When you create your Chinese name phonetically there is always the potential for comedy - my name, when translated phonetically, means "turnip head". When I first got to China many years ago my business card would always crack up the Chinese people I gave them to.

My favorite in Denmark is the sausage wrapped in bacon which is put into a hollowed-out bagette that has a shot of spicy mustard in it - unbelievable! In London there is nothing better than the foot-long carts on the street around 11pm that serve these dogs with grilled onion and hot mustard.

We got my 2yo one of the VTech kid's cameras, but he takes much better photos with our phone. 80% don't turn out, but he does manage to get a decent shot in here and there, and more importantly he is learning coordination skills.

Congrats Alex - nothing in the world even compares, and everything else seems trivial...

Best advice I can give is to not listen to anyone else, and to trust your instincts. And the secret to getting plenty of sleep during the first several months is to just let him sleep in your bed with you. Your brain won't let you roll over onto him at night, and when he is hungry your wife just needs to sit up - later on down the road all she will need to do is roll over to him. Our son slept with us while he was breastfed and we never experienced any real sleep deprevation.

As an American living in China I know many people who come from the US to get dental work done here. One of my American friends got a full set of veneers on his top teeth for about US$300, and while I do not know how much it costs exactly in the US, I do know that it is several thousand dollars.

When I go in for basic work, such as filling cavaties and the like, the consultation costs about US$2, and each procedure is around US$5. I have never spent more that US$20 at the dentist here. Hell, my wife had her wisdom teeth taken out for less than US$50...

Damn, I wish they said where it was in Chengdu - I am currently living here, love hot pot (or huo guo as it is called in putonghua), and would love to say that I dined at the world's largest hot pot; although ThOmas28 is right, you would probably lose your food after you put it in...

Of course this is a Chinese truck...

I know that they build longer trains out of Long Beach, CA. I used to work rail operations at Pier J in Long Beach, and we used to build 3+ miles of double-stacked 40'container trains. We had 12 staging tracks that were each 1/4 of a mile long, and since moving over to Pier 400 they have 12 1/2 mile staging tracks, with another 6 storage tracks that are each 1 1/4 mile long.

Driving from LA to Las Vegas you regularly come across these trains heading eastward.

As an American living in China I can say that traffic in China is one of the most maddening things about living there. It is not the sheer numbers of cars, it is the fact that the average amount of experience across all drivers in any given Chinese city is under one year. Couple that with the fact that cars are a recent luxury so no one has grown up with an understanding of traffic flow or decorum. Finally, everything is further complicated by the Chinese mentality of me first, not what is going to make more sense to keep traffic flowing more steadily. I am getting so angry just thinking about it, and am not looking forward to returning at the end of next week...

People can talk all they want to about democrats wanting a phased withdrawal, and how is that 'cutting and running' - but I have yet to hear anything about the repub's plans for Iraq. Sure, you can say that they want to stay there until we 'win', but the question is how are we going to win? I can't imagine anyone being opposed to winning the war, especially if there is a even a semblance of plan for doing so, but the repubs and this white house have NOTHING!

I would argue that this is not Neatorama material for far less than 1/2 of your audience, that being said, no matter what your political persuasion this was a major event worth noting, and of course the cartoon pretty accurately depicts the outcome. Good fun!

I obviously did not look at the site all the way before commenting. First, I was wrong about the price - I was looking at the lamp. Second, did you take a look at the other items that they are selling?!? I floored with laughter:

1. KingGyo-no-Hung Goldfish's excrement.
A natural health meter in tablet form
(made of 18K gold) which you take internally
and examine the results externally.

2. Hai-Gyo Lungfish
Fish bladder incased in a glass container.
Control air pressure in the container by
operating the cylinder pump to move the
fish bladder

3. Na-Uchi-Bou
Fish Beating Stick
A fish swatter and container,
equipped with a fisheye view lens

And my favorite:

4. A thrilling "fish cage" with a special device.
The hanging needles fall off from the roof in
time to the telephone time signal and may hit the
unlucky fish swimming at the bottom.

that is so freaking cool! Thanks for the link, however it should be noted that with current exchange rates this thing is approx US$430...

As an American living in China who just had a baby I can tell you that in most area's, rural and industrial, there is a healthy mix of people who go with both options. That being said my wife and I, who is Chinese, tried to go the non-diaper route, but after your kid pee's/poops on the couch, bed, or floor of the local market for the 5th time diapers become a necessity. I also get tired of watching other parents let their kids pee/poop on the sidewalk, street or on the grass of the park you regularly play in. It is un-hygenic and just plain disgusting. Of course diapers can be expensive to people who only make about US$1800/year or less, so is understandable that they do not have diapers on their kid - but that still does not preclude it as the best option.