Took an end run to get here

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BEIJING -- I hope you are enjoying this exhaustive Olympics blog, which provides one-stop shopping for news and views on the upcoming Beijing Summer Games.

Given the near impossibility of keeping up with happenings in 34 Olympic sports, even for someone whose job requires staying as current as possible, I find myself coming to the Games to learn what I have missed.

Or at least I did until I came to Beijing.

(Now you will see why this is not just a plug.)

Since arriving here on Friday, I have been unable to access ‘Ticket to Beijing‘’ or my Chicago Tribune Blog, ‘Globetrotting,’’ the way I usually do -- by opening a Web browser and clicking on a link stored on my favorites bar.

I have tried it via Internet connections in the Main Press Center and at my hotel. I have tried it on colleagues’ computers. The Tribune’s bureau chief, Evan Osnos, even tried it for me on his home computer.

The result is the same. After about 30 seconds the screen reads ‘Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.’’ On Firefox, ‘the connection has timed out.’’

Everyone knows the Chinese block access to certain websites, although the government has promised no such censorship would apply to reporters in Olympic areas.

It is hard to imagine why I can get every U.S. newspaper site -- but not these blogs.

Since trying to find an answer to that would wind up as a Sisyphean effort, I did what the Chinese do when they try to avoid the censors: connect to the Internet through a proxy server.

Annoying, but it got the job done.

-- Philip Hersh