| (no subject) |
[Feb. 9th, 2010|02:46 pm] |
One of the weirdest-sounding Finnish sentences I've encountered yet:
Höyhenet ovat kevyitä. - Feathers are light. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 6th, 2010|03:44 pm] |
So remember Weatherproof, the company that a couple of months ago put up a billboard in the middle of Times Square of President Obama standing on the Great Wall of China wearing their jacket?
I was just thinking: it's a pity that he wasn't somewhere in Japan, because there's a haiku by Basho that would've made an awesome caption:
Higashi nishi
aware sa hitotsu
aki no kaze
West, East
Same trouble everywhere
Same autumn winds |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|04:25 pm] |
Our hammy administration:
"Eyy-y!" |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 27th, 2010|05:30 pm] |
From HuffingtonPost, the State of the Union drinking game!
NOTE: The Huffington Post in no way encourages binge drinking. This is the comedy section. If you actually drank as much as we suggested you would die, so do not do that.
| Event | Instructions |
|---|
| Obama says "let me be clear" | Do one shot |
| Obama says "change isn't easy" | Do one shot |
Obama says "make no mistake"
| Do one shot |
| Obama says "Let me be clear, change isn't easy, make no mistake." | He's screwing with you to get you drunk, so five shots |
| Joe Wilson yells something | Do two shots |
| Obama yells back | Finish the bottle |
| Obama says "jobs" | Do one shot, two if you're unemployed |
| Obama says "health care" | Do not drink, you will not be given a replacement liver |
| Nancy Pelosi claps like a seal | Do one shot |
| Nancy Pelosi becomes a seal | STOP DRINKING FOR THE LOVE OF GOD |
| Obama mentions Bo | Put beer in your dog's water bowl |
| Michelle Obama wears a slinky dress | Go immediately to the HuffPost Style page for close-ups |
| Joe Biden nods-off/laughs inappropriately/starts talking before the speech is over | Do three shots |
| Obama uses the term "Congressional leadership" | Do two shots carefully as all that laughing will make it difficult to swallow |
| Obama says he's "fighting for you" | Do one shot, two if you believe him |
| Obama mentions Haiti | Text “Haiti” to the number 90999 and donate $10 to the Red Cross |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 22nd, 2010|05:47 pm] |
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So I was re-reading William M. Thackeray's "The Paris Sketch Book" and I took a break to flip through the most recent issue of The Economist. It was a remarkably smooth transition, snark-wise. Am now tempted to seek out early issues of The Economist and seeing if they started out in this manner or evolved into it. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 8th, 2010|12:14 pm] |
When the Swiss Voted to Ban New Minarets, This Man Built One
Mr. Morand Put It on His Roof, Shined Spotlights on It and Thumbed His Nose
"BUSSIGNY, Switzerland -- In November, Switzerland voted to ban the construction of new minarets, the towerlike structures that adorn mosques. A week or so later, in an apparent act of defiance, a new minaret unexpectedly sprang up here.
...
Mr. Morand, a Lausanne native who does not actively practice any religion, decided the day after the vote to build his minaret.
His business partner, an architect by training, searched the Internet for the right style of minaret, settling on one common in Turkey. After discarding a first design because it would have weighed 770 pounds , he settled on a second that used a large slice of a hard plastic tube to make the base. He fashioned a cap from pressed wood and painted it gold, topped by a gold crescent.
It took Mr. Morand's workers half a day to raise the 265-pound minaret up four floors and over the lip of the roof. He then installed two 500-watt spotlights to light it at night."
Entrepreneur Guillaume Morand for the win. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 2nd, 2010|02:40 pm] |
Samsung presents: Extreme Shepherding!
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|12:51 pm] |
I have a clover growing in a pot on the windowsill. A few weeks ago, my husband pronounced it dead (it did look rather pitiful, with several wilted leaves and lots of dried stems) and threw in into the bin. I fished it back out, plucked up some of the dried bits and restored it to its place on the windowsill, to my husband's derision ("Ew, put it back! You can't revive it once the root system is dead!")
The traumatized clover is now thriving as never, and recently it even threw up a whole bunch of white flowers. There's a desperate air about it. Plainly, it does not want to go back into the bin. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|12:09 am] |
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Never thought I'd have an occasion to say this, but I'm enjoying the hell out of new political jokes coming out of Russia. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 28th, 2009|11:51 pm] |
The LiveMocha.com Finnish course is easing me into deeper waters. So far so good.
My last writing exercise, which a commenter tells me I did without mistakes - a first, I think:
What are you doing this week? What activities are you doing? When? Which days will be the busiest?
Maanantaina opiskelen suomea. Tiistaina kirjoitan ja käyn punttiksella. Keskiviikkoisin neljältä käyn ostoksilla, satoi tai paistoi. Torstaina aion siivota kotiani.
Monday, I study Finnish. Tuesday I write and go to the gym. On Wednesdays at four I go shopping, rain or shine. Thursday I'll clean my house. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 19th, 2009|02:55 pm] |
A cat always takes the shape of its container.
 |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 18th, 2009|10:34 pm] |
My tango with Finnish continues. Here's my latest exercise from Livemocha.com, all errors still intact:
Toissapäivänä oli kuuma ja aurinkoista. Tarvitsin aurinkolasit. Eilen satoi kaatamalla. Tarvitsin sateenvarjo. Millainen sää on tänään? Tänään on pilvistä ja kylmä. Minulla on huivi ja pipo koska sataa lunta. Huomenna tulee olemaan sateinen. Tarvitsen sadepakki. Ylihuomenna aurinko paistaa, vettä sataa, kettu viettää häita! :)
These days, I listen to an hour or so of Finnish news/weather/culture podcasts a day. Right now, I only pick out occaional words. We'll see things progress. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 9th, 2009|11:52 pm] |
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Well, today was a bit of a wash: lots of Finnish and martial arts, and absolutely no writing. Tomorrow will have to yield 2,000 words. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 9th, 2009|12:02 pm] |
Finished my first course on LiveMocha.com: Finnish 101. Came in knowing only several words, came out writing this exercise:
I have a birthday cake and the cake has twenty-six candles.
Minulla on syntymäpäiväkakku. Kakuilla on kaksikymmentäkuusi kynttilää.
Goodness gracious! Is this dozen roses for me?
Herranen aika! Onko tämä tusina ruusuja minulle?
Samson had seven braids on his head.
Simsonulla oli seitsemän palmikkoa päällä.
We have thirty-three tennis balls.
Meillä on kolmekymmentäkolme tennispalloja.
You all have three hundred and seventy two euro.
Teillä on kolmesataaseitsemänkymmentäkaksi jörö.
They have four hundred and sixteen dollars.
Heillä on neljäsataakuusitoista taalaa.
Not sure if this is in fact entirely correct, since no native speaker has checked it yet. But the point is, I can put together actual sentences now!
Onwards! to Finnish 102!
Update: Can already see that I used the plural partitive instead of the singular for ruusu, tannispallo, etc. Will keep in mind for the future.
Update kaksi toinen: Is it just me, or is this mysterious "herranen aika" the same thing as the equally mysterious Bavarian "Herrschaftszeiten"? |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 3rd, 2009|10:20 am] |
Best. Christmas. Present. Evar!
Read the comments. They are fantastic. |
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