Category: Announcements

Astute readers may have noticed a disturbing change to the site.

Yes, I’ve sold out.  I’m now a user of Google Adsense.  You’ll see the ads at the bottom of the sidebar on the right and also on the left side of the footer.  I hope you can understand why I’ve gone to the dark side.  I have no steady income and this site costs money to run.  My lofty ambition is that I’ll be able to pay for domain name registration and web hosting with ad revenues.

I tried to use space that was otherwise wasted.  Let me know if the placement of these ads detracts from your viewing enjoyment and I’ll see what I can do to improve the situation.

Please forgive me.  Please do not forsake this site.  I guarantee that the quality (or wretchedness) of the content will not be significantly affected by this unfortunate, piggish, capitalist, but eminently practical decision.

Note:  The picture shows Marina Bay Sands, one of two casinos in Singapore.  The structure on top was designed to resemble a boat and conspiracy theorists believe it will detach and take the leaders of Singapore to safety when the world floods in 2012.  The hand-like structure near the bottom left is the ArtScience museum, universally reviled as an expensive, profit-focused travesty of a museum.

The original topic of this blog was environmentalism in China.  For the next few months, I will broaden the topic while remaining within the greater theme of chasing mirages.  I am now in Singapore, preparing to embark on a trip through a part of the world that has fascinated me for years.  Southeast Asia possesses some of the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, a population with the world’s highest concentration of Theravada Buddhists, farmland that has been continuously and productively cultivated for thousands of years, and downstream river systems that are severely threatened by China’s damming activities.

Please stay tuned.  I look forward to sharing my experiences with you!

Hello, I am very very sorry for the long hiatus.  Recently I haven’t had the time or the mood to write.  I am working on getting out of this slump, believe me.  For now, here’s a picture for your entertainment, taken in the basement of the Opposite House, a really nice luxury boutique hotel in Beijing.

After weeks and weeks of empty promises, here it is!  The inaugural post.  I intend this blog to be about environmentalism in China from a street-level perspective.

I will point things out that can be observed and experienced by the average dimwit.  I’m a simple person with simple origins.  If you’re looking for thoughtful policy analysis and other highbrow discussion, you’ve come to the wrong place.  Check out the links area below for suggested reading.

I’m completely new to blogging, so please bear with me as I get used to it and work out the kinks.  Please email me (miragechaser {at} chasingmirages.com) and let me know if anything is messed up or you have any other suggestions.