Bloggers beware!

One of China’s most famous bloggers was arrested shortly after the government announced a crackdown on online rumors. Charles Xue, known in social media circles as Xue Manzi, admitted spreading unverified information on the Web even though he wasn’t charged with that offense.

The Chinese-American venture capitalist was detained last month and accused of soliciting a prostitute. Many think Xue was targeted because of his outspoken views on social and political issues and that his jailhouse confession, carried on state television, was forced.

Violators of the new law could get up to three years in prison for posting rumors or false information, though it only applies to online commentators who have at least 5,000 readers or are reposted more than 500 times.

Thank god my blog isn’t that popular.

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My apartment came with two plants with big rubbery leaves. You can tell by my description I’m not exactly a botanist.

What I do know is that plants die if you don’t water them, and I forgot to do that for the first few days. A couple of leaves wilted and turned yellow. Now I’m watering the plants every day, which may or may not drown them.

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Speaking of H2O, it’s not safe to drink tap water here or even wash fruit with it. That’s because the source of that water — China’s rivers and lakes — is heavily polluted.

So everyone drinks bottled water or fills up jugs with purified water. Many homes and businesses have water coolers, the kind that we use with paper cups in the U.S.

Some foreigners won’t even brush their teeth with tap water, but that’s where I draw the line. My teeth are so rotten, what difference will polluted water make?