Today is a very special day.

For Chinese the number 8 is considered lucky just like the number 7 in the West. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the 2008 Beijing Olympics starts on August 8, 2008 or 08-08-08 at 8.08pm (GMT +8).

The number “8″ is the favorite number for Chinese as it is pronounced as “Fai” - means rich in Chinese. Who don’t want to be rich?

You will observe that the Chinese will prefer to live on the 8th floor, or use the phone number with a lot of number 8, or having car registration number that have the number 8 etc. Since the number 8 is so much in demand, one will have to pay extra to have the number 8.

On today (08-08-08), it is predicted to be a record number of weddings, even surpassing the number of weddings on 07-07-07 (July 7, 2007). According to Chinese Astrology, the date 08-08-08 is in the year of the Rat (2008), the month of the Monkey (August), and the day of the Dragon. It just so happens that the Rat, Monkey and Dragon are in the same affinity group or trine. That means the three Chinese Zodiac animal signs are perfectly compatible with each other. It’s ideal!

For more information on 2008 Beijing Olympics: Click Here.

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Hentai perhaps the most infamous anime genre – is known to be the darkest side of anime. Uneducated, non-Japanese people believe that all anime is hentai, or pornographic. This is a very common misconception along with the belief that anime is just for children. In Japan, hentai literally means perverted or a pervert. Other names for hentai are H-anime and eroanime.

Japan has a different understanding about the line between adult content and mainstream works than the United States and other countries; nudity is not as forbidden in Japan as it is in other cultures. They have communal bathing and in most anime they depict naked people, but not pornographically. For example, in Sailor Moon, the Sailor Scouts as they transform are nude, but no detail is shown.

According to Wikipedia, “The H material tends to use explicit pornographic content. As a form of expressing sexual fantasy, depictions can include those that are unacceptable in society, or run counter to social norms. Such fantasies can be depicted in the extreme, often demonstrating subconscious desires or purely carnal motivations. This contrast between accepted and in some cases legal behavior and primal sexuality is a primary motivation for many works of pornography, and H art is no exception.”

An example of hentai is the well-known La Blue Girl. Watch them here!

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Manga are Japanese comic books. The artists that draw manga are called manga-ka. Manga was developed from a mixture of classical Japanese art - ukiyo-e, and foreign drawing styles, which took its current form soon after World War II. Dr. Osamu Tezuka, creator of Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion, helped develop the manga drawing style the way it is today; he was influenced by Fleischer Studios’ and Walt Disney’s styles of drawing.

The majority of Japanese social classes as well as age groups read manga. It is common to see businessmen reading manga on the bullet train going to and from work.

There is a distinct difference between comics from Japan and comics from other countries like those found in the United States. Manga are black and white and can be as thick as a phone book while most comics are in color and much shorter.

Manga is read in the Japanese traditional style, right-to-left (unlike English’s left-to-right). Not only are they read right-to-left, but the panels and text are read from right-to-left as well. Many manga-ka are opposed to the widespread attempts to make published manga look and read like traditional American comics. Not just the artists, but the fans also played a part in keeping manga in their original reading style.

Where can you find manga? Good question. Try these stores: Barnes & Noble and Sam Goody.

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How does one enjoy a great cup of tea to warm up from the cold weather, you ask? In beautifully decorated glasses flavored with mint leaves, lemon or with cardimon sticks - perfect for warming the heart and fingertips in the chilly evenings.

Hospitality in the Arab world is second to none, and nowhere is it better expressed than in the age-old custom of serving freshly-brewed mint tea to every guest, whether the gathering be business or social.

Hot mint tea has been called the national drink of the Arab world. In the Middle East it is served in a traditional pot and glasses on a tray, and can be accompanied by an array of delicious sweets. Enjoy!

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My friend Dr. Abdul Aziz forwarded this article to me and there is something that I think we can learn from it. I don’t know who wrote it. Almost all the sites that I went to got this article through email forwarded to them.

I spent 50 hours at work (excluding 2 to 3 hours at home for this blog). I believed most Asians are working longer hours compare to their European and Americans friends. How could Asia catch up with these developed nations if we slow down? Personally, I have lots of goals to achieve, is it logical for me to slow down? Anyhow, thanks for the writer for his or her insight. Enjoy the reading. It’s interesting!

It’s been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It’s a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:

1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn’t say anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, “Do you have a fixed parking space? I’ve noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot.” To which he replied, “Since we’re here early we’ll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door. Don’t you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there’s a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of “hurry” and “craziness” generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of “having in quantity” (life status) versus “having with quality”, “life quality” or the “quality of being”. French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US’s attention, pupils of the fast and the “do it now!”.

This no-rush attitude doesn’t represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the “now”, present and concrete, versus the “global”, undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans’ essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It’s time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there’s a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, “I can’t, my boyfriend will be here any minute now”. To which Al responds, “A life is lived in an instant”. Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalize world.