Training Freshmen

This week, a new group of freshman arrived on campus. In America, this would be visible via orientation groups, move-in procedures, and increased number of lost students. While the prior two qualities were notable, the arrival of the freshman was extremely apparant for a third reason: a week of mandatory military training.

The campuses' public spaces were littered with teams of students partaking in basic military training. I was suprised that the training is primarily limited to basic drills (turn right, turn left, squat, stand at attention, march, etc.)  and yelling. All of this was conducted in uniform so the freshman are easily identifiable for their first week on campus.

Being the inquisitive soul I am, I asked several of my Chinese acquantances if they got to learn anything interesting during the week. All responded that the week was very boring and all they recalled was constantly standing and sitting. I had hoped that the week may involve firearm or other training but given the short timespan, I imagine it would be difficult to offer anything but the most basic primer on any topic. The concencus is that the training is to condition the students to be prepared (after a summer of fun) to again be obediant in class and follow rules.

On a fun note, the structure of the week allowed me to enjoy the festivities at my leisure. That included distracting four sections of students by standing on a skybridge and taking some video (I should emphasize here that my appearance/blonde hair distracted them, nothing else). Of course, the usual suprised statements and looks spiked this week with the new incoming class and everyone has been very friendly. I had hoped to perhaps get a picture with a group of students in their army uniforms. But I missed the opportunity so I will have to wait until the next time new students come to campus.

For your viewing pleasure, some photographs taken from an unfinished balcony and a video from the skybridge.

 

Edit: I will upload the video tonight so you can expect to see it on site tomorrow. Also, next week is a vacation week due to the National Day. I will be doing some fun things so expect to see an awesome Friday post and possibly an extra post sometime during the week.

Extra Tech Market Photo

I realized I left out my favorite picture from the technology market this Wednesday. Here it is:

New Sound Cloud Mix

New CyberDrone Mix added to Soundcloud. Excellent background music for programming or writing.

Electronic Instant Gratification

The Dashanlu Technology Market is the sort of place of which geeks dream. Three five floor buildings filled with a diverse selection of electronics. Speakers, cameras, wires, computers, components, surveillance equipment, and cash counting machines all waiting in tightly packed stalls to be bought and taken to their new homes. Though not as large as the Beijing Tech Market, Jinan's still packs a punch.

Approaching the market is a calm experience, with it being off of the major roads of the city. However, that comes to an apbrupt end once you are a block away from the market. On Dashanlu the street explodes with vendors, pedestrians, and parked scooters. Boxes of newly purchased laptops, businessmen carrying new desktops, and software vendors ( sans parrot and eyepatch though they would have been appropriate) are common sites on the street. Of paticular note, due to their antiquated nature, were camera film distributors who also sold a host of chemicals for developing your film based photography.

Inside each building is  an organized chaos of electronic related products. My favorite purchase of the day was a silicon keyboard protector for my laptop. Though they offer generic versions of this product (Universal Silicone Keyboard Protector Skin for Laptop Notebook ), I was able to find a custom version for my Thinkpad. For a dollar, I couldn't be more thrilled.

I can't help but think China must be a hardware geeks dream. For those into hacking hardware, a virtually endless set of new and old components awaits. I suspect , if you wanted, you could even whip out your soldering iron on the spot and get to work.

They style of the vendor stalls varies greatly with some major brands having comfy couches and branded areas and others (like the picture below) looking like IT Hell.

Sadly, finding a powerful vantage point to capture the scene eluded me on this trip. So, you are left with a photo of the two primary buildings (note the laptops on the back of the bike) as well as an inside shot of the stalls. As a bonus, I also including a picture of a chair made of elastic bands. Enjoy!

In the Waiting Line

Today's post is brought to you by the Jinan International Exchange Service Center.  When you are staying in China more than thirty days, you are "invited" to register with the local authorities or face fines or deportation. Bureaucracy is the standard in China and you can expect nothing less than their best examples of paper shuffling, esoteric rule enforcement, and waiting. How awesome is the waiting ? So awesome that I arrived at 7:00 a.m. took an hour lunch break ( the employees did too) and finally was called up to the desk at 2:30 p.m.

Why does it take so long? For starters, they have a single employee who speaks English. This is completely logical at a center for processing waiguoren( foreigners-外国人 ) who speak limited Chinese. Second, even though every piece of documentation is carefully prepared before arrival, they must carefully inspect the documents to determine validity and scrutinize possible forgeries. Finally, after everything is prepared, they carefully hit print on the computer and issue your certified residence permit, complete with stamps, embossing, and other security measures. This last sentence is pure theory because in my case, my medical documentation was not matching their standard...So, I then got to go to the hospital where they had to verify my forms.  The hospital was more of the same, including a quick trip to a nearby photo shop to take headshots for my new hospital paperwork.

I wish I could say other official business is faster but, regettably, it is also tediously slow. The simple act of opening a bank account took approximately one and a half hours. Forty minutes were spent waiting in the lobby and another fifty minutes were spent redoing the same form three times and explaining U.S. passports. Ultimately, they couldn't even exchange the fresh wad of twenties into RMB. So, for all that effort, I left with a bank account containing zero monies. As for my monthly payment, that involves talking to three different workers at the school accounting office. The first takes my receipt, the second validates the receipt, and the final person collects the receipt and credits my account. Did I mention they all work in different rooms?

There is one upside to the dreaded Jinan International Exchange Service Center. If you are interested in meeting other foreigners (the primary reason people go to China /sarcasm) you will have ample opportunity. A veritable smorgasbord of nationalities pupulate the waiting area. So, if you wish to meet a 外国人, skip the bars and just head over to the IESC. Not only are you guaranteed to have your pick of ethnicities, you also have a captive audience that will be waiting hours upon hours. You literally have all the time in the world to become friends.

P.S. I get to complete the process Monday morning which means another trip to the IESC with my new med documentation. As a bonus, here are two photos of the hospital. The first is a picture of the ground floor entrance, and the second is a photo of the examination area.

    

The Liquor To End All

While I have enjoyed drinking 2.5% beers (5 proof) during my first few weeks in China, I decided this weekend to finally venture into the realm of hard liquor. Because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on alcohol, I decided to go the cost effective route and buy a smaller bottle. After examining the options at a local store, I decided to buy 125 ml of a brownish liquor that was 35% alcohol (70 proof).

I have tried a multitude of other Chinese liquors. For those of you unfamiliar with the flavor. The way I typically describe the experience is "drinking rocket fuel" or "alcohol mixed with soy sauce". My previous experiences with Beijing's liquor called erguatou（二锅头）, generic baijiu, and the famous Maotai(茅台酒). I had some idea what to expect from my 10 yuan purchase (approx. $1.30).

I made the mistake of first smelling the vile liquor. A sweetness intermingled with the repulsive swill of low grade alcohol. Only temporarily stunned, I then took a sip. A smart man would have simply downed the bottle, but being a foolish person who smells their rotgut, I then tasted it like a connoisseur tastes wines. The result was a ghastly flavor that you are much better off reading rather than experiencing. The liquor tasted like alcoholic barbecue sauce. I imagine you could replicate this in your house by mixing 1 part barbecue sauce and 1 part Everclear.

The flavor was so repulsive I have been staring down the bottle for the last ten minutes while I write this entry. Maybe the best strategy to drinking any more of the foul concoction would be to go buy a different liquor to drink first. But I imagine, that would only lead to another entry and we would be forever stuck in a vicious cycle of alcohol purchases (much like the Simpsons episode where the pigeons are massacred by lizards).

That said, just be thankful this bottle will not be returning from China to haunt any of you.

The Technological Singularity

The Singularity is a fascinating concept. The term refers to the turning point in the relation between mankind and computers. Though there is no one definition for the event, I will do my best to introduce you to two common interpretations.

The first interpretation is the creation of a computer with superhuman intelligence or self-improving AI. A computer with true AI would potentially have the ability to design improved hardware and software. The idea here is that once computers can build better versions of themselves, they can quickly surpass human design potential and will exponentially improve. Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Series references this concept when the computer that provides the answer to life, the universe, and everything (42) is then commissioned to design a computer that can determine the question.

Critics to this concept argue about the feasibility of creating self-improving AI. Critics also assert that once computers possess superhuman intelligence they would essentially be living gods and beyond the control of humans. In fact, with such intelligence, they would essentially have dominance over humans usurping our traditional role as the "masters".

The second definition happens to be my favorite. It assumes the combination of advanced computers and anatomical understanding allow humans to significantly augment themselves with technology. In this definition, a thorough understanding of the human brain allows for nanotechnology fueled computers to be integrated with the human mind. These technologies would hypothetically allow for extremely swift learning, perfect memory, visual overlays of our reality, and countless other benefits. I think of this version as the internet on steroids. Information injected directly to your brain complete with the option to back-up your self in case you ever die. With death "cured", it would fundamentally alter the constraints under which humans operate. Given the marriage of technology and the brain, it should also allow for complete extraction of consciousness from the body to live in the next-gen second life if the human so chose. This definition certainly holds more than its share of moral dilemnas and philosophical quandries (is a man teleported between two locations the same man?) but, as a lover of knowledge, I see within it the most potential for mankind as well.

Critics to this variation of the singularity contend that the neccessary anatomical knowledge is not close at hand nor is the hardware that would be required to efficiently augment humans.

I will address the singularity in greater detail in the future entries along with its economic, cultural, and philosophical consequences.

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out a few of these books and movies if you are interested in the topic:
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom-Cory Doctorow
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer -Neil Stephenson
Snow Crash - Neil Stephenson
The Transcendent Man- a Documentary about Ray Kurzweil
Obligatory Wikipedia Link

Welcome to Hacking Asia!

Hacking Asia is a new blog that strives to broaden you worldview and give you some small bits of knowledge. Beyond the common plebeian "travel blog", Hacking Asia will step beyond the WTF and seek to educate as well. With a little luck, you'll learn some Mandarin, get a few recipes, and learn a bit about technology.

Each Friday, Hacking Asia will feature a new story about the trials, tribulations, and awesomeness of China. Expect posts about food, laws, language, architecture and any number of other topics. With a little luck, you can also expect some posts about Japan, South Korea, and a few other areas of Southeast Asia.

Tuesdays will feature content focusing loosely around hacking topics. That is to say, topics that relate to programming, social engineering, the singularity, bypassing obstacles etc. Knowing the way the Chinese culture looks for solutions, you can also expect a few cameo appearances on Tuesdays.

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We hope you enjoy Hacking Asia and look forward to providing you with great content each week.