Going to town with silly place names; and a spot-on South China Sea analysis.

See, there's this village in Scotland called Dull (so, its residents are Dull folks?). And there's this American town in Oregon state called Boring (Boring people?). And, with so much in common, they decided to "twin".

Then there's this Austrian village called Fucking (no, I will not suggest what these villagers are called) which decided it had enough of being the butt of many an unkind joke and voted to change its name, only to discover that...

... Don't let me spoil your fun. The Guadian newspaper went to town with its story on these and other  "silly place names"...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/25/silly-placenames-dull-and-boring

ST (20 April, page B10) also had a small item on the Austrian town...

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I don't know how many people closely follow the current South China Sea imbroglio. I find most of the commentaries on this highly-nuanced issue lacking in their understanding of the dynamics and interests involved, so it was refreshing to see an excellent assessment by Patrick Cronin, "China's testing the waters, nothing more", in the New York Times. It is reproduced in TODAY (26 April):

http://www.todayonline.com/Commentary/EDC120426-0000032/Chinas-testing-the-waters,-nothing-more