Behind the Times

So why is it that I'm deprived of news? I don't have time to watch TV, we don't get the newspaper (we would if it weren't so blatantly liberal and made me angry every time I read it).

Because I feel left out when I'm just now reading this: <<--click link for article.

In January, a few months after Lee opened the Beijing office [of Google], the company announced it would be introducing a new version of its search engine for the Chinese market. To obey China's censorship laws, Google's representatives explained, the company had agreed to purge its search results of any Web sites disapproved of by the Chinese government, including Web sites promoting Falun Gong, a government-banned spiritual movement; sites promoting free speech in China; or any mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. If you search for "Tibet" or "Falun Gong" most anywhere in the world on google.com, you'll find thousands of blog entries, news items and chat rooms on Chinese repression. Do the same search inside China on google.cn, and most, if not all, of these links will be gone. Google will have erased them completely.

This article was in April 2006. I feel so left out! And so incredibly stupified. I'm almost too taken aback to be angry. Almost.

On another note, I have discovered that parents need less sleep than children because it's a survival technique. After the kids go to bed I finally have time to do the dishes/laundry and straighten, something that I can't accomplish (although Lord knows I spend hours during the day trying) while they are awake. Then I get a few hours' sleep and do it all over again. If it were not for that buffer period where they're asleep and I'm still awake and able to work, my house would probably be caving in from neglect.

And, actually, I'm thinking of banning myself from the computer while they're awake (excluding, of course, about 10 minutes in the morning to balance the checkbook and make sure there aren't any problems). I think this would allow me to get everything done and still have time to play with the kids, do homeschool on a regular basis, etc.

So wish me luck, this is no small task I've undertaken!