carpe annum

Alright, so here is my expectation…

1. I type in “Tiananmen Massacre” and “Democracy” into www.google.cn (The Chinese Google site)
2. 30 seconds later, I do not hear the elite, stealth, black-clad secret police belay down the side of the building.
3. I do hear them as they swing into the window shattering glass amidst heavy machine gun fire blasting my computer into a thousand pieces.
4. I am dragged off to a prison and await my fate as an organ donor.

Ok so, that didn’t quite happen, at least not yet, but if you type in such terms on google.cn, only about 500 hits come back, whereas more than half a million come back on google.com. A similar thing happens on yahoo.cn versus yahoo.com. If I search in chinese characters the same thing happens, it looks like almost nothing of any real relevance is shown. The censorship is working, at least in the Chinese language… However, not everything is getting filtered out, especially in English. Just to see if a more formal analysis has been done on search filtering, Reporters Without Borders rated the major search engines based on how well they returned pro-government hits versus unauthorized sites. (Sadly, I cannot access the article’s website becuase I’m sure the site is blacklisted as an independent news organization.) So you guys, check out the article and comment to me what it says!!

Anyways, going to log off before secret police blast through the windows.

More pics… 

Comments(0)

It begins…

The first thing that struck me like a board on the head, and which may seem dumb to say, but there are a TON of people in Beijing. Within hours of arriving, I met up with a classmate, Frances, to show me around a bit and get some grub.
One slightly eerie thing I’ve noticed is the distinct lack of any sort of characteristic sky. Maybe I shouldn’t judge on only two days observation, but there has not been a single shaped could in the air and the skyline is just a hazy bluish gray color. When one is in Tiananmen Square or the Forbidden City where everything is paved with asphalt or stone, everything just seems hot and gray without much to distinguish the foreground from the stale air. With the announcement of the city hosting the 2008 Olympics, I know that officials have tried hard to implement policies to clean up the air and clean up the city in general–which should no doubt be applauded. I hope that eventually their goals can be met! I do have to say how remarkably clean the whole place is though and wondered why until I noticed that every trash can is being scoured by one or two people sifting the recyclables (presumably to sell off) and leaving only true trash in the bin, carrying the rest of their winnings to sell. I’m truly impressed as well how much is recycled, with bins for paper, plastic, etc everywhere. I guess after being in Britain these past few months, I may have forgotten the whole concept of recycling waste.

In any case, so far it has been excellent and the great size of Beijing and its grand (and traffic-clogged) boulevards are certainly giving me a workout. With that being said, I am looking forward to moving on to the next location which will be Yunnan province in the Southwest of China on the border of Southeast Asia.

Lots more pictures coming!

Comments(170)

Wales must be one of the most idyllic, pastoral, green, lush and relaxed places on the planet. Farm fresh Duck (pronounced “Douhk”) eggs, gently weathered slate mountains blanketed by grass clipped neatly by grazing sheep, oh yes, and fighter jets exercising in the clear blue sky.

Seriously though, if Machynlleth and the Dyfi Valley is anything like the rest of Wales, I cannot think of a more ideal place to enjoy the simple life; its got the view, the friendly (though sometimes thick-accented) people, the progressive minded attitude towards good food and good living, and the sense of centeredness that is sometimes lacking in the urban jungle.

Comments(213)

• Monday – Painting appartments for Tuesday viewings
• Tuesday – Rental property viewings, earning 10% commission on the contract fees
• Wednesday – Writing a big, hairy Excel spreadsheet; get headache from writing and debugging long vlookup and if statements.
• Thursday – More rental property viewings; more spreadsheet work; dinner of fatty roast duck; dusk in the park; spot John Cleese walking around my neighborhood, say “Hey John!” he says “Hello.”  He is really tall, probaby 6’6″ or so….
• Friday – Bust out the hammer to repair three chairs; picnic in the park, sleep

What is the common theme for the week??—> Non-completion of background reading for my dissertation—>AARRRRGGGG!!

Seriously though, I’m going to China in two weeks to ‘research’ and conduct interviews, but I have no idea what I’m talking about yet…Must read!

Comments(2)