This sentence contains a link to the excellent guide on how to write an incendiary blog post from Chris Clarke.

When I went to school the teachers had a kind of hit and hope approach to the teaching of English. (I mean “hit and hope” in the sense a careful aim was not taken. I do not mean I was hit. Ever.) As I recall there was very little teaching of grammar rules or sentence structure. We would write stories, they would come back with red pen on them and from that we were meant to learn something. You could call it learning by osmosis. As opposed to say maths or sciences which are based on learning rules and formuli.…

Tools are not everyones cup of tea. You either like taking things apart and building things or you don’t. I’ve spent hours looking at tool catalogues. “Oh there’s a tool for that,” you think to yourself. Usually too late after struggling with the Haynes Book Of Lies and giving up. Countless hours spent with the Capri manual, endless cups of tea in a freezing garage. Ah, those were the days before t’Internet. Now we can browse tools we can’t afford online. There’s even tool blogs. There are a few DIY stores in Shanghai,…

If you do any flying inside of China you get used to flight delays. So you sit on uncomfortable chairs in drafty waiting halls hoping your laptop battery will last and await the coming announcement with news of your flight. With a classic piece of circular logic the announcement usually goes something like: “The flight is delayed due to an aircraft delay.” In general the question is not if the flight is delayed, it is by how much. There’s a startup called FlightCaster which, in the US at least, claims to accurately predict flight delays early. I’m planning…

One of the things that irks me about China is the service (or lack of it) at some restaurants. The New York Times has just posted a two parter called 100 Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do Part 1 and Part 2. They hit the nail right on the head with some of my favourite China dining experiences. For example:

Brilliant a cappella rendition of You’re Gonna Miss Me with only hand claps and empty soup pots as accompaniment. Embbed from YouTube below.