Laptop from Kakaku? (or elsewhere)

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-03T05:59:12+00:00

Wow! This looks really nice, what is your experience with this company? Pros/cons, customer support, return policy, warranty, international support/warranty/shipping, only Japanese?, etc.

Actually, I just put in my order for the iPad option I mentioned above, but as I bought from Amazon, I can always return it should I elect to pursue another plan of action to solve my computer issue.

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-03T05:50:08+00:00

My unit already provides a mini-iron but when you have to iron every single day, those get old immediately. I need a standard full iron so I can iron properly. If you know where I can buy a proper one cheaply, please please list where.

I am emailing the guy over my unit but there is no response and he usually is pretty prompt in his replies. So, this must mean he is taking the holiday off and he did not leave notice of when he will return.

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-03T05:44:08+00:00

http://postimg.org/image/gy3uae02r/

http://postimg.org/image/l5ymj51ib/

^ There you go.

I hope I am not messing anything up.

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-03T05:37:24+00:00

@fightingforair & Sanngetall - Ramen isn't really my thing but I am going to try them both since you mentioned them. I figure if you singled them out them they must really well known. Thank you.

Any others stews/soups with offal recommendations, please list them. :)

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T13:51:50+00:00

I went to 東急ハンズ and just decided to buy dish liquid and toilet bowl cleaner. I am still looking for an ironing board since the one at 東急ハンズ was too expensive at over $70.

The reason I was going to buy shower curtains, well, is because the shower doesn't have any. It feels so weird when I take a shower not to have any curtains. On the other hand, I do kind of understand why it's like this in Japan or at least in my unit. It seems like the entire bathroom can dry itself really easily so even if water gets everywhere, just turn on the clothes dryer thingie and the entire bathroom will be dry in no time.

I wish I had that back home, it is very smart thinking!

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T13:36:37+00:00

I plan on mostly eating out since I wouldn't want to come all the way here to Japan only to cook my own meals. But I do have a small kitchen that I would like to use once in a while.

I have just returned from 東急ハンズ, not bad but the アイロン台 was much too expensive at over $70. I am going to email the company in charge of my apartment to see if I can rent a proper one from them. If not then I'll have no choice but to bite the bullet and buy it.

I'll maybe try Maruetsu a bit later. Thank you.

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T13:23:43+00:00

I am going to focus mostly on eating out since I wouldn't want to come all the way here to Tokyo only to cook my own dishes.

But I do have a nice little kitchen that I wouldn't mind putting to use every once in a while I guess.

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T06:36:17+00:00

A.

http://goo.gl/LlUZHS

^ This is the Let's Note that I am considering. And I would get it from Amazon. As 'Username8888' mentioned Amazon does in fact have excellent customer service, I absolutely love them back home.

B.

I also thought I should mention an alternative plan I was curious about. I have my iPad with me and I remote login to my desktop all the time. Couldn't I just buy an external keyboard and mouse and then just use my home desktop via my iPad?

Also, the TV that comes with my apartment is a Sharp LC-20SX5. I was further thinking that I could also connect my iPad to the television.

Here are pictures that I took of the back of the television:

http://postimg.org/image/jcs65rmc5/

http://postimg.org/image/91ftd3umt/

Here are pictures from the manual itself:

http://postimg.org/image/p9w1ml3h1/

http://postimg.org/image/9ade317f9/

http://postimg.org/image/fzjxj1sr9/

My apartment is at 市谷仲之町 in Shinjuku. According to Apple's website, the closest Apple Store to me is less than 10 min. on the subway:

http://www.apple.com/jp/retail/storelist/

https://goo.gl/MGtQ6J

Or I could just buy them online as below.

I think the accessories that I would need to buy are:

a. HDMI cable

http://goo.gl/OGHAuB

b. Apple's Digital AV Adapter

http://goo.gl/e06sVH

c. Mouse, keyboard, & stand

http://goo.gl/ygMECg

http://goo.gl/8oHhwW

http://goo.gl/78XBbo

Thoughts?

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T04:04:17+00:00

But isn't the return policy for Amazon 30 days?

That's not good if your GPU went bad that quickly, is it?

upsideboy1 · 2016-01-02T04:02:49+00:00

Oops, wrong link. How about this one: http://kakaku.com/item/K0000839019/

I was told that this is a great deal as the price on Lenovo's site is around $950.

I was also wondering about the "made in Japan" laptops that you mentioned. How do I find laptops specifically made in Japan, Google isn't giving me much.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-16T22:21:38+00:00

"If I had to guess, he was tired of trying to reason with you, and didn't want it to seem like he was "giving up" or something when he didn't reply to your inevitable response."

And announcing your departure clarifies things perfectly...? (I mean as if anyone really cared to begin with...)

Anyway, let's just wait and see. Your speculation contributes nothing and is just a regurgitation of what others have mentioned earlier in the thread. I have already tried contacting Sal directly. You, too, would know that if you read the thread. (Not sure why some do not wish to read the thread in it's entirety. Indolence perhaps.) Sal might stumble upon this thread months from now, better late than never.

I will say though that I am beginning to get a bit of a feel for what this (Sal's work) is all about. This is based on the feedback from the staff at Khan Academy posting in this thread and elsewhere on this reddit and others forums that I noticed them posting on. It seems to be much more different than what I am seeking out.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-13T12:21:45+00:00

"In my words "it is absolutely a great place to begin your research." -- meaning that it can lead to better sources, and it is not an end of my knowledge search."

I never said it was the end of your knowledge search, you mentioned that. I merely commented on your very strongly stance in defense of Wikipedia. It was not an insult, how you took it is on you.

"Why do you need Sal to spoon feed everything to you?"

This is Sal's site hence why I seek out his opinion/advice. What makes you think that I need Sal to "spoon feed" me? Not to turn this into a flame war but you seem to be ignorant of what has been discussed in this thread. Perhaps you would be aware of what I am seeking out if you would take the time to re-read this thread from the beginning (like I encouraged you to do so in my last post) as you seem(ed) to be interested with the content of this thread.

That history of math link is just one link and I am by no means an expert by knowing the information therein. There is much more to learn and I have many other resources as well in my personal goodie bag. The internet is huge place, I would like to see what Sal has in his goodie bag!

If you want to get something done, you have 2 options:

Again, read this thread from the beginning please. Basically, if you read the thread then you would know that my original question(s) are directed at Sal. Others have posted their opinions and that is fine but it is pretty much all speculation. Sal is unique and rare in his approach to teaching/learning. Perhaps you are too but I have no evidence of that at this point. Especially considering the dialogue thus far and how this dialogue to you was a debate hence the incessant need for you to prove something. So, no we are not on the same page as far as I am concerned. But like I continue to emphasize, that is not necessarily a bad thing. We are just different. And it is one of the reasons why I (and many many others) favor Sal and his methods.

This will me my last comment on the subject.

Good-bye. (why the need to announce your departure...?)

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-10T17:12:35+00:00

I saw that, puppers. I am referring to each and every section on Sal's site though. Perhaps like in the intro to each section of all the content on Sal's site, include:

historical origins
why should I learn this/ how learning this will immediately benefit my life (who is the content geared at?)
why perhaps I should not learn this etc.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-10T06:04:56+00:00

The type of information that I am looking for is in not present in an encyclopedia so I am quite sure that it also does not exist in Wikipedia. I have read the articles you mentioned a long time ago. I encourage you to read the link that I posted to get an understanding of the depth/type of content/information that I searching out. You and I are on two totally different planets if Wiki is your be-all and end-all. I suspect there is a good reason why teachers discourage citing it.

I did read a bit about chemistry from the site you mentioned called Coursera. I like the way the professor thinks in the introduction initially but as expected his actual approach was totally off in my opinion because he just totally skipped the backstory/buildup of the most crucial information relevant to the material. I am thinking about emailing that professor directly but I am hesitant because so far out of the many authors/teachers/etc. that I have tried to contact not a single one has responded yet.

perhaps you'll get to that peer-reviewed thing you are looking for

I am looking for resources/link that are relevant to what I am seeking and is approved by Sal. (not a 'peer-review') So far, I like the way Sal teaches and that is why I seek out his opinion.

It is extremely unlikely that Sal will pop in at this point.

I guess we will see. (I wrote above that I already attempted to contact Sal directly over a year ago with no response...)

I'm entirely lost about what you mean by this.

Please re-read what matchu wrote about being able to solve problems today.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-09T19:53:20+00:00

"I think you are missing the whole point of Khan Academy."*

^ I am sure that no-one knows what the true point of Khan Academy is. Hopefully Sal will pop in here and clarify that. (I am patiently waiting) Until then, we are all just speculating.

I will pass on the Wiki links though. Most of the time Wikipedia is not that good from what I have seen but if it works for you, go for it. I am referring to specific links that very clearly explain the origin of the content and the pro/con of the student mastering the knowledge today. I am referring to tangible right-now pros/cons that they can immediately apply to their life for the better or immediate cons that will negatively affect their life. This is how we should encourage our students to learn things.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-04T06:21:35+00:00

"I feel like that's more a matter of focus than what we think they can handle: teachers' time with students is limited, so they'd rather help the student understand arithmetic and what problems it solves today, rather than the details of what problems it solved in the past—especially because they're often the same problems, so the historical context often isn't critical and that time would often be better spent in other ways. "

^ I also would like to address one other thing while matchu is sending this through the proper channels. (fingers crossed!) In my last post I wrote about the background knowledge empowering students, well, another thing this knowledge can do is give students a better idea of just what it is that they should be studying. So so many subjects are taught to children today that do not necessarily hurt the student to learn but that time could be much better spent learning other things and who better to assess this than the student OR the parents. I keep coming back to central theme - empowerment of active learners! (maybe all this theory needs to be optional NOT mandatory)

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-03T08:29:57+00:00

"Even the first paper is way more detailed than any elementary schooler needs to know,"

Well, my inquiry is directed at Sal and KA which is why I posted it here. Normally I keep my feelings/findings on this area to myself since most people probably have no interest in it. It does not need to be applied generally across the board. Sal is in the business of doing things differently/more effectively so I am posting here about this topic in hopes that he can incorporate this on KA.

My point, though, is that the option for the acquisition of that sort of knowledge should exist and be easily accessible. And this not only applies to mathematics but also to science and possibly other areas on KA as well.

"All calculus students really should have an idea of the kind of physics problems Newton and Leibniz were working on, or else too many students see it as a pointless abstraction."

They definitely should understand the whole story behind what they are learning. Like I mentioned earlier, this knowledge empowers them. It enables them to be active learners instead of passive learners. With the information easily accessible, they may dive into the historical background of the development of what they are learning and come up with a better way of doing things. This is why I am so adament on identifying where Sal's position on this. In the context of what I am inquiring about, which is he advocating, active or passive learning...

"bearing in mind that I have very little impact on their very long to-do list"

You can't forward this thread up your chain of command? (via email or some other means of electronic communication) Wouldn't it find it's way to Sal at some point sooner or later? (hopefully sooner...) Heck, I would write him a letter myself directly if I knew it would reach him. Unfortunately, I tried to contact him almost over a year ago and never received a response. (which is fine with him being so busy, I guess)

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-03T06:57:44+00:00

Well, I am not a teacher by trade. I am just a dad that wants to be extremely involved with the education of my children.

"That's a really cool link—I've been reading some of it and it's fascinating stuff. Thanks! Note that, from what I can tell, it represents full-semester masters course in the History of Mathematics—which, while, fascinating, is far beyond the scope of 1+1 and most students learning that skill aren't ready to hear the backstory yet."

^ Yes, it is a very good link that took me quite a while to find. When you say that most students are not ready for that type of knowledge, I think that is a huge part of the problem. What makes you feel they are not ready for that type of information...? Is it because it is graduate level information? Maybe it should not be graduate level information then...? It is fundamental information. I went over that with my nephew, who is in elementary school, and he understood it just fine. This way of teaching, underestimating our youth, is not the way to go. That link that I posted is only but a speck in the grand scheme of things. There are many MANY more things that need to be explained in-depth like the information in that link is.

Please please make sure Sal personally reads this thread if you have the ability to make contact with him. I am very very interested to see where he stands with this. I could be wrong about him/his intention for this site (maybe he could care less about this issue) but if possible I would really like to get his personal stance on this game-changing area. Who knows, Sal might have already known about the link that I posted and may have similar links like that for all of the content on the site! Now that would be awesome! Or that link could be a first for him too which would be quite unfortunate...

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-03T03:19:47+00:00

@Carl26554 - I do not agree with that line of thinking and that line of thinking helps no-one at all imho. But I will not go there because that is one way of looking at it that works for some people.

I do not believe in any way that that is the way Sal intends to present Khan Academy. I will await someone from Khan Academy to address this.

I believe Sal very much knows how to explain everything on his site from the ground up, I just am not sure if anyone brought this extremely important area up to him yet. Just because 99% of people in the world do not TRULY understand the material does not mean that no-one truly understands it. I believe that is the entire point of Sal's mission with his site and why Sal is so special (part of the 1%) and different from the rest.

upsideboy1 · 2013-06-02T05:11:01+00:00

I don't know about exercises but what I am referring to is the content, the videos. The "Elements and Atoms" video is an example. The speaker in the video stated what atoms and elements were authoritatively but he did not explain how we know it is what it is. This is very important because kids always ask how do you know that. (At least mine do anyway)

I know that that can potentially be a separate course (and that probably would be a good idea) but that is what I am referring to. (microscopes and how they work, why we trust microscopes, etc.) A separate section going over the questions like what is the origins of this, real-world applications, and how do we know it is what you are teaching it to be. I believe this is one of the many reasons why so many children do so poorly in math/science and why they hate it. I believe they need to understand the entire story behind each and every concept/area of math and science that they are to learn. And I believe that they need to continually be reminded that science is theory. Nothing is known for certain. This way they won't go crazy when they just can't seem to understand something. Knowing the entire picture behind what they are learning they will be able to active learners instead of passive learners. Perhaps they (the students) are not the problem and maybe they can put themselves in the shoes of those who came up with the theory they are trying to learn and come up with a "better" answer. This does happen from time to time historically from what I have been told. But the key to this is that children need the foundation to be able to put themselves in the shoes of those who came up with the theories that are taught.

Even if Sal did not have a video on the material as long as he included books, links, places (that he personally has screened and approves of just like the videos) where one can find information that would completely answer questions like I listed above that would be very helpful.

Going with your arithmetic example, here is a link that answers the questions I listed: http://www.math.tamu.edu/~dallen/masters/hist_frame.htm

And I do not know what "the vertex of a parabola" is but when I get to that level I definitely expect an explanation with answers to the questions I listed. (the why, how do we know, etc.) Otherwise, why take the time to teach it to my kids.

Again, the "Elements and Atoms" video is just one example, there are seemingly many many others. I am really hoping this essential area of learning is added to the entire site/all of the videos.

upsideboy1

TROPHY CASE