Willem's Planet

No No! cries the cat on the gas tank flap of this Nissan Tiida hatchback that I spotted from the bus this morning.    What does the cat want?  He says not to raise gas prices.  (Gas prices in China are on average 30% higher than those in the US .. so not as bad as in Europe, though).

Below is the view early Sunday morning from the hotel balcony.  That is the Hong Kong territories in the distance.   It was 16 C (61 F) but felt quite a bit colder because there was a strong wind.    I looked for lunar eclipse pictures from Saturday night and liked the one of a goddess playing with the moon on-line.  I’m not sure where this was taken.   (A total eclipse was visible from China, but I was otherwise occupied with the Saturday night barbecue!).

I snapped these pictures from the bus as we drove by a government building in the town of Da Peng on the way to work.  What’s going on?   The Chinese firecrackers and ‘dragons’ are part of  a rousing send-off for an enlistee into the People’s Liberation Army (the PLA , not to be confused with the Palestine Liberation Army).

From Wikipedia : The People’s Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People’s Republic of China.  It is the world’s largest military force, with approximately 3 million members.   It has the world’s largest (active) standing army, with approximately 2.25 million members.
Military service is compulsory, in theory, for all men who attain the age of 18; women may register for duty in the medical, veterinary, and other technical services at ages as young as 14.   A draft in China has never been enforced due to large numbers of volunteers from China’s huge population.   The star below is the emblem of the People’s Liberation Army.

Here is the local newspaper delivery arriving this morning as we waited for the bus to pull up outside the hotel, probably the Shenzhen Daily News.    I am sure turning a corner with those stashes of newspaper attached to your bike, takes some getting used to !

This sign is from our lunch cafeteria here at work.  There are two service windows that accept used lunch trays and cutlery, and this one is the put place for knives and forks (I love the direct translation!).    Since I am part of the majority of lunch-goers that use chop sticks and soup bowl spoons to eat their lunch,  my ‘put place’ is on the opposite side of the room.

These little mandarins make one feel like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk.   The peel comes off easily and then you pop the whole mandarin in your mouth.   Most of them don’t even have seeds* to deal with.   Very nice!

*when eating an orange or a mandarin outside of the USA (in say, South Africa or Great Britain), say pips and not seeds.   Just for fun I looked up ‘pip’ on dictionary.com and found another meaning for it.  Check out the explanation for ‘last night’s party was a pip’ !

pip
noun
1.  a small seed, especially of a fleshy fruit, as an apple or orange.
2.  Also called pipperoo.  Informal .  Someone or something wonderful: Last night’s party was a pip.
Origin:  1590–1600; 1910–15 for def. 2;  short for pippin

This white Audi R8 V10 Coupé is parked in the hotel lobby for a promotion. Asked what it costs, the attendant said ‘more than ¥2m (US$314,000)’.    I think it can be bought for under $200k in the USA, though.

(The other pictures are from searches I did on-line).  NHK World TV from Japan reported here that Chugoku Expressway in Shimonoseki, Japan was the scene of a very costly crash on Sunday which reduced eight Ferraris, one Lamborghini and three Mercedes-Benz to wrecks (no serious injuries to the 10 drivers and passengers, though).     It was a gathering of luxury sportscar owners going for a Sunday afternoon drive toward Hiroshima.    The front driver struck a median while crossing lanes and set off a chain reaction of crashes which was all over in less than a minute.    Eyewitnesses say the cars were going at a fair clip, some 140-160 km/h (up to 100mph), and driving too close together.   It is not clear if the little Prius was caught up in the tangle as well, or if it was parked on the side of the road.

.. are the only two things to be sure of in life, right?  Yes, but how much taxes will we pay in 2012?  Seems the Republicans are in a corner, at first opposing the proposed extension of 2011’s Payroll Tax Cut through 2012, and now supporting it – but demanding that federal employees’ pay be frozen for three more years.   This is news from Wed Nov 30 .. the Democrats’ $265 billion proposal would be offset by a permanent 3.25 percent surtax on annual income exceeding $1 million.     So we should see by year-end where we end up, but most economists agree it makes sense to extend the 2011 Payroll Tax Cut.  It amounts to some $1,000 on a $50,000 individual salary, and businesses big and small, benefit from it as well.

(From Thursday : yes, it is every morsel as scrumptious  as it looks.  It’s Bryan’s home-made apple pie and home-made pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream.  This was after Bill and Dave’s wonderful turkey dinner with cranberry sauce and stuffing and green bean casserole .. ! ).

So what is black about this Friday following Thanksgiving in the USA?  The term ‘Black Friday’ originated in Philadelphia around 1966 (source: Wikipedia).   Back then it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic which would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.   Then later an alternative explanation began to be offered: that “Black Friday” indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or are “in the black” .. since many people have a day off work or take a vacation day and start their Christmas shopping.   Stores used to open at 6 am on Friday, which in recent years crept up to 4 am.   Then this year several large chains opened at midnight for the first time.   It should be noted that Walmart opened at 10pm on Thursday and Sears was open all Thanksgiving day  (gasp!).

But enough of that.  I for one certainly did NOT go shopping.   I did find myself  back at Seattle-Tacoma airport, making my way to my brother and his family in San Diego.  It was not busy at the airport and it’s 2 hours on Alaska Airlines down to California.  And it doesn’t rain all the time in winter in Seattle, see?   It was not even a gray Friday, but a beautiful blue-sky one.