Enter into my event horizon: Laura's Black Hole of Free Time.

Here are some things that I do when I'm not busy slacking at taxpayer expense - in other words, working for the University of Michigan.


The slowly growing list of online Chinese Studies resources, and the saga that accompanies it.

Chinese studies has been the focus of my academic career in one way or another for the past 7 or 8 years. Some years I was less focused than others, to which several UT faculty members can attest. To those folks I owe a great deal.

Chinese history and literature are my primary focii for study. I think that literature of a given period allows for unique insights into that period that straight history texts do not give.

More links as I find them...if you know of any good ones, let me know.


Internet Relay Chat - Lagged and Lovely.

Forget the hype - it's not just a bunch of college freshmen trying to pick up each other from their dorm rooms. Sure, there's a bunch of them out there, but with 20,000 users and expanding, it offers much more if you allow it to. You get out of it what you put into it.

I can frequently be found on #hottub during the daytime. A pox on each and every one of the people who have publicized #hottub as a sex-channel; it is my fervent wish that karmic retribution involve taking their home phone numbers and advertising them as phonesex numbers on late-night TV commercials featuring tackily-clad models. Then, and only then, would they begin to realize the lameness we now deal with on a daily basis.

#Hottub is, for all intents and purposes, a whimsical oligarchy run by a dysfunctional extended family. A fantastic web page is maintained by Arsenio Santos for #hottub . It's worth looking at on design and technical merits alone, even if you're not particularly curious about #hottub.


Last modified on 10 June 1996

Questions, comments? Send email to llneil@umich.edu

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