Sweet Tea, No Lemon

The way it's supposed to be.

July 23, 2012
by Ken
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Istanbul July 2012

To celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary, my wife Jan and I wanted to travel somewhere exotic and far away. We settled on Istanbul, Turkey, and booked our trip immediately. Despite our impulsive decision, the choice proved to be an excellent one. Of all the places that I have traveled, no destination has delivered an experience like Istanbul. Our week in the city was everything you hope for in travel.

Istanbul has been known by many names, the most famous being Byzantium, the center of the Byzantine empire, and Constantinople, the center of Christendom until the Ottomans conquered the city in 1453. The layers of history and intrigue seem tangible to the senses as you arrive in Istanbul. The Islamic call to prayer is heard five times each day, broadcast from the minarets of the innumerable mosques in the city. The call serves as a repeated reminder of the exotic locale.

During one of our evening meals, I recorded the final call to prayer of the night. At the time, we were near two of the most famous structures in Istanbul, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. What you will hear in the recording is an alternating call to prayer, originating from each of the two mosques.

Click the play button to hear the recording.

Call to prayer, duelling muezzins, Istanbul, July 2012

While the audio plays, click the first image below to start the photo gallery. Navigate through the photos with the mouse or keyboard arrows.

 

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October 25, 2011
by Ken
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A sneaky way to get a better interest rate on your CD

It looks like the crazy-low interest rates on savings and CDs aren’t going to improve any time soon.  The Fed has indicated that they plan to keep rates low for the foreseeable future.  And, frankly, our federal government just can’t afford to let interest rates rise because of the ballooning federal debt.

So, what’s a suffering saver to do?  Here’s a trick to improve your interest rate on a 2 year CD.  And, the tip also works for other medium length CD terms.

What’s the trick?  Buy a 5 or more year CD and pay the withdrawal penalty if you need the cash earlier than that!

An Example: Investing $10,000 for 2 Years

Let’s look at the math.  I’m using the rates from DiscoverBank.com as an example.  (Rates as of October 25, 2011).

  • 2 Year CD: 1.25% APY
  • 5 Year CD: 2.00% APY
  • 10 Year CD: 2.50% APY

Now, we need to look carefully at the early withdrawal penalties:

  • CD term of 1 to 5 years: The penalty is 6 months simple interest on the amount withdrawn.
  • CD term of more than 5 years: The penalty is 9 months simple interest on the amount withdrawn.

If we deposit our $10,000 in a 2-year CD, and withdraw the balance after 2 years, we’ll earn $251.56 in interest.

Invest the same $10,000 in a 5-year CD, and after two years the interest is $404.00 but when we withdraw we owe a penalty of 6 months interest on the $10,404.  That penalty is $10,404 * 2% * 6/12 = $104.04.  Our total profit is $404.00 – $104.04 = $299.96.  That’s an effective APY of over 1.48%.  Nice boost.

What if we use a 10-Year CD instead to get the top rate of 2.50% APY?

After two years at 2.50%, our balance is $10,506.25.  Our penalty is 9 months interest now, equalling $197.  Profit of $309.25 is even better than before.  An effective APY of over 1.53%.

Obviously you will need to do a similar analysis for your particular situation, but you’ll often find that you can gain the benefit of the higher rates from a longer term, and still come out ahead even if you have to pay an early withdrawal penalty.

 

 

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June 6, 2010
by Ken
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Moxie, a word game app for iPhone

If you like word games, you’ve got to try this iPhone app.
I agree with one of the reviews I read: “Can’t. Stop. Playing.”!

Download the original Moxie from iTunes here.

Moxie is an elegantly simple game where you make words as a list of randomly shuffled letters appear.  You earn points by creating chains of words.  For example, Use becomes Ruse becomes Rule becomes Rules.

In addition, certain specific words in a chosen category earn bonus points.  These “Moxie Words” are a key to higher scores.

I decided to work out the scores for the various Moxie Words in the “Animal” category.

Here then is my sorted list of Moxie Words along with their respective scores.

Moxie Words in Animal Category sorted by score

eel      115
bee      115
ape      115
rat      121
hog      121
hen      121
ram      121
pig      121
dog      121
cow      121
cat      121
owl      121
bat      121
fox      142
jay      148
seal     224
goat     232
lion     232
hare     232
mole     232
wasp     232
swan     232
toad     232
deer     232
boar     232
bear     232
fish     232
clam     240
crow     240
bird     240
frog     240
lamb     240
dove     240
mule     248
gull     256
lark     268
hawk     268
moose    335
goose    335
horse    345
sheep    345
whale    355
mouse    355
camel    355
heron    355
louse    355
panda    355
raven    365
hound    375
snake    380
stork    390
shark    390

With these best scoring Moxie Words in hand, you can plan sequences of point-packed word chains.

Fans of Moxie should try out the new Moxie 2 with 6-letter words and lots more improvements.

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September 15, 2009
by Ken
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Must-visit site for language learners: LiveMocha

In the lengthy time since my last blog post, I’ve been steadily improving as a Spanish student, mostly through reading and watching shows on DirecTV Más.

I was reading through some posts on one of my favorite American-Expatriates-in-Mexico sites (Falling in Love with San Miguel) when I came across a brief mention of a language learning resource called LiveMocha.  Wow!  I had no idea what I was missing out on.

LiveMocha is one of the most innovative uses I have yet seen of social networking on the Internet.  It is a vibrant community of people who are learning various languages, and the community knowledge is leveraged in a fascinating way.  I am a native English speaker learning Spanish, so as I progress through the lessons, my writing and speaking exercises are graded by Spanish speakers.  In return, I assess the progress of students who are learning English.  It’s brilliant!

The lessons themselves are really excellent, and I can tell this is going to jumpstart my learning process yet again.

It seems that language learning comes in steps up to a plateau, followed by a period of time where it seems like you are making no further progress.  I’m excited to feel the beginning of a new learning acceleration, fueled by this excellent new tool.

Head over to LiveMocha and check it out.  Feel free to send me a friend request.  I am registered there as KenSmith.

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April 7, 2008
by Ken
3 Comments

Get the Foreign Service Institute Spanish course FREE!

Several years back, I bought Barron’s “Mastering Spanish” volume 1, which included a book and 12 audio cassettes.  It’s a good program, and I learned a lot from it.  I now know that this product is merely a commercial repackaging of the government-funded FSI Spanish Basic Course.

Great news!  This course is now in the public domain, and some volunteers have begun the process of making the entire course available for free download.

The Spanish course is available here:FSI Spanish Courses

The entire workbooks for Basic Spanish I and Basic Spanish II are available as PDF files, and so far, 9 of the 15 units in Basic Spanish I have MP3 files available.

There is a second FSI Spanish course, called Spanish Programmatic Course, which is available in its entirety.

Check out their homepage to see the many other languages that are available:

http://www.fsi-language-courses.com

What a great resource!

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August 12, 2007
by Ken
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Fuera de Serie, now with closed captioning

I mentioned the entertaining Spanish travel show “Fuera de Serie” in a previous post.  At the time, I noted that closed captioning wasn’t available on the show.  However, the last few of these shows that I have recorded finally do have closed captioning.  If you’re using this show for practicing Spanish comprehension, check it out.

The show airs on the Galavision network, which is part of many satellite and cable providers channel lineup.  Currently, the schedule is 2 PM Central time, Monday through Friday.

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July 30, 2007
by Ken
1 Comment

“Jewels of Mexico” is a real jewel

Among the many Spanish language shows I’ve been watching lately (see my last post), one of the best is “Las Joyas de México”, or The Jewels of Mexico.  It’s a half-hour documentary about various sites in Mexico, airing on HITN-TV at 7 PM Central on Sundays.  There are repeats at other times as well.

HITN is DirecTV channel 438, and is also available on DishNetwork on channels 843 & 9401.  According to the HITN-TV website, some cable systems in major US cities carry the network as well.

Las Joyas de México features well-produced stories about interesting sites in Mexico, and I find the Spanish to be easier than most shows.  Unfortunately, there’s no closed captioning available, but I think most students of Spanish will be able to follow enough of the dialogue to make it worth tuning in.

The series has its own website, at http://www.lasjoyasdemexico.com, although it doesn’t have much information about the actual shows.

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July 26, 2007
by Ken
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Have DirecTV? Supercharge your Spanish learning

My normal DirecTV satellite TV package included a couple of Spanish language channels, Univision and Galavision.  However, I found that only a handful of shows on those two networks were interesting to me.  On a whim, I decided to head over to the DirecTV website and see what else I might could get.  They have a package called En Español, which adds 26 additional Spanish language networks to my choices.  (They say 33, but that includes some music channels and other items.)  At $19.95 extra per month, it’s not cheap, but I think I’ll keep it for a while.
Now I can actually find something interesting to watch while improving my language abilities.  Many shows are subtitled as well, so don’t forget that option.  My favorites so far are HITN, which shows a number of interesting shows, and EcuaVisa from Ecuador.  I’ve heard that Ecuadorian Spanish is among the easiest for non-native speakers to understand, and so far I’d have to agree.  They seem to speak a bit slower, and drop fewer letters from their words than other speakers.

CNN en Español is always a good choice, as is Discovery Channel Español.  Now my ReplayTV is chock full of Spanish language shows.  HITN also runs 2 episodes each Sunday of Destinos, a Spanish language instructional show.  The best part of all this Spanish TV is that I can really see the difference in my comprehension.  In my last exposure to Destinos, I was able to understand only bits and pieces, while now I can follow along with much of the dialogue.

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June 23, 2007
by Ken
13 Comments

Two interesting shows for practicing Spanish comprehension

In recent weeks, I’ve been watching a lot of Spanish language TV, and I’ve found the process to be very helpful in my efforts to improve my Spanish comprehension. On History Channel International, they run a show called “El Canal de Historia” at 7 AM Eastern Monday-Friday. The shows are documentaries dubbed into Spanish. For example, this week I watched a biography of Cristobal Colón (Cristopher Columbus), and an episode of America’s Castles.

The shows feature a mix of Spanish only commentary with closed captions, and English language segments that feature Spanish subtitles. Both types of content are helpful to reading and listening comprehension. I’m also pausing the shows when I sense that an unknown word is common or particularly useful. At that point, I look up the word in my Spanish-English dictionary, and if I think the word is a useful addition to my vocabulary I make a quick flashcard for it and resume watching the show.

For flashcards, I’m using a tip I learned from the Learning Spanish podcasts I mentioned here recently. I went to Kinko’s and had them cut business card stock into blank business cards. They’re the perfect size and paper weight for homemade flashcards. I keep a stack of the resulting flashcards handy to use whenever I have a few minutes to spare.

The second show I want to mention comes from the Spanish language network Galavision. Check your schedule for “Fuera de Serie”, a half-hour show focusing on various travel destinations. Unfortunately, the show does not offer closed captioning, so it’s quite a challenge for me to understand much of what is being said. Still, the shows feature interesting destinations and it’s enjoyable to try to keep up. The title of the show, Fuera de Serie, translates roughly to “Out of the Ordinary”, though I’ve seen it translated elsewhere “Out of this World” or “Something Outrageous”.

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