Archive for the ‘News/Politics’ Category
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y 10 20
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y 10 20
09
Murder in the Hood
Murders in the news are as common as the weather report, and are rarely read with any greater attention. It is not often that they touch your life in some way, even if just remotely.
Unfortunately, such is not the case with Suzhou’s most recent homicide, as it happened only a couple hundred metres from where I sleep, and to someone I’ve (if only peripherally) very likely met.
This past Wednesday morning the bloodied and naked body of a girl in her early 20s was found in her Singha Plaza (Xīn Dū GuǎngChǎng) apartment. Despite sharing the apartment with…
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r 28 20
09
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r 28 20
09
Reminder to turn stuff off: Earth Hour tonight
Just a quick reminder that Earth Hour is tonight from 8:30pm to 9:30pm (local time). One hour of lessened electrical usage might not suddenly spark a mass movement towards a cleaner greener world, but I hope you’ll all join me in turn your stuff off for 60 minutes to recognize that there is a cost for the conveniences we are fortunate enough to have – and that debt has come due.
But before you go powering everything down for a bit of candle-lit clockwatching, check out these posts on Lost Laowai peripherally connected to the topic:
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n 21 20
09
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n 21 20
09
Chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord
Today is a truly inspiring and amazing day. A great day for America and a great day for the world.
You spoke to us all Mr. President. We all listened, and now we all must act.
The Entire Text of Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address
My fellow citizens,
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken…
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c 18 20
08
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c 18 20
08
America more communist than China?
Aside from the proliferation of Chinese food other than Cantonese world-wide, the coolest part of the People’s Republic’s grand opening 30 years ago was that the country started down the long road of disassembling State-run industries. If communism has proven anything, it’s that the government has no ability to properly run a business, any more than a corporation has any ability to run social programs (thank you capitalism for teaching us that nugget).
Now with the majority of State-run businesses at least partly privatized, and the future of an econimically powerful China prophecized, why is it that the Great Torchbearer of…
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v 09 20
08
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v 09 20
08
Oh, you’re talking about the country of Africa
Even after defeat, Governor Sarah Palin continues to make news – and not in regards to a preemptive 2012 bid like some had assumed, but as (always) being a complete idiot.
A number of unnamed McCain campaign aides have come out since the Republican defeat Tuesday anonymously criticizing that:
- She had $150,000 spent on her clothes by the RNC
- She was fooled by a Canadian comedian pretending to be the French president
- She didn’t know Africa was a continent, not a country
- She did not know which countries were covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement
In…
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t 04 20
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t 04 20
08
Using Skype in China?
Just a quick note that if you’re using Skype in China, or more importantly, using a TOM-Skype (from skype.tom.com) download of the software, you should check out my most recent post on Lost Laowai: Chinese Skype privacy breech. If you are, or have chatted to anyone using the Chinese-version of Skype, there’s a good chance your conversations were searched for keywords and saved on a server that was found to be publicly accessible.
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n 24 20
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n 24 20
08
George Carlin expires ‘like a magazine subscription’
George, you paved the way for some of my favourite socially and politically charged comedians. You showed me just how versatile a word can be. And, you gave substance to TheHumanaught.com’s #1 visited post.
“Older” sounds a little better than “old,” doesn’t it? Sounds like it might even last a little longer … I’m getting old. And it’s OK. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die — I’ll ‘pass away.’ Or I’ll ‘expire,’ like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they’ll call
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y 19 20
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y 19 20
08
Moment of Silence today
Just a quick notice to say to everyone that today officially starts a 3-day mourning period, and will include a 3-minute moment of silence across the nation at 2:28pm this afternoon.
Whether you are a reader in or out of China, please join me in observing this moment of silence and taking the time to remember the victims of last week’s tragedy and also consider how fortunate we are to not be in such circumstances.
Every day is a gift, and times like these remind me to live them as such.
More info about the notice here.
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y 14 20
08
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y 14 20
08
How us Suzhou Expats can help quake victims
My friend Rebecca just let me know that Suzhou Bookworm, which also has an affiliated location in Chengdu, is collecting donations to assist those affected by Monday’s horrible earthquake in Sichuan. If any fellow Suzhou expats have means to help, please read the following for details.
The Bookworm’s sister branch in Chengdu has become a focal point for assisting those groups currently providing on the ground support for those in Sichuan affected by the earthquake tragedy.
There is a concern that unless we get urgently needed supplies to the survivors of the quake, more people will lose their lives from
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y 13 20
08
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y 13 20
08
Am I the only one that didn’t feel it?
So, as everyone is now well aware, China was hit by a major (7.8) earthquake at 2:30 this afternoon. Current reports cite nearly 9,000 dead, and its effects were felt as far north as Beijing, in the south east in Taipei, and directly east of me in Shanghai.
I had no idea.
At the time I would have been out getting Addie’s rabies shot and RF chip and though I can’t be certain, I assume I was on the road walking back home when it hit, but I didn’t notice a thing.
Reports from Shanghai and Beijing indicate that…
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y 01 20
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y 01 20
08
Carrefour-3-2-1 – Protest!
So, the fateful day has arrived – the day when Carrefour unleashes its anti-China, pride-taking, I-fart-in-your-general-direction May Holiday sale on the masses of Chinese willing to sell out their nation in order to save a few jiao.
The sale, of course, is backed by French members of the Eight-Nation Alliance, who were frozen more than 100 years ago with strict instructions to be thawed out to mastermind just this occasion.
Ah, but China is no fool this time around. Foreign insults will not be taken sitting down. Hell no, China is a Great Nation now. One of honour, pride,…
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r 18 20
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r 18 20
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<3 Grace Wang
Alright, normally I would tackle Chinese current events commentary over at Lost Laowai, but as I just wrote a post there on the stupidity of the Carrefour boycott, I figured I’d spread the 
as it were.
It seems I’ve had nothing to say lately but for commenting on the waves of stupidity surging higher and higher as the Olympics draw ever nearer. I wish I could say it was because I’m a cynical dick that likes to focus on such things (I am), but really… it would appear there’s NOTHING else…
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r 07 20
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r 07 20
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George W Bush Sewage Plant
Presidential memorials are something essential to a nation that has fathered some of the most influential leaders the world has ever known. In this small way we are able to remember them and the value they added to our great globe during their term in office.
On that note, some rather fantastic news from the SFist (the Shanghaiist’s West-side cousin, to the east):
Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment
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n 28 20
08
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n 28 20
08
Suzhou burr-ied in snow
The China Meteorological Administration (CMA) has issued a “Red Alert” for a good chunk of the country due to wide-spread snow storms.
Looking out my window it’s not hard to see why. Suzhou, a city that might see one light dusting of snow a year is covered in 2+ feet of the white stuff.
Needless to say, this is having a pretty rough effect on a city that has nothing to combat the powder with but for a few brooms attached to wide-eyed locals.
By no means is Suzhou alone in this odd meteorological whiteout, the snow has halted…
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p 28 20
07
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p 28 20
07
China quietly scolds Burmese junta
With a bunch of people having been killed, this situation in Burma is fast turning into a nightmare, but it might be one that yet has a positive outcome.
Not at all to marginalize the deaths of those unfortunate to get in the way of the Burmese security forces’ “warning” shots (incl. Japanese journalist Kenji Nagai), but I do hope the movement pushes ahead.
I realize that’s easy to say from here in the safety of my home, but hear me out.…
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p 23 20
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p 23 20
07
Why I support MMP, and what the heck is it anyway?
On October 10th a provincial election is being held in my home province of Ontario, Canada. In conjunction, a referendum is also being voted on – the subject of which is Ontario’s (and by future extension, Canada’s) voting process. Generally it’s being hailed as the most important electoral reform of “our” lifetime, and the most significant since the reform that allowed women to vote back in 1919.
What is being called for is a change from our current Single Member Plurality (SMP) system, which is more commonly referred to as First Past The Post (FPTP) to a “fairer” system based…
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l 26 20
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l 26 20
07
Damn The Censors!
Anyone that reads this blog often enough knows that I’ve no love for censorship. I down-right loath it. Freedom of speech is the apex of 
There is not a situation I can think of whereby I feel a person should have their ability to speak on any topic they desire taken away from them.
I don’t care if you are regurgitating the most vile and racist profanities that your ignorant mind can think of – there’s not a person on this planet that should have the power or privilege to tell you what…
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l 19 20
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l 19 20
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Free Oiwan Lam
The day before yesterday I wrote a post over at Lost Laowai called “Porno links rubbing HK the wrong way“. The post outlined the situation one HK resident, Oiwan Lam, has found herself in.
Oiwan is a writer/media activist who founded Interlocals.net and also heads up the North-East Asia desk at Global Voices Online.
A couple months back a HK guy was charged for having posted links to adult content in an adult content-themed message board — just links mind you. Under some stiff new rules in the Special Administrative Region, this ended up costing him $5,000…
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l 06 20
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l 06 20
07
Copycat Fight in the Newsroom
I really enjoy reading great blogs like Positive Solutions and Beijing Newspeak. Having worked in various newsrooms during my previous life as a (cough) journalist (cough, hack, spit), it’s always quite cool to get a peak into what it would be like working in a “Chinese” newsroom.
However, none of their posts ever included descriptions like this:
As I started to exit, this Liu Aixiang slapped me in the face and knocked me dizzy! When I oriented myself, she came at me again. I slapped her back but a rookie male reporter unfairly pulled me back so that
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n 22 20
07
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n 22 20
07
Bring on the Best of the Chinosphere – China Blog Awards 2007
Well, there’s been a secret little project brewing lately. fiLi and I have been conspiring to create the latest incarnation of the China Blog Awards.
fiLi, as some may know, is the brains behind the Chinalyst, a community/aggregator for English-language China blogs. It seems that his site is therefore the perfect venue to get these awards off the ground.
There have been attempts in the past for a blog awards focused completely on China, but for whatever reason, they seem to have fizzled.
For my part in this, I’ve designed the award itself (see the picture above),…
Yeeling: 
AJB: 
Ping Pong: 
ccddmj: 
ji xiang: 
