@danmairen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire. Easily confused with psychological projection.

What I originally wanted to do was complain about the American government and their denial of my girlfriend's tourist visa last week in Chengdu. But instead, I found myself angrier at the very existence of panda bears.

Perhaps back in the day, pandas were somehow kings of their domain. But now they survive only by the thread of synthesized existence. They are an evolutionary dead end. Without humans to feed them, their habitat is so demolished that they wouldn't survive a week in the wild. They are too needy and would rather starve to death than eat anything other than their favorite type of bamboo shoot. And they need to eat 20 kilos of that a day just to survive.

They are incredibly lazy and these days won't even have sex without a little panda porn to get them excited. I'm not making this up. Google it. Once an animal must rely upon porn or meds to appreciate sex, any follower of Darwin would say it's time for them to be on their way. And if you're not a fan of Darwin, even the divinely mandated existence of pandas holds a weak argument for spending billions per year to keep 1200 of these animals alive and procreating. Every time you see a panda in a zoo in the west, it's likely that the zoo is renting the animal from China for between $1 and $2 million per year plus half a million to feed it.

Can't that money go to something worth saving like rivers and oceans? Why not Plankton? Plankton is also becoming threatened and actually has a purpose on the planet. But a cute little plankton face might not make for such a nice fundraising poster.

Sometimes the giants need to fall to make way for the little guys. The little guys can exist without the giants, but the giants can't exist without the little guys.

Pandas suck

I'm moving out of a 3 bedroom apartment at the end of the month. It's located just off of Wenlin Road between the Yunnan University and Green Lake. It's got the largest outdoor balcony in the area and one of the nicest shower/bathrooms I've seen in Kunming. If you are interested, I can set you up with the landlord. I've been paying 2500, but rent is going up the 3000. I'm pretty convinced she would settle for something like 2700 or 2800. No middle man fees necessary. I never like to work with agents as they take a full month's rent as their fee. Cheers

The Farmers' Market will go on again this Sunday at the Cat's Cradle Cafe from 1-6 pm. There should be far more of a selection than the first market and the organic vegetable farm promised to bring "more useful" vegetables this time.

We will also still be collecting used clothing for a nondenominational, local charity that works with poor migrant workers in Kunming.

Hope to see you there.

The Farmers' Market was enough of a success that it will continue to be held on the first Sunday of each month. The next one will be on June 6th. If anyone is interested in participating, please drop me a line at colin_flahive (at) hotmail . com.

Also, if anyone comes across advertisements in town, please help me change the "Every Sunday" part to "First Sunday of each month." Much appreciated.