part … 2..?

uh… look over there a flying Part 2!you probably won’t see me around here anymore… sorry.

Russian for today! Part1: Alphabet

Well it certianly has been a while hasn’t it? i am increasingly bored this summer so i decided why not do a series on something i almost know something about, in this case The Russian Language.i like russian, it has many gramatical nuances that make it interesting and fun to speak, almost like a puzzle because you can put things however you want. it is pretty awesome. anyway the first step to knowing a language in my mind is to be able to read it. regardless of how many words you know if you can read than you can increase your passive knowledge of the language, which is very important.

the russian alphabet is a cyrillic alphabet. there are other languages that have cyrillic alphabet and for the most part they are pronounced the same (or similarly) across the board, this is partially due to the soviet union spreading russian everywhere it went, but that is another issue. The Cyrillic alphabet is based on greek, as was latin, so there are some similar symbols, but there are also some very different symbols, and in old slavic (where russian came from) there were LOTS of crazy funky symbols, but that isn’t russian so we won’t worry too much about that.
i like to divide the letters into 3 categories:
letters that sound and look the same as in english
letters that look like english letters but sound different
letters that look and sound different than english.
we shall start with the easiest category the ones that look and sound the same.
К к – sounds like k
О о – when it is stressed sounds like o but from further back in your mouth, but can also sound like ‘a’ as in ‘ah’
А а – yup a as in autumn
С с – i put this here because c can sound like s, as in centimeter
М м – normal ‘m’ (note it never looks like a lower case english m, always a small capital M… why?)
Т т – t (because when this char is in itallics it looks like ‘m’ (т see told ya), yup… fun!)

Кот – ‘cat’
Как – ‘how’
Так – ‘like that’, ‘in such manner’, ‘ok’, answer to ‘как’. it depends on context.
Тома’т – tomato. pronounce it tamat, the stress is on the a.

the next category is letters that look like english but sound different. there are arguably more that can fit in these 2 categories, but i am going to be completly strict as to what "looks the same" means.
У у – ‘Oo’ as in ‘oo that’s pretty’ not ‘book’ unless you’re british
Е е – ‘Yeh’ as in yeti. one note however is the ‘y’ part of the ye (and all other vowels that have a ‘y’ at the begining) becomes part of the consonant preceding it, most of the time…
Н н – ‘N’ normal boring n sound
Х х – it is typicly written ‘kh’ which is a close aprox. it is a really really hard ‘H’ from the back of the mouth.
В в – ‘V’, usually ‘f’ sometimes. when in doubt go for ‘v’
Р р – ‘R’, a trilled r actually, but if you can’t trill your r do an L sound instead, it isn’t a good habit, but it is more understandable than an english ‘r’

Нет – no, or none (ny-et, not n-yet)
В у’тром – in the morning (even though that В is all by itself, it is pronounced as part of the next word, voo’tram)
Страх – fear
Мне – to me
Текст – text, or lyrics

alright. this next group has the most letters and it is kinda annoying, so ill do it in 2 parts, first letters that have english sounds and letters that don’t sorta… it may seem like spliting hairs but whatever it is easier this way.
Ц ц – ‘Ts’ like the the zz in pizza
Г г – ‘G’, some will pronounce it very soft, almost like an ‘h’, others will pronounce it harder, but it should be on the soft side. also at the end of words you may have ‘его’ or ‘ого’ ONLY when it is at the end, it should be pronounced as a ‘V’ so ‘его’ is ‘yevo’
З з – ‘Z’
Э э – ‘Eh’ as in pen
Ё ё – ‘yo’ like yo-yo
Д д – ‘D’
Л л – ‘L’
П п – ‘P’
Я я – ‘Ya’ like the russian a, with a y at the begining
Ч ч – ‘Ch’ like cheese
И и – ‘I’ or ‘ee’ like cheese 😀
Б б – ‘B’ as in book
Ф ф – ‘F’, never ever ever EVER a ‘V’ sound.
Ю ю – ‘Yoo’ i like to think universe.

as for help remembering them… there isn’t much, i mean it is hard to tell a few apart л and п were really problematic for me when i started. it is clearer in written text, at least for those, but if you want to learn it you just gotta memorise it, that is it.

Би’блия – bible
Пое’зд – train
Любви’ – of love
цирк – circus
Чорт – an imp. collq: damn
Гуманита’рная рабо’та – humanitarian aid/work

and the last letters!

Ы ы – ‘ughi’ i can’t write it any better than that. it is like an ‘i’ only take where sound come from and move it into your throat. your tongue should be flat and down, not up and curved.
Ж ж – ‘zj’, like the sound in persuasion, and reduction.

Й й – this is lit. ‘short и’. it should be pronounced like the y in boy, mostly. it also combines with the letter before it.
Ш ш – ‘sh’ like say, Sean like you think Sean Connery would.
Щ щ – also ‘sh’, only like… like… softer… … .. .. .. the opposite of the way Sean Connery would, (not like normal it is just as far away from normal but in the other direction.)

Ъ ъ – this is the hard sign and it has no sound! remember how i said letters like е, ё, я, ю, и (with a small y (ee) sound at the begining), you take that y and smash it into the letter before it… well that is true if this letter isn’t there, think of it like a syllable break.
Ь ь – this is a soft sign… it is exactly the thing before each of е, ё, я, ю, и that seperates it from their comrades э, о, а, у, and ы. in reality it is very very similar to й, but it is nice to see that they are 2 different letters, why? because.

Жу’жовать – to buzz
Забы’ть – to forget
Женщи’на – woman
Шить – to sew
Щит – shield
(these 2 are EXCELLENT at showing the difference between what ш and щ sound like, as well as what ь does)

time for some practice! don’t worry if you don’t know what you are saing, like i mentioned earlier, that isn’t the point. just try to say the words. i will always mark the accent, so make sure you try to say it with that syllable with the stress. And remember if O is not stressed it sounds like an A, ok?

Бы’ло вре’мя когда’, на два го’да, я ни’кого не ви’дел одного’ челове’к. ужас, бы’ло.
но э’то вре’мя пошло’, и тепе’рь всё в поря’дке. я уставши’, но я переживу’. А ты, что ты де’лаешь? наде’юсь, что ты то’же мо’жешь сказа’ть, что всё хорошо’. Отли’чно, как обы’чно! но дава’й, тогда’. мне пора’ домо’й. До-свида’ние.

so that is every letter in the russian alphabet. there is much more to the letters than just that however. the next part is going to be talking more about the attributes and relationships between these letters and their sounds. it may not be that important in english that B and P are related but in russian it kindof does so, ya look forward to that. any questions? feel free to ask in the comments!

the disappearance

First of all, i would like to say OMG. Borders going bankrupt? Crazyness to the extreme!Secondly. what i wanted to talk about today is something that is really old hat, but whatever… i feel like i am the only person of this opinion so i will give it!

i say "The Melancholy of Haruhi season 2" and the whole world screams back in reply "God, Endless 8 sucked!" then i say in reply, "you ignorant swine!"
what do i mean? Well first i would assume you to be an anime watching individual, and one who like (not necessarily loved) the first season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzymiya. i mean if you aren’t and you didn’t then you can stop reading right now, because you straight up won’t understand. So the endless eight has been described as a very repetitve boring waste of time and money. i mean i would agree with that if i didn’t… but from an objective stand point, yes making 8 seemingly identical episodes of the same show would seem… dumb. only it wasn’t accidental at all. nor was the fact that you felt utterly bored watching the thing.
i didn’t watch them as they came out but i could image how it would have been. you wait a whole week for the next episode of your favorite show to come out, and… what the heck… have i seen this already? no… it is … different… but really it is almost exactly the same. I would have to give it to the nay sayers, except for the fact that the movie, The disappearance of Haruhi, exists. If it did not then i would have no point.
in this movie (spoiler alert!) Nagato takes Haruhi’s powers and rewrites the world so that she isn’t an alien, and so that Haruhi is not ‘god’, etc. why?
well if you paid attention to the endless 8 you may have an inkling as to why. she spend over 500 years looping through the same few weeks. she was feed up. she needed a break. she was sick of all the responsibility that was thrust on her, and what is the real reason was she was bored. imagine you have 500 years to watch a person you were sent to watch… i think you would get a pretty good idea of what they were like.
Now why would the directors of the show put their fans through something so tedious and time consuming as watching the same episode 8 times? i mean, they drew it 8 times too, it couldn’t have been exactly the most enjoyable. then the voice actors too. (they did revoice at least a majority of each one). so you could connect in a way not attainable previously to the ’emotionless’ Nagato Yuki, then be given the best 2 hours of the show in existence, The disappearance of haruhi. that is what i think. and i am glad i watched the endless eight, because Nagato is the coolest character in the show.
anyway that is about it. i am tired, yo.

Bye-Q!

this is not a post

sorry guise. no time to really post today,so i am posting to continue the habit of not ignoring this blog, even if it really has no content. Sorta like with nanowrimo, you have to write something, even if it is that you aren’t going to be writing.

well see ya all on the flip side. i hate life.
bye Q!

better formating? and a uke song.

Well hello there!A dedicated reader of mine (he called himself a viewer… lolwut?) told me that i need to work on formating for my blog, using such fragments as "paragraphs from hell" and "hard to see sentences", suggesting that i should also spell check my posts first. WHAT? How do i maintain a close and approachable writing style while adhering to such bounds and constraints such as those established 500 years ago, by the man, to keep us down? Well actually it isn’t that hard… I mean i am pretty much able to do it if i try… but don’t expect me to capitalize the word ‘i’, i will never do that. it is a principle thing.

Anyway. So i was thinking about what to post about and i could only think that my las post where i mentioned my Uke was pretty popular, so why not talk more about it. However to be honest, that post was mislabeled. It was less about the uke than other things but o well.

So my uke. i play it not horribly, based on several standpoints. More important than how good i am at it is how many people daily i can annoy with it. Which isn’t very many… i’m too shy. Woe is me. Anyway i could totally tell you about important chords in my opinion. Those would be all of them. But if you had to narrow it down i would learn these to start. C, Em, G, Am, F, Am, and if you feel ambitious E, D, and A. Why those… cuz it is almost all the major triads that’s why. God you are dense. well simply put if you know those you can basicly play anything in key of C, which is alot, i attribute the massive amount of music in C to the fact that musicians suck, and stopped learning music theory after 2 lessons. But regardless of that, there are many songs where you will find the chords online and the song is in C even if the original isn’t. This is because you and everyone else only plays in that key, so they transcribe the song to be easier to play. Easier may it be, but for people like me, that have no relative pitch register, it will never sound like the right song… so i only learn songs in the proper key (they were written there for a reason) Anyway the nice thing is once you learn the main chord shapes you can just shift your hand around the neck and have other chords. YAY. Like a Bb all you do is bar with your pointer finger the top fret and play an A under it, magic. There are a few more shapes that are important to use like Cm, Gm, Fm, Dm etc, but they are much less important for someone just starting in my opinion.

Also it is great to never use tabs. Tabs are for the weak, learn your chords, and fingering patterns, it is much more professional, and fun. i mean you could learn by tabs, but then you will never beable to see music for something, say "oh that is this chord progression, and then do an awesome improv riff." of course it will take lots of practice to do that, but you are on your way if you don’t use tabs. Also i kinda started that way out of nessecity. Guitar tabs are as plentiful as … as … something very plentiful, but uke tabs aren’t so if you use chords you can just re-purpose those guitar sheets that use chords as notation aswell. So it is fabulous. So it is now song time, everyone grab you ukes! i considered doing a super easy song like "somewhere over the rainbow," but i hate the easy version i know so i won’t. instead we are doing "You were meant for me"
The chords you need to know
idk..
its’ some kinda
C, i think
Cadd9
|0000|
|0P00|
|000R|

this is like
a G… G6 or something
|0000|
|0P0M|

Em
|0000|
|000P|
|00M0|
|0R00|

then there is D
|0000|
|MMM0| Bar that fret!
(i use my middle finger cuz it bends more, but use whatever is comfortable, just make sure the little A string rings out loud.)

so the verses use only these. i strum 1+4, then 3 then 2 then 1. pause then 2, 3, 1.
the main problem is a lack of sound depth in the uke so it won’t sound the same as with a guitar, but it should be recognizable.
play thusly

Cadd9 G6
i hear the clock, it’s six A.M.
C Em
i feel so far, from where i’ve been
Cadd9 G6
i got my eggs, my pancakes too,
C D
i got my maple syrup, everything but you

repeat that again, with the other words and that is the verse,
the course introduces 1 more chord

G
|0000|
|0P0M|
|00R0|

and it goes

C D G D Em
Dreams last for so long even after you’re gone.
C D G D Em
i know that you love me and soon you will see
C D Em
you were meant for me, and i was meant for you.

that transition between G and D is half a measure, all other transitions are
1 measure throughout.

Well i hope that was at least a little interesting.
Have fun y’all.
Bye-Q!

PC’s and the Love Factor

ALRIGHT. I’m on a roll guise.
Today i wanted to address a thing that i feel is widely misuderstood. see my sister was complaing about her computer the other day, and how slow it is. it is a fairly new computer and to her it seems that it has gotten worse over time. slower and slower the longer she has had it. and it has. now why would that be? what makes a good computer begin to slowdown, and then shivel and die? it is a lack of the Love Factor. in every explaination you will find online there is an utter lack of the LF, but we computer tech people know better, computers run on more than high voltage and low voltage. they run on love.
in a class i had we talked alot about the LF. you see it is like a lubricant to the electrons in the silicon chip. see the wires are very thin, infact they are almost too small for electrons to fit inside, and if it gets cloged up with hate, then each wire will slowdown in time it will be filled up so much that the computer wont work at all! it is very tragic.
so you may be thinking, well if it is all about love then why does my computer suck, i love it alot! i use it all the time!
well it isn’t soo simple as that. you can’t just use the computer as a slave! you are equal partners, even if the computer is a very obediant partner, and will do things that it doesn’t want to, that doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t like it. what are somethings that your computer doesn’t like then. well that is simple. ever since IBM invented the morality core, it has been standard practice to use it, as it is so much faster than without the morality, and as a result computers have developed a dislike of Pornography. in all seriousness, they don’t like it. you may notice that if you go there you computer starts to act weird, like in the past it was very popular for computers to throw fits and open lots of popups. this they found wasn’t effective in making you stop, so they started to do other things, like download programs that will ruin your data, or other bad things. also it decreases LF in the chip.
another big thing is to download illegal movies, and such things. they don’t like it.
another thing that you may do is to run those computer checkups on websites. this may seem weird but computers like to have only certified doctor’s check on them. they don’t like ‘geek squad’ or ‘fastermy pc’ computers consider them the same way you would consider a doctor who got his degree from "the university of hard knocks" they like norton, or microsoft secruity, or something like that. a nice well respected doctor with many certifications.
it can be hard to develop a nice loving relationship between you and your computer, but it is one that will be most rewarding. so the next time you are frustrated with your computer sit back and think, what did you do to make her angry. did you just tell her to delete that folder? did you tell her to run a program that isn’t verified to be safe? have you not let her have a nap in 4 months(incodently, the silicon that macs use is genetically modified so that they don’t need naps, ever. but the standard unmodified silicon that most other pc’s have likes naps every now and then)? and after thinking about it you will often find that you just need to think about what you are doing a little more.

i hope this has been an insightful entry into the inner mind and psyche of the computer.

Bye-Q!

google toolbar, and the show

Well hello there! it is quite a nice early morning here, how are you? that is nice. (i have no idea if it is or not actually… i can’t hear you, in case you didn’t notice, but feel free to leave a comment on how you are!)

anyway. today, not much has happened interesting except for my whole would of google using. it is like crazy yo! you don’t know what i am talking about? the bar man, the BAR. i don’t know what it is, or how to use it… but it is there now. WATCHING. like my name is in the top corner just sitting there, and then there is that gear which i assume is options but it doesn’t seem all that use full… well i guess now there is always that button there, so i know where to look if i want an option. also it seems to be some what context sensitive, like in gmail it gives gmail options. then the left side has the stuff that was always on the left side… but different looking.
that is new.
what else.
well to be honest i haven’t been feeling great lately (you may notice a trend in frequency in posts and how my mood is… it is more than correlation trust me.) and i felt like taking a nostalgia trip, to zefrank.com for those in the know, ze frank is awesome. for those not in the know, you are all idiots, and should educate yourselves by looking at some of the videos and such he has posted.
i, like many of the people who call themselves sports racers, began to follow ze while he was running the show with ze frank, a show which ran for 1 year, every weekday. it began as mostly a commentary about government news and such but quickly became so much more than that. it is really something you would have to see, words do not suffice. however, it would be accurate to say it was personal and genuine. there are allot of ‘favorite episodes’ and i would suggest checking some out. but be warned you’ll probably be all like "the hell…?" i know my siblings were.
but anyway. there are many projects that he organized, using his massive fan base he was able to accomplish these things, like make hundreds of remixes of the song "im gunna whip somebodies ass" for Ray, and making an ‘earth sandwich’
these things not only are incredibility awesome on their own, but in this kind of setting created a feeling of one-ness few if any other websites or social group has ever been able to achieve.
this past week looking back at different things i ran across a set of songs that i hadn’t noticed before/ weren’t there last time i was there. that would be the Great song, the Scared song, and the chill-out song. the first and last in this group i found especially moving. i would highly recommend giving them a listen. because, ya. they are good.
the last one on the list i heard first on his TED talk which i would sugest doing because he does a very good job describing the intentions behind what was going on. the page does an ok job, but the talk really had emotion to it.
anyway. it made me feel good. that is really what i am getting at here. i know. it is alot of words to say that i heard this song and now i feel better, but is like ze said, we are all tring to feel and be felt, and there is no way that can happen without background. with that background you gain an understanding that is otherwise imposible and so you connect in a way you didn’t think you could. it happens because of understanding. anyway. that is about it for today

Bye-Q!

ps. chome 10 beta… it is fast.

haptica, it’s a watch.

well i know it has been SUCH a long time since i last posted ( a whole… like 8 hours…) and i was thinking that i wanted to share this thing here. i found out about it from "tech crunch" a blog i have been reading recently about technology. alot of it is ok, and some of it is very good. so anyway. a few weeks ago they ran a post about a kickstarter project haptica. i don’t want to go into all these details that are clearly veiwable by click the aforementioned links, that would be redundant of me. however i do wish to expess my desire for this project to succeed. This watch firstly, is incredibly obvious. i can not believe that such a thing does not already exist. sure they would have been either much more bulky, or much more complicated (read expensive) but that isn’t to say not fuctional or possible. and now i see this implementation of such a device as, antiquated. really there is no reason for them to be using such a mechanical method for displaying the time. we now have Electroactive Polymers which change their shape when electricity is applyed to them. this technology while far from complete, is avalibal, and is probably where the future is for all braille displays. already there are concept designs for touch phones with this technology and they look amazing. this watch looks good, but how much cooler would it be if it was one flat white surface where the bumps raise and lower themselves in the middle. also such a technology would allow for further functionality, like on current watches, stop watch function, timer, etc. but still it is amazing to me that all current watches for the blind go out of their way to not use braille. like there are many watches that feature tactile displays of one form or another, but none use braille. that would be like all the watches in the world using binary leds, and someone coming up with the idea one day, "why not make a watch that uses our standard writing system for numbers?" binary is the way it is encoded inside the device, we reinterpret those signals. so what if the maker cant use his invention because he doesn’t read braille.. anyway. ya. this watch it is cool and stuff, even though it probably sounds like i am bashing on it, i do think it is a great device that needs to be made so that people will improve on it. there was something else about the watch that i was unnerved about but i can’t remember what. anyway… that is about all for now, i guess.

Bye-Q

tired uke ramblings

wow… you know how much i suck? do you? i do. i suck a metric ton, or some other cliche thing. so anyway. life… it is a cool thing you know. portal 2 is finally coming out, no word on episode three… i should slap valve.
picked up my uke today, just like i did yesterday, and the day before ad infinum (not really). but it was fun. i really like learning new songs, but it annoys me the discrepancy in the tuning at different frets. like i have a perfect c at no fret on string 3, but on fret 5 i have a -20 cent F, that isn’t TOO bad (i mean blood lose from the ear isn’t fatal) but on the E and A strings that distortion is magnified by the smallness of the strings… so i play a C#m and i … cry… cuz it is SO bad. they aren’t even off the same way… alas. that is what i get for having a mahalo. any way Rocket man is a great uke song, as is jewel’s you were meant for me. those are pretty much my favorites to play. but i am discouraged to play now… cuz at my school it seems to have started to be a fad, even though i am sure i was playing before the other people who now play openly… i hate appearing as if i am following a trend… maybe, i only notice that others do these things because i start, and now i look to see if others are too and i get sad. like when i came home from ukraine i brought with me a leather capka, (think newsies hat) and now it seems like everyone is wearing them… were they wearing them before? i don’t know! so i almost want to not wear mine because of it. (actually i don’t have my leather one anymore… only a tweed one.) alas.
i think that that is roughly all that i can communicate currently. too much asleep to really think more on any subject this morning. but it was pretty therapeutic you know writing nonsensical bs at a blog noone reads. i should do it more often, because why not. queue the not writing again for another 4 months. but actually i should because i have not been keeping a regular normal journal, i may as well keep a regular blog journal. (or semi half regular)
neways. Bye Q!

It has REALLY been a long time…

ugh. what is up? that is right people, you all thought i was dead, but you were WRONG. and it is probably a shame that you were wrong too, because now it means that i will yet again be boring anyone who will listen on a completly irregular basis.

anyway… i don’t really know what to say. it has been so long… not that what i had to say was of any use before anyway… really it was all fairly… adolecent… i suppose. o well. anyway. i have returned from my journey across the world and have come to know myself alot better. i am saddened in some ways. my life before was so carefree. i enjoyed playing my video games and watching my anime… but now it is harder to find my interest for those things… is this growing up? if so i don’t like it that much. i liked the way i was, but i like the way i am too… actually i think it is more true to say that i like who i am more now and like the sisuation that i had before more then… if that makes any sence… it is strange, but the older i am getting the more i realize that everything adults ever said about how children will appresiate things more when they get old is really true… and know that i know that they weren’t lieing to me, it is too late to take advantage of it… o well. there is really nothing that i can do about any of that. i suppose that we just have to keep going having learned the lessons we have been taught and not worry too much about the things we didn’t know yesterday, even if what we know know really could have helped.

in other news. i am finding that after a 2 year hiatus from school i have really been enjoing school. it is awesome the things i am able to learn and apply… i don’t know if i will ever feel competent enough to work in my field, even if i know i am better at it than all the others in my class… but i suppose that will come in time.

Really there is simply too much to go over so i won’t 😛  also, i just read like all my posts… obnoxious. i feel probably exactly the same as this, which i am pretty sure is talking about me… so ya.

anyway. life… strange right. suppose i’ll hit you all up latter!

BYE-Q!