What Caught My Eye Today - Canada, India, Ireland, Syria, Education, Potpourri

Canada - Canada is staking a claim to the North Pole. North Pole meets the Great White North. Sounds like the perfect match if you ask me. The nation has submitted a preliminary application to the United Nations to extend its nautical borders in a bid to control vast Arctic resources, including nearly one third of the world's untapped natural gas reserves and large deposits of oil. Then again, maybe the possibility of untold riches may have something to do with Canada's request. Canada's own surveys have shown that its continental shelf does not reach the North Pole, but government officials said new studies would be commissioned. Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that these new surveys (obviously using technologies not previously available) will render results much more to Canada's liking? And sure, there might be an abundance of natural resources in the Arctic, but you have to be able to get to them in order for them to have any value and that is no easy thing to do. Just ask Brazil how well it is doing with the oil bonanza recently discovered just of its shores.

India - India's Supreme Court has re-criminalized homosexuality overturning a 2009 ruling that had found the colonial-era anti-homosexuality law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court ruled that changing the law should be up to Parliament, not the courts. The law calls gay sex "against the order of nature" and punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Same-sex relationships are criminalized in 76 countries, almost all of which are in Africa and the Middle East. These guys really seem to struggle with sex.  I'm curious which "order of nature" this law is referring to? While it is true there is only one family in the animal kingdom where the man has the baby, try telling all those seahorses (and the other 300 species of fish in the Syngnathidae family) that nature got its signals crossed and that those males need to stop having babies right now.  Maybe instead of pondering what the "order of nature" means, India could spend some time and effort embracing slightly less ambiguous concepts, like "no means no." I'm sure all those victims of rape (both female and male) would certainly not object.

Ireland - Ireland has a modest proposal for addressing unemployment. The government is sending letters to unemployed citizens urging them to apply for jobs elsewhere in Europe. I, for one, appreciate this sort of out of the box thinking. Officials say all foreign job opportunities are voluntary and that no one will lose their benefits if they do not apply for an overseas job. Groups opposed to the initiative accuse the government of state-sponsored emigration.  A quarter of Irish people under 25 years of age are unemployed and emigration has reached record levels with 75,800 people aged 15-44 leaving Ireland in the last year. The opposition has it all wrong.  This isn't state-sponsored emigration. Far from it. This is about some really smart individuals looking out for themselves.  Think about it.  You are young and unemployed, so what's one way to pass all that time on your hands?  That's right, at the pub.  If I'm a working stiff, the last thing I want to see is some young punk drinking all my booze.  Can't find a job in this country, then get out and leave my whiskey alone. Now mind you, at some point, Ireland will find itself having to address a massive brain drain, but if the remaining citizenry has its booze, maybe it won't notice.

Speaking of job opportunities abroad...

Syria - The United States has agreed to take control of Syria's chemical weapons and destroy them on a specially adapted Navy ship in international waters. I can see the want ad now: "Make the World a Safer Place. No experience required. No family or friends considered a plus." The Syrian government agreed to give up its stockpile of chemical weapons to avoid Western intervention in September, after it was proved that sarin gas was used against civilians. Since no country will allow 500 tons of lethal chemicals to enter its borders, the weapons will have to be destroyed at sea in a dangerous and costly U.S. operation. Imagine that. No country wants to assume responsibility for processing 10,000 pounds of deadly gases. What a bunch of pansies. The weapons will also pose a risk while in transit as they could come under a security threat from any of the warring parties in the Syrian conflict. I've read a little bit about the process for treating these chemicals so that they can be properly disposed of. Basically, you neutralize the toxic material with other toxic material and what you have left is a much safer hazardous waste that can be disposed of. So to summarize, in order to make something toxic safer, you have to make it hazardous.  Kind of makes you chuckle don't it?

Education - Ivy League universities may have a case of grade inflation. First a meningitis outbreak at Princeton, now this? Dude, I am so happy I went to a state university. At a monthly faculty meeting at Harvard University, the school's dean of undergraduate education told professors that the grade most frequently awarded to students is an A. Oh...grade inflation. I get it now.  In 2002, Harvard capped the proportion of the graduating class with honors to 60% after a year in with 91% of students graduated with them. Yale University found that 62% of grades awarded to undergraduates from 2010 to 2012 were in the A- range. Isn't it possible that the students that matriculate in these fine institutions of higher learning are really that smart? And isn't it a bit cynical to suggest that students might have some expectation of high grades if mommy and daddy fund a professorship? Princeton University had instituted a policy of grade deflation to limit the awarding of high grades, but those tougher standards are currently under review. I'm sure the shrinking endowment that followed in the wake of that policy had nothing to do with Princeton's decision to revise its academic standards.  Here's a radical idea. Why not award grades based on academic achievement. If the curriculum and testing are fundamentally sound, then if 60%, 70% or the whole freakin' student body can achieve high marks then so be it.  Most experts would agree that this is statistically impossible, but why not let the student have a chance to prove them wrong?

Potpourri - Let's call this entry the "No kidding, really?" edition.

• Economic Growth - Over the past 64 years and 16 presidential terms, the U.S. economy has grown at an average rate of 4.35% when a Democrat was president versus just 2.54% when a Republican held office. Of course, these numbers don't really show the whole picture. If you start low enough, any improvement will seem large.
• Credit Worthiness - The Netherlands left an elite group of nations rated AAA by all three major rating agencies, leaving just 10 countries with the top credit rating: Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland. Let's give a shout out to Australia, the only nation south of the equator (and south of the Tropic of Cancer for that matter) to make the cut.
• Nuclear Safeguards - From 1962 until 1977, the U.S. military intentionally set the launch codes at every nuclear missile silo in America to "00000000" so it could rapidly respond to any Soviet attack. It's amazing that the human race has managed to survive all these years in spite of itself.

Did You Know? #48

What do the following have in common: Sarcoline, Coquelicot, Smaragdine, Mikado, Glaucous, Wenge, Fulvous, Xanadu, Falu and Eburnean?

They are all colors: Sarcoline (flesh colored); Coquelicot (orange-tinted red); Smaragdine (emerald green); Mikado (bold yellow); Glaucous (blue-gray); Wenge (dark brown with copper undertones); Fulvous (brownish-yellow); Xanadu (gray-green); Falu (deep red); and Eburnean (ivory white).

What Caught My Eye Today - Bibles, Viruses, Immigration, Dating, Potpourri

Bibles - Costco Wholesale has been doing some serious repenting. While shopping in a store in Simi Valley, California a local pastor tweeted a photo of Bibles relegated to the store's fiction section. That did not sit well with members of his congregation. I've two questions already.  First, is a priest doing shopping at a Costco in the first place; and second, who follows their clergyman on Twitter? Once word of the misplaced gospels spread on social media and made its way onto local and national broadcasts, Costco released a statement blaming a distributor for mislabeling a "small percentage" of the Bibles in stock before they were shipped to the California. In the statement, Costco said it takes full responsibility for the incident and should have caught the mistake. Being the God fearing Christian that I am, I'm not going to argue whether or not the Bible is a work of fiction or not. However, it is worth noting that the four canonical gospels of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – were not only written many years after the events which they describe occurred, but these four gospels were picked out of several hundred gospels nearly 500 years later.

Viruses - Don't have enough things on your mind to keep you up at night?  How about these little gems? The Center for Disease Control says three nightmare super bugs have become so virulent that they pose an urgent risk to the health of Americans. The first is a deadly diarrhea-causing infection. That sounds bad. The second is a bloodstream infection that kills half the people it infects. Yeah, this one doesn't sound too pleasant, either. The third is a drug-resistant form of gonorrhea that has evolved to become resistant to the last drug available against it, raising the prospect of a sexually transmitted global epidemic. This "super gonorrhea" tests to spread through unprotected oral sex. Sort of takes some of the fun out of sex, don't you think? I wonder if Purell could sanitize more than just your hands; not that I'm suggesting you should sanitize anything else with it.

Immigration - The Young Conservatives of Texas canceled it annual "Catch an Illegal Immigrant" event at the University of Texas, Austin, after complaints from students and faculty. Go figure. The group said the game, in which students would chase down other students wearing "illegal immigrant" signs, was meant to spark a campus-wide discussion about the issue. And yet somehow, this group's completely innocent intentions were misconstrued by college students and faculty.  If you ask me this is more of an indictment on higher education.  How could any sensible, well-educated person possible view this event as any other than the public service announcement it was intended to be? 

Dating - There is a new "female-friendly" dating application. The program is like a Yelp for women who want to know as much about who they are going to a restaurant with as they do about the restaurant they are going to. It allows them to anonymously review men who are they Facebook friends and read similar reviews from women they don't know. Users can rate men in categories and add hashtags that are used to calculate a score and rate the men. Where to begin?  First off, this smacks of sexism to me.  Where is the "male-friendly" version of this application?  Second, in my day, the whole purpose of going on a date was to get to know someone.  Why bother going through the pointless exercise of actually connecting with someone, when you can find out everything you want to know about them on Facebook?  Which brings me to my next thought.  Is it just me or does the notion of ratings based on feedback from women who no longer have any desire to date a guy seem to be a questionable premise? I'm thinking there may be some negative bias in some of those reviews.  And finally, what would motivate a girl to friend a bunch of strangers who previously dated the dude she's interested in?  If you ask me, no good could possibly come from that.

Potpourri - Quite the hodge-podge of useless trivia this time around (as if any trivia is particular useful).

• Vocabulary - The Oxford University Press declared that "selfie," taking a self-portrait with a smartphone, was the new word of the year for 2013. More proof that the art of language is in serious decline.
• Lifestyle - 27% of Americans lived alone in 2012, compared to just 17% living in single-person households in 1970. Considering that technology is well on its way to making actual human contact obsolete, I'm surprised this number isn't higher.
• Olympic Medals - The value of raw materials in a gold medal to be awarded at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia is $650. The value of raw materials in a silver medal is $335 and $5 in a bronze medal. How depressing is it that recognition of a lifetime spent getting to the pinnacle of one's sport is worth less than a premium coffee drink at the local Starbucks?

Did You Know? #47

What are the odds of finding two identical snowflakes?

There is no fundamental law of the universe that says snowflakes cannot be identical, but since each flake is made of millions of randomly arrayed water molecules that aren't quite uniform, the odds of finding twin flasks are astronomically slim, about 1 in 10 to the 158th power. Snowflakes develop when water molecules freeze together, and not every water molecule is identical. The vast majority feature oxygen atoms with 8 neutrons while some contain 10 neutrons--the molecules have subtly different shapes, which leads to slightly different forms when they freeze.

In Memoriam: Tyler Voltmer

Fred's Note:  I don't usually get personal on this blog, but recent events dictate that an exception be made.  My brother, Tyler, passed away unexpectedly on November 15.  Words seem inadequate to describe the shock and sense of loss that my family has gone through these passed couple of weeks.  Nonetheless, life does go on.  So here is a brief tribute to my dear brother.

TYLER JAMES VOLTMER 

(March 10, 1968 - November 15, 2013)

From my earliest recollections, I idolized Tyler. He was the epitome of coolness; great at sports, smooth with the ladies; in short, he could do no wrong, at least not in my eyes. I went to great lengths to find flaws in Tyler – as any younger brother would – but was rarely successful. More often than not, we managed to find trouble together. There was a time when getting sent to your room was a punishment worse than death, but when we were forced to endure such trying times, we’d be in our respective rooms huddled in our closets tapping out secret codes on the wall that separated us, just to let the other know we were okay.

My hero worship of Tyler only grew in high school. He was a senior, and I was a lowly freshman. It was at Prospect High that I first met Terry, Tyler’s future wife. Of course, I had no idea at the time; all I knew was that there was a junior, a girl no less, who would actually talk to me. I have countless recollections of our time in high school, but one that particularly stands out as indicative of the unique character Tyler possessed. He decided to join the cross-country team. The fact that participating in after school sports guaranteed you an A in P.E. probably had nothing to do with his decision. As you all know, Tyler was quite observant and quick to pick up on how to do things. Well, it didn’t take long for him to figure out that the coach doesn’t supervise your entire training run. Armed with such knowledge, Tyler applied some out of the box thinking by detouring back to our house for a quick snack, perhaps a few minutes of television, then returning at the appropriate time to finish his run. His brilliant plan was foiled at some point, and Tyler was presented with an ultimatum by the coach—Win the next race or receive an F in P.E. So what does he do, but go out and win the race. I would later realize that this wasn’t an anomaly, but just who Tyler was.

All too soon, high school was over, and Tyler began the next phase of his life. At 19 years old, opportunity came knocking, in the form of a job with American Airlines working cargo at San Francisco. Tyler learned the ins and outs of the job working with our good friend Lee Goodspeed. A couple years, later American decided to open a hub in San Jose and Tyler transferred there, where he discovered the glamorous world of baggage service. Interesting, that after that experience, Tyler would only check his bags if there was no other choice; probably just a coincidence. Throughout this entire time, Tyler and Terry dated and their relationship grew. It was pretty obvious to everyone that these two were destined for each other. However, like any good romance, trouble was on the horizon.

For some inexplicable reason, the concept of having a hub in San Jose, never really took hold, and as a result, American decided to scale back operations. Knowing what they had in Tyler, American pulled out all the stops make sure they kept him in the fold, including offering Tyler a posting in Newark, New Jersey. I know there are many of you who don’t hail from the Bay Area, so I will let you in on a little secret. It is the dream of every young boy and girl to grow up and one day move to Newark, New Jersey. Tyler got to live that dream, almost.

Terry did not make the move to New Jersey with Tyler. Practical girl that she was, and still is, Terry made clear to Tyler in no uncertain terms, “if you want this girl, you need to put a ring on her finger and marry her.” It took a bit of time, not to mention a move to Texas, but that’s exactly what Tyler did. He married is remarkable wife, Terry.

Dallas or more specifically, DFW is the center of the American Airlines universe. I got to visit Tyler in action on more than a couple of occasions, and was awed by what I saw. I didn’t understand most of what was going on, but I knew Tyler had everything under control. Yet again, I was looking up to the coolest guy I ever knew and could not have been prouder.

I got the chance to meet some of Tyler’s work friends—Ziggy, Patty and Jessy, to name just a few. Others, I’ve learned about more recently, and one thing is clear beyond doubt, that Tyler was loved by so many of you. It shows true affection to cover up Tyler’s entire car in plastic wrap to celebrate his birthday.

Years passed, and the opportunity for Tyler and Terry to move closer to home presented itself in the form of a management position at LAX. Besides, Newark, New Jersey, there is no place a Bay Area native would rather be than L.A. Needless to say, we were thrilled that Tyler and Terry were closer to home, but the transition was not easy. Tyler was not capable of giving less than 100 percent to everything that he did. His new job was pretty stressful, but as he always did, Tyler rose to the occasion and gave it his all.

Most recently, Tyler was getting ready to start the next chapter of his life at US Airways in Orange County, but that chapter will remain unfinished.

Every relationship is unique and special in its own way. My relationship with my brother was no different. As we grew into adulthood, we didn’t speak every day or even every week, but when we did talk over the phone or saw each other at a family event, it was almost as if no time had passed at all, and we were back in our rooms tapping out codes in our closets letting the other know we were there for each other. While Tyler won’t physically be here, I know that he will be inside each and every one of us giving us strength, comfort and love as we muddle our way through this crazy world.

What Caught My Eye Today: Iceland, Florida, Somalia, Asteroids, Potpourri

Fred's Note:  Let's have some fun with today's posting, shall we? See if you can figure out which of these first four news items is bogus.  I've posted the answer at the end of posting for "Did You Know? #46".

Iceland - Iceland leads the world in women's rights. Great news for the approximately 160,000 women who live there.  Not so much of a big deal for the other 3.5 billion world who live elsewhere. The World Economic Forum put Iceland at the top of its ranking of global gender equality for the fifth year in a row, based on women's access to education, political office, jobs and healthcare. The United States placed 23rd, below the Philippines (5th) and Nicaragua (10th). I'm not so much surprised by where the U.S. ranks overall so much by those countries that rank higher.  Both the Philippines and Nicaragua are predominantly Catholic, which doesn't always encourage a level playing field between genders. And then there is Burundi (22nd). How the hell, did they manage to outrank us? Pakistan and Yemen came in last. Now that, I get. The analysis shows that a smaller gender gap drives economic competitiveness. So what this study suggests is that a level-playing field is generally a good thing, right? Sounds like a bunch of hokum to me. Everyone knows that if you have a leg up on someone, the last thing you want to do is let that advantage slip away.

Florida - The Florida Corrections Department has been forced to tighten its release policy after two convicted murderers used forged paperwork to walk out of a maximum security prison. Kind of makes you question the premise of the adage, "crime doesn't pay".  The prisoners were released from jail on two separate days, having submitted fake documents that reduced there life sentences to 15 years. Authorities did not realize the two had been released until they were alerted by a relative of one of the murderer's victims.  Talk about your awkward social moment.  How would you like to have been the prison official who had to take that phone call? Since their escape in late September and early October, at least 7 inmates have been found to have used forged documents to escape from prison. You'd like to think that procedures would have been adjusted after the first incident, but apparently that wasn't the case here.

Somalia - Sea captains have an unlikely new ally in their battle against Somali pirates: Britney Spears. Ships have started blasting the pop star's music at ear-splitting volume at approaching raiders. "Oops! I Did It Again" is particularly effective at foreign bandits to stop. If you ask me, Insane Clown Posse would have been a far better choice, but what do I know. According to a merchant navy official, "These guys can't stand Western culture or music, making Britney's hits perfect. It's so effective, ships' security rarely needs to resort to firing guns." What I can't get my head around is whether or not this should be construed as a compliment or insult to Britney's musical prowess.

Asteroids - The United Nations agreed to set up an "International Asteroid Warning Group" to share information with member nations if astronomers spot a deadly, earthbound asteroid. The U.N. said it would help coordinate a mission to deflect the asteroid by flying a spaceship into it. So here's my question--what's the deal for non-member nations? I'm thinking the possibility of an asteroid hitting the planet becomes public domain knowledge rather quickly.  Seriously, are we going to let an asteroid hit Romania because it isn't a member nation? What about the European nations that did sign on who just happen to border luckless Romania?

Potpourri - By the numbers edition

• Mongolia - There are 3 million horses in Mongolia compared to just 2.75 million people. Yeah, but as long as people are the only ones with opposable thumbs, I think we are okay, even if we are in the minority.
• Scotland - The world's shortest scheduled flight lasts just 47 seconds and covers just over 1 miles on Scotland's Orkney Islands. I'm thinking the on board service isn't much to write home about either.
• Legos - It would take 40 billion Lego bricks stacked one atop the other to reach the moon. Not to mention someone (or a lot of someones) with an extraordinary amount of free time (and lack of ambition to do anything productive) to stack all those bricks.
• Ketchup - Ketchup travels .02 miles per hour when poured out of a bottle. That's why I go straight for the ketchup packets.
• Infectious Disease - 13 U.S. facilities have bio-safety level 4 labs for handling outbreaks for which there is no treatment or vaccine. 30 new contagious diseases have been investigated by the Center for Disease Control in the last 12 months. 75% of recently emerging infectious diseases among humans have originated in animals. First observation. Do you think they offer facility tours? I can think of a few people I'd like to send complementary tickets to. Second observation. 30 new diseases in the past year? And those are just the ones we've stumbled upon (probably by sheer dumb luck). It's amazing that the human race has survived this long.

Did You Know? #46

What does zenzizenzizenzic mean?

It is the eighth power of any number. 256 is zenzizenzizenzic--it is two to the eighth power (2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x2).

Answer to Nov 13 Posting: Believe it or not, all four stories are true.

Did You Know? #45

What do the following jobs have in common: Chair of the Federal Reserve, CEO of a top US Bank, Chief Justice, Vice President and President.

They are top jobs no woman has ever held. 

President Barack Obama nominated Janet Yellen for chief of the Federal Reserve on October 9, a move that could make her the first female leader of the central bank, or of any major central bank in the world.

The 10 largest U.S. banks by total assets are all run by men.

President Obama has placed two women in the High Court with his nominations of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is also the court's first Hispanic justice, and Justice Elena Kagan. Sotomayor and Kagan are the Supreme Court's third and fourth female justices, respectively, but there has yet to be a woman in the position of Chief Justice.

Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin are the only two women to run for vice president on major party tickets. Ferraro ran as a Democrat alongside presidential nominee Walter Mondale in 1984 and Palin shook up the race when she ran with John McCain on the Republican Presidential ticket in 2008. Both candidates lost.

Women have been running for president since 1872 when Victoria Woodhull, a leader in the women's suffrage movement, ran as part of the Equal Rights Party. Still, no woman has been able to run as the presidential candidate on a major party ticket --though many have tried. Hillary Clinton came closest to winning the nomination of a major political party when she ran in 2008.

What Caught My Eye Today - China, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Economic Growth, North Dakota

China - Choking smog all but shut down Harbin, the capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people, in the country's first major air pollution crisis of the winter. An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of the city. A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20. To put it another way, the current particulate matter in Harbin  is 50 times the recommended limit. Kind of makes Los Angeles seem like a bastion of pristine air, doesn't it? The smog not only forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for winter. All this on the first day of winter? Oy vey! Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters. I'm thinking not being able to breath trumps the lack of visibility. Air quality in Chinese cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leadership because it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising inequality in the world's second-largest economy. Pish posh. How much of a fuss can a measly 11 million people --who cannot breathe, mind you -- cause?

Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan government officials accidentally announced the re-election of incumbent President Ilham Aliyev a day before the polls opened. I've heard of calling a race a bit prematurely on election night, but a whole day before the election was held. Wow, those exit polls must be really, really good. The Central Election Commission's smartphone application show Aliyev winning a third term with 73% of the vote, with just 7.4% going to the opposition candidate. The Commission quickly retracted the results saying that it had mistakenly republished the last election's results. Surely, an honest mistake, right? However, since the opposition candidate did not run in the last election, the excuse seems implausible. Or perhaps not. The country has never held an election that Western observers deemed free and fair. Obviously Azerbaijan doesn't care a great deal about what us pesky Western's think.

Morocco - Protesters staged a "kiss in" in support of a teenage couple who were arrested after posting photos of their kiss on Facebook. Oh the horror! The boy and girl were charged with violating public decency. I say public floggings for all those involved in this heinous act. Public displays of affection? It is amazing the depths to which our civilization has fallen. An online campaign to kiss publicly in front of Parliament drew more than 2,000 supporters, but only about a dozen couples actually kissed at the protest. Way to make a statement, people. Morocco has been growing more conservative since Islamists swept the 2011 elections in the wake of Arab Spring democratic reforms. Don't these people get it? Democratic reforms are supposed to reflect what the Western world sees as acceptable, not what the people actually want. Seriously, how dense can you be?

Economic Growth - Recent studies have concluded that if not for the multiple "fiscal crises" created by Congress over the past two years, another 2 million Americans would have jobs, the unemployment rate would have dropped below 6.7%, and The growth of the GDP would be close to 4%, instead of 2.5%. And champagne would rain down from the heavens...but I digress. The study found that Congress's fiscal cliff and debt ceiling emergencies have unsettled markets and employers, kept consumers in a cautious crouch, and paralyzed the entire system with uncertainty. Apparently, the Great Recession wasn't challenging enough. The 5% annual cut in federal spending forced by the sequester has been found to be too drastic and has retarded growth. One can only assume that someone in Washington discovered that some of us still had some retirement savings that survived and decided something had to be done to remedy that anomaly.

North Dakota - Nine out of 10 workers lured by North Dakota's oil boom are men, but there is a peripheral industry that is attracting women: exotic dancing. Fascinating how opportunities arises under the most unexpected circumstances. Then again, we are talking about a lot of testosterone filled men with loads of cash and not much to spend it on. Strippers can bank over $2000 a night in oil boomtowns. Prostitution is also on the rise. I totally get this. Sit in a strip club for a few hours and you are bound to get a little hot and bothered. A clear cut case of cause and effect if ever there was one.  Hospitals note that rates of chlamydia doubled between 2010 and 2011. Yup, more cause and effect. Speaking of which, you can sort of see this last item coming from a mile away. Local women have also complained that the roving bands of unattached, restless young men have created a culture of constant sexual harassment.

Did You Know? #44

What company is the United States largest private employer?

At the end of the 2013 fiscal year, Wal-Mart employed more than 1.3 million worked in the United States. Wal-Mart has a global workforce of nearly 2.2 million. Rounding out the top five are:

2. Yum Brands (owner of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut) - 523,000
3. McDonald's - 440,000
4. IBM - 434,246
5. United Parcel Service - 399,000

What Caught My Eye Today - U.S. Government, Climate Change, Silence, Potpourri

U.S. Government - Yes, Virginia, not only does Santa Claus exist, but the United States Congress does occasionally pass legislation. The U.S. Congress approved an 11th-hour deal to end a partial government shutdown and pull the world's biggest economy back from the brink of a historic debt default that could have threatened financial calamity. Almost sounds too good to be true. The down-to-the-wire deal, however, offers only a temporary fix and does not resolve the fundamental issues of spending and deficits that divide Republicans and Democrats. And there it is. It funds the government until January 15 and raises the debt ceiling until February 7, so Americans face the possibility of another bitter budget fight and another government shutdown early next year. Seeing as this is an off election year, political pundits and late night comedians must be thrilled at the prospect of having something to talk about for the next few months. In the end, the Democratic-led Senate overwhelmingly passed the measure on a 81-18 vote, and the Republican-controlled House followed suit 285 to 144. In addition to lifting the federal debt limit, the deal calls for creating a House-Senate bipartisan commission to try to come up with long-term deficit-reduction ideas that would have to be approved by the full Congress. Correct me if I am mistaken, but hasn't Congress been down this road before and failed? That's how we ended up with debt sequestration earlier this year. Their work would have to be completed by December 13, but some lawmakers say the panel faces an extremely difficult task. For the optimists (there must be a few of you left out there) I offer this...If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. For everyone else (myself included)... Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Seeing as the government shutdown is now over (temporarily), we have retired "Let Me Count the Days...Since the U.S. Government Shut Down" portlet, but fear not. This glorious moment in U.S. History will live on in the "Let Me Count the Days Hall of Fame" portlet.

Climate Change - If you thought the United States was in shambles, bear in mind, things could always be worse. Case in point... A Pacific islander is seeking recognition as the world's first climate change refugee in New Zealand as rising seas threaten his low-lying homeland. The man launched an appeal against a decision by New Zealand immigration authorities to refuse him refugee status and deport him to Kiribati in the central Pacific after his visa expired. The case has the potential to set an international precedent, not only for Kiribati's 100,000 residents but for all populations threatened by man-made climate change. Show of hands, please. Who would like to sit in the jury box for this case? If the appeal is successful, the man would become the world's first climate refugee. I wonder if you get to be in the Guiness Book of World Records for something like this. That would totally take the sting out of losing  your homeland to rising ocean levels.  Kiribati is among a number of island states, including Tuvalu, Tokelau and the Maldives, that the UN Human Rights Commission is concerned could become "stateless" due to climate change. Kiribati government's has raised the prospect of relocating the entire population or building man-made islands to rehouse them if predictions the sea will rise by more than 3 feet by the end of the century prove accurate. It has also moved to buy 5,000 acres of land in Fiji to act as a farm for Kiribati if salt-water pollution means the islands in the former British colony can no longer produce crops. How often have you read something containing the phrase, "wiped off the face of the Earth" and chalked it up to hyperbole? Here's a very real situation where we are talking about entire nations being swallowed up by the ocean in a matter of decades. This is serious stuff.

Silence - Struggling to come up with meaningful dinner time conversation with that special someone or maybe a business contact with whom you share no common interests? Have I got the perfect dining establishment for you. At the table, silence is golden, especially in noisy New York. That's the gamble a young restaurant owner is taking with patrons, who are prohibited from talking during four-course meals. The project, launched a month ago at Eat in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, has created a buzz in a city where restaurants are often so noisy that they trigger routine complaints. Customers have to reserve days in advance for the privilege of eating without speaking or hearing a word on Friday or Saturday night in the small room that seats 25. For an entire hour, diners savor a menu based on local organic ingredients, watch one another and don't say a word. Cell phones must also be turned off.Customers who dare break the golden rule during the $40 prix fixe meal are forced to finish their plate on a bench outside.  Truth be told, I wouldn't mind seeing that policy implemented for cell phone usage at many of my favorite restaurants. As the dinner ends, after dessert, the silence ends. Some struggle to keep serious in the face of an experience that is the polar opposite of the constant frenzy prevalent in New York.

Potpourri - For those of you who cannot swing a reservation at Eat and, therefore, have to rely on the art of conversation, I offer up these dinnertime topics...

• Oil - The United States may overtake Russia as the world's largest producer of oil and gas in 2013. The U.S.'s monthly production rate has soared to the equivalent of 22 million barrels a day, while Russia's is estimated to be 21.8 million barrels a day. Most of this domestic production comes in the form of natural gas extracted through hydraulic fracturing (fracking), so order up another round of drinks, because a tank of gas will still cost a fortune.
• Chicken - The University of Mississippi conducted analyses of chicken nuggets purchased at two national chains. The first nugget contained 50% muscle meat and the rest composed of fat, blood vessels and nerves. The second nugget contained just 40% meat and the remainder being a combination of fat, cartilage and pieces of bone. Okay, maybe you want to skip this one.
• Dogs - Two dozen cities have banned retail dog sales, meaning canine pets will only be available via shelters and animal rescue organizations. The bans are based on evidence of widespread cruelty, overcrowding and starvation at high-volume commercial breeding businesses, or "puppy mills" that supply most dogs to pet stores. Isn't there enough pain and suffering in this world without some tool mass producing dogs with no regard for their welfare? Yeah, yeah, I know the same can be said for the animals who end up on my dinner plate, but there is something about a dog that just seems to pull at your heart strings.

Did You Know? #43

How long can humans live?

Most scientists agree that the maximum human life span is currently about 125 years. Most people fall far short of that because of poor diet, self destructive habits, disease or organ failure. Advances in medicine have already extended the average human life span in most modern nations from 46 in 1900 to 78 today.

What Caught My Eye Today - Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Arctic, Potpourri

Turkey - Kurds in Turkey are now allowed to use the letters Q, W and X - not found in Turkish - to spell their names. Interestingly, there are more than a handful of both boy and girl Kurdish names that start with one of these letter, to say nothing about the number of names that contain one of these letters (click here to see what I mean). The change is part of a package of reforms announced by the Turkish government that gives more rights to Kurds, including the right to use Kurdish spellings of their names and towns on official documents. The Islamist-leaning government also lifted a decades-long ban on women's headscarves in public offices, in what is seen as a step away from Turkey's rigorous separation of mosque and state. I find it curious that a movement by the government to provide more personal freedoms is seen by some as blurring the lines between church and state, or in this case mosque and state. On a completely different note, what do you think are the chances that the Turkish government's decision to allow these letters to be used will inspire the Hawaiian language to to expand beyond its current use of 5 vowels and 8 consonants?

Saudi Arabia - I've read this story multiple times and still cannot get my head around these guys were thinking. Saudi religious authorities are resorting to scare tactics to deter women for participating in a driving protest. Feminists are calling on Saudi women to defy the country's ban on women driving cars by getting behind the wheel on October 26. In addition to shutting down the campaign's website and Facebook page, religious officials are warning that driving hurts women's child bearing prospects. Prominent clerics say that driving "affects the ovaries and pushes the pelvis upward resulting in children with clinical problems of varying degrees."  Saudi women must shroud their faces and bodies entirely in public and many not travel without a male companion. When I think of scare tactics, the first thing that comes to mind is violence. In fact, none of the things that I can think of come remotely close to the absurdity of what these officials are saying. One questions the logic of such a ploy. Think about it. The women who are likely to participate in this protest are probably somewhat progressive thinking. I doubt such nonsense, even if it comes from "prominent clerics," will have any significant influence on these women.

Arctic - The Northwest Passage is open for trade.  Carrying a heavy load of coal the Nordic Orion became the first large cargo vessel to transport goods through the Arctic from Vancouver to Finland. The ship can carry 25% more coal on the Arctic route than it could if it had to pass through the shallow Panama Canal, and the route - more than 1,000 nautical miles shorter - saves 4 days. Global warming has made the passage possible. Cause for celebration? I find it ironic that the example cited, involves one of the materials most responsible for global warming in the first place.

Potpourri

• Life Expectancy - According to the Department of Health and Human Services, over the last 30 years, the difference in life expectancy between the poorest and richest 10% of Americans has grown. The richest 10% live more than 4.5 years longer than the poorest 10%. Lovely. Not only is the wealth gap getting wider, but now those greedy bastards have even more time to rub our noses in it.
• Fast Food - McDonald's posted its slowest ever drive-through times, an average of 189.5 seconds, more than 9 seconds longer than the industry average. The slowdown is attributed to increasingly complex recipes for fast food. Mind you, that complex doesn't necessarily mean the food tastes better, and it certainly doesn't mean that the food will be any healthier. On the contrary. My guess is that it takes longer to pack all those extra calories into the food.
• Profit - Computer maker Apple's 2012 profits outpaced the combined net profits of Coca-Cola, Google and IBM.  The company's cash reserves of $147 billion accounts for 10% of all non-financial corporate cash in the United States. I wonder what the life expectancy for Apple executives is?

Did You Know? #42 / Milestone Reached

Fred's Note: Before we get to the actual question of the day, did you know that this is posting #800? In honor of this momentous occasion, I've added a new entry to Let Me Count the Days. Be sure to check it out. And, if you were curious to see how it all began, click here.

What is the most number of people to be on the International Space Station at one time?

The largest number of people occupying the International Space Station at the same time was 13 when the space shuttle Endeavour docked in 2009. Normal capacity is 6.

What Caught My Eye Today - Spain, China, Second Amendment

Spain - The Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (English: Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family), is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (1852–1926).  It is known as one of the most intricate and ornate works of architecture on Earth and, for the first time, it is possible to see what it will look like when it's completed – a full 144 years after construction began in 1882. But that's still 13 years away.  My wife and I were recently talking about how long it was taking our contractor to finish our bathroom remodel, 7 months and counting. And then you read something like this. Just goes to show that everything is a matter of perspective. Still 144 years? What the hell? Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI consecrated and proclaimed it a minor basilica, as distinct from a cathedral which must be the seat of a bishop. La Sagrada Familia, the iconic emblem of Barcelona, Spain, and one of Europe's most popular tourist attractions, won't be finished until 2026. The president of the committee in charge of finishing the massive building has declared it will be ready in time for the centenary of Gaudi's death in 1926, when the work was only a quarter finished. Gaudi – known as “God’s architect” – once famously said of the basilica, “my client is in no hurry.” I'm curious if wonder boy was given this moniker by an admiring public or if this was more of a self-proclaimed honor. Though one of the world’s most well-known architectural masterpieces, La Sagrada Familia has not been universally loved through its long construction. George Orwell wrote in his memoir of the Spanish Civil War that the basilica was “one of the most hideous buildings in the world.” Maybe, and I'm just speculating here, but is it possible that Gaudi overcharge Orwell for some work on his summer villa. You have to keep an eye on those architects and contractor. They're a shady lot. 

China - The Beijing Weather Modification Office is tasked with weather control in Beijing and its surrounding areas. Weather control, huh? Is that sort of like brain modification? I wonder how Mother Nature feels about that. The work of the Office is largely aimed at hailstorm prevention or making rain to end droughts. Cloud seeding increased precipitation in Beijing by about one-eighth in 2004. Nationwide, similar efforts added 7.4 trillion cubic feet of rain between 1995 and 2003. The Beijing Weather Modification Office has also induced precipitation for purposes of firefighting or counteracting the effect of severe dust storms.  Laudable results at first glance, still I cannot help but think there is a downside to tinkering with the weather. It was in action to clear the air for China's National Day this week by early afternoon it appeared to have done a great job. The sky was blue and the air was rid of the thick smog that had engulfed the city for several days. I sense a "but" coming on.  Unfortunately, the timing was a bit off. The consensus was that the Weather Modification Office misfired this time forcing Communist Party leaders to brave torrential rain and slosh through puddles at the National Day celebrations in Tiananmen Square. That's probably not a good sign. Apart from the ceremony, presided over by Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping, the square was almost completely deserted. The manipulators themselves have said nothing, neither confirming or denying they were working. No kidding. Personally, I'd be looking for a way to quietly leave the country to avoid being quietly executed by some pretty pissed off government officials. Other proposed future uses for induced precipitation include lowering temperatures in summer, in hopes of reducing electricity consumption. The Beijing Weather Modification Office boasts of more than 500,000 weather modifications since 2002.

Second Amendment - Here's a rather fascinating perspective on the right to bear arms, courtesy of the British press. Counting suicides, homicides, and accidental shootings, guns kill 32,000 people a year in the United States. If another country were killing its own people at such rates, the U.S. would demand intervention. It's as if gun advocates cannot do simple math. They tolerate no deaths from terrorism, spending $649 billion on homeland security and accepting all kinds of restrictions on personal freedoms. But they reject any curb on guns, which have killed 364,000 Americans since September 11, 2001. Here's an interesting fact. The number of Americans killed in all wars since 1775 is 1.17 million, while the number of Americans killed by firearms ins 1968 is 1.38 million. Only international pressure can jolt the American public into action. The slaughter has reached the point where it has ceased to be a domestic issue. The world cannot stand idly by. On one hand, you kind of get the feeling these guys are poking fun at Americans. Then again, everything they say is pretty darned spot on.

What Caught My Eye Today - Peru, Mexico, Space Tourism, Potpourri

Peru - If you look long enough, you are sure to find a list where you rank number one. That said, I'm not sure my Peruvian friends will be breaking out the bubbly for this particular distinction. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime announced that 60,400 hectares of coca were planted last year in Peru. Although this is a 3.4% drop in the area cultivated from the previous year, a 25% drop in Colombia means Peru has taken on the dubious distinction of top producer. Now then, if I'm Colombian, I'm totally celebrating with as much Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne as my drug money can buy. Though fumigation and forced eradication policies are sharply criticized for their repressive nature, today Colombia's coca crop is just 48,000 hectares, according to UN estimates for 2012, 20% less than Peru's. Bolivia is the number three producer with 25,300 hectares under cultivation. The growth of Peru's importance as a coca grower can also be explained by shifting markets for cocaine. The United States remains the largest market worldwide for the drug and U.S. officials estimate 80% of the cocaine that hits U.S. streets is Colombian. But Brazil, with a booming middle class, has become the world's second largest market, and together with Argentina it is an important transshipment point for Europe. Fascinating, don't you find, that increases in cocaine consumption seems to have a direct correlation to increases in the middle class? It may be true that money cannot buy you happiness, but it certain seems capable if getting you a pretty good buzz.

Mexico - For many, the first experience of Mexico City is a sprawling airport and an appalling stink. I was going to go with a mariachi band, but sure, we can go with "appalling stick" I guess. The odor problems are a result of poorly managed wastewater and trash in a sprawling metropolis whose population — 20 million by official count — outgrew its infrastructure decades ago. The city's sewage pipes and an underground drainage tunnel, which has to accommodate sewage and storm water, were built more than 50 years ago, and the population in the metropolitan area has doubled since then. To make matters worse, the city pumps so much water from underground aquifers that some neighborhoods sink by up to a foot a year, which further disrupts the draining of sewage. Sewage pumps have been built throughout the city and work constantly to suck sewage-laced water out of the rapidly sinking, mountain-ringed lakebed on which the city was built more than 600 years ago. The pumps have venting stacks that spew foul-smelling gas into the sky, including from a large yellow horse figure that doubles as a piece of public art. I'm reminded of an old Eddie Murphy comedy routine where the family dog's waste had accumulated so much that piles of the stuff were starting to resemble furniture. A visitor says to the father, "What a lovely end table," to which the father responds, "That's not an end table, that's a piece of s--t!" Of course this situation is a bit different. It seems government officially actually intended this thing to be art. Sure, why not. The sewage system in the metropolitan area currently processes more than 13,000 gallons of sewage water every second. Seems pretty impressive, that is until you get to that 13,001 gallon.

Space Tourism - It’s T minus one year and counting before the outer reaches of the atmosphere become a holiday destination. Virgin Galactic claims that commercial space travel is about to become a reality and is on track to start offering out-of-this world mini breaks in 2014. Earlier this month, the company’s spacecraft (the SpaceShip Two VSS Enterprise) and its carrier craft completed a second successful test flight, hitting supersonic speeds in the process. Virgin Galactic plans to build a fleet of spacecraft, each capable of carrying six passengers on suborbital space flights. I don't want to split hairs, but it doesn't actually seem like these flights will be taking me to an actual destination. I get the adrenaline thing, but to say that a brief encounter in in suborbital space is a destination; that just smacks of false advertising if you ask me. It means that holidaymakers won’t be encountering any passing satellites but that they will get to experience true out-of-the-seat zero gravity as well as quite frankly astounding views of their home planet that until now, only the 500 or so people in history who have traveled beyond the Earth’s atmosphere and into space have been able to see. Even though the spacecraft won’t be voyaging into deep space, star gazing will still be possible as a number of Hollywood’s A-list have already signed up for seats, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Justin Bieber, Ashton Kutcher and Leonardo DiCaprio. It's nice to see that technology is making space travel accessible to the general public, you know, regular joes like my boys Brad, Ashton and the Beibmeister.

Potpourri - Today's edition celebrates the wonders of science.

• Fossils - The oldest dinosaur fossil on record is 230 million years old while the oldest cockroach fossil dates back 315 million years. I hear that researchers found the cockroach fossil in the remains of a Twinkie wrapper. 
• Water (Part I) - In the 100 years (between 1900 and 2008) the United States has lost some 240 cubic miles of groundwater, enough to fill Lake Erie twice. The rate of groundwater depletion has roughly doubled in the past two decades. One gets the vibe that this is a harbinger of bad things to come.
• Water (Part II) - Deep inside a Canadian mine, pockets of extra salty water have been discovered, some of which are estimated to be 2.6 billion years old, the oldest on the planet. Let's summarize what we've learned there--a cockroach fossil that is 315 million years old and a water sample over 2 billion years old. Kind of calls in to question that whole creationism thing, don't it?

Did You Know? #41

Fred's Note: I just got my first copy of Popular Science magazine. At the risk of stating the obvious, I will occasionally pass along an item or two in future blog posts starting with this "special" Did You Know.


What would happen if you got zapped by the Large Hadron Collider?

Interestingly, the answer starts out with a detailed explanation of how this could never happen due to the fail safe mechanisms built into the Large Hadron Collider. 

Each of the collider's two proton beams comprises 320 trillion particles, so the total energy delivered is a blazing 362 megajoules, enough to melt about half a ton of copper. Science lesson #1: A joule can also be defined as the work required to produce one watt of power for one second. A megajoule is equal to one million joules. 1 kilowatt-hour is 1000 watts times 3600 seconds, or 3.6 megajoules. Assuming you could manage to squeeze your face inside the collider, what would happen next is unclear. I think we can all agree that whatever happens next is likely to be rather unpleasant. Then again, why would you put your noodle in front of a particle collider if you weren't looking for an unpleasant outcome? Physical damage would depend upon how many protons collided with nuclei in your flesh and how many zipped through undisturbed, like plankton through a net. The beam would almost certainly burn a hole through your face, but the shape of the hole would be hard to determine. Yeah, the shape of the hole is what I would be focusing on, rather than the fact that part of my face has just been vaporized. When protons smack into a target, they fling off secondary particles in different directions, which can themselves set off another round of collisions. as a result, proton beams create a hole that spreads out laterally the deeper it goes, like a large cone. Science lesson #2: Science is not only educational, but fun too (and maybe just a little bit creepy).

Run, Fred, Run Update - Sep 2013

Fred's Note: I finished my trek across the Florida panhandle last week.   Jackson, FL was my last stop before turning north and I just managed to make it into Georgia before the end of the month. I'll log about 110 miles in the Peach State then work my way into the Palmetto State (aka South Carolina).

Total miles to date: 3,005.0
Number of marathons (26.2mi): 114.7
States visited: 9 (CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL, GA)
States to go: 24
Miles to go: 5451.0

What Caught My Eye Today - Venezuela, Ecuador, Iowa, Yachting, Asteriods

Venezuela - Venezuela is running out of newsprint. For those of you who have been paying attention, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  These guys have a difficult time managing to get their hands on lots of stuff (click here). The government has been consistently denying import permits to importers who what to sell newsprint to opposition papers. Five newspapers have already shut down, and many more have only a few weeks' worth of paper left. State-run newspapers which parrot a pro-government line, are flush with paper. So to be fair, Venezuela isn't technically running out of newsprint. Rather the government is restricting access to newsprint.  And you have to applaud the creativity of the regime.  The government isn't stopping the press from reporting the news. The press just doesn't have anything to print the news on. Here in the U.S., that probably isn't as big of a deal, what with most folks getting their news online. 

Ecuador - Ecuador has given up on its first attempt at keeping a surveillance satellite in orbit. Seriously, these guys managed to launch a satellite? Who knew. The 3-pound nanosatellite was launched in April from a Chinese space center and had a great run for a couple of weeks, sending back live video of Ecuador and the surrounding region as it passed overhead. But in May, it bumped into some space debris for an old Russian rocket and went offline. Don't you just hate when that happens? Ecuador's space agency said it admitted defeat in trying to revive the satellite and has presented the appropriate claim to its insurance company. How much would you give to look over the shoulder of the insurance processor who has to handle that claim?

Iowa - Iowa grants gun permits to blind people. I don't make this stuff up, I merely mock it. State officials concede that being unable to see what you're shooting is not ideal, but say that failing to grant the permits would violate the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. "...Being unable to see what you're shooting is not ideal." There's an understatement if ever there was one. Other states impose a vision requirement or require applicants to take a field test to prove they can hit a target. Does anyone else wonder why Iowan lawmakers seem incapability of applying common sense like other states to avoid a situation like this? I guess this sort of "out of the box thinking" is a foreign concept to them.

Yachting - What do you do when you have $44 billion? Pretty much anything you want.  In the case of Larry Ellison, you stage a historic boat race and win the America's Cup for a second time. Oracle Team USA have won the America's Cup with one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. Oracle's space-age, 72-foot catamaran sped to its eighth straight victory over Emirates Team New Zealand  by 44 seconds in the winner-take-all Race 19 on San Francisco Bay to keep the oldest trophy in international sports in the United States. The team won 11 races to score the 9 points required for victory due to a penalty imposed by the International Jury. On September 18, Oracle Team USA trailed the series 8-1. With the challenger on match point, the defender closed out the series with eight consecutive victories. This is the second America’s Cup win for Oracle Team USA which won the 162-year-old trophy in Valencia, Spain, in February 2010. What do you do if you don't have $44 billion? Take an extended lunch hour and watch a historic boat race, and then...take the rest of the day off to celebrate. Don't get me wrong. I know less than nothing about boat racing, but I am a world class genius when it comes to avoiding work.

Asteroids - Yes, friends, time for another update on the possibility of Armageddon.  I know we've had some near misses recently. Dec 21, 2012...what a letdown. But let's not lose faith just yet.  It appears there is a rock speeding towards Earth. Sounds promising.  (35396) 1997 XF11 is a near-Earth and Mars-crosser asteroid which has been predicted to make an exceptionally close approach to Earth  on October 26, 2028, at a distance of 580,000 miles, about 2.4 times the Earth-Moon distance. Doesn't the name just send shivers up your spine? Researchers have concluded XF11 has no reasonable possibility of an Earth impact, and vastly less than the probability of impact from the as-yet-undiscovered asteroids. Hold on a second. No reasonable possibility is not the same as no possibility. So there's still a chance it could hit us. And even if it does miss us, it sounds like there's a better chance of us getting blind sided by something we haven't even detected yet. Rock on!

Did You Know? #40

How many Chinese cities have more than 1 million people?

According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, which conducted Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China in 2010, there are 146 cities with populations exceeding 1 million. Since 2000, China's cities have expanded at an average rate of 10% annually. By 2025, the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants and it is estimated that China's urban population exceed one billion. 

China's 5 Largest Cities:

Shanghai - 22,265,426
Beijing - 19,295,000
Tianjin - 11,090,314
Guangzhou - 11,070,654
Shenzhen - 10,357,938