Au-Shi Au-Shi Au-Shi

Some information for Australian travellers heading to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics:

The word "Oi" sounds remarkably like "Oy", the Cantonese word for "love".

The word "Aussie" sounds remarkably like "Au-Shi", the Cantonese word for "shitting".

So if you're getting some strange sideways looks when chanting "Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!", now you know why.

The Great Firewall

So both Budge and Paul's blogs are illegal in China.
Mine is too. So says this little site here.

Which got me to thinking . . . just what does get through the Great Firewall? Let's try a few.

Starting simple: http://www.google.com/
Hmmm. This takes a while . . . not sure I can be bothered doing too many of these. And . . . . No! "Your URL is blocked!"
No big surprise there.

Although I'm not sure the exclamation mark is necessarily required. It's almost like they're pleased.

What about the Chinese version? http://www.google.cn/
That's blocked too? I'm getting suspicious now.

Let's have some fun with http://www.theonion.com/
Hooray! Success! They need to be careful with this one, though, especially after this little debacle.

Let's try some serious(ish) media. http://www.ten.com.au
Nope. Must be all the boobies and turkey slapping in Big Brother.
Or Rove.

One last try. I'm getting bored. What about that bastion of Aussie left-wingism . . . http://www.abc.net.au/ ?

Yes. Available. Well, it's nice to know that for all the restrictions, our Chinese comrades can still see Your ABC.

And http://www.fox.com.
Go figure.