Posted 1:29 AM by Blah blah

Check out Esther, a graduating political science student at Berkeley, who's Korean. I like her. Finally, someone who blogs, is FUNNY, knows politics, and knows Cal. Seems like a simple enough list, but I haven't seen any blogger like that till now (except for maybe "Eve" of In Passing...)
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It's official. There's never been a better time to be a single man. But do these men have it all, or are they simply commitment-phobic loners? (The Observer):

"Will is what journalist Richard Benson calls a SCREAMER - a Self-Centred, Rich, Educated, Adventurous Materialist. He is what trend-busting magazine Viewpoint calls a Lone Wolf and others have called a Metrosexual. He's the new pink pounder. A straight, single man with few ties, responsibilities or obligations and a healthy bank balance not being drained by dependents. He's the man who loves his technology, furniture (mid-century modernism all the way), Camper shoes and drizzling olive oil over everything. He has learnt to look at himself through the eyes of gay fashion stylists and photographers (the trim waistline, the haircut, the Helmut Lang). He's the whole package....

The number of unmarried men has doubled over the past two decades with six in 10 men between the ages of 25 and 34 not married. According to Mintel, 40 per cent of this age group are flying completely solo. And it estimates that there will be a million more by the end of the decade.

But as Will's desperate measures hint, this multiplying group is not necessarily laughing all the way to the squash court. As far as psychologist Cary Cooper is concerned, the new single man is less likely to be a loafing, shag-happy commitment phobe than a knackered workaholic, running scared of a newly empowered female population, painfully aware of the modern women's willingness to swiftly disengage from any relationship not providing the kind of sex, money and emotional intimacy they deserve.

'If a woman is dependent on you,' says Cooper, 'then even if you don't do things right, she will stay with you. To a degree. But if there is a more economically egalitarian relationship, the man has to give more to the relationship than he might have done in the past. And if a woman doesn't like what she sees, she can leave you. I actually think women do that less than men imagine, but the fear is there.' "

This article definitely does NOT describe most of the single people I know, men or women. Maybe that's because I'm in more conservative San Jose, not ultra-hip San Francisco. God, this article just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Makes me wonder where this "progressive" Sex-and-the-City lifestyle Christine lauds about is headed. So more women are becoming commitment-phobic players too? I hope not. Actually, the guys I know WANT to settle down. Sure, they admire the next pretty lady as much as biology makes them, but the people around me are working hard to achieve stability, not to be some playboy or playgirl who loves-'em-and-leaves-'em. People here, although politically more democratic, for the most part live pretty conservative family lives.
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From PJammer's site, I like this. Harsh but true:

"404: [noun] (fōr ōh fòr) – A person who is ‘all talk and no follow-through.' Somebody who prattles endlessly about his big plans for business, academic and interpersonal accomplishments but has neither the professional nor intellectual resources to achieve them. 404s are far more infatuated in the trappings/symbols of success (luxury vehicles, expensive housing, admiration from peers, etc.) than the hard work needed to acquire them.

Synonyms: blowhard, braggart, trust-fund baby, dreamer."
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Private sector catches up fast in China (Reuters):

"China's once reviled private sector is poised to overtake the state in terms of economic clout as millions of people jostle for new jobs amid the nation's most wrenching reforms under Communist rule.

The share of the private sector in the fast-growing Chinese economy hit 33 percent, just below the state sector's 37 percent, according to a quarterly survey by China's labour ministry, state media said on Tuesday.

The findings come as Chinese plans to canonise four private entrepreneurs as model workers and award them the prestigious May 1 Labour Medal for the first time, underscoring how economic changes are subtly altering the political landscape.

Millions of workers in the massive but inefficient state sector are facing job losses and an acute shortage of relevant skills as grossly inefficient state firms streamline or close.

China is looking to the private sector to absorb swelling ranks of unemployed migrating in droves to booming cities from the impoverished countryside to find work.

Beijing has highlighted unemployment and the need to build a social security net as critical issues ahead of sweeping leadership changes due this September or October.

Analysts say labour unrest is a potentially explosive issue that could jeopardise a smooth power transition after thousands of workers protested last month against unpaid wages and insufficient welfare support in northeastern cities.

Those protests appear to have petered out under the heavy hand of the government, but analysts see room for more unrest as discontent over official corruption and acute income disparities grows."
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- About my favorite magazine: The New Yorker: Add Hard News, Hold the Glitter (NY Times):

"Four years after he was plucked from the ranks of staff writers at the magazine by S. I. Newhouse Jr., owner of Advance Publications, [David] Remnick is not only the man who edits The New Yorker, he sits more comfortably upon the throne, which only four other editors have ever occupied. Neither a buzz bomb nor an imperious monarch, the affable Mr. Remnick has turned kvetching about The New Yorker, once the favored blood sport of New York publishing, into a lonely pastime.

He is hardly the talk of the town. Mr. Remnick revels in his own lack of celebrity, but the 43-year-old editor also guides the magazine with an eye toward history, knowing that his work will become part of the legend built up around The New Yorker. Mr. Remnick's news-driven, high-tempo version of the magazine is short on historical idiosyncrasies no physical science tutorials on grain, rocks or the weather. But his fans, readers and employees, suggest that Mr. Remnick has something of the jazziness of the founding editor Harold Ross, the depth of William Shawn, the decency of the interregnum editor Robert Gottlieb and Tina Brown's romance with the next new thing. Mr. Remnick's New Yorker won a record 5 National Magazine Awards last year (after a record 11 nominations) and is up for 9 this year."