Being the current events and international relations freak I am, I stayed up til' 4am last night. Combing the headlines, filtering out the Twitter stream for China conversations, reading the Facebook posts and comments on the topic...and finally hopped on Seesmic to catch up with the day's video discussions.

One in particular stood out to me. It was a thread started by someone just interested in getting people's opinions about the protests surrounding the Olympic Torch relay. I had to reply after coming across a post that really hit at the core of why I even stay up til' 4am trying to follow developments on this topic to begin with. If you're going to stand for something and be against something. It would be nice to know a little bit more about what it is you're against before you jump on the bandwagon.

One of the great things about the internet community and social media is that it never sleeps, even when you do. So I woke up this morning to find that discussion on this thread had carried on to the tune of 28 replies and counting. For those of you who have yet to sign up for Seesmic and are still wondering what it's all about and why I participate, it's the exchange of ideas with people all over the world who can come together on this platform to debate and discuss issues they stand on opposite sides of...without feeling the need to scream obsceneties in each others' faces or have an overwhelming urge and to put out someone's torch or rain on someone's parade. I'm sure you know what I'm referring to.

Think of it as a video message board where the video aspect of it really does lend weight to the sincerity of the dialog when it comes to sensitive and thought provoking topics such as this one.

I wanted to share excerpts of this ongoing discussion to give you folks an idea and hopefully get you guys to join in the conversation...even if it does take a bit of bandwidth to load, I think it's worth the time to get a glimpse of what Seesmic is about.

tmofee starts off the conversation with what's on his mind...and you can see how the conversation evolves from here. Note: I have not included all 28 replies and intentionally left out the one that upset me to begin with as I am not trying to single the individual out and you can sign on to Seesmic to form your own opinion within the community as to whether you disagree or not with her stance. Just wanted to give you some excerpts:

...again, dialog is good regardless of what side you're on. At least it gets both sides talking. Let's continue the dialog. As @pandapassport stated, at least it gets people talking and thinking about the issue.

Does anyone else want to join us on Seesmic to continue the discussion. Feel free to sign up for an account and see you on there.

Beginning this week, The China Business Network and ChinaOnTV.com will hold weekly discussion on China and invite those of you in the China business community to participate.

This format is very similar to the series of video interviews I recently did in Shanghai and it'd be great to share your knowledge and insights of China business with the rest of the community. If you don't already have a webcam, get one! Come on, you have no excuse. I bet they're sold for $1 at the computer department store. :D

You'll also need a Seesmic account. Just like my Twitterati List, I'll be compiling a China Seesmic List. Please email me and let me know what yours is when you're all signed up. =)

Had fun in San Fran the other week meeting lots of great people, tons of great meetings...but of course, I also found time to sneak of goofy Seesmic in for everyone to say hello. (see above)

Offf to Shanghai next week! This blog is about to get lots busier and more updated. :o) Stay tuned!

Just a friendly service announcement to fellow budding vloggers and friends on Seesmic. A reminder that things you put out there on video come back to you even if you forget about them. Ha ha. I changed my Facebook photo last night because I got bored of the other one. So my friend Chris drops me a comment saying to snag a picture from the "I Am Yellow" video.

I am what? I'm thinking...I Am Yellow? What the heck kind of movie or video is that. Or wait, is he stating the obvious that I am Chinese? WTF? Hmmm... Did I miss some big YouTube craze again? I Am Yellow. I Am Yellow...for the life of me I had no clue. So I asked him to clarify and he kindly reminded me of a Seesmic I did a few months back while I was up in SF for a few days. I was trying to do a Seesmic when I noticed that the lamp in my hotel room was making my skin complexion a really weird creepy yellow.

I was struck with a momentary attack of goofiness and recorded the below video. Totally forgot I had done that. Oh well. Just thought I'd repost as an encore.

...now i'm going to go back to all my other videos and double check them. =\

ha.

See that super cute racoon to the left? It's based on the new Seesmic mascot that was introduced a few weeks ago. I first caught a glimpse of the new Seesmic racoon on founder Loic's blog. Shortly after, I started seeing variations of this raccoon amongst Seesmic friends on Twitter.

It turns out it's the work of one very generous Seesmicer from France who is now living in Brussels. I'm talking about Vince Philbert aka FrF_Kmeron on Twitter and Kmeron on Seesmic who has volunteered his time over the past few weeks customizing racoon avatars aka "racavatars" for friends on Seesmic.

Vince was nice enough to create one for me today! I wanted a distinctly China one holding a pair of chopsticks in Shanghai. It symbolizes my favorite past time in Shanghai. Eating!

The beauty of social media apps like Twitter and Seesmic lies in the fact that it's really not about business or technology. It's about people first. Getting to know people is the starting point for a lot of great things in my life. It inspires new friendships, business relationships and new ideas.

In this case, it also inspired a super cute work of art from a new friend. Thanks Vince!