I'm trying to think positive thoughts and be happy but, today of all days, it's hard to do. Instead, I feel like breaking things... and wish I could do all this as easily as my hero, @funassyi !

Will run the Wolf Warrior Bingo Machine later today washingtonpost.com/opinions/…

Great piece by @leng_ning, refuting the commonly held belief that authoritarian states are better at long-term planning. In fact, without democratic accountability, local officials keep building wasteful projects that serve no long-term purpose because they help with their KPI.

Cat, not dog, City. (Also, this probably will be the only World Cup themed photo from/by me. No, I am NOT watching any of the games. All I want is for no Arsenal players to pick up injuries over the course of the tournament!!)

I first became aware of this ritual last year and sorry but it still does make me 🤣

Perennially red Bussyaa is the heavy drinker of the Pear (Fairy) family but I get the sense that Funassyi and the other Pear (Fairies) -- hmmm... maybe not part cat Funya -- has been known to partake of alcohol too. And not just Funassyi (Family)-themed nashi chuhai either!😂

A reminder from @EmilyLauWH via a FB post.

This is not getting the attention it deserves. As far as I know, this is the first time China has imposed sanctions on a sitting minister of another country, rather than former officials or current lawmakers as it has done previously. That suggests Beijing is willing to escalate far beyond its earlier, largely symbolic sanctions playbook. In other words, the sanctions game may now be entering an entirely different phase — one where China is prepared to target incumbent members of foreign governments directly, raising the stakes significantly in diplomatic and geopolitical confrontation.

Dozens gathered in San Leandro (SF Bay Area) to mark the 7th anniversary of the 2019 mass protests in #HongKong, including Arthur Liu, father of Olympic Gold medalist Alyssa. He was rescued from China in 1989 by HK's Operation Yellowbird. #FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners #FreeHongKong

I saw a post on Reddit that said that “The underlying purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill while removing from the skilled the ability to access wealth.” And I don’t think I’ve ever seen AI described so incisively.

Welp, guess I'll be holing up in my apartment this weekend... ⛈️

FIFA is a "Non-Profit" entity that expects to pull 11 billion in revenue this cup from a $1.1b budget. More importantly, they're sports washing a regime that has spent the last 3 years setting the world on fire so they can insider trade on fluctuating fuel prices.

Link to a review I wrote of the very under-rated "Lost and Found" (Hong Kong, 1996) some two decades ago now. Please be kind! 😁 brns.com/pages3/drama75.html

If Iran is forced to withdraw, every nation should leave. But they won't because they would face exclusion from FIFA events. This is the problem. FIFA is an instrument of the West. The call BAP & anti-fascist football coalition made to boycott is a call to decolonize FIFA.

A sobering 🧵-- thank you to The Collective for reporting and Razven for translating.

Jerry Seinfeld said Palestine doesn’t exist. This was actually the subject of my PhD dissertation. Turns out that Arab, Muslims & Christians have been calling Palestine Palestine continuously for more than a millennium. Receipts: academia.edu/34686627/The_In…

How some people reacted the day after upset me even more than the events of June 12th, 2019, themselves. It's not just those who said the protestors "asked for it" but, also, those who decided they were (still) "neutral" afterwards. Unlike the majority of Hongkongers I know.

Funassyi (and Funagoro) gadding about in a greenhouse. Thankfully, they appeared to have been careful as well as having fun as there weren't any reports of a Pear (Fairy) -- or, for that matter, two of them -- getting pricked/injured by cacti!😅

View from an overhead pedestrian bridge at Admiralty on June 12th, 2019.

Dragon City Cafe (龍城冰室)'s signature stir fried rice noodles and an iced lemon tea hit the spot!😋 (BTW, this is the afternoon tea set portion. Think it's fair to assume that the a la carte portion is bigger!😝#YellowEconomicCircle

"Curiosity about other countries is always to be encouraged.... But curiosity is not a substitute for solidarity. And fascination with another country that flattens out that country’s struggles can actively undermine meaningful connections."