Is Feng Shui Valid?

Tak PingYeung claimed his family’s human rights would be infringed by being forced to  move his gift shop in London’s Chinatown from 6 Gerrard Street to 4 Gerrard Street to build a new restaurant.

 He took the matter to court. His argument was that four is an unlucky number in Feng Shui so he didn’t want to move.

But the judge dismissed the case because generally Feng Shui is judged to be a pseudoscience.

Finally, Yeung was able to avoid moving to 4 Gerrard Street by paying 40,000 in compensation.

His lawer said if he had moved his shop, he and his family could have had serious problems.

Tak Ping Yeung claimed his family’s human rights would be infringed by being forced to  move his gift shop in London’s Chinatown from 6 Gerrard Street to 4 Gerrard Street to build a new restaurant.

 He took the matter to court. His argument was that four is an unlucky number in Feng Shui so he didn’t want to move.

But the judge dismissed the case because generally Feng Shui is judged to be a pseudoscience.

Finally, Yeung was able to avoid moving to 4 Gerrard Street by paying 40,000 in compensation.

His lawer said if he had moved his shop, he and his family could have had serious problems.

Expert witnesses

    In 1985, Kirk Bloodsworth got a death penalty with a crime of raping and murdering nine-year-old child. The prosecution introduced evidence the consistency of the mark printed on the victim’s body and his shoes. He was put into prison

    In 1992, Bloodsworth’s innocence was proved by testing of biological material preserved from the crime with DNA technology known as PCR (Polymerase chain reaction). The State of Maryland paid Bloodsworth $300,000 for lost income for the years from his arrest to his release. He became the first death row prisoner to be exonerated by DNA.

Interpreting Dreams

 

 

 

 

In 1980, a woman was murdered in her apartment. Steven Linscott was her neighbor and convicted of the murderer and sentenced to forty years in prison. He saw a dream about the incident and the detail in his dream was very similar to what really had happened. In the trial, the evidence was his hair which was “consistent” and “similar” to hairs from the crime scene. However, there isn’t enough empirical data on the various class characteristics in human hair. First he was convicted of the murderer but overturned it because the evidence was invalid. As a result, he had served three years in prison.

Is astrology harmful?

A real 90 kyat bill

 
The President of Myanmar ruined the economy by reissuing the currency because he believed astrologers. Astrologers told him that his lucky number was 9 and he could live until 90 years old if he was surrounded by that number. Therefore, he changed the counting system from metric to the base-9 system and issued 45 and 90 kyat bills. As a result, the economy collapsed.

I think belief in astrology is the biggest problem. If someone  believes in astrology and makes a decision on advice from an astrologer, we have big trouble. Depending on the person, it is going to get decided if astrology is the harm.

 

Psuedoscience:Dream Interpretation

Achmad Suradji

42 innocent lives were taken by Achmad Suradji in Indonesia, as an attempt to increase his own magical powers. Being arrested in May of 1997, Suradji said that he started killing in 1986, after he had contact with his father’s ghost in a dream, ordering him to murder 70 women and drink their saliva to become a mystic healer. The victims were all those who had visited Suradji seeking spiritual healing and good fortune. His wives and sisters were also arrested for assisting in the murder. Suradji was found guilty on April 27, 1998 and was executed on July 10, 2008.

Woman’s ‘bomb dream’ leads to ￡1/2 million evacuation of North Sea rig

Oil rig

 

More than 500 people were working on the Safe Scandinavia oil rig.Then one day, a woman told her colleagues about her dream that a bomb would be on the platform. After her dream, the workers started to evacuate. Police investigated the truth of her dream. The RAF (Royal Air Force), coastguard and civilian helicopters were sent to the rescue of the workers. However, the incident in her dream  never happened. And the large-scale evacuation of over 5 hours  cost ￡500,000, including the operational cost of the RAF, coastguard and police.

Star Size

The Solar System is a pretty big place, as we saw in our recent walkabout lesson, “Walking the Solar System.”

But to see how tiny and insignificant we truly are, check out this follow-up video.

UK / Japan: Table Manners

【UK】”Ladies First”

In UK, the  ”Ladies First” concept is always regarded as important. As for restaurants, men should let ladies go into the restaurant, and also let ladies sit, before men.

Here are some examples of etiquette at restaurants.

When you eat soup, you need to move your soup spoon from 6 o’clock to 12 o’clock, or from your side to the other side.

Also, when you finish eating your soup, tilt your bowl away from you.

When you finish eating, you are supposed to leave your spoon, knife or fork like the picture below.

【Japan】”Elders First”

Since Japan is a seniority-based society, it is very important to respect elder people when you eat. As the picture below shows, elders sit away from the door in order not to be bothered.

Just as there are rules using knives and forks in UK, so there are some rules when you use chop-sticks. Here are some examples of rude ways to use chop-sticks.

Namida-Bashi : food dripping from the tip of chop-sticks

Hashi-Watashi : Holding one food item with 2 pairs of chop-sticks, which action reminds us how we treat bones at a funeral.

There is even a polite way to split “Wari-Bashi” or disposable wooden chop-sticks.

Can you guess how you are supposed to split “Wari-Bashi”?

Breakfast in England

When asked, “What is a typical  English dish?”, fish and chips or roast beef or potatoes may be the typical answer. Yes true, but there is a lot more to English food. Pork chops, lamb chops, Yorkshire pudding, and dishes with unique names like Toad-in-the-hole or black pudding are also some of the popular traditional British dishes. However, dishes listed above are all something that is likely eaten for lunch or dinner. The question is, what do English people eat for breakfast?

Breakfast in England nowadays is more likely to be a bowl of cereal and toast, with orange juice or a cup of coffee. porridge is also popular, especially in the winter time. However the ‘Full English’ is considered the traditional English breakfast. This dish consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, fried bread, baked beans and mushrooms. Not many people eat this traditional dish anymore, but it is always served in hotels or guest houses.

I myself usually have a slice of toast and yogurt with vegetable juice for breakfast, completely different from what is considered the ‘Japanese traditional breakfast’. As for me, I am very interested in trying the Full English.

Are you interested in trying the ‘Full English’? Also, what other traditional English dishes are you interested in trying?

←　The ‘Full English’