Husband's job: Works for a oil Company BP

His job: Formerly a commercial fisherman, now a production operator for BP on the North Slope for about 20 years

HENEN, China, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- CAA has learned that House Church President Bike Zhang Mingxuan and his wife were released by PSB officials on August 29. In a direct phone call from pastor Bike to CAA President Bob Fu, Pastor Bike described the conditions and treatment since his detainment on August 6 of this year. Zhang and his wife were on forced vacation for the past three weeks, and were forced to stay at four different resort locations throughout their detention. Zhang and his wife were accompanied by 15-16 Government officials, including high ranking PSB and RAB leaders including the head of the RAB of Henan Province.

Photo: Pastor Bike Mingxuan

Bob Fu was able to speak with Zhang's wife who was in excellent spirits. Mr. Fu shared with the couple that since their detention a petition to have them freed has been created and signed by over 50,000 people. Zhang and his wife were both excited and thankful to hear of the response from so many caring individuals. Despite the circumstances of his captivity, Pastor Bike has been actively evangelizing and advocating the role of the House church to his captors since his detainment. Bike and his wife were told they were prohibited from returning to Beijing until the end of the Paralympics September 16.

CAA is thankful for the release of Zhang and his wife and for the thousands of supporters who took time to sign the petition. While Zhang and his wife have been treated well by Chinese authorities during their detention, the same can not be said of countless other individuals who continue to suffer at the hands of CPC officials who continue to prohibit the growth of true religious freedom within China. CAA plans to print and deliver the 50,000 signature petition to the Chinese Embassy in Washington , D.C. within the week.

Shanghai World Financial Center en la Wikipedia

COMUNICADO
Shanghai World Financial Center - El edificio más alto del mundo se abre al público el 30 de agosto de 2008

SHANGHAI: World Financial Center en SkyscraperCity

Website oficial del Shanghai World Financial Center

Today marked the longed for day when I would find my newly-issued glasses in the mailbox. As a veteran I get most of my eye-care from the VA, and in this case they provided me with a decent pair of specs. But after wearing them for a few hours I began to notice that the left side was irritating the back of my ear. Lo and behold, a sticker!

In case you are hard of seeing, the sticker says “Frame China.” I wish I could say I was shocked, but with our Border Patrol uniforms being made in Mexico, nothing surprises me when it comes to government outsourcing jobs that could easily and *cough* reasonably have been done by American workers.

Full report PDF version is at here.

Betting on international society's acquiescence, the Chinese government not only refused to fulfill its promise to improve human rights for the Beijing Olympics, but, in fact, used security concerns for the Olympics as a pretext to cleanse the whole country. As a result, a large number of innocent people have suffered incarceration and torture, and many have been killed, making them victims of the Beijing Olympics.

The escalation of human rights violations leading to and during the Olympics was alarming. In the past few months, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners have been rounded up in various cities in China, and many have been tortured to death after only a few weeks in custody. The arrests have been so wide spread that many citizens and residents in other countries have had their relatives arrested in China. Considering that only a very small percentage of Chinese people have overseas connections, the situation is really very severe.

The following are a few examples of Falun Gong practitioners tortured to death recently:

Mr. Bai Heguo, 45, lived in Liaoning Province. The police from the Tongerpu District Police Department sentenced him to 11 years in the Liaoning Province Huazi Prison. Because he remained firm in his faith, he was then taken to Nanguanling Prison where he was tortured to death in less than 2 weeks. His body was covered with bruises; he had a bump on his head and a cut on his tongue, which protruded outside his mouth; his leg was broken; his testes had been crushed; and he was emaciated. He was clearly tortured to death. The authorities hurriedly cremated his body.

Ms. Gu Jianmin, 53, lived in Shanghai. Although she was perfectly healthy, she died just 13 days after the police arrested her. On the day of her death, the authorities asked her husband to process a medical parole. However, when he finally saw her, her eyes were protruding from her head, she was bleeding from the mouth, and she was left alone. He begged the doctors to save her life. They made a quick attempt and then declared her dead.

Mr. Gu Qun, 50, worked for the Xigang District Industrial and Commercial Bureau in Dalian City, Liaoning Province. They arrested him a total of 5 times. One time, they wanted to make a "typical example" of him. They shackled his hands and legs, focused a TV camera on his face, and ordered him to renounce Falun Gong. He refused. After his most recent arrest, he went on a hunger strike to protest the persecution. They violently force-fed and tortured him, severely damaging him physically. They took him to the doctor, who said he needed urgent care, but they merely brought him back to the detention center. He died less than 3 weeks after his arrest.

Mr. Sun Guanzhou, 62, lived in Henan Province. He was a professor at Yuzhou City Education College. Shortly after his last arrest, the authorities took him to the hospital where the doctor said he should not remain in detention. They then demanded 25,000 Yuan to release him, but the family didn't have that much. He died in the detention center within a week of his arrest.

Ms. Zong Xiuxia lived in the Fangzi District in Weifang City, Shandong Province. The police arrested her at 9 a.m. while she was shopping. She died after only 4 hours in police custody. The police alleged that she "jumped" to her death from the hospital elevator after they took her there for a check-up. Her family was in shock and kept asking questions to find out what really happened.

FalunHR, U.S. Contact Information: (001) 619-280-5177 (001) 858-206-1577

**Cue Olympic Theme Song**

Admit it...you watched it...we all watched it.  The single most watched Olympic games in the history of Olympic games broadcasts and it all happened in this quaint little city of Beijing.  :D  OK OK, substitute quaint with vast and overwhelming and we all watched it because the idea of one man winning 8 gold medals in one sitting seemed absolutely incredible.

In the aftermath of the Olympic games, I thought I'd take this opportunity to touch on a few things regarding Beijing and China in general since there's been so many different conceptions regarding this huge chunk of Asia.

As you can see, much of China is centered around perserving the old while embracing the new.  These constant themes can be seen throughout the country, from the technicolor shores of Hong Kong to the stately mannered Great Wall.

For the most part when one thinks of items manufactured from China you think gnarly little toys or flimsy gumball machine fair, BUT, nothing could be farther from the truth!  China is one of the largest and fastest growing manufacturing nations in the world, anything from the average everyday zipper to the high end LCD TV's that I drool over when I window shop at my local neighborhood electronics store. 

Everything about the tags "fastest growing" and "largest manufacturing" was intriguing, so of course Hirsch Gift has to investigate and see what all the fuss was about.  SO! HG sends 2 of our most intrepid travellers (Peter and Paul) eastbound to Hong Kong, the land of dragon boats, microchips, memory drives, and interesting food choices.

Upon touching down in China, Peter and Paul got the opportunity to tour the grounds of one of the best electronics factories that China has to offer.  Only by touring the facilities were they able to fully appreciate the scope of their operations as well as the careful attention to detail that they put into their work.  They were impressed to see that the HG line of products were manufactured by reputable, honest, and hard working people. 

After the tour, the factory owner decides to, of course, treat Peter and Paul to some local delicacies!  Now, what most of you don't know about our  Mr. Paul Hirsch is this...if its not a charbroiled hamburger or something of the like...he won't eat it.   Granted being in China, I can only speculate this made for a rather awkward situation, not to mention a culinary dilemma for Paul :D

[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_81" align="aligncenter" width="535" caption="Paul and Peter with factory partners in Shenzhen, China"][/caption]

After all thats said and done Peter and Paul left China after meeting with some great people and armed with a  better understanding of not only where our products originate, but with whom they originate. 

]]> http://chinavolcano.wordpress.com/?p=123 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:13:43 +0000 faithcatalyst http://chinavolcano.wordpress.com/?p=123 Considering some of the questions that Eddie and I considered prior to his activities in Beijing, I now move on to another overall ‘umbrella question’ we considered, “What right do you have to conclude that this form of demonstration is legitimate?” In some of these questions, I am aware, there is slight repetition in respect of some of the earlier questions but these ones extend previous considerations to include the authority of the State itself.

 

Question 16: Doesn’t the Bible teach submitting to authority? Shouldn’t the whole church in China submit to the authorities, and aren’t you being specifically disobedient to that teaching?

Answer: We replied, “Where a government is specifically over-reaching and oppresses the church, it was the early church’s belief that they could legitimately disobey those who wanted to suppress free worship and stop the spread of the good news about Jesus Christ.”

 

At this point we were jointly producing answers. In this question and answer we could have developed the answer to speak about all authorities being answerable to God, and the church specifically being answerable to Jesus Christ and, while it obeys the law (that is not contrary to God’s laws) is in no other way answerable to government authorities.

Question 17: Doesn’t Christianity insist on lawful obedience to the government?

Answer: We replied, “Yes, this is lawful obedience to anything which does not include abuse of human rights. Many people in the world are increasingly concerned about human rights issues, wherever they arise and we wish China would show the same concern for those with whom they disagree as they did when caring for their earthquake victims recently. Human concern has many faces.”

 

Article 18 was the article of the UN Covenant that we emphasized. This means that worldwide agreement requires the following:

1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.

2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.

Article 19 is in some ways equally powerful requiring freedom of speech.

1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

 

The point of noting these articles is to observe that the Chinese government is NOT observing internationally agreed norms of behaviour and so where churches seek to comply with these articles it is the government that is out of step with the rest of the world, not the churches.

Question 18: Aren’t you undermining the authority of the State?
Answer: We replied, “No, the ‘State’ simply refers to the will of a limited number of people. Where it is a benign government they receive the approval of their people. Where a government persecutes parts of its population for simple beliefs, we believe it is legitimate to express concern and draw those concerns to the attention of the world at large.”

In China, I am told, the members of the Communist party who form the ruling government, is considerably less than the numbers in the underground church, a tiny minority in the nation as a whole. The only way they hold on to power is by force and, as we have seen above, they exercise that force against faith communities by requiring them to conform to incredibly restrictive practices. No where in the civilized world is there agreement that such practices are acceptable. What we should have also included in our answers is that although the underground church obviously disagrees with a law that makes religious gatherings illegal except when under strict government guidelines, they exert no political pressure to bring change, only spiritual direction through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that brings change for the good to the individual. If only the government could see this, this brings positive changes for social good in society.

 

To be continued.

]]> http://contemporarynotes.wordpress.com/?p=165 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:38:35 +0000 reprindle http://contemporarynotes.wordpress.com/?p=165  

Change Is Now!

by

R.E. Prindle

 

     Barry in his acceptance speech for the Presidential nomination let slip an important pronouncement that was lost in his rhetoric;  he rather surlily and threateningly said:  Change happens.  Yes, change does happen but it doesn't always change according to one's wishes.  Barry has his eye on a change in which the African segment of the Diversity takes command; what I see is a change to a Time Of Troubles for the US.  I see pain and desolation on the horizon.

     The United States that was has ceased to exist.  The future of America lies along the Dixie Highway from Detroit to Saginaw.  I see a time of troubles not different than that which beset China from 1800 to 1950.  I see internal warfare between the diverse peoples of the US: Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Chinese.

     The economic collapse will likely be worse than that of Russia.  As we have exported our economy to the far places of the Global Village it is doubtful that we could even process cotton into clothing.  As we manufacture nothing the nation would be actually naked without imports from China.  And that includes the military.

     Yes, change is in the air, but there is no reason for euphoria and fireworks.  The change is to be sought in the disenfranchisement of the Pederast Party that the democrats have become.  Barry's pep talk had nothing to say about positively addressing the major problems facing 'us all.'  He gabbled away at the sixties soul chatter about how 'if we all pull together' everything will be OK.

     We aren't going to all pull together.  There is going to be serious divisiveness  The country is not going to be 'united' by a divisive candidate like Barry, a guy who carries his Negro resentment like a badge on his sleeve.  We don't want to go where Barry and his Pederast Party want to go.  We don't want our children taught pederasty in kindergarten if that's what Barry means by pouring more billions into education.

     No, change happens just like that other stuff happens but it isn't going to be the change Barry wants.  The change he's going to get is something else all together.

     Change is not only coming:  Change Is Now.

    

]]> http://poorlilrichkid.wordpress.com/?p=14 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:33:59 +0000 poorlilrichkid http://poorlilrichkid.wordpress.com/?p=14 84,000 people crowd into Invesco Stadium in Denver Colorado and 38 million viewers watch from home anxiously awaiting one of the biggest DNC speeches in history!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to watch it until 4AM this morning at work. But once I started watching it, I just couldn't stop. For the first time in my life I actually got through watching a speech without falling asleep. I'm thinking maybe thats why I'm going to vote for Obama. Or at least thats one of the reasons.

In his speech last night, he brought to our attention all the issues that have been forgotten and pushed to the side by the Bush Administration. Obama didn't just bring those issues to our attention, he gave us solutions that may or may not require long term aide. He never promises that he'll do all of that, but instead he promises that he will "try".

Obama promises change for the good, no matter how big or small the change is. He talked about fixing education, health care, small businesses, getting America greener, lowing taxes and creating millions of jobs. Instead of improving those issues in other countries we need to fix our economy first! We have Americans in poverty, Americans without jobs, living on the streets, knowing nothing more than that life, while everyone in Iraq is living a kings life cause were buying oil from them and giving them free money. I mean we actually had to "borrow" money from China because we didn't have enough money here.... Thats wrong! Moving all our jobs to China because they can do the work for less wages.. thats wrong!

This is one of the things that I have heard from McCain. I "will" do this, I "will" do that, and technically it's not the benefit for the greatest good anyways. McCain is all military. He is stern and full of hate cause thats what hes been taught. He thinks the best way to get our attention and votes is to "attack" Obama with hate ads. I mean if you look at his Youtube page, there's 1100 videos and 60% of those are ads and speeches where he hates on Obama. I'm sorry to say McCain, but elections aren't another one of your battle plans.

So there you have it... my look on the campaigns. This will be my first time voting. Got my registration done and everything! Well I guess just check back and I will have some new blogs on here tonight... Gonna be a boring night at work!

]]> http://ajfortin.wordpress.com/?p=749 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:28:04 +0000 Fred Fortin http://ajfortin.wordpress.com/?p=749 Image via Wikipedia

TechCrunch reports on news that despite previous trade problems between Apple and China Mobile, the iPhone may be going to China. The potential market is huge with most of the 200 million internet users in China getting access from their cell phone. The news comes from an insider rumor published by it.hexun.com and translated by Marbridge Consulting.

A source inside the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) revealed yesterday that China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK) had reached a basic agreement with Apple to cooperate on bringing the iPhone to China without the revenue-sharing agreements Apple has in place with other carriers. Instead, China Mobile will procure the handsets for their full price, and then on-sell subsidized handsets to consumers. The source explained that China Mobile could buy a 3G iPhone from Apple for USD 299 – an example price – and then sell the handset to users for USD 199, treating the additional USD 100 as compensation to Apple.

Die Welt steht vor dem Umbruch. Die Zahlen belegen Eindrucksvoll die Fortschritte der Länder in  Sachen Bildung. Schon von der Menge her ist zu Erwarten, dass Indien und China in den nächsten Jahrzehnten eine Wichtige Rolle im Machtgefüge der Welt einnehmen werden. Es wird interessant werden zu sehen, wie die Entwicklung in Europa und Amerika darstellen wird.

Quelle: shifthappens.wikispaces.com

Did you know?

In the next 8 seconds . . . 34 babies will be born.

• India – 5,
• China – 4,
• U.S. – 1]

What will the world be like . . .for them?

Name this country . . .

• Richest in the world
• Largest military
• Center of world business and finance
• Strongest education system
• Currency the world standard of value
• Highest standard of living

Great Britain. In 1900.

2006 college graduates

• U.S. – 1.3 million,
• India 3.1 million,
• China – 3.3. million]
• How many 2006 college graduates in India speak English? - 100%
• In 10 years it is predicted that the number on English speaking country in the world will be . . .China.
• Who would have predicted this 60 years ago? (then 60 is replaced with 40, then 20]

Did you know?

According to the U.S. Department of Labor

• 1 in 4 workers has been with their current employer less than one year.
• 1 in 2 workers has been with their current employer less than five years.
• The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that today’s learners will have . . .
• 10 to 14 jobs . . .by their 38^th birthday

Many of today’s college majors didn’t exist 10 years ago

• New media
• Organic agriculture
• e-business
• Nanotechnology

Homeland security

What will they study 10 years from now?

Today’s 21-year-olds have:

• Watched 20,000 hours of TV
• Played 10,000 hours of video games
• Talked 10,000 hours on the phone
• And they’ve sent/received 250,000 emails or instant messages
• More than 50% of U.S. 21-year-olds have created content on the web

More than 70% of U.S. 4-year-olds have used a computer

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 million

• Radio – 38 years,
• TV – 13 years,
• Internet – 4 years]

Number of Internet devices in

• 1984 - 1,000
• 1992 – 1,000,000
• 2006 – 600,000,000

Did you know?

• We are living in exponential times. The first commercial text message was sent in December 1992.
• The number of text messages sent and received today . . .exceeds the population of the planet
  The Internet started being widely used by the general public in early 1995
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. in 2005 . . .met online
• Revenue for eBay in 2006: $1.7 billion ... eBay was founded in 1996
• There were more than 2.7 billion searches performed on Google . . . this month
• To whom were those questions directed B.G.? (Before Google)
• MySpace Visitors - from 0 in 2003 to almost 60,000,000 in 2006]
• More than 230,000 new users signed up for MySpace . . .today
• If MySpace were a country . . .it would be the 8^th largest in the world
• YouTube visitors since September 2005... from 0 in 2005 to well over 100,000,000 today]

Did you know?

• There are more than 540,000 words in the English language . . .about five times as many as during Shakespeare’s time (widget,web-surfer,blog,dot-commer,e-learner,Internet]
• More than 3,000 books were published . . . today
• The amount of technical information is doubling every two years
• By 2010, it’s predicted to double . . .every 72 hours
• Third generation fiber optics has recently been tested that push 10 trillion bits per second down a fiber That is 1,900 CDs or 150 million simultaneous phone calls every second
• It’s currently tripling every six monthsThe fiber is already there, they’re just improving the switches on the end . . . which means the marginal cost of these improvements is effectively . . .zero
• Nearly 2 billion children live in developing countries One in three never completes fifth gradeIn 2005 the One Laptop per Child Project (OLPC) set out to provide laptops to these children
• The first shipments should be in mid-2007 Kids who have never held a textbook will now hold the world And be connected . . .to you
• Predictions are that by the time children born in 2007 are 6 years old,a supercomputer’s computation capabilities will exceed that of the human brain
• And while predictions further out than 15 years are hard to do . . .2049 a $1,000 computer will exceed the computing capabilities of the human race what does this all mean? ->shift happens
• We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don’t yet exist . . . in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.
• “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Did you know . . .

• There are students in China, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, and the USA who (remember,understand,apply,analyze,evaluate,create,communicate,collaborate) on projects every day Ask Your Kids: Are you doing this in school? Ask Your Principal: How are you helping my child become literate in the 21^st century? Ask Your School Board: Are you providing the resources and trainin g necessary to prepare students to be successful in 21^st century society? Ask Your Elected Representatives: Now that you know all this, what changes should be made to current education legislation? What’s your vision?

Did you know . . .

• The original version of this presentation was created for a Colorado (USA) high school staff of 150 in August of 2006 to start a conversation about what our students need to be successful in the 21^st century By June 2007 it had started more than 5 million conversations around the world And now that you know, we want you to join the conversation

Visit shifthappens.wikispaces.com

Did you know?

Developed by Karl Fisch

thefischbowl.blogspot.com

with assistance from Scott McLeod

dangerouslyirrelevant.org

Designed by XPLANE

xplane.com

shifthappens.wikispaces.com

(C) Creative Commons copyright notice

Beide Sender haben sich leider darauf beschränkt die deutschen
Medaillenaspiranten und deren Bewerbe im Bild zu zeigen, und falls gerade
niemand einen Wettkampf absolvierte wurden die bereits erfolgreichen
Athleten ins Studio geladen.

Außerdem zeigte sich während der Live-Übertragungen, dass die öffentlich
rechtlichen Zuschauer fast nur über die Deutschen informiert wurden und die
anderen als fast nicht erwähnenswert angesehen wurden. Beim Rudern war das
besonders gut erkennbar. Bei schwachen Leistungen der deutschen Teilnehmer
wurde dann schon während der Wettkämpfe bilanziert, die Entscheidung
verfolgte man nebenbei. Diese sehr einfältige Übertragungsweise fand ihren
Höhepunkt in den Studiomoderationen von Lierhaus/ Antwerpes und Cerne/
Steinbrecher. Keiner der 4 hatte wirklich Ahnung von den Sportarten, die sie
im Vorhinein oft erklärten, dafür waren alle 4 absolut medaillenfixiert und
jeder Wettkampf ohne eine solche für das deutsche Olympiateam wurde als
Enttäuschung angesehen.

Einige wenige Sportjournalisten aus dem öffentlich rechtlichen Bereich
schafften es dennoch sich vom biederen Durchschnitt abzusetzen. Herrmann
Valkyser und Peter Grube beispielsweise kommentierten die Turmspringen mit
einer Begeisterung und Präzision wie man sie von ARD/ZDF Reportern gar
nicht gewöhnt ist. Auch Roman Bonnaire, der Tischtennisexperte der ARD hat
durch Fairness, Kompetenz und Begeisterung für den Sport überzeugt.

Einer der Lichtblicke waren sicherlich auch die Übertragungen auf den
digitalen Kanälen. Dort konnte man die Bewerbe als Ganzes verfolgen und
bekam nicht immer nur einige Sequenzen geboten. Man konnte sich ein Bild vom
Wettkampf und dem Verlauf machen, sodass man das Resultat am Ende auch
besser einzuschätzen wusste. Außerdem fielen die Studiomoderationen aus,
sodass man wirklich "Sport pur" genießen konnte. Die Reporter wirkten dort
auch oft lockerer und nicht so deutlich auf die Deutschen fixiert.

Wem diese Übertragungen nicht zusagten, konnte noch auf Eurosport
zurückgreifen. Die Werbung, die der europäische Spartenkanal bereits im
Vorfeld machte lies einiges erwarten. Einige Magazine, Berichte und viele
Live-Entscheidungen wurden angekündigt. Vor allem aber Letzteres war nicht
wirklich zufrieden stellend. Eurosport hat sich auf 5 - 10 Sportarten
spezialisiert die man während der Olympiade sehr ausführlich zeigte und hat
die anderen Disziplinen in kurzen Einspielern zusammengefasst. Dort wurden
dann in 20-30 Sekunden langen Beiträgen die entscheidenden Bilder gezeigt
und die Sieger vorgestellt.

Trotz der einseitigen Übertragungen schaffte es Eurosport großartige
Übertragungen auszustrahlen, vor allem bei den Schwimmwettkämpfen konnte
sich Matthias Stach durch Emotion und gute Recherche auszeichnen

Das waren sie also, die olympischen Sommerspiele von Peking. Hoffen wir auf
eine Besserung der übertragenden Kanäle bei den Spielen von London.

geschrieben von Jakob Fischer

Book Festival is the first and only thing for a book lover, especially for someone like me who hadn't been to one!  Well, there wasn't any in where I come from, so now it's time for me to find out all about it.

This year's highlight, Margaret Atwood (winner of Man Booker 2000 for The Blind Assassin), proved to be sensational.  She was humorous, intelligent and quick-witted.  It was enlightening and entertaining at the same time to see her sitting there, relaxed, reading her unfinished story and talking about her ancestors in Scotland - what a great choice.  I could imagine Scottish audience love her more than ever.  Even funnier when she described her Booker Night gown when she was shortlisted for the first time: A shinny material wrapped over her body, secured by safety pins only!  She definitely is an extraordinary woman!

I went to a couple of events featuring Chinese authors and was disappointed to find that the audiences weren't interested in the books at all.  They were only curious about China.  What a shame.  It is ridiculous to assume that because the authors were Chinese, they should become the spokespersons for China or commentators of Chinese culture and society.  I wondered if they (the audience) actually read the books.  I loved Chiew-Siah Tei's Little Hut of Leaping Fishes (I've read the book three times so far!) so much that I was delighted to get a ticket for her event, which she appeared with another Chinese author, Diane Wei Liang.  I was gutted when, again, questions were focused on China: the Olympics, the future of China (what would China be in 20 years - do they expect authors to be fortune tellers?), today's younger generation, the former regime in contrast to the present one, and so forth.  Ahh!  I was too slow to ask for the mic - I should have asked my favourite author about her beautifully written book: why she wrote it and how?  After all, since she is Malaysian, it's unfair that she had to be a China-all-rounder.  But 50 mins passed very quickly and it was over before the chairlady spotted my raised hand.

Well, it's an experience.  I will have my questions ready for next year and be the first to get the mic.

The line-up, briefly -- we lead with the strange tale of iTunes in China over the last week or so. Seems that it keeps going, well, on and off. And we hear about the iPhone Girl, and about a possible crackdown on Internet news portals in South Korea. Then, an in-depth look at the issues and technologies surrounding music piracy on the Internet. Also, a British cartographer says online mapping services are killing our appreciation for map-making. And we end by asking some cows which way is north.

Show notes, links and pics are over at Discovery.

De Dalai lama heeft op 22 augustus in Frankrijk een boeddha tempel ingewijd. Daar bij was de vrouw van de franse president, carla Bruni-sarkozy, aanwezig. Haar aanwezigheid wordt gezien als een klein doekje tegen het bloeden. De Dalai Lama is inmiddels meer dan 2 weken in Frankrijk en de franse president heeft een ontmoeting continue ontlopen. Ook al stelde Sarkozy zich in eerste instantie kritisch op, tegen de chinese ambassadeur meldde hij dat China niet zijn agenda bepaald, toch bezocht hij de ceremonie van de OS. Daarmee brak hij zijn eerdere belofte om niet te gaan uit protest tegen de acties van China in Tibet.

Momenteel kampt de Dalai lama met gezondheidsproblemen en heeft diverse afspraken afgezegd. Daaronder het bezoek aan Mexico en de Dominicaanse Republiek. Hij zal wel meedoen aan de actie 'vasten enbidden' georganiseerd in Dharamsala door het Tibetaanse solidariteits comite.

feiten

3000 jonge studenten uit Tibet zijn overgeplaatst naar diverse gebieden in China om daar verder opgeleid te worden.

De Chinese overheid heeft 10 buitenlandse actievoerders vrijgelaten na de Spelen. 8 amerikanen, een brit en een duitser. Zij waren gearresteerd op 19 en 21 augustus voor korte openbare demonstraties ten faveure van een vrij Tibet.

De door china geregeerde overheid van Tibet heeft 14,5 millioen euro toegekend aan bedrijven en zakenmensen die schade hebben ondervonden van de demonstraties op  14 maart. Het overgrote deel van deze bedrijven en zakenmensen zijn van chinese komaf.

China is begonnen met de ontginning van koper in de yulong koper mijn. De mijn is gesitueerd in Qamdo[Tibet] Initieel[dit jaar] zal de mijn ongeveer 2000 ton produceren. China zal echter de nodige investeringen doorvoeren om de productie op te stuwen tot 100.;000 ton per jaar

De Qinghai-tibet spoorlijn heeft de afgelopen maanden beduidend minder goederen en passagiers vervoerd dan voorspeld. De spoorlijn is dan ook zwaar verliesgevend volgens Reuter, die medewerkers van de spoorlijn citeert.Toch is dit geen belemmering voor China, aangezien de strategische waarde van grootste belang is. De spoorlijn die in 2006 is geopend zal binnen 2-3 jaar naar Shigatsa en verder naar het rijke grondstoffen gebied Nyingtri doorgetrokken worden. Naar china's zeggen om welvaart te brengen maar de de vrees is dat het vooral bedoeld om Tibet te overspoelen met Han chinezen en zodoende de tibetaanse cultuur uit te wissen. Daarnaast is de spoorlijn van belang voor de afvoer van grondstoffen die volop in Tibet gevonden worden. Een belangrijk argument voor china dat daarmee een stuk onafhankelijkheid verkrijgt om haar groeiende economie op gang te houden.

China gaat meer wegen aanleggen die Tibet verbinden met Nepal. China ambassadeur Zheng meldde dat China de nepalese steun hogelijk heeft gewaardeerd[Nepal heeft vele tibetanen gearresteerd tijdens demonstraties in Nepal]

In Tibet heeft zich een aardbeving voorgedaan van 6.8 op de schaal van Richter. Meldingen van slachtoffers blijven vooralsnog uit volgens de chinese media. Ter vergelijk: in mei kwamen 70.000 mensen om het leven bij een beving van 7.9 in de provincie sichuan. Dat er nu geen slachtoffers worden gemeld is uiterst curieus.

Toch blijven de Tibetanen in Nepal doorgaan met hun demonstraties. Gisteren zijn 120 demonstranten gearresteerd in Kathmandu. Veelal zijn de demonstranten in Nepal na een dag weer vrij.

Tot zover

Serdar Somuncu regt sich auf:

(Direktlink)

[Quasi via pantoffelpunk, halt durch so Seitenleistengelöt, was auch immer]

ANIMAL WELFARE: Wheeled Tortoise Gets Around

ANTARCTIC MELTING: "New" Killer Whale Types at Risk From Antarctic Warming

ARCTIC MELTING: Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic As Ice Melts, Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic

AUTO INDUSTRY: Shaq buys smart fortwo, wears as shoe, Saudi Arabia threatens Nissan boycott over Israeli ad

BIG OIL: ExxonMobil owns the media’s convention coverage Oil Expansion Plans In L.A. Rile Residents

BIOPLASTICS: Biodegradable Plastics Are Good for Atmosphere, Too

BIOPRODUCTS: Dandelion Rubber Could Replace Rare Sources, Silk-Based Optical Lenses Green Enough to Eat

BLOGGING: What Makes for a Good Blog?

CARBON SEQUESTERING: Cattails Shown to Be Effective CO2-Eaters

CHINA: MINI Clubman Rickshaws running around Beijing

CLIMATE CHANGE: Climate Change Caused Widespread Tree Death In California Mountain Range, Study Confirms, West Africa's coastline redrawn by climate change: experts

COMPOSTING: Human Waste Used by 200 Million Farmers, Study Says

ENERGY MIX OF THE FUTURE: Smokestack heat: Fuel of the future?

ENVIRONMENTALISM: ARE WE ALL STILL ENVIRONMENTALISTS?, The Death of Environmentalism?, FREE & GREEN: A NEW APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, Green but Anti-Government, Pro-Environment, Not Pro-EPA

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW: Appeals Court OKs Oil Firms' Billion-Dollar Award, Companies to end lead wheel weight use in Calif.

EXTINCTION: Extinction Threatens Half of Primate Types, Study Says

FOOD: Half of All Food Produced Worldwide is Wasted

FUEL ECONOMY: Sweden Requires Fuel-Efficient Driving Lessons, Billions of gallons of gas could be saved by "Smart Intersections"

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY: Oregon Tech To Be Powered Entirely By Geothermal Energy, Google Investing Over $10 Million in Geothermal Energy

GIANT SQUID: Colossal Squid Ripped, Stitched, Hoisted and Moved

GLACIAL MELTING: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

GLOBAL WARMING: Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?, Dead Penguins Found Closer to Equator Than Ever Before, Birds Thrown Off by Global Warming, Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb

GREEN: Colorado Creating US’s First Fossil Fuel-Free Community

GREEN CONSERVATISM: Gingrich Cites Big Oil And Right-Wing Intern To Claim That All Economists Support Drilling, Extreme anti-environment Cheney aide up for top Energy Department post, McCain: ‘I Have Not Missed Any Crucial Vote’ On Energy Legislation

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GREENWASHING: Shell rebuked for 'greenwash' over ad for polluting oil project

HUMAN-WILDLIFE CONFLICT: People vs. Monkeys in Singapore

HYBRID TECHNOLOGY: Calif. Requires Hybrid Cars To Make Some Noise

INVASIVE SPECIES: Invasive Lionfish Explode

MARINE CONSERVATION: NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears, Bush Seeks to Protect 3 Pacific Island Chains

MARINE MAMMALS: "Ugliest Dolphin" Finally Filmed, Mexico Invests to Save Endangered Porpoise

NANOTECHNOLOGY: Nanomaterial Cleans up Broken Fluorescent Bulbs

NEW SPECIES: Newfound Monkey Species "Rarest in Africa," Expert Says, New, "Chubbier" River Dolphin Species Found in Bolivia

OCEAN DEAD ZONES: Ocean 'dead zones' expanding worldwide: study

PLASTIC: Did Big Plastic Pay Off The FDA???

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Amtrak Gets Funding Boost To Meet Record Demand, Sweden Rolling Out 183 MPH High-Speed Green Train

RECLAIMED OR RECYCLED WATER: Recycled Sewage: Coming to a Tap Near You?

RECYCLING: Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, gets trashy, Old tires make new roads, No Economic Slowdown For Reusable Bags

RENEWABLE RESOURCES: Colorado to Ditch Two Coal Plants, Moving to Solar and Wind, 13 Magnificent Renewable Energy Successes and Failures

SOLAR: IKEA Solar Panels on the Horizon, Miami Gets 600 Solar Bus Shelters, Coal Power Plant Retrofit With Solar, Solar Efficiency Record Broken, Oregon Launching First Solar Highway in the US, Want Solar? Head to Sam's Club, 2 Large Solar Plants Planned in California, Will Each Be 10 Times Bigger Than Largest Now in Service, Solar-Powered Plane Flies for Nearly 83 Hours, Doubles World Record, Hot Asphalt as Better Energy Collector than Solar Panels?

SUSTAINABILITY: Wal-Mart Pares Costs By Selling Local Produce

WALL-E: Wall*E + Kleenex = Iron*E

WATER POLLUTION: AP: Drugs found in drinking water

WATER WARS: McCain’s Colorado River Gaffe Might Cost Him Key Western States

WETLANDS: Australian Wetlands Threatened

WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: 14 Tons of Frozen Scaly Anteaters Seized in Indonesia

WIND POWER: New Study Says City-Based Rooftop Wind Power Doesn’t Pay Off, Kites Could Become Major Source Of Wind Power, Wind Turbines Give Bats the "Bends," Study Finds

ZOOLOGICAL CONSERVATION: Huge Insectarium Opens, Lonesome George a Father?

In conducting my research on avian influenza I was stunned to learn how great a possibility it is that we will experience a global pandemic and how unprepared much of the world is for such an occurrence. If this novel achieves nothing else, I hope it will alert people to the very real risks that exist and motivate them to contact their local governments to make sure that they have pandemic plans tested and in place.

To see a synopsis of this novel as well as the humorous non-fiction "Beer In The Bilges", just click on the About page above.

Indoor air pollution from solid fuel use, chronic lung diseases and lung cancer in Harbin, Northeast China.

Galeone C, Pelucchi C, La Vecchia C, Negri E, Bosetti C, Hu J.

Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche 'Mario Negri', 19-20156 Milan, Italy.
galeone@marionegri.it

In some areas of China, indoor air pollution (IAP) originating principally from the combustion of solid fuels has a relevant role in lung cancer. Most previous studies focused on the female population and only a few on both the sexes. We analyzed the relationship between IAP from solid fuel use and selected chronic lung diseases and lung cancer risk in Harbin, Northeast China, an area with a very high base line risk of lung cancer for both the sexes. We used data from a case-control study conducted between 1987 and 1990, including 218 patients with incident, histologically confirmed lung cancer and 436 controls admitted to the same hospitals as cases.

We calculated an index of IAP from solid fuel use exposure using data on heating type, cooking fuel used, and house measurements. Cases reported more frequently than controls an exposure to coal fuel for house heating and/or cooking, and the odds ratio (OR) for ever versus never exposed was 2.19 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.08-4.46]. The ORs of lung cancer according to subsequent tertiles of IAP exposure index were 1.82 (95% CI: 1.14-2.89) and 1.99 (95% CI: 1.26-3.15) as compared with the lowest tertile. The ORs of lung cancer for participants with a history of chronic bronchitis and tuberculosis were 3.79 (95% CI: 2.38-6.02) and 3.82 (95% CI: 1.97-7.41), respectively. This study gives further support and quantification of the positive association between IAP, history of selected nonmalignant lung diseases, and lung cancer risk
for both the sexes.

Ruft mich gerade Olli aus Peking an. (Siehe Blog-Roll) Freut mich natürlich, weil wir uns viel zu selten sehen und sprechen. Will er wissen, wie weit mein Blog-Projekt gediehen ist. Wir hatten uns darüber kürzlich beim Abendessen unterhalten, als er auf Heimaturlaub in Heidelberg war.

Jedenfalls darf er in China wordpress nicht aufrufen. Da schreiben der chinesischen Internetpolizei wohl zu viele Menschen zu viele böse Sachen, vermute ich. Also loggt sich Olli, ein echter Netz-Crack, mit Hilfe der FDP über einen fremden Server ein und kann dann auch meinen Blog und noch andere schöne Seiten des www lesen. Wenn ich das richtig verstanden habe.

Eingschlichen hat er sich jedenfalls über einen Server in Eaglewood, Colorado (USA), was natürlich böse-böse ist. Sag ich zu ihm noch: "Pass aber auf, dass nicht gleich die Internet-Polizei bei dir klingelt." Man hat ja mittlerweile so eine Ahnung, Olympia sei Dank, wie die Chinesen so drauf sind. "Nö, nö", scherzt Olli noch, "die finden mich nicht und ich hab auch kein Namensschild an der Tür." Und schupp, darauf, weg ist unser Gespräch. Gekappt.

Ha! Hat die China-Netz-Polizei doch zugeschlagen?

Als ich Olli zehn Minuten später per Rückruf endlich erreiche, sagt er, er hätte es zwischenzeitlich auch ein paar Mal probiert, habe aber immer nur die Ansage erhalten, "für dieses Telefonat" (also jenes mit mir) "nicht berechtigt zu sein". Verrückt. Und das alles nur wegen meines kleinen Blog-Projekts?

Bei der einen Unterbrechung bleibt es aber nicht. Just als Olli anfängt, von seinem neuen Job zu erzählen - schwupp: Gespräch wieder unterbrochen. Zufall? Weiß nicht. Schließlich arbeitet der werte Herr im Reich der Mitte unter dem Dach bekennender westlicher Kultur-Imperialisten.  [Olli, darf man das so sagen?]

Der dritte Anlauf unser Gespäch, wenn man es so überhaupt noch nennen kann, verläuft weiterhin mit diversen technischen und akustischen Unterbrechungen. Olli meint, es sei wohl gerade viel los im chinesischen Netz. Bin mir da nicht sicher. Unser Plausch geht schließlich unerqicklich unter in einem 80er-Jahre-Gekrache, das der Datasette alle Ehre macht. Verstehe nur noch, dass er mich morgen nochmal anrufen will. "SAMSTAG", schreit es durch das Gekrache, "SAMSTAG".

Nachtrag: Bin gespannt, wann dieses Post gestrichen werden muss.

 by Kishore Mahbubani

Susan Froetschel

The premise of Kishore Mahbubani's latest book is simple: If representative democracy is the best known form of governance for nations, then it's also the best form for the world.

With "The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East," Mahbubani is earnest and blunt, essentially telling the democratic West: We like your rules; please play by them.

The book is a stern message to the West from a man who has mastered its practices. Mahbubani, dean and professor with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, the National University of Singapore, also had a long diplomatic career that included service as Singapore's ambassador to the United Nations. Overall, the book's tone is more professorial than diplomatic.

He takes the rules established by the West - on democracy, rule of law and social justice - holding them up like a big mirror and showing the distorted reflection practiced by the US and Europe.

The West has two sides, he suggests. The philosophical West has made enormous contributions to humanity, offering ideals such as the equality of people and the dignity of the individual, while the material West places self-interest above values, regularly choosing leaders who cling to power and wealth. His list of complaints about the US and Europe is long: The West urges free trade until other countries start to do better, demands democracy but frets when enemies win elections, panics about global warming while guzzling energy and ignoring science, criticizing developing nations for nuclear research while hoarding weapons that could destroy the world many times over.

Any loopholes in global rules are dangerous for the entire world, but particularly for the minority communities of Europe and the US that created those rules. Mahbubani repeatedly reminds that by any measure, one small part of the world has devised rules and standards for the rest of the nations: Asia, Africa and South America outrank Europe and North America when it comes to population (about 85 percent to 15 percent) or global gross domestic product (52 percent to 48 percent).

The West cannot hope to preserve the post-World War II hierarchy indefinitely, Mahbubani argues, and should prepare for an orderly transfer of power and the world order of 2045. Neither the US nor Europe has shown the foresight, willingness or confidence to share power. The leaders who balk at orderly re-distribution or refuse to delegate or consult show that they lack trust in their own system.

An imbalanced distribution of power in global institutions - the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund or the United Nations - that does not reflect the modern world only weakens those organizations. If international organizations do not allow for shifts in power based on changing circumstances, then the emerging powers will establish their own systems and set their own rules. "Both the US and the EU now face a more insecure future, even though they have had two decades to enhance their security without any obvious challenge to them," writes Mahbubani.

The book's examples and statistics showing the rise of Asia will probably cause less alarm for readers in the US than those in Europe. The US roots for underdogs and actually works better from that position. US history, short as that may be, includes many examples of citizens working hard, displaying creativity, when they or the country is down and forced to compete - from the patriots who fought under George Washington to Thomas Edison or post-Sputnik America.

Changing course for world organizations, making room for new players, requires political courage of national leaders. But the leaders who eventually convince citizens of the West that they are part of a global constituency, that there are other stakeholders, will lay foundations for stability and peace. New checks and balances can save the most powerful nations as well as the powerless. "We need to develop both institutions and rules to manage the world as a whole, institutions and rules that reflect the wishes and interests of 6.5 billion inhabitants," urges Mahbubani.

The world can benefit by striving for the ideals of the West, but also by adopting the pragmatism, patience and cooperation practiced by leaders such as Deng Xiaoping, whom Mahbubani describes as the "greatest pragmatist in Asia's history." Deng endured the humiliation of being purged twice for criticizing Maoist economic policies, but returned to government and, after a visit to the US in 1979, took the risk of being truthful with the Chinese people about US affluence. "Deng's gamble unleashed the enormous energies of the Chinese people," notes Mahbubani.

If China's citizens could handle their truth during the early 1980s, then Europeans and Americans should have little problem with a modern set of facts that are much less harsh. The pace of social change has picked up since the 1980s and, in confronting adversity, those who practice flexibility and recognize the complexity of problems will probably have greater success in detecting multi-pronged solutions.

Neither Western nor Asian readers will be thrilled with the book's leading metaphor - describing Asia and the rest of the world on a "March to Modernity." Neither set will appreciate the definition that immediately jumps to mind, the notion of steady and rhythmic forward motion in sync with others. Too many people prefer setting their own pace for globalization - many run, but other stroll or take meandering turns that can lead to discoveries and innovation. Of course, another definition for "march" is a steady advance with direct purpose.

Likewise, Mahbubani's definition of "modernity" is broad, sometimes referring to prosperity and at other times referring to virtues like intellectual freedom, fairness or willingness to help others.

Mahbubani urges optimism because we live in an era where immense problems await, yet most individuals can grasp at great opportunities. Individuals and societies alike have the luxury of selecting a purpose: Anyone can be like the executives who aspire to be the richest person on earth. Or they can be like Phuc Than, who fled Saigon as a boy, fell in love with capitalism, studied electrical engineering and worked with Intel. "If I leave the US, it won't suffer," Mahbubani quotes Phuc in explaining the decision to return to his homeland. "If I come back to Vietnam, I have the opportunity to do something great."

So is Phuc Than a product of the West or East or both combined? Mahbubani's book focuses more on processes and outcomes rather than motivation and their many sources. And perhaps he's correct. The world agrees about many global problems, but is in dire need of finding a fair and common process before nations can truly set an agenda. Fortunately, the solution - redistributing power in world institutions - is obvious. True optimism is recognizing that higher forms of civilization and governance may yet be available and that anyone can contribute to building them.

globalpolitician.com

Susan Froetschel is assistant editor of YaleGlobal Online where this article was also published

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