The question mark is because I got impatient with the last two megathreads, in which we drowned in back and forth banter. Should I keep them?
On a personal note, I need a recommendation for a cheap but decent hotel in Taipei. I am floored at the prices! Also for Shenzhen. All suggestions will be appreciated.
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A peculiar hybrid of personal journal, dilettantish punditry, pseudo-philosophy and much more, from an Accidental Expat who has made his way from Hong Kong to Beijing to Taipei and finally back to Beijing for reasons that are still not entirely clear to him…
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1
By Gordon
Yet more stories of mindless Americans…
July 28, 2005 @ 8:04 pm | Comment
2
By richard
You never send your kids to walk around federal highways?
July 28, 2005 @ 8:06 pm | Comment
3
By Gordon
Only when they’re flying a kite. 🙂
July 28, 2005 @ 8:21 pm | Comment
4
By bingfeng
FYI:
http://tinyurl.com/b66et
July 28, 2005 @ 8:30 pm | Comment
5
By richard
Thanks buddy. Keep up the girl blogging!
July 28, 2005 @ 8:34 pm | Comment
6
By bingfeng
media censorship in the US:
http://tinyurl.com/bzykg
July 28, 2005 @ 8:35 pm | Comment
7
By Will
Yup. Nation of puritans. But that’s only one kind of media: free to air broadcasting that comes under the purview of the FCC. (Network television, in other words.)
Meanwhile, it’s good to know we can still get all the smut we want on cable, home video and in magazines.
Personally, I still have the shakes from seeing Janet Jackson’s tit. Horrible. I may never recover.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:18 pm | Comment
8
By richard
Bngfeng, while it is a form of censorship, it is aimed at what GOP fundie types see as “indecency.” This is a sickness that the Bush people have cultivated and I view it as disgusting and un-American, since it is so subjective and is really an extension of the religious wars. But at least we can say what we want to say,even about Bush and his lieutenants, as long as we don’t say it with dirty words.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:25 pm | Comment
9
By Ben
Hooray! Mormons arelosing members faster than they’re recruiting. Talk about evil cults.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:44 pm | Comment
10
By Gordon
Richard, this is hardly something the Bush Administration has cultivated.
Such censorship has been around since this country was founded. It used to be called “public decency”.
One need to look no further than the history of Playboy to view the troubles Hugh faced when he first started his wonderful publishings.
Whether or not you agree with it, to label such censorship as “un-American” is just ridiculous. It’s been a part of America.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:52 pm | Comment
11
By kevin
China headline of the day:
Death toll up, disease ‘under control’
July 28, 2005 @ 9:56 pm | Comment
12
By Will
Gotta agree with Gordon on this one. America has a long and fine tradition of getting wound-up about T&A. (Although being strangely sanguine about violence – see Grand Theft Auto 3 brouhaha.) After all, it was Justice Potter Stewart who couldn’t define porn, but “knew it when he saw it”. Must come from our famous puritan streak.
Somehow, I seem to have missed that puritan thing. Must be my decadent, anglo-Jewish roots.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:57 pm | Comment
13
By richard
Gordon, of course you are right, America was founded on this very neurotic Puritan ethic that sees the human body as obscene and any acknowledgement of sex as sinful. But American was getting ever more liberal and open minded, even under Nixon. This obsession with “family values” (code for anti-choice and anti-gay and anti-sex) has never seen a renaissance as it is enjoying today under the evangelical-friendly Bushies, who live to lick James Dobson’s whatever.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:58 pm | Comment
14
By Will
However, in defense of Richard, the Bush Administration are acknowledged masters of puritan righteousness. But half of that is just in comparison with ultra-libertine Bill “Is that a Cigar in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?” Clinton.
Damn, but he could give a speech, though.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:59 pm | Comment
15
By richard
Will, our comments crossed. Didn’t know you were one of the Chosen People. We’ll have lots to talk about.
July 28, 2005 @ 9:59 pm | Comment
16
By richard
Kevin, isn’t that exactly what they said about SARS back in 2002, or am I experiencing serious deja vu?
July 28, 2005 @ 10:00 pm | Comment
17
By Will
Chosen? Chosen by whom? Where are my virgins, dammit?
Kevin: Good one. I particularly like this:
In other words, over twenty percent of our current patients just fell ill yesterday.
Yep, fizzling out down there. Watch this space for more deceased pig farmers.
July 28, 2005 @ 10:04 pm | Comment
18
By richard
Okay, this should be my last comment before turning in. Be sure to check out the great Paul Krugman’s column on just how great and brilliant the French are. If only we could learn from them. Mon dieu.
July 28, 2005 @ 10:05 pm | Comment
19
By Will
Speaking of today’s China Daily headlines, I also quite like this one:
Mother sells teen girl’s virginity for 10,000 Yuan.
http://tinyurl.com/9e434
In the best local tradition, the original price was 16,000 and the opening bid 3,500. They haggled to 10K. A foreigner probably would have coughed up double that.
July 28, 2005 @ 10:08 pm | Comment
20
By richard
Did they do it on eBay?
July 28, 2005 @ 10:12 pm | Comment
21
By bingfeng
how is the wedding party in the US?
July 28, 2005 @ 10:27 pm | Comment
22
By Anonymous
lack of virgin bride in US?
July 28, 2005 @ 10:28 pm | Comment
23
By richard
Bngfeng, just saw your new girlblogging and that wedding picture! Not bad. Did you ever see Conrad’s girl blogging? Nowthat was memorable. (It’s probably also why his blog doesn’t exist anymore. Ah, the good old days….)
July 28, 2005 @ 10:31 pm | Comment
24
By richard
Okay, I promise, my very last comment. I just want you never to forget why Republicans suck. (To be fair, as the article says, some conservative Republicans are actually opposing this vile legislation. The ones sponsoring it, like my own Senator Kyl, suck some serious ass.)
July 28, 2005 @ 10:36 pm | Comment
25
By Gordon
Hey Pest, that’s a bogus link.
July 28, 2005 @ 10:48 pm | Comment
26
By Gordon
Will said:
To borrow another commenter’s comment from a different forum:
July 28, 2005 @ 11:05 pm | Comment
27
By Gordon
Commenter’s comment? I really need to start getting more sleep….
July 28, 2005 @ 11:06 pm | Comment
28
By Conrad/Adolph
Regarding Will’s post above, a few months ago, finding myself (most uncharacteristically) in one of Wan Chai’s infamous disco dungeons, I met a pretty Filipina maid whose own mother, I came to learn, had sold the girl’s virginity to a visiting Japanese when she was 15 years old.
Sadder still was the fact that the girl was still remitting the bulk of her Hong Kong wages back to her mother in the Philippines.
July 28, 2005 @ 11:08 pm | Comment
29
By Thee Facial Humliliatrix
In China the selling of a daughter’s virginity to a foreigner will result in a loss of face for the family.If she is sold to a Chinese it is simply good business sense.
July 28, 2005 @ 11:33 pm | Comment
30
By kevin
Oh man, you guys got to the virgin daughter thing too! Just when I thought I had something original on my blog.
July 28, 2005 @ 11:44 pm | Comment
31
By kevin
if her virginity had been sold to a japanese man, now that would be a real problem!
July 28, 2005 @ 11:46 pm | Comment
32
By John Patler
Conrad/Adolf? Don’t flatter yourself.Conrad/George Lincoln Rockwell perhaps.
July 28, 2005 @ 11:58 pm | Comment
33
By Will
Kevin, don’t sweat it. It’s worth a multiblog.
Plus, thanks to TFH’s explanation above, I now realize why I can never get *my* virgins for 10,000.
July 29, 2005 @ 12:39 am | Comment
34
By Andrea
If you are flying to Taipei via Hong Kong and only need 2 – 3 nights in Taipei, your best bet is to buy a package from HK which includes both accomodation (2-3 nights) and a roundtrip ticket for HK-Taipei. It would cost you about USD 350 and you get to stay at a very decent brand-name hotel.
July 29, 2005 @ 1:03 am | Comment
35
By Thee Facial Humliliatrix
And speaking of child abuse………………..My wife and I named our son Jon Benet.He just celebrated his 2nd birthday and he’s already exhibiting some rather odd behavior.He’s very aggressive to small animals.He loves to dress up like Elton John. And he claims that Andrew Cunanan is his Hero.J.B. also has a Versace fetish and loves to travel.We’re a little worried that he may turn up on China daily soon.His written Chinese is impeccable.He just makes trouble wherever he goes.We love our little J.B. but don’t believe a word he says.He’s the devil’s spawn.
July 29, 2005 @ 2:27 am | Comment
36
By Thee Facial Humliliatrix
Will, I’ve had “Emotionally Handicapped”(read: 6 letters starts with r) virgins at that price but you don’t see too many of those lying around China. They’re actually quite good value.If you can find em’.
July 29, 2005 @ 2:35 am | Comment
37
By richard
Thanks Gordon, I deleted the comment, which was probably spam or a prankster.
July 29, 2005 @ 8:18 am | Comment
38
By shulan
“It was a wonderfull moment when the coach said:`Come on Steffen, undress, let’s go.`”
(Steffen Freund, German football player)
July 29, 2005 @ 9:16 am | Comment
39
By shulan
Yes, statistics. But are there any reliable statistics? According to statistics every fourth human is a Chinese, but I see no Chinese playing here.
(Werner Hansch, German football commentator)
July 29, 2005 @ 9:24 am | Comment
40
By Gordon
Eh, which one was that? You lost me.
July 29, 2005 @ 11:29 am | Comment
41
By richard
That bogus leak about a football video. Not important
July 29, 2005 @ 11:32 am | Comment
42
By shulan
Anybody interested in Life Eternal?
Seems a guy from that nice, sometimes a little rainy island north of mainland Europe (-as every good Chinese knows that Taiwan one day will return to the motherland, we good Europeans also know that one day those islanders will happily join us-) has a cunning plan:
http://tinyurl.com/8jjkw
July 29, 2005 @ 12:17 pm | Comment
43
By richard
Have you heard of Ramond Kurzweil? He, too, believes we can live forever, and has stated he intends to never die. He is no quack either. He is a brilliant inventor and genius, though I have to admit he strikes me as somewhat off the wall.
July 29, 2005 @ 12:42 pm | Comment
44
By shulan
I am not shure if living thousand years is realy that desirable. Could become a bit boring. Perhaps not enough fantasy.
July 29, 2005 @ 12:55 pm | Comment
45
By richard
Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it.
July 29, 2005 @ 12:56 pm | Comment
46
By shulan
Yeah, that may be true.
Good night. Have to support my local pub owner.
July 29, 2005 @ 1:04 pm | Comment