Put on Hold

Rain, Rain, Rain, but....

I volunteered to take Tony to Preschool Friday morning (this morning).  Looking out the window at 630 am, I saw it was raining heavily and I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of carrying Tony and an umbrella to school -- Tony refuses to walk and will sprawl limply on the ground if we try to make him.   

But the Gods must have been smiling on Tony (and maybe me), as it wasn't raining as we waited for the bus and as we got off the bus to walk to the preschool.  It began to rain to as soon as I had dropped off Tony and walked to my school.  

Better on me, than him I suppose.

Profound Thought

I made a mental note to myself to pass on this thought I had, this very morning, to you.  Problem is I have forgotten it.  But as soon as I recall what it was, I will publish it.

My Five Favorite Podcasts

I took the time, because I must have too much time on my hands, to write an email to the host of Econtalk, and I was honoured to get a reply -- something about saying you are listening in China seems to get attention.  Anyway, the Econtalk did ask me to spread the word about his podcast in China, and so I will.  I will also tell you about some other podcasts I find help me pass the time as I take a forty minute bus ride to and from Casa K to downtown Wuxi:

1. Econtalk with Russ Roberts:  I didn't much like Economics when I was studying it, but I continued with my reading of it, and I have found that Economists like Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, and now Russ Roberts, through the Econtalk podcast, have shown why Economics is the queen of the social sciences, and profoundly interesting.
2. Radio Derb:  John Derbyshire is a Brit who became an American citizen, made a one second appearance in a Bruce Lee movie, can speak Mandarin very well, has a Chinese wife, and is very conservative in thought --  a man I feel a big kinship with.  His weekly podcast on National Review is something you must listen to three times in order to gleam the maximum amount of wit and insight therefrom.  His current goal is to get Keith Albertan to call him the worst person in the world.....   I better stop now before I wear out my praise gene.
3. Hardcore History:  Dan Carlin is a well-read shock jock doing history on radio.  His shows are entertaining, informative, and full of fascinating historical detail.  I like him despite his sister podcast, where he tries to portray his political views as independent when truly he is on the leftward side.  He is Camille Paglia in a FM disc jockey's body.  If you aren't conservative, you will like this podcast.
4. Ricochet:  This podcast features Marc Steyn, one of the great Canadian Conservative writers and radio personalities, as well as many other entertaining conservative personalities.  Listen to this show and you realize what is wrong with the Left -- it has no sense of humour.
5. JWisdom:  This Jewish podcast is short and sweet, full of spiritual insights that get me through life in the concrete jungle that is Wuxi. (I haven't found a good Catholic podcast but this link provides a archive of old podcast worth a listen).

Sorry if most of these podcasts don't fit your view of the Universe...