China's President Hu Jintao held a news conference with foreign journalists -- his first newser in six years. The news conference was by invitation only, and questions had to be submitted in advance.

Sounds like Canadian national political reporters could have felt right at home. :)

Maclean's has reported on what it says is a push by some Islamic countries to control negative talk about Islam and Muslims.

Barbara Amiel wrote the following in the current Maclean's:

What does it matter if one well-off elderly white woman with too many pairs of expensive shoes now finds her social life largely limited to visiting her dearly missed husband in a U.S. federal correctional institution.

My headline summarizes my feelings about that sentence. :)

From the Guardian:

China has lifted blocks on long-barred websites for journalists after coming under fire over censorship.

I brought you the following yesterday: Boring Britney.

Apparently, there was a meeting in Los Angeles yesterday. One city councillor wants a crackdown on paparazzi. He's furious after learning that the city spent $25,000 on policing to escort Britney Spears to the hospital earlier this year when she had her breakdown.

L.A. Police Chief William Bratton had this to say:

"If you notice, since Britney started wearing clothes and behaving; Paris is out of town not bothering anybody any more, thank God, and evidently, Lindsay Lohan has gone gay, we don't seem to have much of an issue," he told KNBC-TV.

From the July 31 Globe and Mail:

When a guy dressed in a beaver suit can arrive on a Vancouver street corner and score some heroin within minutes, it highlights a serious problem in the city. So says the program director of a local radio station whose morning show performed the bit live on the air.

Early Thursday afternoon, I walked by the Stem for the first time in about a month.

I'd hoped for breakfast, but I saw a sign saying closed for renovations.

The Stem needs renovating?!?! Are menu changes in the mix too? Are they planning to take the Stem Club off the menu?

Who's next? The Vesta? The Only?

As an aside, I've always been amused by the Vesta's slogan: "Reputable since 1955."

But in 1954 or earlier, stay away. :)

Two teenage girls along with two guys are walking in my nabe about 12:25 a.m. One calls her mother to give an update.

TG1: My mother's with her boyfriend. I swear she's more wrecked than I am.

TG2: I passed out before 11. I vomited.