General Questions Thread

[dragon4dudes]

I got another question. This was brought up in The Big Bang Theory, good show btw, and actually Eldest or Brisingr. The phrase "to be honest" seems rather pointless; it makes the person seem to be a constant liar. So why do people say it? It is because it seems to make an emphasis on the statement that accompanies the phrase?

[idiffer]

i have one too. how do you make a screenshot of your desktop? i tried pressing the prtscr button on the keyboard, but nothing happened. is it saved somewhere?

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by dragon4dudes

I got another question. This was brought up in The Big Bang Theory, good show btw, and actually Eldest or Brisingr. The phrase "to be honest" seems rather pointless; it makes the person seem to be a constant liar. So why do people say it? It is because it seems to make an emphasis on the statement that accompanies the phrase?

"To be honest" generally means, IME, "I know it's not what you want to hear, but the truth is:". It helps prepare them for the bad news.

And people do lie a lot. Out of politeness if nothing else.

Originally Posted by idiffer

i have one too. how do you make a screenshot of your desktop? i tried pressing the prtscr button on the keyboard, but nothing happened. is it saved somewhere?

Assuming you use Windows... After you push print screen, open MS Paint, and paste the picture (Ctrl+v).

[anti-random]

this is probably a horrible question but has anybody heard of the term 'damaged goods'. the only context i have heard it in was referring to a person who has been raped. but today someone told me it means someone who has psychological issues. what i want to know is what its true meaning is.

[felix]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damaged...isambiguation)

[Jill Valentine]

Originally Posted by idiffer

i have one too. how do you make a screenshot of your desktop? i tried pressing the prtscr button on the keyboard, but nothing happened. is it saved somewhere?

In some it is (fn+prt screen)

[klowny]

2 Questions

How many licks does it take to get the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?

I need to learn how to cook but i don't know where to start or what books to buy to learn from

[dragon4dudes]

You could go and buy tootsie roll pops and try... I remember, using a little math, that to get to the center from all sides was approximately... well, at least 100. It completely depends on how you lick it, lots of saliva, little tongue, etc.

Asking a relative to mentor would be theoretically the simplest way. As for books... Can't help you there, I don't know what books are good.

[Aoie_Emesai]

Originally Posted by klowny

2 Questions

How many licks does it take to get the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?

I need to learn how to cook but i don't know where to start or what books to buy to learn from

Now I remember there was a university study about this. Something about a artificial tongue, i think it was a sponge ^^ rotation on a wheel. Well... that was the story.

"A group of engineering students from Purdue University recorded that their licking machine, modeled after a human tongue, took an average of 364 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. They tried the same licking test on 20 volunteers and found that the average licks to the center were 252 licks."

There's one of the many result for it ^^

[blue skies]

Originally Posted by klowny

I need to learn how to cook but i don't know where to start or what books to buy to learn from

The best way to learn to cook is to just throw yourself in and do it. Even if you make mistakes, it's not a big deal, since you always learn from them. You can find out what you like and how to modify a recipe, and go with what works for you. A good starting place would probably be baking or cooking with pasta, since those are relatively easy things to do. I'd recommend trying something like homemade cookies or muffins at first. They're a lot of fun to make and pretty hard to screw up, unless you're really trying. ;>

As for books, I learned everything that I didn't learn from my mom and grandmother from this baby here. I grew up using it, and still do now -- it's really the best beginner's cookbook out there. It tells you everything you could possibly need to know about cooking and preparing food, buying ingredients, how to use various weird-looking kitchen utensils and it has very detailed instructions. Each recipe also has nutrition facts and it occasionally offers variations in the ingredients to make it low-fat or do something completely different. There are lots of awesome color pictures too, which is an absolute must for cookbooks, imho. A cookbook isn't cool unless it has pictures.

[ganbaru]

I have a question, is there a color associated wich each of the 7 elements of the japanese calender (Sun, moon, fire, water wood metal and earth) and if so what colors?

[Jill Valentine]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

I have a question, is there a color associated wich each of the 7 elements of the japanese calender (Sun, moon, fire, water wood metal and earth) and if so what colors?

Fire(red),water(black) also supposed to be blue, earth (yellow) supposed to be green , wood (blue/green), metal (white)

[Solafighter]

Does someone know some live streaming from japanese radio stations?

Would be cool. Thanks.

[klowny]

Thanks for the answer's i appreciate them

Last question from me i promise!

I am trying to learn Japanese i was wondering if any books/textbooks would help me learn the basic's

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by klowny

Thanks for the answer's i appreciate them

Last question from me i promise!

I am trying to learn Japanese i was wondering if any books/textbooks would help me learn the basic's

Best asked in the Learning Japanese thread... but a couple of good starter series --

1) the "Japanese for Busy People" series (more conversationally oriented)
2) the "Japanese in Manga Land" series (more reading oriented)

For actual textbooks, I prefer --
1) the "Genki" series as it doesn't hobble you with romaji for any longer than necessary and starts using selected kanji earlier to get you used to them.

[oompa loompa]

yeah, I'm just going through the genki series as well. Another one which is fairly eays to learn from is the 'NAKAMA' book series, though it does take a little longer than I like to get into kanji, but I do feel you can do most of the book without a teacher pretty well fairly easily..

[Ledgem]

I used Nakama in my Japanese courses. It'll have you do hiragana and katakana before you get into kanji, which is the way it should be. It also starts you out on some rather basic kanji (low stroke count) and then gradually increases the complexity of the characters as the chapters go on. I don't know how it would be to go through it without a teacher, but if you're dedicated and very good at self-motivation then you'll probably do well with it.

[felix]

Originally Posted by Ledgem

but if you're dedicated and very good at self-motivation then you'll probably do well with it.

You can't really distinguish right from wrong on your own, that's what good teachers are for, not many people understand or accept that. In our day and age with information polution and otherwise stupidity everywhere it is probably even more important. Of course learning by yourself works, as with all things given time you'll "learn it the hard way"; hopefully.

As far as motivation, just set up time in your schedule and eliminate anything that might take priority over it (I do mean everything). As long as you work for a tangible goal (ie. you can recall it thinking back) motivation and other tasks you are required to perform are like instinct.

[MikaMiaka]

Hmmmm, I have a somewhat silly question . . . :P

When emperors speak (like Ryuki in Saiunkoku), they always use "we" instead of "I" -- it happens too often to be a translation mistake -- is this how emperors refer themselves? O_o

[felix]

Yes.​​​​​​​