This is POL’s ‘culture’ blog: yes, we use quotation marks around the word culture in an attempt to evade having to define it, - you know, as long as both hands’ index and middle fingers click in unison high up in the collective air it is immediately assumed that no explanation will ever be needed.

So, why bother? Good question. Yes, good question... More please, more!

This is POL’s foreign correspondent blog. Our correspondent in China tackles daily issues ranging from one-party politics to consumerism; purgatorial traffic to sidewalk median for the blind.  He also likes taking questions. And when possible he will report on the new linguistic developments of Engrish and the new humanitarian ethical advances that follow, such as Handicap reserved toilet reading, ‘For the Weak - Only’.

This is POL’s the-Western-as-a-universe blog. Distinguished professor of English and avid outdoorsman Dr. Ken Hada discusses issues contemporary and close to his heart. This is a springboard for the artistic, political and ecological life preserved as well as lived in North America’s Western plains, done with the literary and philosophical flair he upholds 24/7; or, anytime as they used to say in the old days.