In February 2008, my wife and I moved to China (PRC). Prior to getting on the airplane, this blogger signed up for a month long TEFL course in Beijing. The goal was to learn something about the country and then find a job teaching English.
While I was attending the first week of class, my wife visited the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) to register our passports. Upon arrival, all foreigners living and working in China are required, by law, to register within 24 hours. Two days after reporting to the PSB, we became the target of government monitoring. As I walked into the building where the TEFL course was being held, a man was standing in the center of the lobby. More than 100 people were standing in one of the four elevator lines. Everybody except this one lone man. When I entered the elevator, after making direct eye contact, he brought his cell phone to his ear, smiled, then turned and exited the building. This whole sequence of events happened in a matter of seconds. From the look on his face and body language, it was evident he had been waiting for me to arrive for class. After this brief encounter, for the next two months, this private American citizen was closely followed each and every day around the city.
Eventually, I developed this observational theory regarding Normal and Abnormal behavior. For anybody that's taken any sort of mass transportation in a developing Asian country, as a westerner, it's impossible not to notice the mad rush of people trying to get to the head of the line.
Indeed, I cannot count the amount of times my wife and I were completely cut off and crushed by a large wave of humanity. My family knows that I HATE standing in line and places with extremely large crowds. I would rather let two or three subway trains pass, then allow myself to be packed inside a compartment like a human sardine. So, when a local didn't board the 2nd or 3rd train that passed thru a subway station, that individual was displaying abnormal social behavior. It rather easy to spot the people tasked with following this blogger. One morning, as I stepped into a subway car, I noticed this oddly dressed young couple. He was wearing a poorly tailored black suite and the girl had on a K-Mart special looking evening dress. This pair looked completely out of place for the time of day.
In Beijing, each subway train runs roughly 30 compartments. Since each train has 3 doors, there are exactly 90 different possibilities to enter the train. During regular hours, the trains run approximately 1 min. and 50 sec. to 2 min. apart. The next day, I boarded the train 30 minutes later than the previous morning. That means at least 13 different trains (with 390 compartments) had passed before I had walked into the station. When I entered the subway train, this same couple, wearing the exact same clothes, quickly moved from a forward compartment and stood next to me... Coincidence? I remembering thinking to myself "this CCP couple really needs to buy some new clothes".
Short list of words banned on the internet in China: Shawshank Redemption, UA898, CNN, Abing, Dongshigu, U.S. Embassy and pearl. Read More...
“Computers have enabled people to make more mistakes faster than almost any invention in history, with the possible exception of tequila & hand guns”
~ Mitch Ratcliffe
Rick Sex-torum wins Iowa? Newt Gringrich releases his tax returns and then donates his little black book(holodex) to the Silvio Berlusconi Library? Rick Perry leaves South Carolina to re-invade Texas? The Koch Brothers offer Steven Colbert a job as a pizza delivery guy? Americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow? Non-unionized workers at Nevada's Bunny Ranch pimping for Ron Paul? Rumors that Viagra privately endorsed the Keystone Pipeline are true? King Mitt Romney wants to ban the movie It's a Wonderful Life on Caribbean cruise ships?
Joke of the Day: "Rick Perry? There's a guy who thought Arab Spring was a Saudi Deodorant." ~ John Fugelsang on MSNBC's the Ed Show
The amount of time folks spend visiting a BLOG. With the dramatic rise of Facebook, blogging itself has become an endangered art. While I've devoted countless hours posting various items on this small corner of cyberspace, realistically, it's rather doubtful this site will ever attract an active, worldwide following. So, why do I continue to BLOG? Well, it's FUN. That's it. No more, no less. I enjoy sharing my political ramblings and images of our world.
While my wife and I were still living in Beijing, I received an e-mail from a musician in California. Basically, he wanted permission to use one of my Wiki photos for his next album cover. I said sure go ahead...no charge.
His name is Sharif.
Here's the final version of the album cover itself, followed by a short poem this blogger wrote about memories along with a music video from Sharif's album Kisses and Lies.
There was a time, not long ago, when record covers were considered works of art...
There was a time, not long ago, when friends would sit around and listen to music together...
There was a time, not long ago, when people played stupid board games...
There was a time, not long ago, when families still shared the joys of laughter around the dinner table...
Some memories can never be downloaded...
Perhaps some ideas should never change.
No matter where the next road takes me,
I'll always remember that along the way,
It's not the place, but the people
who make us who we are.
Last month, this blogger posted a comment regarding the need for Google to fully integrate Blogger with it's new + platform. Evidently, the techno-geeks at Google have already been kicking around this idea: PC World Users Can Now Replace Blogger Profile With Google+ Profile October 24, 2011 by Juan Carlos Perez "In the first integration between the Google+ social networking site and the Blogger blog publishing platform, users will be able to replace their Blogger profiles with their Google+ profiles, the company announced on Monday." Read More...
...perspective...
Photo by Peter Rimar of an Iraqi Schoolgirl, Baghdad, Iraq (March 2005)
Today's internet is like the early days of the automobile. There are no posted traffic signs or speed limits. The painted lines on the road are merely a suggestion. No rules. No laws. No ethics. No golden rule. With that said, if a country attacks the trade or commerce of another country, even on the internet, it should be recognized as an act of war.
Guardian Chinese TV programme shows apparent cyber-attack on US website by Tania Branigan August 25, 2011 Read More...
The Telegraph China chief suspect in major cyber attack by Peter Foster August 3, 2011 Read More...
MSNBC U.S. official says pre-infected computer tech entering country By M. Alex Johnson July 8, 2011 Read More... Popular Science Richard Clarke: China is Planting Digital Bombs Throughout the U.S. Power Grid By Clay Dillow June 15, 2011 Read More...
Reuters Kissinger, Huntsman: U.S., China need cyber detente By Paul Eckert and Daniel Magnowski June 15, 2011 Read More... Australian Broadcasting Corporation IMF becomes latest cyber attack victim Reuters Report June 12, 2011 Read More...
Cyber attack hits Ottawa; probe focuses on IP addresses from China by Bill Curry and Colin Freeze February 16, 2011 Read More...
The Epoch Times Canada Grapples with Controversy Over Chinese Espionage By Matthew Little July 6, 2010 Read More...
