It's interesting how the author drives the point home that the Chinese are different from westerners, then tries to apply western ethics to them. The Chinese are just as ethical as any other group of people, but their ethics are not ours. The culture is different. It values the group over the individual, which explains why most of the "observations" of the author seem so unethical at first glance.
To look at his first point:
In the geopolitcal arena, China *is* the group, and regions (such as Hong Kong) are the individual. If returning Hong Kong to China will help China, then it *is* the right thing to do, in their view, regardless of any negative consequences to Hong Kong.
"To stay over the same spot on earth, a geostationary satellite also has to be directly above the equator. Otherwise, from the earth the satellite would appear to move in a north-south line every day. We call that "orbiting in the equatorial plane."
I'm trying to imagine how this would work starting from Perth. Here is my thought process:
Start with an elevator starting in perth, sticking out parallel to the equatorial plane. Have the end attached to a meteor or something (I think it would work the same either way, but this way is easier for me to visualize). Let gravity pull the meteor pull the end of the elevator back toward the equatorial plane, resulting in a sort of curve that starts parallel to the equatorial plane in perth, and ends up somewhat south of the equattorial plane, held in place by tension.
I'm not sure if this works, physics-wise, it's just what I visualized. I'm sure someone here can bust out some equations for us, and tell us what would happen!
When the issues of the day are domestic and international terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, the prospect of war in Iraq and elsewhere
I think this is one of the points he's trying to make. The "war on terror" is being used to distract people from the constitution-trampling our fearless leader is currently engaging in. When I see that 3/4 of the "issues of the day" revolve around the OssamaTerrorSaddamIraqWar, it just shows me that it's working. Personally, I'm far more worried about Bush taking away my freedom than Saddam Hussein throwing some empty chemical warheads at me.
I don't see this technology influencing the trend toward a "throwaway society". We're already there. With the possible exception of some high end electronic products, everything is *already* throwaway. It's cheaper to produce a new product (all that expensive and labour-intensive assembly line production notwithstanding), than it is to pay a skilled worker to repair it. When my clock radio breaks, I buy a new one.
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"The Chinese have no ethics."
It's interesting how the author drives the point home that the Chinese are different from westerners, then tries to apply western ethics to them. The Chinese are just as ethical as any other group of people, but their ethics are not ours. The culture is different. It values the group over the individual, which explains why most of the "observations" of the author seem so unethical at first glance.
To look at his first point:
In the geopolitcal arena, China *is* the group, and regions (such as Hong Kong) are the individual. If returning Hong Kong to China will help China, then it *is* the right thing to do, in their view, regardless of any negative consequences to Hong Kong.
Start with an elevator starting in perth, sticking out parallel to the equatorial plane. Have the end attached to a meteor or something (I think it would work the same either way, but this way is easier for me to visualize). Let gravity pull the meteor pull the end of the elevator back toward the equatorial plane, resulting in a sort of curve that starts parallel to the equatorial plane in perth, and ends up somewhat south of the equattorial plane, held in place by tension.
I'm not sure if this works, physics-wise, it's just what I visualized. I'm sure someone here can bust out some equations for us, and tell us what would happen!
Not absolute zero, just the total heat of the universe spread perfectly evenly. Which will kill us anyway, so kinda a nitpick.
When the issues of the day are domestic and international terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, the prospect of war in Iraq and elsewhere
I think this is one of the points he's trying to make. The "war on terror" is being used to distract people from the constitution-trampling our fearless leader is currently engaging in. When I see that 3/4 of the "issues of the day" revolve around the OssamaTerrorSaddamIraqWar, it just shows me that it's working. Personally, I'm far more worried about Bush taking away my freedom than Saddam Hussein throwing some empty chemical warheads at me.
I don't see this technology influencing the trend toward a "throwaway society". We're already there. With the possible exception of some high end electronic products, everything is *already* throwaway. It's cheaper to produce a new product (all that expensive and labour-intensive assembly line production notwithstanding), than it is to pay a skilled worker to repair it. When my clock radio breaks, I buy a new one.
Ah, but if they don't have a copy, how can they prove that what you have was theirs in the first place?