Via Andrew Sullivan, I read Roger Cohen’s piece in the NYTimes from the 26th. The following note was given to an Afgan released from Guantanamo back in 2006:

“An Administrative Review Board has reviewed the information about you that was talked about at the meeting on 02 December 2005 and the deciding official in the United States has made a decision about what will happen to you. You will be sent to the country of Afghanistan. Your departure will occur as soon as possible.”

That’s it. The whole thing. And that language? Brutal. Orwell guessed 22 years early.

Andrew’s post is here. The NYTimes piece is here.

An absolutely hilarious list of things to be thankful for this time of year, from the finance-centered humor/satire site Long or Short Capital. Here is number 5:

Certainty! Previously I didn’t know when the housing bubble would burst, whether there would be independent investment banks, whether any politicians would be held accountable for cramming housing on people and generally putting the short term way ahead of the long term, whether the stock market could really lose 50% of its value in the post-WWII world and who the biggest dick/fraud on the planet was. The answers were 2007, no, no, yes and Greenspan!

You can read the whole thing (and you should!) here.

From a post almost 2 weeks old now, but wanted to note it here all the same:

The main thing to realize is that for the time being we really are in an alternative universe, in which nothing would be more dangerous than an attempt by policy makers to play it safe.

Full thing here. If anyone is still reading this blog and doesn’t understand that post, let me know and I can try to write something explaining it.

A great paragraph from Ezra Klein on the continued “center-right” idiocy:

The argument that America is a center-right nation tends to proceed from a simple survey of the landscape. We do not have universal health care, we do not have strong unions, we do not have guaranteed paid vacation, we do not have major climate change legislation, Other countries do, and therefore our people are center-right.
But this gets the causality backwards. Assuming that policy outcomes are a simple reflection of public opinion is a nasty error. We have a government set up to protect against public opinion. And it works. The Founding Fathers weren’t idiots, and the political structure they designed has functioned largely as they expected.

Full post here.

Bought a new iPhone yesterday, so here is a view out my window, posted from my iPhone.

A great graph found via this post at Kevin Drums site. Shows the change in the country from 2004 to 2008. It’s subtle, but it’s clearly there, and important to remember amid all this ridiculous “center-right” talk.

Shock waves off an AK-47 when fired

A very cool photo from the slideshow attached to this NYT article. Discusses photography of airflow from things like coughs, gunshots, a hair-dryer, etc.

Via Shanghaiist:

For all of you outside of China right now who have no idea what the internet is like over here and are curious enough to meet the Net Nanny face to face, here comes the ultimate Firefox extension for you, the China Channel Firefox Add-on.

Hilariously awesome. It makes any Firefox browser outside China behave as if it is instead inside China (I assume through a proxy), and the logo they worked up ain’t so bad either!

Went out to the house of a friend of a friend last night to play some poker. Lost about 50元 ($8), but it was a good time. The main problem with the whole thing, was that the house was home to 3 cats. I am quite allergic to cats, but also love them to death, so as soon as I walked in, without thinking I picked one up and was cuddling it. For the next hour or so I was sneezing like a fiend, much to amusement of everyone else at the table. We also played with monopoly money instead of chips, which was surprisingly fun. (more…)

So it has been a while since I have thrown a real update my blogs way. I have been busy I guess, but also lazy. Many times have found myself thinking I should write something, but never getting around to it. Just really need to make blogging a habit, if my sister is any indication, a little habit might soon turn into an addiction.

But anyways, back to the subject at hand, my life and its progression in Shanghai. As I was saying to Tim just last night, when October 1st hit over a week ago now (holy shit!) I could not believe that a month had passed so quickly. I don’t know if it is the business everyday or what, but time is really flying over here. It is a bit monotonous I guess, not that I am not having fun, but class + work can get a little repetitive. Of course I am still telling myself I need to get out an explore more, and it is still not happening. There is always next weekend…

I joined a website for hooking up people for language exchange from all over the world (I think originally started by people in China, but in no way China specific) called italki.com. Got a lot of hits off of that from mostly Chinese people wanting to learn English from me. Have made a few friends though, some in Shanghai, some not. Hung out with one girl, Mandy, during the National Holiday vacation last week. We ended up having dinner at her friend’s parent’s restaurant so that I could speak English with her friend (Mandy’s English was quite good, all things considered). It was a fun time, and lots of good food, though there was, of course, the awkward, “Yeah, I really don’t like that…” after they brought out all the food without ever asking anything I might dis/like. On the upside I didn’t have to pay, so why am I complaining.

Finally, in non-school/work news, was my trip to a nearby sports bar this past weekend on both Saturday and Sunday morning to watch MLB games. Seeing the Sox on a nice big TV, with the English commentary blarring through the empty bar and a beer in my hand, while the Chinese employees looked at the TV with no idea what was happening, was just freaking awesome. Every time I would erupt in elation or dismay at a play I would then have to explain in broken Chinese/English whether I was happy or sad, and why that was the case. Plus the Sox won, and went on to take the series. Good times. I will definitely be back at a bar this coming weekend.

Side note: I can not find shoes in China. I have been to many, many stores and no one cares anything about a US 10.5. This could soon become a real problem. Must find the hidden shoe man that caters to the 老外 (foreigners).