Updated 03-Aug-2025 Mutual Intelligibility is the ability for two speakers (or writers) of different languages, to understand each other. Certainly there are degrees when it comes to mutual intelligibility, and not simply intelligibility or not. And there are many ways of measuring mutual intelligibility, with the sentence-level utterance a key feature. On the one hand ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 First, happiness is multidimensional. Second, happiness can be measured. And third, happiness cannot be dictated (though, indeed, there is a significant role for lawmakers and politicians). Happiness does not come from the barrel of gun. That is a concept only for armchair generals who never fought a war and still live inside some ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Of all the fairly ridiculous ideas, bicycle lanes in Thailand rank fairly high. First, let's discuss the law of unintended consequences. This is when you want to do one thing, but something unexpected (and usually negative, though not necessarily) results. As Merton writes undesired effects are not necessarily undesirable effects. One did not ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 The 19th century phenomenon, has different (distinct) implementations but is generally the same. One (or usually more than one) person move a glass or marker of some kind across a board (wood or paper) with letters and numbers on it, spelling out different answers to questions that are posed. A spirit supposedly guides ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 This information is specifically about Thailand and the United States, though it may later be expanded to other countries, their rules, and traditions. United States Allows dual nationality. Thailand Allows dual nationality. Two passports (from the United States) Sometimes this is called concurrent passports, though usually second passports. Under certain conditions it is ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Venture Capital has a way of despoiling a product or service by focusing only on growth and (ultimately) profits. This means that the typical approach is to invest a lot of money (edging out less-endowed competitors), and then jacking up the revenue streams, usually by lowering quality and increasing enshittification. Cory Doctorow used ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Looks like Library Genesis has been hit hard by some courts. And so we turn to Anna's Archive. Libgen and related news Publishers Ramp Up Pressure vs. Anna’s Archive, Sci-Hub, Z-Library & Libgen (Torrentfreak) Pirate Libraries Are Forbidden Fruit for AI Companies. But at What Cost? (Torrentfreak) Copyright reform is necessary for national ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 As an American, I grew up with instant ramen noodles, that is the very cheap wavy dried noodles one buys to eat, on a student's diet. Warm and filling, though honestly the nutritional content is quite suspect. I had no idea that this dried out version has extremely little to do with the ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Manga being a Japanese word, there are several other words (in other languages) for this kind of thing: Japanese: Manga Korean: Manhwa Chinese: Manhua English (US, CA, UK, etc.): Comics, Graphic Novels French: Bande dessinée Note the main differences between Manga, Manhwa, and Manhua. In Japan, the light novel -- akin to YA ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 Note 2025-01-31 This was originally written around or before 2015, and things of course change. An update is no doubt needed. Living in Chiang Mai has many aspects, and what it's like will be as much about the person doing the living as the place being lived in. My guess is the question ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025 According to Freire (2007) there are Five Archetypes of Organizational Culture. Naturally, these cultures are based on, developed and perpetuated by leadership. Those he names: Customer-Centric - The Customer is everything One-Team - Oneness is everything Innovation - Learning is everything Achievement - Getting the job done is everything People-First - Our people ... Read more
Updated 03-Aug-2025