More awesome XKCD: And this:
Month: March 2011
Keith Richards is Absolutely Outrageous
I’m working my way through Keith Richards’ autobiography, ‘Life’, which has been a surprisingly great read so far. It’s helped me to really appreciate what the Stones contributed to the evolution of blues rock, as I previously knew little about their early days, and it has been very entertaining. Keith was a completely ridiculous individual for many years. Here are a couple representative passages about some of his crazier years: “One time in Chicago there was a big party in my room…I was getting sick of it, and I kept telling them to go and they wouldn’t. I wanted to clear the room and no one would listen to me. Get the fuck out. For five minutes I tried. So
The Village of Gruel
Excellent choice of words in the translation:
Something’s Brewing
I’ve been having problems accessing my Gmail from China. I thought it might have been my internet connection. Or me. But I was wrong.
These Are Brilliant
via The Big Picture:
Civilized Shenzhen Warm Homestead
I spent yesterday afternoon in the city of Shenzhen, a manufacturing hub in China where among many other things, iPhones and iPad are made. I was fairly surprised to find no factories at all in the city proper. Instead there were wide newly paved boulevards, endless rows of some of the largest skyscrapers I have ever seen, modern subway stations, offices, shopping malls, city parks, restaurants, and western hotels. It turns out that by some measures, Shenzhen is the 12th largest city in the world. I was there to attend a buyer-manufacturer conference for a research project I’m working on. It was an event held at a Westin hotel, where buyers representing international brands from all over the world come to find
Salt Shortages
A Chinese student I’m working with received a text message from the government that reads (in Mandarin), “Right now China has enough salt in the market. There is no need to worry about a salt shortage.” Apparently Chinese citizens are stockpiling salt to protect against potential radiation exposure from Japan. But according to a Bloomberg article on the topic: Table salt does not contain enough of the type of iodine needed to block radioactive iodine from damaging a person’s thyroid gland and should not be taken as a substitute for potassium iodide pills, according to healthline.com, a U.S.- based health-information Web site.” “I just wanted to buy it for cooking, but I went to six supermarkets and there’s no salt
Largest Earthquakes Since 1900
This is an interesting reference: Wow. The 9.5 Chile earthquake in 1960 created tsunamis that killed 68 people in Hawaii and 138 people in Japan. Tokyo is 10,668 miles from Santiago.
Happy St. Patty’s Day
For anyone wondering what happens on St. Patty’s day in China, it’s not so different from St. Patty’s day in the States. This is where I am planning to be this evening: I have yet to visit a large city that does not have a cliché Irish Pub.
Dinner in Guangzhou
Fish: Pigeon: