What's in the News

There was a news item last night about overweight and obese people in China. 

They said it was as high as 1/3 of Chinese now have a weight problem.  In most countries, it is the poor who are obese due to poor diet.  In China it is the middle class that are becoming obese.  Fast food restaurants and consumption of soda pop etc are part of the problem. 

I couldn't find a up to date written article about it but I have the news clip (video).

http://video.theloop.ca/news/watch/-/3586563020001#.U4H1HHaIZGM

...

Being overweight is also fast becoming a major problem in Australia, particularly amongst the younger folk.  People are going crook here about the change to our laws whereby the aged pension age will rise to 70yrs. I don't think many of these young folk will ever get to that age.

This is actually pretty interesting, not necessarily for the Citibike story, which I skimmed, but for the fact that a similar service has opened here in my not-quite-boonies town! It also, against my scoffing, appears to have been a fairly instant success. People actually ride the damn things and do seem to pay.

Citi Bikes Are a Wild Success, But Will They Survive?

I've seen the service in a couple of smaller cities near Changsha and it's very successful. Free rental for locals. You use your debit card to unlock the rack. You can use the bikes for 4 hours. After that, you are charged, but as long as you return the bike to any station, you can immediately take another. The system has been up and running for a few years and they keep the bikes maintained well.

A company has, apparently, invented some kind of pink goo which is a substitute for real food...company name...Soylent!
https://www.yahoo.com/food/is-food-just-fuel-soylent-sparks-debate-87212997526.html

It is called Soylent...one can only wonder exactly what goes into making the "Beyond Meat" shakes...

Meet the new Da Shan

OMG: In China, This Language Teacher Has Swag

Jessica Beinecke gets this reaction a lot: She’s walking down the street in a Chinese city, and she’ll be recognized by one of her 400,000 Weibo followers or even one of the 40 million who have watched her videos. With platinum blonde hair and big blue eyes, the young woman who has taught Americans how to say “twerk” in Mandarin and students in China how to talk about “House of Cards” stands out.

“They’ll say, ‘Eh? Bai Jie?’ And then we’ll take a selfie,” says the 27-year-old Ohio native who takes learning a language to a whole new level.

Ms. Beinecke, known to her Chinese fans as Bai Jie (白洁), has made a name for herself since 2011 with her bright, funny and short explanations of English slang – including “twerk,” “swag,” “freaking out,” “awesome,” and “life hack,” as part of a daily Voice of America online video program called OMG Meiyu, or OMG American English.

She says she chose her name in college to sound a bit like her given name. Directly translated, bai means white and jie means “clean” or “pure,” she says. Step aside, Justin Bieber...

OMG, I'm all like... gag me with a spoon!

Simple. 
SuareRoot of (7571 - 1²⁷ + ln1 + i²)
 

I know...I know...it's number two from the right. The one with the car in it...

It seems I will never be a Hong Kong first grade elementary school student.

Only Aussies and Kiwis should be able to enter a HK elementary school.