"Have you found Christ?" "No, but I can help look -- where do you think you left him?"

[larryhammer]

Five questions make a post:

1. Who will to be the first to buy this flying car -- the one that the FAA has just given clearance to?

2. What happened to Tomoe-gozen's counterpart, Yamabuki-gozen -- the one left sick back in the capital to be never heard from again?

3. Where can I find a good book of graded reading exercises in Japanese -- as in, something an intermediate student can chew through in a brain-expanding way? (Miller's A Japanese Reader is not bad -- the selection of advanced texts looks pretty good -- but the beginning and intermediate exercises are keyed off a textbook that I don't have, and while Ashby's Read Real Japanese has several entertaining essays, it ponies the whole thing clause by clause, leaving me with very little to lift on my own.)

4. Why do certain advances in automation that render human involvement obsolete disturb me more than others?

5. When female cicadas rate mating calls, are they going by volume or duration -- or, as I sometimes fear, both?

6. How much do street prostitutes earn?

For that last, some Chicago economists decided to find out. Others, though, could use answers.

---L.

Comments

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

WOOHOO! Flying car! Jetpack! Now, where's my household butler robot?

[alpha-strike.livejournal.com]

While a really smart sheet of paper may render me obsolete, your origami is irreplaceable.

[kchew.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Breaking into Japanese Literature: Seven Modern Classics in Parallel Text by Giles Murray? It has three levels of difficulty, has a Japanese/English translation and custom dictionary on the same spread, and has a number of free downloadable sound files on the 'net. It might hold your hand a little more than you need, but one of the stories is Rashomon.

[larryhammer]

I have come across it, but not looked at it. Japanese + custom dictionary is exactly what I'm looking for, with translation to check my understanding against. I will check it out.

Especially given Rashomon. Thanks!

---L.