When people are eating with chopsticks they usually do not use a knife and fork. The sticks are held together in the same hand. Usually this is the right hand. At some formal occasions it may be considered rude to use chopsticks with the left hand.
If the tips do not line up, it will be difficult to hold things. Hold the chopsticks upright with one of the tips lightly touching the table, and gently push the chopsticks down or gently loosen your grip for a moment to let both tips become equal in length. You can also adjust your grip or holding position this way.
With practice, it is possible to perform step one and two right away, on picking up the chopsticks with one hand smoothly. Hold the chopstick at different angles if necessary in order to feel comfortable with two sticks between your fingers.
Chopsticks are used in many countries; those eating with chopsticks generally observe the following rules:
Chopsticks are used in many countries. Chopsticks are sometimes different in those countries.
Chopsticks are used in cooking to stir materials in a pan, or to help move meals.
In Japan, people use a single-use chopstick called "waribashi" (split chopstick). Before using, people split it into two. Japanese people also call their chopsticks "hashi".
In Japan, people use chopsticks during the funeral ceremony of Buddhists. After burning the dead, family and friends use chopsticks to move the burned bones of the dead from the coffin to a pot.
Using a set of chopsticks only once, and then throwing them away causes problems for the environment. There are some movements which aim at telling people to use a set of chopsticks more than once. In China, about 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks are used per year. This is equal to 1.7 billion cubic metres of timber–about 25 million fully grown trees. China is the biggest producer of disposable chopsticks, about 60,000 people have a job making chopsticks. If production continues at the current level, China's forests will be gone in about a decade.
For this reason, a tax has been introduced on chopsticks that are only used once. There are also moves to replace disposable chopsticks made of wood by plastic or metal ones.
In 2003, a study was done. It found that people who use chopsticks regularly have a slightly higher risk of getting arthritis in the hand. With this, cartilage gets worn off, which causes pain in the joints of the hand. This is more common in older people. Another problem is that using certain kinds of chopsticks may lead to coughing or even asthma.
The Hong Kong Department of Health did a study in 2006. It found that generally, people use chopsticks or other food utensils more often than in 2003 when eating with others. It also found that personal hygiene has improved.
Telephone
A telephone, also known as a phone, is a communication tool. Originally it was an electric tool transmitting analogue speech along wires. Now it is an electronic tool sending digital signals on wires or radio transmission. Using a telephone, two people who are in different places can talk to each other. Early telephones needed to be connected with wires which are called fixed or landline telephones. Modern mobile phones use radio waves.
Alexander Graham Bell was the first person to patent the telephone, in 1876. Early telephones were wired directly to each other and could only talk to the phone that they were connected to. Later, telephone exchanges allowed connecting to other telephones. During the 20th century the machines that made the connections were automated.
There are many different types of telephone. A telephone that can be carried around is called a mobile phone or cell phone. These became popular in the late 1980s. It has become common for people to carry mobile phones and in some places it is unusual to not have one. The majority are smartphones, which can be used as computers. Some mobile phones are able to make telephone calls using communications satellites instead of masts on the ground, which means people can make calls from anywhere in the world.
In most countries there are public payphones. To use one, people pay with coins, a credit card or a prepaid card.
Computers can use a machine called a modem or a Digital subscriber line router to talk to other computers over a telephone line. This allows a computer to connect to other computer networks including the Internet.
Most countries have a telephone network. The telephones in one place are connected to a telephone exchange. The exchanges are connected together in a world-wide network. In developing countries cell phones are used as a cheaper and faster way to connect the countryside to the network.
Most telephones have their own number. Today, telephone numbers are about seven to ten digits long. In many countries, part of the telephone number is called the "area code". Area codes are used to make sure the numbers are not the same in two different places. Areas have their own area code, and countries have their own country code.
By the end of 2009, there were a total of nearly 6 billion mobile and fixed-line telephone subscribers worldwide. This included 1.26 billion fixed-line subscribers and 4.6 billion mobile subscribers.
Checkers
Checkers or draughts is the name of several different board games. All of these games are similar. In every kind of checkers, the other player's pieces can be taken by being "jumped" over.
"Checkers" is the American name. In British English, and in various other English-speaking nations, these games are called "draughts."
The rules and championships are controlled by the World Draughts Federation.
Checkers dates back certainly to the 12th century, in France. These authorities do not admit that discoveries of earlier checkerboards prove the game was played earlier, though it may have been. Some other writers have thought differently, but they were not professional historians.
There are two main types of checkers played: the Anglo-American version (which originally came from France) and the Polish or continental version. The Anglo-American version is played on an 8x8 checkerboard (chessboard) with 12 pieces. The continental version (so-called because it is played on the continent of Europe) is played on a 10x10 board with 20 pieces each. There are also a number of variations in various countries.
In most games of checkers, there are two players. The players are at opposite ends of the board. One player has dark pieces, and one player has light pieces. They take turns moving their pieces. Players move their pieces diagonally from one square to another square. When a player jumps over their opponent's (the other player's) piece, you take that piece from the board. If you can take a piece, then you must take a piece.
British people call the game "draughts". English draughts is played on an 8x8 chess board. Only the dark squares are used: the light squares are never used.
A player can move in two ways. A piece can be moved forward, diagonally, to the very next dark square. If one player's piece, the other player's piece, and an empty square are lined up, then the first player "must" "jump" the other player's piece. The first player jumps over the other player's piece onto the empty square and takes the other player's piece off the board.
A player can also use one piece to make multiple jumps in any one single turn, provided each jump continues to lead immediately into the next jump and in a straight line. Sometimes a player may have the option or a choice of which opponent piece he must jump. In such cases, he may then choose which to jump. If you keep your hand on any piece when you're moving, you have the choice to put it back and move another piece.
Kobe, Hyōgo
Kobe (Japanese: 神戸市; -shi) is a city in the Kansai region of Japan on the island of Honshu. It is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture.