Unfocused and Irregular 无焦和参差

Election Cartogram

2008-11-10T22:54:00.009+08:00

You know what this is? No, it's not an acid fever dream, nor is it the album cover of Pink Floyd's new release. It's also not Cobra Commander after being hit by a steam roller. What is though is a of the USA organized by voting districts. What we saw on November fourth looked something like this:

With the , made by a guy named Mark Newman, this same data is reorganized so that the states are resized by population, and then are colored red and blue, not just by the color of the state that voted, but by the voting districts within each state. To make it an even more accurate demonstration of how America voted, the voting districts are colored not just red or blue, but shades of purple depending on how many votes the red republicans or blue democrats got.

If you look closely you'll notice that the map has these large splotches of blue outlined by swaths of red. This is because cities that are geographically small but densely populated tended towards democrat while the geographically large but sparsely populated rural areas voted more republican.

The cartograms were made by Mark Newman under a Creative Commons license. Please check out his website for a more comprehensive explanation.

Voting in China

2008-11-07T11:52:00.005+08:00

Yesterday the American Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou had an event in the China Hotel to commemorate election day. I got up early and went, expecting to see 30-40 Americans huddled around a TV drinking coffee and waiting for Obama to win. The even turned out to be slightly bigger than that with a ballroom, two big screen projection systems, brochures on Amcham and a full breakfast buffet. There were also hundreds of Chinese people curious about what this whole democracy thing was about.

One projection system was feeding live coverage of CNN while the other one had a map of America showing which states had fallen to which party. There was also a map of the electoral college with Amcham staff explaining the electoral college system to curious Chinese onlookers. Probably the biggest demographic attending were college students, but businessmen, teachers and curious onlookers who happened to be at the hotel that morning were there as well.

In a nice touch, there was even a drawing for a round-trip ticket to the US in the form of election participation. Entering the drawing took the form of a polling station, where contestants got to chance to 'vote' for who they felt would win the election and then drop their entry into a ballot box. There were even pins for the candidates and "I Voted" stickers.

I went in front of the polling station with a friend of mine and, in an attempt to simulate a real election day experience, tried to disenfranchise a Chinese voter by asking for her passport, explaining she had to fill out a sheet in another room and come back, and told here that the contest was called off and she'll have to wait till tomorrow to enter. When she started to become frustrated, confused and then angry I tried to explain that was joking and trying to "disenfranchise" her and that there were people really doing this at polling stations in America. This made here more confused. I didn't know how to say disenfranchise in Chinese, but I have a feeling that even if I did, it wouldn't of helped. She wasn't very impressed with my experiment and pushed me aside to vote for her plane ticket.

As one of the few real Americans there, I was confronted by many curious Chinese about who I voted for, what I thought about the two candidates, how did I feel about a black man becoming president and whether or not there would be any contention, recounting, or even civil war if the race became too close. Most people were also a bit confused by the big screen on which was projected a map of the US with red, blue and brown states each populated with a number and then a score in the corner. What does Obama 195 and McCain 69 mean? Where's the popular vote? I helped explain the confusing electoral college system to about a dozen different parties over the course of the morning and how it relates to the popular vote, poll station closings, the population of states and different time zones in the US (there's just one time zone in China). Some were disappointed that the election wasn't just determined by the popular vote.

Most of the Chinese I talked to were Obama supporters, but there was a McCain fan here and there. When Obama was announced the victor the group of by then 500 onlookers erupted in applause, apparently they were pretty pleased with the decision.

My Chinese colleagues and friends all had eyes on the elction, but not all Chinese cared about it. On the way home from dinner the next day I mentioned to the cab driver that America has a new president and asked how he felt about. "American's president doesn't have anything to do with me, I'm just a Chinese cab driver," he said "It's not like I can drive this taxi to America! Maybe if I could then I'd care about the president, but I can't."

Vocab: Disenfranchise - 剥夺...公民权

Trip to Sichuan Day 1

2008-11-04T09:16:00.005+08:00

October 1 was Chinese National day so that meant a week off of work and trip with some friends. We set off for southern Sichuan, and thanks to some research on some Chinese travel blogs we found a place that wasn't severely affected by the May 12 earthquake and wasn't a tourist hotspot.

Kangding 康定

We wanted avoid one of the tourism hotspots because when a country of 1.3 billion takes their fall break simultaneously, with year on year double digit increases in tourism and economic growth that gives more people some cash to travel, you quickly run out of places that haven't been overun by tour groups. A lot of my friends go to southeast asia to travel, and some don't go on vacation at all just to avoid the hastle, which is unfortunate, since there are plenty of great places to visit in this country.

The first stop was Kangding, a small city in southwest Sichuan about seven hours from Chengdu. The place is almost entirely ethnic Tibetan and the people are devoutly religious. Unlike many parts of China you don't have to buy a ticket to enter temples and the temples and monestaries are occupied by actual monks and buddhist practitioners. It's sad, but many buddhist and taoist templest in east and south China have become tourist destinations only, and have lost their religious meaning. Places like this were effected by communism and the Cultural Revolution just like the rest of China, but there beliefs and practices are still going strong.

Wild mushrooms for sale

In a temple courtyard

We started off in Kangding, but then went on for a three day hike around Yala Mt, and then hung out in a really cool little place called Danba for a day. I'm going to try to update my blog with the rest of the trip, but if you like the pics, check out my flickr stream.

Surf the Web Like Your in China!

2008-11-03T09:55:00.003+08:00

At last, now all of my friends can have the same, filtered experience we all do in China! There's already a nice plug-in called the gladder (Great Ladder) that allows all of us within the great firewall of Chinese censorship to view our favorite censored websites, but what about all of those people outside the firewall? What about all of those people, some of them Chinese even, that aren't protected by their government's censorship devices? How can they learn to determine what's right and what's wrong? Who's to tell them what the difference between Province of Taiwan and the Republic of China is? How will they know that "Dalai Lama's fight for cultural atonomy" is actually a euphemism for "Dalamai clique separatist terrorists"? And in the worst case, they may even stumble upon some unfiltered blogger that's expressing dissatisfaction for the way the glorious Party has been guiding the country.

Well now all of those outside of China no need to live in fear, or knowledge for that matter. Thanks to a new firefox plugin called China Channel those outside of country can now experience websurfing under the protection and watchful eye of big red brother with all 'inappropriate content' automatically censored out. Welcome to slow, censored web browsing.

Want to Smuggle Fake Goods? Don't Mess with the Chan.

2008-09-22T15:45:00.001+08:00

I was just getting back in to Guangzhou in mid August. The security was crazy tight. I showed my passport to at least four guys before getting on the plane in Phnom Pen, and then another half dozen security personnel on my way through customs once in Guangzhou. Apparently there was some sort of "event" going on in Beijing, so after arriving in Guangzhou the security was even tighter, with more checks, questions and an especially long customs line.

While I waited in line at China customs, I watched a TV in the customs area broadcasting a public service announcement. It went a little like this:

A North American guy and girl in their mid 20s are walking through the airport talking about their trip, ecstatic at what an awesome time they had.

Boy: "Wow what I great trip it's been, did you have a good time?"
Girl: "Yea this place was so great. Did you check out all those monuments?"
Boy: "Yea they were really something weren't they? So neat to see, I’ll definitely have to come back. Oh and remember that market where we bought those designer sunglasses?"

Girl: "Yea I know, and they were so cheap!"

Boy: "I bought pairs for all of my friends back home, they're going to be thrilled."

Girl: "How many did you buy?"

Boy: "Oh I don't know, they're here in my bag. All I know is that my friends are going to be happy when I show up with all these sunglasses."

They continue in line at customs, but then as they look and *gasp*- there’s a big sign that says “fake goods are prohibited” and customs agents are confiscating fake goods! All of the sudden the girl and boy look really distressed. They start taking off their sunglasses and watches and putting them in their bags.

Then all of the sudden a voice off screen yells "Hey, are those fake good you're carrying?" It's a customs officer ...Jacky Chan!

The guy and girl are stopped and Jacky goes on to lecture them. “Smuggling fake goods is illegal! You need to respect international laws and regulations.” The Chan continues to go on about the reasons buying fake goods are prohibited, reasons for respecting intellectual property rights and why these laws are “strictly enforced.”

“And that is why you cannot by any fake goods in China anymore” is what I’ll tell my kids many years from now after repeating this story.

How Not to Answer the Chinese

2008-08-02T11:59:00.004+08:00

In preparation for my compadres that will be attending the Beijing Olympics, I'm attaching the following useful instructions for getting around Chinese conversation. A friend of mine forwarded me the following list of questions from some cynical blogger back in 2005. The Chinese are a polite bunch, but some defend their motherland viciously. B aware.

Begin:

As any veteran foreigner in China knows, one of the latent talents possessed by many Chinese people, is to ask irritating questions that every previous Chinese person that said foreigner has encountered for the past 6 month, has already asked before, however, it often takes a true veteran to answer these questions correctly without:

A) Making yourself sound interested enough to get dragged into an endless conversation on how everything worthwhile in the world originated from China.
B) Offending 1.3 billion people who might decide to throw rocks at you.
C) Getting yourself locked up by the PSB.

For your reading pleasure (and personal safety) here are a couple of common questions and a couple of the answers that you should try to avoid giving, along with a sample answer that will neither encourage the questioner to elaborate further, or to stone you to death in the belief that you are a Japanese tourist.

Can you use chopsticks?

A. I can use them to scratch my ASS

B. I only ever eat in McDonalds and KFC

C. Civilized people use forks

D. Yes, can you use a knife and fork?

E. Yes, the hookers in Chinatown taught me when I was a kid

Correct Answer: Yes, two elderly Buddhist nuns taught me to use them while I was helping Chinese migrant workers in foreign countries to return to the motherland

Can you speak Chinese?

A. 我可以说普通话，可是我不要说。

B. Yes, they taught me in the spy school that I attended in Taiwan

C. All BBC/NHK/CNN China correspondents are taught to speak Chinese

D. Of course, Chinese is so simple only an idiot couldn’t speak it after a few weeks

E. なに？

Correct Answers: Yes, a little/说一点点, No

Do you know about Chinese history?

A. No, but it shouldn’t take me long to pick it up

B. No, but I would like you to tell me EVERYTHING.

C. No, can you summarize it for me?

D. No, but it doesn’t sound very important.

E. I know the bits that your government didn’t tell you

F. I know what happened in 1949 and 1989

G. I know what Fusosha Publishing says happened, and that’s good enough for me

H. I saw Walt Disney’s Mulan, once, while DRUNK

I. I saw that film at Cannes last year

Correct Answer: Yes, now about that ‘other’ fascinating thing you were going to tell me …

Do you know what is happening in Beijing in 2008?

No, but I know what happened there in 1989

Correct answer: Yes, now about that ‘other’ fascinating thing you were going to tell me …

Have you seen the Great Wall?

A. We have one too, but it’s bigger

B. Yes, I liked it so much that I hacked a chunk off to take home as a souvenir

C. No, does it have lasers on it?

D. Didn’t the Mongols build it to keep the Chinese in?

E. Berlin used to have one just like it, but the Americans made them take it down

F. I saw some of it on a building site in Zhongwei

G. Didn’t Luke Skywalker blow it up in Episode IV?

Correct Answer: Yes, it was big

Have you tried Peking Duck?

A. Peeking Duck, that’s animal porn, right?

B. I had a Peking duck wrap in KFC once, does that count?

C. No, I don’t hold with eating filthy foreign food

D. Any answer involving the words 'food' and 'poisoning'

Correct Answer: Yes, it was good, but not as good as your local food

Have you been to (insert name of local tourist attraction)?

A. No, can you tell me about it?

B. Is it any different from the one that they have in (insert rival village name here)?

C. When you’ve seen one seen one 5000 year old Pagoda, you’ve seen em all.

D. We have one in my country, but it's better

E. I saw one like it in Fujian, but it didn’t have so many beggars outside

Correct Answer: I don’t remember.

What is your telephone number?

ANY answer that involves the word ‘yes’ or your actual telephone number

Correct Answer: any number belonging to anybody who can’t give the caller your real telephone number

Do you like China?

A. Yes, but I preferred Taiwan

B. I like ‘Chinatown’

C. Yes, but I preferred it when the Brits/Japanese/Nationalists were running the joint

D. Do you mean the ROC or the PRC?

E. No, the communists ruined it

F. I like the bits that aren’t aiming missiles at my sisters house in Taipei

G. You would have liked the answer better if you had asked me in February

H. ANY honest answer that starts with ‘No’ or include the words ‘but .... '

Correct Answer: Yes, it’s very big and has a wall/Yes, me very like like China.

I believe this forward was edited from a post on an appropriately titled website: Angry Chinese Blogger.

http://angrychineseblogger.blog-city.com/the_rabbit_hole_101_things_not_to_say_in_china.htm

The Bag Ban

2008-07-29T16:09:00.000+08:00

Earlier this year, the China State Council banned free plastic bags from retailers. Now, in China there's no choice of paper or plastic, it's just plastic, and most of the time those plastic bags are of the ultra-thin, ultra-flimsy variety. We're talking so flimsy that anything over the weight of a single beer requires double-bagging and a fast trip home before the bags break. Once used for transporting your groceries and beer (or just beer), these cheap little bags are delegated to lining your home trashcans (if the bags haven't broken yet) assuming that they're big enough. Most of the time the bags are so inconveniently small and flimsy that any shopping trip would require a dozen of the little things to hoist all your food and are too small to fit in any normal sized waste bin, which is extremely annoying.

The majority of these bags would just end up being thrown away, usually into other, larger plastic bags, but often they would just be left on the street, blocking sewers, interfering with water treatment, polluting the environment or just blowing across the streets in clumps of bags. Like tumble weed, but with bags.

That all changed last month. One of the advantages of a one party government is that you can, without having to fuss through congress, arbitrary opposition from other parties or protests from bag lobbyists. So as of June 1, free bags are banned and all stores carry plastic bags for purchase. You can buy small bags for 0.1 yuan, medium bags for 0.2 yuan and larger bags for 0.3 yuan (6.8 yuan = 1 USD). Then for the real green shopper, cloth biodegradable bags are offered for a few yuan. In addition to potentially saving 37 million barrels of oil if shoppers use reusable bags, the new bags are much, much heftier than the old ones, and they're actually of a normal size that can be useful around the house.

When I first heard about this measure I just assumed that everyone would end up buying these new bags, with a minority of frugal shoppers bringing along their own bags, but that's not the case, at least in Guangzhou. I'd forgotten that China has a savings rate that's 50% of GDP, these guys like to economize. Seemingly overnight, people have started bringing reusable plastic and cloth bags to the grocery stores, with shoppers who purchase bags at the grocery store in the minority.

It was less than two months ago that I felt like I was one of the few responsible shoppers at my local grocer when I'd bring my old bags. Now whenever I forget to bring my old bags to use when shopping, I feel like I'm the irresponsible person in the register line, most people bring their bags. Now if only I can find a good bag storage device.

"Walking the Dog" in China

2008-07-17T22:59:00.007+08:00

Last night I went for a run along a riverfront boardwalked that's well traversed by students, pedestrians, kids learning kung-fu, old men practicing calligraphy with water and many dog walkers. There's even a group that meets in one are and show off how they train their dogs. Kind of like a middle school mixer, but for dogs.

But when I was running last night I saw one lady with a dog and I had to do a double take, then a triple take. She had a full grown dog, must've weighed at least 40 lbs, in her arms. She cradled the large dog and walked down the boardwalk with all the other pedestrians. I looked at her, then looked at her again, she looked at me, then I awkwardly looked at her one more time as I ran by.

One can only think that someone told here you're supposed to take the dog for a "walk" every night and she misunderstood what that meant.

Someone walking his dog properly

Something Happened on the Way to Class

2008-07-11T08:59:00.012+08:00

During lunch break yesterday, I went uptown to sit in on a Cantonese class I'm thinking about taking. Shortly after the second bus stop, I saw a crowd on Xiadu Rd, a street near my house. Usually crowds on a street side are a sign of a fight, an arrest or an accident. A few seconds later I saw the doctors raise a stretcher through the crowd towards an ambulance a couple of meters away. On the stretcher was a kid, a teenage laying on his side with blood on his chest. One man was assisting in the kids position on the stretcher, helping put his very limp leg into position. I was shocked and started yelling expletives from my seat on the bus. As our bus sped away I lost view of the scene and was unable to tell what exactly happened. The poor kid was a middle school student wearing a white and green uniform. Blood was coming out of an area in between his neck and chest, I couldn't tell if he'd been hit or attacked.

When I went by the spot on the way home there was no crowd, but still a police van. I got my answer to the incident when I did a news search this morning. Apparently the kid was a seventh grader from a nearby school, on his way to lunch when he got hit by a small car. He was taken to the hospital but tragically the wounds to his head and neck were too severe. Damn.

初一男生穿马路险丢命

http://www.sina.com.cn 2008年07月09日01:03 金羊网-新快报

海珠区下渡路一学生被车撞

新快报讯（记者尹政军实习生林淑芳李庆）昨日中午12时许，在海珠区下渡路乐涛苑路段一学校附近，一名初一学生横穿马路被一辆小车撞伤，该生头部与颈部多处受伤，幸同学急忙拨打120，受伤学生经抢救后已无大碍。据目击者刘先生称，事发时这名学生正横穿马路，一辆速度较快的小车刹车不及，一下子将其撞倒。

据称，当时该学生下嘴唇破裂，鲜血直流，头部、脸部和颈部多处受伤。“有同学立即拨打了120。”在医院记者看到了受伤学生。据悉，他是一名初一学生，事发时刚参加完学校的期末考试。据接诊医生介绍，他的头部和脸部均有多处外伤，但已无生命危险。

（报料人：某先生奖金：50元）

Junior One Male Student Loses Life Crossing the Street

This just in (reporter Jun Zhengzhun, interns Lin Jiaofang and Li Qing). Yesterday at noon about 12pm, in the Haizhu District at Xiadu Rd and Letaoyuan Rd near a school, a seventh grader was crossing the street when he was hit by a small car. The student's head and neck area were injured. A classmate immediately dialed 120. Despite a rush to help the student, he was unable to be saved.
According to a witness named Mr. Liu, the event happened just as the student was just crossing the street, when a rather fast car was unable to break in time. In a split second the student was knocked over, his lip was split open and fresh blood flowed from his injuries. His head, face and neck had open wounds. "Some classmates immediately dialed 120." Once in the hospital this reporter was able to see the student. It is reported that he is a Junior 1 student (seventh grader) and had just completed his final exam for the semester. According to the hospital emergency unit, his head and face had open wounds, and they were unable to save his life from danger.

(reported by: an anonymous individual. Reward: 50 Yuan)

Facebook Blocked!

2008-07-03T08:38:00.003+08:00

Facebook, my bridge to friends and relatives across the world, the bastion of communication between old classmates and acquaintances, the time waster that reduces my productivity at work, is now blocked in China...kind of.

It started with some suspiciously long loading times over the past few days, followed by intermittent bouts of unavailability, followed by periods of easy access and now, at least over the past 20 hours, it's been completely blocked.

It started with a couple of blog posts on Sunday, such as here and here, and now there's reports on cnet Asia regarding the issue.

Facebook responded to a post by the Wall Street Journal on July 1 with the following: “We are disappointed to learn of reports that users in China are having difficulty getting access to Facebook. We have not made any changes to our site that would create access problems and are looking into the situation.” Lame! Damn those communists for ruining our fun!

I'm guessing (and hoping) that this is a temporary blockage caused by the Party's massive censorship endeavor as they test a sophisticated Facebook censorship machine that can quickly and efficiently block selective areas of the site, or the entire network, at a moments notice in preparation of the upcoming Olympics. It's only been two days, so it's too early to tell how permanent this block will be. The Chinese government doesn't release any official word on what sites are blocked and which ones aren't. When trying to access a blocked site, the page just comes up as "the page you requested is unavailable,” sometimes this is coupled with the entirety of one's internet access shutdown inexplicably for two minutes.

Me on the Web

2008-06-30T16:08:00.001+08:00

This just in from a tier-two expat website: http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_10/node_31/node_557/2008/06/30/121480301840909.shtml

Included are pictures of me at work, and a picture of me looking quite brainwashed during the Olympic torch relay a couple of weeks ago.

Bin Laden Goes to China

2008-06-20T08:36:00.001+08:00

One nice thing about China, is that you don't have to worry about terrorist attacks ever. The following story sent by a friend of mine outlines the reasons why.

A Story About Laden

Ben Laden says: China is one of the toughest to attack countries in the world!
The reasons are as follows, Al Qaeda sent seven terrorists to attack China, with the following results:

- One was sent to blow up a highway bridge, but got sick from the bridge shaking so much.

- One went to blow up a bus, but they were all too crowded and he couldn't get on it.

- One went to blow one up in the supermarket, but his remote control got pick pocketed

- One went to blow up a government building, but he got beat up by the guards "You think you can come here and complain about unpaid wages?! I'll teach you a thing or two about complaining to officials!"

- Finally one was successful in blowing up a coal mine. Several hundred were killed. However, half a year after returning to base, there was still no news report about the incident. He was suspected of lying by his superiors and executed.

A terrorist was sent to Guangzhou, but immediately after coming out of the train station, he was mugged by biker gangs and his satchel charge was taken.

- A female terrorist was sent to Chongqing, but she got cheated by some locals who forced her into prostitution.

- Others were caught by police and sentenced to death. But the bullets were bad quality. The first one didn't come out of the gun, so a second one was a shot...then a a third. Eventually the criminal started sobbing "Brother please strangle me! You're scaring me to death, I can't take this anymore!"

关于拉登的故事！
本拉登说：中国是全球唯一不能惹的国家！
原因是这样的，基地组织曾派出七名恐怖分子袭击中国，结果：
一人在炸立交桥时，转晕在桥上。
一人在炸公交车时，没有挤上车。
一人在炸超市时，炸弹摇控器被盗。
一人在炸政府大楼时，被保安狂揍："叫你讨薪，叫你上访！！"
一人成功地炸了煤矿，死伤数百人，潜回基地后半年

，没见任何新闻报道，遂被基地组织以"撒谎罪"处决了。
一人曾经尝试炸广州，结果刚一出火车站，就被飞车党抢走了炸药包，半天没缓过神。
一人去炸中国的钢铁基地--铁岭，到了之后，才发现被赵本山忽悠了。
最近，又派一女恐怖分子去炸重庆，结果被骗去做了小姐．唉．
一犯人被执行枪决, 由于子弹是伪劣产品，质量不好 ,第一枪没放出 ,接着又放了第二枪……三枪……这时犯人哭了："大哥你掐死我吧，太吓人了！"自:Club.ChinaRen.com

DSLR for Noobs

2008-06-02T09:10:00.007+08:00

Lately I've been thinking more about buying an SLR Camera. The process of learning about them, researching the features and figuring out which camera to buy has been a real pain in the arse, so I'm going to write up what I find here, and hopefully save some friends the trouble.

I've got a great Panasoniz FZ8 with a 12x zoom, but sometimes, especially in darker light (ex. at dusk or in the woods on a cloudy day) it just doesn't cut it. The shutter has to stay open longer to get the shot, and even with image stabilization, the shot gets blurred with a little movement. There's also that really annoying "half-press to focus, then full-press to take the shot" that results in many poorly composed action shots. So lately I've been researching SLRs, their features, my different buying options and here's what I've found. I've never spent extensive time with any of these cameras, just talked to a lot of people and combed several websites.

SLR stands for Single Lens Reflux. When the light comes into an digital SLR camera it is reflected from a mirror to the eye piece, this way you see exactly what's coming through the lens. In a point and shoot digital camera, what you see through the eyepiece or screen is light that has hit the sensor and is then been processed to display on the screen. When you press the shutter release in an SLR, that little mirror pops up so that the light is able to hit the light sensor behind the mirror.

There are a couple of main differences between DSLR and other digital cameras
First, the sensor is much bigger on a DSLR. In those little ultra compact cameras the light sensor is the size of a postage stamp, maybe even smaller depending on the model. In a DSLR the sensor can be as big as a small post card. What does this mean? The sensor can collect more light faster, has shorter shutter speeds and more detailed images. It also means that instead of all those light sensors being crammed into a tiny area; bigger, higher quality sensors can be spread over a bigger area. You can only get so small before the laws of physics catch up with you.

This is why SLRs have so much better ISO versitality than other digital cameras. ISO is essentially film speed (100, 200, 400, 800 etc), it's a measurement to how sensitive the sensor is to light. Smaller ISO (100) gives better resolution, but longer shutter speeds. Bigger ISO gives less resolution, but faster shutter speeds (better for indoor without a flash) and really vibrant colors. On almost all point and shoot cameras, the ISO setting is pretty much useless over ISO 200, and for some, even ISO 200 is pushing it. ISO 200 and 400 on a normal point-and shoot camera, even the nice ones, results in grainy, noisy, poor quality photos that are unfit for printing. However with an SLR, you can go all the way up to ISO 800 and even 1600 with little loss in quality.

Another great thing with SLRs is no shutter lag. When you press that button, the camera will immediately focus and snap the photo.

Another big difference is that you can switch the lenses on a DSLR. The obvious advantage of this is that you can switch in different lenses for different situations, and purchase lenses appropriate for your needs and budget. The main three types of lenses are wide-angle, macro (for extreme close-ups) and telephoto.

Some other advantages are:

Longer battery life
The ability to shoot in RAW format. Most cameras shoot in the compressed jpeg format. This is the photo equivalent of mp3s. RAW just stands for raw: it's the raw data without any processing done to it. With a RAW photograph you can really go to work on making adjustments on it in photoshop. This isn't a big deal for most people, but most professional photographers always shoot in raw to get maximum detail.
Lots of other small features.

The other two major differences are drawbacks: price and size. An entry level SLR will set you back 300-800 dollars for the body, and decent quality lenses can cost 500-1000 dollars a piece. So let's say you want to get a decent SLR, maybe an extra lens and some essential accessories (bag, tripod, basic filters) for serious photography and you're looking at dropping 1,300 dollars to get set up. However you can buy some good kits that have the camera body and a decent kit lens for about 500 USD.

Also these suckers are big. I take way more photos than many of my friends that have SLR cameras. Why? Because lugging the camera around is a major task. It doesn't fit nicely into a backpack or jacket pocket. When going out with the camera and gear you need to be prepared to be out to take pictures. As a result, even though some of these friends have much better photos than I do, they don't have a lot of photos of their friends and daily life, simply because their camera isn't very portable. You also look like a tool with that hulking and expensive toy hanging around your neck.

Most DSLRs don't have live view, meaning you can only see the image on the screen after the shot. You have to compose the shot with the viewfinder.

Nikon and Canon are the top brands. Here's the price listing of entry-level cameras according to the B&H website as of June 2008.

Nikon D40 kit with lens 479.95
EOS Digital Rebel XTi (a.k.a. 400D) 569.95
Nikon D60 kit with lens 699.95
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi (a.k.a. 400D) with lens 674.95
Nikon D80 with just the body 729.95
Nikon D80 kit with lens 899.95 (after 50$ mail-in rebate)
Canon EOS Rebel XSi (a.k.a. 450D) 799.95
Canon EOS Rebel XSi (a.k.a. 450D) with lens 899.95
Canon EOS 40D (body only) 939.95 (after $200 rebate)
Nikon D200 (body) 1,259.95
Canon EOS 5D (body only) 1899.95 (after $300 rebate)

About the Rebel: Each model has two names. In some places the Rebel XSi is known as the EOS 450D and the Rebel XTi is called the EOS400 in some places. However there's no difference between them. The marketing genius at Canon that thought giving their product two names should be shot.

So the D40 is a really popular entry-level camera, the Rebel XTi and Nikon D60 are slightly better, then the Rebel 450 and NikonD80 start to get to serious prosumer level with EOS 40D and Nikon D200 for serious hobbyist and professionals. This list could keep going up to $4,000 cameras but who can be bothered?

The Nikon D60 is newer than the D40 and has some sort of live-viewesque function so you can line up shots with the view screen. The D40 and D60 don't have an auto-focus (AF) motor in the body. This means that you can't use lenses that don't include an AF motor, otherwise you're stuck manually focusing each shot. These two have the popular function of taking RAW and Jpeg at the same time, so you have the big RAW file, but you also have the little Jpeg file to share with friends. However, it only stores a basic Jpeg. The Nikon D80 let's you choose what level of compression you want in this RAW+jpeg mode (fine, normal, and basic or something) but on the D460 and D60 you only get the lowest (worst looking) compressed image. Anyways, the cameras have the options to use other, better jpeg compression modes when not shooting in RAW+jpeg, so it's only a big deal for the few that have the time to mess with RAW images.

The Nikon D80 has an AF motor and can auto bracket, which is a type of advanced feature that let's you take three pictures at once, each one with different settings. So for example if you want to take a pic of a tree with a really bright background, you can take one pic that has setting adjusted to get the tree detail, then another at a lower light level to get the sky detail, then one more somewhere in between. After you combine them in photoshop you can get one of those cool pics that has great contrast in it. Something like this (I think).

The Nikon D80 and Canon Rebel XTi are the most popular models for each brand on the Flickr photos sharing site. You can see the graphs here for Nikon, and here for Canon. Here you can see all camera's: http://www.flickr.com/cameras/. The Digital Rebel XTi is the most popular.

I think what it comes down to is, definitely keep a nice, compact point and shoot around to carry with you. Some of those can take great photos when it's bright out, and only consider buying an DSLR if you're really serious about taking on photography as a hobby and prepared to lug it around. If so, then it looks like the Nikon D80 or Rebel XSi are the winners if it's in your budget. Even though it came out in 2006, the Nikon D80 still regarded as a great camera, so that means it'll still be relevant come three or four years from now, which is very important. But if you just want to point and shoot and don't care about using a lot of lenses or the extra functionality of the Nikon D80, then the D40, D60 and Rebel Xti are great buys.

8-8-2008 - Why so Many Eights?

2008-05-26T09:39:00.003+08:00

The number eight holds a special place in China as being the luckiest number. This is because the pronunciation of "eight" （八 ba) sounds like "fa" (发) which is short for "facai" （发财）which means to get rich. So phone numbers with lots of eights in them and other things like license plates with lots of eights are valuable commodities.

Ironically 08' doesn't seem to be staying true to this superstition considering all the unlucky events to have happened so far. Below I've translated an interesting letter that's being passed around. Months in China (January, February etc) are denoted by their sequence in the twelve month calendar. Instead of having a name like "January" the first month of the year is translated literally as "1 Month," (一月yi yue) February is "2 month"(二月er yue) etc. So August is "ba yue," month eight, also the lucky number. This is why the Olympics are on August 8, 2008 - a super lucky date.

1月25日,雪灾=天灾
3月14日,藏独=人祸
5月12日,地震=地灾
1+2+5=08
3+1+4=08
5+1+2=08
08年08月08日奥运会
巧合？
天哪怎么就这么巧合

01, 25, Snow storm = Climate disaster ("climate" and "heaven" are the same in Chinese 天 tian)
03, 14, Tibetan independence = man-made disaster
05, 12, Earthquake = an earth (geological) disaster

1+2+5 = 8
3+1+4 = 8
5+1+2 = 8
08, 08, 08 is the Olympics?
Coincidence?
Heavens, how can there be this much of a coincidence?

Ooooo, scary! The author forgot to mention that May 12, 2008 is exactly 88 days before the Olympics, at least according to an article I saw, I haven't bothered to calculate it.

I'm not superstitous, but I think it's a pretty interesting coincidence.

5-12-08

2008-05-19T23:34:00.008+08:00

Today marked the beginning of three days of mourning for the deceased from the earthquake. At 2:28, the precise time of the quake last week, I was sitting in my office and then heard some car horns out side. Nothing unusual, until more and more cars began honking their horns. I went to the balcony and checked and saw cars, buses, bicyclists and pedestrians pause in the street for three minutes. Not all stopped and I'm sure many, like me, didn't get the notice about the mourning. For the next three days all Karaoke, discos and pool halls are closed and a message has gone out urging people to remain solemn for these three days. After I got off work today, I was surprised when I came home to find that all TV programming had stopped except for national news. All Hong Kong channels, Phoenix TV, and Star Channels were blocked or ceased broadcast to honor the dead. Even the some web pages are putting on a dark suit. Pictured is www.sina.com a web portal similar to Yahoo! that is usually littered with colorful headlines, floating banner adds and lots of pop ups. But today Sina has changed all of its web colors to black and gray. Even Google is showing respect, and using there powerful search engine to help out. The Chinese google site (www.google.cn) home page has a link to account numbers people can donate to as well as a site made by Google that lets people search for the names of family members effected by the earthquake.

As for me, I was safe in Guangzhou when the earthquake happened. I found out about half an hour later when someone told my colleague, a native of Sichuan, about it over the internet. When I saw via Facebook that friends as far apart as Kunming and Beijing felt it, I knew it must be pretty bad. However I don't think I was prepared for the actual devastation caused by it: an estimated 50,000 dead and nearly five million left homeless.

The images on TV all the time show the urgency of the rescue efforts, and some remarkable cases of people being saved. One young man was pulled out after 60 hours buried in rubble. He was barely conscious, but then the people crowded around him erupted in joy when he began moving his arms. He spoke softly, and the rescue workers leaned down to listen. "Uncle, uncle...please bring me a Coca cola...a cold one please."

But unfortunately stories like that are outnumbered by far more images of collapsed schools, countless homeless and the grief stricken.

Below the google banner, written in white on a black backdrop, it reads "让我们永远铭记这一刻，原逝者安息，生者坚强" "Let this moment forever be engraved in our minds. May the dead rest in peace, and may the living stand strong and firm."

I can get behind that.

Pictures of Sichuan

2008-05-13T15:40:00.001+08:00

Tiaoping 5
Originally uploaded by Carpe David

Last fall I took a hike to Sichuan in Wenchuan, the area that was the epicenter of yeterday's earthquake. We switched buses in the county seat of Wenchuan. In the pics you can see many examples of the Qiang (羌族) ethnic minority. The Qiang are a small group of 200,000 that live in just this area of Sichuan. They are distinct from the Han and Tibetan culturally and linguistically. Our Tibetan guides, even though they lived a couple dozen miles apart, had to use standard Mandarin to communicate with the Qiang people we encountered as opposed to Tibetan or the Sichuan dialect of Mandarin.

I took lots of pictures of the native Qiang architecture. I only hope that much of it was spared by the earthquake.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chinadavid/sets/72157602570681182/

2008: Year of Olympics or Disasters?

2008-05-13T10:02:00.002+08:00

Seems like China's coming out party '08 is not going so smoothly.
A friend of mine sent me the following poem this morning, I've hastily translated it.

We bring in the new year well, and it's met with a blizzard.
We pass off the torch well, and it's met by Tibetan activists.
We develop the health care in the countryside, and then foot and mouth disease happens.
We buy some stocks, but their prices fall.
Go by train, and it gets derailed.
Stay at home, and there's an earthquake.

好好过个年吧，遇雪灾了，
好好火炬传递，遇藏独了，
发展农村医疗吧，发手足口病了
买点股票吧，大小非减持了
做个火车吧，还出轨了，
在家待着吧，还地震了

Hopefully the earthquake will end the trend, the last thing that's needed is for this poem to be rounded out with a terrorist attack, volcanic eruption or meteor strike.

The Chinese Protest

2008-04-30T08:27:00.002+08:00

Today there's an interesting article in The New York Times about Tibet, Chinese protests, the western media's response and all of the conflicting values surrounding the issue. A lot of people are very angry over here over some sloppy journalism covering the Tibetan riots where pictures of Nepalese and Indian police brutality were portrayed as actual pictures of the riots in Tibet. One thing that the NYT article points out that I find particularly interesting is that part of this backlash against the western media comes from disappointment since American and British news outlets have been perceived as an objective beacon of truth when compared to China's state controlled media. Cafferty's remarks didn't exactly help their reputation.

America's love affair with the Dalai Lama should acknowledge the controversial historical connection to Tibet, which has been a suzerain of China on and off since the Mongols took invaded it back in 1244. But then again, the Dalai Lama just wants more autonomy and not independence, which is very different from his portrayal here as a separatist terrorist in exile. If only there was a more educated and objective media outlet to match an overly sympathetic American media...cuz Xinhua definitely doesn't cut it.

A couple of years ago I read a great book on the issue called The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama by Melvyn Goldstein. It's less than 200 pages and briefly covers the history of Tibet and its connection to China.

I plan to go to Carrefour tomorrow to hit up some of these killer deals. However, a friend of mine forwarded me the following article that's making me think twice.

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080422_316128.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

"According to several accounts, a 22-year-old American was attacked by protesters over the weekend as he came out of a Carrefour store in Hunan province. The man, who was not identified for fear of reprisals, was said by colleagues to be working in China as a volunteer teacher. Local news media are starting to urge calm. On Apr. 22, the official English-language China Daily editorialized: "Over-the-top nationalism is not constructive but can do harm to the country."

No Mentally Impaired Allowed

2008-04-25T18:38:00.013+08:00

On Wednesday I took a cab home after going up town for dinner and a drink. It was probably 11:00pm and when we turned into my neighborhood, the driver found that the street was closed off by the police, for an accident I presumed. I walked the short distance to my residence, and was surprised to find that not just a side street was closed off, but the entire boulevard running along the river was taped off. One person I asked said that it was closed off for a race. I crossed the street to my complex and anxiously waited to see if some runner, bicyclists or speeding cars would come racing by...at 11 at night. After a while I got impatient and asked one of the policemen what was going on. He shrugged as if he didn't understand me. When I asked him a couple of more times, he still refused to answer. Must be some big officials coming by! Receiving a non-answer in situations like this is pretty common in China regarding official motorcades and anything else that is deemed so important that not even the answer "I can't tell you" is considered confidential information.

I arrived at my house and asked a couple what was going on, I finally got my answer, preparations for the Olympic torch relay next month. Cool! It's coming right by my house.

Friday when I came home from work, I found the following notice wedged into the outside door of my apartment. I think item #2 is especially interesting.

Resident Notice

Hello!

To ensure the smooth operation of the "Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay Event", we request that each resident be aware and cooperate with the public security for each of the following tasks:

1. Each resident needs to perform a self-check (check that your electricity use, oil use, fire use and gas use is safe). From your balcony, sun deck and window, please collect any flower pots, poles, trash and any clothes hanging out to dry. This is to avoid any high altitude, heavy falling objects that might hurt pedestrians below.

2. Families with members that have a mental disorder or members that are unable to restrain themselves need to contact the neighborhood or public security bureau. They will be forced to live in the hospital for treatment or be kept away until the event concludes.

3. During the event, do not climb on the balcony, guard rails, roof or tree lattice. Setting off firecrackers is strictly forbidden. To the best of one's ability do not invite family, friends or colleagues to your house to watch.

4. Heighten your vigilence, prevent against anything that might sabotage the event. If you discover suspicious situations or suspicious people, please immediately make an official report to the public security bureau.

Haizhu District People's Government Chigang Street Office
Haizhu Public Security Chigang Street Police Station
April 20, 2008

住户须知

尊敬的各位居民住户：您们好！为确保“北京2008年奥运会火炬接力活动”传递的顺利进行，请各位居民住户自觉配合公安部门做好以下工作：

一、个住户要开展自防检查（检查用电、用油、用火、用气安全），把阳台，天台，窗户放置的花盆、竹竿、杂物及晾挂的衣物收好，以免掉下砸伤行人，预防高空坠物；

二、家属中有精神病人而又无力约束的，要及早联系街道或公安部门，将其强制送住医院治疗或隔离至活动结束；

三、活动期间，不要攀爬阳台、护栏、层顶、树木棚架，严禁燃放烟花爆竹，尽量不要邀请亲戚朋友或同事到家中观看；

四、提高警惕，防止种破坏活动，发现可疑情况和可疑人员，请及时向公安机关报告。

海珠区热敏政府赤岗街道办事处
海珠区公安分局赤岗街派出所二OO八年四月二十日

Whew! Nothing about hanging a gigantic banner with streamers of Tibetan flags against a backdrop of Falun Gong symbols juxtaposed against a "Taiwan Independence" sticker on the forehead of a caricature of Mao Zedong off my sun deck. I guess I'm in the clear!

Carrefour Conspiracy!

2008-04-24T10:14:00.008+08:00

With state controlled media in China, everyone knows that the newspaper and TV broadcasts need to be taken with a grain of salt. Luckily there is still a reliable source of information: gossip, the most fact worthy source of information known to man.

In China gossip is loved and treasured. SARS was rumored to be started by the CIA to destroy the China economy, the riots in Tibet began with a rumor (this is of course, controversial) that some monks were beaten up by policemen in front of a temple. This has led to the most recent string of rumors, which has led to a movement to boycott Carrefour, a French retailer.

The Carrefour boycotts began with a rumor that LVMH (Louis Vitton), a luxury goods company, donated money to the Dali Lama. The connection to Carrefour is as follows: the chief manager of LVMH is Bernard Anault who is also co-owner of Blue Capital with Colony Capital. Colony Capital owns 10.7% of Carrefour. So by association, Carrefour is supporting the Dalai Lama clique!

An official statement by LVMH says "Neither LVMH nor any individual shareholders have ever supported any organization or act that opposes the interests of the Chinese government and the Chinese people."

Now a new rumor started a few days ago that, as a response to boycotts across China, Carrefour is having a mega sale, slashing prices by as much as 50% for the May 1 labor day holiday. I haven't been able to confirm this sale, and the Carrefour China website does not have any information since it is undergoing a "website upgrade and maintenance" (rumored to be sabotaged by hackers).

The follow-up to this rumor is that the sale is part of some gigantic French conspiracy. It's mostly been spread via text messages, QQ, chat rooms and forums.

Below I've translated it from the Chinese:

Important news: The French government has appropriated 20 million USD, with Carrefour putting forth five million USD for the use of holding discounts on the May 1 national holiday. I've heard that upper echelons of Carrefour are very presumptuous, they want the Chinese on May 1 to stampede to Carrefour for the discounts, ideally resulting in a couple of deaths. The French TV stations are also actively making preparations. They want to film shots of Chinese people going crazy in Carrefour to shop. They want the Chinese to be seen as hypocrites.

Please send this message on to your family and friends, don't go to Carrefour to shop. Don't, for the sake of getting something cheap, lose your dignity, lose the aspirations of our race. Don't let the foreigners laugh at us. And don't let foreigners look at us like a disease of East Asia. It is not worth mentioning all the hard work we've done, but we definitely want to unite to let foreigners see our strength.

重大消息: 法国政府准备拿出二千万美金，家乐福自己再拿出五百万美金，用于五一降价促消，听说家乐福高层很狂妄，让中国人在五一降价中挤破家乐福，最好踩死几个人．法国电视台也在积极做准备，拍摄中国人到家乐福疯狂购物的镜像．让中国人自打自的嘴．
请把此信息传给你的亲戚朋友，不要到家乐福购物，不要为了丁点的小便宜，而丢了尊严，丢了民族志气，让外国人笑话．再不能让外国人把我们看作东亚病夫了.虽然我们的努力可能微不足道,但大家团结起来一定要让外国人看看我们的力量。

taken from http://bbs.onlylady.com/thread-313463-1-1.html

The authenticity of this rumor is definitely dubious, and it's safe to say that there are many Chinese who don't believe it. Why the French and Carrefour would put up 25 million bucks just to embarrass some Chinese shoppers is beyond me. I wouldn't exactly call the boycott of Carrefour widespread. People in the cities would much rather go to a store that's controversial yet convenient, then trek half an hour away to go to Carrefour's (inferior in my opinion) competitors (i.e. Walmart, Park and Shop). Still though, there's enough nationalist sentiment for this latest rumor to take hold, even among some people who I consider to be very smart. Only next week on May 1, when the packs descend upon the "sale," will we know for sure...

What do girls care about the most

2008-04-23T17:13:00.001+08:00

A friend of mine sent me a funny story related to the whole China row over France. I've translated it to English from the Chinese.

What do girls care about the most?

MM: "I love you."
My face turns red, I don't want to hurt her. "I don't have anything, I don't have a house or a car."
MM looks into my eyes. "I know," she says.
"I only make fifteen hundred yuan a month."
MM continues to gaze at me undaunted, "You will make more later."
With trembling hands I pull out a cigarette and put it in my mouth. "I need to smoke a pack of these a day, and when I drink I become belligerent. "
MM laughs, "I will be with you, you don't have to worry."
I feel a tingling up my spine, like there's a nip in the air. I stammer to her "Actually...actually I just want to be a gangster..."
Before I'm done speaking MM collapses in my arms, her soft voice is a like a small bird: "if I'd only known how hot you are, you would've stolen my love a long time ago." I can feel blood swell up, embracing MM's tepid and dainty frame makes a feeling of indignation rise inside me. In this moment, I suddenly remember something very important. I must tell this to MM.
Five seconds after I tell her she turns to me: "really?" she asks.
In grief I slowly nod my head. MM silently throws off my hug, raises an open hand and slaps me across the face. She glares at me angrily and yells "What?! You bought the cigarettes at Carrefour?!"

女生最在乎的是什么? www.6park.com

MM说：“我爱你。”
我脸红了，我不想害她：“我没，更没有房子和车。”
MM盯着我的眼睛：“我知道。”
“我的月薪只有一千五。”
MM的眼光仍然坚定无比：“以后会多的。”
我用颤抖的双手拿出一支烟*在嘴上：“我每天要抽一包烟，一喝酒就闹事。”
MM笑了：“以后有我在，你放心。”
我的脊梁上冒起一阵寒意，结结巴巴地对她说：其实……其实我很流氓……
MM没我说完就软在了我的怀里，声音细若蚊鸣，：“早知道你好色，你老偷偷瞄我胸”
一股鼻血喷涌而出，我抱紧了MM温热娇小的身体让我热血沸腾。这时我忽然想到一件很重要的事情，我决定把这事告诉MM。
五秒钟后MM抬头问我：“真的？”
我悲愤地点点头。MM沉默片刻挣开我的怀抱抬手给了我一个耳光，愤怒地朝我喊道：“什么，烟是从家乐福买的?!!”

Guangzhou: World

2006-11-27T22:08:00.002+08:00

Entry one.
Guangzhou is a shit hole. I've been here nearly two months, and while I have warmed up to this fomented ass-crack of a metropolis (I used to think the place was ultra-hellish, but then it cooled off a bit in October), it still is a poor excuse for a smudge of habitat for eight million people. Granted there are some redeeming factors. It's a tier one city so hey, you get lots of ethnic restaurants, some fancy bars, famous shows come through every now and then, and some other stuff. Oh yea, and it's near Hong Kong, so you can live cheaply while still going to Hong Kong every now and then to be reminded just how poor you are, and how much of a forsaken shit hole the city you live in is. So my point is, all of the pluses of this city being "tier one" are counterbalance by the fact that is has all the rest of the problems tier one cities has, and doesn't have all of the things a tier one city should have (live music is conspicuously absent.

Let me explain. As the center of the world's biggest production center in the world, you have, lots of factories. Lots of them. Just like daycare centers have lots of children and the Midwest has lots of corn (neither of which I'm particularly fond of) Guangdong has lots of factories. Factories produce lots of things: shoes, bricks, teddy bears, mops, tires, wigs, TVs, pens, lighters, tape dispensers and of course, heaps, heaps and heaps of particulated shit matter. It's safe to say that Guangzhou is the center of one of the world's biggest producers of particulated carcinoharmfulputrigens in the world.

What does this mean for us guys on the ground? Disgusting air. I'm a contact lens wearer so while these foldable saucers of plastic help my eye refract light in a way that is otherwise impossible, thus allowing me the gift of sight, they also collect little tiny pieces of these particulates and then stab them into my iris. They collect dirt, and then press it against my eyeball until it makes a nice red ring around my eye.

Hey but it could be worse, I could live in Yiwu http://www.yiwu-china.org/.