Lorna's mini birthday party

SaudiLifeHack # 4

Waiting for days for the hotel to deliver your laundry? You actually have to call them to deliver!

SaudiLifeHack # 3

The hotel's laundry service might actually be cheaper than that outside. Double check.

SaudiLifeHack # 2

If you were short pants, be sure that they cover your knees.

SaudiLifeHack # 1

When in a clinic or hospital, don't assume the Filipina nurses know you are waiting to see the doctor. Make sure she knows you are waiting.

View of the Faisaliyah Center from my hotel room

Close-up Photo of the Al Faisaliyah Center

Close-up Photo of the Al Faisaliyah Center. My hotel is within walking distance of this, one of two main skyscrapers in Riyadh.

Riyadh to Bahrain - note the camels!

Right to Left

All programs in Saudi Arabia (e.g., Microsoft products) are defaulted for text to be entered from the right to the left. This is for Arabic data entry of course. Quite interesting but a bit annoying as well to learn how to toggle to left to right.

Prayers on a Plane

A Saudi man on the plane over to Saudi Arabia was praying for several hours (a low chanting sound) right behind me. It was rather soothing. I admire his religious devotion.

Taiwanese stray dog chillin' in a bookstore

This stray dog in Taipei County knows how to beat the summer heat! Sneak into a crowded, air-conditioned bookstore! The Taiwanese seem kind to strays letting them roam free. Or might it be better for the Taiwanese to exhibit tough love to the strays, coral them up and prevent them from starving and getting mangy?

Taiwanese scooter riding hack - jackets on backwards

I have always found it very interesting that Taiwanese often wear jackets backwards when driving their ubiquitous scooters. I am told that if jackets are worn normally, wind resistance will increase making riding slower and more costly. Could this be seen as an environmental hack? I wonder why no one in Taiwan has designed a jacket that fits on backwards - market opportunity?

Taiwan's Tantilizing TiT Townhouses

I can think of few places in the world besides Taiwan that would market a residential apartment complex entitled "TiT" -- "Town in Town". Are they being coy or just didn't bother to ask any random foreigner what "tit" means? Or to just look it up in the dictionary?

Taiwan's tiny trash tins

Taiwan is one of the most crowded places on earth and yet the garbage bins are about 1/3rd the size of those found in places like Hong Kong or North America. Why? One would think the Taiwanese - who love their island - would learn from overseas and expand the size of cans? Does not seem to match with Taiwan's excellent (world-class) recycling program.

Betel Nut Princesses

The semi-narcotic betel nut (bin lang) and scantily clad young girls selling it to Taiwanese men. Videos taken in Taipei City.

Taiwan - beetle nut princesses + customers

North Americans and country codes

As I explained to a friend:

By the way, may I offer a small foible correction? In Europe and Asia, people add "+" before their phone numbers as you have below. However, what should come after the + is first the country code. So, below, you should have +1 615 ... rather than +615.

For example, someone from the UK would list their numbers as +44 .... Chinese as +86.

What makes this doubly confusing for us North Americans is that the country code of the US (and Canada) is "1" which is the same as the long-distance dialing input. And, still being the world's largest market, we can spend our lives only dialing area codes and never dealing with country codes.

So, in conclusion, I suggest you change your signature and cards to read +1 615 ... for international business affairs.

Picasa Slideshow

Dad's 61st birthday celebrated at Bonefish Grill.

Dad's 61st birthday celebrated at Bonefish Grill.

Drive through bucolic Columbia, Tennessee.

Drive through bucolic Columbia, Tennessee.

Unnecessary Quotations Marks in Lynchburg

As seen on tour at the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Submitted to the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.

Drive from Murfreesboro to Franklin, Tennessee

Taking a shot through the nose - Jack Daniels

Took a friend to visit the Jack Daniel's distillery. We took the tour. In the warehouse, the vapors were so powerful it was like taking a shot through the nose.

Amnesty International weighs in on the Beijing Olympics and Human Rights

Amnesty International UK's first video about the Beijing Olympics and human rights:

Dad tilling the garden

Dad tilling the garden:

China blocking RSS podcast feeds

When I was last in China (in March), I found it fascinating which podcast RSS feeds the Net Nannies blocked and which they did not. This motley mix of censoring the benign and leaving salty feeds uncensored (e.g., the Distorted View podcast) really emphasizes the keystone cop nature of China's Net Nannies.

BLOCKED RSS PODCAST FEEDS:

60 Minutes

Escapepod

Pseudopod

Scott Sigler

Pacific Coast Hellway

UC Radio Podcast

Best of National Geographic

The Economist

Talk Radio News

The Onion Radio News

This American Life

Well Told Tales

Comedy Central Stand-up

WSJ Tech News Brief

NOT BLOCKED:

Distorted View

BBC - Best of Today - not salty, but interesting that this BBC feed is not blocked given that the BBC was in a tiff with China a few years back, etc.

Nah, we just throw them away - Kroger's Rx

Having experienced Taiwan's mandatory recycling program and innovative policies such as mandatory used battery recycling bins at convenience stores, I am shocked as usual back in the USA with the lazy attitude about recycling. Case in point, I picked up some prescription medicines for my parents at the Kroger supermarket/pharmacy. I asked the pharmacists what they do with the used pill boxes / cylinders. To my chagrin, she indicated that they just trash them. No effort or even thinking about recycling these plastic wonders.

It would seem, a priori, that it would make sense to recycle plastic pillboxes -- the right thing to do, good business sense (plastic costs are rising, would help Kroger by selling these to recyclers?) and good PR.

Chinese vs. Carrefour

As I blogged about before, the Chinese are taking it out on the French. On Carrefour.

Chinese Nationalism on the rise - Tibet, Taiwan, Olympics, etc.

Mainland Chinese are mad and they aren't going to take it anymore. Invigorated with new-found wealth (largest foreign exchange reserves in the world since 2006, per capita income up by a CAGR of 11% over the last half a decade, largest carbon polluter in the world, world's 3rd largest economy, etc.), the Chinese are responding as best they can to what they perceive as perfidious foreigners trying to break apart their historic Union (Taiwanese and Tibetan separatists).

For example, I received a chain e-mail from Chinese friends about Tibet, the French and Carrefour (a large, French supermarket chain that has expanded aggressively into Asia and China over the last decade and a half). It calls for a boycott of Carrefour:

5月8日-24日正好是北京奥运会的前三个月.请您不要去家乐福购物.因为:

1. 家乐福的大股东捐巨资给达赖

2. 法国支持藏独者甚众

3. 法国总统声言抵制奥运会.

那么我们现在就抵制一下家乐福.为期与北京奥运会同长.前后17天,让他们看看中国民众的力量. 请转发.

It reads:

May 8th - 24th is exactly three months prior to the Beijing Olympics. Please do not go to Carrefour to shop / purchase. Because: 1. Carrefour's largest shareholder has given money to the Dali Lama. 2. France supports Tibetan Independence severally. 3. The French President declared a boycott of the Oympics. Now, therefore, let us boycott Carrefour for a bit. For a period of time as long as that of the Olympics themselves. For these 17 days, make them see the strength of the Chinese people. Please forward this.

(Point 3 refers to President Sarkozy's demand that China open talks with the Dalai Lama, etc. as a condition for Sarkozy to attend the Opening Ceremony.)

China now has the world's second largest Internet population and we will see Chinese netizens being increasingly proactive in using the Web to further their agendas.

IHOP breakfast

Decadent but delicious American breakfast at IHOP:

Google Search LCD

Google's famous scrolling search on LCD screen as recorded at Building 44.

Lights off Taiwan

Just another venting of the spleen in terms of Asians driving with lights off.

Globalization = truth is stranger than fiction.

Globalization = truth is stranger than fiction.

Secondary citizen

For the last several years, almost every time I clear security at US airports, my boarding pass is marked “SSSS” and I have additional security screening. I am called a “Secondary”. I have asked for years why this always happens to me and no one has an answer at the airport. Thus, I am turning to the Internet to see what I can do to stop hemorrhaging time on excessive security checks. Or is this my fate as an international man of mystery?

Ironic poor connectivity in Silicon Valley

I am always amazed when visiting the Bay Area (aka Silicon Valley) in terms of the poor connectivity – both in terms of Wi Fi coverage and cellular phone coverage. Weak signals on the mobile phones. What little Wi Fi there is is often corporate or proprietary (e.g., T-Mobile’s) and a bit on the expensive side (compared with Wi Fi in Asia). Seems quite ironic that connectivity is so poor in the heart of the global innovation engine.

Way around the Great Firewall o' China

Found a neat way around the Great Firewall of China! E-mail me for more info. Better not post it here otherwise the Chinese Net Nannies might get wise.

Groping, drugged up Taiwanese

The title is just a joke. Since it seems that the two most popular English words in Taiwanese media seem to be "touch" and "high", I thought I'd take them to the extreme of envisioning a groping, drugged up Taiwanese person! Again, just a joke.

"Touch" is used again and again in all sorts of adds and campaigns and songs. For example, the Cartoon Network is promoting a new cartoon (some soft of Powerpuff Girls take-off) with a song in which the repeated English words are "touch" and "high". Here it is for your viewing and listening pleasure. In terms of touch, HTC has its popular iPhone-like touch handset,the Touch. Another salient example is Taiwan's tourism campaign, Taiwan: Touch Your Heart. OK, these are just three examples of the over-use of the word "touch" in Formosa.

Now that I have burned the image of a groping hand all over Taiwan, let's move onto the word "high". In English, using "high" as an adjective is often used in conjunction with the taking of illicit drugs and the resultant high one feels. However, in Taiwan, "high" is used to mean generally exuberant and happy. Often, you will hear phrases such as "這裡非常熱鬧,大家都很HIGH ("This place is hopping! Everyone is high!"). Or "台北最High跨年晚會" ("The Best / Highest New Years Party in Taipei!"). A final example is description of a Coco Lee concert as the "most high" (最High).

So, if you are coming to Taiwan, be prepared to get "high" and do a lot of "touching"! Or at least understand how these English words have been incorporated into Taiwanese Mandarin.

Video the vote in Taiwan!

There is an effort to duplicate the CNN-Youtube partnership that brought questions from netizens to the American primary election presidential candidates. The site Peopo.com is spearheading the effort in partnership with other media entities. More information here.

Having felt the nascent power of and feeling of community from foreign bloggers in Taiwan through the recent get-together in Hsinchuang (and through on-going and growing contact online), I now feel strongly that foreigners should try to participate more fully in society and communities here. We should have a voice.

As such, I encourage you to consider recording a video question for DDP candidate, Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). If you need help with the Chinese on the site, I can help you.

Taiwan's Blogosphere

Andres maintains a great blog covering the various and sundry universe of English-language blogs about Taiwan. Here. A good compendium of the Taiwan blogosphere as it were.

Happy Lunar New Year of the Mouse / Rat!

Happy Chinese / Lunar New Year of the Mouse /Rat! (Mouse and rat are referred to using the same word in Mandarin Chinese).

Pork cartilage + beer = crazy delicious

Pakistani support for the Great Wall of China

RISK .... Word

Hulu.com just doesn't get it

My letter to Hulu.com:

Dear Hulu:

Please stop being your own worst enemy. I am an American who travels a lot for business and spend most of my time in Asia. Was quite excited to join the beta, but, true to your sclerotic, old-school, Old Media roots, you deny me access to programs on hulu.com because I am abroad.

Sigh... Back to Youtube and other sites then...

Sincerely,

Boyd R. Jones

Tests reveal toxic delta vegetables - Pearl River Delta, China

Well, I guess it is not enough that one can not breathe the air in Guangdong let alone exercise (for fear of injuring your lungs), but now apparently you can not eat the vegetables there due to toxic pollution.

Tests reveal toxic delta vegetables
High lead, cadmium levels in food
Zhuang Pinghui and Cheung Chi-fai

Jan 18, 2008


Serious heavy-metal contamination has been found in vegetables from the Pearl River Delta and in the soil they grow in, a mainland report says.

Surveys of densely populated cities such as Guangzhou, Foshan , Dongguan and Zhongshan discovered the soil contamination, the Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday. Samples taken in areas such as Nanhai and Xinhui - among the province's main vegetable-producing areas - showed serious contamination.

An expert said the areas did not supply Hong Kong's vegetables.

Although the contamination may not be serious enough to lead to food poisoning - because most chemicals can be washed away before consumption - the findings confirm the fears of environmentalists that Guangdong's breakneck economic development over the past three decades has caused serious environmental damage.

The soil sampling - initiated by Guangdong's Agriculture Department - is being carried out after Chen Riyuan , a professor at South China Agriculture University, submitted his own study to the government last year alerting it to the problem of heavy-metal contamination of vegetables.

Another study conducted by Sun Yat-sen University examined vegetable samples taken from 12 wet markets in Guangzhou. It confirmed that contaminated vegetables had found their way to consumers.

Lead levels in leaf samples tested were 37.5 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium levels were 18.1 per cent too high. In samples of root vegetables, the level of lead was 26.3 per cent above acceptable limits and cadmium 9.7 per cent too high.

It is not the first time researchers have found chemical contamination of Guangdong's farmland. In 2005, a State Environmental Protection Agency survey found 40 per cent of the delta's cities suffered from heavy-metal pollution, with the contamination "serious" in 10 per cent of cities.

Contacted yesterday, Professor Chen said he hoped the government would be able to come up with solutions. He said his study showed the problem had been controlled in big cities but was prevalent elsewhere.

"Land that has suffered low levels of pollution can be treated through technology," he said. "But it will be very costly to deal with land with serious pollution."

He suggested growing flowers or trees as an alternative.

Professor Chen said Hong Kong should not worry because vegetables supplied to the city mainly came from so-called "pollution-free" production bases in the province. According to the Guangzhou Daily, Guangdong has 260,000 hectares of farmland qualified as pollution-free.

Wong Ming-hung, director of the Croucher Institute for Environmental Science at Hong Kong Baptist University, said there was no cause for panic since most of the chemicals could be washed off leaf vegetables.

"The top priority now is to conduct research to find the sources of these heavy metals. Contaminated land should be left vacant," he said.

Edward Chan Yue-fai, of environmental group Greenpeace, cautioned that the problem could spread as polluting factories moved inland.

Hong Kong's Centre for Food Safety would not comment on the Guangzhou Daily's report.

High levels of lead can damage virtually every system in the body. It is especially harmful to the developing brains of fetuses and young children.

I'll Tumblr for you

I just started using Tumblr having seen quite a few VCs (whose blogs I read) use it. Seems like an interesting middle ground between Twitter and long-form, traditional blogging.

Here's a link to my Tumblr bloggette.

Taiwan's medical system > USA's

When Americans live abroad for an extended period of time, we learn very quickly how much more expensive pharmaceuticals are in the US as compared to the rest of the world. For example, a good American friend of mine suffers from acid reflux and was prescribed Nexium by his American doctor (when he was visiting the States recently).

He assumed the price of Nexium in Taiwan would be much cheaper. The price difference was amazing. In the US, he bought Nexium for about US$300 for 30 capsules. (He, like a lot of Americans living abroad, has no health insurance in the US and the US has no national system like Taiwan does). In Taiwan, he is able to buy the EXACT SAME capsules for NT$1,040 (US$32 or so).

In the US, he needs a Rx to buy. In Taiwan, Nexium is over-the-counter.

When my friend related this story to me, we waxed poetic about medical tourism -- if one lived in the US, one literally might have to fly back to Taiwan to see the doctor and purchase medicines.

Something is wrong with the US medical system... Very wrong.... And, the Economist Intelligence Unit was "spot on" when it rated Taiwan's medical care system as the world's 2nd best in 2000.

The 21th Floor

Here is an interesting bit of Chinglish / Engrish taken at a Beijing hotel in Zhongguancun (the Silicon Valley of Beijing as it were).





The twenty-firTH floor?

Ouch! Fist salute to the head.

I understand that the fist salute has a long Socialist and Communist history? Sorry though, reminds me of the People's Front of Judea's fist-to-the-head salute (painful!) in Monty Python's Life of Brian film.


Red Chinese Fist Salute Propaganda Video - Click here for the most popular videos

Wacky pirated DVD subtitles

As is well known, one can find DVDs at extremely low prices in China. It is often unclear if the DVDs of recent movies are pirated or not. Often though, the subtitles in English are quite funny. Not sure why technically, but it seems the pirates must re-enter subtitles and the English is very different from the actual speech or text. Here is an example from American Gangster:

* In the opening scene, Denzel and partners are dousing someone in gasoline. The victim screams "Damn!" or something. The subtitles say: "what damn". Then "damn of mix Zhang".

* The movie's title scrolls across the screen: "AMERICAN GANGSTER". The subtitles say: "name of movie: the United States be".

* "Based on a true story". The subtitles say "reorganize from the true story".

* When the mentor gangster is distributing Thanksgiving turkeys from a truck, the subtitles say: "Thanks-giving Day happiness".

* 1968 - Harlem. The subtitles say: "1968 year black living quarters".

* As the mentor gangster distributes turkeys from the truck, the subtitles say: "give you".

There is more. But that's all for now.

Location-based SMS text ads in China

Location-based SMS text ads have become quite pervasive in China. Verging on spam. Well, no they are spam. However, sometimes quasi-useful. For example, during a recent trip to the Great Wall of China, I was pleasantly surprised to receive a text ad offering me a discount at a nearby hotel.

One also receives updates from China Mobile in terms of welcoming you to a new city (say Shanghai) with weather reports, etc.

2 penises brought to you by the letter "I"

You can see the strangest things on TV in China (and other parts of Asia). I have blogged (or at least uploaded videos) in the past with rough translations of faux medical product infomericals. So, my mind wandered into the gutter when I turned on the TV and saw a father and son set of blue penises eating ice cream. Well, of course, they were not penises, but the capital letter "I" and his son, lower-case "i".

Almost-post-industrial architecture in Taiwan

The almost-post-industrial architecture of Taiwan. This shot taken in Hsinchuang, Taipei County.

McDs delivers in Taiwan!

Following the lead of Dominoes Pizza and Pizza Hut in crowded Taiwan, McDonalds has started delivering by scooter as well. American fast food adapted to Taiwanese charateristics!

White furred cat

Mike the cat is quite good at spreading his white hair everywhere. Here he is shedding his fur on the black Miata:

Drawing from my childhood

When I was a kid, I loved to draw. Here is one of my drawings that my Dad just scanned up.

Bank of America (credit cards) sucks

After decades of banking with Bank of America and using their credit cards, I discovered, to my chagrin, that they were charging me an unbelievable 38% interest. They refused to lower that rate to the more reasonable, lower rates of my other cards.

So, I canceled the card.

Months later, got a notice of a credit of over US$140 on the card. No way on the hard copy to ask for the credit back (other credit card companies, upon cancellation, automatically mail you a check with the refund).

With this Bank of America credit card, however, the poor customer service was as follows:

• Refused to lower the interest rate.
• Fought me against cancellation.
• After cancellation, took 4 months to mail a notice of the credit.
• No way on the hard copy to ask for a check for the refund.
• I had to call the 800 number. No clear way to ask for a refund or speak to a human being.
• I then had to click on "report lost card" to get an option (FINALLY and counter-intuitively to have a refund check mailed which will take 7-10 days).

I will never bank with this horrible group again.

Chinese holidays - it's people! People!!!

Chinese, like all human beings, love to travel and love their holidays. However, given the population density in China, it is advisable NOT to travel during holidays and try to time your travel and vacationing when most of the 1.3 billion Chinese are working.

Then again, if you want to experience foot-to-foot crowds as dense as in the planet Gideon in Star Trek, then by all means go to China during their holidays.

This photo says it all:

Pumpkins a plenty (but less than in the past)!

My parents drive to a nearby local farm to buy pumpkins for Halloween each year. Blankenship Farms on Halls Hill Pike in Rutherford County near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Mr. Blankenship, 76 years old, lamented today that his harvest was not as robust as those in the near past due to climate change and erratic weather.

Asian Engrish # 1 - Candy Oiler

This guy is a Candy Oiler? Lost in translation?

Chocolate Taiwanese Rain! What a lightless pain...

Taiwanese rain! With no lights, I really feel the pain! Again...

Illegal vehicles for senior citizen scavengers in Taiwan

Taiwan presents itself - rightly so - as a high-tech powerhouse (such as the Bill Gates-laden ad on CNN now). However, some parts of the economy and society are still quite low-tech. Dare I say poor? It is frequent in Taiwan to see dilapidated, old and illegal (no license plate) motorized or pedal-powered vehicles such as these. Elderly men and women use such vehicles to scavenge Taiwan for recycleables such as cardboard.

Police don't seem to enforce traffic rules against these poor senior citizens - not sure if that is good or bad for society.

Youtube Spam e-mail count for today - 9

Maybe as punishment from the gods of spam for my comments about all the spam comments I am getting on Youtube, today I got 9 spam messages on various of my videos there. Spam such as:

"Hot college babes hangout on cam at >> _______________ DOT com <<"

"Get a hot date at > __________________ . COM <"

Really getting sick of these...

Youtube = Spamtube?

Is it just me or are the spam comments on Youtube getting outrageously many? For the last three weeks or so, I have been getting about four spam messages a day on my videos posted there. I don't have this problem elsewhere that I post such as Tudou or Revver. Get with it Google and Youtube!

Deal closed.

The China music site opportunity mentioned previously successfully raised financing.