This is a funny bit of news I saw the other day. Of course in America this would never work because most people are already fat. In japan they are mandating weight checks for people over 40. You are considered obese if you are over 34inchs (male) and 35.5inchs (female). Japan is really known for their healthy diets and long life spans, but evil American fast food has taken it’s tool on Japan now.

Due to the rising population of overweight people, health costs have risen and so the government has stepped in. I don’t really think this is the best idea, but I guess we shall see. Start running it off Japan!

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It’s about summer time, and many of us are thinking about where to vacation this summer.  This year I’ll hopefully be going down to Florida, maybe for a few weeks?  Do you plan to go on vacation in the summer? How long do you usually vacation for? Where do you go on vacation? Chime in on comments!

Unless you’re into techno/dance music, or are a geography buff, you’ve probably never heard of the small island named Ibiza. Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain. It is known for it’s music scene, with numerous world famous clubs on the island, and top DJ’s playing on the island all summer long.

I’ve wanted to go to Ibiza for a long time. Although I’m not a real party person, or club goer, I still want to experience clubbing in Ibiza, while the likes of Tiesto and Oakenfold spin live in the background. I did recently read that the government has enacted a law that makes the clubs close by 6am. That sure is early! Hehe. The government is trying to reposition the island a bit as a family friendly destination, and not just a summer techno party orgy.

Some Quick Facts About Ibiza:

• Is an Autonomous region of Spain
• Good temperatures, hovering around 80F in the summer and 60F winter.
• Home to largest nightclub in the world: Privilege (Capacity: 10,000)
• Also known for it’s beautiful beaches, and sunsets.

I’ve been learning Chinese (Mandarin) for about a month now. In the beginning it was overwhelming, and seemed impossible, but it is becoming more familiar now. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very overwhelming, just a tiny bit less so. See, it is starting to sound like an actual language, I’m now recognizing various syllables and I can identify the tones (in isolation).

I guess you could say that I am past the ching-chong state, where it seems impossible for the words to mean anything, let alone form a real language. I’ve been learning online by myself, though I wouldn’t really recommend this as a first choice. However overall I think if you are determined enough it can be effective.

As I’ve been studying Chinese I’ve also been trying to learn some Chinese history. Among other things I’ve of course learned many interesting facts about the language as well. Here are a few of them:

• To read your average Chinese newspaper you need to learn around 3,000 Chinese characters.
• The average educated Chinese person knows upwards of 6,000 characters.
• One reason Standard Mandarin sounds so cool, is that it has only two consonantal final ending sounds, ng, n and r (attached as grammatical suffix).
• There are lots of various dialects of Chinese in China, and most of them are unintelligible between each other (speakers can’t understand both if they know one).

That’s all for now, here is my favorite character I learned today.

馨

(xin1)(fragrant)

The other day Delta and Northwest finally made the official announcement that they will be merging. It has been known for awhile that they were in talks, but now the deal is done. What this will mean for you and me, who knows. But they are now the world’s largest airline (I believe).

One thing I would be on the lookout for is the deal with miles and other perks. Don’t know what they are going to do about Northwest sky miles etc. I’m betting they won’t screw people over though, because Delta is a decent and good company in my opinion. Here is also a link to some nifty charts by Bloomberg.com, of the airlines revenue and hubs etc.