May 10 is Fred Astaire's birthday!

• Fred Astaire, one of the top five cool guys in my books (along with Clint Eastwood, GK Chesterton, Steve McQueen, and Evelyn Waugh) is 112 years old today.  I find it interesting -- you probably don't -- that Astaire is one year older than my grandfather (on my father's side).  The best description I heard of Astaire was that he was a natural aristocrat.  Watching his films, I see he spewed grace and class out of every orifice and pore of his body.  He is being honored in the Wuxi China Expatdom.
• I first read of this on the Internet, and now a local has repeated the story to me that Wuxi's #2 metro line construction has been ordered stopped by some environmental compliance board.  However, the construction is continuing.  First, I should say that the line being built near Casa K is the #1 and I didn't realize until just recently that more than one line is being currently constructed in Wuxi.  Secondly, I find the story strange, and that something else must be going on.  It seems unusual that the disobeyance of a bureaucratic order on such a grand scale on such a highly visible public works project would be reported in the local media.  It wouldn't surprise me that the financing of the Metro is all screwed up, and that the story of line construction being ordered stopped for environmental reasons is a cover.  Or maybe some other group is trying to muscle in on the construction.  But that is idle speculation on my part.  I had been told once, hush hush, that there was a financing problem with the subway line.
• Residents of the PRC who go to Taiwan, I have been told, are given a new passport when they go to Taiwanese customs.  This "proper" passport is useless for the PRCers, but the Taiwanese have a point to make.  The PRC passport is not recognized by the Taiwanese.  The Taiwanese won't stamp the PRC passport but merely tear a corner off one of its pages.  I learned this when the PRCer told me she went to Taiwan, and so questions immediately popped into my mind about how the Taiwan -- PRC passport issue was dealt with.