Allon

I will bet the crowds are fantastic now. But then, they are for prostitution too.

Well, the contrast is to get malaria which I have despite taking the big white pills back then. It ain't fun. You think you get crazy from these pills? Try real malaria that NEVER really goes away.

My two cents. The alcohol problem nees to be fixed first before any other homework. He should be given the chance to change. If he does not succeed then I would stop the process entirely. If he is the nice guy you say, he will go through the change. It is worth it to him. If not, then the time is now to stop the process and avoid a lot of hurt later. And it needs follow up if the process goes ahead and he quits. A 4th timer has a lot of make up time. To me, it would not be honest to her not to try and fix it first, and not to mention the problem to her as well. She should know what she is getting in to.

The underlying reason, aside from a personal prejudice that goes back hundreds of years, for the Japanese failing to apologize is reparation payments. They already formally apologized to the Korean comfort women still living, and gave them a modest reparation. This amount was not enough to satisy them and the rift continues. What is incredible about this "comfort women" issue is that it is not just China that is complaining. The Philippines recently formed a group of women called Lolas and have even held rallies when Abe visited Manila. Malaysia, Indonesia, and other smaller islands in the region also have resentments against the Japanese. It is not just an apology they demand. They want the Japanese government to educate its citizens about the real history of the Japanese Imperial Army. Up until recently, there has been no mention of atrocities, no mention of comfort women or brutality by the JIA in their history books that children read in Japan. Lately, there has been some change, and many in Japan support it. But they are afraid of retribution by the Right. One politician was stabbed and killed for stating that Japan should apologize. Several others faced similar harrassment, even death. There is a film put out by a Japanese group that feels history has been one sided regarding the activities of the JIA and tries to set the record straight, especially countering statements made by Iris Change author of the Rape of Nanking. It was nauseous to watch. It reminded me of some of Ribbentrop's fanatical statements made on behalf of Hitler before WWII. Some in Japan do care and have offered support but it is too little too late. Some say the Chinese goverrment uses the hatred to leverage themselves when they meet Japan on issues of the islands, but the hatred has been there for long before the Chinese government won the ciivil war in 1949. The killing began in 1931 in Manchuria and spread when Japan invaded China in 1937. Over 300,000 people were killed in the Nanking area alone, 20,000 to 80,000 were comfort women. Over 19 million Chinese were killed in the overall conflict. Some, along with captured American pilots, were experimented on in Unit 731, just as Germany did in Auschwitz and other camps. The real shame is how MacArthur allowed the Japanese a pass when it came to reparations. He left China and Taiwan out of the final treaty, causing much of the ambiguity about the disputed islands to this day. And yet he was given a Medal of Honor.

Carl, I am late to this project being a newbie but have pllayed and taught classical guitar for years. Also played for a band (lead) in a younger life. Good lutheirs are hard to find. I have been many many places looking for good classicals and flamenco models but I have always noted a skimp of each model, except for the real expensive ones. They would put in a rosewood fingerboard for instance instead of ebony, which is getting harder to find. And rosewood sides and back are often skipped for mahogany or something heavier, nicer, but deadens the sound. And a real flamenco is all cypress. I'm curious, and this may have been asked before, what kind of price would you put on a classical made with all rosewood sides and back (maybe quarter sawed in back?) with an ebony fingerboard? Those are just the basics, a bone bridge and nut, and teflon coated tuning instruments. You might have something here......

I will second Tsap's well written admonition to get to talk therapy now and not let it bury itself within. The word we use is "beast" or "dragon" and that's exactly what it is. It will emerge later when you least expect it and you have no control over what happens. The beast not only affects you but those around you and in the worst ways -- anger being the worst of them. And then you wonder what happened afterwards. The best indication that someone will be OK after a traumatic experience is that they cry. If you see someone cry after a trauma, even a kid, never tell them "Don't cry." It's the healthiest thing they could be doing. But if it goes on for days, slap the hell out of them. (Only kidding. )

It's the nature of Pinyin to be different. It was formed first for Mandarin but as the usage spread, it changed with the dialects. The nature of language I guess. And I had a discussion with Iris Chang's father about family name pronunciations. His is Chang but in the early days when supposedly there were only 6 family names, it was Zhang. And the "ang" is pronounced "aaahhhhng" not 'ang' as in "gang." It will sound like "ong" too. Language is not only tongue but ear. There is a movement to get rid of the Chinese characters and replace them with a more useful language but most agree it will never happen. So we will use a language that is one step above Cuneiform.

BoPoMoFo is simply the instruction of the pronunciation of the Mandarin "characters" and not all of them An analogy of its use would be our repetition of the English alphabet -- ABCDE, etc. Taiwan speaks and writes Mandarin in the Traditional style, so it is closer to the original Mandarin than what is written on the mainland. The pronunciation for both is the same. Mao wanted to simplify the written language so westerners could learn it easier, and the People could save a few strokes in writing. Pinyin was also developed by the Mao government, supposedly at his insistence, so that Westerners could more easily learn to pronounce Mandarin. It is Romanized since much of Western language is Roman in derivation. The project started in 1955. It replaced Wade-Giles but had trouble taking off.

Good article. Almost funny but somehow sad. Very cogent remark. This guy is good. Thanks, Randy.

My wife has trouble too with the "sh" sound but the word "xiao" meaning small most of the time (you have to qualify things when speaking of the Chinese language ) she can say with no problem. When I let her know that, she still can't do it. Her favorite cuss word is SIT. Well, that keeps us safe in good company.

Oh no. I am not getting into this one. Both sides claim only their version of Chinese is legitimate. Some of these people carry weapons to the discussion.