This gecko scared the bejeezus out of me yesterday morning, darting across our bedroom floor right as I came out of the bathroom. Because who expects to see a gecko in Beijing? I hope I didn’t bring it back with me from Bali. Or Thailand! Anyway, Lizzy was caught (in that dirty takeway container, sorry) […]
Finally, a ban I can get on board with! People are no longer allowed to smoke in indoor public spaces — restaurants, malls, office buildings, etc. etc. etc. I’ve heard that “indoor” means anything covered by a roof. But wait! Isn’t indoor smoking already banned? Well, it was, but then it was unbanned. But wait! […]
Man, pandas. Is there any other creature in this world that is so bad at life? First, they let people destroy their homes. Then, they give zero fucks about repopulating their species (except for this guy). Now, it turns out they haven’t even bothered to learn, after 2 million years, to digest the very food […]
WeChat is the most popular — by far — instant messaging app* in China. Everybody and their grandma has it. Got a smartphone? Got WeChat. Don’t got a smartphone? Still got WeChat. Yeah, I had WeChat before I even got my iPhone. It currently has 500 million monthly active users, most of them in — […]
Say yes to The Eight Principles for Building People-Friendly Cities (archived page). Starting now. Please?
Boyfriend and I took a semi-impromptu trip down to Hangzhou (杭州) last weekend during the Qingming holiday. We had discussed going two weeks before but didn’t actually get around to booking train tickets and hotel until just a few days before we left. As such, the trains were nearly all sold out and most hotels […]
Guys, the FCC is going to rule on net neutrality one month from now. I don’t need to tell you how important this is. (Unless I do, in which case, see here and here. I won’t link to any arguments against it, because there aren’t any good ones.) The Republican House and Senate have both […]
I woke up (was woken up) very early this morning by the rest of my family texting back and forth. Normally I would have been pretty annoyed, but: For those of you who can’t read Chinese or emoticons, the first two characters say: Lao Zhu, or Old Pig. That’s me. I am Lao Zhu (Old […]
I got hit by a car yesterday. Before you panic, I am OK! I am OK because, while the car drove into me, it was going, like, 5 miles an hour? It kind of hit my purse first, which I was holding down by my side, and then all of a sudden I felt this […]
Some things the CCP has sought to ban recently: The U.S. Embassy’s AQI readings Puns The term diaosi The last two are yet another example of the Xi-led CCP (the XiCP?) crackdown on the culture of today’s society. Even some of the most lovable aspects of Chinese culture are not safe from the CCP, even […]