griz326

Hmmm.... If I recall correctly, instead of investing to upgrade their own aged industry, didn't US Steel (and others) invest their earnings in non-steel diversifies and did their demise result from their non-investment? Precisely, Dennis! The great steel strike of 57-58 unified the steel industry against the steel union. My neighbor in those days was the executive secretary to the big dawg at US Steel. She told me years later that steel industry leaders agreed to stop re-investment in aging mills because the union costs were so incredibly high. Consider the graveyard shift at the mill: the union required there be 2 sweepers when there was barely enough work for one. A buddy of mine put himself through college working the graveyard shift and going to classes throughout the day. The two sweepers usually made a deal that one guy sleeps the first 4 hours and the other guy sleeps the second four. In the late 60's he was making $9/hour plus benefits as a sweeper. You could blame a lot of the offshore outsourcing that exports American jobs on the success of the US Steel industry in building new mills in places where people were eager to work for good wages.

>>>. . . change/progress IS happening in China but can't be expected overnight. I think the same can be said of western attitudes . . . Perhaps change is happening in other western countries, but what I see fueling anti-Chinese sentiment in the USA is the realization among the comman man that we are slipping out of the #1 spot. Few are able to deal with the reality so hate comes easy. It's easier to hate China for "stealing our jobs" than it is to hate Wal-Mart for giving away jobs that were once American jobs. Keep in mind, no one acted to save the US steel industry in 1957 - the year it died...it's just the carcass did not turn cold for 20 years.

It comes under the heading of show business, correct?

Remember that I am less than a mile from the source of the mountain water I drink; there are no chemicals in the water. All community water systems add chemicals to the water which adds taste. NYC may have good water compared to other water systems, but it's still YUCKY to me. I bought some bottled water here in the states while I was on a long drive. When I tasted it, I could taste the chlorine in the bottled water. That was about a year before the news reports that many bottled water companies fill this "mountain spring" water bottles with tap water. I had some good deep well water when I worked in Birmingham, Alabama but the community water system was community water. Returning to the subject of tap water in China, the boiled water makes satisfactory drinking water now. I have no idea what water from a water system the size of Shanghai might taste like...would it be an improvement? Or would it make the water taste bad?

No they're not using their umbrellas, they're not wearing the wonderful straw hats I bought them, they are shielding their faces from the sun with floppy, cloth hats. I wish they'd use the umbrellas...but I guess they want to appear American. BTW - most people have no idea how strong the Montana summer sun can be! It is INTENSE!!!

If the tap water tastes like the water in NYC or LA, they might prefer to boil water. Of course, I am spoiled with as clear, clean and cold water as you can find anywhere on the planet.

Super news!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

So how can you get your K2 a work authorization document? Is there a quick and easy way to do it? Q&E...don't anyone pee their pants

Monitored real time? Horsefeathers!!! Of course, I guess it depends on what the meaning of "monitored" is. As a former protocol analyst and former journalist, this sort of spin makes me see red.

Good lucky!

UPDATE This morning at 03:00 to my gal shaking me saying, "Husband! Husband! Ducka" I jump out of bed stark raving naked and step outside to find a cougar circling the duck pen that we moved up to the house last night. It was 4-5 feet from the nose to the rump...a good sized, juvenile cat. Xiaoyuan gets me a robe but comes out with her meat cleaver in hand!!! I don't like killing God's woodland creatures unnecessarily - especially when they are out of season - so I tried to scare of the cat. It walked away, but came back when I headed back to the cabin where my Sweetie remained on the deck. I turn around and see the cat coming back, so I head after it in the brush because my headlight is reflecting in its eyes. I get to about 50 feet away from it and tried to shoo it away again, but it snarled at me - BANG! So I walk the perimeter of the property to see if I can find the cat laying down. I did not want to head into the thick brush with a wounded lion. The walk gave the cat 10 minutes to bleed out and go into full shock. When I got back to the front of the cabin, Xiaoyuan's still guarding the front door with the meat cleaver. Now I head into the woods to find the cat. The 00-buck knocked the cat off of a 20 foot ledge down into an old irrigation ditch that runs through our property. The lion is raising its head up to look at me but cannot hold that position so the head is moving up and down, but in a controlled way. I couldn't let the poor critter suffer ... so BANG!!! Lights out. I turned around to find Xiaoyuan had followed me into the woods with her meat cleaver. I don't know if she wanted to protect her lao gong or to cut up the meat!

Yesterday morning about 09:15 a coyote ran though our yard and grabbed one of our ducks while it was playing in a stream near the cabin. Overnight, a bear came in, moved the cage until it could reach under it and grab a duck. I know that it was not a Chinese bear because he left the head on the ground My gal is now talking about killing our ducks before we loose our dinner.

After reading many books on the evolution of China, I've come to believe that the best way to view Mao is as "a necessary step" in China's evolution. Quite frankly, I'm happy that the USA is #1 (even though we're doing our best to leap into the abyss). However I would be very happy to see the USA and China develop a happy synergy (don't you hate that word) for sharing the top slot.

I'm with Toplaw on this and happy to hear there was a happy ending. A bureaucrat getting out of the wrong side of the bed is a dangerous thing.

>>>I was thinking that China is still what it used to be in 1990. There wasn't that much of a change in the US during the last 15-18 years in the areas of relationships, sex and marriage ! Most of the changes brought by sexual revolution in the USA were over by the mid-1980's and the homosexual thing was finished by the early 90's. Not much has changed since then except for the truly perverse sexuality. The most significant change in human existence since the discovery of fire was the discovery and availability of the birth control pill. It changed human sexuality wherever the pill is commonly available. As for the survey: people are people and with or without sex ed they figure out how to do it; females are ready to mate when the equipment is fully functional and they are desired by all fully functional males (availability of birth control plays a big part here); spousal cheating happens in the female population of all nearly species, although not in the male population of all species (1980 vintage science magazine); and prostitution depends on what the meaning of is, is (10,000,000 out of 103,000,000,000 seems like a trivial percentage - especially when I would estimate that 40-60% of USA women have at one time in their lives exchanged sex for some sort of favor (money, drugs, opportunity, grade point average)). No offense intended, but those of you who met your gal via the Internet, visited and enjoyed great sex; it wasn't because you are special and that she was deeply in love (unless you are the storybook exception). It may not even have been a first for her (how many other guys chatted her up and came to visit?), but if you proved to be sincere, she probably offers you a higher probability of commitment and marital fidelity than is available from divorced women in the USA.

EMPRESS UPDATE: The empress is smiling and laughing and giggling and even talks with me a little now. Trying to catch the ducks and chickens loose in the yard really changed her attitude. Next weekend we'll try a greased pig! I think the kid's going to be okay!

We're heading into our 2nd weekend. The empress and I had a talk this morning. She threw a fit; I ignored her. When she came back to earth we had a little negotiation. Little by little......

We don't eat duck and duck eggs because we are creatures of habit. ...AND pulling the feathers out of a duck is a real PIA!!! I've got 5 ducks going now and a few chickens. The barbecue is a week from Sunday. Come Saturday to help us pluck ducks.

REALLY GREAT PHOTOS!!!

Xiaoyuan and Yawen spent their first weekend in the USA and seem to have enjoyed it immensely. Friday, we went shopping in Kalispell and bought too much food at Costco's; we ate barbecue at the Dave's BBQ which got mixed reviews; and I bought the little empress a wool jacket because it's "colda colda". Saturday, we went to Libby for a benefit magic show in a High School gym. The guy was good, but no David Copperfield. After the show we bought momma a zip up sweat shirt because it is "colda colda". We grabbed a quick lunch in the supermarket deli and the little empress began to cry. My interpretation is the young woman's finally realized she's half-way around the world and getting back ain't easy without upsetting the apple cart. Sunday, we all awoke before sunrise so I got the gals out of bed and dressed and we went game spotting. We saw a herd of elk, a monster mule deer and then went to the reservoir where I gave the girls a chance to drive the truck. They were afraid they'd drive the truck into the water. Through the weekend, I cooked the morning meal to reasonable reviews. In fact, I've been doing most of the cooking while we await the arrival of Xiaoyuan's chinese cooking set. The little empress is smiling and laughing more, but is still playing the part of an empress. There was a bit of progress. The gals are in awe of the number of animals in our yard, the clarity of the sky, the quiet, drinking water from the faucet and countless other things that I take for granted. They are also campaigning for more shelves and cabinets for their beautiful things

I think I'll be going with a Zojirushi, but I have not decided which model just yet. Her reference to not allowing steam to vent into the house may have to do with the inner cover that some models use.

We bought a rice cooker at Costco's this weekend, but it does not have a soup setting. Is there a workaround for this or should we just return the unit? The other thing that my gal does not like about the unit is the steam vent. She does not want the cooker venting steam to the house. Her unit in China does not do that (although I have no idea what feature allows that). Any good sources for rice cookers with soup settings? http://www.quickspice.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart...3122+1216001749 If at all possible, I'd like the inner container to be stainless steel.

I hate to see the politically correct crap infiltrating China. I enjoy dog and cat meat. In fact, in the journals of Lewis and Clark you'll see that some members of their crew enjoyed dog meat more than elk. I eat the coyote backstrap whenever I kill one; and cougar is delicious!

My gal is with me on this, so that part is under-control. Even though the empress is 18, she often behaves like a 12 year old. I'll take a closer read of the suggestions when I get home. I do not have experience with teenaged girls (my daughter spent her teen years with her mother in another city), so all help is appreciated.

My gal's 18 year old daughter has a bad case of the little empress syndrome. I'm a real easy going guy until I'm not. When we arrive in Montana, I want to nip this behavior in the bud without taking out my chainsaw and that mask. How do you win over an 18 year old and discipline her at the same time when this behavior was tolerated in China? Any suggestions?