white with foam

Two of conservative America’s favorite hobby horses, immigrants and teh gays, intersect in my friend Dave. The sharp-witted, clear-thinking technical writer (and host of this site) will soon be forced to either stay in the U.S. without his Taiwanese partner or leave with him. Why? Because you can’t sponsor your same-sex partner for a green [...]

The lieutenant ordered me to ask Abdhul if he would sell one of the speckled puppies his mongrel bitch was mothering. As I waited for Abdhul to finish cleaning his rifle — he is known to be testy — I reviewed the difference between “puppy/son of a dog” and “bitch/mother.” Obedience, as even generals must [...]

With six of the eight beginning Japanese sessions behind us, I feel the need to start drawing conclusions about the class, the language, the learning process, and the Japanese people. It’s true that reflecting on something so vast only exposes the paucity of all my vocabularies, and making some dumbass assertions would only seal the [...]

You know what the best part of our eight-week beginning Japanese class is, so far? It’s not the weekly manifestation of that tired old dream canard where you get called upon and totally lay an egg. It’s not the open-ended shukudai (do homework or not do homework; there is no try). It’s not that guy [...]

Okay, you know how “On Earth My Nina” is John Linnell singing what he heard when he played “Thunderbird” backwards? Did you ever want to hear that, in turn, played backwards? Sure you did. See if you can recognize the original. My $0.02 is that it sounds like Gaelic. On Earth My Nina (Backwards)