User Comments - pretzellogic

Posted on: Traditional Chinese Medicine

These are on the easier side: short sentences, and short paragraphs. Gives you a chance to catch your mental breath.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/washing-dishes/dialogue

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/boston/dialogue

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/the-perfect-sandwich/dialogue

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/antiperspirant-in-china/dialogue

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/sneezing/dialogue

Now, if someone can tell me a traditional Chinese medicine treatment for sinus congestion.....

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent

I remember you could live in a mansion in Lanzhou on 5000 RMB/month, In Beijing, you can rent a fabulous luxury one-bedroom apartment (60 sq mtrs) in a great neighborhood for 5000 RMB. You can also find things cheaper...

Posted on: Renting an Apartment through an Agent

It would have been interesting to know what type of earthquake standards Chinese apartment buildings are built to, and whether or not you could see as a casual observer some of the efforts made in Chinese buildings to be earthquake resistant.

It would also have been interesting to have dialog asking "is the builder of this building the same builder that built the building that fell over on its side in Shanghai?"

Posted on: (W)rapping It All Up

Jason, does this mean that these lessons were popular enough to generate creation of their own separate ShanghainesePod?

Posted on: Yellow Mountain

I'm glad to hear that Cpod has outdoor enthusiasts, because then I know i'll get real outdoor dialogue that I can use when I hike Mt Monandnock or Franconia Notch. Dialogue that moves from sentences like:

"its a good thing I brought an extra bag of Oreos" or "fold the back seats down, and we'll just sleep in the back of the car" or "when you said we were roughing it, you weren't kidding. How can we deal without a TV?"

To:

"i've got the knife, flints and a bit of rope, so we should be able to make some kind of varmint trap"(We need the Chinese words for varmints and critters).

"There should not be any pit vipers, cobras or other poisonous snakes within 100 miles of here".

"A: Is the water in the stream safe to drink?

B: I don't know, but i'm thirsty"

"Once we get to the top of the ridge, we should be above the tree line, and and at that altitude, we should be able to see for 50 miles"

"Those turkey vultures are flying pretty close"

"Cut the legs off that beetle first, otherwise, he grabs your lips as you start chewing him. ..... that bug tastes as nasty as he looks. Positively disgusting. Lots of grit and gristle".

(Ok this one is from "Man vs. Wild")

Posted on: Yellow Mountain

Seems like Cpod has been taking trips outdoors this summer, what with that Outdoor lesson series here as well.

Posted on: World Cup Talk

how many coaches are there on each side? they need something!

Posted on: World Cup Talk

actually, yeah, that would be pretty good entertainment. Some name-calling, a few bench-emptying brawls, fisticuffs, knives, weapons,28 red cards...but no, its just going to be some dudes kicking a ball on a field.

Posted on: World Cup Talk

The Netherlands is the Klingon Empire? They seemed so peaceful....

Posted on: Philosophy: a Useless Major?

I hear you, but i'm not clear why poor engineering, or design flaws, or failures to understand the performance envelope of a given material DISPROVES the need for engineering. Certainly the deHavilland Comet demonstrated that engineers of the time didn't understand the material and design issues they were encountering, but as you said, there's much to be learned from failure.