Goo-Goo Eyes

on a subway station air purifier.  A conspiracy theorist could well suspect that this is part of the government's first steps in getting the public accustomed to seeing robotic interfaces everywhere -- the ultimate aim being digital ID and facial recognition in every aspect of life.  Think that's extremist thinking?  Today I read about how China has actually started using facial recognition tech for dispensing toiler paper(!) in some public restrooms to prevent random people stealing toilet paper -- apparently that's been a significant problem in some places.

The Time When

I found out that the painting on my fan was copied from a photograph of the Huangshan mountains of China.  I don't remember what prompted me to mount a search, or how the heck I discovered the source. For ought I knew, the painting could have been completely imaginary.  Kudos to me!^

Bad News For My Little Friends

Last year at about this time, I was taking home the cicada shells I'd found, and this old man asked me if they were for making medicine.  That was funny, but this piece of news is not:  I just learned that Chinese residents in Busan are congregating in an ecological park every evening to sweep up all the cicada nymphs they see... to eat!

I know eating bugs is really not all that uncommon, but still, these guys are one of my favorite species of insect...  Is the torturous pleasure of listening to the deafening din of cicadas buzzing every summer in danger of disappearing from Korean cities?

Heliophagous Celestial Dog

This cloud reminded me of Chinese lion-dogs.  So maybe it wasn't trying to devour the Sun so much as to just hold it in its mouth or under its paw or something.

Related Posts:  Dog Head Cloud;  Monster Could Not Swallow The Sun