Why the French don't take supplements.

Most French believe that their diet contains all the nutrients for healthy living. While they also submit some of their chickens to the hell of battery living and perpertrate other abominations of industrial farming, they do eat a variety of seasonal vegetables and fruit which are mostly of excellent quality. I have yet to eat a French-grown fruit or veg which is tasteless; here they are either tasty or tastier.

And, they wisely eat duck, lamb, mutton: the meats of animals too clever or stubborn to submit to incarceration and hormonal adjustments. Fish is fresh from the morning's catch or, further inland, the day after; not fresh from Jurong Port meaning anything from ten to twelve days at sea under ice chips.

Wines, carefully monitored by the "appellation controlee" and free from harmful preservatives, are matched to the menu. Rushing through meals is thought uncivilized.

So, they have expended great effort to preserve their ancestral, pre-supplement, diet. They seem to live long and active lives with oldies still promenading down the boulevard arm in arm on sunny days. On balance, their claim of a healthful diet needless of supplementation seems plausible and epidemiologically valid.

Speak Mandarin?

The following poster is circulating among students from Shanghai, both inside and outside of China:

For a complete translation, go to the next page.

Let Us Take Action!

1. In certain public settings, for example on the street, if you start by using Shanghainese,
should the other party understand what you're saying, then continue using Shanghainese.
should the other party fail to understand what you're saying, then switch to Mandarin (Putonghua).

2. When others speak to us,
should the opposite party use Shanghainese, then we may answer in Shanghainese.
should the opposite party use Mandarin, we can smile and say, "Do you understand Shanghainese?" If the other person doesn't understand Shanghainese, then switch to Mandarin.

3. If Shanghainese speak Mandarin to us, we shall ask them to switch to Shanghainese. People in various localities all over the world should be able to boldly and confidently speak the local language with the local people. As Shanghainese, it is our basic right to speak Shanghainese in Shanghai.

4. For the continuation of Shanghainese culture, we should persist in speaking Shanghainese to our children. We should encourage and exhort parents around us to do likewise. This will be beneficial for the intellectual development of our children and for the subsequent learning of foreign languages. We should express our steadfast opposition to rules prohibiting the use of topolects.

Shanghainese language is the foundation of Shanghainese culture. It is a mighty tree with its roots tightly anchored in the local soil. We ought not abandon this mighty tree in favor of a rootless telephone pole. Friends, for the future of Shanghai, for the flourishing of the diversity of our great homeland, let us take action!

I Love Shanghai. I Love China.

By speaking Shanghainese language and carrying on Shanghainese culture, we are being truly cultured Shanghainese people.

(A tip of the hat to Wicky Tse for calling this very interesting poster to my attention.)

April 19, 2009 @ 12:40 am · Filed by Victor Mair under Language and culture

I am a liberal ...

according to Don Bordreaux, Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

"I love and care for my family and friends more than I care for mere acquaintances, and I care about most mere acquaintances more than I care about total strangers.  But the nationalities or physical locations of these people's residences are irrelevant to me.  I care no more for a stranger in my town of Burke, Virginia, than I care for a stranger in Beijing, Beirut, or Berlin."

Still, it's harder than I thought.

"But liberalism rejects the notion that there is anything much special or compelling about political relationships.  It is tribalistic, atavistic, to regard those who look more like you to be more worthy of your regard than are those who look less like you.  It is tribalistic, atavistic, to regard those who speak your native tongue to be more worthy of your affection and concern than are those whose native tongues differ from yours."

Read http://www.cafehayek.com/hayek/trade/

How Would You Fix the Economy?

US buddy sent me this.  What's your take on it?

"How Would You Fix the Economy?"
This was an article from the St. Petersburg Times Newspaper on Sunday.  The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How Would You Fix the Economy?"  This article was one of the ideas submitted...

Dear Mr. President,

Patriotic retirement:
There's about 40 million people over 50 in the work force - pay them $1 million apiece severance with the following stipulations:

1.  They leave their jobs.  Forty million job openings - Unemployment fixed.
2.  They buy NEW American cars.  Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry fixed.
3.  They either buy a house/pay off their mortgage - Housing Crisis fixed.

Can't get any easier than that!

Jim Wright
Phoenix USA, Inc.

Who sez Ozzies are dumb?

Not outgoing Temasek CEO Ho Jinx.  She just didn't know how smart Eddy Groves, founder of ABC Learning truly was.  This Brisbane Times article is worth reading; not just for Ho Ching-ing but also for its business savvy and insights, not always obvious, at least not to me.

Do corporate eggheads always get fried by the flaming energy of the street-smarts?  Why?

Of course, $400 million is, with apologies to the former patron of NKF, "peanuts" compared with the tens of billions pocketed by short-sellers of UBS, Citigroup .. ad nauseam; but that is another story to be spun by the "masters" of strategic investment.  One has to wonder what was the strategic advantage of investing in child care?  Oops forgot, a balanced portfolio contains both medium-term targets of opportunity as well as long-term strategic investments?  Indeed, it was an opportunity; but for whom?  Stupidity, by any other name, MBA-speak or not, would stink as much,