Moody sky

15. Question: Do Korean People Use Chinese Characters? Do all Korean people use and write Chinese Characters? Because I recently met a Korean girl who had 3 different names: English name, Korean name and Chinese name. I was surprised because I didn’t even know that a person can have more than one name.

Answer: A long time ago during the Jonsen Period and before that the Koreans used the Chinese characters. However during the Goguryo period, they figured out there own language and call it Hangul. Korean children are required to take a minimal Chinese calligraphy class and can further pursue that kind of study during highschool and later in college. When you Korean friend said she had a Chinese name, she meant how to spell it in Chinese characters. In Korea, like any other language, a name has a meaning. That meaning can be converted to chinese characters. The meaning and the way it is spelled in Chinese calligraphy is the same.
Before phonetic Korean alphabet, Hangul, had been created by a team of scholars commissioned in the 1440s by King Sejong the Great, Korean used Hanja, which ‘borrowed’ Chinese characters, but pronounced them in a Korean way. So there are a large number of Chinese-borrowed words in widespread usage in Korea (although written in Hangul), and Hanja characters still appear in special contexts, such as recent Korean dictionaries etc.

16. Question: How did people commute from New Jersey to New York before the Lincoln Tunnel and Washington Bridge were made?

Answer: The wise guy answer is the Holland Tunnel, which opened before those other two crossings, but I’m not stooping this time prior to 1908, ferries were the only route short of going the long way round. In February 1908, the first of the Hudson & Manhattan RR (today the PATH train) lines opened, between Hoboken and Midtown. The North River Tunnels (named because the Hudson is also known as “The North River” where it runs alongside Manhattan) opened in 1910 as the link to Penn Station from the New Jersey side of the river. Lastly, the Holland Tunnel, the first underwater tunnel designed for cars, opened in 1927.

17. Question: Should I drive or fly to Vegas from LA on a Friday? I need to go to Vegas for work. I’ll be staying at a hotel near the convention center. I have never driven to Vegas. I could leave pretty much anytime of the day. I would like to avoid paying for a taxi, being in traffic and hauling my luggage through the airport. Plus, I’m taking my Maltese pup with me. If I drive, what time should I leave to avoid traffic and what should I expect driving there? (leaving on a Friday)

Sunset over the lay

Answer: I live in Orange County and I go to Vegas 2-3 times a year on business. I never fly. By the time you get through security, fly there, get your luggage and a cab to your hotel you can drive there. Just check in advance whether your hotel will allow you a per in the room. Many will not. You may be better off to board the dog while you are in Vegas. As for traffic, when you approach Barstow switch to Desert 98 or 99 for traffic conditions through the desert. There are plenty of billboards to remind you. The worst traffic is in getting to Victorville. Check on www.sigalert.com before you leave. But I find at least two of the 91, 10, 60 and 210 are a pain no matter what time you go. Listen to KNX AM1070 for traffic every 10 minutes for information on the best way to take to get you to the Cajon pass. The difference between your best time and your worst, no matter what time of day is maybe an hour so don’t bother to over think it. If you leave around 10AM you will be in Vegas in time to settle into your hotel room before you look for a nice place to have dinner. My record on the way back is 4 hours from the Mandalay Bay to Costa Mesa. Leaving Vegas at midnight. And drive carefully between Barstow and Primm as you are outside what emergency workers call the “golden hour”. My daughter did her undergrad thesis on this.