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Osaka’s Depressing Underground
I used to ride the Osaka subways to and from work every day and after a while you either get really good at blocking things out – crazy subway people,…
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Learning to Flush
This was a new one for me – a public toilet with no manual flushing mechanism at all. The pictured unit is a remote mounted on the wall. Stupid, stupid…
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Stroking my ego
ADVANCED You scored 93% Beginner, 86% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 72% Expert! You have an extremely good understanding of beginner, intermediate, and advanced level commonly confused English words, getting at…
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Inside the mind of Eddie Vedder
The lyrics to “Yellow Ledbetter” deciphered.
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Les Quiz
You’re butch. You have little use for femininitybecause frankly, it never got you anywhere.Guys may find you intimidating, but once theyget to know you, you’re not so bad. You’reempowered and…
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Chibi! Kuro! Sambo!
In the race toward cultural insensitivity, Japan proves to be a proud contender once again! Next month, Japanese publisher Zuiunsha will revive the Japanese version of Little Black Sambo: LINK…
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C. Buddha’s Top Ten Pet Peeves – Updated for 2005
1. People who test ringtones in public. 2. People who cut you off because you decided to drive “nice” today. 3. The phantom butt itch (in public – in private…
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“Doctor, doctor, I’m manic-depressive.”
Alright, then… Calm down! Cheer up! Calm down! Cheer up! Calm… “Doctor, doctor, I feel so short!” No problem. Hop up on the couch. “Doctor, doctor, people keep telling me…
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Suspense (killing you it must be)
I am in the middle of researching the most important subject I will ever post on – that’s right! – even more important than Japanese fish sausage, although if you…
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Desert Island
A team of sociologists have planned an experiment in isolation. They send an Englishman, a Frenchman and a Japanese man to a deserted island and arrange to come back and…
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Playing with fire
I just reviewed a technical journal describing recent work-related accidents in our industry (electronics manufacturing) and came across an incident I coincidentally heard about from another source a few weeks…
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“That’s not my belly button, sensei!”
No matter how much amusement it would have provided in the years to come, I could not, in good conscience, allow an acquaintance to name his new children’s English conversation…
