Chinese New Year Lion Dance, Perth.

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Merlot Bottle.

A man asked a waiter to take a bottle of Merlot to an unusually attractive woman sitting alone at a table in a cozy little restaurant. 
So the waiter took the Merlot to the woman and said, 'This is from the gentleman who is seated over there,' and indicated the sender with a nod of his head. 
She stared at the wine coolly for a few seconds, not looking at the man, then decided to send a reply to him by a note. 
The waiter, who was lingering nearby for a response, took the note from her and conveyed it to the gentleman. 

The note read: 'For me to accept this bottle, you need to have a Mercedes in your garage, a million dollars in the bank and '7' inches in your pants'.

After reading the note, the man decided to compose one of his own in return. He folded the note, handed it to the waiter and instructed him to deliver it to the lady. 

It read: 
Just to let you know that things aren't always what they appear to be; I have a Ferrari Maranello, two BMW Z8s, five Mercedes Benz CL600, and eight Porsche Turbo Carrera in my several garages; I have two beautiful homes in Aspen and  Miami , and a 10,000 acre ranch in the state of Louisiana . There is over twenty million dollars in my bank account and I have a fully diversified business portfolio.

But, not even for a woman as beautiful as you, would I cut off three inches from my penis.  Just send the wine back. Thank you.

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China No.1Exporter

Germany's multi-year reign as the world's No. 1 exporter is officially over, with the crown formally passing to rising Asian power China after new figures showed that German exports slid by nearly a fifth in 2009, the biggest decline in 60 years.

Tuesday's German government figures only confirmed an open secret: China's runaway growth and resilience amid the financial crisis put its exports ahead of Germany, which suffered a severe recession before returning to growth in last year's second quarter.

Last month, China's customs agency said that total 2009 exports were more than $1.2 trillion, well ahead of the euro803.2 billion (nearly $1.1 trillion) that Germany reported Tuesday.

For Germany, the figure was a drop of 18.4 percent from 2008, although exports returned to year-on-year growth in December.

"The crisis has accelerated the shift in power in world trade toward the emerging countries," said Anton Boerner, the head of Germany's BGA exporters' association.

– Associated Press

I.M. Pei receives Royal Gold Medal

High honour for Louvre pyramid architect

I.M. Pei is to receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architecture President Ruth Reed at a ceremony in London later today. The award will recognise the 92 year old architect for his lifetime's work of influence 'either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture'.

Pei is best known for his glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris which became one of the great landmarks of the city after its construction completed in 1989, and in thanks for the recognition he will generously donate a drawing of the Louvre pyramid to the RIBA collections.

His other buildings include the National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, the East Wing of the National Gallery Washington DC, the John F Kennedy Library, Boston, the Bank of China, Hong Kong, and the Miho Museum in Shiga, Japan (1991-97). In recent years Pei has completed major museum projects in Luxembourg, China and Qatar. His only building in the UK is a private commission: a tiny pavilion in Wiltshire.

I. M. Pei has been honoured by America, France, Germany, Japan and the UK where he is an Honorary Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts (1993). He has been awarded the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Medal for Architecture (1976); the American Institute of Architects - the Gold Medal (1979); the American Academy of Arts & Letters - Gold Medal for Architecture (1979); La Grande Médaille d’Or of l’Académie d’Architecture, France (1981), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1983); the Praemium Imperiale for lifetime achievement in architecture, Japan (1989); Officier de La Légion d’Honneur, France (1993) and the Thomas Jefferson Medal for distinguished achievement in the arts, humanities, or social sciences (2001).