Robs' Blog: incoherencies from an american ex-pat in exotic beijing,
  or: how i learned to stop worrying and love bureaucracy

While walking down Lin Da Bei Lu on the way to lunch at one of the neighborhood Muslim restaurants (damn good food at an excellent price... a great meal for two at under 35 rmb), I saw this:

These are pig hearts, which have been salted, and have been hung out to dry and cure. I've been told that this is a common sight in China. But, well, I can tell you that this certainly isn't oft seen in my old neck of the woods.

Then again, it certainly beats the strange fruit which has adorned trees in America:

   Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
   For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
   For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
   Here is a strange and bitter crop.

btw, I much prefer Nina Simone's version to that of Billie Holiday. Nina's voice had a soulfulness and honesty that I don't think Lady Day's possessed.

I just ran across this version of the song on YouTube. It is extremely graphic... but something that sportscasters and other pundits should remember when they quip about lynching someone.