Smoggy View

Today I woke up to lightning, thunder, and a nice rain at about 6:30am in Shanghai.  It hadn't rained here in weeks, which is nice for wandering around in this warmer than average fall, but things tend to get pretty dusty and grimy without a little rain to rinse them (and the air) clean, so the rain was very welcome.

But it didn't last.  Something like 5mm actually fell, and the rain didn't knock the pollution out of the air, it just added some humidity to an already humid week and seems to be making the smog hang significantly thicker than usual.

Looking northwest at the smog.  Like the plant and the
cushions on the window seat though?

Above and right are a couple of shots I just took out of my office window to illustrate my point.  Eeew.  When these pictures were taken, about 11am, the pollution was in the "Very Unhealthy" category and the EPA recommends that "People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion."  That's why I'm staying inside.  ;)

The amount of pollutants in the air is definitely harder to gauge by looking at than I would think though, so luckily there are monitors to take the guesswork out of it.  The really harmful stuff is super small (2.5 micrometers in diameter) and stays suspended in the atmosphere for a long time.  Particles this small can go straight into your bloodstream through your lungs, and are therefore what is monitored by the U.S. Consulate here in Shanghai.  Check out their website for a good description of what they measure and hourly updates of what the PM2.5 count is at the Consulate building in Shanghai.  You can also check out their Twitter feed.

(Why it's posted on Twitter - which you "can't" get to from within China - is a slightly complicated story, which you can read about if you just Google "u.s. consulate shanghai air quality monitor" and read the WSJ and other stories.  The "official" (and reasonable) reason is that, in China, Americans primarily use Twitter, not Weibo, the Chinese equivalent, and since Americans are who the U.S. Consulate is there to educate, Twitter is what gets used.)

It's also worth comparing the U.S. readings to China's own readings, which are sometimes wildly different.  But not as bad as Beijing's Chinese versus U.S. readings, I hear.  Try the Shanghai Daily Air Quality page and the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center, but you'll have to get Google to translate it for you.  The Chinese authorities also measure totally different things and report them differently, so there is oftentimes good reason for the readings to be different.

So yeah, I'm just going to hang out inside today and catch up on some of the reading that I've been ignoring lately.

Update (1:09pm China Time): Newest U.S. Consulate pollution reading puts the level at "Hazardous".  Dang.

Creating Some Content

I was thinking earlier today about content creation versus content consumption and the hardware needed best able to do each - specifically that the horribly named iPad is really just a large, awkward device to consume the content that Apple wants you to - and I came to the conclusion that I need to be a better content creator. I know I say this pretty much every time I let my poor old blog languish for a few months without a post, but this time I'm thinking in a more general sense.

But, as it's been nearly four months since I've last created any content over 14o characters long and doesn't say "Jumpin' JiveCats" on it, I figured a quick update was in order.

Thanksgiving was good. Christmas was good. I crocheted this cool and extremely warm Santa hat that somehow sheds white fuzz like a cat.
I also learned how to make this amazingly good and super simple artisan bread.
The only problem is that whenever I make a loaf, I eat half of it within a couple of hours and then there isn't enough left to share. I suppose I should just make two loaves at once.

I also took this fun picture of myself drinking a homemade latte out of this sweet mug that I won playing bingo at Everyday Joe's a couple of years ago.
Since I am still out of work and don't really have much better to do with my Fridays, I have been volunteering as a barista at there since October. Needless to say, this has not tempered my coffee habit one bit. In fact, it has increased my level of coffee geekdom to the point that I worked - er, volunteered - at the Mountain Regional Barista Competition over Valentine's weekend as a machine maintainer and a technical judge.
And I suppose that it goes without saying, but I am still totally over-committed to my swing dance troupe, the Jumpin' JiveCats and spend way too much time being co-director, PR person, social media guru, email answerer, teacher, and performer with them.

Well, that's about it. I've officially created some content. Hopefully this content won't be to contentious. ;)

Now I'm off to pick up some Girl Scout cookies I forgot I ordered and find somewhere to make a gigantic print of this picture that I took this morning.

New (to me) photo activity: Jowling!

This is called "Jowling." I saw this on the digital Photography School blog the other day and it looked too fun not to try out. However, a self-portrait at eight in the morning, at work, with a headache, it proved much more difficult than previously indicated.

As you can see, I just end up looking like Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel. Not attractive.

The idea is that you relax all of the muscles in your face so everything just hangs and then shake your head back and forth as fast as you can while someone takes a picture - with a flash, of course - trying to catch the motion. I am sure this would be much easier after a drink or four to loosen up the muscles a bit.

I'm going to see if I can find a few victims, er, volunteers, tonight and we'll see what happens.

(jowlers.com via dps)