Tibet 2018

In the second half of August, 2018, I biked from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa. The road, the G109, is a lifeline for Tibet, with 85% of supplies for Tibet imported along this route. It parallels the primary train line into the region, and was one of the first paved routes on the plateau. It’s… Continue reading Tibet 2018

HOPE

I’m excited to see a bunch of friends next week at HOPE, an annual New York conference in the same vein as CCC. I’ll be participating in a panel on Internet Censorship on Friday morning, with a fantastic group of co-panelists. The talk recording is available here.

Open Letter to the Cuba Internet Task Force

The following is a response to an invitation to participate in the recently formed Cuba Internet Task Force. Task Force Representatives: I will not be joining the Cuba Internet Task Force, or Subcommittees, because I believe the harm done by the existence of these committees outweighs any potential benefit of the recommendations that can come… Continue reading Open Letter to the Cuba Internet Task Force

A whirlwind trip to Beirut

Through a series of unlikely events, I found myself with the opportunity to visit Beirut for a week in early March of 2018. It was a great experience, and challenged many of the stereotypes I had developed about the realities of both the middle east and proximity to conflict zones. The most impressive aspect of… Continue reading A whirlwind trip to Beirut

34C3

I’m very excited to have two talks at CCC at the end of the month. The bulk of accepted talks can be seen and voted on at the CCC “halfnarp”. The first talk is on the Internet in Cuba. It expands upon the recent talk I presented at IMC last month, to provide additional color… Continue reading 34C3

China in 2017

I had the chance to visit China last week and tag along with the tail-end of a longer trip organized around various Makerspaces around the region. This is the first time in several years that I’ve spent a prolonged amount of time in the dense population areas of Beijing and Shanghai, and it was fascinating… Continue reading China in 2017

PUST in the news

The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) has shown up in a recent New York Times article, and I’m mentioned at the end. A couple notes on the article: While the school may have 250 acres if the affiliated cooperative farms are included, the actual campus is much smaller, with ~10 buildings built around… Continue reading PUST in the news

Slab City

I wanted to try to put into words part of what I appreciate about community, through a description of one of the more unique communities I’ve visited: Slab City.

Biking the KKH

I’m getting back this week after spending most of the last month Bicycling from Pakistan to China on the Karakoram highway. It was a great trip, full of friendly people, breathtaking mountains, and delicious food.