Archive for August 6th, 2008

Beijing: Reviving the Julio-Willie

Posted August 6, 2008 By Dave Thomer

Back when Not News had a message board, I said that we should have an official award for things that seemed like a good idea at the time. I was motivated by hearing the Julio Iglesias/Willie Nelson duet “To All the Girls I Loved Before,” so I suggested the award be named in their honor. If you were to say that this suggestion would, itself, be a leading candidate for the award, I would not be likely to argue with you. But in any case, I have a feeling we may be handing out a whole bunch of the awards to the 2008 Olympics. At the very least, it’s an interesting learning opportunity. The latest incident regarding Joey Cheek’s suddenly-revoked visa is one example. On the one hand, it demonstrates China’s severe desire to avoid bad publicity. But it also highlights the reason why China gets so much publicity in the first place: given its economic clout, and its willingness to trade with nations like Sudan, there’s simply no avoiding dealing with China and trying, in some way or another, to get on its good side. As a result, you see many folks – like the US Olympic Committee – bending over backwards to avoid casting China in a bad light. It’s an interesting position to be in for a country that’s used to throwing its weight around with most folks.

Filed in Special Order Speeches

Enjoy a Lovely Beverage

Posted August 6, 2008 By Dave Thomer

A brief aside here – I’ve been bemoaning the lack of lemonade in my fridge this summer, in part because I don’t like the taste of a lot of store-bought juice, in part because I’ve been trying to cut down on the high fructose corn syrup, and in part because the price of lemons has gotten so ridiculous that a pitcher of lemonade would cost me something like fifteen bucks. But over the last week or so, I’ve become quite fond of Simply Lemonade, made by the Simply Orange Juice Company. It’s a little on the strong and sweet side, but there’s no aftertaste and it is quite refreshing on a hot day. I can also say from followup testing that their Orange and Grapefruit varieties are very nice as well.

Filed in Life in Practice