Dear Kotsengkuba,

After being blocked from China’s internet portals for years, BBC News is now being accessed by millions of internet users in China.

BBC News says: It is not clear why China’s net population, the world’s largest, is suddenly able to view the BBC News website after years of being blocked. Nor is it clear how long the access will continue.

But what is certain is that China’s authorities have dynamic control of what their citizens can and cannot access.

In a nutshell, most countries are employing site blocking by manual (one-by-one) blocking of internet sites by telling ISPs to prevent access on these sites. However, China’s so-called “Golden Shield” does the blocking by preventing access for certain keywords.

LOLing as well,

Your alter-ego

Dear Kotsengkuba,

After I left my first job, I got a few amount with me that allowed me to start a little business while at home and looking for a job. I bought a few amount of phone cards and internet cards, post a sign board on front of our house to announce my inventory and sell it to our neighbors. At that time, prepaid phone and internet cards are still of high value until the cheap AUTO LOADS and DSL connections became popular.

On the side light, Getmecalling.com is one of the largest retailers of international calling cards or phone cards. Perhaps this is one good source of cheap international cards should you need one when you go on another country.

Curious,

Your alter-ego

Dear Kotsengkuba,

The Olympic torch has conquered the summit of Mount Everest but, at least for me, it wasn’t as much astonishing as the passing of the torch in the streets of Shenzhen. Yes, having the torch relay participants climb the top of the world was undeniably stunning but what is more flabbergasting than the massive throng of cheerful people covering the whole four legs of the intersections, making a needle drop literally impossible.

Seeing photos from this event and last year’s job fair in Shenzhen made me wonder how much that city population really is. Unfortunately, I could only find a 2005 year ender report showing an estimated population of 8.27 million.

Amazed,

Your alter-ego

Dear Kotsengkuba,

In Kunshan, you have experienced the difficulty of having to call for taxi every morning when you have to go to work. Especially on Mondays, it seems that everyone don’t want to take their bicycles or whatever. Also, when it’s raining, it seems that all taxis on the world has been reserved by someone else so looking for one at any given time on a rainy day is as tedious as no one could ever imagine.

Why not take a Car Hire service? You could find one from this UK site after they give you a fifty plus comparison in seconds.

Good luck,

Your alter-ego

Because this entry was previously sucked by a mysterious black hole and because I can’t let go of this word (that I memorized by heart), I’m trying to recreate it through this post.

Dear Kotsengkuba,

I know that you have memorized the spelling, pronunciation and even the definition of the longest English word by heart. However, let me reiterate Wikipedia’s definition of Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis: according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust found in volcanoes’ but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word.”[1]. It was coined to serve as the longest English word and is the longest word ever to appear in an English language dictionary. This 45-letter word, referred to as P45[2], first appeared in the 1939 supplement to the Merriam-Webster New International Dictionary, Second Edition[3]. It is listed in the current edition of several dictionaries.[4] A condition meeting the word’s definition is normally called silicosis.

Now you have a little bit more information about your favorite English word to date aside from your memorized definition: A lung disease common to miners due to inhalation of silica dust.

Regards,

Your genius alter-ego