傻冒儿 Stupid Hat aka ShaMao'er

The water report

I got an unsolicited piece of mail the other day entitled "Annual Water Quality Report" published by Providence Water.  It is a couple pages and details the current state of water quality in Providence.  It goes into quite some detail with regards to the various kinds of pollutants and additives that may be found in tap water.  For each substance it includes the date of testing, findings, federal and state guidelines, and whether or not it was in compliance.  For lead, the water was slightly out of compliance and there is a section detailing what steps are being taken to improve.  

I often come across little things like this that I only recognize as being great and extraordinary because of my experience of living in China for so long.  It may be that this type of transparency is not voluntary on the part of Providence Water but is instead court or legislature ordered but it doesn't matter.  The end result is a system that is working and improving and transparent.

BOOM!

Ok, so this post is a bit late but...  Long time readers will recall my series of "Tick tick" posts about a year ago or so forecasting the imminent crash of the China stock bubble.  Of course the apologists and naysayers all said I was wrong and that China is somehow above the laws of economics...

Mencken's Creed

One of my favorites:

Mencken's Creed

     I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
     I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
     I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
     I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
     I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
     I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
     I believe in the reality of progress.
     I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.