Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Vanity, all is vanity
It's been a month. It's safe to talk about it now. It was the closest I ever will come to being a singing rock star. PKU Idol was an... experience. We did look good.
To the judges: I don't know what you heard, but it all sounded awesome in my head.
To the judges: I don't know what you heard, but it all sounded awesome in my head.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Secret Meetings
Beida, despite its reputation as a liberal-leaning institution, really knows how to spoil a party. Some time during spring, the university invited Mohammad Yunus to come speak at the school in the fall during his trip to China. This was before the man was awarded the Nobel Peace prize. How fortuitous it is then that Beida becomes the first academic institution to host the newly christened Nobel Prize winner! With some inside information, I, along with Jon, was able to secure tickets to the speech. The conference hall which hosted the event should be able to seat around 400 to 500 people. I was expecting the place to be packed with a lot more than that given the importance and fame of the speaker.
When I arrived about 10 minutes before the start, I found the place to be arranged to seat roughly 300 and a good number of those seats were reserved for academics, officials, and the press. I asked my friends in the planning committee about this. The answer I got back was "crowd control." Control what?! Anyway, it's Beida's loss, and my gain!
When I arrived about 10 minutes before the start, I found the place to be arranged to seat roughly 300 and a good number of those seats were reserved for academics, officials, and the press. I asked my friends in the planning committee about this. The answer I got back was "crowd control." Control what?! Anyway, it's Beida's loss, and my gain!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Wanted by the Thought Police
Wikipedia? BBC Online? Can't do it. Not here in China. The quickest solution is to route requests through proxies in the free world. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Sometimes things that use to work get blocked after a while. Solution: TOR
It's slow, but when the alternative is to use Answers.com or Reuters, the wait is worth it. Plus, don't you get a kick out of doing things people say you cannot?
It's slow, but when the alternative is to use Answers.com or Reuters, the wait is worth it. Plus, don't you get a kick out of doing things people say you cannot?
Monday, October 09, 2006
The Week in October
Everyone gets a week off in October for the big "10-1." Along with a couple of intrepid friends, we trekked northward into China's Dongbei region. After a vicious battle with train ogres - a tale too traumatizing to be retold here - we braved the 1000-so steps that took us to the top of Changbaishang. From across the volcanic lake, you could see into the hermit nation of the DPRK. Here's the closest I'll ever get to their leader Mr. Kim.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment