• Home
  • About Me
  • Résumé/CV Work Experience
  • Contact
  • More
  • Archives
  • Categories
  • Back to Africa

    2011 - 08.10

    North Africa with Liberia (blue) and Mali (orange).

    In a move that Marcus Garvey might approve of, I’m headed back to Africa next week. I’m going for work (again) but for a much shorter time than my two month stay during the World Cup.

    I’ll be working with my friend Nick and Magaurn Video Media. We’ll be shooting promo video for Medical Teams International. During our 10 day trip we’ll visit clinics in Liberia and Mali.

    Have you heard of Liberia and Mali? You might have heard about Liberia in the last several years. A peace accord was established in 2003 after over a decade of conflict.  Mali is the home to the legendary Timbuktu. I haven’t been to Shangrila yet and Timbuktu is definitely on the same list. Unfortunately, our schedule won’t allow for any excursions this time around but my visa is valid for five years with multiple entries.

    Liberia was an early home to African resettlement by emancipated American slaves. The capital city is Monrovia, named after U.S. President James Monroe for his support of the colony.

    Nick and I fly into Monrovia, Liberia (via Atlanta). After a few days there we hop over to Bamako, Mali on Ethiopian Airlines. After a couple of days in Bamako we’re scheduled to return home through Paris and Seattle.

    China to Build Massive Ping Pong Hotel

    2011 - 03.23

    Designers hope the local giants will leave their mountainside homes and come play ping pong with the locals.

    In honor of the county’s favorite sport, Huainan, China (that’s in the east) is building a giant ping pong paddle hotel. It will be nearly 500 feet tall and be part of a giant Olympic Park.

    Four buildings in the park are also under construction, namely an American football-shaped main stadium, a volleyball-shaped natatorium, a football-shaped gym stadium and a basketball-shaped stadium. The overall investment of the park is said to reach 1.8 billion yuan in three phases within five years.

    Did I say Olympic Park? Yeah… don’t know what that’s all about. Nothing I could find notes Huainan as a possible Olympic city or anything.

    [via China Daily]

    Google: China is messing with Gmail

    2011 - 03.21

    With no gchat maybe I'll actually get some work done.

    I knew something was up. I haven’t been able to use Google’s gmail gchat for weeks. And that’s only after my gmail account finally loads. I can’t remember the last time it loaded after my first click on the bookmark.

    Google, it turns out, is accusing China of messing round with gmail.

    According to the search giant, Chinese customers and advertisers have increasingly been complaining about their Gmail service in the past month. Attempts by users to send messages, mark messages as unread and use other services have generated problems for Gmail customers.

    “Relating to Google there is no issue on our side. We have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail,” said a Google spokesman.

    This, of course, is a result of the demonstrations here in February where several activists were arrested. China will do anything and everything it can do to make it harder to communicate online (and organize gatherings).

    The best part about the accusation by Google is that it says China’s interference is “very, very sophisticated.” Now we’re talking the stuff of movies. Google says China’s hacking comes and goes, is “semi-industrial,” and makes it look like there’s really just a problem with Google itself.

    It’s widely believed that China has hacked its way into various US agencies and companies. Google has already basically given up on the place. It’s rerouted google.cn traffic to its Hong Kong site and left the Mainland, setting up shop on the island.

    Good thing I have my trusty VPN so I can still tweet and use that silly social networking site.

    I was exposed to atleast 788μSv of radiation last year

    2011 - 03.19

    How much radiation do you get?

    Using this chart I’ve estimated I was exposed to atleast 788μSv of radiation in the last 12 months, just accounting for my air travel. A μSv is called a microsievert.  You’ll notice that 1,000μSv or 1mSv is the EPA’s recommended yearly limit for a regular ol’ person. I don’t think I had any x-rays last year so that should keep me under 1,000. I did eat a lot of bananas though.

    [via boingboing]

    China Deletes Fallout Rumor Posts

    2011 - 03.15

    I just received the following text message from a Chinese friend:

    BBC FLASH NEWS:
    Japan govt confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asian countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab neck skin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phillipine  starting at 4pm today. Pls send to your friends.

    My friend joked that it’s probably just a rumor. And apparently it is. I’ve confirmed that Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, is deleting similar posts from the micro-blogging site. My producer tells me this is mostly likely by government instruction, much like other censored material from that site.

    In any case, there’s a strong wind from the north in Beijing today. And the weather forecast doesn’t have an ounce of rain falling here through Sunday. Maybe I’ll check the local supermarket for Betadine on the way home…

    Tibet: Closed

    2011 - 03.09

    ...at least for the month of March

    The website eChinacities is reporting that Tibet has been closed off to foreigners. The travel ban will supposedly be lifted in April.

    Chinese tourism agencies have stopped issuing the relevant documents needed for foreigners to enter Tibet. This temporary entry ban comes around the three-year anniversary of the 2008 March riots, which started in Lhasa and spread to other areas with high Tibetan populations.

    I did a little google-ing and found (from the few websites that are not blocked here) that this does seem to be the case.

    The State line, according to official news agency Xinhua, fails to mention the 2008 protests or that March 10 marks the 52nd anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

    The temporary measures on restricting foreign tourists to Tibet were mainly due to the current cold winter weather, limited accommodation capacity and safety concerns, a high-ranking official said on Monday.

    The plateau region is still in deep freeze in March and lots of religious activities will be held.

    A quick check of the forecast for Tibet’s capital Lhasa finds it a balmy 54F with temperatures staying in the 50s into the weekend.