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	<title>Peering into the Precipice</title>
	<link>http://theprecipice.us</link>
	<description>A view from abroad</description>
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		<title>Blue Sky Nostalgia</title>
		<description><![CDATA[nostalgia - a yearning for the past, often in idealized form Since departing from China I&#8217;ve often found myself experiencing pangs of nostalgia. While most fresh expats in China are quick to point out the myriad of ways in which life in China is so much harder, inconvenient, or downright dirty compared to back home, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=496</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Need a friend?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Recently Mayor Bloomberg gave a speech on the justification for allowing a mosque to be built within several blocks of Ground Zero in Manhattan, arguing rightly (on moral grounds) that a denial on strictly religious pretexts was reprehensible and (probably) in violation of the constitution. Bloomberg didn&#8217;t go quite as far as using the term [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=485</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>CCTV Burns &#8211; After the Fire</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For those that haven&#8217;t read or heard, the CCTV&#8217;s new HQ compound suffered a heavy blow last month during the peak of the Chinese New Year festivities. There are plenty of stories and pictures that can be easily found online, so I won&#8217;t delve too deeply there. I did, however, just read a decent article [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=190</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Escaping the Grind</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At around the 24 month mark I&#8217;ve begun gearing up mentally for my departure from China. For me, the issue is a decline into normalcy, at which point many of the attractive features of life in China cease to exist. I think for many foreigners the first year in China is a honeymoon period; everything, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=165</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Chinese Humanity</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230; and vulgarity. I&#8217;m not sure what the situation is like on the ground back home, or in Europe, but my impression from online news and the Daily Show&#8217;s regular mockup of mainstream media is that the news on China, and specifically on the Olympics during this month, is too frequently dehumanized. I experienced something [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=163</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Despair at Zero Hour!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The air will surely be under increasing scrutiny from abroad &#8211; wonder how the media here will cover it&#8230; A clear day during late 2007 28 July 2008 7 August 2008 8 August 2008]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=159</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Clusterfuck</title>
		<description><![CDATA[With the Olympics now less than two weeks away, the chances of them going down as smoothly as no one but the IOC and BOCOG predicted seem shockingly low. Draconian traffic control measures to reduce air pollution began on 20 July, although on the ground most people have a hard time differentiating this week from [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=132</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>See no evil</title>
		<description><![CDATA[An poll from the Pew Research Center was released today regarding Chinese citizen&#8217;s views of their country, the international arena, and some specifics on China. Not surprisingly, Chinese had some interesting views on international standing that may defy what is otherwise expected. Most Chinese also recognize the growing impact their economy has on others around [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=131</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Securing the Gold</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Following an absolutely splendid vacation back home in Alaska I&#8217;ve returned to find China, well, slightly more secure looking. Upon entering China I found that the security process at Beijing Capital Airport (Terminal 3) has been clogged by the inclusion of several new pieces of machinery just following the baggage claim. While before suspicious looking [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=127</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Where the hell are my good ideas like this?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m not normally into the user created videos which feed 99% of YouTube and related sites, as I think about 99% of them are narcissistic garbage. I understand that the same goes for blogs, probably including this one, but whatever. I recently received a link to one that I thought was pretty cool and actually [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://theprecipice.us/?p=125</link>
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