Too Many Tourists in Tibet?

I will be linking here to some of the information I find and read as we prepare to visit China in March 2008.

The relationship of the Chinese government and people to Tibet and Tibetans is ambiguous. Many people consider Tibet to be a separate country, while China insists and the world officially accepts that Tobet is merely a region of China. With the completion of a railroad connecting Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, with the rest of China, there are new concerns that the specific cultural distinctiveness of Tibet may be diluted; This USA Today article addresses some of that change and those issues.

The Pendulum Swings on Accreditation

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water . . . a rift is opened between accrediting agencies and individual colleges and universities: "What they did was to reopen the entire topic (accreditation) to anything and everyone, including the entry of the department (of Education)."

Here's Inside Higher Ed's Doug Lederman's take - lots of interesting comments at the bottom, including: "This is truly outstanding reporting by Doug, about very important events unfolding on Capitol Hill. All the important players are here: Senate, House, accreditors, and the colleges and universities, and even the Secretary of Education; and we see all them in action. And the action is complicated, filled with cross-cutting tensions."

Committed to China Trip

Well, Sheila and I paid the deposit and committed to our China trip: February 28-March 24, 2008: http://www.oattravel.com/gcc/general/default.aspx?oid=175849.

Boston - October 2007 - #1

Sheila and I flew from Detroit Metro into Boston Logan today, on Northwest Airlines. The flight was just a few minutes late and was uneventful. We were lucky enough to have logged in at 24-hours out and, thus, sat side by side in a 2-seat exit row, so it was quite stress free.

The cab ride to 27 Wareham Street was $22.95, counting tolls, and we tipped that up to $27.

We are about to walk a little over a mile to the Algonquin Club for dinner with SCUP colleagues and friends.

Well, Blogger won't let us upload pictures right now. I will share a couple of images from the condo we are renting: It has two showers, three toilets, a Jacuzi tub, a sauna, a state of the art kitchen, and wall to ceiling windows in the main rooms. Very nice, in other words.

We walked to a grocery two blocks away and loaded the kitchen with some supplies.

Then we worked on Pfizer and SCUP stuff for a while, before heading out to walk a little over a mile, through Copley Square, to dinner at the Algonquin Club with 9 other people.

The club was quite an interesting relic, with a self-service elevator with accordion doors and so forth. The dinner bill was quite interesting. Good company, though, and very stimulating conversation about campus heritage issues.

Sheila and I then walked back to our condo after dark, through fairly busy Boston streets.

Here are a couple of images from our walk - a little over a mile. Pleasant, cool but humid evening.