Year of the Snake

Happy Lunar New Year! The Year of the Dragon had ended; according to the zodiac it’s now the Year of the Snake. The reptilian year is being celebrated across Asia and around the world. 

Many young people in China travel home to see in the new year with their families, and some receive the traditional greeting “Why aren’t you married?”  In the new free-market China this has spawned a seasonal industry, Rent-a-Holiday-Boyfriend or -Girlfriend, to help ease the pressure. The holiday is also celebrated with truckloads of fireworks, “gifts,” lots of food, TV specials, and lion dances.

Starbucks Invades Vietnam

Starbucks is moving into Vietnam, and will open its first coffeehouse in Ho Chi Min City next month.  The chain already has 3,300 stores in 11 other countries in the China and Asia-Pacific region.

Talk about bringing coals to Newcastle. Vietnam has plenty of bad coffee already — they grow it. The country is the number one coffee exporter in the world. Last year Vietnam exported more coffee beans than Brazil, but they’re cheap robusta beans, not high-quality arabica beans like Starbucks uses.

The Vietnamese do drink lots of coffee, but they like it thicker than Starbucks’ dreadful Pike Place Roast. And then there’s the price issue. Per capita income in Vietnam is about US $1,270, and that won’t buy a lot of latte at ”Fourbucks.”

More:

“Vietnam coffee shops not too worried by Starbucks’ arrival,” Mike Ives, AP via MSN News

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Image (“Starbucks World Domination”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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Respected World Leader Dead

The world lost a beloved statesman this weekend.

That’s right, Václav Havel.

In other news, oddly deranged dictator Kim Jong Il dropped dead on a train.

More:

“The Psychology of Dictatorship: Kim Jong-Il,” Jason G. Goldman, Scientific American

“Dear Leaders and a Volcano,” David Bressan, History of Geology

“Kim Jong Il: Top 10 weird facts about N Korea’s late leader,”Amanda Morrow, GlobalPost

“On the Spot with Kim Jong-il,” Boston Globe photo archive.

“The Way to Understand Kim Jong-il Was Through His Stomach,” Barbara Demick, Daily Beast

“Kim Jong-il’s regime is even weirder and more despicable than you thought,” Christopher Hitchens, Slate

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Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-bVJ

Image (“Kim Jong Il Has Left the Building”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

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