11 days (and there is "progress" in China)

It is REALLY wet and REALLY cold today and eleven days until the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. And while is is cold and wet here in Moscow, it is hot, hot, hot in Shanghai:

The Hooters restaurant chain has opened its first establishment in the People's Republic of China.

Besides adding to the booming commercial hub of Shanghai, Hooters arrival underscores how growth is challenging China's traditional conservative views on sexuality.

For decades after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, traditional male-dominated culture and communist prudishness combined to make showing skin or publicly displaying affection verboten.

These days, however, Shanghai boasts hundreds of hostess bars, massage parlors, sex shops and telephone chat lines. Couples kiss and hug openly, while public opinion surveys show broad acceptance of premarital sex among young people. from MSNBC.com

Don't think that Hooters is the first western food interest in communist China...Kentucky Fried Chicken already operates 1,000 stores in the country, McDonald's 567, and the TGI Friday's chain five.

I guess progress of any size is good...as long as it's a "c" cup or larger.