China Announces Launch-Success Details — Before Launch

Ironsides writes "After faking the fireworks at the Olympics this year, one would have thought China had learned their lesson. Now, it appears they announced the success of their manned space mission before liftoff even occured, complete with dialogue."

Comments

What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nothing like a guaranteed success

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[RichardJenkins]

This would be funny if it wasn't so disheartening that a government so glibly warps reality.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

They are going to hire Michael Jackson to train their astronauts to avoid that problem.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[lysergic.acid]

the sad thing is, this deception was so unnecessary. i mean, obviously they didn't mean to post the article until after the launch. and in all likelihood the launch will probably be success, and even if the launch weren't people would eventually find out.

so why go through the trouble to write fake news about a space mission that you're planning on carrying out anyway? that defeats the purpose doesn't it?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[savuporo]

Fake moon walk ? What, you mean like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mouUUWpEec0 ?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean, ANOTHER fake moon walk?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Normal Dan]

There are already news articles written for when Obama is elected president. The same news organizations also have articles written for when McCain is elected president. The do this, so once elections are over, they will be the first to post an article about it. It takes time to write and edit, so time is saved by doing everything before hand.

China wrote this article before the launch, so it could get it out as soon as success was confirmed, with little to no editing. Upon failure, articles such as this are suppose to be thrown out. This one never made it that far.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[lgw]

That's far too reasonable. Surely China is simply preparing for it's fake moon landing program, to show it's just as advanced as the US in fake space programs. Eveyrone knows the moon landings were really filmed in a soundstage on Mars!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[conlaw]

Yes, it's awful when a country warps reality, like the statement from May 2003,

US President George W Bush has said the US has prevailed in the Battle of Iraq in a speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2989459.stm

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure there are articles written for when either Obama or McCain are elected President. I have a hard time believing, however, that either of them contain dialogue from the candidates.

Oh man... my captcha is 'concoct'.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[abigor]

It's always weird when people defend China, and point out problems and mistakes democratic nations have made to show how we are just as bad, even though the scope and scale are entirely different. It borders on the delusional.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[lysergic.acid]

even though i think China crossed the line here, i have to point out that comparing similar incidences/practices is not delusional at all. Chinese media writing the news before it happens can be compared with US media writing the news before it happens.

besides, the whole purpose of the comparison is to show people like yourself and the GP that China and the U.S. aren't as different as you think. the U.S. isn't as morally righteous and incorruptible as most nationalistic Americans claim. no society is perfect, just as no society is completely bad.

believe it or not, Chinese people are human beings too, just as we are. because of that, we share many of the same flaws and make many of the same mistakes. you two act like we're talking about a different species or something. what, you don't think America could ever have anything in common with China?

the Cold War is over buddy. grow up.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Surt]

But surely they would in a non-democratic country with no free speech where the country is quite legally allowed to tell the astronauts EXACTLY what they are going to say?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Cyberax]

Dewey beats Truman!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Tenebrousedge]

Where we the United States fall short in scale, it is only through lack of means, not lack of will. For a tip-of-the-iceberg set of examples: Abu Ghraib, the Phillipine-American war, our machinations in Latin America, our overthrow of the government of Iran (and we wonder why they hate us?), internment of Japanese-Americans during the Second World War...I could go on and on, but the point, I believe has been made. To what degree that the world has been affected by the actions of the United States vs. the actions of China, it is to our great credit that we could even consider asking the question of whether we have done more good than evil. As far as evildoers go, probably the only thing that cannot be ascribed to us is institutionalized genocide.

But hey, you didn't even refer to the United States in specific, I see. Add institutionalized genocide back on the list, and shut the fuck up about anything, but anything that non-Western world has done.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[ciej]

people will find out?! Because so many of them know about Tianamen Square.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

It's hardly the same comparison - the articles around Obama's/McCain's win don't include video footage of him taking the Oath.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the reason I use when I explain to my wife why I prefer a quickie. ;-)

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[NeverVotedBush]

And we all know the Chinese will fortify their fake moon landing with melamine and antibiotics.

It just works better that way!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[lysergic.acid]

it's spelled Tiananmen, or Tian An Men if broken into its morphemes. and yes a lot of people found out about it, seeing as international journalists & cameramen caught the whole thing (it was broadcast live on the BBC and CNN, and a CBS cameraman also caught footage of the event), and it was witnessed by millions of people.

and how exactly would you cover up a failed rocket launch?

"hey, good news everyone! the launch was a huge success, and the mission went off without a hitch."

"oh, where are the astronauts? um.... they liked space so much they decided to stay up there... forever."

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[mr_mischief]

Don't forget the lead paint!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[mr_mischief]

I love America and all, but if you think we haven't as a nation committed genocide then you've not read back far enough in our history.

From death marches to reservations thousands of miles away from their homelands to intentionally trading them blankets from smallpox and tuberculosis patients, the Indians have quite a moral claim against the US government. Most of them now have either mainstreamed themselves into our society or seem fairly content with schools, casinos, a distinct lack of sales taxes, and being largely left the hell alone. I'd say they handled it far more graciously than the rest of us in the U.S. have.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[allgoodnamesaretaken]

yeah, this isn't that unusual. I just received a proof of a digital billboard congratulating cats as the winner of the grand final tonight... too bad if that went up before the game :P actually, that would be pretty hilarious... *click-hijack*

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[thatskinnyguy]

The do this, so once elections are over, they will be the first to post an article about it.

Yeah, they and the ever-so enigmatic AC have something in common. Every now and then I see a really long, trolling, and often well-written first post as if AC was crouched in wait for the article to drop.

The first time I read the words "Fr0sty Pi$$" in the New York Times, I'll be sure to check the name of the columnist. Maybe then we can solve the mystery as to who AC is.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[sydneyfong]

Do you mean that democratic nations don't make mistakes that are as bad as authoritarian states?

*That* borders on the delusional. Man, Democracy isn't a silver bullet.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[gemada]

It is like the baseball caps that get made by both teams in the World Series. Both sets say "world champs" but one set is a lie as one team will lose. Wait, that is a sports analogy and will make no sense to slashdot readers.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[abigor]

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

1. Name the last time two democracies went to war against one another.

2. Tell me about all the prison camps and gulags that exist in democracies. Gitmo is one, for sure, and it is reprehensible. But the scale of what is happening there is nothing - NOTHING - compared to the Soviet gulags or the Chinese prison system. Or the North Korean, for that matter. I read an absolutely harrowing article by a woman who survived the latter - unbelievable.

3. Stalin killed 20 million of his own people, at a conservative estimate. That is around the equivalent of the total military deaths of all of World War 2.

4. The Holocaust. ...etc.

Democracy isn't a silver bullet, but the mistakes we make do not compare to the above.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[abigor]

No, I don't think the US has anything in common with China (note: I'm not American - love how you assumed that, though). Have you any idea of the Chinese prison system, and how it operates? Do you understand the massive depth of corruption that exists throughout their society such that 10,000 children are killed in an earthquake because of shoddy building practices?

I'm somewhat connected to China via personal relations, and I can tell you that you have NO IDEA what you are talking about.

I never said the US was incorruptible or perfect, only that the scale of error is utterly different. And where did I malign the common people of China, or talk about the Cold War? You clearly live up to your user name, you dumb fuck.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't go back far enough either. Too bad you can't tell that to the tribes and native peoples who were wiped out by the native peoples to which you refer. This Rousseauian Noble Savage myth persists. Guess what? There were tribal wars and genocide long before the White Man came to the Americas. Genocide is a human trait, as much as don't like to admit it.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[ciej]

I realize the the rest of the world knows about it, but how many chinese know about it?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[kmac06]

Chinese media writing the news before it happens can be compared with US media writing the news before it happens.

No it can't, because the state doesn't own the media in the US.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[lysergic.acid]

i happen to be ethnically Chinese (1.5th generation immigrant from Taiwan), and i can tell you that you're still missing the point--and making a complete ass of yourself.

the U.S. has nothing in common with China?

let's see, China has a market economy, and so does the U.S.
China has an army, navy, air force, police force and fire fighters, as does the U.S.
China has McDonalds--hrmm... i think the U.S. has that too.
China has hosted the Olympics, and what a coincidence, so has the U.S.
China exports tons of weapons, just as the U.S. does.
China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and so has--oh wait, nope, you're right about that one.
but neither China nor the U.S. recognize Taiwan as an independent country.*
China imports a shit ton of oil each year, so does the U.S.
Chinese government leaders are corrupt, so are U.S. leaders.
China has nationalists and dissidents, so does the U.S.
China has a privileged elite and a disenfranchised poor, so does the U.S.
China has membership in the IMF, just as the U.S. does.
China has a stock market, just as the U.S. does. ...

and you're accusing other people of being deluded?

*-being Taiwanese and my Dad being very pro-Taiwanese independence, i was raised to despise China. but even i wouldn't make such blatant hyperboles and blanket generalizations about China.

as i said, grow up. and learn to stop viewing the world in black & whites.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[mr_mischief]

That's true, but although it was the same land mass it wasn't the same group doing it.

The US and the British settlers before the US was founded aren't the only newcomers to do such things in the West, either, though. The Spanish were pretty brutal in South America, wiping out whole civilizations and enslaving people to work in silver mining. The French and Dutch weren't exactly on a mission to preserve aboriginal peoples, either.

As you said, many of those civilizations that were conquered or exterminated had a habit of massive wars on one another, though.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[StrahdVZ]

I don't know why, but this makes me wonder whether anybody bothered writing up an article titled "Black Hole formed at LHC". ;)

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd find those explanations quite satisfactory if it weren't described as "The country's official news agency."

Who exactly are they racing to beat to print if they're officially part of the government, which, presumably, would be first to know about any success or failure?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[1u3hr]

No it can't, because the state doesn't own the media in the US.

There are plenty of media in the US that uncritically presented statements made by the government. Just remember the runup to the Iraqi invasion; completely unsupported bullshit published as fact in major newspapers and TV news services.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who's the King of Pop now, bitch?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[hcdejong]

In a country with free press, that makes sense. If you don't prewrite stories, you get scooped by your competition. The Chinese have no such problems, they have complete control of the flow of information and could have published the news at their leisure.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[cavebison]

China wrote this article before the launch, so it could get it out as soon as success was confirmed, with little to no editing.

"Warm clapping and excited cheering breaks the night sky, echoing across the silent Pacific Ocean."

Ah, I see what you mean.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[TheLink]

In the past few food safety scandals, the Chinese officials in charge have either been executed or they resigned.

So despite what the West likes to say about China, there is some form of accountability, it's not one of those simple Evil Dictatorships.

And there actually are elections in China[1], sure there is only one party, but hey how much choice do the US voters actually have in practice? I believe in the US they even have laws and systems that favour the Two Parties over the "Other Parties".

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_the_People's_Republic_of_China

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[linhares]

Gleat Victolly!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Elbowgeek]

That's a good point - CNN some years ago was exposed for having pre-written obituary articles, with fill in the blanks spots for details.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

"China has ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and so has--oh wait, nope, you're right about that one."

Ratifying the Kyoto Protocol and adhering to the Kyoto Protocol are two very different things. No intelligent person can sit there and tell me that China is going to take the hit to their burgeoning industrial machine to fulfill what the Kyoto Protocol set out to accomplish.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nixon had a speech all ready in case apollo astronauts were lost,also i don't believe Reagan came up with that touched the face of god speech off the cuff.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ever heard of writing an obituary before a person is dead and then releasing it on the web while that person is still alive, I think Steve Jobs and several other people can attest to that practise by western media ? - Well here's an example of the same only regarding a predictible news story... But since it is Chinese then there must be faul play afoot... or what ?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Mr. Slippery]

Have you any idea of the Chinese prison system, and how it operates?

Funny you should use prisons as a point of comparions, since China imprisons far, far fewer people than we do - we have 2.3 million people behind bars, they have 1.6 million. (That doesn't count their "re-education" labor camps, but that doesn't come close to making up the difference - especially when you consider the per capita numbers.)

I wasn't able to turn up stats on whether one is more likely to be raped in an American or in a Chinese prison.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Tenebrousedge]

You are entirely correct sir, and I should have remembered that.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[dotancohen]

There are already news articles written for when Obama is elected president. The same news organizations also have articles written for when McCain is elected president. The do this, so once elections are over, they will be the first to post an article about it. It takes time to write and edit, so time is saved by doing everything before hand.

There was also a speech ready to explain to Americans why Neal and Buzz won't be coming hope. Thank God (and NASA engineers) the world did not have to hear it.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[jahudabudy]

I love America and all, but if you think we haven't as a nation committed genocide then you've not read back far enough in our history.

And you haven't read enough of the actual history, as opposed to the guilt-laden watered-down version taught in American schools. What happened to the Native Americans was tragic, and there was certainly a fair amount of maliciousness involved, but nothing near the scale institutionalized genocide would imply. The population decline of the Native Americans is far more attributable to: "virgin soil" phenomenon of disease transmission and culture clash - their society could not compete on an economic scale with Western society, which led to their inevitable decline. Their basic philosophy prevented a majority of them from being able to function in Western society, so with the destruction of their own society, they had no society in which they could live. And yes, wars and deliberate murder also happened.

Really, the greatest institutional crimes that can be lain squarely on America are those that still plague us: apathy and ignorance towards the affairs of anyone but ourselves. Many of our policies that were detrimental to the natives were not intended for that purpose; that was merely a side-effect of some other purpose. Often, it was a side-effect that was completely predictable if those at the time had bothered to even consider the natives. Then, when we actually started paying attention, and attempting to protect the natives from ourselves, we did so in an incredibly ignorant and arrogant manner that ultimately led to the rather dysfunctional dynamic we have today.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[komische_amerikaner]

This Just In....Dewey Wins Election!!!!

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[Paracelcus]

China has been doing a splendid job of self-promoting propaganda/public relations, for thousands of years every ruler who took power either by subterfuge or force has re-written history to legitimize their reign. So when I say that China has no history what I mean is that nothing in it's written records can be trusted as even remotely reliable.

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[sydneyfong]

Look dude. The differences in "scale" you mention is probably simply a matter of wealth.

Do you understand the massive depth of corruption that exists throughout their society such that 10,000 children are killed in an earthquake because of shoddy building practices?

Corruption definitely. But then, in country that was basically third world a decade or two ago, you wouldn't expect their buildings to be made with the best materials would you? "Shoddy" practices in a first world country might not cause a building to collapse because the buildings on average are built with better materials, while "shoddy" practices where the standards are already rather minimal would cause things to break.

Anyway the problem with you is that you're getting too emotional on the issue. Look, the world isn't a perfect place, and all we can do is to strive to make it better. Look at China and how it's changed in the past three decades. I mean, your posts all smell of "China is BAD, they are BAD GUYS", but what I see is that China is actually improving -- or do you expect things to change overnight? Sometimes I really don't understand. I mean, China was really basically a shit hole (at times) half a century ago, and now (parts of it) is looking pretty much like a first world country -- and all you could say is that NO WE ARE DEFINITELY BETTER THAN THEM.

Of course we can all debate on how fast things *should* change, and what should change and whatnot, but there's no reason to get personal, right?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[sydneyfong]

4. The Holocaust. ...etc.

Democracy isn't a silver bullet, but the mistakes we make do not compare to the above.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Hitler (or his party) actually elected through democratic processes?

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[NotmyNick]

Just as Al Gore did not claim to invent the internet, Americans did not hand out smallpox laden blankets in a genocidal fashion. In every case, suspected or documented, it was a British officer. Amherst is the most famous case and he is the namesake of the American university, but he was a British officer working for the king. The native population mostly came out short on the germ exchange. Europeans got Syphilis, they got smallpox. The Trail of Tears was not a happy incident, but it was not deliberate genocide. The Bureau of Indian Affairs did do their damnedest to try to wipe out their culture. The Spanish on the other hand....

Re:What's next, a fake moon walk?

[DaN_Torres]

This reminds me of the BBC broadcast that stated that World Trade Center number 7 the Salomon Brother's Building had collapsed before it actually did. Maybe a government twisting reality to better suit its needs (war, passing of the patriot act, which had been written 2 years before Sept 11, economic collapse and the eventual move to a socialist, fascist rule where we seem headed). Yes nothing like a guaranteed success. I agree with NormalDan on the fact that news articles have already been written on important events, I can only wonder what other things have already been written about, maybe U.S. troops shooting at protesters following the economic collapse and how the protesters turned violent and police had to react, maybe talking about banks closing their doors because FDIC is out of funds, and they need to freeze bank accounts for two months for our 'benefit'. Maybe how 700 Billion dollars (a figure that has been admitted was pulled out of thin air) is not enough to bail out the economy and we need to tap into your SS funds again for your benefit. So much to read about... wish I had access to that pandora's box which it turns out is the media's prepardness to write a story..... BTW as a refresher watch the clip of that BBC newscast telling people the carefully scripted manner in which WTC building number seven fell and what caused it to fall before it actually happened... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mxFRigYD3s this would be funny if it had happened in Russia or China but for sadness sake it happened in the U.S. the land of democracy, free press and the standard of modern day Euthopia.

I can't wait.

[darinfp]

It looks like we'll be seeing $2 time machines imported from China any day now....

Re:I can't wait.

[charlie763]

Expect to see them last week.

Re:I can't wait.

[electrosoccertux]

Frist psot'ing is going to get a lot more competitive around here if what you say is true...

Re:I can't wait.

[electrosoccertux]

Frist psot'ing is going to get a lot more competitive around here...

Re:I can't wait.

[clone53421]

Sorry, your future self apparently traveled back in time and posted almost exactly the same thing 6 minutes sooner. Owned.

And tomorrow they'll announce

[3waygeek]

the invention of a time machine.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[corsec67]

You didn't get the memo?

That announcement was yesterday.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[Bwana Geek]

My memory must be slipping. I could have sworn they announced it next weekend.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[Arancaytar]

What are you talking about, they announced that last week!

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[ChaoticLimbs]

Are you kidding? Old news. I already got mine tomorrow.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[corsec67]

That is what you get for traveling so much in your TARDIS.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, the announcement was last Fursday.

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[sharkey]

I could have sworn they announced it next weekend

I don't usually grammar nazi, but don't you mean "they wioll haven be announced it next weekend"?

Re:And tomorrow they'll announce

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't usually grammar nazi, but[...]

Wioll?

Funny stuff.

[ScrewMaster]

Hysterical. Entirely typical ... but still hysterical.

Re:Funny stuff.

[flyingsquid]

Personally, I'm not all that impressed by this incident. The Chinese lied about putting people in orbit? Please. Our government faked an entire moon landing. They have a long way to go before they'll catch up with us.

Re:Funny stuff.

[guyminuslife]

Ron Paul!

Re:Funny stuff.

[ZosX]

How did they get the 900lbs of lunar rock back?

Re:Funny stuff.

[Anonymous Coward]

A wizard did it.

Re:Funny stuff.

[tgd]

Have you SEEN that 900 lbs of rock?

All I've seen is pebbles sealed in plastic.

>.>

Re:Funny stuff.

[Cassius Corodes]

With made in china on the bottom...

Re:Funny stuff.

[Surt]

They transported it from Arizona by truck. Duh.

Re:Funny stuff.

[ZosX]

Either way, these samples have all been independently tested to prove that they were not from the planet Earth. If they can fly rocks back, they sure as hell can fly back astronauts. Furthermore, every one of the conspiracy theorists theories have been thoroughly debunked. There is no smoking gun. The van allen radiation belts would not have had much impact since their trajectory mostly avoided them and they passed through them in a very short period of time. The shuttle has passed through them at least once with no ill effects. Not everything you read is true I'm afraid.

Re:Funny stuff.

[dazlari]

Yes, but to be on the safe side NASA best hurry up and fake a Mars landing.

Re:Funny stuff.

[Cassius Corodes]

Why do you still use reason to argue with irrational people. This has never worked.

China...

[Anonymous Coward]

The new Land of Make-Believe!

Also leaked

[Shadow Wrought]

Also leaked was a transcipt for their prospective moon landing...

Shenzhou 11: Base this is Shenzhou 11. Shenzhou has landed. Jesus H. Christ Base, We're on the fucking moon. Over.

Base: Roger, Shenzhou, we copy you. We cannot believe you are on the fucking moon. Repeat: Cannot fucking believe it. Over.

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

Shenzhou 11: Base this is Shenzhou 11. Shenzhou has landed. Jesus H. Christ Base, We're on the fucking moon. Over.

Base: Roger, Shenzhou, we copy you. We cannot believe you are on the fucking moon. Repeat: Cannot fucking believe it. Over.

The Fucking Moon

The only thing tastier than the Onion in print, is the Evolution Control Committee in MP3. )And nothing is obscure on Slashdot! Nothing!)

Re:Also leaked

[Red Flayer]

Heh. Gotta love the dialogue in the article, though -- one line:

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.

Re:Also leaked

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

Ground Control to Major Wong...Ground Control to Major Wong...

Re:Also leaked

[flyingsquid]

I just have to wonder, who writes a story like this? Did these people go to a regular journalism school, or some kind of Bizarro-world journalism school where they teach a combination of news writing and creative writing? Are the people making up this story the same guys who photoshopped missiles for the Iranians? Or is it just some dude living in his mom's basement who enjoys writing Star Trek fanfic?

Re:Also leaked

[maeka]

Take your melamine pills and put your helmet on

Re:Also leaked

[Daimanta]

"Did these people go to a regular journalism school, or some kind of Bizarro-world journalism school where they teach a combination of news writing and creative writing?"

Close, they got internships at Fox Networks.

Re:Also leaked

[Siridar]

Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.

Space Pornos?

This is relevant to my interests.

Re:Also leaked

[Daswolfen]

That's no moon...

Re:Also leaked

[glittalogik]

Tell Chairman Mao I love him very much, he knoooowowowwws...

Re:Also leaked

[BUL2294]

Ground Control to Major Wong...

...Your rocket's thrust is out of this world!

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

^Either this is a reference to the Onion "Our Dumb Century" article or a blatant bit of plagiarism-- (also made into a vid). Either way, hardly worth a score of 5...

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

O'Reilly's next special is on the leaked Chinese footage of their invasion and takeover of the USA at the 2008 Thanksgiving holiday. He's gonna jump up and down and scream at all Americans because they're "pinheads".

Re:Also leaked

[LaskoVortex]

Shenzhou 11: Base this is Shenzhou 11. Guess what base? All your base are belong to us.

Re:Also leaked

[ScrewMaster]

Heh. Gotta love the dialogue in the article, though -- one line:

"The firm voice of the controller broke the silence of the whole ship. Now, the target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time ...

Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.

Can you say, "Space: 1999"?

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

"Boom De Yada..."

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

Ground Control to Major Wong...Ground Control to Major Wong...

Quit your rascism. 2 Wongs do not make a White.

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

"Did these people go to a regular journalism school, or some kind of Bizarro-world journalism school where they teach a combination of news writing and creative writing?"

Close, they got internships at Fox Networks.

I know you're trying to be funny, but you should about Jayson Blair and the New York Times, and Dan Rather

Reporters often make up stories - only rarely do they get caught.

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

Shenzhou 11: Base this is Shenzhou 11. Shenzhou has landed. Jesus H. Christ Base, We're on the fucking moon. Over.

Because we all know how fanatical the Chinese are about Christ.

Re:Also leaked

[Anonymous Coward]

5555

Re:Also leaked

[Luthair]

I imagine its just a poor translation, I mean its not like they said all your base...

Re:Also leaked

[KudyardRipling]

Move over Derek Wadsworth, it's more campy sounding than the second season of Space:1999.

Re:Also leaked

[moose_hp]

The Minitrue of course!

Wait... that was the Oceania one... I guess Eastasia have one of those too.

Timezone thing?

[HtR]

Yeah, but because of timezones, it's already tomorrow over there, right?

Re:Timezone thing?

[snowraver1]

Not only tomorrow, but tomorrow's tomorrow...

TFA says,

The arcticle, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

But they said it would be open and honest

[Kligat]

They said it would be open, honest, and transparent so as to let everyone get a glimpse into this historic achievement as a gesture of kindness toward the world. I actually thought about watching it for a few seconds, because there is only so much I thought they could think they could get away with. I guess I needed another reminder.

Re:But they said it would be open and honest

[lysergic.acid]

well, at least now the astronauts know what to say when they get into space.

Re:But they said it would be open and honest

[Froboz23]

There's really not much to see. The video of the spaceflight was pieced together from Thunderbirds stock footage. But I will give them credit for photoshopping the strings out.

In other news, steve jobs is dead

[fyleow]

Don't news agencies prepare stories before it happens so they can be published quickly? There was that article about Steve Jobs' demise which obviously did not happen.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[geekoid]

They do with popular people's death announcement.
They don't involve publishing 'live' transcripts of future events.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[pushing-robot]

Yeah, I'd be surprised if Xinhua hadn't written both success and failure stories weeks ago.

Seriously, people — it's a common gaffe, not an evil Communist plot.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Kligat]

That's different because they're political speeches written beforehand. General Dwight Eisenhower did the same thing in case the Invasion of Normandy did not work. This is detailed information about conversations between astronauts.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[BorgAssimilator]

Exactly. There's a difference between creating general statements to be used in the article so that the story can be published faster, and creating false information such as conversations. Now, you could argue that just maybe they had a script that the astronauts would follow, making what was stated the most likely scenario, which would make sense to include this in a preparatory article, but I don't think they would do this. Just seems like too much work to me...

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[EGSonikku]

Sometimes they do: ;-)

http://www.break.com/index/dana_carvey_snl_gerald_ford_is_dead.html

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

They don't involve publishing 'live' transcripts of future events.

I'd be more surprised if they didn't. I mean, with an important historical (nationally) event like this, it's probably best not to trust entirely in a spokesman's ability to come up with something appropriately sensitive and well, 'awesome' to say in face of either the success or failure of the venture.

Better write it before-hand to save potentially embarrassing gaffes, or anything stupid coming out of said spokes person's mouth. (Not that that stopped Neil Armstrong - "This one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind"? You're not trying to tell me that a) they knew for certain they'd succeed and b)that phrase wasn't scripted?)

As for the actual wording... What can I say, Chinese people have long since turned bad taste into a art form. (It's not bright enough! More scarlet! More gold! Heck, let's make it flash bright rainbow colours!)

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

Did any of those stories contain fabricated quotes from Woz discussing his feelings about Jobs' passing?

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

Gerald Ford, wolves, etc.

http://geraldford.ytmnd.com/

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Daswolfen]

Steve Jobs did die and had been replaced by the next generation anamatronic from Disney.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[FuturePastNow]

A failure story? From a dictatorship's state-run newspaper? I doubt it.

1) the rocket explodes

2) there was no rocket

3) no step three, either

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[houghi]

They do. I know a person who works for the news department and they do regular updates of many people. Things can go online almost imidiatly.

And let us not foget that each and every country will bend the truth a little bit to look better to the rest of the world.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

NASA works almost 100% off of scripts. I actually did Space Academy 1 & 2 in Huntsville Alabama where you regularly run through the ENTIRE scripted ordeal a few times in simulators.

That noted our press has never prepublished those scripts, they have always put more importance on the unscripted moments that make the trip so much fun!!!!!

On small slip up for a man one large lie for mankind.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[sdguero]

Yeah, I'd be surprised if Xinhua hadn't written both success and failure [wikisource.org] stories weeks ago.
Preparing statements ahead of time is one thing. Forging dialogue between ground control and the astronauts is a completely different ball game.

Seriously, people â" it's a common gaffe, not an evil Communist plot.
I wouldn't call it communist, but it is arguably evil. It certainly disgraces the men/women working on the space program in China. They deserve credit for their actual accomplishments instead of lame government fabrications. It is also a lying to the Chinese people; the majority of whom will take that article as the verbatim truth.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean, like when WTC7 collapsed?

BBC Reports Live that WTC7 has fallen, yet it still stands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejjySUVOGKA

-saned

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Dice]

Such conversations are often scripted. Armstrong's "one small step", for instance, was scripted before they ever left Earth.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[tygt]

it's a common gaffe

No, it's common to write a story ahead of time (though probably not with dialogue, as others have noted). The gaffe which occured is actually publishing it ahead of time; this is not such a common thing.

I do agree however that it's not likely to be an evil Communist plot, or a plot of any sort, other than a simple gaffe.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Cassius Corodes]

4) Why are you still reading! Off to jail with you!

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[prikkebeen]

Yeah, same happened to the BBC with 9/11. Nothing new here.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[e4g4]

They certainly did. In fact, they noted Woz's notable appreciation for latin - the first words of every quote were "Lorem ipsum."

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[smoker2]

Yeah like no US newspaper ever announced the wrong winner in a presidential election before.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[beav007]

Yes, and he screwed it up.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[baka_toroi]

Because surely the dialogues astronauts have are completely random and unpredictable.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[commodoresloat]

Such conversations are often scripted. Armstrong's "one small step", for instance, was scripted before they ever left Earth.

That's because they never left earth!!

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Sponge Bath]

...not an evil Communist plot.

Yes, China is not really communist any more.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Sj0]

I can sort of see why they'd do it, though.

"This is Eagle-one, command. I'm so glad we don't have any of those sand-niggers up here, just real bonified Americans. This is a real American triumph, and those cheese eating surrender monkeys, and those vodka swilling commies, and those sausage eating krauts, and those Canadians, they can all suck my all-American dick, command"

"Roger that, Eagle-one."

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[mgblst]

Steve jobs did actually die, years ago. We are on th 4th incarnation of Steve Jobs. This new one promises to be sleeker and curvier than the last, plus smarterer. I can't wait.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Qzukk]

it's a common gaffe

I just have one question. If the article predicts that the target will be captured "12 seconds ahead of the predicted time", when will the target be captured? Anyone taking bets?

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[TheLink]

Nah he just had to set his Reality Distortion Field to high and then everything was AOK.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[teh kurisu]

I would make a joke about how this accidental release won't actually happen until tomorrow, but if there's anywhere that a story won't be put out early, it's Slashdot.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Anonymous Coward]

Life imitates art, again.

Philip K. Dick wrote this in "Now Wait for Last Year".

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[Kligat]

The difference there is that that line was thought of by Neil Armstrong himself beforehand. It wasn't spontaneous, but I would have been thinking all the time of what I would say when I set foot, too.

Re:In other news, steve jobs is dead

[AbRASiON]

Yes, there was a point where you could find the "Bob Hope has died" page on CNN several weeks before he died (may be another person)
There was several others too, George Bush Snr and well I can't remember but a few.

no number like made up numbers

[timmarhy]

much like america's economy, making up the numbers only works for so long.

Re:no number like made up numbers

[Neanderthal Ninny]

"There are lies, damned lies and statistics."
Mark Twain

The usual

[Nux'd]

Don't they celebrate the new year before that happens too?

I figure that's what's happening here.

I willing to bet...

[Narnie]

...that the whole mission is already recorded, so no matter if the rocket explodes on the launch pad, depressurizes in space, disintegrates on reentry or whatnot, the mission will be a success. And that's all you need to know.

Re:I willing to bet...

[calmofthestorm]

Mission? They're actually doing one? Why, they just went to the moon! Didn't you read Veritas?

Re:I willing to bet...

[sydneyfong]

I'd take your bet.

Do you think you can actually fake a mission success like that? I mean, they'd really have to be good at this to revive the dead astronauts. And I'm sure nobody would notice a huge object blowing up in mid-space....

Re:I willing to bet...

[Xtifr]

Yeah, that's the thing that gets me about the whole "moon-landing-was-faked" thing. Do these idiots really think Russia was just going to take the US's word for it? And that was back when only really the Superpowers and a few of their best buddies would have had the technology to track the mission. These days, I'll bet that Luxembourg and Sri Lanka have the ability to confirm or deny the success of the launch on their own.

Not really news, happens all the time, everywhere.

[midnitewolf]

It isn't that uncommon for Press Releases announcing the success of an event to be drafted before the event takes place.

Sure, fabricating the actual dialogue ahead of time is shadier than most.. but really what they're doing isn't THAT different from what we do in America every day. It's only garnering attention because it was leaked, but I can't imagine that anyone who says they're shocked by this isn't feigning that shock.

You could just as easily be just as shocked at a Presidential candidate accidentally releasing both a victory speech and a concession speech before knowing the outcome of an election. It's not really news, it's just humorous that it was posted (way) too prematurely.

How many people are honestly surprised at this?

Video

[kabloom]

I'm not sure I believe the video either.

It's not funny

[QuantumG]

If they're lying about their success (and yes, even if the mission turns out to be a success, they're still lying by announcing it early) then what else are they lying about?

For all we know dozens of taikonauts have died or been wounded in the making of China's space program.

They wouldn't tell us if it was the case.

Re:It's not funny

[Anonymous Coward]

Everything.

This is a PR stunt for the US's eyes and ears. Look out! We're not longer the big dogs on the block! We're fat and slow and the Chinese Food eating Astronauts are going to catch up!

But not to worry! Because they can never pack enough food! An hour of eating their space food, they'll be hungry again!

Re:It's not funny

[c_forq]

Do you not remember seeing the smuggled video of the rocket launch gone bad? Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGoU1GgkrKg Also covered by CNN here: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9603/china_rocket/

Re:It's not funny

[Anonymous Coward]

what do you care if some taikonuats died? don't pretend like you actually give a shit.

Re:It's not funny

[smellsofbikes]

There were rumors of a number of failed Russian space launches that left cosmonauts stuck in orbit during the '70's -- like there were actually people on Kosmos-434, for instance, and the lunar race was much closer than generally thought. I'm sure it's a load of hooey but I knew people who were very intense about it, spent nights listening for transmissions on their high-powered ham setups.

Look

[omar.sahal]

You need to understand propaganda China, never tell overt lies. Look to the masters in Europe and America for guidance.

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[Apple Acolyte]

Yeah, but as others have pointed out, such scripted articles and speeches don't include supposed dialog from the future.

Next they'll be saying that Tibet has WMD

[Anonymous Coward]

..and they have the ability to launch them within 45 minutes.

Re:Next they'll be saying that Tibet has WMD

[HappySmileMan]

Next they'll be announcing that Tibet has launched Nuclear Weapons next year, justifying their invasion yesterday.

Of course by the time the rest of the world figures out what the hell this actually means the conflict will be over.

Re:Next they'll be saying that Tibet has WMD

[sydneyfong]

Duh. If anybody is going to invading Tibet it won't be the Chinese. They already have an army there. Besides, Tibet having WMD's is actually plausible. Who knows where China is hiding all the nukes...

Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth

[dsmitchell1]

But we've always been at war with East Asia!

Re:Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth

[Narnie]

Mod parent double plus good

Re:Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth

[Anonymous Coward]

I think most mods weren't even born before '85.

Re:Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth

[Anonymous Coward]

Then they have no excuse as thats shortly after the movie version was filmed (guess when).

And it has some full frontal in it.

kids these days.

Re:Brought to you by the Ministry of Truth

[jcuervo]

I think most mods weren't even born before '85.

Wikipedia has some links to online versions.

All two of you who haven't read it, go read it.

It's just the pre-script...

[Dieppe]

Of what the Chinese astronauts are supposed to say, including their emotional state and excitement. Those clever Chinese, they can't leave anything to chance after all!

Wait, was it "One small step for A man?" or "One small step for man?" Dang I forget...

Re:It's just the pre-script...

[geekoid]

It was:
"One small step for shzt man"

The Fine Arcticle

[HTH NE1]

From TFA:

The arcticle, dated two days from now on Sept. 27, vividly described the rocket in flight, complete with a sharply detailed dialogue between the three astronauts.

I suggest that henceforth stories written before the events they report shall henceforth be known as "arcticles". The backinition (reverse-derived defintion, a la "backronym") will be it is a merging of archive + article.

An anarcticle is reserved for an article that actually traveled back in time (anachronism + article).

But really so chosen to immortalize this typo, just like filk and pron before.

They copied the Russian on everything...

[Neanderthal Ninny]

including lying. Remember after Apollo 8 and then Apollo 11 the Russians cooked up a story that they were not going to the moon in the 1960's after several disasters during their moon program.

Re:They copied the Russian on everything...

[Zero return]

That's "Soviets", not "Russians". There is a difference.

What if there was a launch failure?

[actionbastard]

We probably wouldn't know about it for weeks, possibly even months. The culture of 'face' would make any failure, no matter how slight, a terrible embarrassment to the ruling party. If there were a serious failure, loss of vehicle and crew, we might never hear about it at all. Depending on the severity, it could set their program back a decade or more as they try to recover from the 'shame'. Pre-event 'success' announcements such as these leaking out prior to a major failure could lead to possible 'termination' of those involved, also.

Re:What if there was a launch failure?

[Chyeld]

The difference between Russia during the Space Race and China now, is that we more than likely have something watching China hard enough that we'd know if there was a failed launch. After all, they have nukes and no one figures they'll be arriving by slowboat should China decide to use them.

Re:What if there was a launch failure?

[tygt]

Who's to say the slowboat isn't already here?

Hey.

[Aphoxema]

China didn't fake the fireworks, NBC did.

Re:Hey.

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh? The faked TV feed was created & provided by the Chinese.

Re:Hey.

[Anonymous Coward]

The fireworks happened. The TV feed was faked. Because, you know, it's real safe to fly around with large colourful explosives going off in the airspace around you.

Come on, the Chinese administration might not be anything resembling and ideal of government, but they are practical. (And, please, its not like the 'Western World' governments have a nice shiny sparkling record when it comes to stuff like this either)

Hah - Oblig All your Base

[thewils]

Pilot: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Ground Control: We get signal.
Pilot: What !
Ground Control: Main screen turn on.
Pilot: It's you !!

Technician: How are you gentlemen !!
Technician: All your base are belong to us.

Yeah... I think I remember that one...

[denzacar]

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/8362/bscap007mq8.jpg

What was it again? Wrong copy went to print by accident or...?

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[AdamWill]

Actually, newspapers print extracts from speeches politicians haven't yet given all the time - because they're scripted days in advance and, these days, intentionally provided to the press.

If you look at the 'dialog' in the story it's really nothing of the sort. It's canned phrases. Just like, as someone already noted, "One small step..." So there's obviously some phrases that it is known will be used during a successful launch, so the journalist can take a short cut in writing a story about it...

All major news outlets have pre-written obituaries for just about every major celebrity who's vaguely within range of snuffing it. Every few months there's a 'controversy' when one of 'em gets mistakenly published. I don't really see any difference to that...

Who believes anything the Chinese say?

[Anonymous Coward]

That nation's government is nothing but a lie machine.

translation

[tyrantking31]

Because the astronauts dialogue will have to be translated into English, they can take whatever liberties they want. I'm sure whatever they actually say will translate exactly how the Chinese government wants it to. So really, where's the story here?

I saw this movie

[steelersteve13]

Kinda...Capricorn One.

oh

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't forget, their milk is good for ya

Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[OneIfByLan]

Yes, and the obituary of every major public figure has already been written as well. Such prep pieces are responsible practice for newspapers that have to be ready on-the-spot.

This wasn't one of those pieces. This was an entire narrative complete with faked dialogue and details, such as being complete ahead of schedule. This wasn't preparation -- this was deception.

Unfortunately, lately we seem to have absolutely no room to talk, given the practices of our own "You-have-to-give-me-700-billion-dollars-right-now-no-questions-asked-or-there-will-be-disaster" government.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[telchine]

Yes, and the obituary of every major public figure has already been written as well. Such prep pieces are responsible practice for newspapers that have to be ready on-the-spot.

This wasn't one of those pieces. This was an entire narrative complete with faked dialogue

Yes, it was one of those pieces. You'll find that lots of news agencies have prep obituaries with "faked" messages of condolences. It helps to structure the article if there's dummy content in there. They are removed and replaced with the real messages once the real condolence messages are made.

The same happened here. The "faked" dialogue was nothing more than dummy text.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Surt]

What makes you think the dialogue and details were faked rather than scripted? I mean, in a country with no free speech, you can tell your astronauts precisely what they are going to say and do. It makes writing the press announcements ahead of time quite reasonable. If someone deviates, you kill them. It discourages the rest. Really, it's all quite efficient.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Cyberax]

Or maybe it was time travel? Maybe this LHC breakdown is a coverup?

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[level4]

Exactly. Any major news company does this kind of thing if there's a big event coming that they know about; it's just part of being prepared.

You can just imagine how it went down - ask an intern to draft a victorious announcement. Jazz it up with some dialogue, use your imagination, etc. Sure, posting it ahead of time was pretty dumb, but hardly the huge conspiracy of deception that the summary makes it out to be - how exactly could you fake a successful rocket launch, anyway? Or more so - hide an explosive failure?

Ridiculous. It's much ado about nothing. I bet this happens every day.

And as for the "fake fireworks", I have another revelation for everyone - did you see that man who ran in the air all around the stadium? See him? Well, prepare to have your mind blown. Are you ready? Sure you're really ready? OK, get this:

He wasn't really flying!

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[mabhatter654]

is there really a difference in "corporate" condolences?

this is like the Steve Jobs oops that happened a few weeks ago.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Right, along with the live video footage of the liftoff?

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[cparker15]

"You-have-to-give-me-700-billion-dollars-right-now-no-questions-asked-or-there-will-be-disaster".

Great, another terrorist threat?

Unfortunately, lately we seem to have absolutely no room to talk, given the practices of our own "You-have-to-give-me-700-billion-dollars-right-now-no-questions-asked-or-there-will-be-disaster" government.

Oh, I see.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Anonymous Coward]

No - the breakdown was real, and it will has been fixed in 9 months time.

-- Dr Dan Streetmentioner

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Digital Vomit]

And as for the "fake fireworks", I have another revelation for everyone - did you see that man who ran in the air all around the stadium? See him? Well, prepare to have your mind blown. Are you ready? Sure you're really ready? OK, get this:

He wasn't really flying!

You do realize that fireworks are real and flying people aren't, right? There's a difference in faking one over the other because of that fact.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[NevermindPhreak]

Yep, even Tom Brokaw films news stories in advance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xUNTwHU-Mw

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[MikeBabcock]

What I don't get about the "faked" fireworks is this -- are we that jealous that China pulled off such a STUNNING opening that we have to nit-pick at one tiny feature? That lighting, the drummers, the organization, the structuring, the organization, the music, the dancers, the orchestration of the whole thing was magnificent. As a Canadian, I'm glad we didn't win this bid because I doubt we'd have pulled something that fantastically awesome out of our hats.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Anonymous Coward]

They could hide an explosive failure the same way that almost everyone in China -- and I know: I went, and surveyed -- doesn't know about what happened in T. Square.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[2ms]

Yes it's all Bush's fault. All of this and everything. There's totally a direct equivalence between what China is doing here and the bill Bush is trying to sneak through Democrat Congress. China wouldn't even be doing this if Bush wasn't outsmarting everyone, tricking congress into voting in favor of something they otherwise wouldn't if he wasn't so crafty, etc.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[level4]

You have a good point. T. Square was a pretty shameful episode and they've done an astoundingly good job of covering it up.

Or have they? I have 3 points of my own.

1. Most of the Chinese I have known knew all about Tiananmen Square. Does that mean they all do? Nope, the ones I knew are a pretty self-selecting mob, in that they were predisposed to be making friends with a foreign devil in the first place.

My point is, though, that anyone who wants to know, can find out. Think about it. What is the absolutely minimum information necessary to have a good understanding of what happened there? The wikipedia article, maybe? A PDF of that is 100K or so.

China's internet censorship is legendary, but even they can't possibly even think about stopping a determined person from somehow getting a 100K PDF file into China and emailing it around a bit. There are plenty of websites who provide such information and plenty of people willing to help. The censorship only stops the casual-interest type. This is pretty well known.

So why don't they all know? Same reason 99 out of 100 Americans (my guess) wouldn't know what the Kent State Massacre was. They don't want to know. They're embarrassed and ashamed of a pretty dark moment in their country's history. They are interested in getting on with their lives, not digging up painful dirt on their own country.

Is that pure censorship, or something more complex? You tell me.

2. TS was 20 years ago, and twenty years is a long time in the incredibly rapidly-changing world that is modern China. Again, I'm guessing, but I don't think they could get away with that today - or would even think about it. The fact is the capitalist train is running very nicely on track now. Everyone's happier, and the govt is a lot less nervous. And the people are more empowered, and know it, and the government knows it - why would they do something like that now?

I just don't see it happening, just like I don't see another Kent State happening. Times have changed.

3. With the proliferation of digital media technology, including capture devices, it would be a hell of a lot harder to disguise something like that. Say the rocket blows up a mile in the air. How many thousand people witness that? They can't shut ALL of them up, and the "internet rumour factory" there dwarfs that in western countries, perhaps understandably.

What would they do? Just shut off the video? Then everyone would know something went wrong. Try to fake it with CG? What .. the whole thing!? Including pictures in space, with people .. the spacewalk ..?

I don't think that's possible. Other countries would hint that they'd seen an explosion. Hell, amateurs with telescopes would report they couldn't find the purported orbital unit. They couldn't possibly get away with it, and the whole thing would backfire a million times worse than the Olympics thing.

I just can't see them even attempting to do something like that, they're not crazy.

So for all those reasons .. I don't think it's the same kind of situation. I can't give any credibility to the notion that the Chinese govt would even attempt to fake an entire space mission. Not in this day and age. They're not stupid, in fact anything but.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Elbowgeek]

Although, knowing the nature of the Chinese system, it was very likely the real article in it's entirety.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Aereus]

If the article is meant to be edited before posting anyways, then why fake dialogue in the first place? Why not just leave it "" or have it say "dialogue" etc.? This goes beyond merely prepping an article ahead of time, because they started faking details about the launch as well. Also coming from a government known for major deception...

And yes, I'm aware the US isn't pearly white on that issue, but that is for another article.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[RAMMS EIN]

``how exactly could you fake a successful rocket launch, anyway? Or more so - hide an explosive failure?''

Clearly, you don't realize how much control the powerful have over people's minds. In Europe, everybody knows things about Tibet, and in China, everybody knows things about Tibet. But the things people know often completely contradict one another. In what is now Serbia, some drunken vandals caused minor disturbances in Belgrade. Or, if you believed B92 instead of the state media, a massive protest against president Milosevic was taking place. At some point, many people in the USA knew that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and posed a grave threat to the USA. People elsewhere in the world knew this to be false - fearmongering by a belligerent government and complicit media. By the way, have you seen the footage of the Large Hadron Collider generating a black hole? We knew all along that this would happen, and now it did! Oh, and the various bombings that have happened around the world in recent years? Al Qaeda was behind those. But I'm sure I don't need to tell you that, because everybody already knows.

Now, I am sure you believe things about everything I have said above. You will probably believe some statements to be true and others to be false. But ask yourself this: how do you actually _know_ whether any of the things I have claimed are true or false? Were you there? If you were, are you sure you saw what you think you saw? If you weren't, you must have gotten your information from somebody else. Are you sure they are telling the truth? Even if you trust them, how do you know they haven't been misled? Do you know how many USAmerican space vehicles failed before a mission was completed successfully? Do you know how many Soviet space vehicles failed? Do you know how many launch attempts China has performed in secret?

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Anonymous Coward]

Insightful? You people have really serious problems... >_>

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[canajin56]

All the prepared articles I've seen have fake dialog. It's hilarious when human error causes one to be pushed down the AP wire, for example. A few years ago a big one making waves, got syndicated on many websites, was that Will Ferrel died in a hang-gliding accident. It had a detailed writeup on how he enjoyed hang-gliding, and an interview with some official on the details of the crash. It also had an quote from a family member talking about how he would be missed.

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean like the way our local radio station in Harrisonburg VA published John Denver's obituary (death by plane accident) a week before it happened?

Re:Yes, but this wasn't a prep piece

[RichardJenkins]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet?

The proper Homer Simpson quote

[mangu]

Space Pornos?
This is relevant to my interests.

No, no, you should have said "Your ideas are intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter"

Re:The proper Homer Simpson quote

[Anonymous Coward]

http://lolcat.com/pics/relavanttomyinterests.jpg

Re:The proper Homer Simpson quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Heaven or Hell, Duel One, Let's Rock!

Next on Fox: When memes collide!

DEWEY WINS!

[Shadowlore]

"You could just as easily be just as shocked at a Presidential candidate accidentally releasing both a victory speech and a concession speech before knowing the outcome of an election. It's not really news, it's just humorous that it was posted (way) too prematurely."

Only if it included the exact vote totals.

Yes, the dialogue inclusion is the particularly bad part about this. And it coming from a place that is known to censor things it does not like, lie about what it does, and generally be evil. IN isolation it would be seen as funny. In this case it is part of a pattern. That is what sets it apart from the occasional news gaffe of releasing the wrong story ("DEWEY WINS!").

Re:DEWEY WINS!

[Anonymous Coward]

That is what sets it apart from the occasional news gaffe of releasing the wrong story ("DEWEY WINS!").

They didn't release the wrong story. They had to print the paper before they knew the election results. Based on the opinion polls, Dewey was going to win, so they ran that story. But the polls were wrong.

http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/sampling01.htm

Beyond Konami.

[sidragon.net]

Sounds like the narration of one of those horrible 80s space pornos.

Lifeforce, not just for 8-bit game geeks.

Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hysterical. Entirely typical ... but still hysterical.

You misspelled "historical". Yes, a space walk would be a historical event.

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Hysterical. Entirely typical ... but still hysterical.

You misspelled "historical". Yes, a space walk would be a historical event.

That's ok, you misspelled "grammar". While we're on the subject, "a space walk would be an historical event".

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's ok, you misspelled "grammar"

And the sound a rocket makes flying over your head is spelled "WOOOOSH"

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Nice try, anyway. Believable, if it weren't for the "a/an" thing.

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[Cybrex]

You misspelled "grammar". :-)

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[clone53421]

Everything I find indicates that the "A" vs. "An" determination is made based on the first sound of the next word. By that rule, "A historical event" is correct usage. Do you have different information?

Re:Hello, I'm your friendly gramer nazi!

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Hm; I will say it's not as clear as I expected. I can't find a definitive source for either as 'correct' - though I can find plenty of debates over which one /is/ correct :)

Pre-canned obituaries not uncommon

[davidwr]

Even in the west, it's not unheard of for "it will probably go by the book" news events to have news releases penciled in well ahead of time.

Back when James Earl Ray died, someone mis-heard it as James Earl Jones, and the scripted-ahead-of-time obits and eulogies hit the papers.

I fully expect China had the space launch planned down to the last detail, complete with scripted communications.

It's no surprise they would have a newspaper article written ahead of time. If something went off-script they would either make a hasty pre-publication correction or if it was really bad news, pretend like it never happened.

Their mistake was someone flipped the wrong switch and the draft news report leaked. In the grand scheme of things this is small potatoes.

Hmm, then again, since this has high distraction value, maybe this was a crazy-like-a-fox move on the part of Beijing.

Pathetic summary

[zoogies]

"After faking their fireworks?"

Please.

All the fireworks were real. The thing you're referring to is a sequence of fireworks that wasn't filmed for television and was replaced by CGI.

The reason that the sequence - a series of giant "footsteps" across parts of Beijing - was not filmed was that it was deemed too dangerous to follow the fireworks with a helicopter and camera.

The fireworks, of course, actually happened, and the stadium coverage of the fireworks were all real. Get your facts straight.

Re:Pathetic summary

[NeverVotedBush]

Um, if some of the fireworks were CGI, then all of the fireworks weren't real, were they?

You speak in absolutes and then excuse the exceptions. It doesn't work that way.

Most of the fireworks were real, but the featured footstep fireworks were fake. CGI = fake. It's that simple.

Re:Pathetic summary

[zoogies]

No. The fireworks were CGI on TV screens only. They actually happened and were actually set off in Beijing. Real.

But the footage shown on TV wasn't real, no. Because it would be dangerous to have a helicopter trail the fireworks series live.

That's just so hideous and corrupt, huh.

Re:Pathetic summary

[NeverVotedBush]

Dude, we all know there were real fireworks at the opening ceremonies. You don't need to keep telling us that.

And regardless of the reason that the giant firework footprints weren't real, they weren't real. They were faked.

And I don't buy the bit about it being too dangerous for helicopters to film it. With gyroscopic stabilization, telephoto lenses, and electronic stabilization on top of all that, it would seem that the helicopters could have stood off at a safe distance and filmed it.

Regardless of the reason that the footprints were faked, they were faked. Whether it was for safety, expense, or that it just wouldn't be possible to get that uniform of a display using real fireworks.

None of that changes the fact that it was faked. The Chinese also had the cute little girl lip-sync to the vocals of the not as cute little girl. And now they broadcast news and dialog like it was the real thing. It's all manufactured.

And just like children's toys painted with leaded paint, dog food "fortified" with melamine, and milk diluted with water but also fortified with melamine to fake protein levels, the Chinese really are hideous and corrupt.

Re:Pathetic summary

[shermo]

Um, if some of the fireworks were CGI, then all of the fireworks weren't real, were they?
 

All cars are not made in America != not all cars are made in America

Re:Pathetic summary

[sydneyfong]

I don't know what to say. Why do you hate the Chinese? For lack of a real target to vent all your frustration?

Re:Pathetic summary

[clone53421]

"All of the fireworks were real" and "All of the fireworks weren't real" are obviously and intuitively mutually exclusive. Since "All of the fireworks were real" isn't in the least bit ambiguous, "All of the fireworks weren't real" obviously means the inverse: at least some of them weren't real.

Re:Pathetic summary

[clone53421]

The reason that the sequence - a series of giant "footsteps" across parts of Beijing - was not filmed was that it was deemed too dangerous to follow the fireworks with a helicopter and camera.

That's such a bullshit reason. I mean seriously!

The fireworks were designed to be seen by people in the stadium. Am I not correct? People in the stadium could see them. If they wanted to give their television audience the "real" experience, what do they need a helicopter for? They could have filmed the fireworks from the stadium, where all the people who saw the REAL fireworks REALLY SAW THEM FROM.

Re:Pathetic summary

[zoogies]

No, you're not correct. The people in the stadium didn't see the real minute-long or so footsteps sequence either (except for the last one or maybe two, which were right at the stadium) because they watched the footsteps on giant screens.

They didn't see it because it was a series of 28 fireworks that started in one area of Beijing, and moved progressively towards the stadium. It covered a lot of ground. It wasn't a bunch of fireworks that were just released right at the bird's Nest.

Besides, if that was such a concocted reason, what was the real reason? Money? Um, no. They spared no expense for those ceremonies. They just decided that they couldn't do it that way.

Of course, all the other fireworks, the ones set off from the stadium, were just filmed directly from the stadium and not CGI generated. That's exactly my problem with the summary, because it's really misleading.

Re:Pathetic summary

[clone53421]

No, you're not correct. The people in the stadium didn't see the real minute-long or so footsteps sequence either (except for the last one or maybe two, which were right at the stadium) because they watched the footsteps on giant screens.

In that case, even the people in the stadium saw fake CGI fireworks on the video screen. So, perhaps it's a nice little display of look-what-we-can-do, but what real point does this serve? Why even bother having the real fireworks if nobody in the stadium can see them? (With the exception of the last 2, which apparently could be seen.)

Finally, you can't tell me that with the amount of money they poured into the technology of that production they weren't able to just have a series of remote TV cameras scattered throughout the city to film the real fireworks live.

Re:Pathetic summary

[zoogies]

I don't know what point it serves. Take it up with Zhang Yimou, who directed the ceremonies. Maybe he just wanted the impressive spectacle around the city, for people who were not at the Bird's Nest to see.

Does it really matter what point the fireworks served? They were neat, you could say symbolic, and you could also say wasteful or pointless. Whatever.

Sure. Maybe they could have had a series of remote cameras. But maybe they didn't want a sequence of 5-second stationary shots. I imagine the whole point was they wanted a shot actually following the footsteps. When they decided that it was not technically feasible, they made as accurate a CGI sequence as possible. And talked about the making of that sequence in the papers afterward.

Oh, but maybe it was actually technically possible, but for some nefarious, hidden agenda-type reason, they decided that they would cheat people out of it, because ... er, they're just that cold-hearted and mean? Right. Perfect logic. And they would've gotten away with it too if it weren't for those pesky...wait a minute, didn't they bring it up and talk all about the making of the sequence in those ah, state-run, heavily censored, communist newspaper outlets?

It's a spectacle. That's all it was. Was it disappointing that they couldn't film it live? Yeah. Morally treacherous? Hardly.

But regardless of whether or not you were able to enjoy the opening ceremonies, I think that we can agree that the intent of the summary was disingenuous, or just severely misinformed.

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't imagine that anyone who says they're shocked by this isn't feigning that shock.

Actually, I think the feigned shock is more a result of the fact that we've come to expect shady fabrications of achievement from the Chinese goverment. It's really more surprising these days when they REALLY do something impressive.

So what?

[rantingkitten]

Isn't this common in journalism? If a known event is coming up, you write the article ahead of time -- one article for each probable outcome of the event. That way, when it occurs, you can publish immediately and not worry about being "scooped" by the competition. Most news agencies have obituaries already written for hundreds of celebrities. I'm sure most of them have stories already written for the victory of Obama or McCain, ready to roll out as soon as the official count comes in.

Looks to me like this is just another example of it, and it got posted accidently. This has happened before; I believe someone found CNN's repository of celebrity obits and it was a minor to-do for a while as everyone laughed, and then got over it.

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[Garse Janacek]

Sure, fabricating the actual dialogue ahead of time is shadier than most..

It sure is -- it's not like the US had scripted dialogue prepared before the moon landing! That would just be over the top.

Although, knowing us and our study habits, even if we had bothered to prepare lines, the astronaut would probably have just flubbed them.

Video cut of the launching

[pythonist]

It's launched successfully.

Check this video out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoKgvqhPHnw

or a longer version

http://news.qq.com/a/20080925/003662.htm

Just...

[DeathElk]

World: You lied to me
China: It wasn't lies, it was just... bullshit

Re:Just...

[sharkey]

Ash: That's just what we call... pillowtalk baby.

Re:Just...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well hey, if it's one thing they followÂâ" it's the [non-canon] Rule of Acquisition "Keep your lies consistent."

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[Haoie]

Exactly. How else do you expect news stories about upcoming events to be out so quickly?

What's the big deal?

[sharkey]

The account and transcripts of their landing on Europa were published over 25 years ago.

Wong Armstrong says:

[ZarathustraDK]

"That's one step for a small man, and one giant leap for Mao."

Sad...

[Anonymous Coward]

Somewhere some poor Chinese technician or editor is about to get executed.

Beat 'em by 60 years

[Deadstick]

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/14/65214-004-5A49F3A6.jpg

rj

Gerald Ford

[east coast]

Does this mean that Gerald Ford wasn't really eaten by wolves?

Obituaries

[Anonymous Coward]

A while back CNN released a bunch of obituaries on their web site for famous people who have not died yet.

They have them written and ready just in case. This is probably the same type of thing. I hope anyway.

Dialog

[ovoskeuiks]

The dialog could be from a training run or something similar, they do some pretty comprehensive training setups it's not inconceivable that the dialog from one of these could've been used as dummy text

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[fermion]

There is nothing to be suprised, amazed, or astonded by. Almost all press releases, and even things like obits, are drafted prior to the event. There simply is not enough time to write it and get it distributed.

Aa far fabricating actual dialog, that is nothing interesting either. Every press release has quotes, and many times those quotes are fabricated specifically for the press release, and then, maybe, spoken after the fact. But it this case it may not even rise to this minimal level of illusion. I assume that the chinese practice the mission every bit as any other country, and I assume that communication is as stylized, even more given that every person on the mission was ranking military. Therefore, assuming that everything goes well, much of the dialog is standard.

It seems to me that might just be a case of sour grapes, or more likely just someone who has never had to meet a deadline in their life. It is at least someone who has no understanding of how difficult achieving these goals can be, and how important it to the techology of the world that as many people as possible should be working, and succeeding, in space travel. Four years ago the US declared it would make space travel a high priority and bee on the moon by 2015. Without any compitition to prod it, the US won't even have a workable human spec space vehicle by 2015.

What is doubly annoying the undertones that this might cover up a failure, which means that three people might have died, and this somehow is a joke. All indications is that this is a publishing mistake, which happens from time to time anywhere. Wishes the chinese to fail, or laughing at them, is just bad form.

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[exp(pi*sqrt(163))]

What was quoted may in fact be part of a script that the astronauts are required to speak for a TV appearance.

WTF?

[commodoresloat]

The same happened here. The "faked" dialogue was nothing more than dummy text.

The Chinese never heard of lorem ipsum??

Re:WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

They use rorem ipsum instead.

Re:WTF?

[Anonymous Coward]

You know what, this pushes me over the edge.

For the last time you idiots, Mandarin speakers have NO problem saying "l". In fact, we have no problem with any of the English consonants.

What you are thinking of are Japanese or Korean, who don't have the "l" consonant in their language.

And who rated this Funny and with such a high score? It's apologetically racist and ignorant.

They actually announced it today

[commodoresloat]

They went back in time to make it the "first post" on this article, but it got modded "Troll"

Re:Funny stuff. Hopefully, they benefit from wind

[davidsyes]

Or not having any wind. It would be funny if there is another "Windy day in Arizona", hehehehe....

But, as for *today's* launch. It wasn't faked: they managed to capture their own analog of Captain Braxton, Ken Starling, and the Federation Timeship Aeon. And, worst yet, they will travel the time line to eradicate you for lies you WILL spout, hehehhe....

Not the fireworks thing again...

[Anonymous Coward]

They weren't faked. The NBC news caster clearly said that because of safety reasons they did not fly a helicopter to film the fireworks so they used CG to demonstrate how the REAL fireworks looked. Sure China has issues but can we stop bringing this up?

Re:Not the fireworks thing again...

[ulash]

The story about the fireworks can be found here for those interested BTW.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[Valdrax]

And as for the "fake fireworks", I have another revelation for everyone - did you see that man who ran in the air all around the stadium? See him? Well, prepare to have your mind blown. Are you ready? Sure you're really ready? OK, get this:

He wasn't really flying!

Prepare to have your mind blown: We all know that!

The problem is not that they used special effects for the crowd. The problem is that they showed up something different from what the live audience saw and pretended that that's what they really saw.

There's a difference between how people would feel about:
a) Here, have a tasty veggie burger! ...and...
b) Here, have a tasty, juicy burger! (Which I'm not telling you is a veggie burger.)

It's not that veggie burgers are bad. It's just that people don't like being lied to, and it's even worse when something is *successfully* passed off on you, and you later learn you were suckered.

This is the problem here. They wrote up an article with completely fake dialog that might have plausibly happened and expected to deceive us all. If they'd said, "The conversation in the cockpit when something like this..." we'd be fine, because we'd be on notice that this is a fictional telling. It's the intent to pull the wool over our eyes that offends in a way that an impressible special effect or magic trick does not.

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[nmosfet]

The problem is not that they used special effects for the crowd. The problem is that they showed up something different from what the live audience saw and pretended that that's what they really saw.

NBC commentators said during the scene: "Your looking at a cinematic device, employed by Zhang Yimou here. This is actually almost animation. "
What's part of that didn't you understand? Additionally, if that wasn't clear, it's hardly the fault of the Chinese that the commentators didn't make it clear for you.

This is the problem here. They wrote up an article with completely fake dialog that might have plausibly happened and expected to deceive us all. If they'd said, "The conversation in the cockpit when something like this..." we'd be fine, because we'd be on notice that this is a fictional telling. It's the intent to pull the wool over our eyes that offends in a way that an impressible special effect or magic trick does not.

Numerous people have pointed out this is probably either filler dialog or scripted dialog that is expected to be said, a practice employed by media outlets around the world. Why do you feel the need to ignore this and jump to the conclusion of deception?

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[Valdrax]

NBC commentators said during the scene: "Your looking at a cinematic device, employed by Zhang Yimou here. This is actually almost animation. "
What's part of that didn't you understand? Additionally, if that wasn't clear, it's hardly the fault of the Chinese that the commentators didn't make it clear for you.

I didn't actually watch the opening ceremonies. I'm not a big pageantry fan. If they made a comment that that's what was being done, then I don't see what the fuss was about, but all the articles I read in the news gave the impression that that wasn't mentioned.

However, if those were the words spoken, then that's not very clear at all. A "cinematic device" could mean practically anything -- from an admission of computer-edited broadcast to a description of "real, live" special effects on the ground like one would use in making a non-CGFX movie to a commentary on the way he was telling the story in the pageant, and "actually almost animation" makes it seems like it's not actually animation. Do you see how ambiguous those words are and why people might've been confused?

Numerous people have pointed out this is probably either filler dialog or scripted dialog that is expected to be said, a practice employed by media outlets around the world. Why do you feel the need to ignore this and jump to the conclusion of deception?

A) Because being "filler" or "scripted" dialog in no way makes this not deception -- in fact that makes it explicitly deception.

B) "All the cool kids do it too!" is no defense for any kind of wrongdoing.

C) Maybe it hasn't dawned on you that we don't *like* the practice of faking dialog and presenting it to the public as real, no matter the motivations behind it.

Why are you so quick to jump to defend the practice of pulling the wool over the public's eyes with scripted, PR spin of a historical event? Is this something you support the media doing (state-run or not)? Would Apollo 11 have been better if NASA had actually recorded the conversations with Neil Armstrong on a sound-stage?

Doing a little prep-work for a final article is one thing. Putting the words into the mouths of real people connected with real historical events and passing them off as the truth is another.

Do we really live in such a cynical, post-truth world that this doesn't matter at all to you?

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[atraintocry]

The difference between dummy text and "deception" is that the dummy text is not supposed to end up published. It seems likely that this article was published by accident, which makes it likely that this is in fact dummy text. I did not read any part of the parent's post that defended the publishing of propaganda.

Perhaps you wrote your reply in advance, not reading what you replied to, and accidentally posted it.

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[MikeBabcock]

No, THEY didn't, your media outlet did.

How did you watch the games, by Chinese broadcast, or by your own country's broadcaster? I watched the intro on Australian, Canadian and American networks and got different views of the opening ceremonies.

One of those even bothered to point out that the footsteps were taped beforehand and given to the outlets as pre-made footage to be played.

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[nmosfet]

I didn't actually watch the opening ceremonies. I'm not a big pageantry fan. If they made a comment that that's what was being done, then I don't see what the fuss was about, but all the articles I read in the news gave the impression that that wasn't mentioned.

So you're saying you were presenting arguments on this topic when you had no clue what was reality and were just repeating what others were saying because "All the cool kids do it too!"

However, if those were the words spoken, then that's not very clear at all. A "cinematic device" could mean practically anything -- from an admission of computer-edited broadcast to a description of "real, live" special effects on the ground like one would use in making a non-CGFX movie to a commentary on the way he was telling the story in the pageant, and "actually almost animation" makes it seems like it's not actually animation. Do you see how ambiguous those words are and why people might've been confused?

So China is to blame because NBC didn't choose better words. Also, adding special effects to a video doesn't fit most definitions of animation.

A) Because being "filler" or "scripted" dialog in no way makes this not deception -- in fact that makes it explicitly deception.

Sure, the press release was misleading because it was accidentally posted early. But you were making the original argument that the Chinese were intentionally trying to deceive everyone, because of the filler/scripted dialog. If it were filler/scripted dialog, and the pre-written announcement was accidentally posted early, that would negate your original argument, which is what I was replying to.

B) "All the cool kids do it too!" is no defense for any kind of wrongdoing.

Accidentally posting pre-written announcements isn't wrongdoing. Having pre-written announcement isn't wrongdoing. Pre-written announcement also are not holy documents that cannot be updated when the real event occurs, since they are suppose to be posted after the event.

C) Maybe it hasn't dawned on you that we don't *like* the practice of faking dialog and presenting it to the public as real, no matter the motivations behind it.

Maybe it hasn't dawned on you that the filler/scripted dialog does not prove that it was intentional deception. And I take it that you have done a study that shows the general public in the US (or else where) don't like the practice of pre-written press announcements because of the the possibility of accidentally posting it early. Are you planning to organize a boycott to make this opinion clear to the media outlets?

Why are you so quick to jump to defend the practice of pulling the wool over the public's eyes with scripted, PR spin of a historical event? Is this something you support the media doing (state-run or not)?

I'm not, I'm just pointing out flaws in your incorrect assertion that China is intentionally deceiving the everyone, because of filler/scripted dialog in a pre-written announcement. The people in China obviously are not dumb. If they really want to deceive everyone, they would release the press announcement after the scheduled launch. Releasing it before doesn't help them deceive people. By Occam's razor, it's most logical that this is the accidental posting of a pre-written announcement. Nothing points to the need to jump to the conclusion of intentional deception.

Would Apollo 11 have been better if NASA had actually recorded the conversations with Neil Armstrong on a sound-stage?

This had nothing to do with faking video. A video can be provided live whereas a press release cannot be written and edited withing seconds of the actual event, so your analogy is simply incorrect.

Doing a little prep-work for a final article is one thing. Putting the words into the mouths of real people co

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[Valdrax]

No, THEY didn't, your media outlet did.

*Cough* Did I at any point assert who did that or just that I thought that it was wrong to do so?

And I don't care who did it. I just care that it's wrong. This is a matter of principle and not nationalistic pride. Gah, I barely even care about the Beijing Olympics myself -- I was just trying to explain why other people might care. I haven't thought the Olympics had any integrity in YEARS, but faking the record of a historical event bothers me deeply.

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[Valdrax]

So you're saying you were presenting arguments on this topic when you had no clue what was reality and were just repeating what others were saying because "All the cool kids do it too!"

Forgive me for trusting the news. I forgot I was dealing with someone who doesn't believe the news should have any integrity.

So China is to blame because NBC didn't choose better words. Also, adding special effects to a video doesn't fit most definitions of animation.

I don't care who is to blame. I still can't even get straight from reading on it who actually edited the footage -- was it China or NBC? I'm not even really worked up about this issue compared to the launch story.

Geez, you're the one who brought up the fireworks in the first place! And did so, purely as a way of mocking people who care about faked news as being too stupid to realize that a flying person would have to be faked. And you seem far more interested in that than the real issue here. Can we please get back to that instead of focusing on your ludicrous attempt to paint people as only getting upset because they're gullible?

Sure, the press release was misleading because it was accidentally posted early. But you were making the original argument that the Chinese were intentionally trying to deceive everyone, because of the filler/scripted dialog. If it were filler/scripted dialog, and the pre-written announcement was accidentally posted early, that would negate your original argument, which is what I was replying to.

I think the preponderance of evidence leads to the belief that the text was meant to go out as is. There is a cohesive narrative, dialog, and descriptions of the timing of events as if they had already happened.

This isn't the kind of stuff you'd normally prep ahead of time if you expected to fill it in with the real events later. This is a puff piece meant to tell a stirring story to brag about how awesome they are. This is PR -- and truth is often sacrificed there.

What is your explanation for the way the piece was written up? A reporter just exercising some creative talent only to wipe it all away later when the real story came in?

The people in China obviously are not dumb. If they really want to deceive everyone, they would release the press announcement after the scheduled launch. Releasing it before doesn't help them deceive people.

You're presupposing now (in contrast to previous posts) that the release must be deliberate. The puff, propaganda piece painting a story of rousing success in space flight is prepped ahead of time. The events of the launch will probably be very much *like* what is in the piece, but the authors don't care about what actually will happen unless there's a disaster. No one cares what the astronauts actually *say* as long as the story is good. In fact, they probably have alternate pieces ready in case something bad does happen.

Then, unexpectedly, the prepared piece gets released early.

The real controversy is not, "OMG! The Chinese were going to say things went great no matter what actually happened!" It's, "The Chinese news doesn't care what the real events were as long as the story is good." It's that contempt for the public that bothers me.

By Occam's razor, it's most logical that this is the accidental posting of a pre-written announcement.

Occam's Razor is that "entities should not be multiplied without necessity." In other words, don't add complications.

Why would someone write a story like this if they intended to erase it later? It just doesn't make sense to have this level of detail about the events of the launch if the person cared about replacing the story with the real events. There is no motivation for doing so. However, propaganda is an easily understood motivation -- especially for state-run media covering events of importance

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[nmosfet]

Forgive me for trusting the news. I forgot I was dealing with someone who doesn't believe the news should have any integrity.

Where did I say we should blindly believe what the media outlets tell us? I have only been pointing out that the dialog is consistent with an accidental posting of a pre-written announcement.

Geez, you're the one who brought up the fireworks in the first place! And did so, purely as a way of mocking people who care about faked news as being too stupid to realize that a flying person would have to be faked. And you seem far more interested in that than the real issue here. Can we please get back to that instead of focusing on your ludicrous attempt to paint people as only getting upset because they're gullible?

No I didn't. I joined the conversation after your reply http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=976455&threshold=1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=25159869#25160389. You were already on this topic before my reply. Also it was brought up in the summary of this slashdot article. And you should also note in your reply, you assigned blame on China about the fireworks in an attempt to emphasize your argument of propaganda for this current event.

I think the preponderance of evidence leads to the belief that the text was meant to go out as is. There is a cohesive narrative, dialog, and descriptions of the timing of events as if they had already happened.

Where is this preponderance of evidence? And have you seen the Chinese press release in question? If so please provide me a link because it might help me understand your argument better. If not, aren't you just repeating what AP said. If I remember correctly, that didn't turn out so well the last time around.

The AP report (on Yahoo) only provided 6 excerpts. That is clearly not the whole article and provided no context on when it was used.

This isn't the kind of stuff you'd normally prep ahead of time if you expected to fill it in with the real events later. This is a puff piece meant to tell a stirring story to brag about how awesome they are. This is PR -- and truth is often sacrificed there.

What is your explanation for the way the piece was written up? A reporter just exercising some creative talent only to wipe it all away later when the real story came in?

Again unfortunately, based on the only source I have (Yahoo/AP), I cannot jump to this conclusion. Without seeing the actual accidental posting, I don't see how anyone can jump to that conclusion, unless they are just blindly believing in the AP story. Those excerpts could easily be small parts of the whole press release made up to give an idea what kind of dialog should really go there. In which case, when the event occurs, 10 lines or so will be replaced with the actual events rather than writing a whole article. Please share with us your source, since you seem pretty confident in you position despite the lack of information from the AP story.

You're presupposing now (in contrast to previous posts) that the release must be deliberate.

No, my argument was that it would not make sense for the Chinese to release it early in order to intentionally deceive people.

The puff, propaganda piece painting a story of rousing success in space flight is prepped ahead of time. The events of the launch will probably be very much *like* what is in the piece, but the authors don't care about what actually will happen unless there's a disaster. No one cares what the astronauts actually *say* as long as the story is good. In fact, they probably have alternate pieces ready in case something bad does happen.

Then, unexpectedly, the prepared piece gets released early.

The real controversy

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[pbhj]

Why are you so quick to jump to defend the practice of pulling the wool over the public's eyes with scripted, PR spin of a historical event? Is this something you support the media doing (state-run or not)? Would Apollo 11 have been better if NASA had actually recorded the conversations with Neil Armstrong on a sound-stage?

Media has moved on in the last 40-ish years. Prepping a press release is nothing new (as many have commented). I suppose you think Armstrong just stepped down off that ladder and suddenly was inspired to speak those words without any preparation or oversight from a "media communications manager"?

If USA's [alleged! lol] moon landing was happening now you could be sure that NASA would have press releases with picture from inside the orbiter (taken pre-flight) and the quote of the first words from the moon pre-layed up and ready for near-simultaneous release with the LM landing.

Re:Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[petermgreen]

I would have thought you would make dummy text obviously dummy text to reduce the risk of it making it into the final version by accident.

It's useful to pre-tape no?

[ulash]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4818797235866774489&ei=-zzcSLmBJpSmwgPf9omkCw&q=snl+died

Probably innocent, but you never know with China.

[Anonymous Coward]

This may have been an innocent mistake, but as someone who works in the aerospace industry it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they did plan to fake/cover up elements of the launch (clearly there are some things that couldn't be faked, or hidden).

Nearly every photo of *anything* military related that comes out of China is photoshopped in someway, often pointlessly. From simple things like airbrushing markings off old planes, altering weapon loads, to copy/pasting planes parked on runways to make it look like they have more than they really do and so on. It's a real minefield for casual spotters. I'm not talking about promo shoots or stuff that would be doctored for effect/style, just normal snaps.

Clearly the CIA, whatever, will be getting their info from satellites and reliable sources - not Chinese websites, TV, so I really don't know why they bother. It seems like deception/censorship is a habit they just can't kick.

moon rock

[demonrob]

It fell. Pretty obvious really, moon is up there, we are down here. That's how gravity works. The moon's pretty unstable - look at how it keeps changing shape. Amazing anything really stays up there. I believe they tried to throw it back but it just fell again.

Won't happen to Google News

[hackingbear]

Google News will never make such silly mistakes like Xinhua does. They only reincarnate the old ones. Subscribe to Google News today!

Re:Won't happen to Google News

[sharkey]

I'd post an insightful and thoughtful reply, but I have to go do a panic bailout of my investment portfolio.

Excuse me...

What's next, the blindingly obvious?

[Minwee]

Just imagine this. Imagine that when you write something, it takes time to be approved by the various layers of management and government. That these things need to be signed off on at more levels than you can count, and if you try to print or broadcast anything without having the approval of every single minister and official who could conceivably have an interest in it then you risk losing your job, being sent up country for a little 're-education', or accidentally tripping while in the back seat of a police car and tragically shooting yourself in the back of the head when you hit the seat.

Now imagine trying to give a live news broadcast of an important event, one in which everyone in the country, or at least everyone in the government, is going to be watching and paying very close attention to every word you say. And if you slip up and suggest that the yuhangyuans' space suits were in danger of leaking, or hint that the launch was delayed due to a malfunction in the Shenzhou's life support systems which might have killed everybody, or even if you slip up and refer to the yuhangyuans as Rik, Neil and Vyvyan, then you're going to have about twelve and a half seconds in which to say good bye to your career, family and friends.

But, hey, no pressure.

Under those circumstances, wouldn't you want to take a little time to be prepared?

Hanlon's other razor applies here. Never attribute to a massive government conspiracy that which can be easily explained by a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned paranoia.

I do not buy it

[DeltaQH]

Some post here describe the faked launch as an usual practice in reporting news.

For a given event you have two articles with the possible outcomes ready in order to be able to pub lish faster.

That is applicable to newspapers or any order printed press media, where there is the need to send the article to the printing presses, usually having to wait to the last minute (or second).

But faking a rocket launch this way? With audio! Sorry but I do not buy it. Have you ever seen a news on TV preparing to different videos of an interview or of an real world event? Not even in the radio broadcast they do such things

There is something funny or damn right dumb here.

This slashdot post is false propaganda

[Orig_Club_Soda]

No where in the article do they pretend it already happened. Apparently the poster doesn't understand what pre mission well wishes are.

Whoops my bad

[Orig_Club_Soda]

I missed the other link

Saw it live though

[specific_pacific]

Whilst I wasn't reading the news, I sure was watching it on (livedelayed telecast). They looked extremely bored and unmoved sitting there in their seats playing with notebooks and pens in 0-gravity.

Hu Jintao went around and shook everyones hands at the command station. That might have been pre-recorded though - in fact I thought it was.

Still, I love space etc, and I was excited to see it all happening.

lies

[globaljustin]

Bad comparison...sure here in the U.S. speeches and articles are put together ahead of time with specifics added at the end...

that's the difference...we wait to add the quotations until someone actually says them

with the Obama election article example...for this comparison to be valid, this Obama article you speak of would have to include quotations from a speech he hasn't given yet...

the chinese article had quotations of conversations that *hadn't happened yet*

you can't downplay the difference...it's the difference between getting a head start on an article to meet deadline and bold face lying propaganda

A thought

[AEC216]

Some consider China a threat. When ruled by ideology, group think, and the lowest common denominator, this is what you get.

Re:A thought

[sapphire wyvern]

Slashdot?

photoshopped

[Anonymous Coward]

eh, they'll prob just photoshop in their flag into the moon landing and touch it up a bit, i mean its not like anyone in china will have seen the original

Begging the question.

[Valdrax]

The difference between dummy text and "deception" is that the dummy text is not supposed to end up published. It seems likely that this article was published by accident, which makes it likely that this is in fact dummy text. I did not read any part of the parent's post that defended the publishing of propaganda.

Your argument is known as "begging the question."

1) Dummy text and deception differ in that dummy text isn't intended to be published.
2) The article was accidentally published.
3) Therefore the text in the article was dummy text and can't be an attempt at deception.

That's nonsense. You presuppose that scripted events can't be accidentally released and that the accidental release of the article proves that it's not deliberate falsehood. Your logic is built on a foundation of sand.

Just because the article was published by accident doesn't mean that what's in the article isn't propaganda that was going to go out later if the accident hadn't occurred. The level of specific detail -- including conversations and comments on the timing of events -- suggest a finished story, reporting on facts that could not be determined until after the events actually happened. Frankly, the effort at scripting the story before it happened smacks of a disregard for what would come later.

If they'd published it after the launch, most people would not have known -- after all, the conversations between the craft and ground control are unlikely to be independently recorded by observers and double-checked. Fact is, there's little chance they would've gotten caught, so why not fake things? Only their slip in publishing let people know that it was going on.

Frankly, we have every reason to be suspicious of a state-run newspaper in an autocratic country reporting on events deeply tied up in national pride.

Perhaps you wrote your reply in advance, not reading what you replied to, and accidentally posted it.

Cute. Do they still give gold stars for cleverness at your grade level?

Re:Begging the question.

[jahudabudy]

You presuppose that scripted events can't be accidentally released and that the accidental release of the article proves that it's not deliberate falsehood. Your logic is built on a foundation of sand.

We have no way of knowing what they intended to do with this article upon a successful completion of the mission: release it as deceptive propaganda or use it as a prep piece. However, I would say that the phrase "accidental release" does in fact mean that it is not "deliberate falsehood". How can I accidentally do anything deliberately?

and yet

[Anonymous Coward]

so many ppl are suggesting that we should allow China to come to the ISS. Insane. China is pulling so many tricks and lies . In fact, I do not know which is worse; China or USA.

Fireworks were not deception

[ryanov]

Can we get over the stupid fireworks thing already? It was explained right on the TV that the fireworks were not the actual fireworks. I forget the reason -- might have been for the view they wanted, it would have been dangerous to helicopters. The show took place, it was just simulated on TV.

Not dummy text, but easily anticipated quotes

[pbhj]

From the article (which is quite poetic), the "dummy quotes" are all things that they will say (assuming they're not all killed before they get chance).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_re_as/as_china_space_article_1:

'One minute to go!'

'Changjiang No.1 found the target!'...

'The air pressure in the cabin is normal!'

That guy that says "One minute", well every trial run that's what he said, it's part of the mission. The guy that says "Changjiang 1 on target", you guessed it, he says that so everyone knows it's on target. Air pressure, ..., someone checks it every few minutes and announces the results occasionally.

The only bit in the article that's a little weird is the "target is captured 12 seconds ahead of the predicted time". But they perhaps predicted a time 12 seconds late on purpose, or are just using that as a device to show how 1337 they are.

Imagine you're writing an article about Bush addressing the nation you might prep with:

"Bush had his usual statesman like swagger as he approached the dais, 'fellow Americans' he drawled, before telling us we should give up our hard won cash to support those billionaires who'd gone one gamble to far. Why? 'stability' says President Bush whilst Obama and McCain look on silently praying Mammon that such stability can be bought before their term starts ..."

That's got to be pretty close?

Slashdot is turning into fox news

[SmallFurryCreature]

As has already been pointed out, the linked to fireworks slashdot story was already piss poor sensationalism. The fireworks were announced around the world as being CGI. So the entire story basically said "some obviously fake fireworks that were said to be fake when shown were fake". No shit sherlock.

And now we got a story that a news agency accidently released a pre-written story. Not like we never heard of obituraries being printed ahead of time. Anyone who has ever worked in the news industry knows that you prepare AHEAD of time.

Hell, even advertising does this. Or do you think that during events like soccer championships the advertise executives sit glued to the tv screen then the moment the result is in start putting together the add in a matter of hours to be included in tomorrows newspaper celebrating/mourning the match? Hell no, you prepare the ad campaign in advance for all outcomes.

For the uneducated editors of slashdot: Most christmas scenes/photo's etc etc are NOT shot during christmas. They are created in mid summer with FAKE snow.

Most christmas/newyears specials are recorded MONTHS in advance.

A lot of short tv programs with live audiences are recorded back to back on a single day to be aired on different days.

Star Wars was NOT a war documentary on a battle that happened in a galaxy far far away.

More and more reading the summary on slashdot is a joke, the actual story is not in the linked articles but in the comments. Slashdot would improve an awful lot of we could get rid of the editors and make it purely user contributed. Mmm, wait a moment, that is digg. Nevermind.

Re:Slashdot is turning into fox news

[kneemoe]

Exactly, I mean McCain totally won that debate http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/09/26/mccain_wins/index.html well, I thought it was funny....

Corrupt yes

[TheLink]

Thing is, if you watched the opening via other channels, you'd know that the firework footprints you were seeing weren't real, BUT not faked - because the announcers/commentators would have told you that they weren't real.

Just because the channel you're watching doesn't tell you the details doesn't mean it's faked.

The Olympics ceremony was all a show. In movies they often have someone else singing instead of the star, in fact they also have body doubles. Given the amount of cheating in the Olympics, I'd cynically say that it's very in line with the real spirit of the games. Put on a good show and hope you don't get caught.

Lastly, while the Chinese are most certainly corrupt, there has been some accountability - the food safety head actually resigned. I believe the one before him was executed - he was found guilty of taking bribes etc.

They most certainly didn't get a USD20 million "golden parachute" package as a reward.

What's Chinese..

[MattLees]

..for "Capricorn 1" ?

A price to be paid for such 'perfection'

[KudyardRipling]

Let us not forget the price that was (and still being) paid for all that perfection. The very liberties that allow you to read this post does not and cannot exist in a political state of nature, the finest expression thereof we all had witnessed this past summer. People in uniform fought and died to carve out this realm in which we live and enjoy. The greatest freedom of all is the freedom to fail without fearing bad things coming from the government as a consequence.

The measure of a culture is what happens to people's humanity in their quest for achievement.

Oh, not that bad

[gravis777]

I am not sure if other news agencies are like this, but you normally have much of your article written out before hand, one for success, one for failure, that way, when it happens, you can just edit a couple of details, and be the first to have your article out. Its the world of media we live in. I mean, how can you have up-to-the-minute news if the person is too busy writing the article? The dialog sounds just like the script that NASA uses on most of their missions. You copy and paste, and if anything varies, you change the details before publishing.

What seems to have happened in this case is that someone hit "Publish" instead of "Save Draft". From the article, the mistake was noticed within a couple of hours and the article was taken down. Its not like they faked the launch.

Re:Oh, not that bad

[clone53421]

In that case, I'm a whole lot more interested in the quotes from the "failure" article. Everybody loves a good explosion, as long as we're talking about fictional events...

Futurama - Chinese Whalers on the Moon!

[jameskojiro]

We'le wharels on the moon,
We cally a halpoon.
But thele ain't no whares
So we terr tarr tares
And sing oul wharing tune.

Learned what lesson?

[nurb432]

That ultimately no one really cares if you lie and there are zero true repercussions?

Besides, in 6 months everyone will forget you did it anyway.

No, he bloody well didn't.

[BancBoy]

Yes, and he screwed it up.

I thought they demonstrated that radio transmissions stomped on his "a" before "man."
Or did they fake that too?

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember hearing about a news report that quoted the script instead of the speech and it was caught because the president didn't follow the script exactly. I'm sick of silly China bashing. Even the fireworks thing is lame. If you read the linked Slashdot discussion, you'll see they told the viewing audience the firework was edited in, because while such fireworks existed and had been lighted earlier, they canceled that one for the safety of a helicopter.

gotta love the /. moderation system

[Anonymous Coward]

Valdrax, who was simply twisting Nmosfet's words and had his argument refruted gets moderated up. In contrast, Nmosfet who made valid points in refuting Valdrax's arguments doesn't get moderated up. No wonder there is so much bias on /.

The newest export: Virtual Truth.

[A New Normalcy]

coming soon... melamine-fortified.

Re:Not really news, happens all the time, everywhe

[midnitewolf]

Yeah, I think the fireworks thing was a non-issue and probably shouldn't even have been mentioned.

There are plenty of legitimate things that China can be criticized for, and of those things, this one is pretty weak.

"technical error"

[clone53421]

A staffer from the Xinhuanet.com Web site who answered the phone Thursday said the posting of the article was a "technical error" by a technician.

In other words, they hadn't intended to reveal that they have a working time machine prototype... it was supposed to be a top-secret project. Somebody'll lose their job over that one.

In a followup story, an unidentified Chinese official was quoted saying, "I want that technician fired — and I want him fired yesterday!"

In other news...

[me_lucky_charms]

Japan has just completed their ladder to heaven and have declared heaven an official part of Japan because they got there first.

Troll? Oh, come on!

[Valdrax]

The poster above me accuses people of being so gullible as to not know that and tries to confuse the issue of pre-written press releases with special effects used in the opening ceremonies.

I dispute that and say that these are two different things and that people don't mind deceptions they know about (to entertain them) but do mind deceptions they don't know about (to trick them), and I get modded a Troll?

Geez, you people got so worked up in defense of bad media practices, it's ridiculous.

Fine.. I give up on you people.

[Valdrax]

No I didn't. I joined the conversation after...

Yeah, my bad. You're not level4.

As for everything else, fine... just fine. The moderators have spoken, and people who think that it's okay to write these sorts of "truthiness"-filled pieces in anticipation of events have more support than me.

So, "Dewey Defeats Truman!" and all that. You people deserve the world the media shapes for you, where it's more important to be entertaining and first to get the reader's eyeballs than to be accurate and honest -- where it's okay to write up a narrative about events without being there. Maybe they'll replace it with the real events, maybe not -- who cares? We should just trust that they're willing to do the right thing after spending so much effort having the wrong thing ready to go.

It's moments like these that I get really discouraged about the future of democracy.

Re:the U.S. has nothing in common with China?

[Anonymous Coward]

China has thousands of its citizens poisoned with melamine... wait, that isn't common with US.

Reminds me of....

[bestiarosa]

Just like Bush announced victory in the war of Iraq /years/ before the retreat.