I just heard from a Chinese friend of mine, Huai Pianzi (we call him Huai Peewee, for short). He recently arrived Stateside from a trip back to his hometown, Wutuobang, in Meiyou Difang province, and while he was over there, he looked into some shaving stuff for me. What he found might surprise you...I could scarcely believe it myself, honestly, but Peewee's an old friend, and if he says something's true, it's true as far as I'm concerned.
It seems, per Peewee, that what we've been calling "badger" is actually a mistranslation. Our "hair" actually comes from a plant called 獾布什, or Badger Bush, that grows in the tropical climates of Southern china. Silvertip consists of the very first, tenderest blooms harvested at the beginning of spring, transitioning to two-band by the second flush in August. Pure badger is harvested from common, low-alititude bushes in warm, moist climates. In this stunning picture, for which Peewee risked life and limb had he been caught by Chinese customs, you can see the high-altitude badger bush in its rarely-witnessed "Simpson's Best" season
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View attachment 154893
Further, Peewee managed to finally get some information on what happened to Rooney's Finest. Turns out, Finest was a special harvest, which can be done solely solely by a group of wizened monks, who trained their whole lives for the sacred harvest, and their sacred troop of trained monkeys. That, at least, explains the price of the blasted things.
It seems that the head monk, Jia Heshang, and the head monkey, Chou Houzi, have been in a bit of an argument lately...we're not entirely sure of the cause, but Peewee thinks it's the quality of the food the monkey's been getting. 
If we want more Rooney's Finest, he says, we'd better to start sending bananas Heshang Fengrenyuan monastery.
That's about all I've got for today...Peewee needed to grab a beer before filling me in on the details of the great Iridium blight (you only thought they came from Russia!
). He seems to be happy to be home...I can hear him laughing for joy. Everyone's laughing, in fact...wish I could understand Chinese, since he must be telling a really good joke. I wonder what it's about...
It seems, per Peewee, that what we've been calling "badger" is actually a mistranslation. Our "hair" actually comes from a plant called 獾布什, or Badger Bush, that grows in the tropical climates of Southern china. Silvertip consists of the very first, tenderest blooms harvested at the beginning of spring, transitioning to two-band by the second flush in August. Pure badger is harvested from common, low-alititude bushes in warm, moist climates. In this stunning picture, for which Peewee risked life and limb had he been caught by Chinese customs, you can see the high-altitude badger bush in its rarely-witnessed "Simpson's Best" season
:View attachment 154893
Further, Peewee managed to finally get some information on what happened to Rooney's Finest. Turns out, Finest was a special harvest, which can be done solely solely by a group of wizened monks, who trained their whole lives for the sacred harvest, and their sacred troop of trained monkeys. That, at least, explains the price of the blasted things.
It seems that the head monk, Jia Heshang, and the head monkey, Chou Houzi, have been in a bit of an argument lately...we're not entirely sure of the cause, but Peewee thinks it's the quality of the food the monkey's been getting. If we want more Rooney's Finest, he says, we'd better to start sending bananas Heshang Fengrenyuan monastery.That's about all I've got for today...Peewee needed to grab a beer before filling me in on the details of the great Iridium blight (you only thought they came from Russia!
). He seems to be happy to be home...I can hear him laughing for joy. Everyone's laughing, in fact...wish I could understand Chinese, since he must be telling a really good joke. I wonder what it's about...
indeed!
