Back in grade school, the typing software that we used clocked me at about 232 wpm. Don't know how accurate it was or anything, but I still can't imagine you'd be anywhere near a record attempt at the level indicated in your submittal.

I just think it's amazing that GameSpy is even worth buying by anyone at this point. Besides their matchmaking and server services, they used to have the most up-to-date, useful network of gaming sites out there (for example, PlanetHalfLife, which I used to work on in its heyday and now it hasn't been updated in five months). FilePlanet also used to be indispensable. Now it all seems pretty damn worthless, which is unfortunate.

"The way these raters go about their work has always been a mystery."

Not really. Anyone with half a brain could get to the second level of the work-from-home LeapForce exam, which is when they issue this guide. Nothing here is a secret or mystery.

This appears to be the new "grand commendation of xxx" items that are coming in 5.1. However, we don't know how much these will cost from the quartermasters.

As the current top comment states, there's wayyy too many dailies. Let's see if I can remember them all... Klaxxi, Tillers (which have a half-dozen individuals with their own rep meters mostly independent of the main faction -- so when you get exalted with Tillers, you might barely be a bubble up on half the members!), Golden Lotus (which you must grind to then open up more grinding with Shado-Pan and August Celestials), the Lorewalkers, the Anglers, and the Order of the Cloud Serpent. For some of them, the set of dailies can take up to an hour to do (I'm looking at you, Klaxxi, with your stupid 40-kills and wing pieces).

And they're boring as hell. But it seems near impossible to really advance without getting just about all the reps up to exalted. I hate doing it on my main character, more than ever before in previous expansions. Now I can't imagine going back through this on my alt. This review brings up an excellent point -- it's time to make rep apply across all of your characters of the same faction. Account-wide pets and mounts was a good start, but now it's time to do the next logical thing and give us account-wide rep.

A lot of these comments are worthless because they're from people that have never been to China, don't understand China, and assume that a person that doesn't speak Chinese there is the same as someone who doesn't speak English here. Which is false.

You can find a job, especially if you're white. You WILL hit a glass ceiling eventually due to the lack of language skills... but there are things that you can do.

I know that you want to stay in the programming world, but I have to ask why you've discounted the idea of teaching English already. It is probably the most lucrative thing you can do... if you teach at a school for 6 months or a year, then you'll have been around long enough to make some contacts and branch out into private teaching. That's where the money is... even in the mainland, you can exceed $20+/hr if you're looking in the right place.

A few others have mentioned specializing in teaching English for computer/business, which also tends to net a little more money than a generic teacher. Either way, for teaching, I'd recommend getting a full TEFL certification (my recommendation is the CELTA; don't trust online or weekend-only courses -- you'd just be doing yourself a disservice).

Now my serious question is if your fiancee is native Chinese or a Canadian that just happens to be going to China for her PhD. If she's native Chinese then it's whatever, but if she's Canadian then I think she should seriously consider the usefulness of a Chinese education. I've heard of westerners with advanced degrees from mainland China get laughed out of interviews or get their resume shredded just for that. I mean it has people shaking their heads faster than seeing University of Phoenix on one's education section.

Also, as a few people have mentioned, Beijing's air sucks, and I'd be surprised if you make it more than a few weeks without a severe throat infection. It's pretty gross.

If y'all really want to do the abroad thing, then do it in Hong Kong or Singapore. More money, better places, more non-native friendly.

Three years ago I remember stepping off the train in Beijing after riding from Vietnam and seeing the red haze. It was disgusting.

Before you make ANY decision, it would be prudent to speak directly to the school's computer services department to make sure that your device will be able to use wifi there. Most schools don't just throw up a mesh of hotspots with a simple password. Some require all sorts of authentication procedures, some disallow all devices except xxxxxx, etc, etc. At my undergrad years ago when stylus handhelds were all the rage, I inquired about setting one up on their wireless network. The answer: not supported. Nowadays, and especially at a small school, they may be more willing to work with you. Just sayin', don't buy anything until you're sure that you can use it there.

As an urban planner, I can say in all honesty that eliminating things like race from the census would be devastating to research processes. There is a lot of super valuable information in the census data when it comes to identifying trends and demographics, and types of services required for certain types of residents, etc. It is terrible that personally identifiable census data has been used in the past to round people up, or create "watch" lists of sorts, but understand that many many other groups and agencies use non-personally identifiable information gained from the census forms to actually do some good for communities. A ridiculous amount of stuff that urban planners do in GIS is with census data, and without it, or with significant amounts of errors, it becomes useless and entirely possible that planning decisions will be made with bad information.

Christ almighty, what is wrong with my state?

Was going to say the same thing. SO many cheapo DVD players support DivX... seems like a silly move. Why NOT support a format?

You're missing the point of what I am saying. These things that you have listed are things with often indeterminate or otherwise unpredictable outcomes that perhaps are now being continued just... because. Eastern logic is different than Western. It's just something you have to experience, I guess.

Lived in China for years, thanks. See post below.

As an American who has lived in China on-and-off several times for years, I have to say that you can't expect anything that the government does/says to be even nearly logical or otherwise make sense.

My other expat friends and I used to joke that China was the source of all anti-logic in the world -- that is, the closer that you get to China, the less things make sense. If you've ever visited, then you'll understand.