That is a cute story!! I want to practice my Chinese with Hu Jintao! I'm sure he was thrilled; from what I can tell Chinese people were universally astounded every time I opened my mouth, and for Chinese to be coming out of a nine-year-old is even more impressive!

Russian Orthodox Church calls for dress code, says miniskirts cause 'madness'

Yeah, but it's a good kind of madness.

A top official of the increasingly powerful Russian Orthodox Church has triggered a storm of outrage by calling for a "national dress code" that would force women to dress modestly in public and require businesses to throw out "indecently" clad customers.

Women, said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, can't be trusted to clothe themselves properly.

"It is wrong to think that women should decide themselves what they can wear in public places or at work," he said Tuesday. "If a woman dresses like a prostitute, her colleagues must have the right to tell her that."

"Moreover," Archpriest Chaplin added, "if a woman dresses and acts indecently, this is a direct route to unhappiness, one-night stands, brief marriages followed by rat-like divorces, ruined lives of children, and madness."

WTF is a "rat-like" divorce?

eta: Also, Russian Orthodox bishops are the ones who wear big furry hats, right?

All Russians wear big furry hats. Or so it seems on my teevee.

Hec, I was partly named for Holden's little sister. As literary characters after whom to be named, she's a pretty good one.

Hec, I was partly named for Holden's little sister.

Awww, that's cool. I didn't know that.

As literary characters after whom to be named, she's a pretty good one.

Most definitely.

Now, I kind of want to know how everybody got their name.

How did your parents pick your name? Were you named after anybody?

My Dad was playing golf with his best friend, Dave, late in my mom's pregnancy and as he leaned over to putt it just hit him and he said, "I'm going to name my son, David." (They didn't know whether I as a girl or boy yet.)

Emmett's name came from a confluence of Emmett Kelly and Robert Emmett. Matilda via Dahl and Tom Waits. And, of course, just liking the sound of the names and having positive associations.

Emmett's two middle names are his maternal grandfather's - Jack Devine.

Matilda's middle name comes from my maternal grandmother.

I was named after my grandfather's sister, who was one of six or eight sisters--he was the only boy. One of the sisters was named Anastasia, which has always confused me: it's not the sort of name you expect in an Irish Catholic family of the late 1800s.

It was the early 70's and my dad really liked the sound of Erin. My middle name is Elizabeth, and that is my great-aunt Alice's middle name too.

If I would have been a boy, I would have been Clark Clarence, after my grandfathers.

I was name after my uncle Tom.

A few years ago I mentioned that to him and he was surprised - apparently no one told him?

My middle name is John, named after some relative of my dad's.

If my second son had been a girl, her mommies would have named her after my friend Miriam. That would have been cool.

Instead, they named a pet mouse after her.

My brother, sisters and I are all named after revolutionary types. I'm named after Louise Michel, who had some pretty great nicknames: the red virgin of Montmartre and the French grand dame of anarchy.

I was called "it". And then I was called "ita." Thankfully they waited 20+ years to tell me that. I have a cousin whose name was similarly coined, and I swear it factored into her psychological makeup. In no positive way.