So, even though I’m in the middle of nowhere in China and have the opportunity to take pictures of things that very few Westerners have seen, I decided to undergo a marathon session of Rome.
And I highly recommend it for both entertainment value and historical scenery (not necessarily accurate). The script writer for Mark Antony gets some kudos for superb wit and the actress of Atia does a really good job being a calculating wench.
Definitely not family friendly, but certainly worth watching in between The Office and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Verdict: 4.5 out of 5. The only really negative points for both season were some of the cheesy action sequences that made knife-wielding henchmen look invincible and then easily defeatable all in the same episode. And more often than not, I liked Pulo’s “nothing can stop me attitude.” The Octavian script also did a good job encapsulating the spirit and ideas of Augustus, and both actors were good orators. Thus, in short, the person in charge of casting did a commendable job all-around.
This was taken on Monday afternoon right after it rained. It’s right next to a cool chain restaurant called Z Kung Fu. Serves some tasty eel soup (seriously, tasted great).
Obligatory picture of the tallest buildings on the mainland. The one on the left is the newly completed World Financial Tower and right next to it is the Jin Mao tower. Construction is now underway on the Shanghai Center tower which is substantially taller than both of them.
Another angle of the Pearl. This is near the Bund sightseeing tunnel on the Pudong side of the river.
That is The Bund, a composite of the oldest buildings in Shanghai including several consulates and trading stations. Notice the barge in the middle of the river that acts a floating advertisement. How’s that for evil communism?
I probably could spend days going around taking pictures of buildings under construction. These are right across from the train station. That little blue logo character is the mascot for the upcoming World Expo being held in the city during 2010. Out of the picture on the left side is the internet cafe I used for the first couple of days… the one that blared the best of Michael Jackson.
I have a new piece up over at LRC that gives a brief overview of construction in Shanghai.
Note: I took the photos in the article this past Tuesday. It was a fantastic day, cloudless and blue. Both pictures were directly across from The Bund.
To the right is a picture of the Tomorrow Square building and not from my portfolio. Check out the others posted at Flickr.
North Korea has the potential to generate about 7,800 megawatts of power, but fuel shortages have reduced output to less than a third of this. The shortfall in turn has kept more than two-thirds of its industrial facilities idle.
North Korea’s electrical grid still relies on facilities built by Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule over the peninsula.
I mention a similar empirical data point in a footnote regarding North Korea’s dependence on Japan… Imperial Japan.
They’re blaring the Best of Michael Jackson in this cafe here and I thought it should be accompanied by an appropriate piece by Gary Brecher: He Fought the Wars and the Wars Won.
Maybe it’s because I’m super handsome but I have been hounded everywhere I go by people hawking all sorts of wares. And it’s not just limited to glittery trinkets, glow-in-the-dark dolls or battery powered robot dogs.
But that is a story for another day.
Most people are usually trying to sell necklaces, food, photos, movies, cell phones, bus rides — in short, if it can be sold, someone is trying to sell it. But don’t let that stop you from visiting or moving here. In fact, this metro is pretty cool so far.
Nothing to see here
One of the econ professors I had back in undergrad was a guy by the name of Svetozar Pejovich (see his book here). He grew up in Yugoslavia during the Tito regime and told all sorts of colorful stories during class.
One of the stories that he repeated a couple of times during the semester was a debate he had with a socialist that was pro-central planning, let’s call him Ivan. So one of Ivan’s complaints was that in existing market economies, theft and pilfering are big problems. Pejovich would retort, “because there is so much stuff to steal!”
So while some tourists or Westerners may be annoyed at the endless hounding, I see it as a healthy indicator of their livelihood. First, they actually have something to sell. And this probably means they are allowed to personally own and profit from their sale. As a result they can accumulate wealth, live for another day and possibly reinvest their capital in future growth.
So the next time you hear “sir, would you like a watch?” instead of scowling at the guy hawking the fake Rolex, smile and be glad that they have something to sell. Because each voluntary, consensual trade amounts to a win-win scenario that helps drag people out of poverty.
Heroic!
Or would you rather have them lying down prostrate begging for change or living off the taxpayer dole? Besides, it’s not like you can be too self-righteous. After all, don’t you technically haggle something in order to live? Or do you own a nanofactory and have a life of non-scarcity?
So I’m here in an ginormous internet cafe in Shanghai and have to call BS on those “pro-democracy” slash “anti-China” groupies. They’re mostly full of crap.
Two examples, both involving public TV.
In my hotel room I found a couple of English-speaking channels. One is Bloomberg and the other is CCTV #9.
I watched a lot of Bloomberg in Seoul and Kaohsiung and one of the day-time hosts is Bernard Lo. In one segment that was aired last night as well as today, he interviews Christopher Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong.
Guess what they talked about for 15 minutes? Every touchy political subject known to man, including that uber god, Mr. Democracy. To the horror of the hippie SDS, none of the words were bleeped out. Nor did a floating Big Brother insignia replace the image of Lo’s head. My door was not busted down and I have thus far gone unmolested by men in grey jumpsuits with red armbands.
And they also talked about every controversial topic relating to the Bush legacy. In fact, this was actually an entertaining interview because Rui would word things very strongly, like “will Bush be remembered as the worst president?” and better yet, he called out the hypocrisy or as he said “the double-sided nature” of non-proliferation policy the Bush administration has had towards Iran and how the administration ignores Israel’s nuclear stockpile altogether.
And while critical of Bush, Matthews is a bit of an establishment partisan, refusing to blame the neocon agenda for a slew of other quagmires. But that is neither here nor there as nothing was bleeped out or obviously censored. Though, maybe I’ll come home and find my TV rearranged in pieces on the ground.
Extra-credit for extra-horror
Sites not blocked at my current location:
LewRockwell.com
Antiwar.com
Mises.org
The English-version of Wikipedia
My webpage (obviously)
Facebook
Drudge
isoHunt
Google Reader
Youtube
All of the financial sites I listed on Wednesday
I have a