Consider this: between 2000 and 2005, housing prices have gone up 46%, or 7.9% per year. But at the same time…

• The population has gone up only 4%.
• Rental prices have gone down 16%, or 3.5% per year.
• Nonfarm payroll employment has dropped 14%, from almost 900,000 to less than 780,000.
• The ratio of buying a median-priced home to renting a place for a year has grown from 14.1 to 34.0. In contrast, in the New York area, which isn’t exactly cheap, it’s 25.4, and for the whole country it’s 17.1.

So housing has gone up by almost 50%, but rents and employment have dropped by about 15%? Does this make any sense to anyone?

I don’t remember how I came across this, but… Singaporean English, or “Singlish,” has various particles derived from Chinese that are sprinkled throughout conversation, like, “You see my husband’s not at home lah,” or “There’s something here for everyone lah.” Even many Singaporeans can’t explain when they use it, but Mr Brown makes a valiant attempt. The English language is more diverse and complicated than I imagined.

The Mercury News reviews corporate cafeterias across Silicon Valley. By the way, I’ll say from personal experience that IBM Almaden Research Center’s cafeteria is also quite good. (By the way, all opinions expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, IBM.) Shortly after this article appeared, Charlie Ayers, Google’s head chef and the former chef of the Grateful Dead, left the company to start a healthy food restaurant chain in Silicon Valley.

(Update — February 17, 2006: It may have taken a year, but I’m now somewhat tired of our cafeteria and am bringing lunch much more often.)

Say it ain’t so: a Hong Kong government report says that dim sum is high in salt and fat and suggests not eating it too often. It’s not going over too well in Hong Kong.

Whenever I visited Taiwan, I always found it disconcerting to see “Long Life Cigarettes” being sold in Buddhist temples. Those days may be numbered. A proposed amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Act would, among other things, ban any words or phrases which imply that smoking does not harm health.

How are a runaway bride, Scott Peterson, Terry Schiavo, Wendy’s chili, and racism related? Only the Bad Reporter knows!

Steven Johnson argues that over the years, audiences have become much more sophisticated in their TV watching. Today, we have no problem watching shows like “The West Wing,” “E.R.,” and “The Sopranos,” which have multiple subplots weaved throughout several episodes, whereas in the past, most TV shows like “Bonanza” or “Dragnet” would consist of one main plot and maybe one subplot. That’s right: feel good about being addicted to “24!”

Thanks, Rich: Slate asks four design teams to redesign the new USDA food pyramid.

“I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” school Principal Diana Russell said.

Thanks, Rich: Gish Jen writes about the “wonderful Chinese restaurants exhibit” at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas.