Oh heavens, we'd like to meet the fashionista for whom these would be a must-have item. It's not that we're surprised that Louis Vuitton has dabbled in miscellanea - we know they've produced dice, cards and even phones (yes, and not the shanzhai ones we've seen in the shadier tech malls) - it's more that the types of girls we know who love Louis Vuitton don't really sustain themselves on much else. All the better, we suppose, for these chopsticks - at 450 U.S. dollars a pair, you probably shouldn't be using them to eat anyway. Source:Sina

This new finding on the domestication of canines, published in the New York Times, explains so much. Stockholm researchers have found that wolves may have first been tamed for their meat. And the place that first decided our four-legged friends were probably tasty? Southern China. How did scientists come across this factoid? Usually the region with the greatest amount of genetic diversity is the point of origin, since a species loses diversity as it spreads. That place is Southern China. Also, dog bones with cut marks have been found at archaeological sites in the area. Like with any scientific theory, there are a lot of caveats - "genomic archaeology" is an incredibly new field, many think diversity is just as high in African village dogs and there's the possibility that dogs were domesticated at a different site and then spread to everywhere but China. But isn't it kind of funny to think that, even 10,000 years ago, China was chomping on stir-fried Fido?

We're not sure if this is more insensitive or illogical, but I Love Shanghai is hosting a 9/11 tribute party with Jack Daniels cocktail specials. Normally, we "celebrate" national tragedies with a more solemn half-mast approach, but we guess with good old JD coming to the party, anything could happen! As transplanted New Yorkers, we're kind of offended at the blatant exploitation of September 11th and we're not convinced that 25 yuan whiskey cocktails are how you "keep it real" in these circumstances. Needless to say, we have better things to do on Friday, but if you go, expect a ton of Darryl Worley singalongs, footage of the 2004 Republican National Convention, and if you're lucky, an exclusive screening of World Trade Center with Nick Cage.

Back in the day, before Tong Ren Lu became the predominant strip of seediness for Shanghai, we would cruise down Julu Lu and Maoming Lu for our dose of pointing at old expats trying to get laid (as well as some drinks and partying, of course). We went into a fit of depression when Maoming Lu lost its luster five or six years ago. And now we must bid goodbye to Julu Lu as well. Urbanatomy reports that the street is nothing but "hollow shells wallowing in clouds of asbestos dust" now, probably thanks to one of the city's many initiatives to clean itself up. New York lost part of its charm when those XXX theaters on Times Square closed. Is Shanghai going to be more boring from now on too?