Crazy that just a simple annoucement in newspaper got thousands of people rushing to Bird’s Nest. Granted, the news started with a vague article from the authoritative Xinhua News Agency saying parts of the Olympic Park is open to public for free; which is then widely (mis)quoted as “Bird’s Nest and Water Cube is open to public for free for a week, to celebrate the one year anniversary of the BJ Olympics”.

While many are frustrated by this particular incidence, overall, the Bird Nest seems to hold up extremely well as a tourist spot after the Olympics. Didnt become “ghost towns” like stadiums in Athens and other Olympic cities. RMB50 entrance fee is not cheap; but its also not prohibitive, at least not for those who came to BJ especially for it.

PS – the People’s Stadium in RMB City is free, all year round! Come!

There seems to be lots of plant (or farming) terms as analogies for our economy today.

Optimists have been talking of “green shoots” since almost 6 months ago. Roubini, a leading economist, didnt think that’s likely (at least not as of May). He thought its more “yellow weeds”, that could potentially turn into “brown manure” (now that’s going to stink!). Faber, another “Dr Doom”, maintained that “ultimate crisis” has yet to arrive. (Sorry I know this isnt a “plant” – but you cant get more pessimistic than an ultimate crisis…worth the record here)

But last week, Roubini said the worse of the financial crisis is over, and the US economy will come out of a recession by 2009 year-end.

Seems getting a consensus on the economy is as difficult as having a sunny nice weekend in Hong Kong these days. But to extend the plant analogy, dont you see different plants in different locales of the world? The same way that July is winter in Australia and summer in Japan, on the economy, you will see regions like China emerging from the recesssion sooner than anyone else (hence green shoots – or bamboos?). You see regions like UK or Eastern Europe still in deep troubles (yellow weed at best!). But even within these troubled regions, you will see “cactus” that grows in extreme weather!

The analogy goes on, and you can see the world economy as one big “garden” I guess…I wonder, is SL “in sync” with RL? What sort of garden and what kinds of plants do we see in SL, to extend the RL analogy?