Why do we feed them? What good do they do?

Did you ever know a blogwatch to do something good for you?

So, as you may have guessed, I did not in fact finish “The Zombie Guide to Life” last night, though it’s very close to done. I need to write a couple more scenes, do some sanding, and solve two plot problems, and then I’ll post it. Maybe tonight, maybe not. In the meantime, why not check out this stuff?

Old Oligarch: Living Idol to Chinese Communism Spawns. “It’s cute! It’s so cute! Squee! I’m an American. My brain is shutting down…. Must pay money and coo over the little soccer-ball bear.”

A tribute to the Tube: “How do Tube drivers obtain the cups of hot tea they often carry? (There are kettles waiting at ‘tea points’ around the network.) …Is there really a man who goes around the system killing pigeons with a hawk? (Yes.)” Via The Corner.

Who are the pro-Americans? “Direct political experience is not, however, the only factor that shapes foreigners’ perceptions of the United States. Around the world, there are millions of people who associate the United States not merely with a concrete political ideal, or even a particular economic theory, but with more general notions of upward mobility, of economic progress, and of a classless society (not all of which exist in the United States anymore, but that’s another matter). Advertising executives understand very well the phenomenon of ordinary women who read magazines filled with photographs of clothes they could not possibly afford. They call such women ‘aspirational.’ Looking around the world, there are classes of people who are ‘aspirational’ as well. And these aspirational classes, filled with people who are upwardly mobile or would like to be, tend to be pro–American as well.” (that stuff is on pp 2 and 3.) Via Dappled Things.