Jason Kottke lists a bunch of things that are worth upgrading, in other words, “it’s worth buying a nice one”.

Foreign Policy compiled its list of The Top 10 Stories You Missed in 2008. They are all interesting, but this one took me by surprise:

Shanghai’s futuristic skyline—the city has more than 900 high-rises, with hundreds more under construction—is one of the most potent symbols of China’s economic rise. But the materials undergirding all that growth might be shakier than anyone can imagine. In March, the English-language Shanghai Daily reported that fully half of the steel sold to construction companies in Shanghai’s wholesale markets failed basic quality tests. Nearly a quarter of the tested samples failed tension tests, meaning structures built with them would not be able to withstand earthquakes and would be more likely to decay over time.

Of the 52 batches of steel tested by the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau, 27 were too light to meet China’s legal standards. Some batches were nearly five times lighter than the legal standard, meaning that they were less than the weight of iron, steel’s primary ingredient. “If your steel is less than the weight of iron, that’s pretty incredible,” says Christopher Earls, professor of civil engineering at Cornell University. “That means you’re replacing the iron with something else, so what you have isn’t really steel at all.”

I don’t buy a lot of things, especially since I’ve moved, but there are several things I do need to find the time to get:

• Some sort of throw rug for my room
• Speakers for listening to music in my room
• Plane tickets
• A couch for the living room

I need to start selling or donating a lot of the stuff that I don’t need anymore, too.

Some planned, unplanned, and desired trips for the next year or so:

• Lehigh – Alumni Band Day – planned
• Connecticut – Thanksgiving – planned
• Connecticut and Massachusetts – Christmas
• Pittsburgh – early Spring 2009?
• Europe or South America – Sometime in late Spring through early Fall 2009
• New York – Hopefully sometime within a year
• Somewhere in the southwest sometime in the next year, hopefully

That ought to do it. I’ll probably have another trip to Boston/CT sometime, too.