From the trenches of the culture war—China bans foreign animated programming from prime time in a bid to foster the domestic animation studio system.

In utterly unrelated news:

It is our six month anniversary! O delight! O joy! O bitter, clawing perseverance! Though blue sky and through turbulence we have flown this last semiannum, your humble pilot and his varied, inconstant crew—and I look forward to the next six months, and whatever changes and surprises may be in store for both the world of news and the world of The Aural Times.

To celebrate this milestone, I have (at considerable, not to say disconcerting, cost) commissioned a redesign of both the public face and internal architecture of the site. There are more details to be had on the Site News page, but the gist of it is this: it is a brand new day, here at the Times, and the office has that new-car smell.

Should you find anything odd or missing or broken or simply delightful about the news site, don’t hesitate to let us know. And thanks for listening.