Category Archives: Literature

Some notes from Buddha’s philosophy

Eight fold noble path of the middle way.

1 Right view
2 Right thought
3 Right speech
4 Right behaviour
5 Right livelihood
6 Right effort
7 Right mindfulness
8 Right concentration

Five evils in the world.

  1. Cruelty : Strong attack the weak and weak deceive the weak.
  2. Cheating
  3. Lust
  4. Disrespect the rights of others
  5. Negligence of duty

There is also a similar saying in Sikhism these are kaam (lust), krodh (anger), lobh (greed), moh (attachment) and ahankar (ego).

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Katakana and Hiragana Worksheet

Download Katakana worksheet to practice

PDF format:kanaworksheet

Excel format: kanaworksheet

Some Tips For Scientific Writing

Vocabulary for Explaining trends

Increasing trend: went up, climbed, jumped, rose

Decreasing trend: went down, dropped, plummeted, slumped

Constant: remain steady, stable, plateau

List of Adjectives

Importance
Salient; Significant

Size, amount, frequency, intensity
Adequate, sufficient, indiscriminate

Quality
Abstract; Innovative; economical; consistent; sustainable; hierarchical

Variation
Alternative, variable, sustainable, steady, dramatic, sudden, gradual

Probability
Likely, possible, surely, definite, inevitable, impossible

List of transitional phrases

In general, overall

Agreement / Addition / Similarity
in the first place; not only ; but also; as a matter of fact ; in like manner; in addition; coupled with; in the same fashion / way; first, second, third; in the light of; not to mention; to say nothing of;equally important; by the same token; again; to; and; also; then; equally; identically; uniquely; like; as; too; moreover; as well as; together with; of course; likewise; comparatively; correspondingly; similarly; furthermore; additionally

Opposition / Limitation / Contradiction
although this may be true; in contrast; different from; of course …, but; on the other hand; on the contrary; at the same time; in spite of; even so / though; be that as it may; then again; above all; in reality; after all; but; (and) still; unlike; or; (and) yet; while; albeit; besides; as much as; even though; although; instead; whereas; despite; conversely; otherwise; however; rather; nevertheless; nonetheless; regardless; notwithstanding

Cause / Condition / Purpose
in the event that; granted (that); as / so long as; on (the) condition (that); for the purpose of; with this intention; with this in mind; in the hope that; to the end that; for fear that; in order to; seeing / being that; in view of; If; then; unless; when; whenever; while ; because of; as; since; while; lest; in case; provided that; given that; only / even if; so that; so as to; owing to; inasmuch as ; due to;

Examples / Support / Emphasis
in other words; to put it differently; for one thing; as an illustration; in this case; for this reason; to put it another way; that is to say; with attention to; by all means; important to realize; another key point; first thing to remember; most compelling evidence; must be remembered; point often overlooked; to point out; on the positive side; on the negative side; with this in mind; notably; including; like; to be sure; namely; chiefly; truly; indeed; certainly; surely; markedly; such as; especially; explicitly; specifically; expressly; surprisingly; frequently; significantly; particularly; in fact; in general; in particular; in detail; for example; for instance; to demonstrate; to emphasize; to repeat; to clarify; to explain; to enumerate;

Effect / Consequence / Result
as a result; under those circumstances; in that case; for this reason; in effect; for; thus; because the; then; hence; consequently; therefore; thereupon; forthwith; accordingly; henceforth;

Conclusion / Summary / Restatement
as can be seen; generally speaking; in the final analysis; all things considered; as shown above; in the long run; given these points; as has been noted; in a word; for the most part; after all; in fact; in summary; in conclusion; in short; in brief; in essence; to summarize; on balance; altogether; overall; ordinarily; usually; by and large; to sum up; on the whole; in any event; in either case; all in all; ; obviously; ultimately; definitely

Time / Chronology / Sequence
at the present time; from time to time; sooner or later; at the same time; up to the present time; to begin with; in due time; as soon as; as long as; in the meantime; in a moment; without delay; in the first place; all of a sudden; at this instant; first, second; immediately; quickly; finally; after; later; last; until; till; since; then; before; hence; since; when; once; about; next; now; formerly; suddenly; shortly; henceforth; whenever; eventually; meanwhile; further; during; in time; prior to; forthwith; straightaway; by the time; whenever; until now; now that; instantly; presently; occasionally;

Space / Location / Place
in the middle; to the left/right; in front of; on this side; in the distance; here and there; in the foreground; in the background; in the center of; adjacent to; opposite to; here; there; next; where; from; over; near; above; below; down; up; under; further; beyond; nearby; wherever; around; between; before; alongside; amid; among; beneath; beside; behind; across;

Avoiding “Very”

Instead of “Very”+ Use
afraid terrified
angry furious
bad atrocious
beautiful exquisite
big immense
bright dazzling
capable accomplished
clean spotless
clever brilliant
cold freezing
neat immaculate
old ancient
poor destitute
pretty beautiful
quite silent
risky perilous
roomy spacious
rude vulgar
serious solemn
small Tiny/minute
Strong mighty
Stupid moronic
Sweet luscious
Tasty delicious
Thin slender
Ugly hideous
Valuable precious
Weak feeble
Wet sodden
Worried Anxious

Best way to explain graphs:

1) Give an introduction. Explain the axis and unit of measurements.
2) Give an overall picture (observe first and last data points and key features)
3) Explain data by comparing and contrasting

Some links

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/Resume.html

Kanji Chart for N5

This kanji chart may be useful to Japanese language learner. Print it in a large paper and hang in your toilet!

Download pdf version of kanji chart here
kanjilist
.

Whaling in Japan

Japan was an isolated country till 1850s. There were almost no foreigners in this country with exception of few Dutch who were living in isolated island of Nagasaki. However, in 1850s, US came to Japan with her military ships to Japan to force her to open up her land to foreigners. The main reason for US to force Japan was to help US whaling industry to expand. Whaling industry was very big and powerful on those days. These industries were killing whales all over the world. The ocean of Japan had high population of whales. But the problem was, this place was too far from US and it was difficult for these whaling ships to replenish their fuel and supplies. Realizing that the land of Japan was most suitable place to anchor their ships and refill it, US senate decided to send warships to Japan and start diplomatic relation with her.

Few days ago (19Sept2014) BBC reported that Japan is violating international law and has started to kill whales in name of research. US is one of the leading countries who wants to stop Japan from killing whales. Shouldn’t US see mirror of her face before making any comment on Japan? It is shameful that US is accusing Japan without any concrete proof. Today’s international law restricts US to come to Japan with warships. Even if US wants to do research in this area, they need to take permission of Japan and surrounding countries to send their team. Therefore, instead of accusing Japan for killing of whales, it is more appropriate for US to send their research team to collaborate with Japanese team and save the whales that their forefather has killed to the verge of extinction.