Trains! Across the WORLD! Edition
The Times (£) – From Beijing to London in 48hrs? Now that’s a great rail journey
High-speed technology and investment is about to make railways competitive again. Bargain airlines may have made previously forgotten cities accessible but security and congested skies have added hours to the journey. Trains can offer [...]
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
Sussing Out Possible Omens
A Chinese boy is born with 6 normally-growing digits on each hand and foot, giving him 24 total.
Strangely, three months before the birth of Guangchun, his family’s sow also labored a weird shaped piglet, which had eight legs, two mouths and four ears.
His mother says:
“The pig died two days later. [...]
Categories: Science and Nature
Worst Remake Ever
The Times – This new Karate Kid kicks where it hurts, by Sathnam Sanghera
This is the most incredible tale of WTFness, but this really takes the cake:
One of the biggest problems with the new film is the change of setting. Instead of moving from New Jersey to California as a result of his [...]
Categories: Entertainment
The Ascent of Money Does Not Leave On a High Note
We finished our Niall Ferguson documentary on a financial history of the world. I love this show but of my lord I didn’t get so much of it.
Not to ruin the ending though, but basically the US is screwed, it’ll end up in hyperinflation like Argentina or else in a world war with China, or [...]
Categories: Business & Media
China: Just In Time For Earth Day
Telegraph – Australia to prosecute over Chinese ship’s Barrier Reef shortcut
Those responsible for a Chinese ship that crashed on an illegal route at the Great Barrier Reef, leaking tonnes of oil, will be prosecuted, Australia said on Sunday.
It’s a good thing a couple people turned their lightbulbs off the other day. Cuz, you [...]
Categories: Science and Nature
As Westerners Turn Out Their Lights So They Can’t See…
…And other ironically delivered lines about environmentalist efforts these days.
Globe and Mail – China denies responsibility for shrinking Mekong River
Vital waterway at its lowest level in nearly 20 years; originates in Tibet and is the lifeblood for 65 million people in Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
Oh hurrah!
“The building and [...]
Categories: Science and Nature
Remember the Yellow River Dolphin?
This is how they tried to save the Yellow River Dolphin: “Jiangsu province Changshu City Fluorine Chemical industry land sewage treatment plant (江苏省常熟市氟化学工业园污水处理厂) was responsible for collection and processing of the industrial sewage. However they did not, the sewage pipe was extended 1500 meters under the Yangtze River and releasing the sewage there. 2009 June [...]
Categories: Science and Nature
American Decline, Where Neither the Second Amendment Nor the Caliphate Can Save Us
Mark Steyn – THE SEDUCTIONS OF DECLINE
I don’t even know where to begin quoting this (RC2, who is probably better at hiding her straight razors than I, quoted it fairly extensively – and thoughtfully! – here, and as testament to the resilience of her state of mind, she manages to wade through a similarly-themed VDH [...]
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
Sunday Quotations
From Tony Blair:
This isn’t about a lie or a conspiracy or a deceit or a deception,” Mr. Blair said. “It’s a decision. And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam’s history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over one million people whose deaths he had caused, given 10 years [...]
Categories: People and Current Events
Look Who Grew a Pair, or: Perhaps We Can File This Under LIFE LESSONS?
Google Blogs – A new approach to China
First:
Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it [...]
Categories: Business & Media
Western Liberal Do-Gooders Destroy a Few More Swathes of China
Lovely.
The Sunday Times – Chinese pay toxic price for a green world
Just outside the heavily polluted industrial city of Baotou, Inner Mongolia, surrounded by smokestacks, lies a lake with no name. At this time of year the lake bed freezes into waves of solid mud. In summer, locals say, it [...]
Categories: Science and Nature
Fluffing Chinese Ambitions
Stephen Harper’s in China and Conrad Black has some interesting advice for him, but first:
National Post – Conrad Black: Between empires
In China, as in other traditionally non-Western countries, such as Russia and Japan (largely westernized as they are), there is a tension between the nativists and the Western emulators. To the minimal extent [...]
Categories: History
In Which It Is Discovered – To Everyone's Astonishment – That Nations Do Not Operate Like Dizzy American Female Voters
Via Wheat & Weeds again:
Der Spiegel – Obama’s Nice Guy Act Gets Him Nowhere on the World Stage
Barack Obama looked tired on Thursday, as he stood in the Blue House in Seoul, the official residence of the South Korean president. He also seemed irritable and even slightly forlorn. The CNN cameras had already [...]
Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs
Absolutely the Funniest Item of the Day CCXXI
President Obama does sex to President Hu of China (interestingly, the one’s played by a German-Japanese Venezuelan and the other by, err, a white frat boy) and China would like their money back:
Categories: Politics
In 24 Hours, Obama Said He Never Used Twitter, Tibet Is Part of China, and Agreed to an Interview With Fox News
This has been quite the trip.
Categories: Politics
