Site Modifications - The Unofficial Remix

Ok, I think I've done my fair share of site modifications posts but this is becoming more of an ongoing personal struggle to find the most aesthetically pleasing blog layout possible. I guess I'll have to do some more research this week and see what all those other popular bloggers, such as Twins #1 and #2 on twinsontwins.blogspot.com, are doing. Anyways, as you can see I've changed the background again and I'm feeling this one a lot more than last week's background. This is actually a lighter version of the original blog background so I think I may go with this one, as it reflects some of our earlier characteristics but remixed.

In other news, I have a 15-20 page term paper due in my seminar class, U.S.-China Relations: Background, Issues, Outlook. Normally I wouldn't mention school work as this blog is, in a sense, my haven from school, but I am proud of the topic I just came up with and the proposal that I just sent to everyone in my class as well as my professor, Robert Sutter. Robert Sutter, I might add, is also one of the greatest minds in terms of Chinese-U.S. relations. He worked at the C.I.A. and Library of Congress for 40+ years and yet he is the most humble and dynamic professor I've had here at Georgetown.

Here is my proposal:
I have chosen to focus my term paper on the relationship that China has with it’s special administrative and autonomous regions and the implications that it has for the future of the PRC-ROC relationship. This includes a survey of Beijing’s policy toward Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. I hope to be able to identify trends that characterize the relationship between these regions and Beijing as well as any measures that Beijing has taken in responding to any special circumstances that have emerged from time to time in these places. From there I hope that I can find a parallel in the trends in which Beijing and Taipei have interacted and measures that Beijing has taken toward Taiwan and, in light of the current situation that each of these regions are in, what it means for what may be the future situation of Taiwan, as well as US relations with China and Taiwan. The biggest problem I foresee is lack of information on the Chinese side about the measures it has taken in dealing with unrest in these regions. Also, the topic is somewhat broad and I am have to focus more on a specific trend within each relationship and how it ties into the relationship that China has with Taiwan.

Possible Sources:
CRS Reports
Hong Kong: Ten Years After the Handover
Tibet: Problems, Prospects, and U.S. Policy
China’s Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region: Developments and U.S. Interests
Taiwan-U.S. Relations: Developments and Policy Implications
Uyghur Muslim Ethnic Separatism in Xinjiang, China → Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
Texts From Class
Other Scholarly Publications

update 1:01 pm: President Barack Obama to be on the front page of Washingtonian Magazine...shirtless!

Site Modifications - Listener's Choice

As per my last blog post, I've been working on some site modifications, despite the fact that next monday will most likely be our last show this semester. However, that will not keep me from creating the most aesthetically pleasing and user friendly blog possible!

My latest change has been that of the background. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. The only thing I really like is the fact that the right hand navigation panel is wide enough for most of the twitter widget to be visible, however that really isn't enough for me the rationalize this background to myself. Besides, I can easily edit the HTML to increase the width of that panel using any background. Does anyone have any suggestions for good backgrounds? It could make or break this blog.

Site Modifications

Hey guys, I've been messing around with the site after being inspired by the new site design on twinsontwins.blogspot.com (moderately interesting blog if you like baseball/being disappointed that it isn't porn). Anyways, I'll continue to make light modifications until I find a design that I like.

Current Site Changes: Added my twitter feed (if Dom makes one at some point I will add hers as well); Changed the location of the "about me" info; Added a pitchfork music review gadget to the right hand navigation bar

Possible Future Changes: Hoping to change the background; Slight increase of the width of the right hand navigation bar; more gadgets for our readers' enjoyment!