Are you surprised? The Chinese Olympics have banned the open internet for international journalists. What a surprise. The Chinese government may have promised to provide open internet access to the 20K journalists attending the games, but when push comes to shove, they said "fuck you very much" and closed off some of the net to the press. Typical. But who is surprised? This is one of the world's most slavish governments, and the last thing they are going to allow is the free press to invade their country, Olympics or not. Google and Yahoo have already caved in for money, but who's next?
Below, a few articles from the Grey Lady, but really not much outrage at the betrayal of the Chinese government against their promises to the IOC. No wait, the IOC approves the censorship.
Opening Ceremony via Times Online
Newsweek: The Chinese are Immature and Insecure Children
New York Times: Chinese to Censor Internet During Olympics
New York Times Olympic Blog: Somebody Will Investigate the Internet Censorship in China
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Chinese Olympics Bans Open Internet
China Olympics Taxi Introduced
A low-pollution taxi has just been introduced in Beijing to cut down on the air problem and haul around the steroid-free Chinese athletes pictured above. Steroids or not, that's hot.
BBS 3
Disgusting Hot Dogs from Korea
Western food critics often go on and on about the wonders of street food in Asia, but they rarely look at the horrendous offerings that go along with the tasty treats from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore, such as the familiar massacres of the American hot dog in all its glory. Here's the latest cholesteral laden treat from Korea. It's not the worst, and probably tastes great, but do take your Lipitor and walk a few miles.
If Coney Island witnessed the birth of the hot dog, Seoul in South Korea saw subsequent generations mutate into a an entirely new genus of animal. An animal coated in a skin of batter and french fries then presented deep-fried on a stick.
After first witnessing this monstrosity on Newley Purnell’s site, I thought that chasing it down would be difficult. That it would be the type of food that only demented South Korean carnies sold for a scant few days of a State Fair until their consumers ended up in the waiting queue for a heart bypass. The taste is about as obvious as it looks: greasy but still crispy fries glued to a hotdog with a thick, neutral batter.
It turns out that Seoul is packed full of artisan hot dog vendors. Vendors wrap them in bacon, mashed potato, corn batter or what looked to be seaweed then invariably deep fry them. I spotted three french fry-coated hotdog vendors in the narrow alleys of Myeong-dong alone and a few more in the neighbouring Namdaemun Market.
I blame this mutation on the Korean War. When meat was scarce in the years during and after the war, Koreans made do with whatever they could scavenge from the surplus from the US armed forces bases - Spam and hotdogs. To make these items edible for Koreans, the locals mixed them together with the paste gochujang in a makeshift stew named “Budae jjigae” (부대찌개) - literally “base stew”. Over the subsequent fifty years, the locals have grown to love the processed meat-flavored soup and it now graces franchise restaurant menus, the only difference being that the stew now contains actual meat along with the mechanically-separated variety.
There seems to be no particular rules to making the stew, insofar that you need gochujang and hotdogs to start, and then whatever seems to be lying about the average Korean kitchen to continue: kimchi, frozen dumplings, greens, ramen, rice cake, actual meat. 50 years of hotdog flavoured broth has to do strange things to your palate and drive you towards experimenting with hotdogs in an obscene and deep-fried manner.
The Last Appetite
Strange Mineral Formations from the Congo
The full explanation of this strange mineral formation discovered in the Congo is provided in German. Four years of high school German and I can't even figure out "Freudenstein," though it sounds like Frankenstein to me. "Guten Tag, Luisa, Wie Gehts?"
Malachit-Großstufe aus dem Kongo: Im Freiberger Schloss Freudenstein sind bizarre Formationen zu sehen.
Der Spiegel
Total Solar Eclipse from China
The upcoming total solar eclipse in China is so remote that few Westerners will be there, but the Exploratorium here in San Francisco has sent along a crew and everyone can view the event at the Exploratorium or via your net connection. I once saw a total solar in Goa in January 1980, and it was just plain strange, weird, surreal. Then I took the bus into Panjim for Goa Carnaval, just as surrealistic.
On August 1, 2008, a total solar eclipse will occur as the new moon moves directly between the sun and the earth. The moon’s umbral shadow will fall on parts of Canada, Greenland, the Arctic Ocean, Russia, Mongolia, and China. The Exploratorium’s eclipse expedition team (our fifth!) will Webcast the eclipse live from the remote Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China near the Mongolian border.
Exploratorium Total Solar Eclipse from China
The NASA Solar Eclipse site looks overloaded.
Cary Grant on LSD
Before acid was made illegal in the U.S., it was used experimentally by many doctors as psychiatric medicine, including Cary Grant, who wrote about his experiences in his autobiography.
Now, I believe in caring for my health; and I trust you do too. Physical health is a product of, and dependent upon, mental health — one nurtures and nourishes the other. And so, together with a group of other interested Californians — doctors, writers, scientists and artists — and the encouragement of Betsy, who was interested herself, I underwent a series of controlled experiments with Lysergic Acid, a hallucinogenic chemical or drug known as LSD 25. Experiment is perhaps a misleading word; to most people it signifies patronization and objectivity. For my part I anxiously awaited their personal benefits that could be derived from the experiences, and was quite willing to be less than objective. Any man who experiments with something that cannot benefit himself, or add to his happiness, and that of his fellow man in turn, is a fool and a menace to society. I’ve heard that a man here and there died during LSD25 sessions; but then I’ve heard that men died during poker games and while watching horse racing; but that didn’t seem to stop such occupations. Those men might have died anywhere while doing anything. Men have also died testing airplanes and parachutes, vaccines and common cold cures. In attempting to traverse the next step into progress and knowledge, men have always died. But there is a difference between the man who knows what he’s about with a high-powered airplane, and an idiot who puts wings on a bicycle and takes off from the edge of Niagra Falls.
LSD 25 is a psychic energizer and the exact opposite in reaction to the addictive drugs and opiates. Indeed, Seconal, or similar sedative, is usually given as an antidote, to quell and offset the effects of LSD 25, if necessary. The action of the chemical releases the subconscious so that it becomes apparent to yourself. So that you can see what transpires in the depth of you mind — and what goes on there you wouldn’t believe, ladies and gentlemen — and learn which misconceptions, guilts and fears, with their resultant repressions, inhibitions and insecurities, have formed the pattern for your past behavior. A successively recurring pattern since childhood.
The feeling is that of an unmarshaling of the thoughts as you’ve customarily associated them. The lessening of conscious control, similar to the mental process which takes place when we dream. For example, when you’re asleep and your mind no longer concerned with matters and activities of the day, your subconscious often brings itself to your attention by dreaming. With conscious controls relaxed, those thoughts buried deep inside begin to come to the surface in the form of dreams. These dreams, since they appear to us in symbolic guise, are fantasies and, if you will accept the reasoning, could be classified as hallucinations. Such fantasies, or hallucinations, are inside every one of us, waiting to be released, aired and understood. Dreams are really the emotions that we find ourselves reluctant to examine, think about, or meditate upon, while conscious.
Under the effect of LSD 25, these dreams or hallucinations, if you wish, are speeded up, and interpreted, when properly conducted by a psychiatrically orientated doctor who sits quietly by, awaiting whatever communication one cares to make — the revealing of a hidden memory seen again from an older, more mature viewpoint, or the dawning of new enlightenment. Then, if the doctor is as skilled as mine was, he carefully proffers a word or key, that can lead to the next release, the next step toward fuller understanding.
Cary Grant Autobiography
Flickr Friskodude Images of Asia
To see my full-screen images of Asia, put "Friskodude" in the "Your Username" and hit "View Albums."
Flickr Blow Up
Andy Brouwer Photographs Champasak, Laos
Andy Brouwer is my kind of photographer/blogger/writer since he is obsessed with architecture, history, and figuring out what it all means. That's what I did in my books, and Andy carries on the tradition with his wonderful posts and images on his blog. Great work, Andy....makes me want to hit the road.
Champasak in southern Laos was until thirty years ago, the seat of Lao royalty. The local wat, Wat Nyutthitham contains the ashes of deceased members of the royal family, two of whom owned gorgeous colonial style buildings that have been renovated today and stand out amongst the otherwise traditional wooden Lao homes to be found in this quiet sleepy backwater, the gateway to the Angkorean ruins of Wat Phu.
A few French colonial-era buildings remain, one of which is being converted into a boutique hotel whilst the eerie shell of a former royal residence that looks out onto the surrounding mountains, reminded me of the hotel and casino at Bokor in southern Cambodia. The renovated colonial homes of Chao Ratsadanai, the last King of Champasak who died in 1956, and his son Chao Boun Om, who was Minister of Religion, are pictured below. The independent Kingdom of Champasak was abolished in 1946. The town, which hosts a 3-day festival every February, is located on the west bank of the Mekong River and the ruins of Wat Phu are just ten kilometres away.
Andy Brouwer on Champasak
Motorcycle Ridin' Without Hands
One of my cherished memories of Bangkok is arriving late at night at Don Muang and catching a taxi into Sukumvit. While on the road, well past midnight, the taxi was passed by a pair of motorcyclists riding laid back without using their hands, just racing wildly into the night. It just seemed so Thai, so here's a short video of some crazy guy doing the stunt in the middle of the day:
Motorcyclist Without Hands via Jil in Cagayan
Obesity on the Rise in China
I was surprised to hear this, but apparently all that meat and potatoes have taken a toll on the health and weight of the Chinese, as reported recently by Scientific American. But then I've watched the Japanese get taller and fatter over the years as fast food has taken over their traditional diet of rice and fish. And so it goes.
Obesity levels in China are rising fast, with more than a quarter of the adult population overweight or obese. As people add more meat and dairy products to their diet, serious health problems can develop, a new study says.
Of all the developing countries, only in Mexico is the rate of increase in becoming overweight among adults faster than in China, the study, published in the July/August issue of the journal Health Affairs, says.
"What's happening in China should be seen as a marker for what is going to hit the rest of the developing world if we fail to act," said study author Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina.
"We need to find the right investments and regulations to encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle, or we risk facing higher rates of death, disease, and disability and the related costs," he added.
Chinese people now derive a far larger proportion of energy from fat and animal-based foods, such as meat and eggs, compared with in the past, the study found. "The classical Chinese diet -- rich in vegetables and carbohydrates with minimal animal-sourced food -- no longer exists," the study said. "In 2006, fewer than one percent of all Chinese adults consumed a diet with less than 10 percent of energy derived from fat."
The change in diets and lifestyles, where Chinese less frequently have to engage in physical activity at work, is consequently leading to a rise in cancer and coronary heart disease, the study found. "Based on fairly conservative assumptions, the total impact of these nutrition-related components of poor diet, inactivity, and obesity on medical costs to treat noncommunicable diseases, labor productivity and national production are very large."
Scientific American on Rising Obesity in China
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monkey Torments Tigers
Why do we love monkeys? Because they have no fear and gleefully torment tigers at the zoo.
|
I Am Bored Video of Monkey Tormenting Tigers
Newspaper Typo of the Year
It's not often that a newspaper misspells it's own name, but it recently happened and is a sure bet for best typo of the year.
New Hampshire and Vermont’s Valley News could be a favorite for 2008’s Typo of the Year, thanks to it misspelling its own name on the front page on July 21. It published an editor’s note yesterday. Here’s what the paper looked like on the 21:
Regret the Error
Nirvana Cover Boy Revealed
The swimming baby from the infamous Nirvana album cover has been revealed, and he's not embarassed about exposing his tiny penis at a very young age. Good for him.
Imagine if millions of people had seen you naked before you were old enough to say "embarrassing." That's the story of Spencer Elden, whom you may know as the little baby floating toward a dollar bill on the cover of Nirvana's 1991 album, Nevermind.
Nearly 17 years later, amid hating school and playing water polo, Elden is still struggling to make sense of his (very) public image.
"Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis," he says from his home in Los Angeles. "So that's kinda cool. I'm just a normal kid living it up and doing the best I can while I'm here."
Nevermind is often credited with changing the face of rock. Elden's naked participation in this important moment in music history was rather accidental; Kirk Weddle, the photographer working on the cover, was simply a friend of Spencer's dad, Rick.
"[He] calls us up and was like, 'Hey Rick, wanna make 200 bucks and throw your kid in the drink?,'" Rick recounts. "I was like, 'What's up?' And he's like, 'Well, I'm shooting kids all this week, why don't you meet me at the Rose Bowl, throw your kid in the drink?' And we just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"
Three months later, while driving down Sunset Blvd., the Elden family spotted a 9-foot-by-9-foot Spencer floating across Tower Records' wall. Two months later, Geffen Records sent 1-year-old Spencer Elden a platinum album and a teddy bear.
Over the coming years, 26 million albums were sold. As Elden learned to walk, talk and sing — his pale baby arms stretched across millions of grungy fans' walls; his private parts stood magnified across billboards and floors.
In some places, his image stuck. The other day, his friends spotted a giant Nevermind photo on the floor of a record store in Hollywood.
"My friend is all like, 'Hey I saw you today.' And I'm like, 'Dude, I was working all day.' And he's like, 'No, I went to Geffen Records, and you're on the floor and you're floating and I stepped on your face. 'Cause I guess they have like a floating thing where people can like walk on me and stuff ... so it's kinda cool," he says.
Life in general isn't quite as "cool" as it was when he jumped naked in the pool in the early '90s, though, he says. These days, his peers are too stuck on the Internet and video games. Ironically, he yearns for the era that gave Kurt Cobain, the lead singer for Nirvana, so much angst.
These days, Elden says, his peers concentrate on "playing Rock Band on Xbox, like, that's not a real band! That's the difference between the '90s and kids nowadays; kids in the '90s would actually go out and make a [real] band!"
NPR
Seoul Government Goes After Lonely Planet Korea
I don't know what more pitiful. The Seoul Municipal Government thinks it necessary to go after critical comments in the Lonely Planet Korea guide, or that LP may actually buckle under the pressure and rewrite their guide to please the Korean government. BBC Worldwide (new owners of LP) have shown themselves to be rather anxious to curb author opinion and eager to please government/corporate sponsors, so we can expect a sanitized next edition of Korea. I might be wrong, but I think this is the direction for BBC Worldwide/Lonely Planet.
Too bad Moon Publications has cancelled all their Asia-Pacific titles, including the great Korea Handbook by Bob Nilsen. But then Bill Newlin is just another coward when it comes to publishing confrontational travel guides, and that's what Moon was originally about. Let's all send Bill Newlin to DisneyWorld!
As for the “negative content” at which Seoul Metropolitan Government has apparently taken offense, well, for the most part, that’s just the LP’s style, and Seoul shouldn’t take it too personally. Take a look at the LP’s American English phrasebook, for instance — the entire exercise is apparently to take the micky out of the United States. The LP does go a bit overboard about Seoul, though. My Seoul issue of the LP is a bit dated (2003), but the introduction to Seoul in the 2007 Korea issue starts by describing it as “the world’s largest company town,” and then:
The Marmot's Hole
Hanuman Trailer via Thai Film Journal
I don't watch many Thai films, but always enjoy the preview clips shown on Wise Kwai's website. This one about Hanuman looks like a winner, with commentary from WK:
Hanuman: The White Monkey Warrior is a martial-arts fantasy from Phranakorn. Directed by Sakchai Sriboonnak, it stars Sornram Theppitak and Yardtip Rajpal. Comic actor Kotee Aramboy has a supporting role and looks to be exploring his dramatic chops.
The story involves the "blood battle of the supernatural animals", whose spirits are reborn in modern-day warriors. Sornram plays a guy who has the spirit of Hanuman, the monkey god. One of the bad guys is a westerner actor Damian Mavis, who has the tiger spirit. That explains his strange haircut. Mavis has acted in many other Thai action films, most recently in Somtum. Another cast member from Somtum, 7-foot-tall Conan Stevens, is also in the cast, though I did not see him in the trailer. He appears briefly, wearing a mask at around the 54-second mark. Stevens has more about working on this film on his blog.
The trailer reveals a lot of CGI and wirework, though I don't really get a sense of the fighting.
The music's cool, though. And there's a music video.
Thai Film Journal by Wise Kwai
UK: One-third of Muslim Students Say Killing for Religion is Justified
More discouraging news from a recent survey of Muslim attitudes in Great Britain.
The survey found that extreme Islamist ideology has a profound influence on a significant minority of Muslims on campuses across the country.
The findings will concern police chiefs, the security services and ministers, who are struggling with radicalisation among Muslim communities.
The YouGov poll was conducted for the Right-wing think tank, the Centre for Social Cohesion, at 12 universities, including Imperial College and Kings College London. It also found:
* 40 per cent support the introduction of sharia into British law for Muslims
* a third back the notion of a worldwide Islamic caliphate (state) based on sharia law
* 40 per feel it is unacceptable for Muslim men and women to mix freely
* 24 per cent do not think men and women are equal in the eyes of Allah
* a quarter have little or no respect for homosexuals.
Although 53 per cent said that killing in the name of religion was never justified, compared with 94 per cent of non-Muslims, 32 per cent said that it was. Of these, 4 per cent said killing could be justified to "promote or preserve" religion, while 28 per cent said it was acceptable if that religion were under attack.
There was also sympathy for the view that Muslim soldiers in the Armed Forces should be allowed to opt out of operations in Muslim countries, with 57 per cent agreeing....
Jihad Watch
Olympics 2008 Blog
I've been reading my RSS feeds from China, looking for something new or unique about the upcoming Olympics, but nothing much stirs my blood. Yes, the air is foul and unless it rains or the wind blows hard during the Olympics, the long-distance runners are fucked. A few journalists have been roughed up, but no great apparent abuses of human rights to date. In other words, not much exciting is happening, but I'm on the pulse and will get back with any noteworthy and not boring news.
If you'd like to follow the Olympics news on a daily basis, here's a great group blog coming direct from Beijing:
Hallelujah! When I drew my curtains this morning, I could see the Beijing television tower, a good 10 km (six miles) from my bedroom window. Five days of smog had cleared overnight.
When I stepped onto my balcony I understood why. A fitful breeze was blowing, which had not only cleared the air but cooled it. The steaming sludge we have been breathing in Beijing for the last few days had gone.
And as I write, the rain is pelting down in sheets fierce enough to make people outside run for cover, even if they have umbrellas. More good news for the Olympic organizers, who have - ironically - been praying for bad weather.
Because bad weather makes for better air. Wind and rain is just what BOCOG needs to clean the city’s pollution out of the atmosphere. It seems strange that the authorities should be hoping for just the sort of weather that would ruin any other major outdoors event, and of course they don’t want this to happen too often.
But the Chinese government has done just about everything it can do to reduce pollution, like closing factories within a 100 km radius of the capital, banning citizens from driving every other day and shutting down building sites.
It has a few more cards up its sleeve: the official China Daily newspaper reported yesterday that the authorities were prepared to order as many as 90 per cent of private vehicles off the roads if the situation requires it. But in the end, it is going to come down to the weather.
Christian Science Monitor Olympics Coverage
Lifehacker Staff Tips
I don't usually cover tech issues in this blog, but I do have a folder on the RSS Bloglines reader with tech websites, including Lifehacker, which happens to be one of the best and most famous tech sites on the net. Yesterday, they ran an article where their big contributors talked about what tech items they own and use, and what software they think is most useful. It's a great background article and if you're looking for new ideas, this is a goldmine.
Lifehacker readers range from the complete newbie to the most seasoned techie, but where do the Lifehacker editors stand? We polled our own editors for the computer hardware and applications they swear by and we're breaking it down for you here. This post is categorized into the software each editor uses on a daily basis, the operating systems we live in, the hardware we rely on, the peripherals we utilize on a regular basis, and webapps we need. Then we tell you exactly what kind of user we think we are.
Gina Trapani, Editor:
The Basics
Firefox: I spend the majority of my day in my favorite browser, where I manage email, write Lifehacker posts, read RSS, and surf. My must-have Firefox extensions include: Foxmarks (so my bookmarks are everywhere), DownThemAll! (for downloading big files), CoLT (for grabbing links to drop into Lifehacker posts), all of the Better Extensions which I put together, Firebug and Chris Pederick's Web Developer toolbar (for development), and Greasemonkey and Stylish for customizing pages. (Here are my current user style picks.)
Quicksilver: On any Mac, I'll Cmd+Spacebar out of habit, because I've come to rely on QS so much for launching apps, moving files, resizing images to Lifehacker's standard sizes, and accessing frequently-used documents on the Shelf.
TextExpander (Mac) and Texter (Windows): Not only does TE and Texter help me write Lifehacker posts by auto-expanding HTML snippets, it auto-corrects typos and helps me stay on track with our style guide (by automatically replacing things like "wifi" with "Wi-Fi", for example).
TextWrangler (Mac) and EditPlus (Windows): Everyone needs a good text editor, and these two are my picks. (TextWrangler is free, but EditPlus is not).
KeePass: The day I sat down and created my KeePass password database—and decided every time I'd set up a new password I'd store it there—was a good day indeed. While I do use Firefox to save web-based logins, KeePass is an awesome secure parking place for Wi-Fi, network, computer, and file passwords as well as software serial numbers. Since it's Mac and Windows compatible, if I save a password on the PC's copy of Firefox, I'll also enter it into KeePass so I can still look it up on the Mac.
Adobe ImageReady: A throwback to my web dev years, I still reach for an old copy of IR whenever I have to do any image editing beyond simple cropping and resizing. Been meaning to get good at a free option for awhile now—and I'll have to, since Adobe discontinued ImageReady releases.
Adium (Mac) and Pidgin (Windows): I'm not a huge IM user, but when I need to hop on for a quick chat these are my two clients of choice.
Cygwin: I'm not running a Linux desktop full-time, but I do need my ls and scp. While Terminal.app offers these Unix command line tools built into OS X, Cygwin can give it to you on Windows.
InstantShot (Mac), Skitch (Mac), and SnagIt (Windows): Since I take screenshots all day long, these three apps are indispensable. For a simple snap and resize, I use InstantShot and Preview; to annotate screenshots SnagIt and Skitch get the job done.
Mozy (Mac and Windows), Time Machine (Mac), and SyncBackSE (Windows): Since I work at home with no IT department backing up a network drive, backing up my important data's up to me. I bought an unlimited Mozy subscription for off-site backup in case of fire, flood, theft, or tsunami, and use Time Machine and SyncBack to run regular local backups to a FireWire drive.
Lifehacker
Philippines: Crucified for Five Joints
This is another, what were they thinking? A man in a wheelchair is caught with five joints and given a life sentence in the Philippines. One of the world's most politically and economically corrupt countries is doing this to their citizens? Outrageous. Torn and Frayed reports about this atrocity, with some comparisons on what's really tearing the country apart. Good work, Torn and Frayed.
The "war on drugs" has become a war against ordinary people, when it's the politicians and oligarchies that are committing the real war against the Filipino society.
We can be fairly sure that such worthy public servants as Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” Bolante (accused of diverting P270 million in fertilizer funds to the Arroyo campaign in 2004), Bejamin Abalos (accused, among many other matters, of attempting to profit by $130 million from the NBN ZTE scandal), Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia (whose son was apprehended at the San Francisco airport trying to smuggle $100,000 in undeclared cash in the States) will not be troubling the guards at a Philippine jail any time soon.
However, lest it be accused of inactivity, last Thursday the Philippine judicial system demonstrated its determination to protect us from the truly evil elements in society. It is scum like this, not Messrs. Bolante, Abalos, and Garcia, who are really responsible for the current mess the country finds itself in.
BACOLOD CITY – For selling five sticks of marijuana to undercover policemen, an amputee was sentenced to life imprisonment Thursday by a regional trial court in Bacolod.
Bacolod Regional Trial Court Judge Edgardo Garvilles sentenced David Nobal Carmona, alias Kamlot, to life imprisonment and fined him P500,000 for the sale of five marijuana sticks, and to serve another 12 to 14 years in prison for possession of five other sticks. He was also fined an additional P300,000.
Carmona, 44, was also ordered to be immediately committed to the national penitentiary. Police told the court they conducted a buy bust operation in October 2003 and caught Carmona.
Carmona, who lost an arm and a leg to amputation when he was 16 years old, pleaded not guilty and claimed police planted the evidence against him.
But the court said his denial was a “weak form of defense.”
Torn and Frayed
Cambodian Children's Fund
I've mentioned several humanitarian organizations in Cambodia over the last year, but if you would like to help a very established and respectable group that has had major attention from media around the world, then Cambodian Children's Fund is an excellent choice. This non-profit is 100% legitimate and can use whatever help you can offer.
The above photo is by Zoriah, one of the world's great photographers and the heir to Salgado. For his amazing work in Iraq, he's banned. This one is an AIDs victim in Cambodia.
The Cambodian Children's Fund was founded by Hollywood film executive Scott Neeson, who travelled to Cambodia on holiday in early 2003 and found his life changed by the desperate circumstances and unlikely courage of Phnom Penh's most impoverished children.
After a 26 year-career in the film business, including tenure as president of 20th Century Fox International and a similar position with Sony Pictures International, Scott exited the industry to establish and oversee the Cambodian Children's Fund. He is now Executive Director and lives year-round in Phnom Penh.
The CCF was originally developed to provide a safe haven for 45 children in critical need. Within four short years, the CCF has grown to incorporate three separate facilities, where nearly 300 children receive nutrition and housing, as well as medical treatment, dental services and vaccinations.
CCF children are given a comprehensive educational program that includes local language reading and writing, as well as multi-level classes in English, social studies and math. They also attend evening classes at the rooftop cultural center, where they learn traditional Khmer music, dance and drama.
Vocational training continues to be a vital aspect of our organization, and CCF''s children are encouraged to pursue both on- and off-site studies in computer training, cosmetology, hair-dressing, graphic design, restaurant management and language instruction. In November 2006, CCF also opened the Star Bakery, a facility that provides intensive training in baking techniques, bread production, food hygiene and business management.
The CCF is also expanding into community relief programs to provide education, health care, safe drinking water and sustenance to the country's most indigent families. Only through self-sufficiency can the generational cycles of poverty and abuse be broken.
Cambodian Childrens Fund
Old Time Journalists in Bangkok
Whenever you go to Nana Plaza or Cowboy, you're almost certain to bump into the oddball journalists who call Bangkok home, but roam around Asia looking for the latest story to sell to AP or whomever. I usually find them on the 3rd floor of Nana at 1:30am, but they also creak along Patpong and Cowboy earlier in the evening. Here's a quick look at the gang, now getting ready to head to Beijing.
Note: That's Steve above in a joke photo. He doesn't really do the scene (as far as I know), but it's a great photo, so I use it over and over again. Please forgive me Steve....
As evening falls in Bangkok the nightwalkers of Nana - the city's sex district - take to the streets, and happy mongrel dogs splash through the deep puddles formed by the afternoon monsoon rains.
Hopeful transvestites pucker their fuschia mouths at a grimy mirror, and the South East Asian anthem, Hotel California, begins to play.
Dan - a Guardian photographer - throws back another beer, and toasts the Thai-Cambodia border dispute.
"Perhaps it will blow up and there will be work and good pictures," he says dryly.
Tom, an Associated Press journalist, laughs his rumbling roar, swilling his whisky and coke he slaps his thighs with vigour - ready to move on, ready for more people and more drink - ready for a night out in Bangkok.
Otago Daily Times
Saturday, July 26, 2008
China's Newest Olympic Sport: Pole Dancing
Why doesn't my local YMCA offer aerobic classes like these? And wouldn't you like to watch those gymnastic girls do this workout in the upcoming Olympics? But at least I'm happy to see The New York Times covering what's really important about China and hope that their circulation skyrockets.
Clad in knee-high leather boots, spandex shorts and a sports bra, Xiao Yan struck a pose two feet off the ground, her head glistening with sweat and her arms straining as she suspended herself from a vertical pole.
“Keeping your grip is the hardest part,” she said. “It’s really easy to slide downward.”
Ms. Xiao, 26, who works as a supermarket manager, is one of a growing number of women experimenting with China’s newest, and most controversial, fitness activity: pole dancing.
“I used to take a normal aerobics class, but it was boring and monotonous,” Ms. Xiao said. “So I tried out pole dancing. It’s a really social activity. I’ve met a lot of girls here who I’m now close friends with. And I like that it makes me feel sexy.”
A nightclub activity mostly considered the domain of strippers in the United States, pole dancing — but with clothes kept on — is nudging its way into the mainstream Chinese exercise market, with increasing numbers of gyms and dance schools offering classes.
New York Times
YouTube
Video Tour of Long-Necked Village in Thailand
If you've never visited one of the long-necked villages near Mae Hong Son, and may have some moral questions about the practice, then the following YouTube video will give you some idea of what the villages look like and provide some very interesting background about the wearing of the rings. I always assumed it was a series of different rings, but it's actually one continuous coil which can be easily put on and removed. And nobody's head collapses when the rings are removed.
YouTube
Another Thai Ladyboy Book
Another book about the ladyboys of Thailand has been released and recently reviewed in the Pattaya Mail. I haven't seen the book, but it's written by a local Western lady with the help of a Thai, and follows the familiar format of interviewing a number of ladyboys to learn something of their lifestyles.
There has been a fascination about ladyboys and this book Ladyboys, The secret world of Thailand’s Third Gender (ISBN 978-1-905379-48-4, Maverick House publishers 2008) has been co-authored by a Thai Pornchai Sereemongkonpol and long stay expatriate Australian author Susan Aldous (The Angel of Bang Kwang prison).
Right from the introduction, the authors state plainly the direction of the book, “Focus attention on the individual rather than the dilemma of whether to refer to them as ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘it’.” The book then covers nine ladyboys (or katoeys) and looks at them all as individual people and in doing so highlights the differences and common factors.
The book begins with Mali the go-go girl, who openly admits that she is a prostitute, and undoubtedly would have taken that course whether she had stayed as a male. She tells of an amusing interlude in her life where she was called up for national service as all young men are in Thailand, but was rejected medically as having a “misshapen chest”.
Mimi the fashion columnist had realized from the age of eight that she was ‘different’ from the other boys at school, but has been fortunate in having understanding parents who have allowed her to be herself.
The next chapter showed yet another of the types of person that are given the ladyboy label. Pui the cabaret performer is more of a cross dresser who dresses as a man during the day, but then assumes the role of a female at night and performs in the Calypso girls cabaret. “Being a ladyboy is more a state of mind than body,” she says.
Pattaya Mail
Burmese Junta Pockets Millions in Foreign Aid Currency scam
I always assumed that the murderous Burmese junta would somehow steal some of the foreign aid money coming in after Cyclone Nargis, but never considered they would scam the exchange market. Don't underestimate the creative theft powers of those Burmese generals.
Burma’s generals are reportedly pocketing tens of millions of dollars of foreign aid intended for cyclone victims by manipulating the rate at which the money is exchanged into local currency, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post.
The Burmese junta insists that US dollars and other hard currency entering the country must be converted first of all into so-called Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) and then into the Burmese currency, kyat.
This month the exchange rate for FECs dropped to 880 kyat to the dollar, while one dollar fetches 1,180 kyat at unofficial exchanges in Rangoon and other Burmese cities. The discrepancy results in a surplus of almost 30 per cent in the regime’s favour in its cyclone relief budget. "Where does that money go?" asked a Burmese exile researcher. "I’ll give you three guesses."
More than $200 million has been contributed since May by individual governments, organisations, corporations and individuals towards relief aid for the hundreds of thousands of survivors of the deadly Cyclone Nargis. Among individual donors was Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, who was reported to have made a "significant" contribution. Britain’s Disaster Emergency Committee alone raised more than $20 million.
At a donors’ conference in Rangoon in late May, the Burmese regime asked for $11 billion to rebuild the devastated Irrawaddy delta region and its shattered economy. Representatives of several Western governments and Burma’s partners within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations baulked at the idea of committing themselves to pledging large amounts of money without guarantees that it would be used responsibly.
Nevertheless, a UN fund is now nearing the $100 million mark, and contributions pledged at the Rangoon conference are flowing spasmodically into Burma.
The UN conceded in an internal memorandum that the Burmese regime appeared to be profiting by at least 20 per cent from its currency exchange regulations, according to the New York-based watchdog organization Inner City Press. "The UN knows it’s a scam but can’t, or won’t, do anything about it," said a Burmese researcher.
The First Post
AP has another report on the theft of aid funds by the Burmese government.
U.N. says as much as 25 percent of cyclone aid lost to Myanmar currency controls
By Michael Casey
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:32 a.m. July 25, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand – As much as 25 percent of cyclone relief aid in Myanmar is being lost because of the military government's foreign exchange system, a United Nations official said Friday. Dan Baker, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar, said he is concerned that the losses could upset donors who have already shown a reluctance to fund the relief effort following the May 2-3 cyclone that killed 84,537 people, according to the government.
“This is a big issue. This is a big concern,” Baker said. “The donors aren't going to give us money if they know they will (lose) a percentage of that. This is not an issue we can let go by.”
Myanmar requires that foreign aid money be converted first into Foreign Exchange Certificates at a set price and then into the country's national currency, the kyat. The certificates have been worth as much as 25 percent less than the market value of an equivalent number of dollars.
On Friday, a certificate costing $1 was worth 900 kyat while $1 on the open market fetched 1,175 kyat.
The certificates were introduced by the military junta in 1993 to counter a thriving black market and take advantage of a rise in tourism dollars coming into the country. But the black market has remained popular for most citizens because the official exchange rate remains artificially low at about 6 kyat to the dollar.
Baker said the U.N. has taken up the issue with Myanmar authorities and has argued for the elimination of the certificates. The push to abandon the certificates comes as the U.N. is pressing nations to donate another $290 million for the Myanmar relief effort. The U.N. has raised about $191 million so far following an initial appeal for $201 million in aid. On top of the $10 million shortfall, it says it needs $280 million in additional money for the work of 13 U.N. agencies and 23 non-governmental organizations.
The money is intended to help the 2.4 million survivors who the U.N. says have been seriously affected by the cyclone. More than 100 projects are planned to deliver food, shelter, clean drinking water, sanitation, education and other needs.
Ko-Htike
Images of Nargis Cyclone in Burma
Someone has posted at Flickr an outstanding and disturbing collection of photos from the Nargis cyclone which devasted the Irrawaddy delta.
Powerful cyclone Nargis caused the deadliest natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma (officially known as Myanmar). The cyclone made landfall on May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 80,000 fatalities.
Nargis ((نرگس),developed on April 27 in the central Bay of Bengal. On May 2, the JTWC assessed peak winds of 215 km/h (135 mph). The cyclone moved ashore in the Ayeyarwady Division of Burma near peak intensity and, after passing near Yangon (Rangoon), the storm gradually weakened until dissipating near the border of Burma and Thailand.
Flickr Images of Nargis Cyclone, Burma
Book Review: Malaysia, Beneath the Veneer
Here's a book review of a recent release which attempts to get under the surface of what's going on with modern Malaysia, with incisive comments after the review.
Little did I know that at about the same time (October 2004) an American journalist in Malaysia, Ioannis Gatsiounis, had written for Asia Times an essay titled, “Abdullah’s Honeymoon is Over in Malaysia.” Although more restrained in tone, nonetheless as judged by the title, he revealed a similar lack of enthusiasm for Abdullah as a leader. His “soft but firm” leadership, Gatsiounis wrote, “has shown … to be more soft than firm.”
That kind of perceptiveness is rare for a foreign observer, or a local one for that matter. Today, as judged by the current headlines, Gatsiounis’s judgment of Abdullah has become the common wisdom.
Such insights and perceptiveness do not come easily or quickly, even for the most astute of observers. Gatsiounis has been reporting from and on Southeast Asia since 2000, beginning first in Jakarta and later in Kuala Lumpur where he now resides. This gives him an intimate knowledge of Malaysia and a nuanced understanding of its racial dynamics and political tensions. He is not easily persuaded by smooth official press releases or slick PR gimmicks.
This volume, Beyond the Veneer: Malaysia’s Struggle For Dignity and Direction, contains his 42 essays written from about 2003 onwards. There are three commentaries on the recent “most crucial general elections in the country’s 50-year history,” one written just before the elections, and two, right afterwards.
“The Malaysian government’s authoritarian instincts,” Gatsiounis wrote in his first post-election essay (“A New Democratic Era in Malaysia”) “were finally checked by democracy at Saturday’s highly anticipated elections.”
Lim Kit Siang
YouTube Censored in the Philippines?
I find it difficult to believe that YouTube is being monitored by the Philippine government, but Jil in Cagayan de Oro claims this is true, and provides a workaround for this possible problem.
I can't imagine why this would be the case — especially for a Justin Timberlake video — but I've noticed it on more than a couple of Youtube videos lately: Certain videos apparently are not allowed to be watched only if you are in the Philippines.
Well, there is an easy way to get around that: Just copy the alphanumeric code from the video page URL (the one after the “=” sign) and paste it after this: http://www.youtube.com/v/
So this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLN59ZOweUE
…becomes this:
http://www.youtube.com/v/pLN59ZOweUE
The resulting video player fills your browser window, sans autoplay.
Jungle Jil
Desperately Seeking Osama (in Indonesia)
Jakartass performs a public service by passing along a request for anyone named Osama in Indonesia, in a well intentioned mission to dispel the myth that everyone with that name is a terrorist.
I found your blog and wondered if you might be interested in writing about or mission to find 500 Osamas in 50 days? We are half way through the mission and seriously lacking Osamas! We will be coming to Indonesia next week so it would be really helpfull if you could mention our project on Jakartass.
The project is for (British TV) Channel 4 who have recruited London doctor Farrah Jarral and filmmaker Masood Khan for a mission called 'Osama Loves' to discover the sunnier side of Islam. Farrah and Masood aim to meet 500 Osamas right across the Islamic world in just 50 days, asking each one; "What do you love?"
"I just want to prove that not all Muslims are extremist" said Jarral, a doctor at St Mary's Hospital.
Jakartass
Indonesian Dangdut Banned in Malaysia
Another cultural exchange icon from Indonesia banned from performing her dangdut thing in Malaysia. Poor Inul Daratista posed a "national security threat" to the Republic of Malaysia.
Indonesian Singer Inul Daratista's Concert Today Cancelled By DBKL For National Security Reasons! Indonesian singer Inul Daratista's concert at Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil, on Saturday has been cancelled after Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) cancelled the permit.
Inul who is famous for her gelek gerudi (killer gyration) hip movements performed in the country last year as well as in 2005.
According to news reports, Nasir Abu Bakar of IMS Prima Sdn Bhd (the concert organiser) said that he was disappointed with the decision because the Central Committee for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artiste had given the green light for the event. "We received the directive from DBKL to cancel the concert due to national security. If that is the reason, there is nothing else I can say," he told the media.
Inul's concert in Johor Baru was also cancelled at the very last minute after it could not get approval from various government departments in the state.
Nasir said his company had incurred RM800,000 in losses following the cancellation of the concerts in Johor and Kuala Lumpur.
YouTube Clip of Inul in Action
Friday, July 25, 2008
New Rules for Transsexuals in Thailand
Until recently, young men at any age could freely choose sexual reassignment surgery, without even the permission of their parents. After a rash of teenage boys doing the deed, and the subsequent bad publicity, rules were passed and now boys must be at least 18 to go through the operation and change their sex. But questions still remain if this new age limit is low enough and gives these kids enough maturity to think through the serious consequences of their acts.
For two years Ponchalearm has yearned for the operation and at 18 he has reached the age at which, under a new Thai health regulation, he can legally make the decision himself.
The regulation was introduced in April after health authorities became alarmed by stories and the subsequent public debate about underage boys seeking -- and receiving -- castrations as the first step toward gender reassignment surgery.
Some gay activists and parents worried about potential side effects of the operation on bodies that are still growing believe the age at which youths can independently make the decision to be castrated should be raised to 20.
Yahoo News Asia
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Olympic Security English
Somebody at the Wall Street Journal managed to get ahold of the official English language guide for security cops during the upcoming Olympics, with instructions on dealing with tourists walking around without passports, suspected terrorists, and Indian chefs behaving suspiciously.
Wall Street Journal
Bat Cuisine in Thailand
Last week I mentioned the habit of eating fried bat in Thailand, but didn't realize that it a PR release from National Geographic. Even better, here's a short video to go with the story.
National Geographic Video
New York City Bus Terminal Towers
After New York officials heard that San Francisco was going to build a new bus terminal with an enormous tower, they opened up competition to do their own tower. New Yorkers, always trying to compete with San Franciscans.
The on-again, off-again plans to build an office tower over the Port Authority Bus Terminal took at least a conceptual step forward on Thursday afternoon with the unveiling of three possible designs by three leading architectural firms.
New York Times
Ladybird Easy-Reading Book Satire
Ladybird Easy-Reading books must be a British thing, since I was raised on Dick and Jane, but the satire rings true with all the drug and sex references. Probably the same thing has been done with D and J.
Seorant
Olympics 2008 - Photos of Beijing
This is the best collection of Beijing Olympic images I've seen to date.
The Boston Globe - Images of Beijing
Arab Street Bangkok
In all my days, I never thought I'd read a review of restaurants on "Soi Arab" (Sukumvit, Soi 3), and certainly not in the New York Times. No mention of the African drug dealers or Russian prostitutes, or the Nana Hotel coffeeshop, but it's still a worthwhile read about a very interesting neighborhood.
The popularity of Soi Arab, which is sandwiched between the Sukhumvit 3 and 5 roads, has seesawed ever since Saudi recruiters of cheap Thai labor first discovered it in the early 1980s. These days, flush with oil cash, more Arab tourists than ever are showing up on the tiny street and finding in the spruced-up restaurants and shisha (water pipe) cafes the ambience of their native countries — with fewer of the cultural strictures. For non-Middle Easterners, the bustling quarter is an oasis of Arab exoticism in the heart of a bawdy Bangkok neighborhood.
New York Times
Pimped Out Piaggio in Jakarta
A big step up from the wrecked scooter I drive around San Francisco, with broken brake handle, busted left turn signal, punched-out ignition, splitting seat, and stolen battery cover. I kid you not...I own the most desperate looking scooter in this city.
It's a fast and fashionable way for Jakartans to beat the city's chronic gridlock: a limousine on two wheels.
Starting next month, harried commuters in the Indonesian capital will be able to hop on to a sleek Piaggio scooter equipped with GPS systems and wireless communication to weave their way through the city's perpetually congested roads.
Motorcycle taxis, known locally as "ojeks", are a popular way of getting around this city of 14 million, but most ojeks are just battered old bikes with filthy, shared helmets that often leave passengers with itchy heads.
Many Jakartans consider taking a ride on an ojek a suicidal mission as some drivers are unlicensed, lack basic driving skills and don't think twice about breaking traffic laws.
And that's where Ningrat, or royal, Limobikes comes in.
Their fleet of bright yellow Piaggio scooters comes equipped with devices to give directions, professional drivers who speak English, high quality helmets, hair caps, protective jackets -- and even a special sheet to protect the modesty of women passengers wearing short skirts.
"Let me get this clear, this is not an ojek, this is a limousine on two wheels. Our service is aimed at middle to upper class Jakartans," Mahesa Arba, business development manager of Ningrat Limobike told Reuters.
"We considered other brands when we set up this business but in the end we choose Piaggio simply because of its style," he said. "We want to stand out from the crowd."
Reuters
Monday, July 21, 2008
Lonely Planet Cracks Down on Political Writings
I've never seen Lonely Planet guides as being politically controversial, but apparently the new owners at BBC Worldwide are now discouraging political opinion, and that's sad.
Today's bible readers encompass the middle-class and politically middle-of-the-road, as the inclusion of five-star accommodation options in the guides attest. Presumably, many would bristle at left-wing preaching in their guides, and as it happens so does the publisher.
In a move that's already igniting suspicion among writers, Lonely Planet is cracking down on political bias, especially in the history and culture sections of its guides. At least one senior journalist has been to the publisher's Footscray headquarters to speak to commissioning editors about objective reporting. Lonely Planet's global publisher, Alex Fenby, says a formal policy, which stems from an internal review that began in March last year, will be rolled out to authors next week. Otherwise, the company remains tight-lipped about what sparked the move.
"Lonely Planet's editorial policy is to offer balanced and objective information in the introductory chapters of our guidebooks such as history and culture," wrote Fenby in an email. "We believe we have already been adhering to best practice in the majority of our books, however we wanted to make sure this was applied consistently."
The Age
Rare Buddhas Discovered in Mandalay
It's not everyday that someone discovers a very large Buddha in the Irrawaddy River near Mandalay, but it looks like the real deal.
In Mandalay, the second city of Burma ( also known as Myanmar) three very ancient Buddha statues have been found . According to a local resident source, the Buddha statues appeared in the Irrawaddy river two days ago.
Unfortunately, one disappeared and only two of them have been saved. Their size and age are not mentioned yet, but one is said to be huge. At the moment the two statues of Buddha are being honored by the people at the Yan Myo Lone Temple, 41 street in Mandalay city.
Op Ed News
How Not to Get Busted in Asia
Here's an excellent post about NOT to get busted for drugs while traveling in Asia and elsewhere. At first, I thought the author was going to talk about how to be a successful smuggler, but it's really strong advise about never trusting anyone with your bags, especially when you are crossing borders. Also, some great links at the bottom to books written by the poor souls who did time in prison, usually Bangkok.
In 2000 a Canadian citizen, Nguyen Thi Hiep, was executed in Vietnam by firing squad. He was caught with five kilos of heroin in 1996.
In 2005 a Singapore/Australian citizen, Nguyen Tuong Van, age 25, was hung in Singapore for drug smuggling. Kevin John Barlow and Brian Geoffrey Chambers were hung in 1986 by Malaysian officials for drug trafficking.
Michael McAuliffe was hung in Malaysia in 1993 after serving eight years in jail for heroin trafficking.
In many countries the possession of drugs imposes tough penalties including death and life imprisonment.
Asian countries that have death penalty for drug trafficking: Bangladesh, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Laos, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. The only other country is the world that has this penalty for large qualities is the United States.
These facts are enough to scare you into rethinking about drugs and traveling. But what if you end up wrongly convicted of a crime you didn’t commit?
Brave New Traveler
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Pai Murder Update
If your son was murdered in cold blood by a Thai policeman, and the cop was still walking around town after six months, what would you do?
Kissing the photo of his son on the back of a city bus, one father is turning to Calgary Transit in his quest for justice.
Billboards generously donated by Pattison Outdoor Advertising depict Ernie Del Pinto holding a photo of his son Leo, who was shot and killed by a Thai police officer in January while living in the country. “We’re doing this to raise awareness that justice hasn’t been served and we are still waiting for answers. I am not stopping until I get it,” the emotional father told reporters while standing in front of the ad reading “Justice for Leo”.
While the billboard ads on city buses were unveiled yesterday, the company also donated large billboard sites around the city to get the message across to Calgarians. “This was a Godsend to me. I am incredibly touched these people wanted to help and I can’t thank them enough,” Del Pinto said. A representative for Pattison was on-hand to offer support at the unveiling.
“Today isn’t about Pattison. Today is about Del Pinto. We did this because we believe in it and a friend of Pattison’s was taken away,” Kyle Donnan told Metro. While the modest company did not reveal what the advertisements cost them, they would say they are “prime spaces” and should bring a lot of awareness to the issue.
The ads are located on various buses and one large digital ad located on the corner of 19 street and McKnight Blvd. NE.
Calgary Metro
Ryugyong Hotel, North Korea, Update
Good news for all you lovers of unfinished Stalinist architecture: the iconic Ryugyong Hotel may finally be finished by an Egyptian firm, although I'm a bit skeptical about this plan.
North Korea's phantom hotel is stirring back to life. Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as "the worst building in the history of mankind," the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world's most reclusive and destitute countries.
According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, Egypt's Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose 330-metre (1,083 ft) frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline.
The firm has put glass panels into the concrete shell, installed telecommunications antennas -- even though the North forbids its citizens to own mobile phones -- and put up an artist's impression of what it will look like. An official with the group said its Orascom Telecom subsidiary was involved in the project but gave no details.
The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75 degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck. A creaky building crane has for years sat unused at the top of the 3,000-room hotel in a city where tourists are only occasionally allowed to visit.
"It is not a beautiful design. It carries little iconic or monumental significance, but sheer muscular and massive presence," said Lee Sang Jun, a professor of architecture at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The communist North started construction in 1987, in a possible fit of jealousy at South Korea, which was about to host the 1988 Summer Olympics and show off to the world the success of its rapidly developing economy.
A concrete shell built by North Korea's Paektu Mountain Architects & Engineers emerged over the next few years. A proud North Korea put a likeness of the hotel on postage stamps and boasted about the structure in official media.
According to intelligence sources, then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung saw the hotel as a symbol of his big dreams for the state he founded, while his son and current leader Kim Jong-il was a driving force in its construction.
But by 1992, worked was halted. The North's main benefactor the Soviet Union had dissolved a year earlier and funding for the hotel had vanished. For a time, the North airbrushed images of the Ryugyong Hotel from photographs.
As the North's economy took a deeper turn for the worse in the 1990s the empty shell became a symbol of the country's failure, earning nicknames "Hotel of Doom" and "Phantom Hotel."
Yahoo News
LSD Brothels in San Francisco
Albert Hoffman
Not only was the CIA operating secret LSD experimental labs in New York, and Stanford, they had a place in San Francisco in North Beach on Chestnut Street with wonderful views of the Bay.
Weird, twisted and bizarre tales about the San Francisco Bay Area are so numerous some merely make us yawn. But if any one story stands out for its sheer audacity, moral depravity and utter madness—this is it.
Years ago I came across a magazine article about something called Operation Midnight Climax. I knew it had to be a joke. The CIA, with the blessing and full cooperation of both the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the SFPD sets up and runs an LSD brothel in San Francisco for ten solid years? Who do you think you’re kidding? Still, I dutifully dug for corroborative facts concerning this alleged operation.
Turns out Operation Midnight Climax was no joke.
Its story is particularly timely in light of revelations concerning secret Bush Administration memos green-lighting CIA and Army Intelligence torture techniques supposedly designed to obtain information from “detainees” and “enemy combatants”.
Back in the 1950’s and ’60’s CIA experiments aimed at obtaining information and controlling human behavior gravitated to covertly dispensing numerous powerful psychotropic drugs. The CIA’s original charter prohibited it from engaging in any domestic operations. Yet many of these drugs were given to U.S. citizens, on U.S. soil without their knowledge or consent. Anyone interested in this unseemly labyrinth can trot down to the the library or just google MK-ULTRA. If ever there was a reason to inform ourselves and hold political feet to the fire concerning our inalienable rights it’s MK-ULTRA. Its many programs had no external oversight and no accounting. For years fully 6% of the CIA’s entire budget went into MK-ULTRA programs that even Congress knew nothing about.
But I’m wandering from the story at hand, namely:
Operation Midnight Climax—a Bay Area baby born of MK-ULTRA.
He was a tough, fat, bald guy—a character right out of Hollywood central casting. Back in the early 1950’s an itinerant San Francisco journalist, former OSS operative and then Federal Bureau of Narcotics agent named George Hunter White, aka Morgan Hall, was assigned by his boss Harry Anslinger to team up with the CIA. Together they created Operation Midnight Climax. White’s assignment: explore and record how a new drug called LSD affects behavior when consumed by unsuspecting male johns in the company of drug addicted hookers. A great comedy scenario, if it weren’t so damn perverse.
By day George Hunter White continued to work the streets of San Francisco, ferreting out drug deals and drug dealers, setting them up and taking them down. By night he’d repair to the portable toilet his friend Leo Jones had provided him behind the two way mirror set into a wall of “the pad’s” Telegraph Hill bedroom. The L-shaped Chestnut Street duplex featured fantastic views of the San Francisco Bay. It was festooned with Toulouse-Lautrec posters, hidden microphones, tape recorders and a refrigerator stocked with pitchers of martinis. White was a notorious booze hound. He’d knock back a quart or more of gin nightly perched on the seat of his toilet scribbling notes on concurrent activities in the adjacent bedroom.
But dosing unwitting johns produced, well, wildly inconsistent results. White observed innumerable men behave in ways that suggested insanity. So White gave LSD the pet name “Stormy”. It fit. The “psychedelic revolution” was still years away. We can hardly imagine how the varied socio/ethnic/economic group of philanderers who wound up at “the pad” must have reacted when dosed. Most had never heard of, much less consumed any hallucinogenic substance before.
San Francisco Sentinel
The Penans of Borneo - Always Getting Screwed
The above image is of the Dayaks, but all the indigenous tribal groups of Borneo have largely been screwed over by the Malaysian government over the last few decades. And now the powers in KL want to build more dams and displace more of the original residents. Bad enough they've already cut down most of their rainforests, but why not just flood their land and get rid of these pesky savages?
A secret document accidentally posted on the internet reveals plans to build a series of massive hydroelectric dams in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, submerging the homes of at least a thousand Penan, Kelabit and Kenyah tribal people.
The document is a presentation by the managing director of the company Sarawak Energy Berhad, and gives the location of twelve proposed hydroelectric power projects to be constructed between now and 2020. Sarawak Energy Berhad controls the production and distribution of electricity within the state.
The dams would submerge several Penan, Kelabit and Kenyah villages, displacing at least a thousand people. One dam would also submerge part of a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Mulu National Park. The dams are projected to produce far more electricity than Sarawak uses.
The Penan have been fighting for twenty years to prevent logging companies, including the Malaysian timber giant Samling, from cutting down their forests. But the companies, with the backing of the Malaysian government, have devastated much of the tribe’s land.
The Penan are nomadic hunter-gatherers. Many have now been settled, but continue to rely very much on the forest for their existence. About 300 still live a completely nomadic life.
The Sarawak Energy Berhad presentation was posted on a Chinese website and has now been removed.
For further information please contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or (+44) (0)7504 543 367 or email mr@survival-international.org
Survival International
Saturday, July 19, 2008
The Giant Stingrays of Thailand and Cambodia
I was surprised to read that this American naturalist wasn't able to catch any giant stingrays in Cambodia, but is having better luck on the Chao Phraya downriver from Bangkok. Ummmmmmmmm, sauteed stingray!
Rushing across a temple parking lot, British angler Rick Humphreys yells, "We've got a fish." He jumps into a small motorboat on the Mae Klong River in time to see Wirat Moungnum bring the prize to the surface: a rare giant freshwater stingray that weighs as much as 44 pounds.
Getting closerIt bursts through the murky water exposing a soft, white underbelly the size of a trash can lid. The crew scrambles to string a rope through its gill-like slits and wrap a towel around its 5-foot-long tail, which has a venomous barb.
"It's a start," Humphreys says almost apologetically. The specimen is a tenth the size of the largest rays. "There are a lot bigger ones than that." Humphreys is serving as a guide for American biologist Zeb Hogan, who is on a worldwide quest for the largest freshwater fish.
Hogan, 34, has heard the stories of Cambodian fishermen catching rays that weighed more than 1,100 pounds with wingspans of 14 feet. But so far they are just stories. If he can confirm them, his find could eclipse the world record now held by the Mekong giant catfish: a 646-pound specimen caught in 2005 in Thailand.
"It could be the largest fish in the world and we know next to nothing about it," Hogan says. "I've spent five years on the Mekong looking for rays and only saw two or three. They were nowhere near the size I'd heard about."
Hogan's quest is part of the Megafishes Project financed by the National Geographic Society.
The three-year project, which started in 2006, aims to document and protect freshwater giants that weigh at least 200 pounds or measure at least 6 feet long. It will take Hogan to 14 freshwater systems on six continents, including the Mekong, Nile, Mississippi and Amazon rivers.
Time is running out for many of the species. The Chinese paddlefish and the dog-eating catfish in Southeast Asia are on the brink of extinction because of pollution, overfishing and dam building. In the Yangtze, where the Three Gorges Dam is a serious threat, Chinese paddlefish haven't been caught since 2003.
Los Angeles Times
Bat Meals in Thailand
Ummmmmm, sauteed bat!
While movie fans the world over rave about the new Batman film, the only stir bats are causing in this poor farming village is in a cooking pot.
They've been scarfing bats down in Baan Toom for as long as anyone can remember, roasting the little, flying beasts on spits over charcoal fires or mincing them up into a traditional Thai dish.
The farmers say the meat is delicious, and, with a big smile, they claim it also gives them sexual powers.
While their hamlet appears idyllic, it sits in the northeastern province of Kalasin, the poorest region in Thailand, where local officials say incomes average barely $70 a month. The lack of money means few comforts, and the work in the paddy fields is backbreaking and hot.
But there are compensations, the villagers say — the abundance of free food. When the farmers fancy something different for dinner, they leave their rice seedlings, wade out of the bath-warm paddies, grab a net and long poles and go bat hunting.
The quarry is a creature of habit and it takes just a few minutes to reach the bats' regular hangouts — the sugar-palm trees that shade the dikes above this water-logged landscape.
Before springing the trap, Kamgong Phunasee chants an incantation in the local dialect, asking the bats' forgiveness for what awaits them. The 66-year-old says he doesn't know the proper Thai to translate his words — they are magic words learned from his father and grandfather.
Associated Press
TAT Lowers Tourism Numbers
As noted below, the TAT has lowered their tourism arrivals for this year and next, though there's something seriously wrong with their math in this article.
The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has sharply cut its projection for the number of international visitors and tourism revenue next year due to soaring oil prices, which are discouraging international travel and have led to cuts in inbound flights.
It targets only a 3.3-per-cent growth in the number of international visitors in 2009, a sharp downward revision from the original projection of 10 per cent. From a projected 17 million, or a 10-per-cent growth, the TAT expects only 16 million travellers to visit the country. About 15 million visitors are expected in 2008.
The TAT also halved it revenue-growth projection for next year to 5 per cent, though spending per head per trip is expected to increase from Bt38,760 this year to Bt39,375. Revenue projection for this year is Bt600 billion The authority is maintaining next year's domestic projection of 87 million trips with revenue of Bt407 billion.
Deputy governor for international marketing Santichai Eua-Chongprasit said the three key negative factors were oil prices, world economic uncertainty and fewer flights into the Kingdom. He said the travel industry, especially long-haul routes, would be affected as the oil price may climb to US$200 (Bt6,800) per barrel.
The Nation
Tourism Problems in Thailand
Tourism arrivals provided by the TAT have been reduced, largely blamed on soaring oil prices which will soon raise airfare prices to unacceptable levels. Joe Cummings examines some of the issues, and pleas for budget tourism rather than upscale visitors who actually contribute little to the local economy.
Thailand, Laos and Cambodia are all increasingly struggling to identify and attract a market that lends itself to sustainable tourism. One of the latest buzz terms used by national tourism offices (NTOs) in the region is "high-yield traveller". On the face of it, the concept seems relatively clear: "We want visitors who leave behind a lot of money." But who are the real high-yield travellers? Unfortunately, most south-east Asian NTOs define them as the visitors with the highest expenditure per day. The NTOs believe their task is simple: target the richest and most spendthrift.
Yet per-day expenditures are not the whole story. Higher-spending tourists typically demand hotels packed with imported amenities and foods, and managed by foreigners or local people trained overseas. Tourism revenue leaves the country through the purchase of imported goods, through expatriated salaries and through overseas tuition. Most of the high-expenditure-per-day figures are eroded by such hidden costs to the host country.
New Statesman
China: The World's Most Crowded Swimming Pool
I'm sure that Chinese authorities will clear out all the local folks before the Olympics. Actually, this is a public pool in Sichuan.
Someone floated the idea and they all went with it. But once in the water, trying to swim a few lengths was suddenly out of the question. In fact, there was treading room only when thousands of swimmers crowded into a pool in Penglai in Sichuan, western China.
Families are gradually returning to the area after May's devastating earthquake-In one of the world's most populous countries, the fact there was no elbow room in the pool was not going to stop the fun.
But despite their collection of colourful rubber rings, the swimmers couldn't float about for too long. The resort has become popular with China's rising middle class who take day-trips to the scenic spot.
Daily Mail
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The Nation: Almost Dead
Looks like The Nation from Bangkok is on it's last legs. The experimental gossip magazine has been cut back, and the "economic" angle of the revised new newspaper hasn't really worked out. And I've long admired the writers and editors at The Nation for their bravery in times of crisis: beat the coverage out of The Bangkok Post during the recent military coups. I was there and saw both newspapers on their front cover.
Bangkok Pundit
Bangkok Bugle
Monday, July 14, 2008
New Yorker Obama Iluustration
Here's the recent New Yorker cover illustration of Obama and wife. He's upset about it all, but it's just typical New Yorker satire, and he'd be smarter to just take it lightly and go along with the joke.
In other news:
Authorities are having a tough time suppressing narcotics in the North, with illegal opium poppy fields increasing but being better hidden and a new breed of high-yield poppy being grown. Contrary to the popular belief that the illegal growing of the opium poppy had dwindled in Thailand, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) reports the opposite is true.
Pitaya Jinawat, the deputy secretary-general of the ONCB, told a recent workshop on opium control in Chiang Mai that in the past two years the poppy growing areas in Southeast Asia had decreased, except in Burma and Thailand, where more is being grown. Although Burma has 100 times more land planted with poppy, the problem in Thailand is no less serious, he said, citing statistics from other Southeast Asian nations and the European Union.
Mr Pitaya said the area planted with poppies in Thailand jumped from 700 rai in 2004 to 1,200 rai this year. Opium poppies are grown in 125 villages in 35 districts of 11 provinces, mostly in the North. Chiang Mai's Omkoi district is the largest poppy growing area. Between 1984 and 1985, opium poppies were planted on more than 54,000 rai of land in the country. But the area shrank to less than 7,000 rai by 2000 due to persistent crackdowns by the military and the promotion of substitution crops. With limited poppy output, most of the production was consumed by the growers, who were hilltribe people. There was a shortage of opium inside the country and for export. Poppy growing continued declining in Thailand until last year, when the cultivated area rose to 1,200 rai from 700 rai nationwide in 2004. The first poppy crops are harvested between October and December. Poppies grow to a height of about 100cm and their flowers are mostly violet. Highlanders grow this species of poppy not too far from their houses and collect the opium for household consumption. The second crop, which is for sale, is planted and harvested between November and February. This crop produces large amounts of opium.
Experts agree that people are growing more opium poppy because of the slowing economy. In parts of Shan state in Burma, drug barons support the poppy growers and even promise to buy the opium at guaranteed prices. In the North of Thailand, some highlanders evade crackdowns by planting their poppies in small patches instead of over large areas of land, as was the tradition. Poppy growers in 11 northern provinces are preparing to secretly plant their crops on the mountains and opium cultivation is expected to start in October. Highlanders in some border areas in Thailand have received seeds for a new breed of opium poppy which delivers higher yields and is more weather resistant. Burmese businessmen and drug barons supplied the seeds. The ONCB relies on aerial photos to find poppy crops in the mountains and the army is then set in on foot to destroy the plants. Third Army chief Samroeng Siwadamrong said soldiers were asked to trek into remote mountains to search for poppy crops. He admits the crops are hard to detect in these areas because the growers keep moving to new locations. The Third Army will start destroying next season's crops in November. The ONCB assists the military by pinpointing the spots which are hidden in difficult terrain and valleys.
''Sometimes the ONCB informs us of five crops of five rai each. But when we get there, we find many more crops,'' Lt-Gen Samroeng said. Officials said growers used sprinklers and fertiliser to improve productivity, reflecting a greater sophistication in their growing methods.
Bangkok Post
Saturday, July 12, 2008
New Mandala Hot Posts
Zombie Boy
Best tat job of the year.........Zombie Boy!
Rick is turning himself into a zombie. So far, more than 24 hours of tattoos – costing over £4,075 Canadian – have got him halfway there and made him a minor celebrity on the internet, where people can’t decide if he’s a body modification visionary or mentally ill sicko.
We caught up with Rick for an exclusive interview and photoshoot to see what life is like when you’re transforming yourself into the living dead.
What look are you trying to achieve with your tattoos?
They’re about the human body as a decomposing corpse – the art of a rotting cadaver. It’s also a tribute to horror movies, which I love.
What influenced your tattoos?
When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I wanted to be a ninja turtle and live in the sewers. But as I got older I fell in love with zombies and wanted to become one. Oh, and I love George A Romero’s Living Dead movies.
Anyway, the closest thing I could get to becoming a zombie was to get tattooed like one. I see my tattoos as celebrating the art of obscenity and the macabre.
When did you decide you wanted to get your face and body tattooed?
I thought long and hard about what I really wanted, what my passion was. And I decided I wanted to be a fucking zombie. My first big move was getting my hands outlined as skeleton print. They say that once you get your hands tattooed it’s harder to find a job.
How do you feel about your tattoos now?
They’ve been a part of me forever – before I even got them done. They reveal how I feel on the inside. I’m so used to how I look now that I don’t see them anymore. It’s like if you met someone with purple hair – after ten minutes you’d think, “Oh yeah, they have purple hair. So what?”
But it does look a little different to how I’d imagined. I expected some portions of my tattoos to look more bloody and gory. Probably because I’ve got an overactive imagination and I’d never be satisfied with the results.
What would you have changed?
I’d have a lot more blood in general, dripping and oozing everywhere. I’d have loved to have blood pouring out of my eyes and a few more bugs here and there. But it just didn’t happen like that.
Peer into the diseased minds of the Bizarre staff at the Bizarre Blogs
What do your friends think?
My friends think it’s cool. It’s punk rock, you know?
Bizarre Magazine
Angkor National Museum Controversy
A new museum and retail outlet has opened in Siem Reap to great controversy, since it's a privately Thai-owned enterprise that has very little Angkor in the displays. Why the Cambodian government allowed this to happen is beyond me.
There is no question that Angkor and its famed temples are among the world’s archaeological treasures, providing a window into the Cambodian dynasty that flourished there from the ninth century to the 15th century. But tourists who flock to the site in northwestern Cambodia say something is missing; few artifacts remain to help them imagine the customs and rituals of the ancient empire.
Antiquities were looted over the centuries or appropriated by museums in France, the country’s former colonial ruler. Of those that remained, many were relocated to Cambodia’s National Museum, more than 185 miles from Angkor.
Now, a Thai company says it is trying to address the problem, opening a museum that borrows artifacts, including nearly 1,000 Buddhas, from the National Museum and elsewhere. It is just a few miles from Angkor Park, the sprawling area near here that is considered one of Southeast Asia’s most important archaeological sites and includes Angkor Wat, its celebrated temple.
But the new museum, Angkor National Museum, which opened in October, has already drawn criticism from powerful detractors. The critics include international restoration specialists who are fiercely concerned about anything that affects Angkor, which was restored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or Unesco, and others after the wars of the 1970s.
Some quibble with the museum’s aesthetics — the complex includes a sprawling retail area — and with its sense of history. There are hundreds of Buddhas, for instance, that date back no further than the 20th century.
Other critics object to the Thai involvement; Angkor was once under Thai control, and some Cambodians remain suspicious that Thailand retains designs on their patrimony.
Those suspicions were stoked in 1999 when large sections of walls with bas-relief images of the revered multiarmed figure, Lokeshvara, were looted from the 12th-century Banteay Chhmar temple near the Thai border. The stolen art was intercepted by the Thai police and returned to Cambodia.
Then in 2003, anti-Thai riots broke out in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, after a Thai actress was reported to have said that Angkor Wat still belonged to her country.
One of the critics, Darryl Collins, a historian based in Siem Reap, said the displeasure of some Cambodians was understandable. An enterprise that is foreign led and “primarily interested in turning a profit,” he said, can hardly be called national, especially when Cambodia already has a National Museum.
Angkor National Museum was created by Vilailuck International Holdings, which is based in Bangkok. For 16 years Vilailuck’s parent company, the Samart Corporation, has been a major investor in Cambodia’s telecommunications sector.
The New York
Times
TravelFish Double Deal
The future of travel guides is certainly on the internet, and TravelFish is leading the way with current guides on Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and a bit on Thailand. They've got a great deal for the next five days.
Five long years ago today Travelfish.org went live. To celebrate five years online, we’re running a Buy One Get One sale over at the Travelfish Guide store.
For each Travelfish Guide you buy, you can get another one for free. There’s no small print, there’s no catch — all you need to do is buy one through the Travelfish Guides section of the site, then send us an email to travelfishguides@travelfish.org telling us the following:
a) Your Travelfish member name;
b) The name of the guides you purchased; and
c) Which extra guides you’d like
This isn’t price conditional — so you’re welcome to buy a US$2.95 copy of our Kampot & Kep Guide and request a copy of our $6.95 Vietnam Central Highlands Guide. You’re also welcome to buy as many as you want. Buy one, get one free — buy two, get two free — buy three, get three — you get the idea, though remember as we only have 15 titles at the moment, there’s no point buying more than eight!
Just in case you forgot, here’s the current titles:
Champasak $2.95
Hanoi $5.95
Ho Chi Minh City $3.95
Kampot & Kep $2.95
Kanchanaburi $3.95
Ko Phi Phi $3.95
Ko Samet $3.95
Ko Tao $3.95
Luang Prabang $4.95
Phnom Penh $3.95
Phuket $3.95
Remote Southern Laos $2.95
Siem Reap & Angkor Wat $4.95
Vientiane $2.95
Vietnam’s Central Highlands $6.95
Like all good things, this Travelfish sale doesn’t last forever — it starts right now and finishes in FIVE DAYS at 16:00 (GMT +8) July 17.
TravelFish Travel Guides Deal
Manila 1938 Documentary
It's not going to win any Academy Awards, but this short documentary shows rare footage of old Manila before it was largely destroyed in WWII.
Manila - Queen of the Pacific 1938
Friday, July 11, 2008
Lonely Planet, Moon Publications, and their History in Singapore
The history of Lonely Planet and Moon Publications will forever be entwined, but few people know of the connection between Bill Dalton and Tony Wheeler, and their days working on their original guidebooks in Singapore. Both lived for several months in the 7th Street Hotel, now slated for demolition for yet another MRT station. And so, another minor but very significant travel guidebook writing structure goes down. I spoke with Bill a few weeks ago; he's living in Maine with his Indonesian wife and two children. If you need an update, call me.
Blog Post on End of New 7th Storey Hotel in Singapore
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Topless Bar Staff Job Openings
I check Craig's List daily for writing opportunities, but somehow missed this enticing opening in China, although I think I'm the wrong sex. But the part about "full training given" sounds like outstanding career possibilities.
Young, sexy, flirtations staff required for a new topless bar - Pudong. Salary plus you get to keep all tips. Weekday evening and weekend work available. Full training given so no previous bar experience is required. Must apply with picture to secure an interview.
Craig's List Shanghai
Harpswell Foundation, Cambodia
The best humanitarian efforts are consistently coming from Cambodia, including the Harpswell Foundation, which is building schools and changing lives in the more remote corners of the country. Special emphasis on kids and young girls.
Harpswell Foundation Cambodia
Going to the Olympics? Bring Your Gas Mask.
The Chinese authorities promised to clean up their dirty air in Beijing for the Olympics, but recent reports indicate that this will be the dirtiest Olympics on record. No word yet on how the Chinese athletes are taking non-detectable steroids, but that one will be front and center in just about three weeks.
Beijing 2008, getting down and dirty.
Pollution around the Olympic stadium in Beijing could be five times worse than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.
Chinese officials admit they can no longer guarantee that the air quality will match international standards as pollution tests by The Sunday Times revealed the full extent of the challenge facing British athletes.
With just five weeks to go before the start of the Beijing Games, tests conducted outside the national stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest — and at Tiananmen Square, the starting point of the marathon, showed the air is thick with particulate pollution.
Even the Chinese government’s official air pollution index — which monitors a range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — is running at double the level recommended by the WHO.
Times OnLine
Steve McQueen, Bullitt, and San Francisco
Nothing to do with Southeast Asia, but I'm sure many readers of this blog have spent time in San Francisco and probably seen the classic car scenes in Bullitt. Well, some genius has edited the car chases and put them together with Google maps that show you exactly where each scene was filmed.
My old place at 884 Greenwich is easily seen, as is the backyard Crystal Towers. They also race down Jones St. where I once lived at 2216 Jones in the mid 1970s. In fact, I recognize nearly all these streets, and still maneuver them today on my motorcycle.
Who I am: I'm a huge fan of 'the king of cool' and of all movie car-chase scenes. I thought it would be great to mashup famous chases with their GPS tracks. Keep in mind some of the chases cut from one place to another...so I tried to be as accurate as possible. Enjoy!
My Interests: All things McQueen, action flicks, vintage cars, samurai movies, bikes, surfing. My Homepage: McQueen
Seero Video of Steve McQueen in Bullitt
China: Money Without Mao? How About Bai Ling?
Dropping the Mao image for the new Chinese currency was probably a good idea, but I'd prefer to see Bai Ling on the notes rather than the Bird's Nest Stadium.
For the first time in nearly a decade China is issuing new banknotes without the image of Chairman Mao Zedong. The 10 yuan ($1.5; £0.75) notes instead feature Beijing's new Olympic stadium on the front, with an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower on the back.
Both are set against the backdrop of the Temple of Heaven, sited in Beijing. Six million of the new banknotes will be issued, but most notes in circulation will continue to feature Mao - the founder of Communist China. In Chinese wallets and purses, the former Communist leader still commands a presence, on everything from the smallest to the biggest banknote.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai says Mao's dominance of the tender came in 1999, when his image was introduced partly as an anti-counterfeiting device, albeit an unsuccessful one. Our correspondent says the Mao personality cult that once dominated China was largely killed off by the architect of China's modernisation, Deng Xiaoping. There has been some debate in political circles about removing Chairman Mao from the currency in favour of Deng Xiaoping, but no serious moves have been made.
BBC News
Transvestite Elected as Village "Head" Man
You can't make this up. Another Only-In-Thailand Story.
A transvestite has won a village head election after decades of service to the community. Choochat Dulayapraphatsorn, 46, beat three other candidates during the village head election in his community late last month, and last Wednesday he was effectively appointed by a district chief as the village chief of Ban Moo 3, tambon Tai Ban Mai, Muang district.
Mr Choochat, called ''Je Kob'' or older sister Kob by villagers, said he decided to run for the post after serving as an assistant. The election was held after the previous village head resigned.
Mr Choochat said he believes the residents voted for him because they have witnessed what he has contributed to their community over many years. Je Kob defeated three male candidates in the village election.
''I'm confident that everybody here loves me and accepts me,'' Mr Choochat said. Over years of community service, Mr Choochat has been involved in community crime prevention activities and has assisted neighbours with tasks such as catching pythons which have entered their houses and injecting their pet dogs with rabies vaccine. ''Even though I am a transvestite, I can do hard, physical jobs just as well as the men, if not better,'' he said.
Mr Choochat is now the only transvestite village chief in Samut Prakan. He said he wants to be a role model to children for his hard work in the community, irrespective of his gender identity.
Bangkok Post
Long-necks as Economic Hostages
I've long argued that the Padaung, or long-necks, of northern Thailand are shamelessly exploited for their traditional of wrapping brass rings around their necks, but the latest reports are that they are being kidnapped and moved to more accessible locations to increase their tourism potential. This is a shameful crime, but will the police in Mae Hong Son do anything about this traffic? Some say they are involved in the human smuggling, which may be centered in Pattaya.
The provincial governor is setting up an inquiry into the disappearance of 11 long-neck Karen people, who were allegedly abducted from their villages last week. Mae Hong Son governor Thongchai Wongrieanthong said yesterday the inquiry panel would seek cooperation from neighbouring provinces in investigating the whereabouts of the missing people, also known as Padaung. It was possible they were taken by a human trafficking gang.
The governor acted after he received a letter from Chote Naramonthon, chairman of the Lanna tourism alliance network in Mae Hong Son, asking for help in finding the missing people. Mr Chote criticised local police for their inaction. He said human trafficking was harming the tourism industry in Mae Hong Son.
The Karen disappeared from Huay Sua Tao and Huay Pukaeng villages in Muang district last Friday. Ampon Uonjai, tribal superviser to the two villages, says long-neck people have been abducted for money before. Of the 11 missing people, seven are adults and four are children.
Pol Lt-Col Worapoj Puttawong, Nam Pieng Din police station chief, said every checkpoint on the No.108 Mae Hong Son-Mae Sariang-Hot highway and the No.1095 Mae Hong Son-Pai-Mae Taeng highway had been alerted to intercept suspected human traffickers. The two highways were believed to be major people-smuggling routes. Cooperation had also been sought from Chiang Mai provincial police, Pol Lt-Col Worapoj said, in case the missing people should turn up at popular tourist spots in the second city.
In previous known cases of long-neck Karen being abducted, they have been put to work in unofficial shows or fake long-neck villages for fee-paying tourists. It has been alleged that some police officers have aided the people-smugglers in return for large sums of money.
Samran Korsuk, 50, a souvenir vendor in Mae Hong Son, said he has seen a dramatic dip in tourist arrivals. Holidaymakers no longer bother travelling long distances on rural roads to see the long-neck people. They could now see them in more mainstream tourist destinations elsewhere.
Chiang Rai tourist police inspector Pol Maj Pattanchai Pamornpiboon said those in control of the people-smuggling operations ran their businesses from Sattahip and Pattaya in Chon Buri and ordered the abduction of tribespeople to take part in tourist shows, investigations had revealed. Chiang Rai police are also seeking help from their neighbouring forces to track down the missing Karen people.
Bangkok Post
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Olympics 2008 - Choose Your Commando
The commandos with flame throwers and kung fu are getting ready for Olympic protesters, but what are they going to do with some guy with plastic shopping bags blocking the tanks?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Fitna: The Movie by Geert Wilders
Google Video: Fitna, the Movie by Geert Wilders
Islam. Religion of Peace. Watch this film.
Stickman Interview at Absolutely Bangkok
Dan at Absolutely Bangkok has a great interview with Stickman, Bangkok's most famous blogger. Stickman no longer thinks much of the nightlife scene, but he remains positive about the country and the people you meet when you escape the tourist ghettos. And he has strong recs on the buffet at the Sheraton Grande.
So your whole life is dominated by something you couldn’t care about less.
What’s the fascination of the nightlife? There’s no fascination anymore. None whatsoever. I write about it because that’s what the readership wants. It’s a niche. Besides I do bar girls investigations. A lot of guys fall in love with bar girls. They want to know if the girl is faithful or not.
You must know the facts. How faithful are they?
I can tell you exactly. 85% are unfaithful. 10% are undetermined. And 5% are faithful. That’s it. Take this: Sometimes you find girls who get money from six or seven men. The average amount per month is 40,000 baht per man. With bar work, at the very top, they can make over 300,000 baht a month.
Absolutely Bangkok Interview with Stickman
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Iran President with Wife
He may deny the holocaust, but can he deny the sad state of his wife?
İran Cumhurbaşkanı Mahmud Ahmedinejad'ı tanımayan yok. Ancak eşiyle ilk defa görüntülendi. Bu ender pozu 51 yaşındaki Mahmud Ahmedinejad Tahran'da bir konferans sırasında verdi. Ancak yine de Ahmedinejad'ın eşini tanımak çok zor. Kara çarşaf içinde olan İran First Ladysi siyah bir gözlük takmış.
Ancak Ahmedinejad'ın eşinin kaç yaşında olduğu ve isminin ne olduğu da kamuoyu tarafından bilinmiyor. Bayan Ahmedinejad'ın kocası gibi mühendislik eğitimi aldığı tahmin ediliyor.
Hurriyet
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
