Back in September, I translated the first part of a remarkable story in the Spanish newspaper El País about the experiences of Spanish troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Below is the second part of that report. Click here to read my translation of the first part. Click here to read the entire report as [...]
Archive for the ‘Wordadvocate’ Category
El País: Face to Face with the Taliban, Part 2: The Battle for the Pass at Sabzak
Posted in War, Wordadvocate, tagged Afghanistan, El Pais, Taliban on November 21, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Report in El País: Face to Face with the Taliban
Posted in Culture, War, Wordadvocate, tagged Afghanistan, El Pais, Spain, Taliban on September 30, 2009 | 3 Comments »
There was a remarkable story about the Taliban published this past June in the Spanish newspaperEl País. After much delay I’m finally getting around to translating it. I don’t have a lot of time these days, so I’ll be posting the translation across a few posts.
If any representatives from El País have questions or concerns, [...]
A spoonfull of pizza helps the pizza go down
Posted in Wordadvocate, tagged cooking, food, pizza, baking, homemade, homebaked on September 20, 2009 | 9 Comments »
About two months ago, I started making my own pizza. I quickly found that, even when using canned sauce and toppings, homemade dough is vastly superior to any delivery I’ve ever gotten. Today, however, I made EVERYTHING from scratch. The result is the best pizza I’ve ever had (even after three trips to Italy and [...]
How to learn a foreign language, part 1
Posted in Education, Language, Wordadvocate, tagged languages, Spanish, language learning, French, writing letters, penpals, how to learn a language on September 8, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’ll be doing a more comprehensive approach to language learning soon, but I thought I’d share an interesting method I’m using to learn French that, so far, seems effective and – most importantly – fun.
First, take one or two semesters of the target language at a local college or university. You’ll need to learn how [...]
Song of Borges, key volume in the library of wordadvocate
Posted in Wordadvocate on August 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I am finally working my way through Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, which has eluded me for the past five years. As is, perhaps, normal for the novice reader of Song of Myself, I find myself continuously thinking of others as I read it. But must I think more of myself? If I ask myself [...]
Results of wordadvocate’s Five Borough Coffee Expedition
Posted in Culture, Wordadvocate, tagged coffee on July 28, 2009 | 8 Comments »
I previously wrote about my intentions to find the best fresh coffee beans in my area. I am pleased to announce the results of my expedition:
Tie.
It turns out that there are dozens of places around here that offer freshly roasted coffee beans, and each one offers at least a dozen different beans and roast profiles. [...]
Examining the Gates story
Posted in Culture, Law, Politics, Wordadvocate, tagged Henry Louis Gates, Racial Profiling, Skip Gates, racial bias on July 27, 2009 | 15 Comments »
As is often the case, we find ourselves polarized on how to understand the arrest of Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates, Jr., according to whether we support Gates, Crowley, or whether we abstain (courteously). I have been surprised at the sweeping conclusions that have been reached by so many people based on this incident in isolation. [...]
Financing your next iteration vs. the meaning of infinity
Posted in Gods, Humor, Language, Wordadvocate, tagged Reincarnation Bank on July 21, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Via The Faculty Lounge, I was reminded of an institution I’d read about a few years ago, Reincarnation Bank. Ostensibly, you can store your finances here for retrieval upon your next rebirth.
A nondescript clause at the bottom of Reincarnation Bank’s home page seemed to me, however, far more compelling:
“All enquiries will be answered within 48 [...]
Road to the Marathon, and my weight loss story
Posted in Culture, Lifestyle, Sport, Wordadvocate, tagged cooking, nutrition, exercise, coffee, marathon, weight loss, healthy foods, healthy eating, biking, cycling, swimming, running, active, cook books, healthy recipes, Galloway method, RunWell on July 18, 2009 | 7 Comments »
A few years ago, I made some significant changes in my life. After several years of inactivity, I decided, on one sunny day, to go for a run. I went to Sports Authority, bought the most athletic looking sneakers I could find, and proceeded to have a nice run after I got home. The nausea [...]
“All the news that’s fit to print”…really?
Posted in Media, Wordadvocate, tagged New York Times, FAIL on July 8, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Really. Front page.
How to get audio files from Youtube and how to use them to improve language fluency
Posted in Language, Wordadvocate, tagged youtube, language learning, splitting audio from video, accents, diction on July 5, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I figured out how to rip audio from youtube videos for storage on one’s computer in .mp3 format and subsequent transfer to an iPod. The most important utility of this process, IMO, is obtaining source audio to use in practicing a language (though in my case I use it to hone my interpreting skills.) Lest [...]
Technology for the poor
Posted in Community, Technology, Wordadvocate, tagged Technology, Welfare, Skype, phones, telephones, Google voice on July 4, 2009 | 3 Comments »
In my own search to decrease my monthly expenses, I’ve come across several technologies that appear to have substantial potential to help the poor.
1. Google Voice
Google has been running this free service for some time and recently announced plans to open it to the public. It’s marketed as a way to simply the way people [...]
Quote of the day
Posted in Culture, Humor, Politics, Wordadvocate, tagged New York State Senate, Albany, Pedro Espada Jr. on June 23, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“You can’t have musical chairs every day,” Mr. Espada said. “That’s just not the way any successful enterprise works.”
Source.
Blogfather’s Day Surprise: “From me? Oh, I shouldn’t have.”
Posted in Arts, DADvocate, Ethics, Family, Franklin Evans, Jesharris, Lifestyle, Lynn Gazis-Sax, MI, Man, Media, Moro, Nature, Private, Public, Scott Lahti, Self, Sex, Sigaliris, Sport, Steve S., Technology, Wired Sisters, Woman, Wordadvocate, tagged plausible denial, paternity birthday suits on June 21, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I swear I was only there to supply the towel-and-bottled-water concession…
New York Times fails to disclose important information about a source cited in article about Saudi school in Virginia
Posted in Culture, Media, Politics, Wordadvocate, tagged New York Times, Virginia, Islam, religious right, NY Times, Islamic Saudi Academy, ISA, Fairfax, madrassa, James Lafferty, Jim Lafferty, Christian Right, Andrea Lafferty, Traditional Values Coalition, TVC, extremism on June 10, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I retrieved this article from the NY Times website at about 10:15pm EST on June 10. It deals with alleged controversy surrounding the expansion of a Saudi school in Virginia. At the time that I accessed it, one part of the article read as follows:
James Lafferty, chairman of a loose coalition of individuals and groups [...]
Debate between Chavez and Vargas Llosa canceled
Posted in Culture, Wordadvocate, World, tagged Latin America, South America, debate, Hugo Chavez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Aló Presidente, Hello Mr. President, international relations, foreign politics on May 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Via El País:
Two days ago, I wrote about a debate that was to take place between Hugo Chávez and Maria Vargas Llosa on Chávez’s television show, Aló Presidente (Hello Mr. President), subsequent to Chavez inviting “rightist intellectuals” to appear with him. Unfortunately, Chavez has now canceled the debate, stating, “I’m in the big leagues. You’re [...]
Hugo Chávez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jorge Castañeda, and Enrique Krauze to debate on Aló Presidente
Posted in Politics, Wordadvocate, World, tagged human rights, Latin America, democracy, South America, debate, Hugo Chavez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Enrique Krauze, Jorge Castañeda, Hello President, economic recovery, economic crisis, international news, Aló Presidente on May 29, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Via El País. Plug it into Google Translator if you do not read Spanish.
Principal topics for discussion are democracy, human rights, and the international economic crisis.
I will provide updates when I have more news about the time and date. I’ll try to provide a synopsis of the content, depending on how long it is and [...]
Sin and its discontents
Posted in Gods, Man, Wordadvocate, tagged religion, torture, banality of evil, Evil, sin, salvation, faith, atheism, sacrifice, bill moyers, Nietzsche, bybee, genocide, suffering on May 22, 2009 | 8 Comments »
I find the idea of original sin to be a useful narrative symbol, provided that we modify the definition of sin that is popular these days. It is disturbing that so many Christians feel the need to convince themselves and others that they are, through no fault of their own, scum and dirt who are [...]
Wordadvocate’s Five Borough Coffee Expedition, part one
Posted in Wordadvocate, tagged brewing, coffee, espresso, french press, french roast, moka pot, roasting, starbucks on May 19, 2009 | 4 Comments »
***
Update: Results of my Five Borough Coffee Expedition, and links to NYC roasters.
***
Today marks the first day of my Five Borough Coffee Expedition. I am on a mission to find the best coffee beans in my area. I recently posted about the importance of fresh coffee and where you can get it. To quickly review, [...]
Welfare 102: Hanging by a Thread – Stories and Data from the Safety Net
Posted in Community, Health Care, Politics, Wordadvocate on April 19, 2009 | 10 Comments »
Middle class to rags
C is a middle aged woman with a few years of college and decades of work experience. When her chronic illness became uncharacteristically severe, she had to stop working for a while. She didn’t worry at first, since she had COBRA health benefits, unemployment insurance, and savings. She was able to afford [...]
Thoughts on language pedagogy
Posted in Education, Language, Wordadvocate, World, tagged language, languages, translation, pedagogy, language learning on March 23, 2009 | 21 Comments »
As we all know, Americans are dismal at learning languages. There are many reasons for this:
-Some people think that learning a second language is “out of touch” and “far left”.
-Americans do not have the fortune to have the kind of language diversity, proximity, and pedagogical prestige that exists, for example, in Europe. While we have [...]
Java’s Crypt: Bitter Iterations and Next Gen Joe
Posted in Culture, Wordadvocate on March 9, 2009 | 3 Comments »
“Either those stale beans go, or I do.”
–Oscar Wilde
Think of the majority of today’s coffee as you would of Dorian Gray – you might trust it, but it has terrible, masked secrets. Most large coffee retailers, including Folger’s and even Starbucks, offer only stale coffee. They sell hundreds of thousands or even millions of pounds [...]
Murdoch: From chimp to wolf, Obama still an animal
Posted in Culture, Language, Media, Politics, Wordadvocate, tagged Obama, budget, juxtaposition, dog whistle, Post, New York Post, chimp, chimpanzee, big bad wolf, Murdoch, antichrist, the beast on February 27, 2009 | 4 Comments »
A political cartoon published in the New York Post on February 18 caused controversy when the paper received complaints that its racist premise likened a rampaging chimpanzee to President Obama.
Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corporation, which owns the Post, then issued a statement in response to the criticism. It used standard language expressing regret [...]
