the physical size of the pages is a bit small (but the type is very clear) - good size for carrying around, but a larger print version would be good to have as well for extended use at a desk.

Some of the other books that I have are more advanced, or that I don't care for as much. But the three that I've listed above are probably the bare minimum that I'd recommend for getting that first handhold. I also have 3 books that teach how to write kana and a pair of picture books that teach the names for various objects. Then, of course, there are the various cultural reference books which attempt to provide background information (which helps to explain some of the idioms used).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:43 AM

Tuesday, September 09, 2003

Sci-Fi Suggestions

Slashdot discussion with a bunch of good sci-fi author suggestions.

My favorite authors are Brin, Bujold, Cherryh, Zahn, Asimov, Herbert, Card and Saberhagen (I'm sure I can think of more...) - but I'm always on the prowl for new sci-fi/fantasy.

Good sci-fi is about people/story - not about cool tech. (Something most sci-fi movies seem to miss the point on.)

Right now I'm reading David Brin's Kiln People - which is a pretty good read (almost a detective story).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 7:43 PM

Canon 300D SLR

Canon Rebel 300D Review

/drool

6.5 megapixels 3172x2048, digital SLR, focal length factor of 1.6, CompactFlash I/II - and a price under US$1000. Figure $1500-$1800 since I'd buy some sort of long-distance zoom lens.

While at the zoo last week, it really hit me how much I missed my old manual Pentax K-1000 SLR. The Mavica that I use a 3 megapixel with a 3x optical zoom (equivalent to a 35mm 34-102mm lens), which gives me roughly the same capabilities as my old primary 28-70mm lens on the K-1000. However, I also had a 500mm zoom lens (bouncing mirror design) with a fixed focal length and fixed apeture (f 8.0) on the Pentax which was great for getting nice close-ups of wildlife (at least, when I had the right speed film loaded for the light conditions since shutter speed needed to stay above 1/250 sec if I wasn't toting a monopod/tripod).

While I don't miss the 2-week delay in getting my shots back (had to send to a lab that would create PhotoCDs, and about 1/3 of the time they'd either screw up which type of PhotoCD to create, or lose the film altogether... I'm *not* sorry that I switched to digital!) - I do miss the 3072x2048 image resolution that I used to get with PhotoCDs. The 3 megapixel purchase was a compromise 2 years ago, most cameras on the market were 2 megapixel so this was top-of-the-line -- but I always wished I had held out for a 5-6 megapixel version. (Sony came out with a 5 megapixel version of the Mavica this year.) The fact that the Mavica would write to mini-CDR media was a big bonus since it's a lot cheaper then any of the various flash media. Now that the 6 megapixel cameras are here, I'm considering upgrading (and moving back to SLR).

Eliminating the film cost is also a big deal. I remember on my trip to California back in 1992/1993 I shot around 10 rolls of film or 250 shots. It cost me around $0.75/shot to get PhotoCDs and prints developed. On my trip to the zoo last week, I shot 2 CDs worth (200 shots) for about $5. Even if I printed out 20 of those images, I'd probably only end up spending $100(?). Because the media is so cheap (and each individual shot is cheap), I can shoot multiples and take the best one of the bunch. I've shot somewhere around 1500-1600 shots with the Mavica so far.

I also miss looking through the SLR viewfinder. Using a LCD screen on the back of the camera just isn't as personal to me. It's twice as hard to adjust focus manually, it washes out in bright light - but it also makes it possible to do "overhead" shooting. (There were a few shots at the zoo where I just held the camera as high as I could reach and shot over the heads of the people in front of me.)

Anyway, list price for the 300D is $999 and I figure in a few months that price should slip a bit down to the $800 mark. Compact Flash cards are very reasonable price now ($65 for a 256Mb which would hold 25? shots, $120 for a 512Mb card). With the focal length factor of 1.6 I can get away with a 75-300mm lens and have it perform like a 480mm lens for around $450. It comes with an 18-55mm lens which would be close to what I'm used to from my old SLR, but I might swap in a 28-105 (45-168 factored) as my standard lens to get more versatility.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 4:49 PM

Monday, September 08, 2003

SCOX Share Price

SCOX share price is now 16.04. Which, frankly, surprises me because I thought for sure the stock was going to tank when it fell below the 10.00 mark. (I think SCO is making outrageous claims that will not be proven in court.)

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 12:21 PM

Post-9/11 Impact

Good article over at the NYTimes called "9/11 Still Strains New York's Psyche, Poll Finds". (Pulled my copy off of Yahoo! news, so I don't have a link to the article directly.)

I still think about terrorism every time I go to NY/Long Island - especially when I'm on the Goethe / Verezano bridges. And I only go up there every few months, not every day like some folks. It's not a galloping panic, but it's definitely something that I'm actively considering off to the side in my mind as I drive anywhere near those 2 bridges.

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 10:01 AM

Burn, Burn, Burn

Or is that "turn, turn, turn" around and change CDs in the CD drive? Think I've ripped about 1/5 of my CDs so far... this time I'm boosting to 160Kbps MP3s instead of 128Kbps MP3. (160Kbps is a trade-off, 224Kbps+ is over-kill for MP3, 128Kbps is slightly noisy, 192Kbs seems slightly over-kill since it would seriously impact the amount of music I can fit on a CD... so I'm splitting the difference.)

Once I finish ripping the CDs, I'll be putting them back in storage. Rubbermaid makes a 12qt container called a SNAPtopper which is just the right depth to put CDs in vertically. I used to use the larger 30qt size, but those containers would get to heavy once they're loaded up with CDs. (On a side note, the entire SNAPtopper product line are my favorites for storing all sorts of different stuff.)

I did consider switching the tracks to .ogg format, but my in-car audio player only supports MP3s. My portable CD/mp3 player might be upgradeable to use .ogg - but I'm not 100% sure off-hand. OTOH, .ogg files are smaller and the audio is clearer - but I'm not audiophile enough to tell the difference (majority of my listening is either through the laptop speakers or in the car).

posted by Wuphon's Reach at 9:55 AM