First of all, here is the correct pronunciation of the word “conspiracy”.  It’s pronounced like this:  ”conspeerasee”.

A “conspiracy theory” is basically a theory that is a complete contradiction to whatever the government and the media want the “stupid people” to believe.  There are many conspiracy theories, some are true, some are not true, but many are interesting to at least think about.  It’s always better to hear both sides of an argument and think for yourself.  It’s terrible to “take anyone’s word” for something.  If you “take someone’s word” for something, it just means you believe them without questioning them.

One example of a conspiracy theory is the many people wondering if astronauts from the USA “REALLY” landed on the moon in the 1960′s OR if they just “faked it”.  Some people believe it was definitely true, some people are suspicious and believe it was fake.  That type of thing gives you an idea of what a conspiracy theory means.

Any time you hear “911″ or “9 eleven” you are either hearing about the emergency police and fire phone number in the US and in Canada, OR you are hearing about what happened on September 11th, 2001.  That was a day that changed history.  I personally HATE the way the US reacted to this tragedy when the airplanes flew into the buildings in New York city.  I think they over reacted and made the world LESS safe, not more safe.  What do you think?

There are many conspiracy theories about what exactly happened on that day.  Many people believe it was a huge “cover up” by the government, which means that the government wanted to hide the truth and the real facts from the people.  No one really knows exactly what happened on that day or why it happened, but it’s important that people ask questions.  I’m not sure if the government is lying or not, but I do know that there are a lot of “unanswered questions”.

One of the unusual things that happened was the fact that the government claimed that they couldn’t find the black boxes in the airplanes.  In case you didn’t know, there is a “black box” in every major airplane.  This is basically a super protected box that has the audio or “sound recordings” of what happened during a flight.  These are important to investigate any plane crash to see EXACTLY what happened.  They make these “black boxes” almost “indestructible”, which means that they can not be destroyed.  They ALWAYS find the black boxes after a plane crash, but this time, they said they couldn’t find either of them.  That is TOO WEIRD to believe.  It certainly seems possible that there was something that happened on those flights that the government doesn’t want the public to know about.  Are they hiding them?  Why?  What exactly happened?

Also, there are stories of another building called “building 7″ that fell down with no plane hitting it.  Why did it fall down?  There are no good answers from this.  The government calls all this stuff “top secret”.  Also, on August 6th 2001, the government was warned that there would be attacks from airplanes, but they did nothing with this information to protect anyone.

It’s possible the government totally messed up and are super embarrassed so they want to hide the truth.  Some people believe that they even allowed these attacks to happen to have an ‘excuse’ to go to war with Iraq.  That was a TERRIBLE idea to go to another war, but with no 911 attacks, the government couldn’t get the public to agree with war.  If they used these attacks for an excuse to go to war and simply pretended that these attacks were done by “the bad guys” to convince the public, this is called a “false flag operation”.  That is when the government does something terrible to it’s own people while pretending it was an enemy who did it.  The reason to do a horrible ‘false flag operation’ is so that they can make more people believe that a war or some other retaliation is a good or sensible idea.

The truth is that I don’t really know what happened on that day; obviously.  But, I do know that there are some serious unanswered questions and it bothers me that the US government is hiding this info.  I’d love to know what happened.

I watched a very interesting documentary about this.  I think you’ll really like it and also learn some good information from it.

I got a free copy of it and I will include it for free in our awesome private community.  You can watch it there and discuss it with us in the private group.  It’s fun to watch, interesting, and great for learning English.  Looking forward to discussing it with you guys here.

Love to hear your comments.  What have you heard about this in your own country?  What do you think happened?  Do you have any questions about the vocab that I was explaining in the blog?  Is there any other English words you’d like to know that I didn’t explain?

Please feel free to write whatever you want.  I love reading what you guys have to say.  Please let me know any blog topic suggestions you might have…

Again, watch and discuss the 45 minute conspiracy documentary with us here.

This video was an American news video. It was talking about a story that apparently happened in China. I say “apparently” because, as you guys know, I live here and I didn’t hear about it. Anyway, I do believe it happened.

Apparently some woman in China was working in some kind of “divorce office”. I suppose she was one person in charge of allowing people to get divorced (I’m not sure which city) but it doesn’t really matter for this story. Anyway, when a husband and wife walk into the office to get a divorce, this woman is supposed to do the paperwork to make it official.

Well, I guess this Chinese woman didn’t like to see so many divorces, so she would pretend that the printer wasn’t working or she would make up some story that would make the couple “think twice” about getting the divorce. Her purpose of making the excuse was to try to save marriages and only give them to couples who are super serious about getting a divorce, and not just in a silly argument. Because of what this lady was doing, the couple would have to go home while still married because the divorce couldn’t happen that day, and if they still wanted a divorce later, they would have to go back to the office and get one.

According to this woman, many couples never returned. I guess they didn’t REALLY want one. I think many young couples don’t treat marriage seriously like they did in the past, and they get divorced for a silly reason like a dumb argument.

Divorces are getting more common all over the world. Some people think this is a horrible and sad thing for obvious reasons. Some people actually think its a good thing because they believe that people shouldn’t be married if they don’t want to be. They believe that if a couple says they want a divorce, just let them, what’s the big deal? It’s their choice right? They also believe that the reason there are more divorces now than in the past is because people in the past who were in terrible marriages (maybe where the husband was hitting his wife or in a marriage where one of them were cheating) would just stay married, even though the marriage was TERRIBLE. It’s definitely much easier to get a divorce now, and more people are getting them.

For me, I’m personally a little bit more traditional. I do believe that more divorces are a bad thing for society in general. I don’t think marriage should be treated lightly or like a total joke. It’s more than just a piece of paper in my mind. I do believe that couples who are truly in a horrible marriage should be able to get divorced, but I don’t think it should be so easy that all you have to do is get in a little argument and say “I want a divorce”.

If it’s so easy to get divorces, why even have marriage? If it’s JUST a piece of paper, then what is the point of that paper? I think we need to be somewhere in middle.

Anyway, the Americans in the video were saying it was WRONG of the Chinese woman to be doing this. They thought that the government should totally stay out of this business of divorce. I think the Americans who made this video were wrong. They were too simple minded and they treated marriage like it had too little meaning in my opinion.

The American woman in the video has especially ridiculous views on this (in my opinion again). I don’t like her thinking at all. I would love to hear what you guys think on this topic! I know some people can watch Youtube and some can’t because of the country you are in, but anyway, for those who can watch it, here it is.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section!   I am fine if you disagree with me on this.  It’s just opinions.  I’d love to hear where you are from, why you think what you do, and how old you are and what you do.  (Or anything you’d like to share with us)

By the way, the new SUPER VIP monthly membership is coming VERY SOON!!  It’s going to be amazing so get ready…

Also, remember to watch my daily free English learning videos here.

In Canada, you can play golf at a VERY nice golf course for under $200 per time.  Sometimes it’s much less than $100.  And I’m talking about really beautiful golf courses, not just average ones.

So why then, would any reasonable person pay $100 000 per year for a membership?  It made no sense to me before.  Now it makes perfect sense.

These guys aren’t paying for how nice the golf course is.  That is only part of it.  It’s a small part actually.  What they are really paying for is the community.  Think about the other people who go to those courses.  Most of them are also successful business people.  They pay for status and ability to meet these people.  They talk and do business together.  They make friends and get their children in this rich group of successful people.  In some ways, the whole thing makes me sick.  I wish the world were a more fair place.  But the reality is that it’s not.  It does make sense for these people to stay together, meet each other, and network together.

It’s MUCH more likely that you will meet someone worth doing business with on one of these super expensive golf courses than if you were to try to meet these types of people at other places where “regular” people can go.

I was thinking about this because I was thinking about a social networking website for English learning.  These aren’t the exact same thing, but you’ll see what I mean in a minute…

People who speak English as a second language and are actually serious about improving their English, their business, their lives, etc, don’t have anywhere to go to meet each other online.  There are a lot of garbage websites that allow anyone on there.  If you want to speak with someone to “practice your English”, you can absolutely find a partner on a million free sites.

But the problem with this is HUGE.  These sites that allow anyone to join, attract people who aren’t really serious about learning English or really serious about anything at all.  Why?  Because most people in the world are not serious about anything they are doing.

If you want to meet a partner to speak English with, share ideas, share stories, share culture, you will want to meet someone who is at or above your level.  You want someone who can challenge you and you can learn from.  It’s not easy to find these people, but they exist.

Imagine for a second that you wrote on your Facebook page, “I am looking for someone to learn from, talk about business and life, and really challenge each other to improve our English skills”.  I can’t imagine you will find anyone.  Maybe, if you are lucky, someone will say “Yes” to your offer, but they probably won’t be the type of person you are hoping for.

As you probably know, Add and I have been making a new free video EVERY DAY at www.LearnEnglish232.com  

We are hoping to get people to get in the habit of going there every day for the new lessons.  We want to grow that site to 50 000 visitors per day.

But many of the people who find this site or that site aren’t super serious about learning English.  We also want to find the SUPER SERIOUS people and provide an opportunity for amazing English, business, and life learning that does not exist anywhere else on the internet.  That’s our goal.

The people who are not serious will not pay a small monthly fee to join the membership part.  And that’s great.  Our plan is to build a membership site for serious learners.  Everyone will have a great profile with an awesome photo, bio, linkedIn page, Skype number, where they are from…  A lot of stuff.  Then these people will be able to search through the other serious members and we can all have a really high level and private conversation.  Also, the members will be able to contact each other and set up high level language exchanges and other things.  It will be a real community.  I’ll be on there providing reading material, movie talk, technology stuff, and a bunch of interesting and high level topics for group discussion.  We’ll all push ourselves to get better and better in not only English, but in life too.

I want to have a lot of great free English learning content for everyone to enjoy, and a high level SUPER VIP program that is connected to this one and also adds a lot more.  We’re still talking about how we want the site to be.  And since some of you guys who are reading this right now will be interested in joining it, it would be great to hear your ideas now.  We are building it for you and other high level people like you.

What do you think of this idea?  What would you like to see in that program?

Help us design it with your ideas and then it will be much better that way!

And by the way, don’t worry, it won’t be expensive like an elite golf course!  It doesn’t need to be.  The only reason I used that example was to try to make a point.

Love to hear your thoughts guys.  By the way, does anyone here already have the great habit of going to www.LearnEnglish232.com everyday yet?  What do you think?  Have you shared it with your friends, students, or teachers?  What do they think?  We’re still in the beginning stages of developing this, and we’re sure this will be the best yet!

It will be connected in some way with China232.com VIP membership, so don’t worry about that.  We’ll take care of you guys and make it kick ass!  There will be tons of amazing free stuff for everyone and an insanely awesome high level private English learning VIP club.

Sounds like a win/win to me!  What are your thoughts on this whole topic?  Even the part about rich people paying so much for golf.  Does it make sense to you too?

Your comments are always appreciated.  You guys have been great lately with that.  Keep it up.  I read EVERY one!!

If we don’t know exactly how to describe something, we can say it’s “something like“.  That means, “similar to”.

If I’m trying to describe a food my friend has never tried before, I could say something like this:

“It’s got a banana like taste and a coffee like smell.”

I’m not really sure what kind of food that would be, but I think you get the idea.  It basically means it tastes a bit similar to a banana and smells kind of like coffee.

Now please watch the video below and see how Add is using this term

SUBSCRIBE HERE to all our VIDEO LESSONS

Love to hear your comments!

Below is the first video blog.  Add will be the star of this show for each episode.  This video was taken using Add’s Samsung Galaxy Note phone and I think the quality is not bad considering I’m just holding it.  Technology is amazing!

Each blog is supposed to be a quick fun way to check out our vacation and learn one new bit of slang English.

The first blog is teaching what a “cannonball” is.  The slang meaning in this case is a certain way of jumping into a swimming pool.  Watch the short video below and you’ll see!  The next time you are in the right situation (at a swimming pool) you can run and jump in the water this way yelling “CANNONBALL”.  Native speakers will know what you mean.

It can be a hilarious thing to do when other people are in the pool.  The idea is to try to make the biggest splash (the most water come out) as possible.

Go here and click “SUBSCRIBE” (near the top of the page) to get all the lessons!

Love to read your thoughts in the comments section!

Anyway,

One area we’re branching out on is in videos.  We’ve bought some awesome video equipment and are planning on making a SICK (super awesome) video English learning website.

I may have mentioned it before, but we’ve decided to expand the “232″ brand.  232 is going to be a number that represents general awesomeness and kick ass English learning of all kinds.  Watch out LV and BMW, 232 is coming after you!

Add is working on his video editing skills and we’re starting out by going through our old free podcasts and making them into videos with written text and a slick intro.  We’re trying to make it as good as possible so any comments would be fantastic!

LearnEnglish232 is going to be a site with a ton of info and a different partner site of China232.  We’re going to work on both and we’re still “in the midst” of figuring out exactly how we want to run learnenglish232.  We’ve got some ideas.  Your ideas are always more than welcome!  By the way, if you are “in the midst” of doing something, it means you are in the middle of it, or still in the process of it.  You have started but have not finished yet.  (I hope that was a good explanation)

Thanks to you guys, our last blog post got over 50 awesome comments.  Please “keep it up” (ie. continue) by leaving any comment that pops into your mind.  No need to be shy with your writing abilities.  Just try.  No one is judging you, I promise

Please check out the video below and let us know what you think.  Also, please SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL to get all videos and see the other one on there.  Hope you like our old stuff now on video.  The more comments and more Youtube subscribers we get, the more stuff we’ll make.  That’s the secret trade!  Love you guys!  :)  Enjoy…

By the way, if you are not yet a VIP member, NOW is the best time ever to purchase a VIP membership.  You won’t regret it!  If you are at all considering it, don’t waste your time being “on the fence” (undecided)  There is SO MUCH awesome stuff in there.  You will love it immediately.  And don’t just trust me, read the comments on other blogs from our other VIP members.  Add and I are happy if you guys are happy.   That’s pretty much how we think when we make our lessons for you guys.  :)

Add and I have been a bit “camera shy” over the past few years. That’s a pretty obvious phrase but it means that we are nervous in front of a camera or a video camera (kind of a joke). In case you didn’t know, we used to make some English learning videos. In many ways, they are kind of embarrassing and stupid, but we’re going to get back into making some more this year. We need a new video camera and a better plan. These videos were from when we first started the website and were just playing around with how the internet worked. Take a look and laugh!

At the bottom of this blog I’m going to put a video link to one of our first China232 youtube videos that we made a few years ago outside of our old apartment in Shanghai.

Videos are showing up a lot more in search results lately and we need to “get back on the horse”, ie, make more and better quality ones. I think we stopped making them because people couldn’t find them easily. Now Google is showing videos in search results so we really need to make some more. They are actually pretty fun to make. We made about 6 or so up until now and will be making more when we go back to Canada in the summer. Maybe before then. Do we know these videos are ridiculous? Absolutely. They are pretty funny though in some weird way. Here is the link to our youtube channel: China232 Videos
You can go there and subscribe for free. We’ll let you know when we are making more. If you subscribe to the channel, you can write your comments there and let us know what you think. That would be great.

Besides videos becoming more and more important in any online business, we found something pretty crazy the other day. I got super angry and felt like throwing my coffee cup at the TV, but I finally calmed down. We did a Google search for “China232″ and found that some idiot stole our “search term”. I hope it will be gone by now but when we searched for ourselves on Google, the top video was from someone else trying to sell some totally different English program. I hope no one thought the guy in that video was us. Super embarrassing! I guess that’s how the business world works so we need to put a stop to it! Let us know what you think on youtube and what kinds of videos would be cool for you guys to see. Even if you don’t really “like” the videos that much, I’ll admit, Hollywood hasn’t been calling us lately, it would be super helpful if you could click “like” on youtube. It will help our rankings so that at least new people can find our website if they are searching for it. If everything works well and we get a lot more subscribers, you guys will get to see some more of us on film. I hope it’s a win/win. Here is a pretty ridiculous video of Add and I joking around in Shanghai about 3 years ago. Wow, time really flies!