I just raided our pantry because a student at the local HS came by to ask for donations for a canned food drive. I do realize the irony in that fact that I just got done telling J! that we are low on funds for the rest of the month and need to be careful even in the grocery shopping, but I'm OK with that. There are always people in the world less fortunate than us. What's more, I know J! knows this, too. I am blessed.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/16/big-news-retail-sales-report

The big news from the retail sales report was that sales rose again and even more than expected--1.4%, which was a full half point more than the consensus forecast.

The core retail spending--the stuff that tends to give a steadier picture and not fluctuate around a lot--rose for the third straight month.  And if you compared the core sales in October 2009 to October last year, it was the first year-over-year increase in 8 months.  In fact, the three-month gain ending in October was the strongest since June 2008. 

This string of gains means that consumer spending is on track to post another gain in the fourth quarter of the year.  From mid 2007 to mid 2009, we had measly growth or outright declines in consumer spending so this is a welcome sign of the beginnings of recovery.

One last thing worth noting in this retail sales report is the fact that consumer spending on motor vehicles posted a big increase.  The report last month showed a decline in sales as the Cash-for-Clunkers program ended.  Some critics argued that the perceived recovery of the economy was only a temporary blip due to people shifting their car purchases forward and sales now would be lower for an extended period.  These data suggest that didn't happen.  They confirm what the private industry sales data already documented. The sales of motor vehicles in October are up to an annual rate that actually exceeds the rate in the eight months before cash-for-clunkers began. 

The President's focus is on recovery and getting people back to work.  Turning the economy around is the necessary first step for job creation.  This report suggests the recovery effort may be picking up steam.

 

Austan Goolsbee is a member of the Council of Economic Advisers

 

• 09:28 Something a little different from Judith Tarr @bookviewcafe today: chapter 1 of A WIND IN CAIRO www.bookviewcafe.com - and Horseblog! #

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Feeling less stressed today. I sorted out a huge point of character motivation/action, and filled in an important [conversation]. And the first half of the book is still fun to read.

Today's random WiP questions:

Who is the saint of hunters?

What is the formal name of Erisín's east gate?

What costume is this assassin wearing when he infiltrates the royal ball?

What are some of Selafai's superstitious cures for the flu?

3+1/2 month personal second-round reject from Abyss & Apex.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/16/word-white-house-talking-points-reform-opponents-pre-determined-study

It's no secret that institutions of all stripes focus their communications on certain messages day to day. We thought it would all be a little more open and transparent if we went ahead and published what our focus will be for the day, along with any related articles, documents, or reports.

Supporting article: "Health bill foes solicit funds for economic study," Washington Post, 11/16/09

Supporting report: "Health Care Reform: Creating a Sustainable Health Care Marketplace," Business Roundtable, November 2009 (pdf)

Talking Points: Reform Opponents' Pre-Determined "Study"

Today's article unmasking their plan to pay a "respected economist" handsomely to produce a "study" with predetermined outcomes is just the latest proof that reform’s opponents will not let the facts get in the way of their efforts to defend to a status quo that has been so profitable for the insurance companies. This so-called study would be at least the third intentionally skewed report as part of the last-ditch effort to safeguard the insurance companies' bottom line at the expense of the American people. You may recall that last month, the insurance lobby offered an "analysis" that even the company who produced it said was skewed because that’s what the insurance companies paid for. And just days after that report, another insurance company produced a similarly flawed study. The only difference this time is that the insurance industry's defenders were caught red-handed before producing their intentionally misleading "study". So whenever we finally see this supposed analysis, we should all take it with a huge grain of salt. The reality is that health insurance reform will save jobs and lower costs for American businesses, families, and the country as a whole. MIT Economist Jon Gruber reports that reform will save about 80,000 jobs in the small business sector over the next decade and could save a typical family thousands of dollars on health care costs. And a recent study from the Business Roundtable confirms that the health care status quo is unsustainable and that reform legislation in Congress is moving in the right direction on cost containment and could reduce premiums by $3,000 over the next decade.

Talking Points: Controlling Costs for Families, Small Businesses, and the Government

From the beginning of this process, President Obama has been clear that health insurance reform must not only provide security and stability for Americans with insurance and affordable options for uninsured Americans, but also slow the unsustainable cost growth that is burdening families, threatening businesses’ viability, and exploding our national deficit. Fortunately, the House and Senate versions of reform share a variety of measures that will reduce the rapid growth in health care costs while also providing Americans with higher quality care including: Changing the way we handle hospitalizations, to prevent mistakes and to prevent unnecessary readmissions. Creating incentives in the payment system to reward quality of care rather than just the quantity of procedures. Giving physicians incentives to collaborate in the coordination of patient care. Investing in research into what works and what doesn't in health care. Reducing hospital-acquired infections and other avoidable health-center acquired conditions through rigorous reporting and transparency. Putting prevention first, rewarding care that focuses on wellness and treating the whole patient in an integrated and coordinated delivery system. Tackling the insurance bureaucracy, streamlining the payment system to save time and money that is now spent processing claims and navigating through the byzantine insurance system. Establishing a health insurance exchange with a public insurance option, where individuals and small businesses can buy lower-cost insurance that will spur competition and put downward pressure on costs. These measures build upon the significant down payment we already made in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to begin switching from paper records to computerized records; to strengthen preventive care; to invest in patient-centered health research; and to build up the workforce of primary care providers. And there are also ideas that will further control cost growth that have been proposed and are being looked at as the legislative process continues, such as: A fee on insurance companies offering high-premium plans — which would create a strong incentive for more efficient plans that would help reduce the growth of premiums. Establishing a Medicare commission — which would develop and submit proposals to Congress aimed at extending the solvency of Medicare, slowing Medicare cost growth, and improving the quality of care delivered to Medicare beneficiaries.

Them as checks regularly will have noticed that chapter 1 of A Wind in Cairo is now up at Book View Cafe. It's on the front page for today but will be available on my Bookshelf indefinitely.

This is all part of a Grand Evil Plan and Holiday Sale. To wit:

From now through December 1st, I will be offering the trade-paper edition of this book at one-third off the official price. That's $16 plus $5 shipping. Aaaannnnnd...here's the extra-special part: each copy you order from me will be signed. This is the brand-new twentieth-anniversary edition with a gorgeous cover by our own neutronjockey, a new introduction, and a bonus short story.

This sale is not available through lulu. It's our own, very special friends-and-extended-family holiday sale. (Yes, you may link and crosspost. Tell people to cite the name of this lj when they place an order.) ( Here's what you do )

All orders must be received and paid by December 1st. I will do my best to get everyone's copies out in time for Solstice.

This is a great gift for the horsekids in your family, and for the fantasy fans, as well as those whose copy of the original, with its ogodawful cover, is starting to show its age. If you haven't seen it before--go read the chapter. It's one of my favorite books-by-moi. I hope you will agree.

Offered without comment -- tyop of the day: "spearapting" for "separating".

Which looks like a good excuse for a link salad:

• Anyone up for a round of Noun: the Gerunding? (via)
  
  
• An analysis of the chatroom/forum problem as it applies to Facebook. (via)
  
  
• The Big Picture has had some good recent entries:
  1. First, it takes on the five-day camel-trading fair of Pushkar Mela, with bonus award-winning mustache. Warning: excellently camelicious.
     
  2. Then there's Mars seen from HiRISE, with bonus Google Mars links for every shot. I suggest a fresh cup of coffee or tea before starting this one.
• The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected antimatter in terrestrial lighting. (via)
  
  
• An alternate history of the Beatles. (via)
  
  
• A twitter feed that's exactly what it says on the tin: http://twitter.com/big_ben_clock. (via)
  
  
• A blog that's exactly what it says on the tin: how to write badly well. I'm especially fond of the object lesson in syllepsis. (via)

---L.

Journalist and non-observant Jew A. J. Jacobs, needing a subject for his next book and interested in the roots of his heritage, decides to spend a year attempting to follow the Bible literally. Like everyone who decides to spend a year doing some extreme thing and write a book about it, as far as I can tell, he is well-to-do and living in a swank New York City apartment.

The overleaf shows photos of him throughout the year, as he begins as a baby-faced, clean-shaven cutie and then, due to the laws about not cutting hair or shaving, progresses through various stages of unkempt and ends up looking like an artist's conception of Early Man. His wife does not follow the laws with him, and eventually gets so annoyed with one of his prohibitions, against not only touching a menstruating woman but against sitting anywhere where one has sat, that she vengefully sits on every chair in the apartment, leaving him to crouch unhappily on the floor. (His female editor at Esquire, upon learning of this requirement, emails him a spreadsheet of her menstrual cycle.)

I heard about this book and wrote it off as a publicity stunt likely to produce unfunny one-liners, shallow insights, cheap shots at fundamentalists, and gloppy sentiment. I started reading it while waiting for assistance at a bookshop, and became so intrigued and amused that I bought it. Amazingly, this is actually a good book: the humor is funny, the insights aren't all obvious, the fundamentalists are taken seriously (though not reverently), and the sentiment, while there, avoids gloppiness.

Jacobs has obsessive-compulsive disorder, and writes in a funny but not mocking manner about how his mental illness meshes with the ritualistic qualities of some of his observances. (He find that they mesh very well indeed, so much so that he find that his normal OCD symptoms diminish. He theorizes that he just needs to do some sort of repetitive and contaminant-avoiding rituals, and what they are doesn't really matter.)

Since Jacobs is Jewish, he primarily concentrates on the Torah and Old Testament, and meets with a lot of Jews of various sects, including a guy whose job is to inspect clothing for mixed fibers who moonlights as a provider of pigeon eggs (via the pigeon roosting on his window ledge) for a truly obscure ritual. One of the things Jacobs eventually figures out is that the practice is Judaism is largely communal, so trying to do everything by himself is not only missing the point, but makes many of the most important holidays less meaningful than they might have been the year before.

It's a very enjoyable read, a bit scattershot but with lots of fascinating history-geeking and some genuinely mind-expanding moments, like when Jacobs meets some Samaritans in Israel (they still exist, but in very small numbers) and muses, What if history had taken a left turn? What if the Samaritan Torah had become the standard, and millions of Semitic faithful flooded to Mount Gerizim every year to sacrifice lambs, except for a few hundred people called the Jews, who worshipped at an obscure site known as the Western Wall?

(I am now imagining an entire alternate history of all the Abrahamic faiths, as it also has significance in Islam.)

Something I've always believed, but which Jacobs vividly demonstrates, is that it's impossible to follow the Bible literally. It's an enormous text with variant translations and versions and alternates and apocrypha, scholars can't decide what some words and phrases ever meant, and large portions contradict each other. Even the most devoted and fundamentalist adherent is still picking and choosing which parts are important and which aren't, and what the laws really mean and how to follow them in the present day.

This might offend people more religious than myself, but I assume you know who you are. I liked it a lot.

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/html/blogs/finding-awen-katharine-kerr is the URL

On Sunday we traded in Blue Car, my 1998 Ford Escort wagon bought new and run up to 271k miles. Moment of silence, please.

We brought home a 2007 Ford Focus with 31k and an easy-to-make payment. I think the new car and I will get along fine, but this is the first time I've had a trunk since college!

Edit: It is beige/pale gold, one of those ubiquitous barely-colors. I'm going to have to do something to make it more distinctive. I already lost it in the Safeway lot on the way home from the dealer!

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwdn/~3/TjJ48LtWtbk/dont-blame-the-sweet-and-tender-hooligan.html

Did I mention that I turned in Angel One to my editor last week? That means that this week, I'm working on what was commonly called "one oh one oh one oh one oh one oh one" by my friends on TNG. It's also known as The One With The Bynars, and I recall thinking that it was pretty good. I loved working on it, but until I watch it later today, I don't remember exactly why.

Some people have asked me how I put these things together, but I never know exactly how the memories will shake loose for me while I'm watching it. There are some things I remember clearly, like Jonathan crashing into the turbolift doors on the bridge, and then there are others that I haven't thought about in years, that hit me like one of those snowballs Wesley Crusher threw out of the holodeck at Captain Picard - like the time Lawrence Tierney scared the shit out of me just outside stage 16 while we were filming The Big Goodbye. I plan to spend more time with my friends from the cast and crew while I work on Volume Two than I did with Volume One, mostly because it's a great excuse to get together with people I like, but also because I love the Roshomon-like experience of sharing our memories of the future. For example, when I was talking with Brent about The Big Goodbye, he remembered that Lawrence Tierney showed up for work his first day, and for some reason, rather than waiting for the guard on Melrose to open the gate, drove his car right through it. When Brent told me that, I remembered it like it had just happened, but it was something I hadn't thought about in ages. Incidentally, Brent told me that everyone was as scared of Lawrence Tierney as I was, which surprised me.

I'm excited to dig into the second half of the season, mostly because the Memories of the Futurecasts have been so much fun, and have been so well-received by so many people, that I feel inspired and energized. I'm not going to lie to you, Marge, some of the episodes in Volume One were a real slog and not much fun at all, and I think that unfortunately comes through in those chapters. Now that I know how much at least a few thousand people (and hopefully more) want to read Volume Two, I can't wait to see what I can come up with.

Okay, some business that needs attention before I get to work:

Have you caught a typo or formatting error in Memories of the Future, Volume One? If you have, would you please leave the page and paragraph number in a comment on this entry? I'm going to do an ePub version (Lulu now supports that, in addition to PDF) ... so I'd like to repair any mistakes before I do the conversion.

Would you be interested in a limited edition, signed and numbered hardback, similar to what I did with Happiest Days of Our Lives? I ask because it's going to cost me a not-insignificant amount of money to make them, and I kind of need to know that it's even something people are interested in. It would be $50 like the other one.

Speaking of The Happiest Days of Our Lives: everyone who pre-ordered from Subterranean Press and is getting antsy because they've waited so long deserves a big apology from me. A couple of things happened while we were putting the book together which were not my fault (OpenOffice and MSOffice not playing nicely was a significant setback for the timetable) but the latest delay is squarely on my shoulders. I've been working my way through just over 2000 signature sheets for several weeks. I've only had time to work on a 100 or so a day until last week, because I just didn't have any other time in my schedule. This has worked out pretty well for the final product, because my signature starts to break down after about 200 pages, but it's increased the wait quite a bit. The good news is that I have about 400 left, and I'm doing them in two sessions today. They'll be sent off to Subterranean Press tomorrow, so the book can go to press and get into your hands real quick. Oh, did I mention that this wait has allowed me to secure a pretty awesome Afterword from my son Ryan? I couldn't be happier about that.

Finally, if you've written or seen a review of Memories of the Future, Volume One, would you leave a link in the comments here? I'd like to collect them all together and share them in a post later this week.

Okay, that's it. If you haven't heard this week's Futurecast, you should be able to get it in the usual way, or you can go to MemoriesoftheFuturecast.com and pick it up directly.

We shall see what becomes of it.

There. 1100 words today, which works out to six pages because of judicious chapter breaks. Which means I am on page 90, and eyeing a quarter of a book*.

I have successfully written at least a thousand words on this project every day for nine days. That feels really good. My current plan is to get to page 100 and give myself a day or two off. Tomorrow, though, I have a dentist's appointment which is at 10 am and then a climbing date at 5, and since the farm stand I want to hit up for pie apples is between the two, and the dentist is a third of the way to the climbing gym, I think I might just spend the day working in a coffee shop.

I have the coffee shop all picked out, too.

Wednesday or Thursday, whichever winds up being that Day Off, I will be putting the garden to bed. And possibly acquiring some straw bales, because batwrangler has convinced me to try straw bale gardening next year in some wasted space bseide the shed, and supposedly they work better if they have had six months or so to season.

(Where by "convinced" I mean she mentioned the possibility to me and I went "What? Huh? Ooo!)

There will of course also be a day or two off next week, because, well, major holiday and cooking extravaganza.

Meanwhile, the dog thinks there should be an apartment-sized chicken baked for lunch every day.

And now I have to go to the bank and go climb.

17300 / 100000 words. 17% done!*

*Inconsistency in %done from nearly-25% to a mere 17% is due to methods of calculation. Microsoft word counts, more or less, a word as a word. Manuscript word count generally runs about 15% higher, because it counts a single manuscript-formatted page as 250 words, no matter whether that page starts halfway down or is all dialogue or what have you. This is because that page that's all dialogue, which may have only 170 "real" words on it, still takes up the same amount of space in a finished book as a densely-written page.

Magic!

It's my sad news to report that the local Waldenbooks, in the Oakdale Mall, is on the list of stores to be closed at the beginning of the new year. This is sad in more than one way--everyone hates to see a bookstore close--because this particular bookstore manager, April, has treated me and many other fellow authors with both respect and fan-glee. She has supported us by making certain that our books are on the shelf at the store AND, perhaps more importantly, talking the books up to her customers and making certain that they are in the hands of potential readers out there. I honestly can't believe the bookstore is closing.

However, before the news of the closing hit the airwaves, we'd arranged for a holiday signing at the store. It's now become a "last hurrah!" signing, and we're hoping to make it a huge send-off not only for April but for all of the employees at the store who've helped push our books in the past. So if you're in the Binghamton area--or even within a reasonable driving distance--come by on December 5th from Noon-4pm and help us let April and the other employees know how much we appreciate all of their efforts over the years. We'd like this signing to be a huge success! In addition to having our books there to sign for either you OR as gifts for all of your friends, we'll be wrapping the books you intend to use as gifts as well. FREE GIFT WRAPPING!! By authors who may (or may not) know anything about gift wrapping!! That, in and of itself, will be a blast. *grin* I'm sure we'll also have some candy and other freebies to give away.

We realize that not everyone is within even an unreasonable driving distance of Binghamton, NY. If you can't make it for whatever reason, you can still help us celebrate and thank April and the other bookstore employees by buying the books through the store and having them shipped to you (or someone else). April has graciously agreed to handle ordered copies in two different ways: you can either have the signed books shipped to a local Waldenbooks in your area so you can pick them up there, or April can ship them directly to you. For the second option, there will be no shipping cost (for shipments in the US), April will simply charge you for the books. For either of these options, send an email to fireun3@gmail.com with either the name of the town or city where the local Waldenbooks is located OR with where you'd like the books shipped. You should include what books you'd like by what author, how you want them signed, and (if they're shipping directly to you) if you want them wrapped.

Here are the details of the signing if you think you can make it. Keep in mind that Christmas is inching ever closer. Ask yourself who on your gift list might enjoy some great fantasy novels! Signed even!

The "Last Hurrah!" Signing

Waldenbooks @ The Oakdale Mall
Reynolds Rd., Binghamton, NY
December 5th, 2009
Noon-4pm
Gift-wrapping available!
Featuring:
Patricia Bray; S.C. Butler
Barbara Campbell; Laura Anne Gilman
Jackie Kessler; Joshua Palmatier
Anton Strout


And if you aren't certain what books are up for grabs, here's a list of all of our books in print and available through the store:

Patricia Bray: The Sword of Change series: Devlin's Luck, Devlin's Honor, Devlin's Justice; The Chronicles of Josan series: The First Betrayal, The Sea Change, The Final Sacrifice

S.C. Butler: The Stoneways Trilogy: Reiffen's Choice, Queen Ferris, The Magicians' Daughter

Barbara Campbell: The Trickster's Game series: Heartwood, Bloodstone, Foxfire

Laura Anne Gilman: The Retrievers series: Staying Dead, Curse the Dark, Bring It On, Burning Bridges, Free Fall, Blood From Stone; The Vineart War series: Flesh and Fire

Jackie Kessler: Hell on Earth series: Hell's Belles, The Road to Hell, Hotter Than Hell; Black and White (with Caitlin Kittredge)

Joshua Palmatier: The Throne of Amenkor Trilogy: The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, The Vacant Throne

Anton Strout: The Simon Canderous series: Dead To Me, Deader Still

And there you go! A long list of great books to browse from. I hope to see you at the signing, but if you can't make it, definitely send April a message with what books you'd be interested in. Help support good booksellers! Us authors can't survive without them!

I've been running in the pool at my gym to rehab a groin strain I induced in my first few running attempts since I got back from Europe. Today was the day I got to run for reals, and I decided that my best option was to head down to my local high school and run on the springy rubberized track.

Overall I'm pleased with how that went, I managed 3 full laps without pain (I was targeting 4 laps - 1 mile - for my first run) and then noticed a dull ache beginning in my leg. I went another half lap to see if it was going to continue, which it did, so I stopped and stretched then walked home. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it was before I began the rest and rehab program, and it ceased immediately once I began walking so I think I'm on the right track. Heh.

Unfortunately, as we were leaving Old Lady in a Golf Cart rolled up and told me and cathyn that "unless you belong to the school this is a closed campus between 7am and 4pm. You can't be here." Ok, well, we didn't know, and we checked as we left and there was no sign. The really frustrating part is that I will bet dollars to donuts that they lock the gate on the track and football field at 4pm. So there you have it - once you are an adult you may no longer use the public school facilities. I find that really irritating. I understand that they've done it as a "safety measure", but all of that lovely green grass being off limits seems kind of a waste. I wonder if there's a track in the South Bay that adults can use...

There's a local tempest in a teapot, so I went to read the local newspaper article about it, and the comments by readers.

At least 75% of the posts were mostly enraged yelling at the 'other' political party, with no content and barely a nod to the actual topic of the article. About 10% were ad hominem attacks on the officials or committees involved... with no actual content or proof of the hinted misdeeds. There was actually some discussion in the remaining 15% but as it was free of name calling, nobody responded to the ideas therein.

Much heat but no light.

Is my deadline sailing past overhead. The Bone Palace is now officially late. Luckily my benevolent editor has given me the rest of the month, so the deathmarch continues.

The moral is, if you suspect you won't be able to make a deadline from the get-go, ask for another month. Unless the moral is really that I need a basement full of enslaved ghost-writers... That's a thought too.

Also luckily, the first half of the book is quite readable, and just needs a few more scenes and some plot points wedged in. It's only the back end that's a steaming pile of [transition]s and suck.

There seems to be a continuing trend of "reimagining" older SF series for today's audience. There's Battlestar: Galactica, which kind of kicked it all off, followed by the new Star Trek film, the updated version of V that just started a couple of weeks ago, and now we have a remake of The Prisoner running on AMC.

I loved BSG, even if I thought the ending was lame, and I thought the new Trek was silly and shiny and fun. I didn't necessarily think ST XI it was good science fiction, but as a summer blockbuster, I enjoyed it a lot. We're only only two episodes in to the new V, but I've liked what I've seen so far, plus it's been a hoot to play "spot the SF actor" as we have former cast members from BSG, Firefly, SG-1, The 4400 and Lost (to name just a few) popping up all over the place.

I am not yet sure what I think of the new Prisoner. The basic principle is the same: a man wakes up in a strange place called the Village where everyone has numbers instead of names, and there appears to be no way out. But after that, things start getting very strange, indeed. ( Cut for spoilers. )

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/16/full-video-and-photos-presidents-town-hall-shanghai

It was around midnight in Washington, D.C., and early afternoon in Shanghai when the President began an historic town hall in China.  Taking tough and straightforward questions from Chinese students, and solicted from across China via the internet, the President discussed everything from Taiwan to the role of women in society to open government.   Read through all of the exchanges in the full transcript.

In his extensive and probing opening remarks, the President related America's history, triumphing over tragedy and difficulty, to China's own story:

Of course, the story of our nation is not without its difficult chapters.  In many ways -- over many years -- we have struggled to advance the promise of these principles to all of our people, and to forge a more perfect union.  We fought a very painful civil war, and freed a portion of our population from slavery.  It took time for women to be extended the right to vote, workers to win the right to organize, and for immigrants from different corners of the globe to be fully embraced.  Even after they were freed, African Americans persevered through conditions that were separate and not equal, before winning full and equal rights.

None of this was easy.  But we made progress because of our belief in those core principles, which have served as our compass through the darkest of storms.  That is why Lincoln could stand up in the midst of civil war and declare it a struggle to see whether any nation, conceived in liberty, and "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" could long endure. That is why Dr. Martin Luther King could stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and ask that our nation live out the true meaning of its creed.  That's why immigrants from China to Kenya could find a home on our shores; why opportunity is available to all who would work for it; and why someone like me, who less than 50 years ago would have had trouble voting in some parts of America, is now able to serve as its President.

And that is why America will always speak out for these core principles around the world.   We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation, but we also don't believe that the principles that we stand for are unique to our nation.  These freedoms of expression and worship -- of access to information and political participation -- we believe are universal rights.  They should be available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities -- whether they are in the United States, China, or any nation.  Indeed, it is that respect for universal rights that guides America's openness to other countries; our respect for different cultures; our commitment to international law; and our faith in the future.

These are all things that you should know about America.  I also know that we have much to learn about China.  Looking around at this magnificent city -- and looking around this room -- I do believe that our nations hold something important in common, and that is a belief in the future.  Neither the United States nor China is content to rest on our achievements.  For while China is an ancient nation, you are also clearly looking ahead with confidence, ambition, and a commitment to see that tomorrow's generation can do better than today's.

In addition to your growing economy, we admire China's extraordinary commitment to science and research -- a commitment borne out in everything from the infrastructure you build to the technology you use.  China is now the world's largest Internet user -- which is why we were so pleased to include the Internet as a part of today's event.  This country now has the world's largest mobile phone network, and it is investing in the new forms of energy that can both sustain growth and combat climate change -- and I'm looking forward to deepening the partnership between the United States and China in this critical area tomorrow.  But above all, I see China's future in you -- young people whose talent and dedication and dreams will do so much to help shape the 21st century.

I've said many times that I believe that our world is now fundamentally interconnected.  The jobs we do, the prosperity we build, the environment we protect, the security that we seek -- all of these things are shared.  And given that interconnection, power in the 21st century is no longer a zero-sum game; one country's success need not come at the expense of another.  And that is why the United States insists we do not seek to contain China's rise.  On the contrary, we welcome China as a strong and prosperous and successful member of the community of nations -- a China that draws on the rights, strengths, and creativity of individual Chinese like you.

To return to the proverb -- consider the past.  We know that more is to be gained when great powers cooperate than when they collide.  That is a lesson that human beings have learned time and again, and that is the example of the history between our nations.  And I believe strongly that cooperation must go beyond our government.  It must be rooted in our people -- in the studies we share, the business that we do, the knowledge that we gain, and even in the sports that we play.  And these bridges must be built by young men and women just like you and your counterparts in America.