My Top Ten Youtube Videos

I have uploaded over 1100 videos to Youtube. Most of them maybe get thirty views. But a few have garnered thousands of views, one may well be viewed a million times very soon.

10. Street Food on European Street

9. Wuxi, China Electric Bicycle

8. Wuxi Jenny Pregnancy Update IX

7. Wuxi Jenny at 5 months, 19 days of pregnancy

6. Shanghai's Jin Mao Tower and World Financial Center

5. Boat goes under bridge

4. Tiananmen Square Honour Guard

3. Wuxi Jenny at 4.5 months pregnancy

2. Wuxi Jenny Pregnancy Update: Postscript #1

1. Wuxi China Bengal Dog

Internet Shopping and the Chinese Work Place

Chinese women love shopping on the Internet.  I was talking to a female student about this on Thursday evening, and I asked her if she had someone at home who could receive the deliveries (my wife loves Internet shopping too, and is always at home to receive her purchase orders).  She told me that she had them sent to her work.

And then I remembered all the time I have seen the girls at school doing the same thing.  I have on many occasions observed a big group of the girls opening parcels and trying on the clothes they just ordered.  

After my conversation with the student, I see this happens at workplaces all over China.

Drunk like a skunk, it is hard to catch a taxi in Wuxi, China.

I don't know this from personal experience, but from observation.

On the evening of Thursday, November 26, 2010, I observed two very drunk men try to flag down a taxi.  Twenty-or-so empty taxis drove past them without stopping.

The pair then crossed the street.  The drunker of the men sat on the curb, and waited for the other man to catch a taxi.  This the other man was then able to do very easily, and so the drunker man stood up and crawled into the back of the taxi.

There are two kinds of people...

Those who use "glockenspiel" in a blog entry, and those who don't.

Those who wish something happened and so say it happened, and those who admit that they wish something happened but didn't.

Why "they" need to hate Sarah Palin so much.

I was listening to a Tony Kornheiser podcast.  TK and his honchos were discussing Bristol Palin's being tossed off some Search for Star show.  That whole BP thing is a circus, but it is something to do with SP, and  so "they" become obsessed. 

 

TK said that he didn't hate BP, and in fact felt sorry for her.  She had a baby young and a crazy mom -- BP's mother, he said, was trying to get herself elected God.  Liking SP, I rankled at this and immediately thought how SP's rival BO had himself elected on the platform of being a God.

 

But then I came to a realization.

 

"They" hate SP so much because "they" see her as having all of BO's faults.  The observations that many Conservatives make about BO being over his head are ultimately unanswerable, so "they" see SP as a way of transferring their unspoken knowledge of BO's weakness to something, or somebody else.

 

"They" do this because they can't counter the self-assurance of Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives.  "They" hate her because their own ideas are bankrupt, and they would never stoop to admit it.

Muslim Noodles

Thursday at lunchtime, I was feeling peckish.  My first thought was to go to  KFC to eat french fries with mashed potatoes and gravy -- dipping the fries into the small cup of mashed and gravy is something I like to do because it reminds of my always ordering fries and gravy at KFC's in Canada.

I was all excited by this prospect till I looked in my wallet.  I had little money.  If I blew my wad at lunchtime, I would have nothing for supper.  And it was my longest day of the week at the school.  I realized I had to find a cheaper option.  I thought of the rice shop down the street which served cheap food but it was so unappetizing -- no way could it fill the spot like fries and mashed potatoes and gravy.  

So then I thought of the Muslim Noodle place nearby.  I hadn't been there in a while.  I could really go for a bowl of their fried noodles -- Chow Mian Pian -- I think it was called.  But I felt reluctant because the place wasn't so clean, and I would have to wait, and be stared at by the other customers and staff.

What the hell!  I thought and I went.

I tried ordering Chow Mian Pian, but the man working there told me in Chinese, that I could understand a little of, that that dish couldn't be done.  So, I went to a big picture menu posted on the wall and pointed at a photo of eggs, tomatoes, and noodles.  That could be made was what they indicated to me.  And they ushered me to a chair to wait.

While waiting, I observed the following:  Authorities looking at the contents of some one's cart -- apparently they don't want people with carts trying to sell things downtown.  Fifty uniformed students walking two abreast.  A hunch-backed man working in the Muslim Restaurant.

I ordered the food for take-out (I say something like "da-bao" to have this done) and ate it back at school.  It hit the spot.

Sex and the Grey Cup

The Grey Cup is Canada's version of the Australian Rules Football Grand Final, England's F.A. Cup Final, America's Super Bowl, the World's World Cup Final.  The 2010 Grey Cup game is this Sunday and will feature teams from Saskatchewan and Montreal.  

In anticipation of the game, I have been visiting the CFL's website.  I was surprised to find this article speculating about whether the players will have sex before the big game.  

Apparently this is an "issue".  Why?

中国无锡 惠山区 人民园 Wuxi, China: Hui Shan.

November 25

• Tony went back to school today.  Read about it here and here.
• I saw a lot of military in Wuxi Wednesday morning.  Why they were there I had no idea.  I in fact saw two convoys.  One I saw near my apartment; the other I saw near the Wuxi train station.  I had never before seen the military in Hui Shan city.  The convoy of military in fact ended up at the train station.  That second convoy consisted of a lot of troop carrying trucks, one of which had a troop of drummers who were pounding away as they proceeded through traffic.  Many of the troops were wearing what looked to be dress uniforms, with white gloves.
• Whether this has anything to do with the recent incident in Korea, I can't say.  The troops gathering in front of the train stations is not unusual -- I have seen it before.
• I asked some students about the Korean shelling incident. "Does it mean war?"  I asked.  The most articulate of the group said it didn't.  Other students then said the same thing.
• I asked this same group of students to tell me things they hated.  They told me the Japanese, the South Korean leader, a Taiwanese leader, a Japanese leader, and some pop or more stars.
• I found another interesting podcast.  In this episode of Surprisingly Free,, popular economist Tyler Cowen gives some provocative interesting, and intelligent answers to some listeners' questions.  Especially interesting was his answer to the question "Where would you stay in Asia if you had to be there for five years?".