This is truly a PS. The blog has ran its course but seeing this immediately made me think back. The 2009 The W. Eugene Smith fund awarded the annual $30.000 prize for humanitarian photography went to Lu Guang.
ChinaHush has the pictures with comments up for viewing. You may well found these photos somewhere else too, but please see for yourself if you haven't:
http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Central China Drought
If you've followed the China news carefully you've come across the drought already.
Perhaps it's not worth it to share the full statistics again, but there are 200 million farmers suffering from a lack of water for crops and drinking. The image I dug up should cue you in on how large a piece of China we're talking about. You can find the rest from any site offering more complete news coverage.
I wish I could offer more valuable insight to this, but I've never been to these areas and I recognize I Don't Know that part of China. However, potable water is in my opinion the one issue which could cause severe unrest in China. Healthcare has improved in less than 10 years significantly. Human rights are on their way up and people are less impoverished - all these contribute to the stability. And at the moment China is stabile. However, these do not mean much to people who have no water to drink.
China is working on it, and we will need to wait and see if the efforts are effective. I hope the millions of hectars of wheat affected are not a sign of worse to come. They plan to cut the amount of water used per dollar of GDP significantly by 2020. It's a lofty goal, but perhaps not impossible.
OP Out.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
No Fireworks Allowed
Firecrackers are perhaps the most traditional Chinese firework. There are more traditional ways to celebrate the New Year, including hanging of the red papers at doorways, but fireworks make more headlines.
I looked back a little and found several separate pieces of news. Like most China news they report a number, a cause and a province. (Quite a departure of Who, Where, When, What -reporting, eh?) The numbers were small, 6 dead, 13 dead and so on, but they all were preventable. Explosions in fireworks factories, some illegal facilities some lisenced.
The most recent reminder of worker safety training comes fresh, last night from Beijing. Monday marked the end of the New Year celebrations. The Chinese traditionally celebrate the first full moon of the New Year with fireworks rivalled only by the New Year's Eve itself. Last night a 44-floor building paid the price.
I'll link the Reuters piece since they have better pictures this time around. (Please note the casualty information in the linked piece of news is wrong.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090209/ap_on_re_as/as_china_hotel_fire
Cause? Workers celebrating. At the top of a construction yard at night, with fireworks. Numbers? Six, five of whom were firefighters. Aside from those the two points I'm interested in whether the higher-ups realize this is something you fix with worker safety training, not fireworks bans, and if the builders still have the money to finish the tower. I assume no and no.
OP Out.
I looked back a little and found several separate pieces of news. Like most China news they report a number, a cause and a province. (Quite a departure of Who, Where, When, What -reporting, eh?) The numbers were small, 6 dead, 13 dead and so on, but they all were preventable. Explosions in fireworks factories, some illegal facilities some lisenced.
The most recent reminder of worker safety training comes fresh, last night from Beijing. Monday marked the end of the New Year celebrations. The Chinese traditionally celebrate the first full moon of the New Year with fireworks rivalled only by the New Year's Eve itself. Last night a 44-floor building paid the price.
I'll link the Reuters piece since they have better pictures this time around. (Please note the casualty information in the linked piece of news is wrong.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090209/ap_on_re_as/as_china_hotel_fire
Cause? Workers celebrating. At the top of a construction yard at night, with fireworks. Numbers? Six, five of whom were firefighters. Aside from those the two points I'm interested in whether the higher-ups realize this is something you fix with worker safety training, not fireworks bans, and if the builders still have the money to finish the tower. I assume no and no.
OP Out.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
China
How China looks from Finland? At the moment it looks like another planet, because it seems so distant. The news from China have been recently focusing on rather trivial issues, such as talking about how Chinese people spent their Chinese New Year in Finland, or then they talk about tragedies or scandals happening in China.
I don't know why it is like this, because to me China seems like a nation that is going to matter, for example in the world's economical development, a great deal. Well, on the other hand, every country seems to have troubles of their own in this moment, but regardless, I'm sure there are things happening in China every day.
I can't say I could hooray for Finnish media anyways, but still, considering how big China has come, it has struck me when I'm now back in Finland, how small amount of news from there actually reaches here.
I don't know why it is like this, because to me China seems like a nation that is going to matter, for example in the world's economical development, a great deal. Well, on the other hand, every country seems to have troubles of their own in this moment, but regardless, I'm sure there are things happening in China every day.
I can't say I could hooray for Finnish media anyways, but still, considering how big China has come, it has struck me when I'm now back in Finland, how small amount of news from there actually reaches here.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
More Poor Reporting
One more example of poor reporting:
"BEIJING (Reuters) – China denounced a protester at Cambridge University who threw a shoe at visiting Premier Wen Jiabao, but nevertheless hailed Wen's visit as a success and avoided widespread reporting of the incident."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090203/wl_nm/us_china_britain_shoe
The problem with this piece of news? They say China avoided widespread reporting of a shoe thrown at the prime minister, but later in the same piece of news they admit the foreign ministry included the shoe in a press release on their website. Oops.
Want one more? The issue was even brought up in the main evening news on CCTV, in a nationwide broadcast. They reported the facts as is and proceeded to note the visit still achieved it's goals and that a shoe won't affect UK - China trade relations. Oops again. That piece of China Brand News was brought to you by Chris Buckley and Yu Le; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani. They suck. Their reporting had an outright wrong fact in the midst, and using this they drew wrong conclusions.
OP Out.
"BEIJING (Reuters) – China denounced a protester at Cambridge University who threw a shoe at visiting Premier Wen Jiabao, but nevertheless hailed Wen's visit as a success and avoided widespread reporting of the incident."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090203/wl_nm/us_china_britain_shoe
The problem with this piece of news? They say China avoided widespread reporting of a shoe thrown at the prime minister, but later in the same piece of news they admit the foreign ministry included the shoe in a press release on their website. Oops.
Want one more? The issue was even brought up in the main evening news on CCTV, in a nationwide broadcast. They reported the facts as is and proceeded to note the visit still achieved it's goals and that a shoe won't affect UK - China trade relations. Oops again. That piece of China Brand News was brought to you by Chris Buckley and Yu Le; Editing by Nick Macfie and Sanjeev Miglani. They suck. Their reporting had an outright wrong fact in the midst, and using this they drew wrong conclusions.
OP Out.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Usable Statistics - The Chinese Market for Foreign Companies
The National Bureau of Statistics released new information regarding the real urban disposable income per capita. The figures given were as follows:
Real disposable income per capita of China's urban and rural residents in 2008 rose 8.4 pct and 8.0 pct, respectively.
The growth was slower than 2007 levels of 12.2 pct and 9.5 pct.
NBS also said per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 15,781 yuan while that of rural residents was 4,761 yuan.
I'll help you a little further and give you the urban population stat, it's over 577 million (sorry for the 2006 figure, but somewhere under 600 million is about right I believe.)
What this means is that foreign companies eyeing China as a market do not have 1.3 billion potential customers. They don't even have have 600 million potential customers if their product is too expensive.
The richer potential customer who lives in a city has a rough 1300 RMB a month to spend. For reference, that's about 190 USD. But that doesn't really matter, the exchange rate doesn't come in to play when you have a certain amount of available money and shops offer certain products. What matters is that people take a long, long time to purchase items which cost more than they have available in a month. It's a simple thought, of course, but it means the people focus on purchasing things which cost single digit percentages of their available money, as well as low double-digits more seldom.
Now consider entering the Chinese market. You have 600 million customers who are willing to spend 1% - 25% of their available money on a purchase. This is not a real statistic but the point is valid. The money spent is around 13 RMB to 325 RMB. This is what a foreign company will have to consider as their more affluent customer. Suddenly it isn't a very welcoming market with 1.3 potential customers, is it?
Now consider there already exist a Chinese alternative for most of the goods foreigners would import. Anything from electronics to clothing to food can be made differently enough to be unique and brought here, but there will be a domestic good that is at least somewhat similar and cheaper.
Recall the first statistic the next time you see a movie studio or a software producer complain about piracy in China. It's not that the Chinese love copies for the sake of copying, it's because the legal alternative is priced way out of their range. Want to sell Windows Vista here and price it at 140 dollars? Well don't be surprised at the huge backlash when your anti-piracy tool blacks out thousands of computer screens and the people are angry at your software. But that's just one example showing how difficult a market China is for foreign companies. And this comes up before you even think of the trouble localizing your product.
OP Out.
Real disposable income per capita of China's urban and rural residents in 2008 rose 8.4 pct and 8.0 pct, respectively.
The growth was slower than 2007 levels of 12.2 pct and 9.5 pct.
NBS also said per-capita disposable income of urban residents was 15,781 yuan while that of rural residents was 4,761 yuan.
I'll help you a little further and give you the urban population stat, it's over 577 million (sorry for the 2006 figure, but somewhere under 600 million is about right I believe.)
What this means is that foreign companies eyeing China as a market do not have 1.3 billion potential customers. They don't even have have 600 million potential customers if their product is too expensive.
The richer potential customer who lives in a city has a rough 1300 RMB a month to spend. For reference, that's about 190 USD. But that doesn't really matter, the exchange rate doesn't come in to play when you have a certain amount of available money and shops offer certain products. What matters is that people take a long, long time to purchase items which cost more than they have available in a month. It's a simple thought, of course, but it means the people focus on purchasing things which cost single digit percentages of their available money, as well as low double-digits more seldom.
Now consider entering the Chinese market. You have 600 million customers who are willing to spend 1% - 25% of their available money on a purchase. This is not a real statistic but the point is valid. The money spent is around 13 RMB to 325 RMB. This is what a foreign company will have to consider as their more affluent customer. Suddenly it isn't a very welcoming market with 1.3 potential customers, is it?
Now consider there already exist a Chinese alternative for most of the goods foreigners would import. Anything from electronics to clothing to food can be made differently enough to be unique and brought here, but there will be a domestic good that is at least somewhat similar and cheaper.
Recall the first statistic the next time you see a movie studio or a software producer complain about piracy in China. It's not that the Chinese love copies for the sake of copying, it's because the legal alternative is priced way out of their range. Want to sell Windows Vista here and price it at 140 dollars? Well don't be surprised at the huge backlash when your anti-piracy tool blacks out thousands of computer screens and the people are angry at your software. But that's just one example showing how difficult a market China is for foreign companies. And this comes up before you even think of the trouble localizing your product.
OP Out.
Friday, January 2, 2009
China Brand News, Continued
The real news item is how China feels it should have a working 3G cellular network. And beign China, they want to have local technology in the mix. Rumor and hearsay say that the local test 3G network isn't realiable at all, but hey, they can improve right? Or at least sell massive quantities to drown small complaints such as call dropping or inexplicable signal loss (you can call this the iPhone 3G method.)
AP News is reporting on this too. They state they don't know who is getting the 3G licenses and instead talked of technology distribution. No original research involved, as it appears the news item is a translation of a press release. It's weak reporting through and through, but what irked me was the last note.
They added a More on the Net section to the end. And remember, this is for a piece of news they translated and posted for people who assumedly need the translation - otherwise they wouldn't have a motive posting:
"On the Net:
Chinese Cabinet (in Chinese): http://www.gov.cn"
They linked to the Chinese Goverment website. In Chinese. I can do one better. Here's the English website of the Chinese Government AP was too lazy to dig up http://english.gov.cn/ and here's the same news AP reported:
http://english.gov.cn/2008-12/31/content_1193250.htm
Compare it to the AP post:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_telecoms
They just didn't have the balls to credit it further or provide a proper link to the content.
The China Brand News. a Quick Fix of reporting.
OP Out.
AP News is reporting on this too. They state they don't know who is getting the 3G licenses and instead talked of technology distribution. No original research involved, as it appears the news item is a translation of a press release. It's weak reporting through and through, but what irked me was the last note.
They added a More on the Net section to the end. And remember, this is for a piece of news they translated and posted for people who assumedly need the translation - otherwise they wouldn't have a motive posting:
"On the Net:
Chinese Cabinet (in Chinese): http://www.gov.cn"
They linked to the Chinese Goverment website. In Chinese. I can do one better. Here's the English website of the Chinese Government AP was too lazy to dig up http://english.gov.cn/ and here's the same news AP reported:
http://english.gov.cn/2008-12/31/content_1193250.htm
Compare it to the AP post:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_telecoms
They just didn't have the balls to credit it further or provide a proper link to the content.
The China Brand News. a Quick Fix of reporting.
OP Out.
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Nice Way to Show Power
So, I'm writing on a snowy day. December wasn't as cold last year and this year delighted my wife with ice falling out of the sky. A first for her.
China in general has another "first" going on. They are taking part of the international anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia. You might recall a news item a little while back where pirates captured a cargo ship loaded with tanks, spare parts and ammunition. The ransom demand was in millions of dollars and they still hold the ship captive. The Russians sent the Sovremenny missile destroyer to the area, but so far the ship has yet to be released. A little later and now the Chinese are also going in.
They aren't going in for the Russian tanks, of course. They are doing it because the Gulf of Aden is an important shipping route and because the international effort already rescued the Chinese merchant Zhenhua 4 last Wednesday. It's most likely a tacit show of force as well. Nothing threathening, but a quiet reminder that yes, China has a modern navy and is capable of deploying it outside of local waters. Unfortunately the news in English haven't stated which ships China is going to send. The People' Liberation Army Navy has quite a few modern ships to show off, including the two 1996 bought Sovremenny's and the two improved models of the same, bought in 2001. I'm hoping of course they send the destroyer Taizhou (it's the latter, an 956EM Sovremenny.) I wouldn't be surprised if the group of three ships being sent includes one of the newer domestic destroyers too.
The Chinese have said they will play nice, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao: "Chinese naval vessels will strictly follow U.N. Security Council resolutions and international laws. They are willing to work with other countries and to take part in humanitarian relief tasks." I'm not even joking when I say there's no reason to doubt this. The Chinese only showed interest in the operation after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved of the action and the Chinese merchants have had pirate trouble.
Yes, to be honest I expected to see more cool warship pics in the news. If you share a bit of similar interest, here's a link to the news item and to the Sovremenny.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081220/wl_nm/us_somalia_piracy_china
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/956.htm
OP Out.
China in general has another "first" going on. They are taking part of the international anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia. You might recall a news item a little while back where pirates captured a cargo ship loaded with tanks, spare parts and ammunition. The ransom demand was in millions of dollars and they still hold the ship captive. The Russians sent the Sovremenny missile destroyer to the area, but so far the ship has yet to be released. A little later and now the Chinese are also going in.
They aren't going in for the Russian tanks, of course. They are doing it because the Gulf of Aden is an important shipping route and because the international effort already rescued the Chinese merchant Zhenhua 4 last Wednesday. It's most likely a tacit show of force as well. Nothing threathening, but a quiet reminder that yes, China has a modern navy and is capable of deploying it outside of local waters. Unfortunately the news in English haven't stated which ships China is going to send. The People' Liberation Army Navy has quite a few modern ships to show off, including the two 1996 bought Sovremenny's and the two improved models of the same, bought in 2001. I'm hoping of course they send the destroyer Taizhou (it's the latter, an 956EM Sovremenny.) I wouldn't be surprised if the group of three ships being sent includes one of the newer domestic destroyers too.
The Chinese have said they will play nice, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao: "Chinese naval vessels will strictly follow U.N. Security Council resolutions and international laws. They are willing to work with other countries and to take part in humanitarian relief tasks." I'm not even joking when I say there's no reason to doubt this. The Chinese only showed interest in the operation after the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved of the action and the Chinese merchants have had pirate trouble.
Yes, to be honest I expected to see more cool warship pics in the news. If you share a bit of similar interest, here's a link to the news item and to the Sovremenny.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081220/wl_nm/us_somalia_piracy_china
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/row/rus/956.htm
OP Out.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The eco news headlines are all bad, but is it really?
I'll comment on my new apartment with photos later. Markvs asked for some pics and I've taken a few, but haven't uploaded any. They are coming, though.
Here's a bit of ecological news I picked up. Don't drink water from the Yellow River:
"The Yellow River, the second-longest in China, has seen its water quality deteriorate rapidly in the last few years, as discharge from factories increases and water levels drop because of diversion for booming cities.
The river supplies a region chronically short of water but rich in industry.
The Yellow River Conservancy Committee said 33.8 percent of the river's water sampled registered worse than level 5, meaning it's unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Program.
Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — water considered safe for household use.
Industry and manufacturing made up 70 percent of the discharge into the river, the notice said, with 23 percent coming from households and 6.4 percent from other sources. The notice did not identify specific pollutants."
The numbers above are not relevant, but what is, is the fact that the pollution is being acknowledeged. The real hope anyone can have at this point is that no other agency comes up with a competing study saying the water is safe (with percentages of their own.) Remember, there is no need to worry for the environment per se - you need to worry for the people living in the environment.
The news post lists a few other previous events related to water quality. Note this one: "In February pollution turned part of a major river system in central China red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people."
That is a case where nothing was done until the water was visibly unusable. Red and foamy. The problem is that the factories near the rivers are important to the local citizens. Working in a factory can offer a steady, safe and comfortable conditions compared to farming. And I'm not joking. Amid all the crap you hear about labour laws in China the factories are important sources for employment in many areas. You can't close them and say "go environment." But at least in this case, we are noting the water pollution before the river is red and foamy. There's hope that it doesn't become as bad.
Perhaps it will be easier to control pollution growth next year. The forecast is lower, coming to a 7.5% economic growth. That's the lowest rate since 1990. Keep it in mind when you evaluate environmental news in the coming year. The challenges are huge and control mechanisms often need to be built from the ground up. Small factories and shops have none existent or next to none environmental control.
But remember, China is trying. You might have heard Hong Kong has natual gas taxis running around, but did you know so does Guangzhou? Actually, Guangzhou has natural gas taxis and electric buses. I've even taken a trip in a domestically produced gas taxi in Guangzhou, very few cities let alone countries have similar setups. On a related note, Shell just agreed to sell two million tonnes of liquified naural gas to Petrochina under a 20 year contract.
The full newsposts are available at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_re_as/as_china_polluted_river
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_economy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_shell_lng
OP out.
Here's a bit of ecological news I picked up. Don't drink water from the Yellow River:
"The Yellow River, the second-longest in China, has seen its water quality deteriorate rapidly in the last few years, as discharge from factories increases and water levels drop because of diversion for booming cities.
The river supplies a region chronically short of water but rich in industry.
The Yellow River Conservancy Committee said 33.8 percent of the river's water sampled registered worse than level 5, meaning it's unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Program.
Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — water considered safe for household use.
Industry and manufacturing made up 70 percent of the discharge into the river, the notice said, with 23 percent coming from households and 6.4 percent from other sources. The notice did not identify specific pollutants."
The numbers above are not relevant, but what is, is the fact that the pollution is being acknowledeged. The real hope anyone can have at this point is that no other agency comes up with a competing study saying the water is safe (with percentages of their own.) Remember, there is no need to worry for the environment per se - you need to worry for the people living in the environment.
The news post lists a few other previous events related to water quality. Note this one: "In February pollution turned part of a major river system in central China red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people."
That is a case where nothing was done until the water was visibly unusable. Red and foamy. The problem is that the factories near the rivers are important to the local citizens. Working in a factory can offer a steady, safe and comfortable conditions compared to farming. And I'm not joking. Amid all the crap you hear about labour laws in China the factories are important sources for employment in many areas. You can't close them and say "go environment." But at least in this case, we are noting the water pollution before the river is red and foamy. There's hope that it doesn't become as bad.
Perhaps it will be easier to control pollution growth next year. The forecast is lower, coming to a 7.5% economic growth. That's the lowest rate since 1990. Keep it in mind when you evaluate environmental news in the coming year. The challenges are huge and control mechanisms often need to be built from the ground up. Small factories and shops have none existent or next to none environmental control.
But remember, China is trying. You might have heard Hong Kong has natual gas taxis running around, but did you know so does Guangzhou? Actually, Guangzhou has natural gas taxis and electric buses. I've even taken a trip in a domestically produced gas taxi in Guangzhou, very few cities let alone countries have similar setups. On a related note, Shell just agreed to sell two million tonnes of liquified naural gas to Petrochina under a 20 year contract.
The full newsposts are available at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_re_as/as_china_polluted_river
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_economy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081125/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_shell_lng
OP out.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Vittu ku vituttaa
Vituttaa so perkeleesti, that I'm too vitun tired to write any vitun entries for this or last week. I had a topic, but it was too diluted to post. 100 motrocyclists beat-up a car who tried to pass the mob after an accident in center of Kuala Lumpur. Whoopee. There it is anyway.
Albeit that is not what vituttaa me, but other things. Vitun vittu.
Markvs out. Vittu.
Albeit that is not what vituttaa me, but other things. Vitun vittu.
Markvs out. Vittu.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
From Finland, for a Change
News from Finland Follows.
For our Finnish speaking readers here's the YLE link:
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/oikea/id107158.html
For everyone else:
In Finland, Imatra, the local vicar (I think the translation vicar, a clergyman, I mean a clergyman) is going to undergo a sex change operation. A Finnish newspaper interviewed the man, soon to be woman, who told the media he had been found transgenered and will begin the corrective treatments early next year.
The local bishop in the Church has promised to talk with the man in person next week and discuss whether it will be possible for the vicar to continue in his current occupation.
I'm sure the bishop is in a difficult position. The church in Finland cannot really hold on to all of the traditional views and you most certainly cannot fire an employee over a medical procedure. On the other hand, I assume, it will be difficult for the bishop personally to accept this change. And it will most definitely set a precident in Finland. It should be interesting to see the follow up. Remember, the idea of allowing gay people to register their relationship is a relatively new idea - allowing gay people to work for the church is newer still.
I personlly hope he wil be allowed to continue should he so choose and I hope the congregation is open-minded enough to accept him back to his old duties once the treatments are over.
OP out.
For our Finnish speaking readers here's the YLE link:
http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/oikea/id107158.html
For everyone else:
In Finland, Imatra, the local vicar (I think the translation vicar, a clergyman, I mean a clergyman) is going to undergo a sex change operation. A Finnish newspaper interviewed the man, soon to be woman, who told the media he had been found transgenered and will begin the corrective treatments early next year.
The local bishop in the Church has promised to talk with the man in person next week and discuss whether it will be possible for the vicar to continue in his current occupation.
I'm sure the bishop is in a difficult position. The church in Finland cannot really hold on to all of the traditional views and you most certainly cannot fire an employee over a medical procedure. On the other hand, I assume, it will be difficult for the bishop personally to accept this change. And it will most definitely set a precident in Finland. It should be interesting to see the follow up. Remember, the idea of allowing gay people to register their relationship is a relatively new idea - allowing gay people to work for the church is newer still.
I personlly hope he wil be allowed to continue should he so choose and I hope the congregation is open-minded enough to accept him back to his old duties once the treatments are over.
OP out.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
New Figures
I've been thinking whether I should post about all the bad news I read from China after all or not. But this one I will share with you.
In Zhuhai, at the town of Baijiao (Guandong province,) a truck driver allegedly had a row with the police over traffic violations and swore revenge. This is not for certain. But what is for certain is that the truck driver ran intentionally in to a group of highschool students leaving school, killing 4 students, a parent and injured 20 others, some severely. Three are still critical or in a coma.
I haven't reported here of the recent landslides, with bigger numbers attached to them. But the volume of bad news isn't going down at all. I'm actually starting to understand the Chinese Government's idea of the freedom of press. If the press, instead of neutrally reporting all news flocks like a pack of vulture to the scene only if there is a carcass involved shouldn't someone push them away? I hope the news actually give the same courtesy as other countries would have.
When a tragedy occurs in a Western country it is reported and then followed up by articles of the grief work the involved. It's closure and I can imagine it worth a lot for the people reading of their life in the news. But no so much in foreign news about China. Unless it's a total disaster, the news reports a figure and swoops after the next corpse.
I've in the past critqued the Chinese news about their attitudes. But in a case like this, it's the Chinese news who follow up and bring up angles to the news, other than a casualty figure.
Me reading news to you is getting old, I believe, but it's partly me trying to form a reasonable view for myself, between the mistruths and slanted opinionated news.
See for yourself if you think this is reasonable and sufficient coverage of the issue. This is an updated article, but they only bothered to update it since the numbers grew.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081106/wl_asia_afp/chinaaccidentschool
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Bedroom magic
There's two kinds of magic that generally happen in bedrooms. The first one is what you all thought I would preach about, the second is geckos.
Geckos are awesome. In many countries, you'd have to build a big terrarium with funky gadgets for life-support and all that to have a pet gecko - and you'd have to feed them. Here, they are self-sufficient and don't even ask for permission to be your pet. They invite themselves in and make it home. Granted, they run around so fast that you don't get to see them a lot (that's why I don't have a picture taken of one yet). So, as such a pet, they're not as much fun maybe, even less so than a cat.
So, what's so bedroom magical about gecko's?
Well, the 'bedroom' parts comes from the fact that they invite themselves in, and pretty much go wherever they feel like going. Including the bedroom. Killing a gecko is not like killing a mosquito (a lot messier, and quite difficult as well - hence I've skipped that part so far), so they pretty much get their way. Besides, geckos are cool and they are effective insect-killing-machines so why would I want to kill one anyway? I can choose between having a cool gecko around, or a bunch of cockroaches and other insects. Not a difficult pick. Thus, if they want to go to the bedroom, they can, and they will. Luckily that doesn't happen so often, and usually not at a time when humans inhabit the bedroom - they have thing about people around and cool air (aircon).
The 'magic' part comes from the fact that geckos operate 97% on magic. This came as a surprise to me as I was researching into their case.
You noticed how geckos can walk on walls like it was no problem? That is because it is not a problem for them. In fact, they're wall-walking-wonders: No suction cups, no stickyness, liquids or surface tension! They stick to walls because (wikipedia):
Now get this (wikipedia again):
Artur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", and I can definiteky agree with that. With geckos, moreso, it's not even a technology - it's what they do naturally. Super awesome!
Now, I suppose that wraps it for geckos. I know there are tons of animals and creatures around with magical abilities. I just thought I'd share my liking to the powers of the gecko - since they've taken a liking to running around my apartment walls.
On the topic of bedroom magic, I could mention my thinking on the human bedroom magic as well, for what it comes to Asia and also how everything relates to my post earlier about sucky jobs.
Don't worry, this is mostly quite scientifical and proper.
In the 'working nations' of Asia (my freshly inveted word for China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) people work as if it was the sole purpose of human life. Or so it seems. In my sucky jobs post I brought the example of factory workers who most likely have to skip large parts of their personal life just to be able to work efficiently (and not lose their jobs). In Hong Kong, many people work 10-12 hours a day and have some overtime on top of that as well - 6 days a week.
In Japan, full-time workers, both male and female, average 55 hours of work per week. One in three men aged 30-40 puts in more than 60 hours a week. Half of them are not even being paid for any of their overtime. There was even a deathcase in July, when a 45-year-old engineer at Toyota died after working more than 80 hours of overtime a month.
In Korea, people rank highest in working hours in OECD country study: with 2390 hours a year (quick calculation: 2390 / 52 = 45.96), that's roughly 46 hours a week. South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or "karoshi" (過労死) is a recognized phenomenon (wikipedia).
Anyway, to put a long story short, is it a wonder that the "working nations" of Asia rank low in sex studies? I just had a look at the Durex2005 Global Sex Survey, and under "Frequency of sex", you'll see that Japan ranks lowest (45 per year), Singapore (73), Hong Kong (78), Taiwan (88), China (96), all well below the global average (103). Finland scored 102 and the 'winner' was Greece with a score of 138. Sweden, for some reason, scored only 92. South Korea was not included.
I'm sure culture plays a very big part in this; the general view on sex and dating, and all that. However, if you spend such a great portion of your day at work, busting your balls (figuratively speaking especially if a girl/woman), you don't have much energy for anything - especially if you get home late and need to wake up early again. You manage to put some time for sex too, of course, but no way as much as the life-loving Europeans or other westeners who have jobs only to pay for the "life" and work as little as possible.
I don't know how Sweden's low (or the relatively low score of Finland) fit to this theory of mine, except that maybe the sampling wasn't really good - or, especially in Finland's case, plans for sex are frequent, but with alcohol and late-nights in the mix too, perhaps people tend to pass out and fall asleep before any action happens. Who knows.
Well anyway, that's all about bedroom magic now. Remember, geckos rock!
Tchau.
1 In, the van der Waals force (or van der Waals interaction), named after Dutch scientist, is the attractive or repulsive force between molecules (or between parts of the same molecule) other than those due to or to the electrostatic interaction of ions with one another or with neutral molecules.
Geckos are awesome. In many countries, you'd have to build a big terrarium with funky gadgets for life-support and all that to have a pet gecko - and you'd have to feed them. Here, they are self-sufficient and don't even ask for permission to be your pet. They invite themselves in and make it home. Granted, they run around so fast that you don't get to see them a lot (that's why I don't have a picture taken of one yet). So, as such a pet, they're not as much fun maybe, even less so than a cat.
So, what's so bedroom magical about gecko's?
Well, the 'bedroom' parts comes from the fact that they invite themselves in, and pretty much go wherever they feel like going. Including the bedroom. Killing a gecko is not like killing a mosquito (a lot messier, and quite difficult as well - hence I've skipped that part so far), so they pretty much get their way. Besides, geckos are cool and they are effective insect-killing-machines so why would I want to kill one anyway? I can choose between having a cool gecko around, or a bunch of cockroaches and other insects. Not a difficult pick. Thus, if they want to go to the bedroom, they can, and they will. Luckily that doesn't happen so often, and usually not at a time when humans inhabit the bedroom - they have thing about people around and cool air (aircon).
The 'magic' part comes from the fact that geckos operate 97% on magic. This came as a surprise to me as I was researching into their case.
You noticed how geckos can walk on walls like it was no problem? That is because it is not a problem for them. In fact, they're wall-walking-wonders: No suction cups, no stickyness, liquids or surface tension! They stick to walls because (wikipedia):
- ...the patula tipped setae on gecko footpads demonstrate that the attractive forces that hold geckos to surfaces are van der Waals interactions1 between the finely divided setae and the surfaces themselves
- Every square millimeter of a gecko's footpad contains about 14,000 hair-like setae
- Each seta has a diameter of 5 micrometers (human hair varies from 18 to 180 micrometer, so a human hair could hold between 3 to 30 setae)
- Each seta is in turn tipped with between 100 and 1,000 spatulae
- Each spatula is 0.2 micrometres long (200 billionths of a metre), or just below the wavelength of visible light
Now get this (wikipedia again):
- Geckos' toes operate well below their full attractive capabilities for most of the time (...because there is a great margin for error depending upon the roughness of the surface [and so they compensate and leave room for error])
- If a typical mature 70 g gecko had every one of its setae in contact with a surface, it would be capable of holding aloft a weight of 133 kg
Artur C. Clarke said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", and I can definiteky agree with that. With geckos, moreso, it's not even a technology - it's what they do naturally. Super awesome!
Now, I suppose that wraps it for geckos. I know there are tons of animals and creatures around with magical abilities. I just thought I'd share my liking to the powers of the gecko - since they've taken a liking to running around my apartment walls.
On the topic of bedroom magic, I could mention my thinking on the human bedroom magic as well, for what it comes to Asia and also how everything relates to my post earlier about sucky jobs.
Don't worry, this is mostly quite scientifical and proper.
In the 'working nations' of Asia (my freshly inveted word for China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) people work as if it was the sole purpose of human life. Or so it seems. In my sucky jobs post I brought the example of factory workers who most likely have to skip large parts of their personal life just to be able to work efficiently (and not lose their jobs). In Hong Kong, many people work 10-12 hours a day and have some overtime on top of that as well - 6 days a week.
In Japan, full-time workers, both male and female, average 55 hours of work per week. One in three men aged 30-40 puts in more than 60 hours a week. Half of them are not even being paid for any of their overtime. There was even a deathcase in July, when a 45-year-old engineer at Toyota died after working more than 80 hours of overtime a month.
In Korea, people rank highest in working hours in OECD country study: with 2390 hours a year (quick calculation: 2390 / 52 = 45.96), that's roughly 46 hours a week. South Korea and Japan are the only countries where death by work or "karoshi" (過労死) is a recognized phenomenon (wikipedia).
Anyway, to put a long story short, is it a wonder that the "working nations" of Asia rank low in sex studies? I just had a look at the Durex2005 Global Sex Survey, and under "Frequency of sex", you'll see that Japan ranks lowest (45 per year), Singapore (73), Hong Kong (78), Taiwan (88), China (96), all well below the global average (103). Finland scored 102 and the 'winner' was Greece with a score of 138. Sweden, for some reason, scored only 92. South Korea was not included.
I'm sure culture plays a very big part in this; the general view on sex and dating, and all that. However, if you spend such a great portion of your day at work, busting your balls (figuratively speaking especially if a girl/woman), you don't have much energy for anything - especially if you get home late and need to wake up early again. You manage to put some time for sex too, of course, but no way as much as the life-loving Europeans or other westeners who have jobs only to pay for the "life" and work as little as possible.
I don't know how Sweden's low (or the relatively low score of Finland) fit to this theory of mine, except that maybe the sampling wasn't really good - or, especially in Finland's case, plans for sex are frequent, but with alcohol and late-nights in the mix too, perhaps people tend to pass out and fall asleep before any action happens. Who knows.
Well anyway, that's all about bedroom magic now. Remember, geckos rock!
Tchau.
1 In, the van der Waals force (or van der Waals interaction), named after Dutch scientist, is the attractive or repulsive force between molecules (or between parts of the same molecule) other than those due to or to the electrostatic interaction of ions with one another or with neutral molecules.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Bad Reporting
Remember when I talked about the China brand news? Well, the agencies are still at it, releasing any story that has a number and the word China in it - assuming the number is a casualty count. And sometimes this leads to poor reporting. Today's example is proudly brought to you by Yahoo! News:
"BEIJING – China's official Xinhua News Agency says 12 people have died after an elevator plunged at a construction site in east China.
Xinhua says the elevator fell Thursday morning on a housing construction site called "Sunshine City" in east Fujian province. Rescue efforts have been launched and local officials are investigating the incident.
No other details were available.
Workplace and industrial accidents are common in China, where safety measures have not always kept pace with rapid economic development."
And that's the entire newspost. It even goes to say "No other details were available." This wouldn't be too bad, but they will post no follow-up to the story. There's no backing to the last sentence and it doesn't really offer valuable background information either. This is what I would call bare minimum news. You write what, where and when and press post. It's not much different from Blogging, but more should be expected of news reporting. Perhaps it's reminecent of the time of minimal newspaper notes when you didn't have the pages available. But this is not a printed media.
Be careful with the China news, they underperform in many ways.
OP out.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Cuts and Saucers
Haircuts, flying saucers.
I have been writing about haircuts previously also in one of my blogs. But anyways, generally, haircuts in Asia are nice: Cheaper than in EU, they always wash, sometimes massage, and the feeling is overall refreshingly gay. Its not one of those overweight lung cancer mamas playing with your hair, its either your Japanese school girl fantasy or alternatively gay Kim's super-fantastic gay barber.
I had the gay alternative today, but I'm really happy with the result. "Senior Stylist" was 65 RM and considering how rarely I bother to even comb my hair, I'd say the price was fair. But definitely on the fucking expensive side when Malaysian haircutting is concerned. I think you can get a regular haircut with 10-15RM if you're not too picky nor staying in the expensive areas.
On another news, I found out that Malaysia is being stalked by an U.F.O. I'm not that scared honestly, but I can already see the mass hysteria after I post this pic so let's just do it for the fuck of it;
Picture was taken by my girlfriend. That's an obvious Nazi UFO right there. Behold!
I have been writing about haircuts previously also in one of my blogs. But anyways, generally, haircuts in Asia are nice: Cheaper than in EU, they always wash, sometimes massage, and the feeling is overall refreshingly gay. Its not one of those overweight lung cancer mamas playing with your hair, its either your Japanese school girl fantasy or alternatively gay Kim's super-fantastic gay barber.
I had the gay alternative today, but I'm really happy with the result. "Senior Stylist" was 65 RM and considering how rarely I bother to even comb my hair, I'd say the price was fair. But definitely on the fucking expensive side when Malaysian haircutting is concerned. I think you can get a regular haircut with 10-15RM if you're not too picky nor staying in the expensive areas.
On another news, I found out that Malaysia is being stalked by an U.F.O. I'm not that scared honestly, but I can already see the mass hysteria after I post this pic so let's just do it for the fuck of it;
Picture was taken by my girlfriend. That's an obvious Nazi UFO right there. Behold!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Saving Face
The Olympics gave a great amount of face to the Chinese, too bad the Chinese children had to suffer for it. I don't mean the children working for Nike or Adidas (and they do use child labor) but the fact that China knew about the Melamine tainted milk powder but hushed the media.
Sanlu (the biggest baby formula manufacturer in China, also blamed) recieved the first complaints of sick babies last December and the first death occurred 1st of May. Newsreporters were prevented from investigating and reporting the incidents, in order not to tarnish the olympics.
Here's the newspost, from AFP, through Yahoo!:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081001/wl_afp/chinafoodsafetychildmedia
It was an intentional act to add Melamine to the milk powder. Then it was deliberately covered up. 50.000+ babies got sick and four died.
OP out.
Sanlu (the biggest baby formula manufacturer in China, also blamed) recieved the first complaints of sick babies last December and the first death occurred 1st of May. Newsreporters were prevented from investigating and reporting the incidents, in order not to tarnish the olympics.
Here's the newspost, from AFP, through Yahoo!:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081001/wl_afp/chinafoodsafetychildmedia
It was an intentional act to add Melamine to the milk powder. Then it was deliberately covered up. 50.000+ babies got sick and four died.
OP out.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The Chinese Space Program
So now the Chinese TV show presenting their most recent space exploits is saying the US moon landing might have been fake and that they might have not placed a flag there afterall.
Oh, and that the reporters didn't get a confirmation/denial for their accusations.
I've no idea who if anyone they've tried contacting, but I have no doubt they failed.
For a long time I've been giving the Chinese some slack. Well guess what?
The Chinese do not understand that attempting to discredit a simple fact from 30 years ago only makes them look stupid. I will no longer give a damn for their worthless space program. Let them have their propaganda filled national spirit programming. If they make it to the moon it will be a miracle. I believe someone will steal the titanium off the rocket while nobody is watching. Most likely they have a theft alarm strapped on to it, beeping every time someone coughs loudly in a neighbouring province, providing endless frustration to anyone nearby. If only they'd stayed away from the 2 RMB knock-off.
Or maybe the corrupt officials sell the astronauts for slave labor as soon as everyone forgets them. That should be about 2 seconds after the first malfuntion in their space program becomes public - and they can only hide so many. Knowing the Chinese Quality Standards it's going to be sudden, major and catastrofic.
Recall how the Iranese had to Photoshop their launch pictures to convince the outside world 25% of their missiles don't fail? Well China has both, Photoshoppers and cheap shit rockets a-plenty. They are broadcasting the fact their astronauts have the comparable luxury of an onboard toilet. Well, you already knew their rockets were full of shit. They are attempting an EVA for this flight but the Chinese news are much like the onboard space toilets after they clog; you have no reason to believe they succeeded even if they report success.
I wanted to give this story a pass today in the morning. Check what others think about the truthful reporting in China:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space_article
China space mission article hits Web before launch (AP)
If you're not interested, the TL;DR is: "Stupid propaganda monkey didn't know when the rocket was supposed to be launched and reported anyway, including "recorded" radio transmissions."
OP Out.
Oh, and that the reporters didn't get a confirmation/denial for their accusations.
I've no idea who if anyone they've tried contacting, but I have no doubt they failed.
For a long time I've been giving the Chinese some slack. Well guess what?
The Chinese do not understand that attempting to discredit a simple fact from 30 years ago only makes them look stupid. I will no longer give a damn for their worthless space program. Let them have their propaganda filled national spirit programming. If they make it to the moon it will be a miracle. I believe someone will steal the titanium off the rocket while nobody is watching. Most likely they have a theft alarm strapped on to it, beeping every time someone coughs loudly in a neighbouring province, providing endless frustration to anyone nearby. If only they'd stayed away from the 2 RMB knock-off.
Or maybe the corrupt officials sell the astronauts for slave labor as soon as everyone forgets them. That should be about 2 seconds after the first malfuntion in their space program becomes public - and they can only hide so many. Knowing the Chinese Quality Standards it's going to be sudden, major and catastrofic.
Recall how the Iranese had to Photoshop their launch pictures to convince the outside world 25% of their missiles don't fail? Well China has both, Photoshoppers and cheap shit rockets a-plenty. They are broadcasting the fact their astronauts have the comparable luxury of an onboard toilet. Well, you already knew their rockets were full of shit. They are attempting an EVA for this flight but the Chinese news are much like the onboard space toilets after they clog; you have no reason to believe they succeeded even if they report success.
I wanted to give this story a pass today in the morning. Check what others think about the truthful reporting in China:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space_article
China space mission article hits Web before launch (AP)
If you're not interested, the TL;DR is: "Stupid propaganda monkey didn't know when the rocket was supposed to be launched and reported anyway, including "recorded" radio transmissions."
OP Out.
Monday, September 22, 2008
"China" Brand News
So why all the press from China?
Simply because there are so many news items and the numbers are always big doesn't seem to cut it. I'm sure there are other large countries where development has left things behind and news happens. India doesn't seem to get any coverage.
Of course I follow more news of China, specifically, than India - just picking an example here, but I believe there's not so much to go around with. If a fire in a night club kills 40+ (Xinhua through AP on Sunday) or a mining accident kills 30+ due to inhaled gas (AP again, on Sunday) I'm sure to read of it. But not so much of any other developing nation.
It's because China has become unique. It's not any longer a nameless statistic in the developing countries list. It's China. Think if brand goods. You have your miscallenous soap and you have your Dove. You have MP3 players and you have your iPod. And just like with brands, there are several, but people are only interested in few. You have your Zune and if you really pay attention, you might recognize the Zen from Creative. But name three after that? The same goes for localized news. I can tell you there was news from US and China last week. I also know there was news from Finland, but name three more countries?
It's there if you know where to look for it, but the fact is, China now gets coverage for news much smaller in importance and more frequently than many other countries. And since positive things hardly make for gripping news, most items are negative - often with numbers like 30+ or 40+. This is what is contributing to China's track record.
People follow the news about China more. More news includes more bad news which people remember. People recall bad news and read more bad news. China's track record grows worse. See how this works?
There is nothing wrong with reporting accidents, catastrophies, faulty goods or internal strife about China. I'm not saying it's not worthy. But I am saying you should be aware of the spotlight China is under. Hell, just reading my writings you get exposed to a little more China coverage, and much like AP, I seldom write if something trivially jovial occurs.
Please continue enjoying your branded goods, they usually deliver on their promises. As surely as a McDonalds branded food items is going to be unhealthy for you, China news will continue to deliver casualties and problems.
OP out.
Simply because there are so many news items and the numbers are always big doesn't seem to cut it. I'm sure there are other large countries where development has left things behind and news happens. India doesn't seem to get any coverage.
Of course I follow more news of China, specifically, than India - just picking an example here, but I believe there's not so much to go around with. If a fire in a night club kills 40+ (Xinhua through AP on Sunday) or a mining accident kills 30+ due to inhaled gas (AP again, on Sunday) I'm sure to read of it. But not so much of any other developing nation.
It's because China has become unique. It's not any longer a nameless statistic in the developing countries list. It's China. Think if brand goods. You have your miscallenous soap and you have your Dove. You have MP3 players and you have your iPod. And just like with brands, there are several, but people are only interested in few. You have your Zune and if you really pay attention, you might recognize the Zen from Creative. But name three after that? The same goes for localized news. I can tell you there was news from US and China last week. I also know there was news from Finland, but name three more countries?
It's there if you know where to look for it, but the fact is, China now gets coverage for news much smaller in importance and more frequently than many other countries. And since positive things hardly make for gripping news, most items are negative - often with numbers like 30+ or 40+. This is what is contributing to China's track record.
People follow the news about China more. More news includes more bad news which people remember. People recall bad news and read more bad news. China's track record grows worse. See how this works?
There is nothing wrong with reporting accidents, catastrophies, faulty goods or internal strife about China. I'm not saying it's not worthy. But I am saying you should be aware of the spotlight China is under. Hell, just reading my writings you get exposed to a little more China coverage, and much like AP, I seldom write if something trivially jovial occurs.
Please continue enjoying your branded goods, they usually deliver on their promises. As surely as a McDonalds branded food items is going to be unhealthy for you, China news will continue to deliver casualties and problems.
OP out.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Baby Formula, The Chinese Way
Hey, recall the post I wrote regarding the baby shop? The one where I wasn't completetly convinced all the products were for me?
Well, in case you haven't been following news of China, here's a tidbit.
There's a big thing being reported, where baby formula has been tainted with melamine. The most recent news from today cite 3 dead babies, over 6200 sick and (from yesterdays news) more than 50 babies in critical condition. Among these are over 150 cases of acute kidney failure
A probe was launched to find out the extent of the problem and it appears that approximately 20% of the companies providing formula are involved. China's largest dairy announced a product recall too.
Want to guess why they would add melamine? They likely used melamine to make the milk appear higher in proteine content. Yeah, that's right, it's most likely not an accident you find a chemical used in the plastic industry in baby milk here in China.
The previous formula-scare is from 2004, when 13 babies died of malnutrition, as the formula was fake and contained no nutrients. Let's see how big the numbers get this time.
Sorry for not posting about Finland, but I'll upload a few choice pics once I get them organized.
EDITED- Sorry. It's the 150 babies hospitalized and over 6200 sick, they are not all in hospitals.
Well, in case you haven't been following news of China, here's a tidbit.
There's a big thing being reported, where baby formula has been tainted with melamine. The most recent news from today cite 3 dead babies, over 6200 sick and (from yesterdays news) more than 50 babies in critical condition. Among these are over 150 cases of acute kidney failure
A probe was launched to find out the extent of the problem and it appears that approximately 20% of the companies providing formula are involved. China's largest dairy announced a product recall too.
Want to guess why they would add melamine? They likely used melamine to make the milk appear higher in proteine content. Yeah, that's right, it's most likely not an accident you find a chemical used in the plastic industry in baby milk here in China.
The previous formula-scare is from 2004, when 13 babies died of malnutrition, as the formula was fake and contained no nutrients. Let's see how big the numbers get this time.
Sorry for not posting about Finland, but I'll upload a few choice pics once I get them organized.
EDITED- Sorry. It's the 150 babies hospitalized and over 6200 sick, they are not all in hospitals.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
More for me
Fasting month has just begun in Malaysia, and for muslims it means denial from each thing that is good for man - like sex, alcohol and cigarettes. It also means no eating before... was it... before 19:00 I think, or something like that. Fasting month means, however, nicer lunching for me because halal restaurants aren't filled with hungry Malaysians. They have to starve and worship. How very sad.
Furthermore, this season since 1st of September should mean a big bunch of incoming public holidays, which I'm of course very excited about. Malaysia has the 2nd most amount of public holidays in all of Asia, if I remember correctly - this is naturally due to various ethnic and religious groups represented in the country, and each want their share of free days. Actually it creates a bit of a mess for companies to manage all, since some holidays only consider muslims etc. Simply put - each holiday is lost revenue to some. But guess what? I don't give a flying fuck 'cause all the more for me.
On another subject, OP pointed out last week that our blog doesn't have _that_ many readers actually, so I decided to change the Bruce Lee picture to something more appealing. Enjoy!
Furthermore, this season since 1st of September should mean a big bunch of incoming public holidays, which I'm of course very excited about. Malaysia has the 2nd most amount of public holidays in all of Asia, if I remember correctly - this is naturally due to various ethnic and religious groups represented in the country, and each want their share of free days. Actually it creates a bit of a mess for companies to manage all, since some holidays only consider muslims etc. Simply put - each holiday is lost revenue to some. But guess what? I don't give a flying fuck 'cause all the more for me.
On another subject, OP pointed out last week that our blog doesn't have _that_ many readers actually, so I decided to change the Bruce Lee picture to something more appealing. Enjoy!
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