Culture Shock

This is just a jumbled recap of the past few days. First off, conference Babylon. The ISPRS is not like any other conference I have been to in that everything seems too crowded. I'm not sure why, if it's the facility, the heat, or just simply too many people. I had to give a poster presentation. We were crammed into this crappy alley of sweaty academics, networking, snapping photos, BS'ing each other about software, remote sensing, publishing, etc. Babylon:



Next up, the Olympic park at night. What a scene. It seems there are people milling around day and night, monitoring the construction. It kind of reminds me of the Seinfeld joke about how construction sites attract rubbernecking guys. Well, there are lots of rubberneckers (me included)! I can't even imagine what this place is going to look like when the games start. Anyway, it's very beautiful at night. The massive TV's are going all the time. The aquatics center is lit with from within in blue and red. It's quite a sight.




Lastly, the silliness of it all. I saw this shirt in a store and had to snap a photo. What the?



I see all kinds of stuff like this. Do we parade around in shirts with Chinese gibberish on them? I don't even know. The other day I saw a guy with a purple T-shirt and a green "US Army" patch in the style you'd see on fatigues. I wanted to take him aside and say "No, no, no!" I don't know what the military obsession is, but there seems to be a lot of that. You'd think they could hire at least one American to proof-read all the clothes, but then it would be no fun for me!

Stay tuned for details on my night at the Peking Opera with gorgeous Michelle Lee!