TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

There’s a fascinating look at a Western freelance journalist’s stint in China as a transcriber for conferences during the 2008 olympics. It’s one, if innocuous by the PRC’s standards, insight into how China’s censorship works:

I remember Ling laughing hysterically during a press conference on the weather. “To some extent,” said an official, “we can control the weather.” When she edited my transcript, she sighed as she tweaked his words to make him sound a little less dumb.