I found this out by clicking on this link, “A list of nations who have not adopted the metric system” and the page just loaded.

I think they traded Wiki for Flickr though, because Flickr is now BANNED indefinitely.

Update: It’s blocked again. Hu is messing with me.

… BBC, Technorati, Blogspot (and most other big blog companies), Google News, Google Video, sometimes Google Images, Flickr, Wikipedia…)

For China, they pictured the Dong family of Beijing.

Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

It is now official that Chuxiong is not like Beijing. People think of China, they think of Beijing and Shanghai, then there are those who think of the entirely different Hong Kong.

In little Chuxiong, I haven’t seen have of the things pictured above. Dinner is made from vegetables, rice, and some meat. Purchased every morning. And I think our food expenditure for one week is 100 Yuan, or about $14 USD 49 Yuan, or about $6.50 USD.

Just fyi, for all the people asking, “Where the hell are you Bob?”

– In China, for now.

Will post some pictures when I get back on Friday.

Read more about Lugu Lake.

At one of the bars in the Sheraton, overlooking the South China Sea.

An unedited picture of one of their many pools, with the annual Sanya Jazz Festival being set up in the background. That’s what the water really looks like, so I guess it really is “China’s Hawaii.”

In other news, there was a small disaster in Oakland, CA about 24 hours ago (dubbed the “MacArther Maze Meltdown”, god), where a gas tanker exploded and collapsed a freeway overpass. Then Arnold announced free transportation for the day.

Well, they have free transportation in China, too. This was taken on the Kun-An Expressway (the only freeway in Kunming) on the way back to Chuxiong, at 50 mph.

I’m now studying the Photoshop RAW mode in black and white. Perhaps if I knew anything about photography I could intelligently manipulate B/W photos, but as it stands, I’m just sliding knobs. We have lots of photos of Sanya, Hainan coming up soon. 

I’m testing this in Contribute to see how nice it works.

E Jia.

I’ll post some pictures soon of China’s Hawaii and we’ll most likely revisit the Su family to see how that water buffalo is doing.

My brother asked me this question over two years ago. Tech support has arrived.

Question:

I wish I had a computer slow enough to run [Cosmic Crusader]. Anyone know how to slow down a P4 so this game will run? And where I can get a joystick?

Answer:

1. Download Dos Box (a fully functional Dos emulator that runs on your Mac or PC)

2. On a Mac, unzip it, then double-click the DMG, then drag the ‘DOSBox’ application to your Apps folder

3. Whoops! Their site is mysteriously down. Google ‘cosmic-crusader’ and find the Zip

4. Create a directory called games here: Users / You / games

5. Unzip Cosmic Crusader in this directory

5. Double Click DOSBox

6. Type: mount c ~/games in the DOS prompt

7. Type c:

8. Type dir

9. Execute the game

10. To Slow down the game, type CTRL-F11 (not the Apple key, the CTRL key, on Laptops you need to hit FN-CTRL-F11)

Boom, you’re all good to go, with pre-Sound Blaster sound effects and stunning 1982 CGA graphics.

Screenshots (click to enlarge):

Cosmic Crusader

LodeRunr

Police Quest 1

Alley Cat

Bouncing Babies (Waves as levels, and check out the skeletor head on that baby)

What other games did we play? Below the Root, Space Quest, Bruce Lee..?

But there are no seasons to speak of in the Yay. It rains, then it’s warm.

I have yet to see a house in Yunnan that has A/C. That means in summer, it is in the 90s, and in the winter, it gets to the low 40s. No problem right?

Well, when the houses are made out of cement with no insolation, that means that the inside temperatures are very close to the outside temperatures. Which means that you really feel the seasons, especially winter. (Waking up and being able to see your “breath fog” in the morning — while in bed — is quiet an experience.)

So now it’s March 11, and I am sitting on my third floor balcony, overlooking the tourists in this upperclass “Yizu” community of Yi Ren Gu Zhen in Chuxiong, Yunnan, China. There is a couple doing their pre-game marriage stroll with their entourage behing them, walking along the manufactured river that runs just behind our house. There are store owners washing vegetables for dinner, and an endless amount of locals who are here just to see what all the fuss is about.

It means that it’s 75° out, not a cloud in the sky, and it’s all good. Winter wasn’t long, but it felt long with all those cold nights, trying to record in the studio, with brittle fingers and a space heater churning away at 2000 watts.

Spring is here, and I am looking forward to this new year, and to finally going home soon. I haven’t seen Oakland, or the US, since 2004, and I’m ready to get back.