Somebody somewhere in China is 2,000th visitor* to Alameda Daily Noose

In what will undoubtedly be recorded as the crowning achievement of over 4,000 proud years of Chinese civilization, this Saturday, May 27, 2007, a resident of the city of Qingdao, China, became the 2,000th visitor* to Alameda Daily Noose. Although we don't know the name of this brave ambassador of goodwill to Alameda, we salute his or her impeccable taste in journalism. It just goes to prove what Alameda Daily Noose and I have known for years: The largest, most powerful nations on Earth regularly turn to the Alameda Daily Noose when they want the real scoop on issues that don't really matter.

Although some of them may not recognize the modern spelling of the city's name, Qingdao is well known to beer lovers as the home of Tsingtao Beer. Alameda Daily Noose and I imagine that our Chinese friend probably knocked back a bottle or six before his or her fateful visit* to our soon-to-be-award-winning daily noosepaper, the only place he or she could quench his or her thirst for knowledge about the innermost thoughts and desires of our former city council candidates, the timeliness of our publication of random press releases, the virtues of our density-limiting "Measure A," the vices of our super-mega-monster-plex project that everyone hates, the intricacies of our conspiracy theories, and, of course, the grave threat posed by our Squirrels.

So, my fellow Alamedans, please join Alameda Daily Noose and me in extending a hearty "喝啤酒" (pronounced "ha pi jiu" in the local dialect) to our distinguished visitor* from Qingdao!