Rockin' and Rollin'

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit the Tibetan region of China on Wednesday. CNN reported that about 15,000 homes were brought down in the Yushu County of the Qinghai province, and more than 100,00 people have evacuated the area.



On Saturday, the Dalai Lama offered words of comfort, and even though he is too far separated to be there, he wanted the people of the area to know that he is praying for them. The Dalai Lama has been in exile since 1959, after a Tibetan rebellion against China was attempted. He appealed to governments so that he may be able to offer support and assistance, CNN reported.

I think that in times of crises, it is important for countries and regions to come together and help those who are affected. It is devastating to me to know that there are so many that have lost everything and yet little aid is being given to them.

Take the earthquake in Haiti that happened almost a month ago. You can turn on the TV and still see commercials requesting donations and other aid. Even college campuses put together care packages to send to those in need.

But soon after the earthquake faded from the news, Chili was hit by an equally strong quake that also triggered a tsunami. Yet this quake was virtually ignored by the media, and I challenge you to find commercials seeking aid for these people.

Now China has been hit by yet another quake that has displaced thousands, and has killed almost 1500. It is good that at least some powerful leaders are stepping up to help those in need, and we should all be more aware of what is happening in the world.



photos from CNN.com and hollywoodtoday.net respectively

Plastics in the Ocean

I’m stepping back from the East Asia topic this week to talk about something that affects us all, plastic pollution. Everyday we use plastic and most of us disregard it as something normal, but after that plastic leaves you house, where does it go? Perhaps you recycle it, in which case it goes to a recycling plant where it is cleaned and prepped for reuse, or you may throw it away, where it goes to landfills.

But invariably some of the plastic we throw away flies out and will drift toward the ocean.

As a San Diego native, I grew up on the beach, next to lifeguard tower 14, and I will bet you that at some point when you walk along the beach, you will come across some sort of plastic. Once that plastic hits the water, it is only a matter of time before it ends up in the ocean and gets caught in one of the currents that will take it to the middle of the Pacific, to a place dubbed The Garbage Patch.

Some describe it as a floating island of garbage, but experts on it say that it is more of an underwater conglomeration of junk. They estimate that it is twice the size of Texas. Most of the plastic that is swirling around are the little balls that are the base for every plastic product.

Animals come to the patch and eat the plastic, because they think it is food, often they die because of the plastic buildup in their stomachs.

Now, I’m not preaching to you, telling you that you should stop using plastic and switch to something more biodegradable, I use plastic everyday too. I drink out of plastic cups, throw my trash out in plastic bags, write with mechanical pencils and so forth. But this is something that everyone should be aware of. I guarantee you, the next time you throw that piece of plastic away, you’ll think about it.

Unusual Dining

Themed restaurants are starting to become more popular all over the globe. In Taiwan, the phenomenon is expressed in some unusual ways.

CNN posted a video a few days ago about the wacky ways people are dining in Taipei.

The video features a hospital theme, where diners drink beer from IV bags and crutches and x-rays line the walls. There is also an airplane dining experience, where diners can choose economy, business, or first class without having to pay more.

I think that these types of themed restaurants are something that could really catch on all over the globe. It offers people the opportunity to do something different. Personally, I would love to dine in an airplane with some extra space and without the turbulence. Maybe someday there will be one such restaurant here.

A Day at the TLT

I’m going to take a break from looking at East Asia for the week and blog about something else. Yesterday I got the opportunity to attend the 2010 Teaching and Learning with Technology Symposium at Penn State. Earlier this year a group of students, myself included, applied to present at the conference for a class project on digital storytelling and the preservation of stories. To our dismay we did not get accepted, but knowing that there would be a lot of good information about what professors are doing with technology in their classrooms, we decided to go anyway.

Breakfast and check in started at 7:30 and it was a great time to get together with faculty to talk about projects they were doing in their classes, and what we had done in ours. The keynote speaker, Dr. Michael Wesch, talked about how he was using social media in his classroom to get students more engaged in learning. He made a collaborative work environment so that his students would be able to learn all they could from each other and then put it together in a multimedia project.

Then it was off to the sessions.

At 9:45 we went to a session called “Digital Stories as Counter-Texts”. It was a project that used digital media as a platform to address issues with children’s literature and how to re-write them. The student’s project used everything from video to podcasts to make the final product.

At 10:45 we took a break to get some snacks and to talk with Justin Miller about our project and the Media Commons. It was nice to chat about some different techniques in video editing and digital storytelling.

Then it was lunchtime! At 12:15 there was a faculty panel on how social media engages students. The panel also talked about the benefits of using social media and what the students got out of it.

After lunch there were more sessions.

At 1:30 we went to one called “Bringing YouTube Into Angel,” which focused on how to incorporate YouTube onto the Angel site without allowing students to get sidetracked by other links. We went to it so that we could take the information back to some of the professors on our campus and they could use it for their classes.

For the last session at 2:30, we went to the session called “Blogs as e-Portfolio.” We are going to take what was presented here and try to apply some of the concepts to our e-portfolios for this class.

So that was our day at the TLT. We had a lot of fun and got to meet faculty from all over who want to engage students by using media and technology in new ways. I think it was a beneficial experience for us as students, because it showed us that many professors are willing to incorporate new technologies in their classrooms and also that as students we can take these technologies and do more with them.

Orange Skies

Can you imagine waking up and the sky being orange? That’s what residents in and around China’s capital of Beijing did on Saturday.

USA Today reported yesterday that the sandstorm was the worst so far this year. Affecting regions as far as “the regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia and the provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei.”

“Chun Youngsin, a researcher at the Korea Meteorological Administration, said the yellow dust was expected to hit the Korean peninsula beginning Saturday afternoon and it would be "the worst yellow dust" this year,” according to the USA Today article.

The sandstorms come from the vast desert that covers about a third of the country and despite conservation efforts; experts think that it will take decades to reduce the number of sandstorms that hit the country. Even residents understand the need for conservation, USA Today talked to Shi Chunyan, a Beijing resident, who said, "I think this kind of natural disaster is caused by human activity, but I don't know the exact reason, and I don't know exactly what we can do to prevent this.”

Image from USA TODAY

Inked Up

In the USA tattoos are often thought of as being taboo, but in Thailand, there are tattoos that are thought to give the person “super-human powers.”

From Buddhist monks to Hollywood celebrities, people are flocking to Thailand to Wat Bang Phra, a gathering of people demonstrating the powers their tattoos have given them. Yan tattoos are the source of these powers. CNN reported that, “Yan tattoos are becoming ever more popular in this mainly Buddhist country. It's an ancient belief dating back hundreds of years. Some think their tattoos provide protection at a time when there is such political turbulence and division in the country.”

It is cool to see tattoos in a different way, that they are perceived as a good thing rather as being a sign of rebellion. Whether or not the tattoos actually give the bearer super-human powers is up to the individual themselves.


photos from CNN

Free School, Special Treatment

CNN reported the other day about China’s first government run school for autistic children. Guangzhou’s Cana School is the first of it’s kind in China. There are about 100 kids currently attending and more than a thousand on the waiting list. With a teacher ratio of 2:1, the students each have an individual education plan that is tailored to fit their needs. It is a free, full day program that is open to children between the ages of 7 and 14 years old.

I think that it is important for governments, not only in China, to develop programs for children with special needs. Besides opening jobs for teachers, it allows the children opportunities they may not have if they were taught at home or in a regular school. To have a free program that is tailored to each individual child is especially nice because it allows the child to advance at their own rate and not get left behind in a broader lesson plan.

Tsunami Hit Japan

After the 8.8 earthquake happened in Chile, communities all over the Pacific Coast we under a tsunami advisory warning issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/). Japan's costal residents immediately began to evacuate and head for higher ground.

According to CNN, Japan was fearing the worst tsunami in 15 years. The government and residents were relieved when the waves only peaked at just under 4 feet (1.2 meters). There were no injuries or damaged caused buy the tidal surge.

CNN also reported that in 1960 another earthquake hit Chile, but the tsunami that reached Japan left 140 people dead.

Tsunami warnings were canceled early this morning for the entire Pacific region. Hawaii also got lower than expected waves and the Governor canceled the warning just before 2 PM on Feb 27th, according to CNN.

Long Beach, California had an odd phenomenon where the tide went from hight to low in 10 minutes, according to ABC 7 News.

A Hard Sweep and a Loud Voice

If you’ve been watching the Olympics over the past days, you may have gotten a glimpse into the world of curling. It’s a sport that requires concentration, a steady hand and a loud voice. For China’s women's curling team the loudest voice belongs to the smallest member. Wang Bingyu is a first time Olympian, who led her team to a victory in the World Championships last year, according to an NBC article.

Curlers yell at their teammates in order to let them know how hard to sweep, and what direction they need to go. When you are sitting in an Olympic stadium with a large audience, you need a loud voice to do it. According to NBC, Wang has used her passion for Karaoke to improve her voice on the ice.

It just goes to show, stature has nothing to do with things at the Olympics, it’s all about heart, soul, and a loud voice.

Going for the Gold

Miki Ando is just one of Japan's 94 athletes in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. She is a 22 year old figure skater that is going for the gold this winter.

Born in 1987, Miki started skating at age 9. She went to a rink after school with some friends and fell in love with the sport. She "thought it was the most interesting (sport) for expression and playing a character." (Golden Skate, 08 May 2004)

She trains 28 hours a week in Hackensack, New Jersey. (isufs.org, 31 Jan 2009) Her coaches are Nikolai Morozov and Yuko Monna. In the 2006 Olympic Games, she ranked 15th. She went on to win the 2007 World Championships in Japan.

In these Olympic Games her short program music is “Requiem” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and her free skating music includes; “Rome” [soundtrack] Marco Polo [soundtrack] by Ennio Morricone, and “Mission Cleopatra” from Asterix and Obelix [soundtrack] by Philippe Chany. (ISU, 04 Feb 2010)

Watch her perform in the short program on February 23 at 16:30 and the free skate on February 25 at 17:00.

Find out more about her on the Official Olympic web-site.

For more information on the Vancover 2010 Olympic Games visit the Official site here.


Photo courtesy of Golden Skate.

Standing Still in Time

The National Geographic Museum in Washington D.C. has an exhibit on the Terra Cotta Warriors from China. The army of soldiers was stumbled upon by a farmer tending to his field. When unearthed, the army was larger than anything the world had seen or anticipated.

Made from terra cotta clay the army was constructed to protect Quin Shi Huang from enemies after his death. The army is all life size, with individual faces, armor, and poses. There are horses and weapons that also accompany it. All are accurately proportioned and look as though they are ready for battle.


Seeing the exhibit was an amazing experience. Often times we learn about these things and hear how they look, but you cannot imagine how it will feel to stand next to these unique pieces of art.

Looking for Love, for the Rich

In the past few years, websites like eHarmony and match.com have become increasingly more common for those who are looking for love. The fad has even spread across the seas. There are a number of sites in China that lets people connect with others who are local and possibly find their match. But what do you do when you are richer than the average person?

As CNN reported on January 25th, they turn to Golden Bachelor. Founded by Xu Tianli, the company is an exclusive service that “caters to an expanding class of super-wealthy Chinese.” According to CNN “The Golden Bachelor ‘Diamond Love’ membership goes for 300,000 Yuan ($44,000).”

The website is unique in the new trend of finding online love in that it only allows people to join with a “high social-status or superior physical condition.” But with it’s over 5 million members, finding love shouldn’t be hard to do.

Along with the online service, the company also throws lavish “matchmaking parties” that connect individuals in one night. The most recent one was in December and had 43 attendants (22 men and 21 women) by the end of the night “eighty percent had found a date.”

The largest site for the common person in China is Zhenai meaning “Cherish Love.” They boast over “23 million members” and a 6-month membership costs $300, according to CNN.

The growing population and the need to find love keeps these businesses open. They offer tips and techniques of dating and try to let people be as natural as possible. I think that in the coming years, the world will be finding more sites like Golden Bachelor and certainly more for the common people.

In a world where people are constantly moving and doing business, it is easier to meet someone online rather than taking the time to go out and meet them. An interesting concept, the online dating market is sure to have a bright future.

China Under Cyber Attack?

Chinese laws control Internet usage all over the country; one of the largest one being that Internet hacking and violation of privacy is forbidden. In this month alone, two Chinese bureaus of news organizations have claimed to have had their Google e-mail accounts attacked.

According to a CNN article on January 22, China is saying that the United States is weakening the relationship between the countries. The article also says that Google has threatened to pull out of China. “The Chinese government has said,” according to CNN, “that the Google case is a business dispute and should not affect relations between the two countries.”

I think that the Chinese government is right in saying that it is a problem between businesses, and should not affect the relationship between the U.S. and China. There is a need for considerable concern over what is happening. I think that not only does the alleged reports of hacking violate the Chinese laws, it also calls into question the amount of security that Google has placed on their accounts. It will be interesting to see if Google changes it’s security protocol, even if it is only for their international business accounts to protect individuals, and companies from any more attacks.

Click here to see the article from CNN.