http://msittig.blogspot.com/ 加班 or not 加班，这是个问题！ none 2009-07-02T19:09:41Z Blogger Micah Sittig Personal weblog. http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/07/two-quotes-from-recent-reading-material.html <p>Two quotes from recent reading material. First, from Tressell's "<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=X61AJIJNAQ8C&dq=tressel+philanthropists&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=oXeKCjH71X&sig=wV7sIGFk04cR24_XcLwwUfKpcoA&hl=en&ei=UpNLSqXfIMK7lAfH-Zwc&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4">The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists</a>": </p> <blockquote><p>Work, boys, work and be contended <br />So long as you've enough to buy a meal <br />For if you will but try, you'll be wealthy—bye and bye <br />If you'll only put your shoulder to the wheel.</p></blockquote> <p>And from a recent Southern Weekly article, 《<a href="http://www.infzm.com/content/30546">科教书：删得掉的文字 删不掉的“机密”</a>》: </p> <blockquote><p>现在，时隔十年后，当年的学生们才恍然大悟，自己的科教书曾被如此“花季护航”。</p></blockquote> <p>Reading this article on the "uncensoring" of public school textbooks since after Deng Xiaoping took over in the late 70s post-facto compounded my frustration at watching an obviously-censored version of Transformers 2: cut scenes and garbled words that interfered with the plot made the movie even less enjoyable than it would have been in its original complete form. Near the end of the article, another paragraph that puts Transformers into perspective: </p> <blockquote><p>比如《口技》中的房事，还要调查一下中学生的生理卫生课的开展情况；《葫芦僧判断葫芦案》被删的“酷爱男风，不好女色”，虽然同性恋已经一步步突破了法律惩罚、社会偏见和立法阻碍，但大部分中学生仍在农村地区。</p></blockquote> <p>That last line speaks to me the hidden prejudices that handicap us. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-6738816504250210736?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-07-01T16:34:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-local-election-time-in-our.html <p>It's local election time in our neighborhood. Banners are up entreating residents to "Seriously and studiously carry out the legal regulations regarding elections, and ensure the smooth running of an election according to the law." </p> <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3628938869/" title="Photo-0001 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3412/3628938869_a080e30961.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Photo-0001" /></a></p> <p>Posted in the bulletin board at the gate to our community is the list of candidates for being elected representatives to the People's Congress, posted by the Congress 筹备组 (preparatory team?).</p> <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3673087705/" title="Photo-0012 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/imgs/peoples-candidates.jpg" width="500" height="667" alt="Photo-0012" /></a></p> <p>Since I'm a sucker for data, this name list is interesting to me. </p> <table class="plain"> <tr> <td></td> <td>Sex</td> <td>Year</td> <td>Month</td> <td>Ethnic</td> <td>Party</td> <td>Edu</td> <td>Work</td> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td>F</td> <td>1950</td> <td>6</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td>M</td> <td>1964</td> <td>7</td> <td>Han</td> <td>Peasants</td> <td>BA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td>M</td> <td>1958</td> <td>8</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>AA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td>F</td> <td>1962</td> <td>1</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>AA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td>F</td> <td>1944</td> <td>12</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>6</td> <td>F</td> <td>1971</td> <td>1</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>AA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>7</td> <td>M</td> <td>1956</td> <td>11</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>AA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>8</td> <td>M</td> <td>1955</td> <td>2</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>AA</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>9</td> <td>M</td> <td>1952</td> <td>3</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>10</td> <td>M</td> <td>1958</td> <td>6</td> <td>Han</td> <td>Public</td> <td>AA</td> <td>com</td> </tr> <tr> <td>11</td> <td>M</td> <td>1952</td> <td>3</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>12</td> <td>M</td> <td>1951</td> <td>4</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>com</td> </tr> <tr> <td>13</td> <td>M</td> <td>1962</td> <td>2</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>HS</td> <td>com</td> </tr> <tr> <td>14</td> <td>M</td> <td>1971</td> <td>4</td> <td>Mongol</td> <td>Public</td> <td>Masters</td> <td>com</td> </tr> <tr> <td>15</td> <td>F</td> <td>1949</td> <td>5</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>HS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>16</td> <td>M</td> <td>1958</td> <td>10</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>HS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> <tr> <td>17</td> <td>F</td> <td>1941</td> <td>9</td> <td>Han</td> <td>CCP</td> <td>MS</td> <td>gov</td> </tr> </table> <p>Some trends: </p> <p class="center"><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/.micah/data-snapshot.png" alt="" /> <?p> <ul> <li>A majority of candidates were born in the 50s. The oldest will be 68 this year, the (two) youngest will be 38. </li> <li>Education is inversely correlated with age, and the most common levels of education are completion of middle school and AA degrees (junior college/vocational). </li> <li>Eighty-two percent of the candidates are members of the Chinese Communist Party. The only other party represented is the Peasants and Workers Democratic Party. </li> <li>Three quarters of the candidates already work for the government, mostly on neighborhood committees, with titles like secretary, Party team leader, 留守人员(?), doctor at a health clinic, and Party branch committee member. </li> <li>The private sector candidates come from middle and upper management.</li> <li>The most interesting candidate — in that his background is very different from the rest of the group — is candidate #14. Besides being one of the youngest candidates, born in 1971, he claims Mongolian heritage status, is not a member of any political party, is the only candidate with any higher education (MA), and works as a manager in a consulting company. </li> </ul> <p>It would take a lot of background information to explain these, which I don't have time for right now. The next step is a narrowing down of the list through discussion by the 选民小组, and then the actual election will take place. It's all laid out in the <a href="http://www.shfao.gov.cn/renda/node3075/node3165/node3167/userobject1ai131.html">上海市区县及乡镇人民代表大会代表直接选举实施细则</a> (Detailed Rules for the Shanghai Municipal District and Township People's Congress Representative Direct Elections), for those interested. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-5323556736920988845?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-06-30T00:55:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/06/incredibly-ui-designers-for-our-office.html <p>Incredibly, the UI designers for our office printer seem to have geared it towards people who feel compelled to press the same button over and over again to communicate their urgency to the machine (like at crosswalks). Pressing the green <span style="color: green;">✔</span> button over and over again seems to solve any just about any problem aside from paper jams. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-859961822931039639?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-06-17T00:33:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/06/from-our-sunday-outing-to-jiaxing.html <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3582394096/" title="IMG_7912 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3302/3582394096_89fa1e1b77.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7912" /></a></p> <p>From our Sunday outing to Jiaxing (嘉兴), a little Hangzhou with rice-dumplings. Forty-five minutes by train from Shanghai. </p> <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3581585843/" title="IMG_7919 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3362/3581585843_5b6b9156cb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_7919" /></a></p> <p>■ Departed SH at 1pm, RMB 13 for a 46 minute train ride to Jiaxing. <br /> ■ Taxi to Nanhu south gate. <br /> ■ Boat tour of Nanhu, island, pagoda, etc. RMB 60 pp. <br /> ■ Lunch at small local restaurant, finished off with rice dumpling from Wufangzhai. <br /> ■ Taxi to Yuehe Laojie (月河老街), a restored water-town street in downtown Jiaxing. <br /> ■ Dinner along the river at 月庭轩; good food, great service. <br /> ■ Taxi back to the station, 8:30 bullet train back to SH. </p> <p>More photos <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/sets/72157619000940103/">on Flickr</a>. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-752818737931324096?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-06-01T07:56:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-just-sent-this-off-in-e-mail-and.html <p><i>I just sent this off in an e-mail, and thought it would make a good weblog post too:</i> </p> <p>I have to admit that I've been using the school observatory for a relatively short time, so it's not in great shape and I'm not totally plugged into "the scene" here in Shanghai. But I'm happy to share what I know, which I will summarize in a few paragraphs. </p> <p>Shanghai today is NOT a good place to do astronomy. The earliest astronomers in Shanghai were the the Jesuits, who had an observatory by the St. Ignatius Cathedral in Xujiahui. Light pollution must have been a problem for them back then because they built a second observatory out on Sheshan (I'm not a historian; all this stuff is Google-able). When the local Chinese took over, they used the Shanghai location to build the offices of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, which includes an actual observatory, but they do all the serious work out in Sheshan. Even Sheshan is not far away enough to avoid the effects of the city lights, though; I hear it's being slowly phased out and a new observatory being built in Zhejiang to replace it. China is in a period of heavy telescope construction right now, with big telescopes just built or in planning for Beijing, Yunnan and Guizhou.</p> <p>My school has an observatory, one of a few schools in the area to have one. It's the only international school that has one as far as I know. It's not big, a 220mm Cassegrain reflector, F13 or so. It's equipped to look at the sun, works at night for objects visible in the city sky, and came with a CCD camera for imaging faint objects (I haven't gotten it to work yet, though). Like I said, light pollution is horrible in Shanghai, giving the sky a tint of background light that washes out most interesting objects. Look at the Pearl Tower from Puxi on a smoggy day, and then imagine what would it would look like if it were hundreds of light years away. Zhangjiang High-Tech Park is particularly bad because it has lots of factories that work around the clock and keep floodlights on at the factory campuses.</p> <p>Even though light pollution is bad, this doesn't meant that all hope is lost. There are still many things in the sky worth looking at. In the city, the best thing targets for observing are the Moon, the planets, the sun (if you have the right equipment!), the Int'l Space Station (ISS), and Iridium flares. The moon is great even just through binoculars. As it grows and shrinks, the terminator line between light and dark is the best place to view shadows from craters and other features. Planets come and go on the order of months, so they're good targets if you want to take things slow. Lately Saturn and its rings have been dominating the late night sky. The rings are slowly angling so that they'll be pointing directly at us and almost invisible in September, so catch them while you can. Venus is easy to see in the morning and evenings, lately favoring the morning. With the correct, quality equipment ("arc welder's glass"), it's possible to get a look at the surface of the sun during the daytime and hunt for sunspots. The Sun has been very quiet lately with zero sunspots, but we're supposed to be coming up to a maximum in 2012 (Mayan armageddon and all that) so it's worth keeping an eye on. The ISS and Iridium communication satellites are fun to look for; when they make certain angles to the sun they can look like very bright stars moving across the sky. The good thing about them is that their routes are predictable, so various websites will provide reliable forecasts of ISS passes and Iridium flare sightings. (I list some below.)</p> <p>I've be happy to host you at the school's observatory, both day or night. As long as the weather is clear, I'm pretty sure there will be something worth looking at. Also, it'd be worth talking/researching a bit what telescopes/binoculars are best for city viewing.</p> <p>If you're doing an astronomy article, it's almost a MUST to mention the eclipse coming up this July. I think it'd be worth making a daytrip out to Nanhui or farther to get the full effect.</p> <p>Here are websites that I recommend for Shanghai astronomers:</p> <p><a href="http://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi?&Meteo=">http://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi?&Meteo=</a> (weather; main site also has e-mail reminders for Iridium flares, ISS)<br /> <a href="http://heavens-above.com/">http://heavens-above.com/</a> (maps of the sky)<br /> <a href="http://spaceweather.com/">http://spaceweather.com/</a> (space "news")<br /> <a href="http://bbs.astron.ac.cn/">http://bbs.astron.ac.cn/</a> (Shanghai astronomy BBS; Chinese)<br /> <a href="http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=520">http://shanghaiscrap.com/?p=520</a> (Adam Minter on the Jesuit observatory)<br /> <a href="http://www.shao.ac.cn/">http://www.shao.ac.cn/</a> (SH Astro Observatory site)</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-159086360283080569?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-05-18T09:22:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/04/observatory-photos-by-micah-sittig-on.html <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/tags/%E5%A4%A9%E6%96%87%E5%8F%B0/" title="Observatory photos by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/3485882889_065638499b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="The routine" /></a></p> <p>Went observing tonight because the observatory is finally in working order, the sky was relatively clear, and I had some free time. Things I tried that worked: using SkyMap to obtain the coordinates of celestial objects and then using the telescope's Seek mode to automatically aim towards them (the Moon, Saturn, Alpha Leonis, Polaris); using a "found" object to recalibrate the telescope's position; photographing objects in focus through the finderscope. Things I tried that didn't work: photographing objects through the main scope; imaging objects with the CCD camera. To-do: put a thermometer in the observatory; characterize the unlabeled eyepieces in the observatory, which basically means all of the eyepieces; have IT check out why the computer doesn't recognize the onboard soundcard or the PCI video capture card; print out a list of the Messier objects and add it to the observatory handbook; lobby the school for one of those "city-lights filters," because the light pollution in Zhangjiang is just horrible. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-2416771741261290301?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-04-29T18:04:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/04/last-night-for-dinner-i-decided-to-take.html <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3475740943/" title="IMG_6980 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3475740943_1b0be4aa4b.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_6980" /></a></p> <p>Last night for dinner I decided to take Charlotte out (Jodi stayed home to study) for a father-daughter dinner and to pick up diapers at Zhangjiang Carrefour. We took the Dongchuan Line bus to the Orchid Gardens (玉兰香苑) area on the outskirts of Zhangjiang to look for food. That area is an earthy, Chinese-diverse area that feels very vibrant and alive to me. There's restaurants from all over China, tons of people out on the street at night, and lots of "illegal activity", as in unlicensed taxis and street vendors. Two funny things I experienced: a guy wearing one of those "I ♥ China" T-shirt where the heart has the stars from the Chinese national flag, except it said "I ♥ Tibet"; and James Taylor playing over the muzak system in Carrefour. Been a long time since I heard James Taylor. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-8433812629593174908?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-04-26T01:25:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/04/charlotte-banama-banana-piba-biller.html <p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3409557111/" title="IMG_6680 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3313/3409557111_af7ddff904.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_6680" /></a> <?p> <p>Charlotte: </p> <blockquote><p>"Banama" (Banana)<br /> "Piba-biller" (Peanut butter, rhymes with caterpillar)<br /> "皮豆" (potato in Chinese)<br /> "maminnow" (potato in English; also tomato)<br /> "'Aika" (Micah; also calls me Daddy, 爸爸 and 老公) </p></blockquote> <p>Maryann: </p> <blockquote><p>"Bababababa" (???) </p></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-1984761571257077512?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-04-14T00:13:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/03/while-ago-i-wrote-post-about-english.html <p><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/imgs/stadlers_two_books.png" title="Stadler's Education Guide" class="left" alt="" />A while ago I wrote a post about <a href="http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-said-id-post-first-part-of-my-e-mail.html">English-language education in Shanghai</a>. One of the resources that I said was available in print was a "book on the topic of Shanghai international schools." Today I finally went down to the school library and had our helpful librarian find it so that I can post the details here. The book is "<a href="http://www.stadlersguide.com/">Stadler's Education Guide</a>", and is available in Beijing and Shanghai editions. It is split in two parts, the first consisting of articles covering international education in China in all its facets, and the second consisting of profiles of individual schools. After flipping through it for a few minutes, my impressions are that the writing is the same style as in China's expat rags, but the information is comprehensive and, at least for our school, relatively on target though without painting a complete picture. Since the edition in our library dates to 2006, I'd definitely recommend backing up any reading with a visit to the actual school before you commit. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-4399124141511980378?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-03-23T05:11:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/03/since-beginning-of-semester-jodi-has.html <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3376138852/" title="Photo-0458 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3538/3376138852_897d7515fb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Photo-0458" /></a> </p> <p>Since the beginning of the semester, Jodi has had class on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and on Sunday all day. This means that I get Charlotte and Maryann all to myself on the two weekdays from the end of work until bedtime, and on Sunday from wake-up to about 5PM. It's been a challenge re-learning their habits, schedules, and needs, and taking care of them all by myself, but the process has its rewards. I've been getting to cook on Sundays, learning how far along the kids are in their development, and building Charlotte's fluency in English. </p> <p>Today, for example, Jodi fed Maryann a bottle when she left at 8am or so, and put her back to bed. I slept in until about 9am when Charlotte started calling from the girls' bedroom ("'icah, 'icah!") to let me know that Maryann was awake. I threw on some clothes, changed a couple of diapers, and made breakfast for me and Charlotte consisting of a few steamed buns, apricot jelly and a couple mugs of milk. Maryann is now beginning to explore solid foods, so we had some fun feeding her pieces of steamed rice bun. Bundling up the girls, we hopped downstairs and across the street to the new baby supply store and bought a refill of baby formula for Maryann. Then back home we spent some time playing in the girls' bedroom, sitting on the bay window sill and watching the construction going on outside on the light rail line. </p> <p>By 11:30 Maryann was getting restless so I fed her a bottle and put her to bed. Charlotte played music and drew on scratch paper, and I cleared out the RSS reader until about 12:30, when it was time to fix lunch. Charlotte pulled a stool into the kitchen and by 1:30 we were chowing down on simple spaghetti and carrot-raisin salad. Changed a poopy diaper and did the dishes while listening to techno on the laptop, and then Maryann woke up and needed a diaper change as well. After a little playtime in the bedroom, I took advantage of Maryann's good mood to jump in shower, but she started bawling before I even had my clothes off. No problem, she needs to learn to monitor her own temper, so I steeled myself to her cries and proceeded with the bath. Now clean and dressed, I fixed Maryann a bottle and sat down to watch cartoons on 哈哈少儿 with Charlotte for a while. </p> <p>We played around with the 喜羊羊 balloons we bought at Metro on Thursday, and then I dressed up Charlotte and Maryann in coats and shoes and we took off on the dot at 5pm. A taxi to Zhangjiang subway station and a short hop on Line 2 got an awake me and two sleeping girls to People's Square by 5:50 or so, where we met Jodi for dinner at 老克勒 (thanks for the reminder, <a href="http://yuehan.org/">John</a>). Charlotte was in a grumpy mood after a rough nap on my shoulder, so dinner took a lot longer than it should have. But we were back home by 9am, and a quick girls-to-bed process means that Jodi's reading threads on Liba and I'm checking e-mail, thinking about plans for tomorrow, and writing this post while enjoying the electric blanket in bed. </p> <p>Signing off. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-9120390784930678265?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-03-22T14:51:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/03/2005.html <p>2005</p> <p class="center"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/3360737626_ef29f294c8.jpg" title="Micah and Jodi, at the Jing'an Bifengtang in 2005" alt=""/> </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-2649469940031125694?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-03-16T18:40:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/03/confluence-of-education-language-and.html <p>A confluence of education, language, and sharism/open source: </p> <div class='center'><object width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/eRbWXKnxB2c&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/eRbWXKnxB2c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object></div> <p>(Collected by <a href="http://reganmian.net/blog/">houshuang</a>.)</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-5024486074245979369?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-03-13T04:06:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/tonight-im-doing-some-survey-response.html <p>Tonight I'm doing some survey response analysis for the introductory course in the MEd program at school, and as I was grouping interviewees by age and skimming over their responses it dawned on me that I was doing a mental word frequency analysis and that there might be a more efficient and fun way to do this. Following that train of thought, I quickly recalled <a href="http://www.wordle.net/">Wordle</a>, the Java applet that does makes so-called "tag clouds" out of any text you give it. So I fired up the site, enabled Java and, voilà: </p> <p class="center"><a href="http://www.wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/590351/20-30-Q1" title="Wordle: 20-30-Q1"><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/imgs/00-10-Q1.png" alt="Wordle: 20-30-Q1" style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ccc"></a> </p> <p>That's the word cloud for how elementary school students responded when asked about what teachers do. Nifty! </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-8289765995137161456?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-26T19:08:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/this-video-had-me-in-stitches.html <p>This video had me in stitches: the combination of the music/lyrics, the woman, the location, the passers-byers' comments, and the note at the end. Shanghai's got class. </p> <div class="center"><embed src="http://player.youku.com/player.php/sid/XNzI3NTY4NTI=/v.swf" quality="high" width="480" height="400" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-6855566075028125376?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-19T16:16:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/ever-since-jodi-got-me-new-phone-for-my.html <p>Ever since Jodi got me a new phone for my birthday, I've been listening to music on my walk to school in the morning. The problem is that I walk about 8 minutes and I'm too lazy to load up the phone with new songs regularly, which means I ended up listening to the same old songs every morning. </p> <p>So I decided to do something I've been talking about for a long time and start listening to the radio instead. My phone can do FM radio when the earphones are plugged in, and eight minutes is just enough to catch a few news stories. It's a good way to start the day; it takes me back to high school when I used to read the paper each morning over breakfast. Or back to when we live at Zhongshan Park and I read the paper on my morning commute. Language-wise, it's nice to have"news Chinese" reinforced orally, something I need to do since I spend so much time reading news stories online. The station I'm listening to is 98.1; I haven't caught the name yet but it seems to have a consistent stream of news stories when I walk to work in the morning and come home at about 4:45pm. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-1047469796239813202?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-19T15:55:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-just-updated-english-translations-of.html <p class="center"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2104/2406678233_9ab38e7276.jpg?v=0" alt="" title="Jump on the bus" /> </p> <p>I just updated the <a href="http://msittig.wubi.org/bus/">English translations of the Shanghai bus routes </a>that I maintain. Since the last time I updated them, the <a href="http://www.jt.sh.cn/">Shanghai Traffic Administration</a> changed the format of their website so I had to tweak my code to match it. In the intervening months, many lines have changed stops or changed numbers and I was getting more e-mails from people looking for lines that exist but weren't in the list of translations. Also, I made a few small tweaks to the translation algorithm so that some stop names have better translations this time around. There are still bound to be mistakes in the over one thousand routes; if they are major and keeping you from easily using the translations, then please e-mail me. If you can't find the route you are looking for or just want directions from one place to another, e-mail me as well. Happy traveling and thanks for supporting public transportation! </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-770696203136031953?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-13T08:32:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/theres-few-things-that-i-ran-across-on.html <p>There's a few things that I ran across on the Chinese web today that caught my eye. First is <a href="http://www.isaacmao.com/2/2009/02/blog-post.html">Isaac Mao's re-ordering</a> of the "<a href="http://baike.baidu.com/view/83780.htm">Rules For Elementary School Students</a>" published by the Ministry of Education in 1981 and revised in 2004. He makes changes like taking the #1 rule and making it #10. Read his post (in Chinese) for the full reasoning behind the re-ordering; it's good. Isaac got <a href="http://www.danwei.org/internet_culture/sharism_a_mind_revolution.php">a cynical reception</a> at the Danwei post where Adam S interviewed him at the Bloggercon, but I admire him a lot and I like to support him. My translation: </p> <blockquote> <p><strong>Revised Revised Rules for Elementary School Students</strong></p> <p> <ol> <li>Love nature, cherish your living environment. </li> <li>Be honest and trustworthy, one in word and deed, correct your shortcomings, and be responsible. </li> <li>Love unity, unite with your classmates, help one another, and care for others. </li> <li>Be filial to your parents, respect your teachers, and be courteous to others. </li> <li>Work hard, be frugal and thrifty, do on your own what you are able to do. </li> <li>Have self-respect, self-esteem, self-confidence, and develop healthy and civil habits. </li> <li>Hold life dear, be safe, excercise your body, and keep good hygiene. </li> <li>Love science, study diligently, question and be curious, delight in investigation, take part in social practice and beneficial activities. </li> <li>Respect the law, increase your awareness of the law, honor school discipline and punishments, show respect for social ethical values. </li> <li>Love the motherland, love the people, love the Chinese Communist Party. </li> </ol> </p></blockquote> <p>Another is this article <a href="http://blog.ifeng.com/article/2132041.html">copied on the Pro-State In Flames</a> weblog about an earlier essay in the Xinmin Evening Post entitled "<a href="http://club.pchome.net/topic_1_15_3336334.html">New Heroes Rush The Bund, An Elite Not Delimited By Hukou</a>" containing an inflammatory quote that had the Shanghainese up in arms, something about speaking Shanghainese in Lujiazui being a mark of low-class because of the high concentration of non-Shanghainese that live and work there. From the post: </p> <blockquote><p>The article's publication lead to protests by the Shanghainese people. Even retired former national government leaders [*coughJiangZemin?cough* -Micah] expressed concern over the matter in a phone call to the Shanghai Municipal Committee Secretary Yu Zhengsheng. Yu himself gave the order to resolve the problem, and yesterday the Xinmin Evening Post convened a panel to discuss the issue, and also published an apology admitting that the essay "violated our relationship with the Shanghainese people." </p></blockquote> <p>At the Chinese Bloggercon in Guangzhou last November, I sat down to lunch one day with my frequent acquaintance at these tech events, Aether from Tudou. One of the people at the table was a stocky, jovial guy with a quick wit and clearly respected by his tablemates. Impressed, I later found out from John Kennedy that this guy blogs under the name <a href="http://www.hecaitou.net/">Hecaitou</a>. Adding him to Google Reader, I've found him to be one of the Chinese language weblogs to which I look forward to slogging my way through each new post. Take a look; today he has an insightful piece into <a href="http://www.hecaitou.net/?p=4624">one facet of the current crackdown</a> on online content:</p> <blockquote><p>It's like the guy who got 20 years of hard labor in Xinjiang for "dirty dancing" in the 1980s. Today when he gets out he sees all the "saunas" and "KTVs" and all he can do is let out a long sigh: Fuckin' A, nowadays prostitution gets you a fine of a few thousand; me, I did a dance and got 20 years.</p></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-8076589033540600303?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-06T14:46:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/back-story-this-week-i-am-renewing-my.html <p><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/imgs/charlotte-in-tears.jpg" alt="Poor Charlotte" alt="Cry" /></p> <p><small>(Back story: This week I am renewing my work visa, and since Charlotte is my dependent she had to have her picture taken to apply along with me. I took her to the photo studio three times, the third time bringing Mom along, before she would agree to take the picture. The first two times she fought and screamed her way out, and the third time took a lot of coaxing, pleading, and a candy from the photographer lady before she finally agreed to wipe the tears off and stand for a single photo. The above is a failed attempt from the third session. Then we went out for dinner at Jepsons (and get to stay in China another year), so it was all worth it.)</small></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-3261813386868798092?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-06T04:09:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/02/from-graphjam-via-zawodny.html <p class="center"><img src="http://msittig.wubi.org/imgs/cell-phone-usage.jpg" alt="5% Making Phone Calls, 30% Text Messaging, 65% Checking The Time" title="So True" /> </p> <p>(From <a href="http://graphjam.com/2009/01/18/song-chart-memes-usage-of-my-cell-phone/">GraphJam</a>, via <a href="http://jeremy.zawodny.com/linkblog/">Zawodny</a>.)</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-7701051982245275994?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-02-03T19:40:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/01/happy-new-year-ers-by-micah-sittig-on.html <p class="center">Happy Chinese New Year<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3231261302/" title="Happy New Year-ers by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3526/3231261302_f3a58c6cd7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Happy New Year-ers" /></a></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-1794011888277078991?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-01-27T13:06:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/01/according-to-article-in-todays-xinmin.html <p class="center"><img src="http://xmwb.news365.com.cn/yw/200901/W020090122536714684624.JPG" /> </p> <blockquote><p>According to <a href="http://xmwb.news365.com.cn/yw/200901/t20090122_2174914.htm">an article</a> in today's Xinmin Evening Post, the Waibaidu/Garden Bridge at the north end of the Bund will be back in place by the end of February. The bridge was removed and taken to Pudong for repairs a few months ago. </p></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-109116047651053928?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-01-22T16:33:00Z http://msittig.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-is-our-med-class-introduction-to.html <p class="center"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/msittig/3215743408/" title="Photo-0249 by Micah Sittig, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3448/3215743408_af0b6b2c6a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Photo-0249" /></a> </p> <p>This is our MEd class, Introduction to Teacher Education. Tomorrow is our last class session, followed by two papers including one interview project. The next week-long class, Models of Instruction, starts on Saturday, Jan 31. </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3939204-577171360569316032?l=msittig.blogspot.com'/></div> Micah Sittig 2009-01-21T15:56:00Z