Content Preview: rss
223 days ago
I have changed my blog from Microsoft's blog server to Google's. In retrospect I'm shocked that I ever considered using Microsoft over Google. I'm so glad for the change. Suddenly blogging has become enjoyable again. Thanks Google. So my new blog address is http://bryceinchina.blogspot.com If you subscribe to RSS of my blog, or have it bookmarked, please change your settings. I'm not going to miss you Microsoft.
245 days ago
I have some sort of emotional/spiritual connection with elephants. I can't explain it but I've had it for years. The Thai Elephant Conservation Center (TECC) is an amazing place to be close to several Asian elephants. I was there with other tourists from England, Australia, Spain, and Japan. We had a good time with each other and with our beloved pachyderms. The real mahouts didn't speak much English but Thai people are so fun and friendly that we all had a great time. "My" elephant was a 27 year-old female named Pangkot. She has an independent spirit and a bit of a rebellious side in her. She is also a bad mother. She killed her first baby. Two years ago she gave birth to her second, AI, which was the first successful artificially inseminated birth in an Asian elephant (AI stands for artificial insemination, I guess it's like naming a naturally conceived baby "Copulation"). She rejected AI so her friend, Pumphuang, spent the last two years as surrogate mother. ...
284 days ago
A lot of captions again. Here's the list. 1- metals in various stages of refinement 2- metals of different types and purities 3- metal products 4- reinforced aluminum pipe 5- an impressive porcelain vase 6- a woven-appearing vase 7- Vietnamese embroidery art 8- Vietnamese embroidery art on translucent mesh 9- a silicon wafer 10- Malaysian goods 11- Asian furniture is typically wood without cushions 12- beautiful, if not comfortable 13- beautifully carved wheeled tables 14- tree stump carving 15- Indonesian (I think) statuary 16- a huge and elaborate carved tree stump, including a large phoenix in the center 17- more beautiful wooden furniture 18- solar and wind powered street lights 19- solar powered street lights and bollard 20- a modular water filtration system 21- residential water filtration 22- cross sections of various types of large cables, pretty interesting 23- fun shaped flash drives 24- a white board that lets you "draw" digitally via a projector 25- a huge LED ...
284 days ago
The industrial exhibits at the China-ASEAN Expo were the most interesting, and the most plentiful it seemed. I took so many photos, which really disappointed the vendors. Having an American come to their booth was apparently quite a thrill. They all read my name tag to see what industry I worked in. Unfortunately I wasn't looking to buy any industrial machinery, and their faces fell rather obviously. They gave me tons of literature on their products (which I threw away at the next garbage can that the vendor couldn't see) and several took photos of me looking at their exhibit. I guess a photo of a Westerner examining a product makes for good marketing material in Southeast Asia. I wonder how many catalogs and ads I will end up in! It takes a really long time to put captions under each photo so this is the caption list for the industrial machine photo album. My brother can probably tell you a lot more about these machines. Machines are just cool, especially the big ones. 1- a rebar ...
285 days ago
I attended the 5th China-ASEAN expo in October 2008. It was very interesting. China hosts the expo in Nanning annually. The 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) come to Nanning with extravagant displays and demonstrations. Commerce ministers, and sometimes even heads of state, also attend. Each country has it's own exhibition area and the other areas are grouped by industry type, eg. agriculture, industrial machinery, electronics, home decor and construction, tourism, energy, etc. It really is like a mini-world's fair for these 11 countries. The exhibition center in Nanning hosts the even every year and is quite an impressive complex. It sits on a hill in the south east part of the city. My company, along with a German company, designed the exhibition center. It includes some huge and elegant exhibition halls, vast outdoor plazas, and a huge round meeting hall (think UN) that is topped with a roof to represent the hibiscus, Nanning's city flower. This roof has become an ...
