Etc...

But we welcome your cash

If you're a developer, helping in the rapid modernization of mainland China, what may you not do? Answer: slap a "weird" foreign-sounding name on your high-rise, shopping mall, industrial park, or other project. Example: the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province. In just the past month, at least nine such projects there have been renamed since the local Communist Party secretary decreed that the fashion for foreign labels "is a loss to native culture and reflects poor taste ." French Gardens? Out. Paris of the East Plaza? Ditto. So are Ginza Office Tower and especially White House Mini District. The latter now is known as Good Living Business Estates. Said a spokeswoman for its developer, "I don't think there will be any effect on sales."

Any institution of higher learning benefits from having an experienced chief executive. Case in point: Xavier University of Louisiana, when hurricane Katrina struck. Dr. Norman Francis, who has led the temporarily closed school for 37 years, had an emergency plan in place to shelter and feed its students until they could be evacuated. The longest-serving college presidents (led by Francis), their schools, and years at the helm, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Norman Francis Xavier of Louisiana (New Orleans) 37
Ray Authement University of Louisiana-Lafayette 32
Luns Richardson Morris College (Sumter, S.C.)
Sister Edmunette Paczesny Hilbert College (Hamburg, N.Y.) 31
Leon Botstein Bard College (Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.) 30
Daniel Chamberlain Houghton (N.Y.) College 29
William Harvey Hampton (Va.) University
Sister Thomas Welder University of Mary (Bismarck, N.D.) 27