A real crisis is when you can't say "let's just forget the whole thing"?

A well-adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous.






"Irregardless" is NOT a word?

The Pleasant Resort Community

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...

...life in contrast...

It's hard to imagine living in today's so-called modern world without a cell phone and the internet (much less an indoor flush toilet).

Before the invention of the pay phone, corner grocery stores once provided small neighborhoods and rural towns with the only telephonic link to the outside world.

Small Chinese grocery shop with neighborhood telephone

Changsha, P.R.C. (June 2009)

Cyberbullying Denialist retweets Mankini pics?

w00t!
In case you missed it, the latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary welcomed 400 new words to our digital lexicon. Read More...




Not to be outdone, the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, America's language authority with a capital 'A', added the definitions for boomerang child, helicopter parent, robocall and bromance.

In other news: Typewritter ribbon salesmen are mourning the linguistic death of the Cassette Tape.
Read More...

googlicious [goo-guhl-lish-uhs] Adjective.  
1. Something which is extremely sexy, useful and thought out. Generally used in place of the words sexy, beautiful, gorgeous or amazing.  

2. Describes a website which ranks high on Google searches; also describes a website whose Google search listing description is attractive to users, leading to a higher click ratio.

Rosetta Stone English Level 1-5

Our Digital Age?

It's hard to imagine a world without the internet, Facebook, Twitter, international air travel, Ford Trucks, talk radio, 24/7 television news channels, digital cameras, voice activated software, cell phones and GPS...

The Library of Congress recently published a digital collection of images from one of the early pioneers of photography. Between 1905 and 1915, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii traveled the far reaches of the Russian Empire on behalf of Tsar Nicholas II. His task was to visually document a country undergoing a rapid transformation. Read More...

After the Bolshevik Revolution, the photographer left Russia and eventually settled in Paris. In 1948, the Library of Congress purchased his work from his heirs. Because of the unique techniques he developed and used to photograph and then process glass plate negatives (digichromatography), up until now, these images could only be viewed within the confines of the Library itself. With advances in digital photography, it's now possible to take a glimpse of a world soon to be swept away by war, revolution and industrialization. View Collection Here...

Rights and Restrictions Information

Our Digital Age?

Remember when a hard drive was used to describe a long trip, having a virus meant coming down with the flu and a keyboard was connected to a musical instrument?

"Music can change the world because it can change people." ~ Bono

Google+?

"This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." ~ Morpheus, The Matrix

"The human capacity to care for others isn’t something trivial or something to be taken for granted. Rather, it is something we should cherish. Compassion is a marvel of human nature, a precious inner resource, and the foundation of our well-being and the harmony of our societies. If we seek happiness for ourselves, we should practice compassion: and if we seek happiness for others, we should also practice compassion." ~ Dalai Lama 
Google+ comment posted on 2/3/2012

24/7 e-World

"It does no harm just once in a while to acknowledge that the whole country isn't in flames, that there are people in the country besides politicians, entertainers, and criminals."
~ Charles Kuralt
A Life on the Road (Paperback)

CIA Following Twitter And Facebook To Analyze Public Opinion, Predict Major Events?
Read More...

Theory: Could an agent of a foreign government, employed by one of the major social networking services, directly access the accounts of human rights activists in different countries? For example, Facebook uses both facial recognition and global positioning software. Theoretically, anonymous user data, obtained using these specific technologies, could be shared between foreign governments attempting to suppress internal political opposition.





Chinese human rights activists claim their Google emails were hacked?
Read More...

The more a conspiracy theory appears technically plausible,
the more likely that same theory becomes highly probable.

What's Tweeting You?

After two years of tracking over 500 million messages written by 2.4 million people in 84 countries, researchers at Cornell University have discovered that the cliché Tomorrow is a New Day starts shortly after a breakfast of Cheerios.

Evidently, a majority of people wake up happy, but as the day progresses, dealing with the reality of daily life takes its emotional toll. Then, right before folks prepare for bed, individual moods generally shift back into a positive gear.

On the surface, the research study itself appears rather benign. How people feel and when they feel it adds yet another mundane piece to that complex puzzle called the human condition. However, with the dramatic rise of social networking sites like Facebook, important privacy questions need to be raised regarding how personal digital information is being collected and analyzed. Read More...

For 99.99% of human history, private correspondence between individuals took the form of an old-fashion, handwritten letter. At some point, the same level of privacy protection governing the international movement of snail mail needs to be extended to the internet. Where is the line between collecting marketing data vs. reading private e-mails?  Read More...

"I really believe that we don't have to make a trade-off between security and privacy. I think technology gives us the ability to have both." ~ John Poindexter
Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security (Hardcover)

What is an ACT of War?

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...

Derivative photograph an Olympic advertisement for Nike Shoes, Beijing Subway, PRC (March 2008).
60 Minutes - Stealing America's Secrets (DVD)

Rebels offer a $1,000,000 bounty for Ka-Da-Fee?

The World Press Battles Spell Checker?

If you've been following the latest news reports out of Libya, you may have noticed that the media has been using different variations of the former dictator's last name:

   CBS News - Qaddafi
   AP & CNN International - Gadhafi
   BBC & Time Magazine - Gaddafi
   The Guardian (U.K.) - Gadafy
   U.S. News & World Report - Qadhafi
   The Boston Globe - Khadafy
 

Confused? According to NPR (National Public Radio), back in 1986, a Minnesota's school teacher's 2nd grade class wrote a letter to the Libyan leader. He actually wrote back and signed his name Gad-ha-fi. Until recently, that letter was the Rosetta Stone for spelling his name.

However, over the years, the Libyan Embassy in London has issued press releases with the spelling Qadaffi. So, who is right? Well, don't ask the French or the Italians. The AFP (Agence France-Presse) uses Kadhafi and AGI (Agenzia Italia) spells it Gheddafi.
Libya: From Colony to Independence (Paperback)

Apple Salesman in China?

Chinese Neighborhood, Changsha, P.R.C. (June 2009)

Google keeps recommending links selling Plastic Bifocals, Constipation Remedies, Flatulence Treatments, Depends Underwear, Low Dose Aspirin, Pink House Slippers and the NRA.

Should I be worried?

"Life is a great big canvas and you should throw all the paint on it you can." 
~ Danny Kaye
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (DVD)

Searching for Answers?