Monthly Archives: November 2005

Power In Numbers

I’ve been thinking a lot about the issue of energy today. I guess it’s never far from mind, what with all the switches and buttons I push in the average day, but headlines brought it to the forefront. As you may have heard, there was another tragic mining accident in China yesterday. This year alone, …

November 29, 2005
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I’m Young. I’m Coffee.

I never thought I’d admit it, but I really miss commercials. As the only English channel I have access to is CCTV 9 and its bland pablum of programming, and all the American TV I watch comes in the form of an advert-removed DVD, I tend to even forget that commercials even exsist. It’s only …

November 27, 2005
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Health & Safety Eat Your Heart Out

One of the great marvels of Asian cuisine is the penchants for cooking at the table; namely hotpot (火锅) and barbeque (肉串儿). This type of cooking could never fly in the west for the simple reason that there’s too many safety concerns. I mean, you’re either cooking over open coals or with a boiling pot …

November 22, 2005
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Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni : Clever

I’ve been meaning for some time to say something about last weeks announcement of the Beijing 2008 Olympics’ mascots. Now, I’ve learned two things about the Olympic Games since coming to China. A) The Games coming here is a VERY BIG DEAL to pretty much the ENTIRE population of China. In fact, I would place …

November 18, 2005
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Birds of a Feather: Laowai Warning

I’d like to relay two stories I’ve heard recently. The first happened a couple years ago and the other happened less than a week ago – but both illustrate something that all of us in China need to be reminded of, we’re in China. I know, it seems obvious, but sometimes it’s easy to forget …

November 16, 2005
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真的吗?

I saw this article referenced on life of a rat, and found it interesting. Basically it talks about the counterfeit US bills being made in The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea). The article is written for a South Korean site, and there’s no love lost between the two places, so read …

November 15, 2005
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Now You Don’t See That In The National Post

Three steps to Chinese law reform: 1… …2… …3!!! The teenage girl beer drinker spews up after drinking the beer. [actual published caption] Chinese Girl Takes On Beer Binge China has come up with a first nationwide regulations on managing alcohol sales, including a ban on selling alcohol to minors, China Youth Daily reports. [Full …

November 13, 2005
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Training Day

Well, I’ve only managed to bump my count by 500 words (up to 6,425)… man, that 50K is looking further and further away. Today I did have a slightly reasonably reason for not getting things done though – I had to go to some training. I don’t know about the rest of the group, but …

November 11, 2005
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Altruism – A Click Away

Hey, so I came across this amazing concept, using Internet click-ads for the benefit of humankind (and our other brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom). All you do is click on the button, go to the site – click on the other button (don’t worry, it tells you which one, it’s really easy – …

November 10, 2005
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Super Be Dingle

I just thought I’d share with you a tid-bit that sheds light on the complexities and humour that comes with learning a new language. Yesterday in my C-13 class (high level learners usually in the 13-16 year old range). We were doing a reading about different forms of entertainment and in the text was the …

November 7, 2005
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No News Is Good News

I’m just waiting for Maggie to come home from her second day at her new job and I’m killing the time by catching up on news – as well as getting versed in the beauty of football. So, first off, in case anyone cares or is worried… Liaoning officially has cases of bird flu (ahem, …

November 6, 2005
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