The train system for the Tokyo metro area (covering 35 million people) runs with the "precision of a finely crafted Swiss watch," where delays, even for as long as a minute, seldom occur. (When they do occur, operators repeatedly apologize and hand out "notes from home" to commuters to present to their bosses to excuse the tardiness.) Among the system's drawbacks, however, is the still-irksome groping of females on packed rush-hour trains, when operators routinely shove as many as 300 riders into cars designed for 150.
Think San Francisco is strange?
Among the surprising legacies of the oppressions of communist East Germany is modern-day Germany's commonplace "clothing-optional" lifestyle (FKK, or "Freikoerperkultur" -- free body culture). There are "hundreds" of FKK beaches across the country and a snapshot turned-up (not yet authenticated) of a young Angela Merkel frolicking nude in the 1960s or 1970s. Foreigners occasionally undergo culture shock at German hotels' saunas and swimming pools, at which swimsuits are discouraged (as "unhygienic").
Parents are people too...
China joined a handful of countries (and 29 U.S. states) by strengthening the rights of elderly parents to demand support from their adult children -- not only financially (which has been the law for more than a decade) but now allowing lawsuits by parents who feel emotionally ignored, as well. One rural extended family dramatized China's cultural shift away from its proverbial "first virtue" of family honor. Zhang Zefang, 94, said she did not even understand the concept of "lawsuit" when a local official explained it, but only that she deserved better from the children she had raised and who now allegedly resent her neediness. (A village court promptly ordered several family members to contribute support for Zhang.)
A Church for Atheists?
Various studies show "churchgoers" to be happier, more optimistic and healthier than other people, leading some atheists and agnostics to wonder whether the church experience could be fruitfully replicated but minus the belief in God. Hence, the "Sunday Assembly" was created in London, and has now spread to New York City and Melbourne, Australia, with 18 other hoped-for openings by year's end, according to a September report in The Week. Founders seek such benefits as "a sense of community," "a thought-provoking (secular) sermon," "group singing" and an "ethos of self-improvement," exemplified by the motto "live better, help often, wonder more," and they hope that eventually Sunday Assembly will organize Sunday school, weddings, funerals and "non-religious baptisms." (I don’t know about you, but I’m already practicing being offended by their advertising…)
Gotta get those priorities straight…
An alleged drug ring in the Brooklyn, N.Y., neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay was busted in September after police cracked a stream of Internet messages offering heroin (called "DOB") and cocaine ("white girl"). Among the messages was one sent at 6:45 one Friday evening advising customers that they had "45 minutes" to get their orders in for the weekend because the sellers would obediently shut down at 7:30 (i.e., sundown) for the Jewish Sabbath.
There are more stories from the "Strange Fles", but my martini is empty so they'll have to wait for another day...
Todays Reflection:
A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory....
Live Long and Prosper...
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