Friday, February 21, 2014
Romans 13:9-10
“The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Sometimes...
... the truth slaps you in the face and you feel helpless in its wake.
Well, The Truth is waiting for you to wake up and realize that some things aren't what you think it is.
Get over it!
Part of My School Getting Destroyed
... For better things.
The school has been under renovation for awhile now and the new buildings look amazing!
I can't wait till they're ready and I can't wait till the school tells us we can move to a bigger laboratory to accommodate our growing numbers (both members and equipment).
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Power Sleep App
Your phone probably has a good deal of processing power and when you're not awake, its idle state may be put to good use.
Read about the power sleep app here: Quartz on Now your phone can fight cancer!
It only applies to Android phones (not the iOS) and only works when your phone is plugged in and on WiFi. (So there's apparently nothing to worry about extra data transfer costs.) What you're doing with this app is to "donate" your phone's processing power to research programs while it's idle. Think of it as one part of a million processors that is working for a super computer.
Not a bad idea on the part of the researchers. I might be tempted to assist if android phones didn't require so much battery power during the day.
If you're interested, here's a link to the download site: Power Sleep App
Read about the power sleep app here: Quartz on Now your phone can fight cancer!
It only applies to Android phones (not the iOS) and only works when your phone is plugged in and on WiFi. (So there's apparently nothing to worry about extra data transfer costs.) What you're doing with this app is to "donate" your phone's processing power to research programs while it's idle. Think of it as one part of a million processors that is working for a super computer.
Not a bad idea on the part of the researchers. I might be tempted to assist if android phones didn't require so much battery power during the day.
If you're interested, here's a link to the download site: Power Sleep App
Warm Up Activities for ESL Learners
I've been browsing the internet for English lessons today and realize that there are a lot of free materials available out there! Here's a few that I like:
English Club
+ for learners and teachers of English +
+ free materials +
+ free registration required pending approval +
Busy Teacher
+ free worksheets +
+ free registration required +
English Current
+ seems a little dodgy +
+ too many ads in one page +
+ seems legit +
+ no registration required +
ESL Kid Stuff
+ for kids! +
+ paid membership required +
Other sites I found:
Better Language Teaching
+ package available for immediate download after payment +
Free, Certified Courses from the World's Top Publishers
Englipedia
Warm Up Lesson Plans by About.com
Flow English
ESL Library
Worksheets for Business English Lessons
Business English Online
Using English
ESL on About.com
One Stop English
+ paid subscription to download materials +
English Grammar Secrets
Lingua Press
English Club
+ for learners and teachers of English +
+ free materials +
+ free registration required pending approval +
Busy Teacher
+ free worksheets +
+ free registration required +
English Current
+ seems a little dodgy +
+ too many ads in one page +
+ seems legit +
+ no registration required +
ESL Kid Stuff
+ for kids! +
+ paid membership required +
Other sites I found:
Better Language Teaching
+ package available for immediate download after payment +
Free, Certified Courses from the World's Top Publishers
Englipedia
Warm Up Lesson Plans by About.com
Flow English
ESL Library
Worksheets for Business English Lessons
Business English Online
Using English
ESL on About.com
One Stop English
+ paid subscription to download materials +
English Grammar Secrets
Lingua Press
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Impecunious
If you are hard up, broke, penniless, or strapped for cash, you could describe yourself as impecunious. Then maybe you could make some money teaching vocabulary words.
Impecunious comes from the old Latin word for money, pecunia, combined with the prefix im, meaning not or without. But impecunious doesn’t just mean having no money. It means that you almost never have any money. If you go into the arts, you are most likely facing an impecunious future. If you gamble away your cash instead of saving it for rent, your landlord might throw you out for being impecunious.
A challenge by Vocabulary.com.
There are days when I feel that I am impecunious but I'd like to believe that I am nowhere near this dire state.
Impecunious comes from the old Latin word for money, pecunia, combined with the prefix im, meaning not or without. But impecunious doesn’t just mean having no money. It means that you almost never have any money. If you go into the arts, you are most likely facing an impecunious future. If you gamble away your cash instead of saving it for rent, your landlord might throw you out for being impecunious.
A challenge by Vocabulary.com.
There are days when I feel that I am impecunious but I'd like to believe that I am nowhere near this dire state.
Pasquinade
A pasquinade is a satire, usually done in writing and posted in public. A skit, flyer, or cartoon can be a pasquinade — as long as its intent is to mock or ridicule something or someone.
You can find examples of modern pasquinades on late night television political sketches and in newspaper political cartoons that mercilessly make fun of public figures. Today, you’re probably more likely to use a synonym for pasquinade, such as lampoon or satire. But neither of those words can say they got their name from Pasquino, a 500 year-old statue in Rome where people posted lampoons and satirical poems.
A challenge from Vocabulary.com. I just started using this site. It has fascinating words that makes you wonder about what you truly know of the world around you.
You can find examples of modern pasquinades on late night television political sketches and in newspaper political cartoons that mercilessly make fun of public figures. Today, you’re probably more likely to use a synonym for pasquinade, such as lampoon or satire. But neither of those words can say they got their name from Pasquino, a 500 year-old statue in Rome where people posted lampoons and satirical poems.
A challenge from Vocabulary.com. I just started using this site. It has fascinating words that makes you wonder about what you truly know of the world around you.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Online Jobs for the International Student Living in Japan
As an international student with a college visa and a work permit, you can only work up to 8 hours a day during vacation or 28 hours a week at any other time (that's 4 hours a day). If you're like me, a graduate student who works from 9.30am to 7pm in a laboratory (usually interpreted as 9am to 7.30pm), you won't be able to take up normal part time jobs available to most people living in Japan. So, that sorts of narrows down your options to midnight jobs, online jobs, or tutoring jobs. Now, I can't work as a tutor in Japan since I have no knowledge of Japanese schools or their education system. (I can't teach English very well unless people don't mind me drilling the language into their heads.) Midnight jobs are quite acceptable actually but I have reached a point in life when I can't seem to go without sleep anymore. So! That leaves me with online jobs. I managed to snag one and I hope it'll pay well. I've also considered other jobs but have not started on them. (Perhaps the lack of motivation is what's driving me to the point of 'cashlessness'.)
These are some sites that may be of interest to you (whether you're living in or outside of Japan). They're online jobs so you can do them as long as you own a computer (and since you're reading this blog, I'm assuming you own one).
Translation jobs
The following sites are for translators. They're mostly Japanese-English jobs but there's quite a few other language pairs. (Chinese-English for starters, something I'm considering if there aren't enough Japanese-English jobs to do.)
+ Minna no Hon'yaku +
You start off as a Level 1 translator paid 0.9 yen per character translated but after 2500 characters you get evaluated to see if you're qualified to level up. Prices and bonuses paid increases with each level. The type of translations you will be doing are mainly product descriptions but as you level up and are more confident with your skills there are news articles, blog entries, and other more challenging texts.
+ Gengo +
Basic pay begins at USD0.03 per character so it pays rather well. But the tests you have to pass are quite difficult. The articles you have to translate on this site are usually of a certain level of difficulty so you need to be confident in your skills to work here.
+ Translator Base +
A paid, out-sourcing website for freelancing translators. Not exactly a steady source of income. You have to bid for jobs here and you actually pay for a subscription to this website to get better jobs.
Freelancers: Online Projects
Project based work paid hourly or per project for freelancers.
+ oDesk +
+ elance +
Tutoring
Yeah, I know I said I can't tutor but I decided to try anyway.
+ A Power Academy +
Long term teachers only.
Teacher-Student Matching Service
These sites are basically for teachers to advertise themselves and for students to look for teachers. They're mostly promoting language tutors so... who knows.
+ Hello Sensei! +
+ Find Students +
+ My Sensei +
+ International Language Academy +
Jobs for Foreigners
Now these sites are mostly for full time jobs but they also have contract, part-time and freelance jobs on occasion.
+ GaijinPot +
The good thing about this site is that it's in English so you know they're looking for people who knows English.
+ A Power Now +
Jobs aimed at foreigners in Japan. There's also a link for international students who wish to work part time.
+ Baitoru Dot Com +
As the name suggests in Japanese, it's a job site for part-timers.
+ Job Sense +
Another job site that has a special foreigner category.
+ Town Work +
Mostly actual work but you can search for part-time jobs aimed at foreigners too.
+ Baito College +
Part time jobs for the college student.
+ Work in Japan +
A free site for employers to post jobs.
+ Craigslist: Tokyo Classifieds +
Not sure if this is a reliable source but like any other online site, just be careful and wary. Don't give out your personal information or anything compromising and you should be fine. This site doesn't just advertise jobs but it's basically for people to buy and sell stuff too.
These are some sites that may be of interest to you (whether you're living in or outside of Japan). They're online jobs so you can do them as long as you own a computer (and since you're reading this blog, I'm assuming you own one).
Translation jobs
The following sites are for translators. They're mostly Japanese-English jobs but there's quite a few other language pairs. (Chinese-English for starters, something I'm considering if there aren't enough Japanese-English jobs to do.)
+ Minna no Hon'yaku +
You start off as a Level 1 translator paid 0.9 yen per character translated but after 2500 characters you get evaluated to see if you're qualified to level up. Prices and bonuses paid increases with each level. The type of translations you will be doing are mainly product descriptions but as you level up and are more confident with your skills there are news articles, blog entries, and other more challenging texts.
+ Gengo +
Basic pay begins at USD0.03 per character so it pays rather well. But the tests you have to pass are quite difficult. The articles you have to translate on this site are usually of a certain level of difficulty so you need to be confident in your skills to work here.
+ Translator Base +
A paid, out-sourcing website for freelancing translators. Not exactly a steady source of income. You have to bid for jobs here and you actually pay for a subscription to this website to get better jobs.
Freelancers: Online Projects
Project based work paid hourly or per project for freelancers.
+ oDesk +
+ elance +
Tutoring
Yeah, I know I said I can't tutor but I decided to try anyway.
+ A Power Academy +
Long term teachers only.
Teacher-Student Matching Service
These sites are basically for teachers to advertise themselves and for students to look for teachers. They're mostly promoting language tutors so... who knows.
+ Hello Sensei! +
+ Find Students +
+ My Sensei +
+ International Language Academy +
Jobs for Foreigners
Now these sites are mostly for full time jobs but they also have contract, part-time and freelance jobs on occasion.
+ GaijinPot +
The good thing about this site is that it's in English so you know they're looking for people who knows English.
+ A Power Now +
Jobs aimed at foreigners in Japan. There's also a link for international students who wish to work part time.
+ Baitoru Dot Com +
As the name suggests in Japanese, it's a job site for part-timers.
+ Job Sense +
Another job site that has a special foreigner category.
+ Town Work +
Mostly actual work but you can search for part-time jobs aimed at foreigners too.
+ Baito College +
Part time jobs for the college student.
+ Work in Japan +
A free site for employers to post jobs.
+ Craigslist: Tokyo Classifieds +
Not sure if this is a reliable source but like any other online site, just be careful and wary. Don't give out your personal information or anything compromising and you should be fine. This site doesn't just advertise jobs but it's basically for people to buy and sell stuff too.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Sushi Shops I want to Visit
10 Ramen Shops in Tokyo Worth Visting
Just read an article with this title. Was quite impressed with the list. Then I realized, they're all nearby! I can hop on one train and stop at all the stations where these shops are.
Yay!
::2014-02-06 Thursday: 1.21 PM::
+ found a comprehensive site:Ramen Adventures +
+ trip advisor came up with this +
Yay!
::2014-02-06 Thursday: 1.21 PM::
+ found a comprehensive site:Ramen Adventures +
+ trip advisor came up with this +
Feature Request: Automatically Save Web Content
Maybe it already exists, maybe it's just a worthless dream, but I really hope that there's an app or software for this.
I'm an amateur translator who can only translate Japanese to English or Mandarin to English. Because I'm an amateur I often have to look up words in dictionaries to check if my translation was correct. While this isn't difficult, with many awesome online dictionaries available, I would like to actually be able to save the results I found. For future reference.
Why would that be important?
Well, I love learning new languages and increasing my vocabulary would be a lot easier if I can just remember the words I just learnt. The problem is, in order to do that, I have to constantly copy and paste words from the dictionary result into another document before I can process the words. (I create CSV and TXT files to import into flashcard programs such as AnyMemo or Mnemosyne.)
So I would love it if there's a program out there that would help me download the dictionary results I found into a text file or something.
That reminds me, if there's a software that can automatically insert the exact date and time when I open a file or start typing or start... something, that would be great! (Even if I have to click a button or list the actions to trigger this function I would still want it.)
Haven't found anything useful online but maybe I will. (I forgot I used to use this blog to track good websites.)
I'm an amateur translator who can only translate Japanese to English or Mandarin to English. Because I'm an amateur I often have to look up words in dictionaries to check if my translation was correct. While this isn't difficult, with many awesome online dictionaries available, I would like to actually be able to save the results I found. For future reference.
Why would that be important?
Well, I love learning new languages and increasing my vocabulary would be a lot easier if I can just remember the words I just learnt. The problem is, in order to do that, I have to constantly copy and paste words from the dictionary result into another document before I can process the words. (I create CSV and TXT files to import into flashcard programs such as AnyMemo or Mnemosyne.)
So I would love it if there's a program out there that would help me download the dictionary results I found into a text file or something.
That reminds me, if there's a software that can automatically insert the exact date and time when I open a file or start typing or start... something, that would be great! (Even if I have to click a button or list the actions to trigger this function I would still want it.)
Haven't found anything useful online but maybe I will. (I forgot I used to use this blog to track good websites.)
Sunday, February 2, 2014
1 Corinthians 2:9
“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—” (1 Corinthians 2:9)
The very reason why I love research so much. ;)
The very reason why I love research so much. ;)
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