CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-04-10 23:13:48 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Just sayin'...

I think it was +Caz Abbott who mentioned in Sheila's post that it takes, in general, a couple of weeks before your lungs start feeling the benefits. Don't know how much the rest of you were smoking, but I've got about 45 years down my lungs...with better than two packs a day for nearly a decade.

I'm a little over a week analog-free now, but I could feel that heavy hand lifting from my chest within just a few days. All without one of those overwhelming cravings where you freak out and go buy a pack.

Now, if my Mt. Baker order of five flavors would just show up...

2013-03-26 05:03:36 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Analyst...at your service

I'm snagging a tip from +Marc Jansen today. Instead of posting more Chinese art, or some quirky Sino-related tidbit, I found something interesting three degrees removed from me in my stream. And appropriated it. You may, or may not, find it interesting, too.

This post resonated with me because I'm newly returned to G+ after an almost one year hiatus. I had contemplated abandoning the Google social ship altogether, but one aspect of being an expatriate (eight years now) drew me back onboard.

Isolation...

My wife jokes with me at times that I'm more yellow than she is...meaning more Chinese than her. And I have assimilated a great deal. I know, I understand a lot more about Chinese culture and Chinese people, and even the language, than I did before I came here. However long I live here though, I simply livewi... more »

2013-03-25 08:04:28 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

I See You!

Here's an album of paintings by Chinese artist Guo Jin. This series has a particular focus on children. Some people interpret these as an expression, maybe even a juxtaposition, of youth and China's relatively youthful entrance into the global scheme of things. I don't know. Just telling you what I hear.

Personally, while I do enjoy the tones and textures of his work. And the expressive nature of them, I find many of them rather eery and unsettling...as if they are some adolescent character leaping out of the page of a Stephen King tome. No?

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan in 1964, Guo Jin graduated from the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1990 and is now a professor there.

#chineseart  

2013-03-24 03:53:51 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Bend...but don't break

This painting by Chinese artist Guo Jin pretty much sums it up. I haven't been active on G+ for about a year now. I got bent. But didn't break. Life goes on.

I may not be as active as before, but I'll be around...looking to reconnect with old friends and maybe discovering and making new ones.

2012-04-16 01:38:33 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

People are People
Depeche Mode (circa 1984)

People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get
Along so awfully
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get
Along so awfully

So we're different colors
And we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me
Though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you so what could I have done

I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

People are people...

Help me understand
Help me understand

Now you're punching
And you're kicking
And you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced
But I'm sure it exists
It just... more »

2012-04-11 02:39:54 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

People are people
From fields of rice…to fields of concrete

Under the Gaoqiao overpass of Changsha, capital city of the Hunan province, 13 year old Yang Qing lies on a mat, asleep. Over the past few days, he has been suffering from an unrelenting high fever. His mother depends on shining other people’s shoes to make a living. Knowing it is very expensive to go to the hospital, he sleeps in the cool shadow of the overpass.

Shoeshine ladies are about as ubiquitous as sidewalk snack vendors in most of China, though, for reasons unknown to me, Dalian has far fewer of both. When I first came to China seven years ago, a shoeshine cost yi kuai qian, little more than a dime at yesteryear's exchange rate. Today, a shoeshine will set you back liang kuai qian (2RMB), or a little more than 30 cents. As well, bear in mind that there is no tipping in China for any kind ofser... more »

2012-04-10 00:32:13 (35 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

What's politics got to do with it?

My first post ever on a social network was last August when I joined G+. And it was my political compass...then. For reasons unknown to me, my good friend, +barqzr davi, recently canoed all the way down through the whitewaters of my stream until he found that me of yesteryear.

I urged him to do his own political compass test, which he did and then shared with me. So, out of mild curiosity, I took the test again (http://politicalcompass.org/) just to see if my political bent has changed in less than one year.

Turns out I'm bent more to the left and more libertarian than before. (Previously, I was roughly two squares to the east and one to the north.) If I lean any more to the left, I'll fall off the frickin' planet.

What's your bent?

Please +mention me if you share your particular bent,... more »

2012-04-06 03:05:37 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 14 +1s)

People are people

Zhong Rujiu holds her older sister, Zhong Ruqin, in the ward of a Beijing hospital. Zhong Rujiu said that her big sister used to hold her warmly like this when she was little. In September of 2010, the Zhong family had a conflict with relocation and demolition personnel about being forced out of their home. Zhong Rujiu's sister, mother and uncle poured gasoline on themselves and set themselves on fire to protest the relocation.

No matter where they come from, people are people

2013-03-21 06:04:33 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

People are people

To stand out in a crowd in China is not a good thing. Being unconventional is to defy tradition and tradition is the cornerstone of Chinese harmony.

“My life is unconventional, licentious...like a dog. When I sing, it is to sing my own life."

No matter where they come from, people are people.

2012-04-04 02:17:12 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

People are people

Lu Yongming, 17 years old, is just one of literally millions of a younger generation of Chinese who are fleeing the country and flocking to the cities in search of a better life.

“I work as an apprentice in an auto repair shop. Being an apprentice is very hard. Sometimes I even have to work outside when it rains and snows. In this city, I have a 'white collar' big sister, who works in a clean and bright office building. She often buys things for me when she comes to see me. To see my big sister being so refined, while I am covered from head to toe in grease, my buddies often joke about me being a 'black collar.' I don’t like farming, so black collar is still better than 'mud collar.' The rural life, in one word, boring; in two words, very boring."

No matter where you come from...people are people.

2012-04-03 01:18:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Chinese Expressionism

Those who are familiar with Zeng Fanzhi likely know of him because of his Mask series, one of which (the first in this album) sold for $9.7 million, a record for contemporary Asian art. Zeng was born in Wuhan in 1964, a rather large city in the central province of Hubei, but now lives and works out of Beijing.

The album includes a fair sampling of Zeng's Mask series, a few from his also well-known Hospital series and a couple of paintings of Chairman Mao for good measure.

Hope you enjoy!

#chineseart

2012-04-03 01:09:02 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

2012-04-01 05:43:43 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

Winter holiday and online hibernation
Not some April Fool's tomfoolery

Two months to the day...not that very many people appeared to notice...I'm back online and on G+. I had nine weeks of winter holiday to fritter away this year and I spent the first month of it habitually and merrily doing my G+ thang. We then got a bit of a wild hair and spent the bulk of February traveling, partly due to Spring Festival family obligations, but mostly because we enjoy exploring new horizons.

After we returned to Dalian, I was out of the habit of getting online, or keeping up with G+. As well, I felt like I had been spending a rather inordinate amount of my free time online. So, for the most of March, I opted out of virtual reality and camped out in my real life for some R&R.

The funny thing is, when I decided to opt back in, I discovered my VPN service had expired.... more »

2012-02-01 00:41:54 (4 comments, 6 reshares, 32 +1s)

Chinese Art

As indicated, here is the more colorful work of Foshan artist Hua Tunan...

#chineseart

2012-02-01 00:39:50 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Art | Hua Tunan

2012-02-01 00:39:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

2012-02-01 00:37:45 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2012-02-01 00:34:30 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Chinese Art

This work titled One Sperm, Whole Universe is by Foshan-based artist Hua Tunan. Most of his work is wildly colorful, so I thought I'd start here with the more muted tones.

#chineseart

2012-02-01 00:34:46 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 17 +1s)

Chinese Art

I took a week off from G+, the longest breather in the six months I've been here, so here's some art to break the ice and get back in the swing of sharing. I've posted some art by Song Qina before, but these two paintings have a very different feel to them. Also, I failed to make the album public before, but it should be available now so you can look back at her previous works.

#chineseart

2012-01-31 23:53:40 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

2012-01-24 22:54:16 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Things That Are More Fun in the Philippines

2012-01-24 01:40:38 (11 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

"Dragon" baby boom expected in China

As well as many other Asian countries because the dragon, quite unlike Western dragon mythology, is the most auspicious of the zodiac signs in Chinese culture, often associated with intelligence, strength, good fortune and those destined for success. According to the Xinhua state news agency, the country is expecting a five percent rise in babies born in 2012. And a recent poll conducted in Hong Kong revealed that 70% of couples desire "dragon babies."

Even in Taiwan, a country with one of the world's lowest birth rates, government officials appear to be tickled baby pink in anticipation. Although some expectant parents fret that the influx of babies will result in stressful competition for their children's future education and employment. Which might just mean more "Tiger Moms" will be raising Dragon... more »

2012-01-24 01:41:06 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 16 +1s)

Xin Nian Kuai le!

Happy Chinese New Year! Folks all over the world are preparing to ring in the Year of the Dragon, while here in Dalian (and most of China) they are booming it in with fireworks. Pretty much nonstop as I write and for the next week or so.

One of the more popular customs, especially for children, is the giving of hong bao (red envelopes), more colloquially known as lucky money. Even on up through college years, children eagerly look forward to this time of year and receiving their lucky money.

This shot is from an album by photographer Jason Lee, who must have two of the most precious little daughters anywhere on the planet and I imagine this is pretty much how they look just about now. Or, real soon...

Wishing everyone peace, prosperity and good health!

2012-01-22 02:04:56 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

G+ follower heat map

I wish I could remember who shared their map a few days ago, but it's lost in the shuffle so I can't give them credit for turning me on to this feature on CircleCount.com. Only about a third of the nearly 5,000 people following me are shown on the map, but I imagine it's fairly representative.

I wasn't too surprised to see that the largest percentage from one country (40%) hail from my native land, but I really had no idea I had so many followers from Europe. Or that I have twice as many followers from India (6%) than from China. (Although I suspect this particular data point is skewed since I've noticed that many Chinese don't set a location or make their location public.)

The gender breakdown, 4:1 male to female, doesn't surprise me either, although it doesn't necessarily jive with my real time interaction here.... more »

2012-01-18 01:16:50 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 11 +1s)

Standard programming for this stream has been suspended to support the global protest against internet censorship.

That is all...

2012-01-18 00:59:24 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

SOPA sucks life out of the internet

2012-01-17 15:48:40 (38 comments, 6 reshares, 12 +1s)

Transformation – Before and After

China might still be considered a developing nation, but some Chinese girls have certainly developed a knack for make-up. And here are some before and after shots that make me wonder whether they're even the same girl.

I've never been a fan of make-up and much prefer a natural look. And the overwhelming majority of Chinese girls do not use cosmetics, so don't be fooled by these posers as they are not representative.

BTW, it's the same girl in the last five images and apparently Luan Ling Nini is rather well known for her transformations. She has more posted on her blog (goo.gl/CZonX), if you're interested.

Here are a few of the comments by Chinese netizens...

Fuck, and to think I’ve YY‘d before to those pretty online MM! [YY'd means, ah, pleased himself and MM means"... more »

2012-01-16 03:41:52 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:49 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:47 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:46 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:36 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:41:34 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Before and After

2012-01-16 03:21:58 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

"Devil Day" extreme training
Chinese female bodyguards special training camp

Last week on the island of Hainan. female recruits from Tianjiao Special Bodyguards participated in “devil day” training. Apparently, this was the company’s first public female bodyguard training session. Tianjiao Special Bodyguards claims it is training 20 female bodyguards, the majority of them being university graduates. The girls need to undertake 8-10 months of professional training to master enough defense and protection skills in order to provide better service to clients.

There was quite a lot of doubt by Chinese netizens, however, about the true nature of this event. The following is one commenter's take on the public aspect of this training camp...

Publicity stunt + putting on a show. Those who work as bodyguards are all very low-key, very cautious, verycalm.... more »

2012-01-16 03:20:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Chinese female bodyguards

2012-01-16 03:20:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Chinese female bodyguards

2012-01-16 03:20:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Chinese female bodyguards

2012-01-16 03:20:38 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Chinese female bodyguards