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Amazon.com has a new product out for their Affiliate Program. It seems to intend to compte with Adwords, as it precludes the use of Adwords on the same page.

We were working on a client’s website (petconnection.com) which uses Amazon’s affiliate program to sell pet-related books. The new feature went live during development, and the name was intriguing right off the bat: “Omakase”.

“I know what that is”, I thought, even though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It sounded Japanese, maybe it’s a martial arts term. Wikipedia to the rescue!
Translated, omakase means “I leave it to your discresion”, literally “entrusting” the sushi-sama to choose the dish, preparation, and price. At some restaurants, the omakase dish will be a multi-course dinner, and is often mentioned on the menu specifically.

As far as etymology, a little bit of googling brought me to this thread on E-Budo.com, which is a good place for perspective on Japanese culture from generally non-japanese individuals with significant and strong knowledge of Japan. (more…)

As a lover of language, I enjoy listening to a wide array of literature on my iPod. And, with my discovery of SpoonfulOfRussian, I now love listening to other languages on the same iPod. I even donated to my new favorite Russian language broadcast.

The cast itself has a DIY quality, with the hostess Natalia’s daughter as a frequent second voice. But, the quality of the information is very good, and every lesson includes a sample of Russian music. This alone is worth the download, as the tunes are not anything you will find on the radio.

So go and see Natalia’s blog, and add some Russian to your playlist.