WWSPD

One day soon, I will be posting a blog about the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, or so is my hope, as it's played a surprisingly significant role in my London education. In the meantime, I will leave you all with the question posed at last night's comedy night at the RVT:

What's the difference between Sarah Palin and an eggbeater?

As part of the joke competition, they ask the audience to compare a famous person who has been in the news that week to a common household object. I've won three times now, and, although I didn't win last night, did think I managed to come up with some decent punch lines:

a) Nothing. They both make whites stiff.

b) Nothing. They can both whip a 'moose'.

:o)

Now, clever doesn't usually win at the RVT, and indeed these didn't. Next time I'll know to put swear words and be obscene.

But in the meanwhile, I thought I'd see if anybody else could come up with something better.

Grow towards the light en VO

That's 'version original' for all you non-French speaking folk:



I hope to get a few more excerpt from the potato performance, for your own amusement.

Meanwhile, the full text of my ode to the potato:

My first experience with potatoes was at a pretty young age. In second grade, we did this experiment where we cut the eyes out of potatoes and put them in a shoe box to watch them grow towards the light. That’s a message I’ve really kept with me all through these years, grow towards the light. Whenever I get sad, or lonely or depressed, I just think to myself: Grow towards the light, Jeff, grow towards the light!

...So there I was, growing towards the light, just like I was talking about. When suddenly, for no reason, the door slammed shut. Plunging me into darkness. Now, some might call this the whimsical justice of fate. Others might call it the ‘be all’ and ‘end all’. Still others might call it just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Me, I called it dark. D-A-R-K dark.

...But you know what they say, when one door slams shut, another one opens. Of course, it’s not always another door that opens—sometimes it’s something other than a door. I mean, grace is grace, right? But the thing to remember is, when that door opens…or window or can of fruit, whatever it may be—walk through it my friends. Just walk on through. Of course, if it’s something other than a door, you might not be able to walk. You might have to crawl or lurch or find some other means of crossing over. But cross over you must. Cross over, go through, go on and beyond. The light is still there. Keep heading towards it, towards the light.

Sichuan Fog

IMG_0431
Originally uploaded by knezovjb

This photo was taken on the highway between Chengdu and Kangding, which lies within a couple hundred kilometers of the epicentre of today's earthquake.

They were still in the middle of building the road the first time I travelled the route. We got stopped on the highway for three hours because of the construction--they had limited it to only one lane of traffic, and we were going the wrong way.

The mules they were using to carry the heavy rock looked exhausted, stumbling under the weight.

It was also here that I encountered my favourite Chinese toilet ever: two planks of wood sticking out over a cliff off the side of a road, covered by a tarpulin. Needless to say, I did not venture over the cliff to enjoy the facilities.

I wouldn't be surprised if part of this road is now covered by a rock slide, or if pieces of it haven't fallen off the side of the cliff.

A self-indulgent post

I hate the feeling of helplessness. In fact, if I had to choose a single motivating drive in my life, it's avoiding that feeling of helplessness. And yet, here I find myself today. The earthquake in Sichuan, China, has brought me there again.

Terrible things happen around the world daily. Hourly. Probably even by the minute. I imagine it to be the opposite of the naive, or at least blissfully unconcerned, Amelie Poulin. Towards the beginning of the film, she imagines the number of people across Paris in simultaneous ecstasy. But what about those in pain and misery?

Of course, we tend not to think of those until it hits closer to home. I remember sitting in my flat in Kunming on 26 December 2004. I was lazing on the sofa in the bright winter sun and working the crossword. Then there was a slight rocking, the sofa tapped against the back of the wall and the curtains were swaying ever so gently back and forth. Back and forth. I thought it could have been an earthquake, so I logged on to the internet only to be confronted with the tsunami (it was an aftershock that I had felt).

In that rocking, there was solidarity, but NOTHING THAT I COULD DO. As Bauman argues, the media have given us artificial eyes, but they have not extended our hands. And so, a feeling of helplessness overwhelmed, and I made it my new year's resolution not to feel like that again.

Today, I have been imagining myself back in my seventh-floor walkup in Kunming. Imagining my life on a different path (a loop of Sisyphusion proportions?). But I would still be there, rocking, with nothing tangible to be done.

Here in London, how far has that boulder rolled? I tell myself I'm making a difference working in international development, but I can't help but cower before the surfeit of problems facing this world. Today, massive earthquake in Sichuan. Last week, killer cyclone in Burma - and thousands of times worse, a military junta so full of itself it is hindering international aid efforts. Mugabe is trying his best to steal the election in Zimbabwe (again). More fighting in Lebanon. A massive food price crisis leaving people starving across the world, even if there is enough food to go around. Darfur. Chad. Afghanistan. Iraq. And those are only some of the major problems, and that's only looking at serious (or potentially serious) humanitarian crises. There's much more simmering below the surface.

So, how to move beyond the paralysis?

Goodreads for the week of 28 January 2008

I thought I'd try a new type of post this week. Since so many of my blogs were collections of good articles that I was reading (with commentary), I thought I'd start saving and tagging on del.icio.us and create a weekly list of Goodreads.

Don't get me wrong, there's more commentary to come, but at least this way I can get the things I'm thinking about out there sooner rather than later!

If you're interested, you can subscribe to my Goodreads RSS feed for automated updates.


A lesson for Beijing in the politics of snow - International Herald Tribune
A style of crisis management that relies heavily on laboring to keep real problems out of sight and hence out of mind is little more than a recipe for disaster. More than any other Chinese politician, Wen seems to understand this. But flitting from crisis
to china iht HowardFrench goodreads politics economy snow

Roger Cohen: American Democracy is Riveting - International Herald Tribune
"We've learned that a good or bad U.S. president can make the difference between war and peace. A good or bad Italian prime minister makes no difference at all."
to iht RogerCohen america politics globalisation goodreads

FT.com / World - Washington warned on health costs
The Government Accountability Office – which Mr Walker heads – put the total US public debt at $9,000bn (€6,000bn $4,500bn), including the debt held by social security funds. That was almost double the $5,000bn headline figure for public debt, which
to america politics economy FT goodreads ...

From the Berbers to Bach - International Herald Tribune
So the critical question for today's global leaders is: How can habits and cultures evolve to join a bigger planet, without sacrificing distinct identities and individual pride?
to iht goodreads globalisation culture music YoYoMa ... saved by 3 other people

Solving a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a cookie - International Herald Tribune
Fortune cookies, Yasuko Nakamachi says, are almost certainly originally from Japan.
to china japan food goodreads ... saved by 6 other people

Rethinking the Meat-Guzzler - New York Times
At about 5 percent of the world’s population, [Americans] “process” (that is, grow and kill) nearly 10 billion animals a year, more than 15 percent of the world’s total. A study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Sci
to agriculture environment food health nytimes goodreads economics pollution ... saved by 54 other people

It's official: mail is slow as snails Oddly Enough Reuters.com
to goodreads icts technology ... saved by 5 other people

McDonald's A-level 'tough course', says Brown Schools special reports EducationGuardian.co.uk
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has approved a pilot "basic shift manager" course, which will train staff in everything they need to run a McDonald's outlet, from marketing to human resources and customer service skills.
to guardian education uk goodreads

Feed Article Business
China has turned to plastic -- and consumer debt -- as never before, with its citizens for the first time carrying at least one bank card in their wallets on average, according to new figures from the central bank.
to goodreads guardian china economy

Searching for a definition of Britishness: Fine, but 'no motto, please' - International Herald Tribune
to UK culture goodreads iht ... saved by 6 other people

OK Hillary, there's one thing I don't understand...

For having gone to the London School of Economics, you'd think I'd know something on the topic. But, much to the chagrin of my father, I have yet to take an economics course. That doesn't mean that I don't have an understanding of economic fundamentals, it just means that I have a difficult time answering the deeper questions.

I was just listening to the Democratic debate in South Carolina, and it started with Hillary touting her economic stimulus package.

As I was listening, I took notes, and here are the key points:

• $110 billion economic stimulus plan


• $70 billion goes to 'the mortgage crisis'


• Moratorium on home foreclosures for 90 days


• $650 to help offset high energy costs this winter


• Invest in green collar jobs


• Fund for communities who are dealing with housing crisis


• 5-year freeze on interest rates


• Rebates if anything left over

Ok, in terms of sheer monetary value, $110 billion is a bit less than Bush's $145 billion, but since we've already spent that times 10 (made up guess here) on the war in Iraq, maybe this is a good time to stop increasing our national deficit by a little. It's also probably better spent than Bush's proposed tax rebates...

$70 billion going to 'the mortgage crisis' is a little vague, but CNN forced her into soundbite mode. Presumably this is to help rescue the banks who have caused this situation to begin with and to keep 'sovereign funds' (xenophobic code word for outside investors with no loyalty to the US) from investing in American ventures.

Moratorium on home foreclosures for 90 days. This seems sensible to me, let's have a few months to figure things out and readjust.

$650 per qualified household to offset high energy costs? Not great. Let's start with installing low-energy light bulbs, being proactive about turning things off standby and not leaving unnecessary devices plugged in (and maybe as a longer-term solution we install outlets with switches on them like in the UK to help reduce consumption. If the American government is bothering to subsidise the TV digital switchover, you'd think we could subsidise energy-saving measures). Maybe we could also turn down the central heating and put on an extra two jumpers? Seriously, the US is still the largest energy consumer on the planet per capita, there's room for real cuts to be made.

Invest in green collar jobs. Great idea! Helps the environment, and is proactive to helping redefine America's edge in the global economy. Plus, see point above on energy reduction. Gold star, Hillary.

Fund for communities dealing with the mortgage crisis. Not against this one, but again, very vague.

5-year freeze on interest rates. Now this is one that I just simply do NOT understand. Hillary argues that we need stability to avoid more foreclosures. OK, but here's what I don't get:

One of the main ways that the US likes to deal with inflation is by raising and lowering interest rates (note the 75-basis-points reduction by the fed just yesterday). Higher rates make lending more expensive, reduces the amount of money in the market and helps tamp down prices. Now, worries of inflation are not usually far from an economist's mind, but the current situation seems particularly ripe for inflation: the US dollar is extremely weak, oil and gold are near all-time highs, there is a high risk of a worldwide food shortage, and government subsidies and the growth in biofuels have led to near record highs in comestible oils like palm, corn and soy. What about high energy prices, high food prices, and a weak dollar doesn't SCREAM inflation? Not to mention that with current rates of inflation in China, the price of manufactured goods is likely on the rise.

To me, high risk of inflation + no mechanism for controlling inflation = really bad idea!

So, Hillary, what am I not understanding? Are you not actually proposing to hold interest rates at the fed but only for mortgages? If that's the case, how exactly are you proposing to do that? What authority would you even have to do that?

If you are thinking federal interest rates, then how are you planning on controlling for inflation? Raising the value of the dollar globally (that would hurt exports, but I'm still not convinced that we should be trying to position the US as a manufacturing-driven export economy)? Pegging the dollar to the price of gold (with gold still near record highs, would this be helpful?)? Price fixing and subsidies for basic commodities (which generally seems like a bad idea. See, for example, Zimbabwe. Or even Egypt)? Holding down wages a la Gordon Brown's current fight with UK police officers (I thought Hillary wanted to support the middle class)?

Seriously, can anyone else out there explain this one to me, cause I don't get it!

Global economy ≠ Global society

Now that the pump is primed and I have you thinking about Davos; and now that my duties as a member of the ODI comms team have been fulfilled, and I have promoted my colleagues' opinions. It's my turn:

What better place to start than the IHT?

You know something big is happening when an article published just today topped the 'most emailed in the last 24 hours' list and is quickly ascending the 'most emailed in the last 30 days' list. The article that's causing the sensation: On the cusp of economic history.

The main argument of the article is that the fate of the world economy has arrived at a crucial tipping point. 30 years of neo-liberal, pro-market values have led us to this climax of global uncertainty. With what Hillary Clinton fears may be a recession (in case you missed her stump speech(es), she pretends to be the only one in the world smart enough to have seen this one coming. Indeed, I'm tempted to call it the 2008 Hillary Clinton memorial recession if she keeps on like this!) looming heavily, the repercussions are already being felt throughout the global economy.

What's worse, the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. A good measure of this is the GINI coefficient, a common measure of wealth distribution that ranges between 0 and 1, where 1 is extremely unequal and 0 is highly equitable. (See Wikipedia for a good introduction).

Consider this graphic representation of GINI coefficients from around the world since WWII:


The American GINI, sitting at 0.469 in 2005 is at its all-time high for the country since the statistic has been calculated. And what about China, which is supposed to be chipping away at American wealth? It's roughly equivalent to that of the US, and also sits at an all-time high for its country.

This, of course, runs counter to the fundamentals of neo-liberal economics which can be effectively summarised by the rather trite: 'a rising tide lifts all ships'. A stronger global economy was supposed to strengthen national economies. Or, in the words of the article:

"In theory [...] wages increase with productivity growth and all economies have a comparative advantage in the production of something."

But the theory isn't turning out as planned. The coming fear from the 'West' is that: "China and India combined will eventually be able to make just about everything the West can, only cheaper."

So what's the solution?

According to the majority of the candidates currently running for President in the US, the answer appears to be to fall prey to protectionist impulses. If you're Mitt Romney, it means bringing back auto manufacturing plants to Michigan (bad idea). If you're Barack Obama you're concerned about the so-called 'sovereign funds' bailing out ailing AMERICAN companies (so what?). If you're a good number of the candidates, it's about sending home all the illegal immigrants (really bad idea!! I mean people, if you want to lower the value of the dollar globally so that you can push your exports, you gotta have something to export. And that means that something is going to have to be manufactured... and if the majority of the population isn't willing to sit out on the farm harvesting soybeans, what is the US going to export exactly? This is where I also note that food oil prices are at record highs, and in 2007, for the first time in history, over half the world's population now lives in cities).

National economic and social protectionism is not just a bad idea, it's a head-in-the-sand approach that doesn't take into consideration fundamental economic, social, political and cultural changes that have already been set in motion through processes of globalisation.

The economy is not just a local problem, not just a regional problem, and certainly not just a national problem. It is a global one! If anything, the sub-prime debacle has taught us that.

Other GLOBAL problems include: the HIV/AIDS epidemic, tax shelters that undermine the effectiveness of government bodies, bird flu, the environment, migration, terrorism and security, human rights, animal welfare, and the impending global food shortage just to name a few.

In my view, the problem is not the neo-liberal agenda. The problem is that it has been pushed in an economic silo to the extent that there is now a large fissure between the global economy and the rest of reality. Sure, economic globalisation has had knock-on effects. The impressive expansion of information and communication technologies (ICTs) like the Internet across the globe is a good example.

But laws that impede migration maintain inequality between nations. Poverty prevents access to global flows. Societies based on strong family linkages hinder mobility. Isolation allows for irresponsible consumption. Social protection programmes like social security and national healthcare are feeling the pinch, and insecurity impedes progress.

For a global economy to function, we MUST have a global society to match--and how we achieve that is the real question that should be asked at Davos.

Back in the USSR

In the most recent Presidential debate, the moderator started by doing his bit to strike fear into the hearts of US Americans (as Miss Teen South Carolina is so fond of calling us) by pressing the hypothetical issue of rogue nuclear bombs being smuggled into America and detonated (a la fictional TV show 24).

As part of his response, Governor Bill Richardson talked about the broader need for nuclear non-proliferation, something he had been involved with when he was Secretary of Energy under Clinton. (ok, still reasonable)

Then, and this is a direct quote, he went on to say:

"If I'm elected president, I will do two things. First, I will seek immediate negotiations with the Soviet Union and other nuclear states to reduce the number of nuclear weapons."

I haven't seen other bloggers or political commentators call him on this (and I did to a little bit of looking around), but is anybody else concerned that the SOVIET UNION IS NOT A COUNTRY?!

What ever made anybody think that this guy was ready for prime time?! Why ABC blocked Kucinich and let Richardson go on to make a fool of himself I do not understand!

It all comes together

Last week I began posting interesting articles that I come across to my del.icio.us account goodreads tag (subscribe to the RSS feed to see what I'm reading as I'm reading it). Among the first articles that I posted with some chagrin was a Guardian (good UK newspaper) article entitled China Limits Providers of Internet Video.

The article explains that the Chinese government was implementing a programme aimed at internet video providers that would require them to register with the government and "require providers to report questionable content to the government". I was taken aback, and frankly worried.

Tudou.com (土豆, or tudou, literally earth bean, is Chinese for potato, and no, don't ask me why the number one Chinese video sharing website is called potato.com), the Chinese equivalent of YouTube is probably one of my most frequented sites.

Without a TV here in London, I get my Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, 24 (when writers are writing...) and Amazing Race fix from the site. With the sudden closure of tv-links.co.uk several months ago, I wouldn't know where to turn otherwise. ABC only allows viewers inside the US to watch their shows over the internet, and Channel 4, the British carrier of my mainstays Ugly Betty and Desperate Housewives offers their free download service only to those with PCs.

Usually, once you get the heavy hand of the Chinese government involved, information stops flowing until either there is enough public outcry that the government changes is position asserting that it was always what they had intended to do, or until whatever key issue that sparked the overreach in the first place fades from the limelight. My problem was that I couldn't figure out what the issue was.

There was nothing on the international scene that seemed to me particularly embarrassing to the Chinese government. When Burma was attempting its ‘saffron revolution’ news from China’s western front was stifled. And when the once-every-five-years Chinese Party Congress got underway in mid-October, I could almost understand why the Chinese government pushed through one of its harshest crackdowns in recent memory, silencing websites, pulling TV commercials and so on.

But the Congress has been quiet for months now, and as we roll into the pre-Chinese New Year lull, I was simply stumped.

Deep down I knew that the Chinese government wasn't concerned with pirating. The Chinese economy would be growing at a third the size without pirated goods (Jeff’s estimate not based in any fact whatsoever). It couldn't be amoral behaviour, could it?

Now my fear crept from my favourite TV shows to my favourite Chinese home videos. What would I do without my weekly dose of laughter at Hong laowai (Red Foreigner, who might be cute but REALLY can NOT sing!)?

Was the Chinese government going to start taking away user generated content? And if so, the question still remained. Why?!

It all came together this morning. Searching for news of Obama’s win in Iowa, I stumbled across yet another article on the Guardian that finally provided the answer: China Bans Film Censored for Sex Scenes.

According to the article, a new film called “Lost in Beijing” about the experiences of migrant workers in Beijing was released after censors stripped it of ten minutes of “graphic” sex scenes. The government accused the film of releasing uncensored versions and pulled it from general release.

To no avail the film crew countered that it was the film pirates and not they who let out the uncensored film. “Why would I give the movie to pirates and hurt my own movie?'' Fang [the director] said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. `We are the victims of piracy. We are the biggest victims,'’ he said.”

The Chinese government wasn’t budging, though, accusing directors of showing the uncensored version at the Berlin Film Festival. According to Xinhuanet.com, China’s official news agency, this has earned the production company two year’s closure.

"This also violated China's film administration regulation," the SARFT official said. Fang said they used the original version because they had no time to prepare a German version for the German audience.

On Dec. 29, 2007, SARFT issued a ban prohibiting producers of erotic movies from competing for any film awards. The ban also prohibits directors and leading actors from taking part in such any awards.

Allowing a film to go forward then pulling it suddenly sounded typical of the Chinese government, but it indicated that there was something else afoot that was causing the kerfuffle.

Then I remembered, while listening to NPR’s Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me last weekend during the ‘Bluff the Listener’ segment, there was a story about Chinese government doctors recommending against viewers trying sex acts from the censored version of Ang Lee’s most recent film "Lust, Caution" at home. Reuter’s quoted the doctors as saying:

‘Most of the sexual maneuvers in 'Lust, Caution' are in abnormal body positions,’ the report quoted Yu Zao, a deputy director at a women's hospital in southern Guangdong province, as saying.

‘Only women with comparatively flexible bodies that have gymnastics or yoga experience are able to perform them. For average people to blindly copy them could lead to unnecessary physical harm,’ Yu said.

Somehow I had missed the sensation that "Lust, Caution" had caused in China. Or more rightly, the sensation that it’s deleted scenes who had found their way onto video sharing sites had caused. The IHT reported that fans were even streaming across the border to Hong Kong to watch the uncensored version. And the Taipei Times notes that one young Beijing man is even suing the Chinese government arguing that the censorship “denied him his right to information and wants 500 yuan (US$67) for mental anguish and apologies from the theater and SARFT.”

Now, I like Ang Lee and his films as much as (or more than) anybody, but what can I say. If I can’t watch my Ugly Betty because of videos like this (note link is rated NC-17 in the US), I’m gonna be pissed.

More on Myanmar

Some various responses to my last post:

It's weird--the Denver Post (an AP outlet) has nothing about Myanmar on their front page, but I noticed some headlines about it on their news ticker when I was downtown. If you go to the World news page, 2 stories about Myanmar are in the "Top News Stories" box, which makes the absence from the front page even weirder. It looks like the AP is covering the events there, just not...making any attempt to draw peoples' notice to them? Very strange. Article here.

I've been trying to keep up with the news about what's happening in Myanmar (formerly Burma, I believe), and can report that the Corvallis Gazette-Times has had articles regarding the riots, etc, almost every day, although the articles are back on the 4th or 5th page of the main section.

Apparently, you missed that George Bush made extensive comments on your blog issue today.

Just wanted to pipe in that the top story on the NYT website last night when I looked at it hoping for a Myanmar update was a YANKEES GAME. Yes, the coverage has been terrible over here.

Thanks for the references, Jeff. You’ll be relieved to know that NPR (Morning Edition and All Things Considered) is covering the activity. Unfortunately, the news coming out of Myanmar is suddenly being clamped down. Sending prayers for those within…

CNN? USA Today? Those of us who live in the US and are savvy listen to NPR - and let me tell you, Myanmar/Burma is the top story at every news break. It is also a top story at the New York Times. It just depends on where you go for news.

In general it sounds like coverage of what's happening in Burma is out there, but it requires a little digging. While I am reassured that it is at least out there, I continue to be frustrated with the fact that it is not more prominently located. The only way to put international pressure on the junta in Myanmar is to build awareness.

Of course, as one of my readers notices, after the government crackdowns started last Thursday, news and images from the inside has slowed somewhat. Which is why an article on Discovery News caught my attention: Satellite Images Show Myanmar Abuses.

Howard French has also offered an interesting view of the conflict from China in: Letter from China: Myanmar crackdown sheds light on Beijing's aspirations. To quote selectively:

Myanmar is a highly repressive state that has been run into the ground by incompetent leaders who have been partially enabled by China. It is, moreover, a country whose people are now risking their lives peacefully for freedom. This must very nearly be something like a bad dream for Beijing's foreign policy establishment.

Indeed, as French also points out, the Chinese government is between a rock and a hard place. It will be interesting to see how much longer their policy of non-interference with the internal affairs of other states will be a stragtegy they will be able to maintain.

Because of this, French hints, coverage of what is going on in Burma is limited at best in China, and so I would like to re-pose the same question as before to my readers in China (I konw you're out there!). It seems like there is never much of the important stuff that can be found in the media, but what's the word on the street, especially in nearby Kunming? Is there an awareness or reaction to what is happening there?

Rather ironically, I just saw an article on the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's (SARFT) recent drive to clean up Chinese media before the 17th Party Congress. Sexy sounds and ads for push-up bras are out, good wholesome socialist fun is in. The Deputy Head of SARFT, Tian Jin said, "Every television advertisement management bureau and television station must strengthen their political consciousness and responsibility toward society." Funny, it seems to me that the responsible thing for society would be to report about the atrocities happening right next door...

OK, Seriously Folks

For whatever foolish reason, I went to check the CNN webpage to see what it had to say about what's happening in Burma. For fun I selected the 'US Edition' and had to scroll more than half way down the page to see a mention of Myanmar. Is this actually not big news in the US?! Then I went to the USAToday just to see if I could give myself a coronary, and only found reference to Myanmar with regards to new US sanctions thereon. What's the big news at MSNBC.com? The 10 dying businesses. And not surprisingly, FoxNews wasn't any better.

Um, hello? Is anyone home in there?

Even in the UK Myanmar has managed to surpass stories about Madeline sightings in Morocco (though only barely). Seriously, any of you in the US, what is the coverage like? The fact of the matter is that what is happening now in Burma has the potential to be one of the defining moments of this decade. If you don't know what's going on, learn!

You can start with my personal fav, the IHT. And even the BBC has had some interesting and in-depth coverage of what's going on there. And if you're still want for information, guess what the feature story is in this week'sThe Economist.

Diegogarcity and an Excuse to Procrastinate

It's amazing how productive one can be when trying to avoid other tasks (ie, writing a dissertation...). Or maybe reading the IHT isn't that productive, but I saw several fascinating articles that were worth mentioning.

First, in a fit of diegogarcity (alright, a slightly hijacked usage of the term, expanding its meaning from a word that we suddenly see everywhere to a concept we suddenly see everywhere), I noticed several interesting articles about a renaissance of sorts in Northern Africa. Ancient writings bring new interest to Timbuktu was a fascinating article that explored the 're-discovery' of ancient texts that have been stored in what was once a cultural centre but is now synonymous with the middle-of-nowhere. Perhaps that's a small part of what is causing European governments to ask: Will North Africa gain from closer ties to Europe? And vice versa, of course. This article mentions specifically Sarko's and Prodi's plans to develop North Africa as a way of deterring immigration to their respective countries (France and Italy). I had not heard of a desire to create a Mediterranean Union before, but I like the idea (as long as it's not a second class substitute to allowing these countries into the EU).

And somewhat related to that story is one I just found about Chinese foreign policy in Africa: Is China Changing Africa or is Africa Changing China?, written by an LSE professor, Dr Chris Alden. This unique perspective offers that:

Ironically, deepening Chinese engagement has caused China to drift away from its once rock-solid principle of domestic non-intervention to support for internationally-sanctioned intervention in selected conflicts or post-conflict areas like Sudan and Liberia. One has the sense that Beijing is feeling the hot breadth of Africa's worst governing practices and is in the midst of absorbing a swiftly applied series of lessons meted out by petro-elites and pariah regimes.

And with regards to globalization, I thought this article about locally produced food, Homegrown isn't always best, was interesting. While there is still a lot to be said for eating seasonally and supporting local communities, I suppose we really do have to take a macro systems view when it comes to food production/distribution. In order to reduce our carbon footprint, we can't just look at transport, but also all the factors that go into production. Consider this tidbit from the article:

[Scientists] found that lamb raised on New Zealand's clover-choked pastures and shipped 11,000 miles by boat to Britain produced 1,520 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per ton while British lamb produced 6,280 pounds of carbon dioxide per ton, in part because poorer British pastures force farmers to use feed.

I should note that this study was done in New Zealand and we might want to question the political motives of the scientists, but an interesting thought nevertheless!

And on the Asia front, I was disconcerted to see the Thai police resorting to punishments based on really puerile gender stereotypes. The idea: Less-than-purr-fect Thai police to sport Hello Kitty armbands as punishment. Give me a break!

Immigration. For real this time!

Two posts ago I threatened to talk about immigration policy, which was actually very relevant to the ideas of global cities and even terrorism, but the post was running long so I cut it out. But I just read yet another article that got me riled up about US immigration policy, so I thought I'd do a quick post to share my disgust at current American policy towards immigrants. It's a globalizing world people! Putting up walls and creating childish policies that create tit-for-tat responses with our allies is NOT the solution!

My list of immigration articles/issues that have frustrated me (and I'm being nice here) over the last month or so:

• Bush administration readying immigration crackdown on employers, an article about how illegal immigrants are facing tough times ahead because Congress couldn't get its act together and pass a reasonable immigration law.


• Towns Get Tough on Immigration and Virginia County Cracks Down On Immigration, two versions of the same story from NPR that discuss the implications of local governments trying to tackle immigration reform on their own. In this case, a Virginia county is now making mandatory checks for proof of citizenship/residency for all government affairs. Checking out books at a library for example. Or when stopped by a cop for any violation (which is the really scary bit!).


• Europeans fear 48-hour notice plan will impede travel to U.S. about the '21st century' approach to visa-free entry for our closest allies in Europe that requires submittal of travel itinerary 24-48 hours in advance of travel into the US over the Internet. Of course there is also trouble in the EU because it would treat different member countries differently. See for example U.S. bill could keep some European countries from joining visa-free travel program. And I can't find the article, but one mentions that the EU is now considering similar restrictions on American visa-free entry to Europe in retaliation. Will the madness never cease?! Please Europeans, take the high road on this one!

On Global Cities, Nation-States, and the Threats of Terrorism

“On July 27, 2005, Mumbai experienced the highest recorded rainfall in its history: 37 inches of rain in one day. The torrent showed the best and the worst about the city. Hundreds of people drowned. But unlike New Orleans after Katrina hit, there was no widespread breakdown of civic order; though police were absent, the crime rate did not go up.

“That was because Mumbaikars were busy helping one another. Slum dwellers went to the highway and took stranded motorists into their homes and made room for one more person in shacks where the average occupancy is seven adults to a room.

“Volunteers waded through waist-deep water to bring food to the 150,000 people stranded in train stations. Human chains formed to get people out of the floodwaters. Most of the government machinery was absent, but nobody expected otherwise. Mumbaikars helped one another, because they had lost faith in the government helping them.”

Suketu Mehta thus described Mumbai in an article recently republished in the IHT entitled ‘Dirty, crowded, rich and wonderful’. It’s an impressive attempt at describing the indescribable: a city swelling and surging, dynamic and rigid, sometimes appalling yet somehow appealing. A city where "discomfort is an investment.” A city where, despite all the troubles and setbacks, the human spirit thrives.

And cities, it seems, are a recurring theme at the moment. Indeed, Mumbai is one of ten cities currently highlighted in the Tate Modern’s exhibit: Global Cities, which is on show until 27 August 2007. The installations present interesting facts and statistics presented in a variety of ways mixed with artwork, photos, and videos to help bring each of the cities to life. And since this blog is called Fun Facts for whenever, I thought I’d share a few of those stats:

• In 2007, for the first time, more than 50% of people on Earth live in an urban environment.


• By 2050, it is predicted that around 75% of the global population will live in cities.


• Mumbai will overtake Tokyo as the world’s largest city by population by 2050 with an expected population of over 40 million people.


• In Los Angeles 7% of the population use public transport for their daily commute. In Tokyo, 78% of the population uses public transport.


• Commutes of up to four hours a day are normal for those in the outlying areas of Sao Paolo.


• Shanghai adds an average of 29.4 new residents each hour.


• The GDP of the City of London is equivalent to that of Switzerland/


• The population densities of four of the cities: Cario- 36,500 people per square kilometer; Mumbai- 34,000 ppl/km2, Mexico City- 5,800 ppl/km2, London- 4,500 ppl/km2


• 95% of those moving to London since 1995 were born outside the UK

For more stats and facts, check out the Global Cities exhibit’s webpage.

Now consider that last fact: almost all newcomers to London come from outside the UK. And really, it’s the diversity of this place that I love so much although it causes its own problems.

Consider my thoughts from a blog entry I was intending to post the other week but never got around to:

“Drip, drop, gush. Frustration and anger crept into my esprit with every drop of rain.

“Il pleut. And on this 下雨天 dominated by grey skies and gusty winds, the last thing that I wanted to do was leave the house. Alas, I had agreed to a double shift (that’s 10 hours!) at the ‘chocolate factory’, and so I grudgingly trudged out the door. Which isn’t when my problems began, to be sure, but was certainly when they were exacerbated.

“As I’m sure most of you know by this point, on Thursday evening/Friday early morning (29 June 2007), a car loaded with petrol, nails, and a detonator was found outside a London nightclub near Picadilly Circus. A second was also reportedly found later that morning. Luckily police worked to diffuse the bomb before anybody was seriously injured (and it appears that it would have caused a significant number of casualties). Later that weekend, another set of bombers tried to attack at the Glasgow airport.

“‘Insouciance’ was the word the IHT used to describe the general reaction of Londoners, and I couldn’t think of a more apt description. Sure it was a talking point for the last couple of days, but since the bomb didn’t actually explode, it’s almost too hypothetical to feel strongly about. Sure, I was at a nightclub in Leicester Square at the time, but that’s a good 500 meters away from the explosive device, and therefore I was well out of harms way. And anyway, the Valentine’s Day bombings in Manila a couple of years ago was a much closer call for me.”

And yet, that rainy weekend day, after much frustration, it all melted away at the sight of the London Eye on my evening commute home. It was the day of the Gay Pride Parade in London and as such, London was trying to be in a celebratory mood. I, on the other hand, was in a dour mood. It was raining. I had to work. My Internet at home still wasn’t working. Traffic was a nightmare between parts blocked off for investigation into the bombings and the parade wending its way through London’s streets. But on the bus ride home, I turned my head to the left as we crossed over the river to see the London Eye lit up in rainbow colours.

To see that through such crap London could still band together, put a finger up to the world, and celebrate its diversity made me proud to be a Londoner. My incessant internal grumblings simply evaporated at the sight. The weight of an overbearing London ceased, sublimating into the cool night.

My parents were concerned about the almost bombings, but the fact of the matter is that in London we had it lucky.

The following Tuesday, several ‘al-Qaeda’ (supposedly) members attacked a convoy of Spanish tourists in Yemen. For a short IHT article describing what happened, see Survivors describe bombing attack in Yemen as 'an absolute nightmare'.

One of my Dutch friends here in London was engaged to the owner of the travel company that was taking the Spanish tourists to an ancient temple in the region of Marib. He lost two of his friends and colleagues who were driving the cars in the convoy. He lost seven tourists. He was dragged in for questioning by Yemeni police (though ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing).

The families of the Yemeni victims, though, lost not only husbands/sons/brothers but also the main breadwinners in the family, not to mention the cars they drove which were the family’s main source of income.

It is these people and their families about whom we should be concerned—innocent victims of a political crime. Not a focus on the potentiality of the ‘almost’ that is most certainly exaggerated in the media. For example, both free evening London papers lead with a headline like: ‘1700 threatened in terrorist attack’ that Friday, with 1700 the capacity of the club that was targeted. Certainly the club was not at full capacity on a Thursday evening! But what’s the bigger number? What’s the better story?

And since I've started

I saw this article and it made me feel a little better about the US. This is what America should be: In a changed New York neighborhood, a hardy few take up Mandarin.

The article is about older residents in Flushing, a NY neighborhood that has become increasingly Chinese in character, taking Chinese classes to help them interact better with their new neighbors. Brilliantly written.

Developing America

Every once in a while, I see something so outrageous happening in the US that it makes me cringe. Mind you, I've been busy studying for my upcoming exams, so I might be riled and stressed in general, but I stumbled across this article and just couldn't believe my eyes: Challenging Washington's ban on needle-exchange funds.

To summarize: this article explains the history behind a bill that bans federally funded needle exchange program within Washington DC. Because DC is not located in any state, the federal government has control over its budget (even though the elected representative from the district is still not allowed a vote in Congress--unless her most recent attempt to gain one passed, I can't remember. It would be a recent change though). Back in 1988, Congress added a clause that refused funding for needle exchange programs in the city with the caveat that the President could effectively overturn this decision if the Surgeon General proved that needle exchange programs didn't lead to increased drug use. Although there have been many of these studies, Bill Clinton, for whom I have much admiration, never removed this clause. In 1998, the clause was then removed from the appropriations bill. And here I was, ready to launch into a scathing attack on Bush and his support for abstinence-only sex education for USAid-funded projects, and his approach to HIV/AIDS prevention in general. Then I find out it's not his fault (in this very limited instance).

Well, Bill Clinton, you should be ashamed of yourself for not trying harder to reverse this decision while you had the chance. And Bush, don't get complacent, absitenence-only sex education equals worst idea ever!

Consider the situation of DC now: "In Washington, with just over half a million residents, 1 in 20 are HIV positive. Its rate of new AIDS cases is 128.4 per 100,000 people, compared with a national average of 13.7 per 100,000, according to 2005 data, the most recent available from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

But now, some members of congress have finally recognized the completely inappropriate nature of this outmoded/uneducated provision and are trying to change it. I encourage you to contact your Representative and urge them to support Rep. José Serrano's effort to remove this ban!

You can find out how to contact your representative at http://www.house.gov/writerep/.

Clinton Forces Pharma's Hands

Well, it has been far too long since I posted to my blog, and I just saw this article in the IHT (Clinton arranges cheaper AIDS drugs) about work that BILL Clinton and his Foundation has been doing to get low-cost AIDS drugs to developing countries. He has negotiated new prices ($695 per annum down from $2000 two years ago, and $1000 this year) by encouraging countries to go generic. Those pharmaceutical companies can complain about breaking international patents all they want--as Clinton said: "No company will live or die because of high price premiums for AIDS drugs in middle-income countries, but patients may."

For more information on the work that the Clinton Foundation is doing, check out their website. Also, you can see a great speech by Clinton accepting an award at the 2007 TEDTalks and talking about the world's current AIDS situation over at their website.

Soilent Green?

I have to admit, that when I saw this article, Why is Chinese Mountain Painted Green?, I was baffled by Chinese logic. In Fumin, a county in the Yunnan Province (read, one of my homes away from home) a local leader decided that an old rock quarry on a mountain behind his village was unsightly and messing with his fengshui (this part I understand). His solution was less explicable: he decided to hire workers to paint the old quarry green (please see the pictures of the newly re-decorated mountain for your viewing pleasure/horror below).





When asked in a Chinese news website why he decided to do this, Du said:
"我原来承包过那个采石场，赚过一些钱。后来，我就在采石场附近盖房子安家，大门正对着采石场裸露的红石头。之后，生活和事业都非常不顺。风水先生说，采石场裸露的红石头鈥�冲鈥�了我家的风水，于是，我就让工人将红石头涂成绿色."

Which in English would be: "Originally, I contracted for the stone quarry and earned some money. Then I decided to build a house and settle here, the entrance looking out onto the barren red rock. Later, my life and career were really unlucky. The fengshui master (geomancer?) said that the barrenness of the quarry's red rock was interrupting my fengshui, so I hired some workers to paint the red rock green right away."

Right, obvious answer. Let's forget about the huge environmental impact that covering a mountain in synthetic paint has, and paint it an iridescent color that looks horribly unnatural. That makes things better. In the IHT article, they claim that over 470,000RMB was spent on the painting, though the man in the Chinese article says he only paid about 10,000RMB (about UD$1,250). In either case, for that amount of money, this guy could have made a real postive impact on the environment by working to reclaim the area with plants etc.

No, I'm just not following the logic there. But then, I don't think the Chinese are either, which is why it's in the news there. The international press has taken it up as some kind of a look-how-weird-the-Chinese-are kind of an article, which I can't say I approve of either.

Well, happy Valentine's Day anyway. Anybody want to paint something red to profess their love for me?

Blogging Backlog

Oh my my my, I've been a bad blogger these past couple of weeks. I suppose it's partly because I've recently gained two new outlets for my world wide webbing pleasure: Facebook, and an online discussion forum for one of my classes.

Facebook is simply one of my new sins, and I'm probably on it much too much. I can update my 'current status', which is a great way to share little thoughts without bothering the blogosphere. I can share random music videos of some of my favorite artists from around the world so that everybody can share in the fun, and I can do all this while keeping tabs on what other people are up to. How fun is that?! So, if you're on Facebook and you haven't already, you should friend me!

As for all of my global frustrations, I'm taking them out on the online discussion forum for my Media and Globalisation class. I'm sure they don't really appreciate my rants either, and I noticed that as one person in a class of at least 50, I had about 10% of the content posts on the forum, so I've decided to try to curtail that for a while. We'll see how long I last.

But in the honour of the good ole' blog, I thought I'd share some randomness with all you non-Facebook folk.

First, I must mention this article that I just saw on the IHT. Apparently Harvard researchers have linked an afternoon nap to lower risk of heart disease. I think I'm going to have to move back to Kunming so I can take me a siesta every lunch, it makes so much more sense than the American system!!

Though speaking of heart disease, I did finally get up the nerve to register with the National Health Service (NHS, the nationalised healthcare system over here in Britain) yesterday. Yes, I made an appointment last week to register (that's how bureaucratic the system is), and finally had an appointment after months of a terribly hurting foot. I went in, and they told me I had excellent blood pressure, and that I had Morton's neuroma on my foot. In other words, my nerve has been pinched between two bones at the joint that connects my middle toe to the rest of my foot. This has caused the nerve ending to become irritated and inflamed, and thus painful. The solution in the US is a simple surgery to cut out the nerve ending, but the doctor here suggested that by the time I got done with all my paperwork etc., that the swelling would probably go down. The doctor instead suggested I try new shoes with an air cushion and not walk as much. Thank you doc, that's very helpful.

And in other health related news, I've now gone 8 days since last ingesting or in any way consuming a chocolate digestive biscuit (cookie). I knew I had a problem when I realised I was spending roughly US$20 a week on the biscuits. More than a week, it's a step in the right direction, innit!

Jaipur in the News

Last year at this time, I was in India. I might be in dreary ole' London (which actually hasn't been that dreary of late), but that doesn't mean that I've stopped thinking about India. Indeed, I was just talking about a movie I saw there, Rang de Basanti, the other week.

Which is why, when I saw a combination of 'India', 'art', and 'festival' in a headline in the IHT that I immediately thought of Jaipur, the capital of Rajhistan. Chesa and I went there last year to see another friend, Bethani, who was participating in a festival there (you can read about it in my post One Week Down, Almost).

For a review of the festival this year, and its importance for Rajhistan, check out the IHT article Entre'acte.

Inebriated Foreigners Beware

I just saw this article in The People's Daily Online and the same story from a foreigner's point of view on Go Kunming about a brand new and exciting service offered by the local authorities in Kunming: a drunk tank for foreigners. The drunk tank is administered out of the ICU of the People's First Provincial Hospital and is a unique way of foreigner gouging in Kunming. I have personally spent WAY too much time in that hospital's ICU (not because I was drunk) and think that being taken there would not have the calming effect the Chinese authorities seem to be hoping for. Also, that there will be English speaking staff on-hand to deal with these drunk foreigners I find laughable. The English spoken at that hospital is beyond pathetic--hell, half the time we couldn't convince the doctors to speak in standard Mandarin instead of the local Kunming dialect. These nurses don't have any clue what they're in for!

Last year, there were rumors going around that two body builders in town (speculation is that they were also taking steroids, which probably didn't help the situation) went on a drunken rampage, causing a lot of property damage on their way home. They were caught by a bank security camera, and were fined heavily. Imagining these two in the drunk tank is going to be my new favorite past time.

It's also an interesting case of perception--both articles mention that of the 50,000 foreign visitors to Kunming last year, they had roughly 19 alcohol-related incidents. And while there are certainly some foreigners with drinking problems in Kunming (note the incident above), I can't imagine that it is any more so than the local population. Where's their drunk tank, huh? Well, maybe I shouldn't complain, it's probably a dank cell in their local police station.

Layin' Down the Law

Alright, I have tons of writing left to do before Friday, and I'm in a mad rush to do so, but I just saw this article and it really made me angry, so I just had to share.

It is entitled Drowning the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and is about plans by the local Chinese governments to build dams high along the Yangtze river in the Yunnan province.

These dams would effectively flood portions of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, a canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon in Arizona in places. The local government there must realize that the tourism industry in that location is enormous, especially with visits to Tiger Leaping Rock, where a tiger was said to have bounded across the river to avoid capture which is already covered during seasonal highs in the water level.

And the kicker is, according to this article, the energy isn't even required for China. They are looking at exporting their excess energy from hydroelectric dams down into other SE Asian countries (which they already do some of), especially a growing electricity market in Thailand.

The Chinese government should be ashamed at itself for its dedication to blind development without consideration of environmental consequences. This pristine land is part of the world's heritage, and to flood it is absolutely reprehensible. I hate that there is basically nothing that anybody can do about it either, except to just get angrier at the Chinese government, which doesn't really solve anything...

My message to China: think about the overall consequences of your actions, for pete's sake. After 20+ years of unconstrained development, isn't it time for some glasnost and reflection on how to develop BETTER?

Kites over Kashgar

I was sitting in a semi-public bath house in LiTang, China (follow link for my previous blog entry about LiTang) when the book first enthralled me. At a mere (ha!) 5,000 meters (16,500 around feet), despite it being the middle of summer, my childhood friend, Robin, and I needed to find some way to warm ourselves up. Hot springs sounded like the perfect solution. We hopped a taxi that took us the 10km outside the city through open skies and windswept fields sparsely populated with yak and yurt.

The hot springs turned out to be a newly developed bathing complex, complete with white tiles but with fairly large 'windows' (well, holes in the wall at least) that let the light shine in. The assistant opened a large valve and steaming, sulfur-laced water poured into the tub.

Desperate for warmth, I sank into the tub, and picked up the book Robin had brought from the US: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Poor Robin was reading a physiology text book if I'm not mistaken, and so it was with a little guilt that I lost myself in the story of Afghanistan for several hours before I noticed my raisin toes.

Such a vivid and enticing epic, my mind kept wandering to the closest I'd ever been to Afghanistan--Kashgar, XinJiang, China (follow link for blog entries from my time there, or see some of my photos here.).

Kashgar is a city of traders, and is considered to be the city the furthest west in China (and there is a big Mao statue to prove it, of course). It's roughly north of Delhi and lies next to China's borders with India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan (and not too far from Kazakhstan, thank you Borat). It also used to be the capital of Chinese Turkmenistan (from before XinJiang was an actual part of China) and so I stayed in the former Russian Embassy which has since been turned into a fairly decrepit hotel. The city actually played a large role during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, and as Hosseini was walking through Afghan history, I felt connected to it through my experiences in Kashgar.

What prompted this post, actually, was an IHT article (what else) entitled Gambling on China for an Afghan Epic. Turns out they are now filming the movie version of the book in Kashgar, which creates yet another link between Kashgar and the novel for me. I must admit that I'm really excited to see the movie now, not just because they've filmed it in Kashgar, but also because it is a good book AND they are actually filming it in appropriate languages, with for example, and Iranian-born actor who has even bothered to learn Afghan dialect. The waiting begins!!

Turkmenbashi. Dead?!

I can't believe it. The famed "President for Life" of Turkmenistan just died. I'm strangely crushed, and I can't help wondering who the western media will be able to turn to in order to find crazy dictators. Oh wait, that shouldn't be hard (actually, I was just noting an article about crazy old Ahmadinejad in the IHT today as well).

But really, Turkmenbashi (Saparmurat Miyazov) was in a league of his own, and shall be missed (with the exception of the oppressive dictatory parts). In honor of his passing, I direct you to his Wikipedia biography, and share some important Turkmenbashi facts:

-"He banned video games, gold teeth, opera and ballet, and once encouraged his people to chew on bones — good, he said, for their dental health." (IHT)

-"He forbade independent news media and opposition parties, jailed rivals or drove them to exile, and imposed his name, words and image on all manner of public discourse and life." (IHT)

-"Global Witness, a private organization in London that campaigns against corruption, expressed concern about money held in Deutsche Bank that had been under Niyazov's control. It said that $2 billion to $3 billion were in an account used to accept payments from Turkmenistan's gas customers, but that Niyazov routinely used the account for personal expenses and vanity projects." (IHT)

-"Claiming Turkmenistan to be a nation devoid of a national identity, he attempted to rebuild the country to his own vision. He renamed the town of Krasnovodsk, on the Caspian Sea, Türkmenbaşy after himself, in addition to renaming several schools, airports and even a meteorite after himself and his immediate family. He even named the months, and days of the week after himself and his family; January becoming Turkmenbashi.[4] Niyazov's face appears on Manat banknotes and large portraits of the president hang all over the country, especially on major public buildings and avenues. Statues of himself and his mother are scattered all over Turkmenistan, including one in the middle of the Karakum Desert as well as a gold-plated statue atop Aşgabat's largest building, the Neutrality Arch, that rotates so it will always face into the sun and shine light onto the capital city." (Wikipedia)

Holy Random, Batman!

I'm in a random mood, and I'm listening to Nat King Cole sing Spanish ballads, so I thought I'd post...cause why not really?

Saw two articles that I found uber interesting and did have to share about China. As a student of culture, I found China establishes initial database for intangible cultural heritage an interesting discussion of culture in China. And also, from the IHT, we have a great article about free cabbage. Seriously, check it out.

Other random thoughts: I'm now addicted to mince pies. Damn you England! Also, Casino Royale, thumbs down!! Bond like barely even has an English accent, and what good is Bond sans suaveness?!?!?! Facebook is fun, even if I am just a recent convert.

Oh, and happy holidays!

Indonesian HuaQiao

So now that I posted my blog entry, I decided to head over to the IHT to see what's up in the world. And like I often do, I found a fascinating article that I just had to share, this one is about overseas Chinese in Indonesia.

Now, I don't know much about the situation of Chinese in Indonesia, with the exception of the fact that tensions between Chinese and "indigenous" populations run high. In 1998, for example, in Jakarta, there was a huge massacre of the Chinese population.

But things are apparently getting better, or at least that's what this article claims. The quote that really struck me though is as follows:

"As late as last year, a U.S. court of appeal ruled that the threat of violence was enough to justify a Chinese Indonesian to seek asylum."

I had no notion.

Wikiwiki, what?

I'm not even sure what I clicked to get to this article, but I thought it was really quite funny and vaguely useful. There are diagrams and everything. Still don't think it'd work on the top story of a double-decker...but then you're not really supposed to stand up there anyway...

How to Remain Standing While Riding a Bus

Really, what would we do without wikihow?

Oh France

I'm like Zorro, you rarely see him, but you know he's there."

- Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of France's far-right, xenophobic, send-the-immigrants-back-home party, the National Front

Here's a tip

In my most recent assignment, I've been busy looking up reporters from various news sources throughout the US. The fun part about this job is that I get to see what news is important in different parts of the US. For example, yesterday had a main feature from pretty much every airport talking about people throwing out their make-up.

Today's top story from the Indianapolis Star? Terrorism? Bombings? Lebanon? Of course not.

Nope, today's top story: Having a Cow- Bovine birthing tent a big hit with fairgoers

Now, I've seen cows giving birth before, I mean I grew up in Colorado. It's an interesting thing to watch, I'm sure, but front page news? Come on. Although, maybe Indiana is just trying to justify why it should be the state with the most terrorist targets in the US by pointing them out.

If you've never seen a cow give birth before, I would recommend checking out the "Cow Cam" link on the left of the page.