2015-09-17
Red Cloud
Today's the first time that I think of nicknaming myself as Red Cloud because the birthmark on the right side of my belly looks like a red cloud.
2015-09-15
Humans as Animals
If you have lost faith in humanity, you should try to think of humans as mere animals with animal behaviour. Thinking humans are not animals is incongruent with reality.
2015-09-14
If Things Aren't Going Well
If things aren't going well, you should remind yourself that what surrounds you is just Māyā or Illusion.
Gravity Effects
People born and raised in greater gravity would have a stockier build. People born and raised in lesser gravity would have a more slender build. Martian gravity is a bit over a third of Earth's. Crutches would be needed for the Mars-born on an Earth vacation. The discovery of artificial gravity may be in the far distant future.
Nepal
On French TV5, I've just partially viewed Femmes des montagnes (Women of the Mountains), a show about Nepal. The people there are variedly mixed-race: Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Australoid. Some people know a bit of English, even that far away.
English Unfriendly?
Some people actually like English because it sounds more unfriendly, compared to other languages.
Sci-fi Sri Lanka
Sir Arthur C. Clarke, a British sci-fi writer, lived in Sri Lanka until his death in 2008. He was knighted in 1998.
My favourite Clarke book is actually Imperial Earth.
2015-09-13
Tu, Vos
Interlingua is like French, Spanish, Portuguese, and the like because there are the familiar-formal, young-old, and singular-plural distinctions embedded in its "tu versus vos" pronoun dichotomy for the English counterparts of you. Interlingua preserves the naturalness from Latino languages.
Vi, Ci
Esperanto has the egalitarian pronoun "vi" which is like the English "you" used for singular and plural, young and old. But Esperanto also has the rare counterpart of the English "thou" which is "ci" used for special intimacy.
Esperanto Community
The Esperanto community on this world is, of course, international. That reason is why I think it's good to learn Esperanto. I know there are a lot of smart people with vision. Learning Esperanto isn't the same as just learning some ordinary natural language. My experience with Esperanto has made evident that there are smart Esperantists around this globe.
English More Egalitarian
Compared to languages like French, Japanese, and Tagalog, English seems more egalitarian. When I speak English to older people, I don't need a title for their name. English-speakers use the one word "you" for both young and old people. There is less hierarchy in English. Perhaps, that reason is why Europeans, in particular, promote English.
Japanese Age Consciousness
From my experiences with ordinary Japanese, they are very age-conscious, more so than Canadians. I make myself look like some neo-hippy. Intellectuals like me don't care about age, so much.
Sinospheric Xtianity
Xtianity is spreading in the Sinosphere. It seems that people there like it because it suppresses sexuality. Compared to some Eastern religions, this craze is not spirituality. Xtianity is a very small minority in Japan. It always has been.
Homonyms
Tagalog is a language not full of homonyms, whilst Japanese is, due to borrowings from mainland Asia.
2015-09-12
Esperantist
Although strangers know that I'm an Esperantist, they still try to promote Interlingua. I still like Interlingua, but it's Esperanto that suits my personality. I already know most of Esperanto's vocabulary. I feel comfortable speaking it. That way is my destiny, being an Esperantist.
What Is Being Oriental?
1. Use of indirect communication
2. Use of metaphor, metonymy, simile
3. Use of puns, word play on homonyms and near homonyms
4. Use of fuzzy logic
5. Use of multivalent symbolisms
6. Worship of Nature and sense of multiple spirits in the environment
7. Sense of paradoxes or hypocrisies
8. Meticulous written and spoken language
9. Security in silence
10. Frequent non-verbal communication
Societal Schizophrenia
Society assigns meanings to numbers and colours, so that, as psychiatrists opine, the whole framework becomes like a jail, although it is used for non-verbal communication, which, some think, is convenient. Arbitrariness is a kind of freedom. As one culture encounters another, the cultures learn that numbers and colours are indeed arbitrary in the universal sense.
Schizophrenics
There are lots of schizophrenics here on Lulu Island. They think the initial letters of words have special significance. They seriously believe in numerology and colour meanings. I think schizophrenics have multiplied in number in recent years. Sigh!
No. 6
No. 6 is an interesting anime about a postapocalyptic future where humankind survives in a few city-states.
2015-09-11
Empowering Women
With slowing and plateauing population rates, empowering women is a strategy for compensation. In the past, women were "wasted" essentially because they were not as educated as the men in their society.
Woman Authors
Woman authors I like are Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne McCaffrey, and Doris Lessing, all of whom write sci-fi. They write like men.
Book a Journey
Every book I read is a journey. I like watching movies and shows, too, but a book gives you practice in your own imagination.
Foretelling
Which sci-fi author is closer to reality about the future? Is it Arthur C. Clarke, Samuel R. Delany, Olaf Stapledon, Piers Anthony, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Larry Niven, Robert Silverberg, or some other? How do you think about the ideas in anime?
2015-09-10
Earth's Terrible Climate
With the current great rain and flooding in eastern Japan, Japanese would realize Earth's terrible climate. They should think about outer space colonization. The Earth is unstable.
Japanese Vocabulary
Japanese may have the most extensive vocabulary in this world. With a native substratum, there's inclusion of many mainland Asian words via the Kanji logograms, as well as English and other Western words via the Katakana phonograms.
JAXA
I've looked at the website of Japan's space agency JAXA, and I think it's still early morning for Japan's space ambitions. There's much potential.
Voyager
An interesting feature of Star Trek: Voyager is that the ship's crew, being lost far away in the other side of the galaxy, all want to get back home, instead of making a new home. How would you choose?
2015-09-09
My English from Star Trek
I suppose I have learnt a lot of good English from all the Star Trek shows. There are a lot of good samples there.
Miss Universe Japan
Ariana Miyamoto is Miss Universe Japan. Her father was an African-American sailor, and her mother was Japanese. She can speak Japanese fluently. She grew up in Japan. Biracial people in Japan are called hafu.
2015-09-08
Emanations
This morning's episode "Emanations" of Star Trek: Voyager is particularly important because it deals with the afterlife in an unusual way.
Persecution
As Lulu Islanders are perhaps predominantly secular, my ethnic neighbours wrongly perceive religious persecution, whilst it's really sexual.
2015-09-07
Nonexhaustive Language List
eng English 5 · tgl Tagalog 5 · epo Esperanto 4 · jbo Lojban 3 · spa Spanish 3 · fra French 3 · jpn Japanese 3 · ina Interlingua 3 · por Portuguese 3 · ita Italian 3 · cat Catalan 2 · deu German 2 · haw Hawaiian 2 · nah Nahuatl 2 · cmn Chinese 2 · yue Cantonese 2 · ind Indonesian 2 · lfn Lingua Franca Nova 2 · hat Haitian Creole 1 · cbk Chavacano 1 · hin Hindi 1 · pan Punjabi 1 · fin Finnish 1 · nld Dutch 1 · ron Romanian 1 · yor Yoruba 1 · vie Vietnamese 1 · tur Turkish 1 · bod Tibetan 1 · pol Polish 1 · nan Min Nan Chinese 1 · grn Guarani 1 · pes Persian 1 · cym Welsh 1 · gle Irish 1 · grc Ancient Greek 1 · sjn Sindarin 1 · ang Old English 1 · eus Basque 1 · que Quechua 1 · rus Russian 1 · ell Greek 1 · tha Thai 1 · ara Arabic 1 · kor Korean 1 · heb Hebrew 1 · swe Swedish 1 · lat Latin 1· qya Quenya 1 · tlh Klingon 1 · san Sanskrit 1 · swh Swahili 1 · tok Toki Pona 1 · pli Pali 1 · hai Haida 1 · iku Inuktitut 1 · egy Egyptian 1 · yua Yucatec Maya 1 · tah Tahitian 1 · smo Samoan 1 · mlg Malagasy 1 · ilo Ilokano 1 · ceb Cebuano 1 · ban Balinese 1 · fij Fijian 1 · tpi Tok Pisin 1 · srp Serbian 1 · hun Hungarian 1 · ces Czech 1 · vol Volapük 1 · nys Nyungar 1 · cre Cree 1 · lao Lao 1 · khm Khmer 1 · tet Tetun 1 · jaa Jarawara 1 · arp Arapaho 1 · akk Akkadian 1 · zul Zulu 1 · hau Hausa 1 · xho Xhosa 1 · dan Danish 1 · isl Icelandic 1 · nor Norwegian 1 · lhu Lahu 1 · ahk Akha 1 · lis Lisu 1 · hnj Mong 1 · ium Mien 1 · mri Maori 1 · ton Tonga 1 · tam Tamil 1 · mya Burmese 1 · mon Mongolian 1 · tli Tlingit 1 · ynm Yolngu 1 · blc Bella Coola 1 · nuk Nootka 1 · oji Ojibwe 1 · jqr Jaqaru 1 · wpb Warlpiri 1 · hur Halkomelem 1 · qld Modern Murri 1 · lut Lushootseed 1 · spo Spokan 1 · gla Scottish Gaelic 1 · yid Yiddish 1 · lad Ladino 1 · poo Central Pomo 1 · hix Hixkaryana 1 · zbl Blissymbolics 1 · mlt Maltese 1 · kea Kriolu 1
This list is nonexhaustive, 113 languages in which I have at least an inkling, from 1 as beginner to 5 as fluent or native.
Linguaphile: I have browsed many, many documents about various languages from Arabic to Volapük to Zulu. I am a beginner in over a hundred languages. (I read phrasebooks like other people read newspapers.) I know that C‑3PO can do better! He he! The protocol droid says, "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication..." Ego es un hobbyista de Interlingua, Esperanto, e Lojban. Homines que ha un passion pro le spatio externe me place.
2015-09-06
My English
Foreigners think my English looks British. It isn't really. I've my own style. I learnt American English in grade school in the Philippines, but later in Canada, I learnt Canadian English. I've read many sci-fi and fantasy books, written by British authors, so those journeys affect my writing style. Also, I've read many Esperanto, Spanish, and French books, as well as Japanese, so there are influences from those luxurious languages.
Big War and Little
Whilst there are now ongoing "little wars" around the world, there seems to be minimal chance of a "big war." With international highspeed communications, the 2010's aren't like the 1940's.
World Population
Within this century, some estimates are that the world population will plateau, then start to dip, later. The more industrialization and higher education spread, the less children people want to have.
Language a Drug
Languages are like drugs. Some are bad and some are good. I won't tell you which is which.
K-P-C-O-F-G-S
"Acronym used to remember the taxonomic groupings of individual organisms in biology."
Keep = Kingdom
Pond = Phylum
Clean = Class
Or = Order
Froggy = Family
Gets = Genus
Sick = species
Pond = Phylum
Clean = Class
Or = Order
Froggy = Family
Gets = Genus
Sick = species
2015-09-04
MOM and MAVEN
India's space agency ISRO has their Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) aka Mangalyaan now in orbit around Mars, as it takes pictures. This spacecraft is contemporaneous with American NASA's MAVEN, also now orbiting Mars.
Non-youth
Strangers have been expressing their non-youth for several years now. What should people do about it?
Propagandists and Life
The propagandists should take account of their own actions. They're promoting the ideas of poverty and misery. They don't have the French joie de vivre. They don't have the Greek kefi. When will they learn?
2015-09-03
Future Vision
Many people just don't look to the future, perhaps because they think it'll be merely dismal.
Space Not Just Financial
Setting human feet on Mars isn't just a financial problem; it's significantly a technical problem.
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program is a series of projects to explore the moon. It's ongoing. Like Russians, Chinese want to see their people on the moon. Luna is the priority. Americans look to Mars.
Kanji
After your university years, learning more Kanji becomes like a trap because there are just too many of them, and you should have learned them in childhood. A Kanji dictionary is like a junkyard, as there are many fun vintage things in it, nevertheless.
Capitalism
If people stick with Capitalism, we'll have to tolerate the rollercoaster ride that goes with the central casinos.
JUICE
Europe's space agency ESA is investing hundreds of millions of euros on JUICE, the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer.
Luna and Mars
The Russian space agency Roscosmos wants to see their people in habitats on the moon. Good news! American NASA turns to Mars, which the Japanese have codenamed Planet-B.
2015-09-02
Global Slowdown
The Asian Slowdown looks like it's turning into a Global Slowdown. Rich countries are running out of money for outer space.
Unnumbered Wealth
Western wealth indices may not truly reflect wealth in non-Western countries, as some features of lifestyle cannot be measured numerically, especially in a Western way.
Bubble Economies
When Japan's Bubble burst a few decades ago, Japan was already a mature, developed society, but lately, when China's Bubble has burst, China is still an immature, developing society. There's a difference. Some overseas Chinese expect many mainlanders will want to leave the homeland.
Nineists and Elevenists
Nineists promote the longevity of constructivism, whilst Elevenists revel in destructivism.
Zeroists and Tenists
The Zeroists cherish the wordless Void of Everything, whilst the Tenists have laws and rules to guide their life.
Oneists and Twoists
Oneists believe in the solitude and unity of their deity, whilst Twoists believe in Nature's dualities of light-dark, male-female, et cetera.
2015-09-01
Sixists and Eightists
Sixists ponder about the paradox of learning and ignorance, and they believe the microcosm reflects the macrocosm, whilst Eightists rejoice in the art and architecture of their ornate places of worship.
Threeists and Sevenists
Threeists are theocentric, believing in a god or gods, whilst Sevenists believe in Nature's many spirits.
Ancientness
We do not feel much history here in Lulu Island, as Western Canada isn't as old as Eastern Canada. However, if we look at the Amerindian heritage, then we sense real ancientness.
Fourists and Fiveists
The Fourists think the universe is an illusion, a phantasm, whilst the Fiveists think the universe has real substantiality.
2015-08-30
Bell Curve Intelligence
All the races follow the Bell Curve natural distribution of intelligence. There are smart and dumb people, both.
Technological Retrogression Unlikely
Technological retrogression is unlikely in the future, in my opinion. As I believe there is intervention, a big war would not transpire that would incur such fate.
2015-08-28
Japan's Guatemala Model
Japan's imperial ambitions are long gone. A quarter of its population is now over 65 years old. That proportion will only increase in the future. The population will dip. Japan is a paradox of the young and old. I think it has the most fertile imagination amongst nations. From some Japanese I've encountered in the Web, I surmise that Japan wants to be a quiet, small country, much like Guatemala. Japanese have a different vision about their future.
2015-08-27
The Olive Grove
My Ukrainian friend Yaroslav is studying English, so I recommended to him the well-written Lonely Planet travelogue The Olive Grove: Travels in Greece by the Greek-Australian Katherine Kizilos. She writes of wandering some Greek isles off-season.
Not Yet There
We may reach a point one day when we have appropriate space technologies, and space exploration may accelerate further. That point may be in 2050, or even 2100. We can say at the worst case, rich countries may run out of cash and pause for awhile, but resume later on. Things do get complicated, sometimes. But I agree with Arthur C. Clarke, Samuel R. Delany, and others that the future will be about the exploration and eventual colonization of the Solar System. This scenario seems realistic to me and other experts.
Science fiction exists so that we can experience wonders that we may not encounter within our lifetimes. Hard fact is heartbreaking. The human lifetime is too short. Any space project by NASA, JAXA, ESA, etc. takes 20 to 30 years to complete.
Religion a Fantasy
You should know religion is just fantasy, a product of creativity. Some politicians in the past have said religion is poison to the minds of people. Religions are human inventions.
2015-08-26
Asian Slowdown
There's an economic slowdown in Mainland Asia. Some people thought it would just keep on rising. I saw it coming. The Capitalist system is contrived, artificial. We are at the whims of an artifice.
Funny English
I don't know about you, but I think English sounds funny, even ridiculous, as I compare it with other languages.
2015-08-25
Enquiry on Tagalog
There should be, if there isn't already, a real scientific enquiry as to why everybody on Earth has at least an inkling of Tagalog. I fear there may be some kind of inhibitor in human brains that disables curiosity on this theme.
Hive Mind
Maybe, humankind has some kind of Hive Mind, as do insects. What kind of interconnections human minds may have is open to suggestion.
2015-08-21
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