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There are some things diplomats are not allowed to do. This includes stealing people's encryption keys.

If you do that, you're not a diplomat, you're a spy.

Hillary Clinton broke international law when she put her name on that paper (even if it was as she argues "just a wish list" from the CIA). Get it? It's illegal. It's in violation of the 1961 Vienna convention, and the UN convention itself.

There are rules even among thieves: You may be fine, as long as you aren't caught. Hillary Clinton, and by extension the CIA and the US government, was caught. If you think "everybody does it", and this means it doesn't matter, think again. The other permanent members of the security council in particular can make hell over this, and they probably are unless they are bribed with political concessions.

unlike the last wikileak about Iraq, this one is not mentioned by china's own: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english2010/

> If bandwidth there was so amazingly cheap every
> hotel would have amazing service.

Hotels don't have the same deals because
* customer and business market show a big price difference. Hotels are seen as ISP when they resell access.
* hotels don't see it necessary to have free/cheap internet to be attractive
* they outsource the infrastructure/service and the pricing is thus made by the third parties. Think telecom companies. And Telecom companies suck.

One reason Internet is cheap in France is that there was competition (in part thanks to Free). Mobile phone prices are high (because of price collusions during many years with the main actors - http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-139542623.html).

This is hopefully going to change as Free enters the telecom market in ~2 years.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2010-10/13/c_13554298.htm

The original article is only available in Chinese: http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2010-10/09/c_12640540.htm
In case if you are still wondering, Xin Hua Net is the offical China news agency.

Wrong newspaper, and nothing in the text remotely close to what the quotes in this slashdot submission say.

The article can be found (in Chinese) here http://news.sina.com.cn/m/2010-10-08/092021231740.shtml, which directly attributes to People's Daily at the top, with the link to original, (but which need paid subscription to read) http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2010-10/08/nw.D110000renmrb_20101008_2-23.htm?div=-1 This is the top result when searching for People's Daily (in Chinese) + "ipad" from Baidu.

Searching for the same thing in Google gives you Xinhuanet http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2010-10/08/c_12637650.htm in the 4th link. While the top 2 results are iTunes link to People's Daily app.

The 5th paragraph is the portion quoted in the article, running it through Google translate give you this:

On the price, "Apple" thing is not cheap, and some even more expensive, but also a lot of inconvenience. For example, can not install pirated software, download music, movies, to pay, and so on. However, when these new gadgets become fashionable to beyond the "useful or useless," and the limitations of cheap, consumers can not help but get your wallet out.

BUT, the article's is misrepresenting the piece. The subject of the FA is roughly "People use iPad just because of chasing fashion", which, surprise(!) is what most /.ers here think. The disadvantages listed above actually made sense when you consider the alternatives available in China, where people routinely copies software, music and movies. Why would you buy a machine that restricts what you do most often, if not for chasing fashion?

Please mod this article -1 Flamebait.

Now, please mod me +5 Informative. Thanks.

Backfire, true: It will just be held up as an excuse to Kill Switch the internet, remove anonymous access - China's state media is already calling for teaming up with the US to remove anonymous internet access. Sure any registration system will be far from a perfect net - full of holes and work around's for the technically adept - but they only have to get the majority to use it and it will be enough to destroy the Internets potential to bring true accountability and openness to our respective governments. Something that our traditional media channels have utterly failed to do.

China currently has 11 nuclear power plants generating 9.1 GWe. There are at least 9 nuclear power plants in China currently under construction. Xu Yuming, executive director of the China Nuclear Energy Association, said in Beijing on July 6, that China plans at least 60 new reactors by 2020. The World Nuclear Association expects China to ramp up to at least 85 GWe by 2020. Xinhua has reported that nuclear plants provide 2.3% of China's power today and the proportion is planned to rise to 16% by 2030.

Here are some sources:

Uranium Bottoming as China Boosts Stockpiles, China ups targeted nuclear power share from 4% to 5% for 2020.

Google leaving China does do something for Chinese citizens -- it makes them wonder why Google pulled out.

China is good at manipulation. They have published stories of their own named Google is not god.

The The Chinese govt. will have a difficult time offering a convincing explanation that isn't embarrassing. More convincing explanations will be found elsewhere on the internet, leading more people to distrust the Chinese government and start getting their news elsewhere.

There is no elsewhere for news for the 99% who are afraid or unable to bypass the restrictions. Governments can and do that, in any country.

"The Chinese government will create opportunities for you, and ask you not to lose the opportunities," Wen said.

A mob boss couldn't have said it better.

On one side I know that (in this economy) there are many more ways to spend money than space.
But few things united the US as much as the space program.

When the political climate was different, the reasons for going to space were different.
Now that the Cold War is over, space has become a primarily scientific endeavor. I'm happy that science (instead of politics) is the motivator, but now it seems that politics is choking one of the greatest achievements of our species.

The idea behind this "private taxi service" to space could go either way. We all know how recent new aircraft have suffered delay after delay. But what if a more competitive environment brings innovation that otherwise would have been unattainable? After-all it was a competitive environment that pushed us to be the first on the moon.

What I am really sad about though is the lack of interest in the moon. I believe that a permanent, self sufficient (however difficult that might be) settlement on the moon should be a priority. And if we don't start soon, India or China might beat us to it.

While I believe that any mission to the moon is an international event, other countries/cultures might not share that view. I would prefer for us to set the bar in both - returning to the moon, and sharing that experience with the rest of the world.

Exactly. We can't even get the urine recycler working yet. There is an enormous amount of engineering that needs to be improved upon before we can consider ourselves facile in outer space. While the ISS may not be the perfect platform for this research, it has the considerable advantage of existing.

We should definitely keep it running for a while, if for no other reason to keep a fire lit under NASA's butt to get our heavy lift capabilities back to where they were in 1969.

There have been definite improvements in the past two decades or so (OK so Mao took them backwards a huge bit). So most of the people in China will just put up with it - they are getting richer. Many of them are rabidly proud of their country.

Car analogy: they're stuck in the car and the CCP is driving, the scenery is crap, but getting better and they look like they're getting somewhere[1] (and quite fast too by some standards). So most will stick around for the ride, grumble a bit ("are we there yet?"), but not really care that they can't change the driver. A few will even be singing nationalistic songs of their own free will, and there'll be a bunch who'd get off ASAP and go to some other country.

[1] For example, their ambitious push for more nuclear power stations, which should reduce pollution significantly:

quote: "The country may build about 22 reactors in the five years ending 2010 and 132 units thereafter,"

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a2lUkzmYNGWI
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/05/content_8967806.htm

In contrast I'm not sure when my own country (Malaysia) will significantly reduce its dependence on fossil fuels (without screwing up projects massively) - they don't seem to be good at getting things done and instead are fond of coming up with really stupid ideas.

No, Chinese companies (and governments) make green energy products because there's where the money is now. In fact, the central government is trying to overcapacity in solar/wind energy sectors. The US is still a leader, not only in technology, but in exploring new business opportunities. China acts very fast, but they are always in catch-up mode in the sense.

Some contrary information from two different sources.

Today, the United States accepts more legal immigrants as permanent residents than the rest of the world combined.

Xinhua news service

Nicely formatted wiki table of all countries, lists US as #1 in immigrants as % of total population

If you want statistics, see:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/13/europes_new_lost_generation
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/24/content_11762331.htm

Three weeks of vacation, anti-firing laws, and other regulations that drive up the base cost of employing anyone, hurt those who need a job, but can't offer enough initial value to a potential employer to overcome the minimums they have to spend on them. That group is typically the young, the undereducated, and racial/cultural minorities.

The worst part is that those groups would spend some time doing entry-level stuff and learning how to be more valuable in their work through new skills, work habits, and knowledge, except the government makes it illegal to employ them at the entry-level rate they can profitably be employed.

An entry level job is better than no job at all.

From your linked FA:

Chinaâ(TM)s Ministry of Industry and IT 'on Wednesday insisted that its notice to the PC makers and sellers does not mean the software's installation to userâ(TM)s operating system is mandatory, instead, the software package should be installed on either the hard drives or a compact disc with the computers.

Sounds like they still want their spyware to be ready to go at a single misplaced click.

Also, from the embedded Xinhua article:

Sources with the ministry revealed on Wednesday that all the computers to be on sale in China's rural areas at an average of 13percent discount from the government's subsidies have been preloaded the software packages making the total number of preloaded computers exceed 50 million.

        After the ministry selected the two filtering programs from a public bidding last month, it has asked all primary and secondary schools to install the software.

        So far 20,967 primary and secondary schools had installed the software in some 2,618,000 computers and more than 6,957 websites have installed the software in their computers.

Sounds like it's still something to be worried about.

Actually that is not true. Tibet has a strong historic relation with China and both sites are manipulating history in order to use it as a propaganda weapon. Tibet has been part of China throughout history but ties were not always clear. At times there was a lot of autonomy but at important events in history it acted like a part of China. Anyway, it would be a good idea to read what the Chinese think about it.

Keep in mind that we take in more immigrants than the rest of the world combined.

People most often leave their country because America is better. Even a shit wage of $200/week is ten times what they'd make back home in many countries all around the world.

We are hands down one of the most generous and welcoming countries in the world in terms of foreign aid, immigration, etc., but we also have to keep things practical. If we lock down our borders better we can spend the money that we currently use wrangling illegal immigrants towards other better uses.

As for the ones already here, the only practical solution is amnesty.

Regrettably, nothing like this would happen anytime soon on account of it makes sense and would do a lot of good.

5) It's not really *shocking news* to western news outlets when we do it?

6) We're a bit less subtle about it. We've already admitted to Echelon, extensive wiretapping at the carrier level, etc. We've also got Gitmo, prisoner torture, and two wars going for us. Simple spying barely registers.

The Sanmen Nuclear Power Plant will be built in three phases, with an investment of more than 40 billion yuan (5.88 billion U.S. dollars) injected in the first phase.
The first phase project will include two units each with a generating capacity of 1.25 million kw.

So it appears that the real cost is closer to 5.88 / (2 * 1.25) = $2.35 per watt. Still expensive, but not outlandish. I'm in the process of installing a 4kw grid of solar panels on my own roof for a cost (after subsidies/rebates) of $17k, so $4.25 / watt. For greener energy, I think the premium is worth it.

I thought the earth has actually been getting cooler since 2004. I also thought the earth constantly went through cycles of heating and cooling. What we do does affect the planet, by all means. How MUCH it is affecting is still very much up for debate.

Don't confuse speed with position. While 2008 was the coldest year since 2000, it is still the ninth warmest year since 1880. Global warming theories do not require a strictly increasing average global temperature over time.

While I, as you, am preparing to welcome my new Chinese overlords, there is one area of weakness in China's global domination plan you may not considered in your post:

China's arable land barely above critical minimum
Shrinking Arable Lands Jeopardizing China's Food Security
China not to Sacrifice Arable Land for Infrastructure Construction

The US consumes about 100 quads a year.
Show me a way to reduce that by say 20% without a net reduction in GNP and standard of living.

The only way GNP will be reduced is if people cut spending, and as the financial melt down showed people do need to cut spending and save more. How many are losing or are about to lose their homes? You don't think their standard of living won't be affected? Now by becoming more energy efficient people can save money. For instance by turning down the thermostat by a few degrees mys sister was able to save about $150 a month in heating last year. And as I said above, all my lights are CFLs. Even though I use a computer almost all day everyday, my electric bill is probably the lowest I know. Because my bills are relatively low I have more money to spend on other things, and that helps me because I am on disability and don't work. Try to live on what I get for disability then see if you don't try to cut your expenses too.

This idea that everyone can live off the food in their own yard is happy-talk. If the world tried to provide its own food, we would quickly starve. Large fields are more efficient.

Seeing as more and more city farms and gardens are cropping up all over the world, plenty of people disagree with you and are proving gardening does feed people. And large fields only produce more food if they are drowned in synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. All of these are made from petrochemicals.

I applaud your personal experiment, but there isn't enough vegy oil for 1% of the population.

So, instead of a number of different solutions working together you want one big solution? That's what got us where we are now, it only worked for a short period of tyme though.

we went to the moon without impacting the economy. Going to the moon is an easier task than solving our energy problems.

Maybe not if we had an Apollo or Manhattan scaled project. Heck, the US did those alone but it wouldn't have to with energy. Europe and Asian nations could very well join in the effort. Even China, which passed the US in CO2 emissions, is pushing for alternative energy.

Falcon

Compare that to solar $2.9 Billion subsidy package for California alone.

Thanks. Well it was proposed the state give subsidies to nuclear power as well: "these nuclear subsidies would cost over $2 billion. " This says "In California they have brought the cost of windpower down to 4 cents per kilowatt. (14) The National Energy Board of Canada says that windpower, now costs between $50 and $100 per megawatt/hour (MW/h), and expects that it will be down to $40 per MW/h by 2020." I don't know about that myself, I'd like to see where they came up with that, where I live a lot of electricity comes from the wind but I pay about 10 cents a KWH.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't install wind/solar, but I believe that nuclear should be a larger portion of the solution.

Unless and until I see hard evidence storage of waste won't be a problem I don't accept nuclear. Until energy storage is solved I'd rather have natural gas power plants serve as a baseload.

Falcon

coal pays nothing for the CO2 they emit, and the coal mining companies don't either.

I wouldn't bother bringing the coal statistics up with me; I've already stated that I'd replace all the coal plants with nuclear ones if I could. They're dirty and nasty, and I'm of the opinion that if we'd thrown a fraction of the effort we've put into solar/wind power we'd have a much larger installed base of nuclear by now and due to better watts and kwh produced per year figures, we'd be able to shut some of the nastiest ones down. With cheaper electricity we'd be closer to economical electric vehicles, etc...

Ah, but do nuclear power plant operators and owners pay for insurance? I know they pay into a fund for disposal but I don't recall them paying for insurance.

Yes, they do. By Price-Anderson they're required to have $300 Million of insurance and $112 Million in a trust for the coop insurance per reactor.

Per the wiki article, the 'potential cost' of the PA law is $2.3 million per reactor-year, or 237 million annually.

Compare that to solar $2.9 Billion subsidy package for California alone. They're hoping to get an additional 3 MW out of the program.

If we assume that this program only pays for 20%, that's $15B for 3MW of capacity, or $5/watt. Nuclear is supposed to be $1-3/watt.

I'm not saying that we shouldn't install wind/solar, but I believe that nuclear should be a larger portion of the solution.

Hamas won a slim plurality rather less than 50%, not a majority. Also, according to a poll from November 73% of Palestinians wanted to dissolve the Hamas-controlled parliament and hold new elections in January 2009:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/03/content_10300973.htm

According to the same poll, "If new elections were held in January 2009, 48 percent of the surveyed will vote for Fatah while 12.3 will elect Hamas."

Actually, I get a fair amount of my news from NPR and the FT, but accusing me of having limited sources of news is preposterous. Dude, I'm a /.'r. I get INUNDATED with news, MOST of it NOT from the 'Jewish-controlled media'. As if the Jews control the media in any significant way. CBS, ABC, and NBC prove that daily, and more.

But more to your point, that it is the Zionists that violated the truce by halting supplies to Gaza and hunting Mamas militants with commandos, consider this:

The Wikipedia page on the Qassam rocket has a cute chart on what Israeli Intelligence counts as the number of rockets fired into Israel. from 2006 to 2008, I see no month where they claim there were zero rockets fired into Israel. do you have information to the contrary?

According to the BBC, A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began on or about June 18, 2008. I say 'on or about', because I cannot find any reports that Hamas stopped launching rockets against Israel at that time.

This report, from a Chinese news agency, seems to point out that Hamas continued to lauch rockets against Israel.

This link, sadly, is from a thoroughly Zionist site, but offers a calendar of rocket attacks, with distinctions between the Qassam rockets and Katyusha rockets usually launched from Lebanon. You have many months of data here.

My first point is that Hamas seems to have violated the truce continuously. They have their explanations, of course.

My second point is deeper.

Israel should not be expected to tolerate the rocket attacks from Hamas, not to mention those from Lebanon, nor suicide attacks by various aggressors. Neither should Israel indiscriminately kill civilians in reprisals. However, Hamas and others hide amongst the civilian population, on purpose. This must also stop.

Probably, there is no option for peaceful co-existence between Israel and any form of Palestinian state. This must change, and the Palestinian people must decide if they will live alongside Israel or not. Do they really have any choice?

If you would like to continue this discussion and delve into the legitimacy of the Jewish state of Israel, just let me know how far back in history you want to go. The premise that the Jewish people have no place in their ancestral homelands does not hold, in my opinion. If you want to blame someone for this trouble, I propose either the Roman Empire, or the UN. Both took their turns at crafting a Middle East. The British sure didn't help, but their contribution was less.

Hmmm... I am 100% certain that deliveries by sea are restricted by Isreal also.

Well, maybe if they'd stop launching rockets into Israel and join the civilized nations of the World they'd be able to trade with the rest of the World.

"Palestinian witnesses said Thursday that Israeli aircraft had dropped leaflets on southern Gaza Strip, warning to destroy underground smuggling tunnels that extend out to Egypt. ...

Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after Islamic Hamas movement seized control of the territory. ...

The tunnels are used to smuggle a long list of products, starting from fuel and cooking gas to mobile phones."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/25/content_10559193.htm

This doesn't tell me anything unless I know the scale of the projects you want to build and the purpose they are intended to serve.

You can live with a longer lead time if the nuke delivers 1000X as much power and is online 24/7/365.

Israel's biggest [photovoltic] solar power station is a 50KW rooftop intallation. Arizona's Palo Verde nuclear plant has a capacity of about 4,000 MW.

Suggested Ammendment:

"Made in China for the US, dumped in China for the US."

I don't know. What is the big deal?

hmmm...Maybe...the 202 billion of electronic exports from china? Sounds like a pretty big deal to me.
Source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/02/content_8478003.htm

NB: This figure includes information exports, which I assume are a small portion of the total.

False.

Did you just write "False" in red pen across my entire posting?

Imagine what would happen if, under the guise of "public information," the Democrats and Republicans tracked each other's movements.

What would happen, that has not already happened?

Or realtors with connections tracked the movements of other realtors, only to make counter-offers on all of their good finds.

The customers would benefit — just as they did from pricewatch or Froogle (to name just a few).

But these are all off-topic, because they exemplify non-governmental (ab)use of the cameras.

Ever been to a friend's birthday party at a strip club? You can give up on your goal of becoming a teacher now: it's public.

Nope, not if everyone's behavior is up for a similar review.

What would the cost be if a senator in the pocket of Boeing could smear Northrup out of a bidding war before it happened?

Our entire system — separation of powers, markets, prosecution vs. defense et al. — is based on pitching people (along with their flaws) against each other. These cameras will not represent anything revolutionary new — companies and people already hire private investigators to "smear" others. The proposed cameras would be just the next evolutionary step — and they may equalize us — they would've recorded Ted Kennedy's drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident just as scrupulously, as a policeman investigates such allegations against an ordinary citizen.

Seriously, I think, you "oversuspect" the technlogy approach. For example, I always argue, that automatic toll-payment systems should be routinely used to issue speeding citations — based on the distance between the vehicle's entrance and exit and the time in between. This would slow everybody down and quickly cause the speeding limits to be raised to reasonable levels or eliminated altogether... As things stand, the policemen's discretion leads inevitably to selective enforcement...

and this is from Xinhua:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/06/content_9815338.htm

The editors note that is now attached to the Register article that you link to really does not help to support your position. Incidentally I remember having read earlier that year that the warming trend will be put on hold this year because of a severe La Nina effect - apparently the National Geographic guys didn't get the memo.

The Register article DID help my position, however not as dramatically as I would have hoped :)

The Ice extent graph showed 10% more ice than last year, whereas the map showed 30% more pixels than last year. The two sets of data appeared to be contradictory, but they were not. Still, the 10% increase of ice from last year instead of their being almost no ice is a big difference.

Especially since it wasn't just national geographic reporting this, it was almost everyone!

Exclusive: Scientists warn that there may be no ice at North Pole ...
North Pole could be ice-free this summer, scientists say - CNN.com
North Pole could be ice free in 2008 - climate-change - 25 April ...
ABC News: North Pole Could Be Ice Free in 2008
FOXNews.com - Report: North Pole May Be Ice-Free This Summer ...
North Pole Could be Ice-Free This Summer | LiveScience
Summer may see first ice-free North Pole - Climate Change- msnbc.com
North Pole May Be Ice-Free This Year - AOL News
No North Pole ice for 1st time in human history?_English_Xinhua
An Ice-Free North Pole? - TIME

Just a simple google search for "north pole ice free" will give you 1000's of articles. Notice how every one of these articles has very little variation. Not even fox news challenged the claim.

So much for a free and independent press.

Yeah, we Americans have been horrible for our use of drugs esp. in these olympics.

Why here is an article condemning all 4 of the Americans that have failed so far
Fani Chalkia Maria Isabel Moreno Kim Jong-su Do Thi Ngan Thuong
Anything else that you notice us Americans doing wrong? We have so many faults, I think that you should list them all here.

Israeli and palestinians on the borders to the West bank and Gaza are firing home made rockets at each other all the time, and this laser is incapable of shooting them down. I guess the palestinians have discovered a simple way to outsmart it. Israel -> Palestine: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/21/content_8741605.htm Palestine -> Israel: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,370701,00.html

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-07/22/content_8742715.htm

What free trade also does for third world farmers is encourage them to grow for export rather than for the local markets. There are countries with plenty of farms, but starving populations, because the farmers are growing fancy stuff for us rather than staples for their neighbors.

Show me a country that has solid private property rights and starving people. For example, the government owns all land n Ethiopia, and land cannot be bought and sold. Or Zimbabwe, which just split up all the major productive farms in the country and gave them to soldiers.

The path to agricultural development is that farms get large and then they can achieve economies of scale, including increasing productivity because they get big enough to be able to purchase capital items like tractors and combines. Even the non-owner farm workers earn more because they are more productive.

For example, in Brazil, only 21% of farms are under 2 Ha, meanwhile in Ethiopia it is 87%.

Meanwhile, while Brazil's first-quarter agriculture exports reach $27.2 billion which is more than the entire GDP of Ethiopia at official exchange rates, meanwhile Ethiopians brace for new famine

They are the world's equivalent of a broken Xerox machine. Low quality copies, at a high rate.

Or maybe you are just ignorant.

For example, New generation solar cells reach new level of efficiency due to a collaboration between Swiss and Chinese scientists.

And 110 chinese scientists are exploring the Arctic right now.

Or Chinese advances in LIDAR for large area wind speed measurements.

Or Chinese transgenic cloned pigs.

They'll still be in poverty

If you look at the trends, there won't be too many people in absolute poverty (under $1 per day) in China fairly soon. By 2030, China will probably be economically indistinguishable from South Korea (a country that went from large amounts of absolute poverty in the 1950's to fairly advanced economy by the 1980's). By 2050, i suspect China will be indistinguishable from the US. India will probably be behind them by about 10-20 years.

Much of Africa will probably be in poverty for a long time until they give up their ethno-centric / nation-centric / anti-trade / anti-capitalist models. At least India and China are trying.

At this point, one stops looking toward other countries and at saving one's own country.

The global economy is not a zero-sum gain. Improvements in production and techniques in one country help people in other countries. We would all be better off if everyone on the planet was rich.

By the way, if we want to save the US, we should end the war on drugs and consider privatizing our socialist monopoly school system.

Japan started by making inferior knockoffs of Western products.

After World War II Japan made the decison to shed its reputation for cheap knock-offs. In optics. Machine tools. Steel. Automobiles. Electronics...

In 2008, the home-brewed high-tech industry is a geek fantasy. There is simply too much to be gained by moving quickly and efficiently into world markets.

There is very good chance a Chinese engineer will be working for a western owned lab in China.

When China joined the WTO, Microsoft was the first western company to become a menber of China's software trade association.

Microsoft is building a big new campus in Beijing, slated to employ 5,000 people and become Microsoft's largest research center outside the U.S.

Microsoft to build $280mln R&D center in Beijing

In an amazing Slashdot twist the subjective observations of one Marc van der Chijs, CEO of Spill Group Asia and Cofounder of Todou.com, become the official voice of the Chinese government. Hilarity ensues as hundreds chime in to express their views about the views of van der Chifs about the current events.

Let's see now. "Ge Jianxiong, a professor with Fudan University in Shanghai, made an appeal to China's top legislature to mark May 19 a national mourning day in his article published in Southern Metropolis Daily on May 16." according to Xinhua (China announces three-day mourning for quake victims, torch relay suspension). The article says that the appeal came from the public, and the government drew up a few guidelines and made it official.

About the ceremonies themselves, Xinhua reports. "National flags will fly at half mast, public entertainments will be cancelled and the Olympic torch relay suspended during the three-day mourning period."

Nowhere does it say anything about entertainment websites, but public entertainments. Besides, the actions seem to be voluntary and based on solidarity. It's quite hard to imagine that the PLA would enforce mourning at gunpoint. The whole case seems to be an example of internet hysteria.

Whatever the propaganda, the quake pages of chinaview are an interesting read.

In an amazing Slashdot twist the subjective observations of one Marc van der Chijs, CEO of Spill Group Asia and Cofounder of Todou.com, become the official voice of the Chinese government. Hilarity ensues as hundreds chime in to express their views about the views of van der Chifs about the current events.

Let's see now. "Ge Jianxiong, a professor with Fudan University in Shanghai, made an appeal to China's top legislature to mark May 19 a national mourning day in his article published in Southern Metropolis Daily on May 16." according to Xinhua (China announces three-day mourning for quake victims, torch relay suspension). The article says that the appeal came from the public, and the government drew up a few guidelines and made it official.

About the ceremonies themselves, Xinhua reports. "National flags will fly at half mast, public entertainments will be cancelled and the Olympic torch relay suspended during the three-day mourning period."

Nowhere does it say anything about entertainment websites, but public entertainments. Besides, the actions seem to be voluntary and based on solidarity. It's quite hard to imagine that the PLA would enforce mourning at gunpoint. The whole case seems to be an example of internet hysteria.

Whatever the propaganda, the quake pages of chinaview are an interesting read.

3 gorges dam is designed for 7 on the Richter scale. i can't imagine what would happen if something greater hit the dam. here is the gov official announcement on 3 gorges dam. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-05/13/content_8160453.htm

Really?

Speaking of which, there's much more serious dangers in most people's homes than the internet.

Perhaps in the US. In China, execution is clearly a viable option for failure to enforce quality control measures.

China has seatbelt laws, although they're not particularly well enforced and only apply to the driver and front-seat passengers. China has national laws on smoking, and a number of provinces including Beijing have introduced their own stricter regulations. China's anti-drug laws are considerably harsher than those in the US. You're right about the trans fats, but then if you make as many assertions as you did I suppose random chance will mean that at least some are true.

You don't seem to realize that a Chinese government body has been sue-able for more than 17 years, when the "ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE LAW OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA" was in effect. Also the Administrative Permission Law was in effect since 2004, and the State Compensation Law was in effect since 1995. The lawsuits against Chinese government bodies have been widely reported on Chinese media almost immediately since the effective dates of the related laws. From what I read from the Chinese media, most lawsuits against a government body are not brought up by the elite class but normal people (for example, this 95 years old woman was suing the Haian county government over the building right on her residence plot http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2007-05/15/content_6101725.htm), and there's no evidence showing this year this type of lawsuit is any special than the previous years.

The strange thing is that many American people know very few about China yet are very opinionated as if they know a lot.

a) it's amusing to see people clamor for the "good old days" when "brick" meant a very specific form of computer disablement. Yes, those were the days, long ago, perhaps even before the television writers' strike began, why way back in ... aw, heck, you can't expect me to believe quite *that* far back, can you? I imagine a cadre of formerly peaceful hippies in a battle to the death on the proper etymology of "roach," and whether a joint which can still be successfully smoked while held between the fingers is or is not technically a roach.

b) Brick clearly means more than "a small glitch in a basically working device," but "renders useless until a complete system re-install" doesn't seem too crazy; I've seen this use many times, esp. wrt gadgets whose firmware can be replaced with firmware. It's certainly used sometimes to refer to the kind of situation where (as here) the device becomes a doorstop until a complete new system image is installed.

You can choose to fixate on the word (hey, it's a free world! :)), but there's some evidence that not everyone agrees that a bricking is forever.

And if anyone would like to argue some sort of Ur-grammar definition into "brick" in the hyper-recent use to refer to borked electronics, complain about how today's kids aren't true enough to their l447sp3@k roots, may I introduce the brick (older meaning).