Friday, December 2, 2016
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Baseball: As Unique as America
Why is baseball called "America's pastime"? What makes it any more unique than, say, football, basketball, or hockey? George Will, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and the author of two bestselling books on baseball, explains why the sport known as "America's pastime" may really be just that.
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
6 Misconceptions About Native American People
In the United States, Native Americans (also known as American Indians or simply Indians) are people descended from the Pre-Columbian indigenous population of the land within the country's modern boundaries. These peoples were composed of numerous distinct tribes, bands, and ethnic groups, and many of these groups survive intact today as partially sovereign nations.Here is a video showing 7 Native American girls debunk the common misconceptions about their culture.
Friday, November 25, 2016
Thursday, November 24, 2016
How Italy's Best Porchetta is Made
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
16 Things Russians Do That Americans Might Find Weird
An American going to Russia for the first time is bound to notice some differences in the way people act. Here’s a short list of things Russians do that Americans might find a little weird.
1. Dressing up to go to the store.
Russians, especially Russians living in cities, love dressing up. For example, a nice dress and some heels are perfect attire for a casual walk.
2. Sitting down for a minute before heading on a trip.
Once the suitcase is packed, most Russians will typically pause and sit quietly for a minute before leaving.
3. Making really long and complicated toasts.
Only the laziest of the laziest of Russians will make a toast of “To health” or something short like that. Seriously. Expect to hear anecdotes and too much reading into them.
4. Telling anecdotes as often as possible.
They might be in the middle of telling a story and then say, with relish, “And, you know, this reminds me of an anecdote...” and then proceed to tell it, even if it’s completely irrelevant.
5. Congratulating one another on getting out of a shower or sauna.
They say, “S lyogkim parom!” (Basically, “Congratulations on a light steam.”)
6. Answering “how are you?” honestly and fully.
How are you?” in Russian demands an actual answer, not just “Great, thanks!”
7. Not smiling at strangers.
Smiling at people you randomly make eye contact with is not a thing. Smiles are supposed to be genuine, to be shared with friends.
8. Celebrating New Year’s more enthusiastically than Christmas.
The tree is for New Year’s. Presents are for New Year’s. Forget Christmas. New Year’s is THE winter holiday.
9. Constantly rewatching old Soviet cartoons.
“Nu, Pogodi!” (the Russian version of Tom and Jerry), “Bremenskiye Muzykanty” (The Musicians From Bremen), and “Snezhnaya Koroleva” (The Snow Queen), are among Russia’s favorites.
10. Calling all females “girl”.
If you want to call your female waitress, you yell, “girl!” If you want to address a fifty- year-old woman, you can call her “girl.” If you want to address an actual girl, you call her “girl.” Any woman short of a babushka (grandmother) is “girl.”
11. Sitting down at the table for a meal and staying there for hours.
When groups of Russians get together for dinner, they will sit down, have dinner, and talk. Then they will talk some more.
12. Always keeping your bags.
Seriously, Russians never, ever, ever throw away any bags, just ‘cause you never know when you might need one.
13. Preparing way more food than is necessary for when friends come over.
And most of it will have tons of mayo.
14. Living with their parents.
It is often that an entire Russian family - parents, children, grandparents - will live together in one apartment.
15. Meeting complete strangers and then becoming friends with them immediately.
And then inviting them over for some tea after only 10 minutes of conversation.
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Why the humble cow is India's most polarising animal?
One of the reasons, writes historian Mukul Kesavan, is that the "desi cow is a beautiful thing".
"Its large eyes, its calm, its matte skin tinted in a muted palette that runs from off-white to grey through beige and brown, its painterly silhouette with its signature hump, make it the most evolved of animals," he says.
It is also a sacred animal for the majority Hindu community, and they amble unmolested in traffic-choked streets. The animal is worshipped and decorated during festivals; holy men take around cows, with their foreheads smeared in vermillion, to seek alms.
There is even a journal called Indian Cow; and a Love 4 Cow Trust to "propagate and promote love" for cows. A right-wing Hindu organisation has actually launched cosmetics using cow urine and dung.
The cud-chewing, sedentary bovine also provides fodder for humour. A hugely popular - and possibly apocryphal - story relates to an essay on the animal by a civil service aspirant. "The cow is a successful animal," it began. "Also he is quadruped, and because he is female, he give milk, but will do so when he is got child. He is same like God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards."
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Video: Why Do The Koreans Get Plastic Surgery | ASIAN BOSS
As we know, facelift or plastic surgery is super popular in Korea. Some parents even encourage their kids to do so, or some of young people take it as a gift when they become an adult.Here is a video interview how young people in South Korea think of plastic surgery.
Monday, November 14, 2016
Japan badly needs male porn stars because of gender imbalance in adult film industry
Pornographic movie actor Shigeo Tokuda poses during the shooting of his latest film in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo, April 13, 2009. Tokuda is Japan's oldest pornographic movie star and is shooting his latest film in which he portrays a master of sex.
Like China, Japan has a gender imbalance in which one gender outnumbers the other drastically. But nowhere is the imbalance felt than in the country’s adult movie industry where there are only 70 male porn stars and 10,000 female porn performers.
There are two indicators of how bad the shortage of male porn actors in Japan is. First, the title of world’s oldest porn actor, according to Guinness Book of Records, is held by Shigeo Tokuda who turned 82 this 2016. The octogenarian still disrobes, but because of the downturn of the porn industry in Japan, he now makes only an average of 10 adult movies a year compared to 60 when he shifted to porn acting in 2004, according to Tokyo Reporter.
Second, Shimiken, the busiest male porn actor in Japan tweeted a “cry for help” in August 2014. He wrote, “In this industry … the number of male porn stars in Japan is less than that of Bengal tigers … With 4,000 new films every month, the number of male actors simply isn’t enough. This industry is like a hole in the wall that needs to get bigger!” quotes FHM.
Because of excess capacity among Japanese female porn stars, one actress, Rola Misaka, was fortunate enough to be hired by an anonymous Chinese businessman in May 2015. The 22-year-old would work as the businessman’s personal assistant and be paid a whopping US$8 million (A$10.67 million) annual salary.
Outside the world of porn, the gender imbalance in Japan is actually in favour of males at birth – 1.06 males for every female – but changes at age group 25 to 54 when it reverses to 0.98 male for every male. It worsens to 0.76 males for every female for elderly Japanese or those over 65 years old. But as of 2014, overall ratio is 0.95 males for every female.
Because of the male shortage, Shimiken had sex with 7,500 women over his 19 years as a porn actor. The deficit means he has to film 21 sex movies a week, but age is catching up on Shimiken. While for Tokuda a monogamous relationship is still the ideal, adultery is necessary for the elderly for health reasons also.
Video: Weirdest Japanese Traditions
I am very interested in Japanese culture. But I did not know the pressure of work in Japan is so high. Some of behaviors that seems to be weird in Japan is understandable if you know that people in Japan need to work 100 hours per week!From napping on the job because of 100 hour work weeks to slurping noodles to show that food is tasty, these are 15 of the weirdest Japanese traditions.
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Three Interesting Culture in Iceland
Iceland is the next country I want to explore. Here are 3 interesting culture in Iceland that is worth to look at:
1. There are no surnames or family names in Iceland
There are exceptions to this. There are a few family names in Iceland, mostly Danish. Some of them have lasted for decades but these family names are not that common and mostly originate from foreigners marrying into an Icelandic family.
For the majority of Icelanders people have a last name that is comprised from their father's (or mother's) first name with the addition of -dóttir (-daughter) or -son. F.ex. my father's first name is Gunnar, so my last name is Gunnarsdóttir (Gunnar's daughter). This means that a member of a family will have a different last name to both of their parents and their siblings of a different gender. Women also do not change their name when they get married (because they obviously don't become the 'son' of their husband's father).
This also means we call everyone by their first name, be it our teachers, our doctors, Björk (Guðmundsdóttir), Eiður Smári (a footballer known as his last name 'Gudjohnsen' abroad) or our former president Vigdís (Finnbogadóttir).
2. Parents leave their babies sleeping outside
It's a common sight to see mothers or fathers meeting up with their friends in cafés and catching up on the latest gossip. But they will sometimes leave their baby in the pram outside the café, where they can watch it through the window. That way the baby won't wake up from the hustle and bustle of the café - and the fresh air will do it good. Not to worry, it's perfectly safe.There is hardly any crime in Iceland, at least not knife and gun crime (corrupt bankers are a different story). Not even policemen carry guns. A Brazilian friend pointed out to me that the difference to Brazil is that there are no policemen in Icelandic banks - instead they are in the alcohol shops.
3. Former Reykjavík Mayor Jón Gnarr
If you haven't heard or read anything about Jón Gnarr do so. This former comedian/actor/punk rocker that until shortly was Reykjavík's mayor formed The Best Party in 2009 and maybe-not-so surprisingly won the elections in 2010, defeating the established Independence party led government.
Since then he has been featured and written about all over the world, for his eccentric and fun style and mainly because he always dresses up in drag for Gay Pride. Jón had no background in politics when he became mayor. The picture of him at the top was taken after his pool jump campaign, which you can see in the video below.
Since then he has been featured and written about all over the world, for his eccentric and fun style and mainly because he always dresses up in drag for Gay Pride. Jón had no background in politics when he became mayor. The picture of him at the top was taken after his pool jump campaign, which you can see in the video below.
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