Saturday jottings

• The big news in my neck of the woods is that Simon and Nicole will have their baby in the afternoon.  Of course, I will acknowledge that Nicole will be doing all the work.
• I went to the hospital yesterday.  The doctor told me that I had infected or inflamed lymph nodes that could be dealt with using medication.  I hope he is right.
• In Shanghai, I went to a Lebanese restaurant, the Taj Beruit, that I happened to come across in my eight hours of wandering.  I had a chicken  basmati rice dish that reminded me of gorgefests I had back in Canada when I liked to frequent East Indian restaurant.  Once a week in Abbotsford, I order Chana Masala.  It was heaven baby!
• In Shanghai, I also went to Burger King and Subway.   I had a burger with mushrooms and a roast chicken sandwich.  My trip to Shanghai was a day of satisfying cravings.
• At hospitals in Wuxi, patients will not wait outside the doctor's office.  They will stand in the office and bunch around the doctor as he talks to the patient whose turn it is.  I find it very annoying because you have to make sure someone does not cheat and move up in the queue.  Also, patients will just try to steal the doctor's attention and ask a question.  On a previous occasion, we found ourselves at the end of a queue because people had been shuffling the pile of personal medical papers that are openly left on the doctor's desk.  Patients think nothing of looking at the pile and any other papers that might be on the desk.
• The problem of snooping is not just something you see in the hospital in Wuxi.  At school, I have to repeatedly tell the receptionists to stop students from snooping at schedules.  The students will avoid teachers who they think will make them work or feel stupid.
• Following political news, I always go to www.realclearpolitcs.com.  The site contains editorials and opinions from all sides of the political spectrum.  It is my porthole to what the left is thinking or saying these days.  I just discovered this morning that there is another related site www.realclearsports.com that is worth going to everyday.  Mind you, this site only talks about the American sports scene.  Which is fine by me.
• The big news in American sports is the release of the Mitchell Report about Baseball steroid use.  Barry Bonds, all time home run leader, and now, Roger Clemens have been revealed to have used steroids.   The game is tarnished.  Though, it became tarnished in my eyes, the minute it adopted the wild card.   Teams that had no business whatsoever being in the World Series have made it because standards were lowered.  Say it isn't so!
• I was proud to be Canadian for a rare moment.  An email I received classified Canada, Japan and America as climate wreckers at some conference going on in Bali. 
• I have even heard that the Pope thinks the goings on in Bali are hysteria.  I know mentioning this would result in lots of anti-Papists pot shots. 
• Wealth beats poverty every time.  Wealth is generated by market forces.  Governments don't generate wealth for the population as a whole ever, except when they stand out of the way and let the market do its thing.  That is the lesson from what has been going on in China.  When the government was the instrument for generating wealth, it was a disaster.  Deng Xiao Peng had no choice but to bring in market forces.   Government has a role in play in ensuring the rule of law.  China has markets but not rule of law.  It environmental problems are a result of local governments having the power to arbitrarily do whatever they want.   China passes all the laws it wants but they don't mean a thing.  No international organizations can change that.
• I should say thank you to rare reader Alexander who has posted some comments on www.andiskaulinsinchina.blogspot.com.  He disagrees with my views about Global Warming or Climate Change but that is alright.  I do want to tell him that I can't actually get to my blogspot site except through proxy.  Using a proxy, it is difficult to access all the features of blogspot like comment making.  The only reason, I can post to blogspot is because a program I have, Windows Live Writer, allows me to do so.  I can see the comments because I can get email alerts telling me someone has made one.   Alexander, I appreciate the kind words and would like to clink beers, as you said if I could get away from the Toner long enough to do so.
• I bought Tony some rattles to play with when I went to Shanghai.  He doesn't seem to be interested in them yet.  He did once actually change hands with one of the rattles.  But I don't think it was intentional.  He is far more interested in sticking his hands in his mouth to suck.
• The New England Patriots, who are 13-0, have a good chance at becoming 16-0.  Two of their last three games are against very weak teams.  Their last game will be the true test when they play the currently 9-4 New York Giants in New Jersey (where the Giants home field is located).
• This medicine I was prescribed for my lymph node problem seems to working so far.  I feel much more comfortable.  But I will have to give it another week.
• Tony had a babble fest at midnight last night.
• At the nearby church, there was apparently a meeting yesterday of all religious organizations in Wuxi and the government.  Buddhists attended, among others.
• It is cold in our apartment.  Tony wears a parka all day.  I think he must hate it because he does not have enough freedom of movement.  I also wonder if the wife maybe is overdressing him.  Besides waking him up, I am also accused of exposing him to cold unnecessarily.
• I have too many Speakers corners next week.  Who is the idiot who schedules this?  Me.
• 95,000 views of my videos on Youtube.  Can I hit the 100,00 mark before January 1.  I need 5000/16 views a day to do it.  5000/16 is 312.  I think it is possible.
• I notice that I go to facebook less and less.  This gadgets they supply are becoming more and more annoying.  You always having to load them after they have hooked you.  And you never use the gadget again.