Another reason to think twice about the new ultra-long flight to New York.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on Monday launched the longest non-stop commercial flight in history, an 18-hour service to New York...Each ultra long-range flight must have four pilots, with at least two commanding pilots with the rank of captain.

Pilots are given two rest periods during the flight in individual compartments, and must undergo special training including guidelines on sleep physiology, alertness management and counter-fatigue measures.

Tomorrow will see the second annual march for everyone who's pissed about anything in Hong Kong. The sting has been taken out of the march by a combination of no impending authoritarian legislation like last year's Article 23 law and an improved economic climate. Combine that with expected blistering conditions and making the 300,000 mark that organisers are bandying about would be a great effort. The organisers have allowed themselves to become trapped by nominating a number. If less than 300,000 turn out it will be considered a "failure", even though in more ordinary times a march of (say) 200,000 people out of a population of 7 million on a public holiday would be considered impressive.

China has played a smart game. After definitively ruling out universal suffrage in 2007/8 they changed take in the last few weeks. The CCP has adopted a far more conciliatory tone with the democrats and it has caught the democrats out. The HK democratic camp has no choice but to reach out to Beijing and take the proffered hand, even in the knowledge that there is nothing on offer and no hope of achieving any of their aims. China's ongoing charm offensive has included senior officials constantly whispering sweet nothings in the HK public's ear for the past few weeks. Just yesterday Xinhua published this (literally) gem of a piece comparing Hong Kong to diamond. Even smarter, China has implored Hong Kong to use tomorrow (officially commemorating Hong Kong's handover to China) as a celebration. That way China can even claim that a large turnout represents a victory for its view that it was a march to celebrate China's embrace of Hong Kong, rather than a protest against the Motherland. Yet again the CCP have proved themselves to be supreme politicians and masters of the game.

But as always the game isn't over. Several things tomorrow may upset Beijing's plans. Firstly and most obviously a greater turnout, especially something approximating last year's 500,000 people, will be a slap in the face. While unlikely it cannot be ruled out. If the organisers' expectations are met and 300,000 turn out you can rest assured that certain people won't be hearing much about it. A scan of the China Daily or Xinhua tomorrow is not going to feature hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers marching as their main story. Indeed I'd be surprised if they reported it at all, unless it was under a "Thousands march to celebrate Handover day" style banner. Chinese TV is unlikely to show pictures of the event given the prominence of banners demanding democracy.

Personally I would love to be marching. I am not a citizen of this fair city but the issues behind the march are universal. Additionally while I cannot vote (if it was on offer) this is where my family and I live. Incompetent governance and the spectre of the Communist Party clamping down on the Fragrant Harbour are enough for me. There are plenty of other reasons to march: the article I mentioned on Monday by David Webb gives plenty for those in finance, law, regulation, investment or accountancy. Read it; it helps explain why laissez-faire Hong Kong is not as free economically as the publicity would have you believe.

However the demands of work are such I will instead be stuck in an air-conditioned office and resorting to typing about it on this website instead. I will be covering as much as I can from this vantage point. As such should any Hong Kongers reading this an intending to take part in the rally want to help, please send me an email at:

simon-at-simonworld-dot-mu-dot-nu

and I will arrange some kind of communication to help. Additionally if any Living in China posters would like I would be very happy for the posts tomorrow covering the event get cross-posted to LiC. Please use the same email address.

In the interim I have some Englishmen to tease.

It appears China may be stockpiling and testing but the US has caught them out. There's even photographic proof.

(via Richard)

Hong Kong's most famous tourist attraction, the Yuen Long crocodile, is being remarkably ungrateful now she's in a cage. The Standard reports she is suffering from "capture myopathy", which very much sounds like "I don't like being in a zoo" disease for animals. The Standard finishes its report with a brief summary of the capture of the croc:

During its time on the run, the reptile evaded capture by the world's most famous crocodile hunter, Australian naturalist John Lever, and successfully eluded hunters from the mainland.

The government spent HK$300,000 trying to capture the animal but was pipped to the post by a Yuen Long farmer who trapped it with fish netting.

Richard doesn't realise it yet but he's got a great photo of Dick Cheney supporting Kevin's new FUCK movement. Please join in the FUCKing fun. If it's good enough for Dick Cheney, it's good enough for you.*

* _{If I had any Photoshop skills I'd be using them right now.}

UPDATE: It occurred to me that a great way to help our Korean friends is to provide a link for where the Kim beheading video can be found to get around the ban. Try the links at the bottom of this Wizbang post. Please note I am NOT condoning watching this video. But I do believe that those who wish to watch it should have the choice, rather than have their minds made up for them by the Government.

IVF is a wonderful treatment for otherwise infertile couples. Personally I know several couples that have benefitted from this modern medical miracle. However, like many modern miracles, they can be mis-used. And clearly a case of a 64 year old woman giving birth is a massive abuse of this technology. It is unfortunate that some cannot fall pregnant even via IVF, or that it can take a substantial amount of time and money. However there comes a point where a woman is simply too old for child bearing. That is what menopause is about: it is the female body's way of ending the reproductive cycle.

While all medicine is about defying nature, there are points where it turns into cheating and becomes unethical and indefensible. This is such a time. The medical team behind this deserve censure and worse for going through with this procedure. I do not know what ethics committees or laws apply here but God damn I hope they come like a tonne of bricks on all of those involved.

Most of all I pity this poor baby: he or she didn't ask for any of this.

In the latest update it looks like the opposition could actually claim victory. No, not Canada. We are talking about Mongolia.

Mongolian election officials still lack complete, official results from Sunday's parliamentary poll although the opposition democrats have claimed what would be a stunning victory...Preliminary results showed the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the opposition Motherland Democratic Coalition deadlocked with 36 seats each in the Great Hural, or parliament. Independents won three of the other four seats, and the small Mongolian Republican Party one.

If officially confirmed, the result would be a dramatic reversal for the MPRP, which held 72 of the 76 parliamentary seats before Sunday's polls and had been confident of an overwhelming victory.

The MPRP has accused the opposition of vote-rigging.

Every Tuesday I'm going to pick a couple of personal favourites from over at the Showcase to highlight some of this new blogging talent. I am already impressed by the high quality of many of the entries and it bodes well for the future.

Firstly An Open Letter to Younger Readers by Athena has been a popular entry and has been picked up by many. It is an intelligent and well composed plea for idealism.

If we really do have lofty ideals, it’s time that we measure up. We can no longer say we support the rights of all people through our rhetoric, but through our actions only support that which comes easily to us.

Another interesting entry is It's a Legal Memo by Red Line Rants. It looks at the "torture memo" by the DoJ and asks some probing questions about the critics of the memo.

Something obviously missing from all of this is perspective. Context. The Administration is trying to answer responsibly, “What are the rules of engagement?” “What are the parameters under which we are allowed to operate?” For all intents and purposes, the enemies the United States have faced up until now have fallen under the protected status of the Geneva Conventions. We knew when we captured soldiers in those cases that we could ask for name, rank, and serial number. We knew that we couldn't offer incentives for cooperative behavior. What isn’t clear is what we can legally do with terrorists who are not protected as military personnel under the Geneva Conventions (although people tend to think that means they have no protections, which is wrong); I would think we need to know that before we can proceed. Here, the Bush Administration has tried to address this shortcoming... and it's been villified for it.

Lastly there's West Coast Chaos with a quick question about Sadaam. Go have a look and answer what Sadaam should put as his new profession.

To be honest these could have been several others to link to as well. Go and give them all a look - there's some good stuff in there already. And help spread the word: the greater the exposure the more people will discover these new blogs.

In light of South Korea's censorship of blogging, Kevin has set-up F.U.C.K. and I'm honoured to have been called a "true FUCK if ever there was one."

The rules are simple: send Kevin's letter to as many bloggers and others as you can, and cc it to the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communications, and the InstaPuppy.

If you're lucky, Kevin might even call you a FUCK too.

Kevin Kim has more on Korea's censorship of blogs (there's lot of good posts summarised in today's Asia By Blog). He also notes that none of the "big" American bloggers have yet to pick on this. Admittedly there are plenty of distractions with Iraq at the moment but that doesn't mean events in the rest of the world can be ignored. Please help spread the word on this assault on democracy in the world's other potential trouble spot: the Korean peninsula.

Operation Shoe Fly now has its own site. Sgt Hook explains it all here. Go. Now. I'll still be here when you get back.

Visited the doctor this morning with Mrs M, her visiting sister, JC and PB. Good time had by all. In the obligatory "let's use the machine that goes ping to justify it's massive cost and our exorbitant fees" session we discovered the 33 week baby weighs about 2.27 kilos. The doc yet again dropped a massive hint as to the baby's sex by using the personal pronoun for the gender. It's making a mockery of our attempt to wait for the birth to discover if it's a boy or girl (you can still vote if you like over their on the right). Mrs M still faces a stifling HK summer of humidity and sweat until the 3rd apple of our eye joins us.

While enjoying the ultrasound we were presented with what the doctor alleged was a profile view of the baby. Imagine my surprise, while I was busy trying to actually see a face at all, when Mrs M turned and said, "Look, it has the same nose as JC and PB." Seriously. Despite extensive testing there was no proof she had taken narcotics this morning.

Maybe this is what they call "mother's intuition". I still can't work out where the friggin' nose actually is, let alone what it looks like.

In the "nothing left up my sleeve" department, the US pre-empted any further violence due to the handover of sovereignty to Iraq by making the changeover today instead.

The United States transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government on Monday, formally ending the controversial 14-month occupation two days earlier than expected.

In a surprise ceremony that was finished before it was announced and before ordinary Iraqis were aware of it, Iraq's outgoing U.S. governor Paul Bremer handed a letter to Iraqi officials sealing the transfer of powers.

However despite the grim news, kudos to the Americans for having the nounce to wrong-foot these terrorists. While the media likes to focus on the worse aspects of the war, it is not as one-sided as you would think. For example the ongoing "Good News From Iraq" series by Chrenkoff collects much of the news that doesn't seem to make prominent news in the papers or on TV. Despite what you read and hear things are not as bad as they seem. Today marks the major turning point in Iraq's journey. What happens from here is now as much up to Iraqi's themselves as anyone else.

* _{This has lots of links following this.}

Asia by Blog is now going to be a Monday and Thursday thing to provide a broader spread of stories from around Asian blogging. This week's main focus is South Korea's renewed love of censorship.

China is well known for it's censorship of blogging, as Richard again proves. South Korea's has followed their lead by reverting to censorship by blocking blogs (including Typepad and Blogspot) to prevent broadcasting of the Kim beheading. It seems unbelilevable that a "democracy" can even attempt such a thing. In the extended entry is a letter by Kevin Kim sent to various bloggers and the South Korean Mininstry of Information and Communications (originally found at Richard's) against this insane idea. This heavy-handed idioacy is also followed at Marmot (who also fisks a so-called progressive group in favour of the ban), Jeff with more here, Joel, Oranckay who speculates it may not be the MIC doing it and Flying Yangban. The South Korean Government's attempt to control the distribution of this video has clearly followed the pattern laid down by China. Adam, who's had experience with China, gives his thoughts. Governments are finding effective ways to control information and the net, despite much trumpeting about the internet's potential to get around this. IT really is starting to feel like there is an information war brewing and blogs are playing a small part in it. The merits of viewing the beheading aside, it should be available for those who desire to watch it. Governments have no place deciding who can and cannot watch.

Jeff tries his best to provide a Korean blog round up despite the restrictions. On a better note via IA comes an amusing Korean blog called Big Head Bad Hair. Try this one for a sample. It's on the blogroll.

While on stupid Government actions, Conrad reports on Tokyo's clampdown in the underwear trade. In what seems to be a theme, via Chris comes Eyal's tale of Singaporean stupidity.

Shanghai Eye documents some more corruption and embezzlement in China. Also ALN and China Letter both follow a cover-up on coal miners' deaths in China. Stephen also has a report on the least used phone line in China.

Fons has information on China's latest birth control measure.

Danwei has more on the Muzi Mei story, China's "Sex in the City" blogger.

E@L ponders the problems of eating alone in Asia.

The Asia Pages brings you information on North Korea's market economy (not a typo) and asks who wants to lead Indonesia?

ACB talks about the US Senate censure of China over HK's democracy but asks why the US didn't pressure Britain over the issue when they were running HK? Admittedly belatedly, but Britain via Chris Patten DID start the road to democracy here, and did their best to include a road-map to full democracy in the Basic Law. It is China's re-interpretation of the Basic Law that has many concerned. DTL has more on China's response to the US Senate. ESWN gives an example of a cyber-attack on a HK pro-democracy website and on a disturbing but not surprising rise in push polling in the leadup to September's HK elections.

Fellow blogger,

I am sending this message to the bloggers on my blogroll (and a few other folks) in the hopes that some of you will print this, or at least find it interesting enough for comment. I'm not usually the type to distribute such messages, but I felt this was important enough to risk disturbing you.

As some of you may already know, a wing of the South Korean government, the Ministry of Information and Culture (MIC), is currently clamping down on a variety of blogging service providers and other websites. The government is attempting to control access to video of the recent Kim Sun-il beheading, ostensibly because the video will have a destabilizing influence. (I haven't seen the video.)

Many Western expat bloggers in Korea are in an uproar; others, myself included, are largely unsurprised: South Korea has not come far out of the shadow of its military dictatorship past. My own response to this censorship is not so much anger as amusement, because the situation represents an intellectual challenge as well as a chance to fight for freedom of expression. Perhaps even to fight for freedom, period.

South Korea is a rapidly evolving country, but in many ways it remains the Hermit Kingdom. Like a turtle retreating into its shell, the people are on occasion unable to deal with the harsh realities of the world around them. This country is, for example, in massive denial about the atrocities perpetrated in North Korea, and, as with many Americans, is in denial about the realities of Islamic terrorism, whose roots extend chronologically backward far beyond the lifetime of the Bush Administration. This cultural tendency toward denial (and overreaction) at least partially explains the Korean government's move to censor so many sites.

The fact that the current administration, led by President Noh Mu-hyon, is supposedly "liberal"-leaning makes this censorship more ironic. It also fuels propagandistic conservative arguments that liberals are, at heart, closet totalitarians. I find this to be a specious caricature of the liberal position (I consider myself neither liberal nor conservative), but to the extent that Koreans are concerned about what image they project to the world, it is legitimate for them to worry over whether they are currently playing into stereotype: South Korea is going to be associated with other violators of human rights, such as China.

Of the many hypocrisies associated with the decision to censor, the central one is that no strong governmental measures were taken to suppress the distribution of the previous beheading videos (Nick Berg et al.). This, too, fuels the suspicion that Koreans are selfish or, to use their own proverbial image, "a frog in a well"-- radically blinkered in perspective, collectively unable to empathize with the sufferings of non-Koreans, but overly sensitive to their own suffering.

I am writing this letter not primarily to criticize all Koreans (I'm ethnically half-Korean, and an American citizen), nor to express a generalized condemnation of Korean culture. As is true anywhere else, this culture has its merits and demerits, and overall, I'm enjoying my time here. No, my purpose is more specific: to cause the South Korean government as much embarrassment as possible, and perhaps to motivate Korean citizens to engage in some much-needed introspection.

To this end, I need the blogosphere's help, and this letter needs wide distribution (you may receive other letters from different bloggers, so be prepared!). I hope you'll see fit to publish this letter on your site, and/or to distribute it to concerned parties: censorship in a supposedly democratic society simply cannot stand. The best and quickest way to persuade the South Korean government to back down from its current position is to make it lose face in the eyes of the world. This can only happen through a determined (and civilized!) campaign to expose the government's hypocrisy and to cause Korean citizens to rethink their own narrow-mindedness.

We can debate all we want about "root causes" with regard to Islamic terrorism, Muslim rage, and all the rest, but for me, it's much more constructive to proceed empirically and with an eye to the future. Like it or not, what we see today is that Korea is inextricably linked with Iraq issues, and with issues of Islamic fundamentalism. Koreans, however, may need some persuading that this is in fact the case-- that we all need to stand together as allies against a common enemy.

If you are interested in giving the South Korean Ministry of Information and Culture a piece of your mind (or if you're a reporter who would like to contact them for further information), please email the MIC at:

webmaster@mic.go.kr

Thank you,

Kevin Kim
bighominid@gmail.com
http://bighominid.blogspot.com
(Blogspot is currently blocked in Korea, along with other providers; please go to Unipeak.com and type my URL into the search window to view my blog.)

PS: To send me an email, please type "hairy chasms" in the subject line to avoid being trashed by my custom-made spam filter.

PPS: Much better blogs than mine have been covering this issue, offering news updates and heartfelt commentary. To start you off, visit:

http://marmot.blogs.com/korea/
http://jeffinkorea.blogs.com/
http://aboutjoel.com/
http://oranckay.net/blog/
http://kimcheegi.blogs.com/
http://gopkorea.blogs.com/flyingyangban
http://rathbonepress.tblog.com/
http://blog.woojay.net/

Here as well, Unipeak is the way to go if you're in Korea and unable to view the above blogs. People in the States should, in theory, have no problems accessing these sites, which all continue to be updated.

PPPS: This email is being cc'ed to the South Korean Ministry of Information and Culture. Please note that other bloggers are writing about the Korean government's creation of a task force that will presumably fight internet terror. I and others have an idea that this task force will serve a different purpose. If this is what South Korea's new "aligning with the PRC" is all about, then there's reason to worry for the future.

(cross posted at Showcase)

Mac Diva from the blog Mac-a-ronies has posted a half-hearted endorsement of the Showcase at Blogcritics.org. It is an interesting article that demands a response.

Firstly let me clarify a misunderstanding. The Showcase differs from its predecessor in that it is NOT a contest. I encourage people to link to posts they like but there will be no weekly "winner" at this showcase. It is literally a display of new blogs and nothing more than that.

However the following is the core of the article:

My reservations about a revived New Weblog Showcase are based on what blogs really are, instead of unrealistic bloggers' delusions. The blogosphere has developed into a place where a few people with grandiose, often bullying personalities, have gathered sycophants to them. The networks of sycophants trade links back and forth among themselves. Based on this totally artificial construct, bloggers in the networks develop a sense of importance completely out of touch with their actual status in society. The members of a given network also regurgitate the brain droppings of their 'great leader' on demand. As a result, the blogosphere is an echo chamber of the know-nothings much of the time...

The risk with this contest is that it will become another way for the networks to support their participant, regardless of the quality of entries submitted. Awful entries will win votes because they have been smiled on by one of the larger networks. Excellent entries will fall by the wayside because the independent bloggers lack cheering sections. The results will say everything about the organization of the blogosphere, and nothing about thinking and writing well.

So, it is with ambivalence that I link to Simon's New Weblog Showcase and urge people who qualify to consider participating. There are independent bloggers who post entries that are well-researched and ably written. But, based on what I've observed in the blogosphere, we are a minority. If new bloggers adhere to basic standards of journalism, I welcome them. However, there are more than enough bad bloggers already.

Firstly the showcase itself can be compared to a trade fair. It is a display of products (blogs) that may not otherwise receive exposure given the large number of blogs. In true capitalistic fashion the market will dictate which of these blogs will gain a wider audience and which will not. Some will find a particular niche and others will attempt for a broader audience. The Showcase will not make a blog successful. Only consistent and good content by the blogger themselves can do that. The Showcase can help bring a blog broader exposure, something akin to advertising.

The Blogosphere itself is a microcosm of the internet. Some sites are obscure either by design or due to limited appeal. Others have a broader appeal and wider readership. A very few dominate their category, much like Amazon or Ebay. Very few blogs even pretend to be a replacement for established media. They are not disseminators of information and fact nor rivals to big media. Some, and again this is a limited category, act as an adjunct to media. Some act as monitors, finding fault with big media and its reporting of news. Some act as fact checkers, reflecting the author's particular expertise and bringing it to bear for the wider world to consider. Very few pretend to be objective reporters of fact. What blogs do bring to bear is almost immediate punditry and opinions. If others finds certain blogs that reflect or challenge them they will gain in popularity. Blogs gain and lose readership depending on that core ideal of serving the readers what they want. It should be noted that many blogs are not written for an audience, but rather as an outlet for creative writing or opinions to be read by none or all. As I have already said, most do not pretend to be "journalism" so it is difficult to understand why blogs need to adhere to so-called journalistic standards.

That's the thing about the blogosphere. It's a marketplace of ideas and opinions. Like any market some sites are popular and are mass-market products. Others are products filling particular needs. Many of these blogs do not survive for long in the harsh world of the blogosphere as it takes sustained effort to provide content consistently. The ones that succeed are because they have found their market and cater to that market, be it large or small.

As for the charge of incentuousness, the blogosphere is guilty. But again that is to be expected. Firstly the blogosphere acts as its own police force. If someone, especially a "big" blogger, posts an item that is factually incorrect you can be guaranteed that someone will pick up on it quickly. Secondly the blogosphere reflects what happens in Big Media but in a more honest fashion. Few newspapers or TV news shows will admit it openly, but the news agenda tends to be set by the very biggest in the media game. Others follow, often syndicating reports from the dominant players. This is not a surprise. The big players are big for a reason and have the resources to do these stories. Alternatively they have a particular angle or access that others must necessarily rely on (for example Al-Jazeera). This is the big media equivalent of linking, except it is nowhere near as obvious. Thirdly the blogosphere as a whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. The constant linkage is its greatest strength and leads the reader direct to the source, or to alternative opinions, or instant responses, or responses to responses. It is the written form of that most basic human interaction: conversation.

Blogging is still in its infancy. Even given the speed of adoption in the world of IT it is not yet significant compared to greater internet use. But this is rapidly changing. There has been fast growth in readership, blog numbers and influence. Don't believe me? Howard Dean, lauded for his use of the internet in his campaign, maintained a blog. Leading politicians have followed this lead. The Democrats are giving bloggers credentials for their convention. Blogs have forced the New York Times and the LA Times to make corrections and blogs were directly responsible for bring the Trent Lott story to the fore. Blogs' readership may not be broad but largely consists of IT professionals, political types (including politicians themselves as well as political junkies), news hounds, journalists, media types and academics. As a whole this group could largely be called the intellectual class. With such an influential audience blogs can punch far above their weight in readership simply by those whom they influence. Any reader of blogs will find, as I have, that many issues and ideas are opened up to them that they might never normally have considered or even come across. It is this broad exposure in the marketplace of ideas that makes reading blogs such a worthwhile experience. It also acts as a feedback loop: those blogs that enhance the experience develop a greater readership and extend their influence, bringing in more readers and linkage.

In the end, however, the influence of blogs is only as great as the readership allows. Most readers of blogs are aware of the limitations of a single person or small group of people maintaining a website of content on a part-time and voluntary basis. Some are moving to a semi-professional basis such as Josh Marshall and Andrew Sullivan. However these types will always be in the minority. Most blogs are labour of love, not methods of financial gain. When reading with all of this in mind blogs are enriching, stimulating and broadening experiences. They should be enjoyed for what they are while bearing in mind the necessary limitations of their form. Like any modern market the reader has the ultimate tool in exercising their discretion: they can read as much or as little (even none) as they like. It is their loss.

As for me, I will continue to enjoy this new medium and feel flattered to be a very small part of it. The blogosphere will find its place in time and it is fascinating to watch it unfold. Most of all I love the diversity, the broad spectrum of opinion and the instantaneous cut and thrust of it all. If you don't, the newspapers and TV remain there for you to use instead.

UPDATE: read the comments for some more great insights.

I just caught a taxi for the equivalent of 3 city blocks. So I suppose you can put a price on air conditioning: it's HK$15 for 5 minutes.

In more bizarre news, I was walking in IFC mall when I saw a woman with a baby carrier. Except she was carrying a teddy bear in the pouch. She didn't appear pregnant. It's touching she's so close to her bear she wants to carry it while she shops. But it freaked this gweilo out.

It seems these days that every week brings a deluge of news and "events". However this week brings together several big events, some defining new beginnings, others marking ends and others still a continuation of the battle. These include the likely start of the raising of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve; the hand-over of sovereignty in Iraq; and closer to home the July 1st march in Hong Kong.

The march this Thursday is expected to draw 300,000 people. Beijing, either by accident or design, has spent the past few weeks finally veering away from confrontation with the HK democratic camp and moving towards a more conciliatory tone. Politically this is the strategy they should have followed since last year. Instead they adopted the whip-hand first, barring any hopes of democracy until 2012 at the earliest despite the clear intent of the Basic Law. Whether this latest charm-offensive will have the desired effect will be tested on Thursday. With 300,000 now the agreed benchmark a number greater will imply even more widespread disaffection with both Beijing and the SAR's Government than is widely accepted. A number lower will prove Beijing's efforts to draw the sting from the democrat camp successful.

The march has actually turned into a gathering of assorted groups with varying axes to grind. An interesting summary of reasons to march by those in finance, law or investors has been written by David Webb and I am going to quote liberally from it. However I recommend reading the full thing as it repays the time invested in spades.

Hong Kong has always held itself out to the World as a free market, with a level playing field in which participants compete for economic resources and fight for the legitimacy and success of their ideas, within the framework of the rule of law, freedom of speech (including a free media), freedom of belief and freedom of association.

Indeed, Hong Kong does have many of the characteristics of a free market. But there is a key element missing, an omission which may ultimately provide Hong Kong's downfall. At the highest level of the governance structure, there is no free market. Citizens cannot choose between competing sets of policies by electing leaders who would carry those policies into office. And it is those policies which determine the laws and framework within which we compete in the semi-free market...

In recent months, the Central and HK Governments have urged the population to "focus on the economy rather than politics". But what they fail to acknowledge is that the economy is itself a product of policies, and politics is, literally, the art of policy making...

The tycoons who currently call the shots have expressed fears that democracy would lead to a "social welfare state" in which an elected Government squanders public resources and drives us into deficit. Wait a minute - don't we have an unelected Government which squanders resources on corporate welfare schemes such as the SME Funding Schemes or the Cyberport? And have they not presided over the most massive deficits in recent history? We are talking about a government which also indulged in salaries tax and rates rebates at various times since the handover in an attempt to keep the middle classes happy, further exacerbating the deficit. Who's making the hand-outs here?

To be sure, democracy is no panacea. It is not the solution to our problems, but it is the means by which solutions are most likely to be found. With the powers of an elected Government comes responsibility and accountability at the next election. Any Government which indulged in a social welfare state and ran up massive deficits would drive the economy into the ground and get voted out of office for its performance. The unfit policies would fail, and that's what makes a free market in policy making...

Of course, whatever an authoritarian Government decides, they can also change. But in our view, the only way they are likely to change their minds is if they recognise that Hong Kong's stability will be assured if the people are allowed to choose their policy makers, and jeopardised if they cannot. A Government that has a popular electoral mandate will find it far easier to govern and to make the difficult decisions that a responsible and accountable government must make...

There is nothing unpatriotic about marching on July 1st. It is a celebration of your rights under the Basic Law to freedom of speech and assembly, rights guaranteed under the "One Country, Two Systems" formula. It is a demonstration of the "need for change" and that Hong Kong people are ready to fulfil the stated goal of "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong" by universal suffrage. Nobody is calling for sovereignty or independence from the mainland. A city should be able to elect its Mayor and Council without electing the country's President. New York City, for example, is not a sovereign state, and as our leaders have often said, we strive to be the Manhattan of Asia. Indeed, New York shows that a tycoon can win elected office, as do Thailand and Italy, both of which have multi-party democracies...

The theme is white and people are being encouraged to wear it. The march on July 1st starts around 3pm at Victoria Park, marching along Hennessy Rd. The intended finishing point is the Central Government Office complex. Every footstep counts. Personally I'm likely to be working that day so I'll instead do my best to provide some live commentary on events as they happen. But if you can please enjoy an afternoon with hundreds of thousands of like-minded people and take a pleasant stroll through Hong Kong. In keeping with this week's other major event in Wimbledon, London, that will put the ball firmly back in Beijing's court.

Setting modesty aside, this week's biggest blogosphere news was my own: the establishment of the New Blog Showcase blog. The entries are already rolling in and the support has been great. In particular Dean, Harvey, Madfish, Kevin, Misha, Dagoddess, Ilyka, Klaude, Wind Rider, Tim, Sgt Hook, Jim and everyone else who has linked and added it to their Blogroll. An especially big thank you to NZ Bear. Please make the Showcase a regular visit on your travels around the Blogosphere: there's some great posts there already. And don't forget to keep spreading the word...encourage your favourite bloggers to link and blogroll the Showcase too.

As an example, Athena posted this Open Letter at the Showcase. Next thing you know she's on Dean Esmay's blogroll! It's that powerful.

Now on with the rest of the show...

Blackfive picks up some great interior decorating ideas.

Via Harvey comes Frank J's detailed schematics on a new weapon. Iowahawk has also found a highly-classified piece of equipment: the Andrew Sullivan decoder.

The world is anxiously awaiting the winner of Kate's latest caption contest (sure I've got a couple of hilarious entries in it but there's some other good ones too).

Last Sunday was Father's Day. Michele has quotes from the world's best father and Paul brings us his day in detail.

Michele also has a new drink.

Peaktalk makes a welcome return to blogging. He has an interesting post about Hong Kong, written during SARS in April 2003.

Peaktalk's back just in time for the unveiling of the new internet.

Wind Rider helps AP with definitions and Murray finds a popular toy for girls...AND their Mums.

Bill (and others) try their hands at haiku.

Sunday was also the 10 year anniversary of the Nicole and OJ Simpson story. Joseph, a man far closer to this case than most, questions the conventional wisdom. Richard also comments.

Harry has found an urgent need for Iraqi peacekeepers to be sent to a world trouble-spot. More seriously Rae has a fascinating report from someone on the ground in Iraq.

Joe talks about the dilemma of those stuck in the centre of politics at the moment.

Belmont has another great post on the death of the old Left.

Via DaGoddess (although many others have also pointed to it) to the story of Bryan Henderson - giving his school a lesson in free speech and what hegemony really means.

Finally let's end on a good note. Jim bought a house and has learnt some lessons from the experience. And (FOGGY GLASSES WARNING) Helen went to France for the weekend (NSFYI)*.

UPDATE: Conrad gives the definitive fisking of a fawning review of Mike Moore's new movie.

UPDATE 2: Hemlock must go and do this quiz (via LeeAnn)

_{* Not Safe For Your Imagination}

Next week Cathay Pacific start their non-stop flights from HK to NY. A great saving in time and avoiding a stop-over enroute. However from what I can gather most Cathay pilots are doing their best not to volunteer for the route, despite it being one of the highest paid and most senior trips Cathay does. The reason? Radiation. Cathay has apparently said to its staff it will monitor levels and take action if needed.

In other news, Cathay will start offering passengers sunglasses and sunblock on all HK-NY flights.

Looks like my little idea is spreading. It's another good cause so go visit. But I can't help but feel I've missed out on some kind of pyramid scheme opportunity...

(via Jeff G)

Malcolm Turnbull, multi-millionaire and aspiring Member of Parliament for my home district of Wentworth, has a blog. Slowly this trend for politicians using blogs to interact with their constituents will take hold.

(via Tim Blair)

We are in the process of buying a new family car to cater for the expanding brood. It has been a typically frustrating process with the usual combination of lies, half-truths, fake sincerity and false friendliness. Our existing car is apparently too old, not the right colour, not a popular model, difficult to sell and not right for Hong Kong conditions. The dealer we are buying the car from would not accept it for a trade-in: when I tried to agree to his price for the trade-in and new car, he changed his price twice before admitting his boss had forbidden him from doing the deal. In most places car dealers are usually keen to move their stock, taking a decent profit on the trade and selling the trade-in to middlemen. Apparently not in HK.

There have been plenty of other problems. The latest is a doozy. The car we are buying is actually out of licence. When I asked him how he planned to deliver the car if it was illegal to drive it, his only answer was he had to speak to his boss. So that's how things stand at the moment: either I'll be ring HK's police to arrest the dealer or we'll be getting a new car.

My God I'd love to ring the police.

China is still rapidly trying to dress up some of its largest banks for a partial floatation on the stock market in the next year or two. They're solid institutions, just a little leaky.

Fraud at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, is rampant with staff and customers conspiring to obtain as much as 17 billion yuan (HK$16.03 billion) in illegal loans, an audit has found...The audit, supposedly to initiate reforms in preparation for an eventual international listing, follows a report at the beginning of this year into thousands of state-owned enterprises with financial irregularities linked to the bank. That report identified fraud totalling about 67 billion yuan.

The latest audit may have exposed only the tip of the iceberg. It investigated just 21 branches. The Industrial and Commercial Bank has 28,300 branches and 100 million customers.

It is time to bring it to a close. The Charity Readership drive has been very successful and will result in a sizable donation* to Sgt Hook's Operation Shoe Fly - an extremely worthy cause. The increased readership is very gratifying. Who knows, some of you might even stick around? Or, perish the thought, add me to your blogroll and link to me often. After all, that's what this is about. Oh, and some kids in Afghanistan getting shoes.

The top recording for the sitemeter average was yesterday's 434. That equated to a donation of HK$462 (US$59.25) but I'm going to round it up to US$60. Reader Paul has extremely generously offered to match my donation, so he'll also be tipping the jar with US$60, making it a total of $120. Paul wins the inaugural Simon World Reader of the Year award, and will get pride of place in my thoughts at random times throught the rest of this year. He'll also take over the space in the sidebar previously occupied by this contest (at least until I come up with some other gambit).

I'd also like to thank everyone else who so generously linked and helped make this such a success. You can rest assured that next time my ego needs a boost I will again cynically exploit charity to increase readership. You should visit each and every one of these outstanding people. In no particular order, thank you to:
Rob
Jim (twice)
Nicholas
Savoire Faire
Ozguru (also twice)
Helen
Michele at ASV
Sgt Hook (for the idea, the traffic, and just being one darn fine human being)
Prochein Amy
Linda
UPDATE: I don't know how I missed soon-to-be Munuvian Doc Rusty.

If I've missed someone leave me a comment and link and I'll add you to the thank you pile.

Thanks again to everyone for making this such a success. As a final favour, please help spread the word about the New Blog Showcase Blog and go and visit the "new blood" in the blogosphere.

* _{For some reason the Sarge's site is blocked at work, so the donation will be made later tonight HK time.}

Looking around Asia for what's what and where's where.

I am not going to go over the terrible South Korean tragedy of the past week, as that was covered previously already. Instead let's try and focus on the other news around Asia.

DTL asks an interesting question about representation in Hong Kong while Hemlock is making preparations for the upcoming HK elections. While on HK Chris wonders about the tap water and Conrad's found some effective protesters to join in July 1.

The Sassy Lawyer responds to the Philippine election results. I can't say I agree with her on this one, but given I don't live there it's not for me to argue.

Asia Times continues a series on China and nuclear proliferation and says China is not as bad as is often alleged.

ACB talks about China's latest agricultural effort: cloud seeding.

I cannot say this often enough: if you're not reading ALN, you're missing out.

Adam points (with good commentary) to this article on dealing and interacting with Chinese media and China in general. China Letter finds an official Chinese newspaper that is taking a stand against internet censorship policy, albeit by arguing there are better ways to do it. Glutter notes the award of Internet Freedom Prize to cyber-dissident Haung Qi.

Danwei finds a must-see tourist site in Guandong.

ESWN follows a report on several murders of Chinese university students outside of China.

FY, despite the bleak times, finds Korean scientists making strides for humanity. IA sees Korean cultural imperialism in the offing. Oranckay pulls the NYT up on a misleading photo caption.

Single Planet listens on in a panda conversation.

Richard links to a piece criticising America's student visa problems and another piece on the Vatican speaking against the arrest of an 84 year old Chinese Bishop.

If anyone knows who Gail is could they please let me know. She has kindly invited me to Mark's surprise 40th party.

But I have no idea who she or Mark are.

I have long maintained that almost all sports are fixed with the obvious exception of professional wrestling. Today Italy agrees. Usually the trick is working out why games are rigged as they are. Who really wins? Who really loses? I have little experience with American sports but the recent loss of the LA Lakers in the NBA to the unfancied Pistons proves the point. The Lakers hegemony had to be broken for the good of the game and the only way that could happen was by Detriot winning. I sincerely believe that most sport is fixed. I challenge anyone to find a case where this is not true. And don't even get me started on the worst of all, the Olympics.

But I disgress. This Friday marks the end of JC's school year. As is tradition here in HK, teachers feel they don't need to teach every day so they use holidays as a good excuse to ask the class parents to organise events instead. It has fallen to Mrs M to organise the end of school party. She has dutifully bought the requisite trinckets as gifts for the kids. She's planning on a game of pass-the-parcel. And it is here that the kids will first taste the bitterness that is rigged sports. The trinckets for the girls are purses of various colours. I humbly suggested to Mrs M as she was wrapping the parcel that she remembers where she puts the pink one, and make sure that it lands on JC when it is the appropriate time. Imagine JC's delight. Imagine the disappointment of the other girls in the class stuck with purple or worse, blue.

Tomorrow the kids will learn an important lesson. It is who you know, not what you know.

Today I bring you an exclusive from Mike Rowse's news conference after the LegCo report on Harbour Fesst:

"Hell no, I won't go" said Mike Rowse, Invest HK's soon-to-be-former CEO. "You can't blame me. I wasn't even around for two months while they were planning the damn thing," he said to no-one in particular. "I just sign the cheques. Actually I didn't even do that for some of them. It's called delegating. I felt the work experience kid was ready to try spending $25 million. He's gotta learn somehow."

"I've got enough problems anyway with both the cops and ICAC looking at this too. Luckily my lawyers are a happy bunch," he said, pointing to a group of drunk Englishmen with fistfuls of taxpayer dollars in their hands. "Shame I didn't get them to check the MoU's in the first place but I was far too busy doing, ummm, other stuff."

"I am not saying I'm being made a scapegoat, but I am also not saying I'm not saying that I'm being made a scapegoat" said Rowse.

As the news conference ended Rowse was overheard saying, "that 'disciplinary action' thing sounds interesting. Reminds me of a night once in Wan Chai..."

The ongoing charity readership drive will close tomorrow. It has succeeded beyond my expectations, in large part thanks to Sgt. Hook and his generous linkage*. The winning charity is the extremely worthy Operation Shoe Fly.

However it's not over yet. There's still 24 hours for the sitemeter to go right through the roof and to take the donation for the large to huge. As an extra sweetener I will double the donation for the rise in the average from now until the cut-off tomorrow (subject again to a reasonable limit).

What does that mean? At the moment the average is 434, compared to 203 when this started. That's a donation of HK$462 (US$59.25) for the Sarge. For every extra rise in that average I will increase the donation by HK$4 instead of HK$2 (again, subject to that limit).

So it ain't over yet....

While you're at it, don't forget about the New Blog Showcase blog. Start spreading the word and get those new blogs the exposure they deserve.

* _{Never fear, those others who helped. Appropriate recognition is coming.}

With the exception of Mrs M, does anyone actually like the gherkins in a McDonald's hamburger? Think of the extra farmland that could be paved and made into gigantic malls instead. Think of the countless times people would no longer have to pull the damn things out of the burger. Most importantly, think of the children.

Given the beheading of Kim Sun Il in Iraq I thought it appropriate to collate some more good links with details of the aftermath. Ruminations in Korea has been leading the way with some great links and some appalling stats at the same time. Marmot also has further reports including the disturbing report that Kim's family had been told he was safe and would be released (article is in Korean). He also makes the following point:

I've given Roh a lot of grief over the way he has handled the Iraq issue, but his government just made a very VERY difficult decision -- a decision that just got a Korean national killed. Regardless of whether you agree with that decision or not, I can't see how anyone could disparage the president's and his government's fortitude tonight.

I don't understand Tokyo's street numbering system. Having spoken to someone who has lived there for a couple of years, it appears almost no-one understands it. When a street address is given as 5-7-19 Akashiro, what could that number combination possibly mean? Would it be such an affront to Japan if they also numbered buildings in the slightly more logical Western manner? Just asking.

There has been much debate over globalisation and at the forefront has been the WTO. No, not the World Trade Organisation. A far more important body: the World Toilet Organization. Based (appropriately) in Singapore, this organisation has 17 Toilet Associations as members with several others, including HK, hoping to gain admission soon.

In fact the world is gearing up for the World Toilet Summit 2004, to be held in Shanghai. Direct from the site some highlights include:

* A Global Perspective - Relationship between Toilets & Quality of Human Life
* World Class Tourism & Toilets
* Maintenance - Good Toilets Improve Heartland Community Living
* Design - The Challenges and Considerations in Establishing the Code of Practice for Toilets.
* Catering to the diversity of Culture - toilets for different cultures
* Toilet - The Past, Present and Future of Public Toilets in Beijing

I'm happy to announce a new blog. Following the Bear's lead I'm starting a New Blog Showcase blog. All your questions are answered here.

Of course, to get this to work, I need to spread the word and get some new blogs to start posting some gems. And what better way to appeal to the good nature of my readers. So please help spread the word...you may be on the way to discovering the next Glenn.

A special Dragon Boat festival edition of news across Asian blogs...

The big story is the kidnapping of a South Korean in Iraq. FY has a good summary of links, including a comprehensive one from RiK with more here, a translation of an appeal at Oranckay by an anti-Iraq troops group for Kim Seon Il's release, and the Marmot has comprehensive coverage too. There has been some fuss comparing Kim Seon Il's video plea with the defiant Italian Fabrizio Quattrocchi. My thoughts and some links are here; Matt with Blackfive also talks about it. Yet again the blogosphere is doing an outstanding job of covering a live event, out-reporting the regular news channels and giving interesting colour and perspective at the same time. As an evolving arm of the media the blogosphere is growing up fast and these Korean bloggers are doing an outstanding job at a difficult time.

While on Korea Marmot notes this time South Korea is interfering in US politics rather than the other way around.

Shanghai Eye has a good post on China's leadership "tensions" and another on China's drug problems.

Conrad gives a quick summary of current Indonesian affairs. Also a new (to me) site by The Swanker on Indonesia, with for example a post looking at how Indonesia is depicted in the Australian media and an Indonesian blog round up. Adri puts the finger on a notorious Indonesian cleric.

DTL follows a couple of Mainland Chinese policemen operating in the Big Lychee. Chris talks about some HK publications going through hard times and has some good pointers for both.

The Laowai Monologues reflects on cheating in exams in China.

The Sassy Lawyer has started the Philippines According to Blogs site and discusses "cheating" in the recent Presidential elections.

Amdist all the criticism of China the interesting Angry Chinese Blogger gives us a look at what they think China has been doing right. On the other hand Stephen notes China's top judge has to remind his fellow judges of that pesky thing called human rights. Stephen should follow Richard's pointer to an article on China's dealings with its Muslim population with some more here.

ALN points to this Chinese translation wiki site with lots of interesting stories by Chinese people.

ESWN notes that chemical weapons are nothing new and links to an article about Chinese people in Cuba.

Kevin gives us an exclusive tour of the inside of a love hotel room.

Mad Minerva encounters two kinds of lunacy in a short space of time.

Marmot is also trying to help out a struggling actor.

Lastly in a victory for good, Sinosplice is accessible again from my workplace. Perhaps this had something to do with it? But I don't expect you to all change hosts everytime my IT department blocks you...

Today is the Dragon Boat Festival in Hong Kong. Races started on Sunday but today is the main event. There will be races all over HK today, with the main international event at Aberdeen. The key features of these events are the copious consumption of alcoholic beverages and general merriment at the start of HK's summer.

Unless, of course, if you're stuck working today. In that case you just get to hear all about it tomorrow instead.

Hong Kong employs 170,000 civil servants. To let the taxpayers of HK in on what good work all these people do, they have published a list of some of their achievements. The SCMP tells us the report cost a measly HK$160,000 and extols 20 achievements of the service in the past year. There's some good ones, like "A role model in intellectual property protection" - any stroll down the Ladies Market or to 298 Henessey Rd can show you how effective that has been...not.

Back to the SCMP:

Unveiling the report yesterday, Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping was quick to fend off criticism that the 170,000 civil servants were only proud of 20 achievements. "Perhaps many are just too humble to respond,'' he said.

A particular new program I use at work has been great. It is a calculation model that does the job quickly and more accurately than the old system. It does, however, have a quirk. There are two particular numbers that must be entered via the number pad, rather than the numbers on the keyboard proper. However all the other numbers on the keypad do not work. This leads to eloborate two finger typing in order to get the right numbers into the model. It is frustrating but it raises a smile every time.

The two numbers are '6' and '9'.

Co-worker Tom has just spent his lunch hour at the US Consulate in an attempt to have pages added to his passport. His attempt was frustrated, however, by the security guard at the entrance to the Consulate. Not because he's a rabid redneck who thinks Dick Cheney's a left-wing pussy. No he was refused entry because the guard at the American Consulate could not speak English. As he rather forcefully has just explained on the telephone (much to the merriment of the rest of the floor) it makes very little sense to have the guard of the American Consulate not speaking the national language. I suggested he should have tried Spanish. And he still didn't get the extra pages for his passport.

Another victim of the war on terror. Or outsourcing. Or something. He's a victim. That's the main thing.

Laurence asks with regards to the captured South Korean hostage in Iraq if it is fair to compare his pleading with Fabrizio Quattrocchi. Firstly the AP story in full:

The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape Sunday purportedly from al-Qaida linked militants showing a South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The kidnappers, who identified themselves as belonging to a group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, gave South Korea 24 hours to meet its demand or "we will send you the head of this Korean."

"Please, get out of here," the man screamed in English, flailing his arms. "I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I know that your life is important, but my life is important." A South Korean television news station, YTN, identified the hostage as Kim Sun-il, 33, an employee of a South Korean company called Arab Trading. It said he was captured in the Fallujah area.

The video came two days after news of the beheading of American hostage Paul Johnson by Saudi militants, and an announcement Friday by South Korea that it will send 3,000 soldiers to northern Iraq beginning in early August. Once the deployment is complete, South Korea will be the largest coalition partner after the United States and Britain.

After showing the hostage's plea, the tape showed him kneeling in front of three masked men, one of them armed with a Kalashnikov. The man standing in the middle read a statement in Arabic. "Our message to the South Korean government and the Korean people: We first demand you withdraw your forces from our lands and not send more of your forces to this land. Otherwise, we will send to you the head of this Korean, and we will follow it by the heads of your other soldiers." The statement gave Seoul 24 hours starting from sunset Sunday to meet its demand.

An Al-Jazeera staff member at the network headquarters in Qatar, Mohammed al-Saadi, told The Associated Press by telephone that the two-minute videotape was mailed to the Al-Jazeera bureau in Baghdad. "Our office in Baghdad received an unknown package; they opened it and they found the tape," al-Saadi said.

The group identified itself as Monotheism and Jihad; its purported leader, al-Zarqawi, is a Jordanian-born terrorist linked to al-Qaida. On Saturday, Seoul warned its people not to travel to Iraq, saying its decision to send troops might prompt terror attacks on South Koreans. That warning came amid news of the beheading Johnson by Saudi militants, although it did not mention the incident. "At this time, we cannot rule out the possibility of harm to our nationals, following the official announcement of the additional troop dispatch to Iraq," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said in a statement. "The government urges the people to refrain from visiting Iraq," it said.

South Korea plans to send 900 troops to Kurdish-controlled Irbil in early August, followed by about 1,100 troops between late August and early September. An additional 1,000 soldiers will travel to Iraq later. South Korea already has 600 military medics and engineers in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah. Seoul has portrayed the dispatch as a way of strengthening its alliance with the United States, thereby winning more support from Washington for a peaceful end to a long-running dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons development.

Johnson, 49, an engineer who had worked in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade, was kidnapped last weekend by militants who followed through on a threat to kill him by Friday if the Saudi kingdom did not release its al-Qaida prisoners.

However it impossible to judge any person put in that situation. I fully applaud Mr. Quattrocchi's bravery as he faced certain death. He provided insipiration and hope in a hopeless situation. But this Korean man's reaction is far closer to that which most would have in a similar position. Faced with the inevitability of what is to come most would say almost anything if they thought it would mitigate their fate. He is simply being human. Each man faces these monsters in their own way. We cannot judge or compare them.

What is fair is to judge the scum that commit these crimes and hope they will brought to justice. A slow, painful justice. That is what the war on terror is about.

This weekend marked a major turning point. The pools at the Disneyland complex where we live have suddenly turned from Arctic to merely bone-chilling. Combined with more chlorine than an illegal weapons factory and the helpful addition of many children's number ones it is fair to say summer has finally arrived in HK. Our second home has become the swimming pool.

The weekend entailed several discoveries:
1. PB, aged almost two, sees no reason she cannot swim like her sister JC, aged 3 and a half.
2. Plastic credits cards melt if left in the sun.
3. Most of the world celebrated Father's Day yesterday, even though in Australia it is celebrated in September. Doesn't the UN have an obligation to harmonise such an important date?
4. JC's favourite word is "poo-poo"; while her parents do their best to ignore it, her Dad secretly finds it incredibly amusing.
5. Pregnant mothers of two kids find 9:30pm an extraordinarily late hour to still be awake.
6. Printing out the walkthrough notes for Myst 3 is considered adequate grounds for a lecture on the morality of cheating by Mrs M, whereas I see it as using all available resources to finish the game, just like it says in the manual.
7. I have become addicted to Hong Kong TV ads. The shows just get in the way of some of the funniest entertainment on the planet. There are only two kinds of ads: firstly the beauty ads (make yourself as white as possible, or your so fat because you weigh 40 kilograms and have 1% body fat) and secondly the Government ads (report crime, don't top yourself, protect yourself against dengue fever).
8. Would it kill TVB or Pearl to lash out on a graphics machine made in the last 15 years, rather than the el-cheapo 1970s stuff they have now? Also if a show is "presented by" a sponsor, the show's title doesn't become "Delia School of Canada presents World's Tackiest Reality Show", followed by an ad for that sponsor. It's overkill.
9. That said, the "Cotalin Reminds you" time check is stunning viewing. Never has a crappy analog clock graphic had such prime-time exposure.

The Hong Kong Observatory could save the taxpayer money by closing for the summer and posting the following forecast: Showers with sunny periods. 28 - 32 degrees. 90% humidity. Granted some days will hit 33 degrees instead but we can live with such inaccuracies as part of the campaign to tighten belts. If a civil servant or expat policeman has to give up their retirement cruise allowance, it's the least the rest of us can do. Especially now the HK Jockey Club has reported another fall in racing turnover. It's like the sky is falling in.

At least some things remain the same. In the not-so-veiled threats department Beijing has told Hong Kong the July 1st marches better be celebrations rather than protests, or else. The Standard reports:

If the July 1 demonstration means Hong Kong people are demonstrating ``people power'' in the face of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, that ``would not be beneficial to Hong Kong''...``Do they want China's top legislative panel to rescind its decision on 2007 and 2008 elections? This is really trying to be combative and standoffish,'' said Wang, calling on people instead to arrange celebratory events to commemorate the reunification of Hong Kong with the motherland.

Normally I'd be leaving the blog alone until Monday but...imagine being in charge of this. I will never complain about my job again.

It is time again to look at the week that was around the blog-o-planet.

My desperate bid for traffic finally hit pay-dirt this week. Firstly a link from Michele, then from Sgt. Hook of Operation Shoe Fly has seen the Sitemeter spinning off the charts. Combined with the efforts of others (who will be recognised in time) it has been semi-successful gambit (there hasn't been an Insta-lance yet). But it isn't over. The average will be determined next week, so until then keep visiting and spreading the word. You'll be helping Afghan kids AND me. And won't that make you feel a lot better? (that's a rhetorical question) The other benefit is it has opened up a lot of new blogs to me, including the interesting The Mud and the Blood and the Beer.

Enough about me. Dagoddess is owed lots of linkage this week, so that is what she gets. She talks about her meeting with a singing repairman and questions the sanity of "fruit leather" makers before demonstrating her own incredible skills in this obscure art.

Paul, the blogosphere's thinking women's sex symbol, has an interesting new diet and a close encounter at work.

Wretchard discusses who's oil is really at stake in the Middle East and has an innovative proposal to pay for oil's security (June 14th entry). Conrad reports on another shocking case of torture while more seriously Instapunk has some graphic depictions of what torture really is (via Silent Running).

Citizen Smash starts what will become a compulsory series on separating myths and facts on terrorism by someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

Wind Rider talks about reporting and consistency after the Sept 11 commission report.

Wetwired gives a unique history lesson.

Pork Tornado finds the wildest roller-coaster of all.

Rusty admits he's a blogoholic and how he came to this point. And he's nearly reached the top.

One of the two big fusses this week was over superblogger Andrew Sullivan's. Ace starts here in catching Sullivan out, followed up with more here, here, here, and here. Allah comes in for the defence while Tim Blair weighs up both sides and realises who he doesn't want to marry. This is what the blogosphere is good at - even a "superblogger" can be kept on their toes by other bloggers. On the other hand Sullivan has a right to change his mind on Bush for whatever reason he chooses. The beauty of the internet is if you don't like what someone says you can simply stop reading them. There's plenty of others out there instead. James from OTB adds some thoughts.

The Sassy Lawyer wonders if sex, sport and intelligence mix?

In celebrations, Helen turns one (and enjoys a day at the races), Blackfive also turns one and Bill hits 100,000.

Kevin remembers the world's most famous car chase.

The second big blogosphere news of the week was the closing down of weblogs.com by Dave Winer. Michele and others weren't happy about how it was done. Some are offering help to the stranded blogs. Dave explains his actions by audio and in a post. There's an interesting contrast between the attitudes of Six Apart and what happened here, in light of Six Apart's backdown revamp of their pricing scheme where they prove they can actually listen to the people who made them big in the first place. By Thursday Dave had come up with a transition plan and hopefully the chance for everyone to blog happily ever after.

Jeff interviews Madonna Esther.

Big Hominid clearly explains some basic rules of English. The recent wave of books about English grammar clearly demonstrates the inadequacies of English teaching in primary and secondary schools. I was fortunate enough (although I didn't realise it at the time) to get several years of formal English grammar lessons at school and those rules have served well ever since. Cranial Cavity thinks perhaps schools should now think about teaching blogging instead.

Alex has a report of what's really happening in the trenches.

Jim admits he actually likes spam.

Survivor 2 has its second tribal council.

Ryan describes how he ended up naked surrounded by three pissed off Japanese men in a fight.

Master blogger Tony Pierce gives some pearls of wisdom on how to blog.

Lastly Pixy has a fantastic post on magic.

UPDATE: For some reason I forgot to include the Plain Layne potential hoax. There's a good summary of the situation at Kottke, in-depth analysis here and it seems the commenters of that blog are taking control. Which proves that sometimes blogs take on lives of their own, regardless of the author(s). And it also proves that in the blogosphere, like in the real world, not everything is what it appears.

UPDATED UPDATE: Jay has an interesting summary of some differing views of blogging plus his own thoughts on the value of Wonkette et al.

Asia is well known for the myriad of fakes you can find here. But sometimes it goes too far. Retuers reports:

Vietnamese police have arrested two people over a scam that involved faking the remains of U.S. servicemen missing in action, state media reported on Friday...The newspaper, without giving a source for the information, said the pair had believed that offering the fake remains would earn them the right to settle in the United States. Officials involved in MIA recoveries say bounty hunters believe they will get a cash reward or passage to America for the finds.

The paper said police raided Hoa's house and seized 89 sets of fake items packed in 42 boxes. It said the two, who are residents in the provincial capital city of Bien Hoa, north of Ho Chi Minh City, also had documents that faked the stamp and signature of the U.S. MIA mission in Vietnam.

When the US was facing up to the allegations of torture in Iraq, China was quick to jump on the bandwagon. Of course the difference is the Americans are now openly and actively investigating the allegations and will punish the perpatrators. China, on the other hand, has reverted to type:

China has postponed a visit by the UN special investigator on torture, saying it needs more time to prepare, an official said yesterday.

"The need for additional time to prepare for the two-week visit, especially given the different authorities, departments and provinces involved, was cited by the government as a reason for the postponement," a statement on van Boven's Web site said.

The UN has tried for almost a decade to arrange the inspector's visit, but China's government has repeatedly stalled on granting permission. Human-rights groups say China has been unwilling to accept the terms of a visit, which include measures such as allowing unlimited access to prisons without prior notice and confidential interviews with detainees and representatives of civic groups.

Hong Kong is the city of capitalism and there are certain rules of the game. Firstly you never pay the sticker price. That is just a guide for starting the negotiations. Secondly, in the great words of Homer J. Simposon, reject the first offer. When you're bargaining the first offer by the seller is just the opening gambit and the buyer counters until you reach the right price. The other key rule is to know when to walk away. Bear with me, I'm going somewhere with this.

In our ongoing quest for a family car to cater to the expanding family we have done a fair amount of research. We finally found one we both liked. We had both taken it for a test drive and thought it was in good condition. So I asked to see the service history, only to be told they wouldn't give me the service history until we agreed on the price. As I pointed out, it's a little hard to agree on a price if I don't know the history of the car. Nevertheless we started haggling on price, including the trade-in on our existing car. For the sake of this example let's say the asking price was 165. The agreed trade-in value was 15, making the balance 150. The man offered it at 140. I countered at 130, but said let's meet in the middle at 135.

Yesterday he called me back and told me the offer was now 145. He had made a mistake, he said, and his boss told him this was the best price. After checking that he was actually moving his price higher I told him that was fine, I'll go elsewhere. I'm not going to do this with people who don't understand the rules. When you're haggling, the seller's price is meant to come down, not go up. I'm not really sure how they can call themselves "Triple Rich" if that's how they do business.

Hong Kong has found another master criminal, capable of matching the Triads, in standing up to HK's best and avoiding capture. The SCMP reports:

...conservation officers were yesterday forced into an hour-long stakeout involving an elusive monkey with only one good arm. The rhesus monkey appeared at Po Leung Kuk Tong Nai Kan College in Mei Foo early yesterday morning. School staff, anxious to avoid any disruption to students taking exams, called for help and several officers were sent about 11am. Seeing the monkey on the school roof, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers decided to hide and watch it to ensure it did not create any mischief or disturb the students. "Classes were still on, so we chose to monitor the monkey," an AFCD spokesman said.

Once classes ended, the officers approached the monkey, but it gave them the slip and headed onto a nearby hillside. "Whenever we have cases of monkeys near residential areas or people, we try at first to make them go back into the wilderness," the spokesman said. Although the monkey had an injured left arm, the handicap did not hamper his swift escape into the wild.

Police have asked the public to be on the lookout for the monkey, who they say is carrying an arm.*

* _{I may have made that last bit up, but what a pun.}

Porn works.

The twice weekly round-up of what's making blogging headlines in Asia, in the extended entry. Well worth a read, there's some real gems in there.

Both Harry and Hemlock "celebrate" the start of Asia's most important sporting event: Euro 2004.

DTL talks about Hong Kong's newest attraction while Chris pines for the old days. Adam sees the modern application of technology and influence in HK's upcoming elections.

ALN proves that fat doesn't pay.

Mr. Tall takes us through that Asia-wide summertime problem: the sweat scale.

Conrad demonstrates that Japan is, well, one hell of a place, as Alex can attest.

Bre adds to the comprehensive list of reasons to avoid Singapore.

ACB on how to go about destroying yourselves in 3 easy steps. He also summarises the disturbing case of Dr. Jiang Yanyong, famous for blowing the whistle on SARS and now vanished because he challenged the CCP on Tiananmen.

The Sassy Lawyer proposes a Philippines blog along the lines of the Living In series. Michael...

Cranial Cavity reports that Hong Kong's Yuen Long crocodile wasn't caught, he just moved.

Danwei says the Rupert Murdoch is on the march into the Motherland. Durian thinks China might be gearing up for a move on Taiwan. Richard has a report from Pravda on the Chinese/Taiwan tensions - nice to see the Russians adding their 2 cents worth.

Danwei and Marmot both note the expanding career of Harisu, a Korean transexual.

FY reports on South Korean capitalism in the unlikeliest places. IA talks about the North Korea nuclear talks and updates the state of play.

Steve goes to Macau, as does Paul (here too).

Shanghai Eye follows a reporter joining a prostitution raid in China; there's also the disturbing estimate that 5 million people are involved in the prostituion industry in China.

Joseph finds that China's reach can't quite extend as far as Blogger thinks it can.

Marmot picks apart some cr@p on Western men and (in this case) Korean women. He also junks the idea of moving Korea's capital from Seoul to points further south; he finds an interesting and dare I say unique way to bring North Korea and the USA together while helping Iraq; and he goes through Time and Asia Times articles on North Korea and Kim Jong Il.

Sinosplice is on the move. Still blocked at my workplace, though. They really must be a dangerous bunch of subversives. Thankfully Kinja at least lets me see the first 25 words...

It's not what you think: Lick a chick.

(via Ken)

Charles asks a good question: if China and Taiwan go to war, is it a civil war or not? Obviously the mainland would consider it so, but Taiwan would be fighting for some degree of real independence. Most of the world maintains the "one China" theory, so how would the big powers view such a development? There's a case that the UN would have no jurisdiction as it would be a "domestic" dispute. On the other hand if Taiwan declares independence first and then China invades, does that make it an international dispute?

Thoughts?

Asia Times has an interesting article comparing events in Taiwan 57 years ago and in Hong Kong today. The similarities and differences make for interesting reading.

Quiet day? Cure.

(via Rob)

Hong Kong, June 17th (Reuters) - Panic hit a 21st floor apartment on Hong Kong Island this morning when nothing happened.

"I was sleeping soundly, having been woken several times early in the night. JC half-fell out of bed again and PB had a coughing fit. By midnight all seemed well and Mrs M and I enjoyed 7 continuous hours of sleep. And that was the problem," said Simon, hunter-gatherer and main (albeit only) man of the house.

Simon told this reporter he has not used an alarm clock in over 3 years, since the birth of his first daughter JC. Typically his daughters wake at 6am or earlier but today was different. Simon explains, "At first I thought it was the regular time, about 6am. Imagine my surprise when Mrs M rolled over and told me, 'Holy sh!t, it's 7am.'"

This represents a massive sleep-in for Simon and Mrs M, soon expecting their third child. Mrs M continues, "It was one of those pleasant surprises, like when you find some money in a coat pocket or when Simon actually notices my haircuts."

Experts were divided as to whether this signalled the start of a trend. "Traditionally we see children start to sleep longer as they age," said Professor I. Made Up of America's Pacific Internet University*. "By the time they are teenagers you have the opposite problem: getting them out of bed at a normal hour." However Dr. Raving Loony of Stammers Unversial Healing Centre said, "I blame the parents. Kids watch too much TV and there's too much violence. Not like my day. Bring back Rocky and Bullwinkle and the original Batman series. Would you like to buy some tea-tree oil?"

Searches of historical records have found this is only the second time the magical '7:00am' has been reached, excepting jet-lag or drug-induced sleep. Celebrations were cut short, however, as Simon madly rushed to make the bus for work. Nevertheless the obligatory milk bottles were handed to the somnolent children to reward them for their efforts.

* _{Degrees available at reasonable prices.}

Man bags never, ever, ever look good. Ever.

Sometimes these titles just write themselves. From the SCMP:

A crackdown by the provincial drug control unit has seen more than 200 restaurants in Guizhou ordered to close after they were discovered spiking their dishes with opium poppies...Xinhua reported that police seized 3.2kg of poppy seed and 1.7kg of poppy shell. A total of 215 restaurants were ordered to shut. Warnings were issued to a further 36 restaurants.

"Local people have long been under the misconception that poppy shells can make their dishes more delicious. They are not aware of the harm they will do to their health," Mr Zhang said. Opium-poppy shells and seeds are easily accessible in Guizhou and other border areas such as Yunnan due to their proximity to the Golden Triangle.

Cooked with food, poppy shells produce an appealing aroma.

In fact the SCMP is full of funnies today. They report:

Exhibitors at one of Asia's biggest security trade fairs criticised organisers after mobile phones and a laptop computer were stolen from booths. Police suspect professional mainland thieves took them. More than 15,000 people are expected to visit the four-day Asia Securitex 2004 event at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.

Finally the ongoing Asian female fascination with looking like Michael Jackson continues. Again the SCMP:

Forty-five per cent of Hong Kong women have used whitening products, second only to Philippine women (50 per cent), but ahead of their counterparts in Malaysia (41 per cent), Taiwan (37 per cent) and South Korea (28 per cent). A similar survey two years ago found 38 per cent of Hong Kong women used such products.

The cynical charity readership drive continues apace. At the moment we're staring down the barrel of a single figure donation despite the best efforts of several people. Obviously you haven't been randomly stopping people in the street/internet cafe/movies and telling them to visit this site. Consider yourself reminded.

In the meantime in another bid to boost my numbers I am going to make some random statements that should help boost my readership AND piss a lot of people off:

1. George W. Bush is a far better President than Ronald Reagan ever was. Invading Iraq was the single best policy an American President has had in over 20 years. I predict that George W. Bush will receive the Nobel Peace prize as a reward for the war on terror, ridding the world of Sadaam and the Taliban and for changing the Middle East from a place to be appeased to a place that can be changed.
2. Ted Rall is a c*nt.
3. Dave Winer is a desperado loser weiner.
4. Glenn Reynolds really works for Microsoft and will one day rip his mask off like at the end of a Scooby-Doo episode and say, "I would have got away with it if it wasn't for you meddling kids," before Shaggy makes a joke that the whole gang chuckles to.
5. Tim Blair is really a female university student studying philosophy soon to join the Labor Party.
6. Michele and others suffer from multiple-personality disorder according to stupid dumb idiot Micah Wright.
7. When-oh-when will those morons in Washington get it right?
8. Look at those stupid Tories/Labor/Liberals/Republicans/Democrats/Commies/Greenies and how they've stuffed everything for the average person.
9. The French and Germans were right about Iraq except the bits they were wrong about Iraq.
10. Consistency is for wusses.

Iconoclasts 'r' us. This kind of thing seems to work.

I thought mobile phones were the virus.

One of the more bizarre aspects of life in Hong Kong is the ever-present proponderence of fakes. Regardless of the ethics and morality of these products they are deemed illegal by the law. So why is it that the South China Morning Post has managed to run an article every day this week on illegal cable TV decoders, and yet the Hong Kong Police seem unable to find these people and shut them down? The SCMP reporter goes to the same street (Apliu St) each time, has found plenty of sellers of the decoders and smart cards needed to unscramble the signal. Cable TV had a partial victory by changing the code just minutes prior to the kick-off of Euro 2004 but already there are now fake smart cards that will find the new signal.

When the SCMP is doing better work than HK police you know something is seriously wrong.

One advantage to being a gweilo in Hong Kong is those market research types with their clipboards and questionnaires go out of their way to avoid me rather than the other way around. The same goes for those Greenpeace or other greenie types. The HK Government should add that to the list of benefits for gweilos living in Hong Kong.

The SCMP reports:

Money will no longer be a barrier for those on the mainland wishing to have extensive cosmetic surgery as two financial institutions have now teamed up to offer unsecured loans to anyone looking to go under the knife...The Citic Industrial Bank and the Chengdu Rongzhong Credit Guarantee Company have joined forces to offer loans of up to 50,000 yuan (about US$6,200) for cosmetic surgery.

Applicants will not need collateral to obtain a loan, and will only be required to put down 5 per cent of the total cost of surgery.

On the upside I expect China's population to become far better looking and bigger breasted (at least the women-folk) in the next 10 years. There are now no excuses for why China cannot become the Venezuela of Asia.

Happy first blogiversary, H.

The hypertext hyperlink hyperdrive is set for another run around posts of interest in Asia. Important note: the last word of this post is breasts.

Conrad shows us that maids get screwed by everyone, even their own country (he also talks about match-making). Chris talks about maids and the right of abode in Hong Kong. DTL reports on a US Senator's view on Hong Kong and on Hong Kong's Ma Lik and his approach to conciliation. EastSouthWestNorth discusses HK's radio advertising after the recent resignations of hosts but says it is not purely due to fear that advertising is declining. It is also because HK radio sucks almost as much as its television (that's my view, not ESWN). Phil agrees that Cable TV need to do some work.

ACB looks at blocked blogging and Internet crackdown in China. Adam also talks about China's newest blocking of sites and extends the point in reply to a post on "many-to-many censorship". Andrea and Stephen have more. Richard sees through China's attempt to explain the "dob-in-a-site" program as an anti-pornography ploy. Danwei notes that China is now blocking Wikipedia although Joseph says Blogger is working again. ACB also talks about China as an emerging economic superpower. ALN reports on a riot in China for more overtime by workers and raises some good points.

Adam and Richard both talk about rifts opening up at the top the CCP. Politics exists even if elections don't, especially in such a large political entity as the CCP.

The Sassy Lawyer tells us that gambling is starting young (and I thought this was only a Chinese thing). She also talks about a bizarre proposed tax on SMSs. It could solve Hong Kong's deficit in one go!

Flying Yangban does North Korea's homework for them. IA says North Korea has a sore throat and a dancing problem. Jeff has a Korean blog round-up.

Fumier goes on holidays to a popular island. IA returns and takes us through the numbers and the differences between Korea and Singapore.

The ever-expanding and always useful Living in team have come up with Living in Asia, a one-stop portal for Asian blogs. They've just established Living in Korea with help from Marmot.

Finally Mrs B has the last word on Hong Kong's unhealthy obsession with fat to go with Danwei's observation on China's obsession with breasts.

Charles has pointed out an article in The Standard that HK is not about to sink into the harbour. Yet.

Victoria Harbour has seen a rise of 12cm in its mean sea level during the past 50 years - an average rise of 2.4mm per year, compared with 1 to 2mm per year in the rest of the world...Hong Kong sank most rapidly from 1987 to 1999, when the sea level in Victoria Harbour rose by an annual average of 22mm. This change took place within the context of similar changes in the South China Sea and coincided with the rise of global temperatures during those years.

Chicken curry and soy sauce. Perfect.

Just like the TV advertisements and posters, Hong Kong's paternalistic Government insists on warning the citizenry against all sorts of evil in the most random of places. I was perusing my water bill in search of the due date when I came across the following:

Good Parenting Good Children
Stop Dometic Violence by Seeking Early Assistance
Care For our Elders and Protect them Against Abuse
Don't be Scared to Report Sexual Violence Incidents
Treasure Your Life and Never Give Up

If the HK Government started treating its population as semi-intelligent adults rather than 5 year old kids these ads might be more effective.

Robert Mundell won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1999 for his work on "optimum currnency areas". The Euro is the practical application of his theory. Yet he's fallen for the old laws of economics don't apply to China trick.

China doesn't have to worry about an overheated economy, said Nobel Prize Laureate Robert Mundell Thursday...The very slight inflation this year will counteract the deflation China had last year and the currency expansion will lead to a growth of import to balance China's export surplus, he said...The fast growing forex reserve is pushed strongly by commercial banks rather than overheated economy, Mundell said. Those banks pour a huge amount of capital into China, predicting that the country will appreciate its currency and, intend to cash in, he added. (my emphasis)

While China runs a "socialist market" economy that does not work at all like capitalism it is still subject to the laws of economics. China's leaders would not be trying to slow things down if they didn't feel they have to. Until Dr. Muddle Mundell has a word to Beijing and tells them they are wrong it looks like Beijing are going to continue to act as if the economy is overheating. Given they are the only knows who have an inkling of the true state of China's economy, who is Dr. Mundell to doubt them?

* _{this is an index of the prices producers have to pay for their goods and services - it is similar to the consumer price index, which is the prices of goods and services you and I buy.}

Xinhuanet, the English language website of China's official Xinhua new agency, contains an intruiging poll (about half way down the left hand side). The question is Why did CIA chief Tenet resign? They give three choices which I quote verbatim:

a. "For personal reasons"
b. For providing wrong information on Iraqi weapons
c. For failing to catch Bin Laden

It seems like they've taken a leaf out of the KCNA book. For example the KCNA has two great ones today...

Firstly:

Nationwide Struggle for Independence against U.S. Called for

Pyongyang, June 13 (KCNA) -- The past four years for the south Korean people since the publication of the historic June 15 joint declaration are characterized by their worship of leader Kim Jong Il, a great man, and their glorious struggle, said Jo Il Min, chief of the Pyongyang Mission of the National Democratic Front of South Korea when interviewed by KCNA Saturday on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the publication of the joint declaration. He said:
What is most characteristic in the present movement of the south Koreans for change is that the people's anti-U.S. sentiment has grown stronger than ever before and their struggle is being focused on actions against the U.S. and war and for the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from south Korea, a struggle at a high stage to achieve national independence.
The ways and mode of anti-U.S. and anti-war struggle are getting more diverse and the political situation and trend in south Korea turning progressive.
A shortcut to implementing the joint declaration to the letter and bringing earlier a victory in the sacred war for independence against the U.S. is to wholeheartedly uphold Kim Jong Il's Songun politics, a treasured sword for independence, peace and reunification, and wage a vigorous struggle to force the U.S. troops to withdraw from south Korea through national cooperation against the U.S.
The NDFSK will take the lead in the nationwide struggle to make 2005, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the national liberation and the lapse of 60 years since the national division, a year when the U.S. troops are withdrawn from south Korea and contribute to putting an end to the U.S. domination and occupation and bringing earlier the dawn of national reunification without fail.

Secondly:

Pyongyang, June 13 (KCNA) -- The U.S. redeployment of armed forces worldwide aimed to realize its invariable wild ambition for aggression only betrays its blacked-hearted nature as it goes against the trend of the times, says Minju Joson in a signed commentary. The commentary continues:
The U.S. is pushing forward the redeployment of its armed forces in real earnest in different parts of the world. It is evidenced by the fact that the U.S. decided to dispatch some of its armed forces in south Korea to Iraq under the pretext of the "urgent Iraqi situation."
What matters is that the redeployment of the U.S. armed forces is not just an adjustment or replacement of armed forces but it pursues a very sinister aim which should never be overlooked. It is part of the U.S. vicious moves for a war of aggression to realize its invariable wild ambition for world domination at any cost.
It is the U.S. strategy for world domination, Asia-Pacific strategy, to dominate the whole world by holding a grip on the Asia-Pacific region.
The U.S. primary target in implementing the strategy is to establish military domination over Northeast Asia including the Korean peninsula. It is clear from this fact that the redeployment of the U.S. armed forces in and around the Korean peninsula is aimed at military domination over the Asia-Pacific region. Even the U.S. itself does not hide this.
The U.S. is desperately working to militarily stifle the DPRK, accelerating the redeployment of its armed forces in and around the Korean peninsula under the pretext of "reexamining" someone's "military strategy."
The reality requires everyone to be vigilant against the U.S. adventurous moves for the redeployment of armed forces.
The U.S. wild ambition for world domination is nothing but a daydream.
The Bush administration is well advised to behave itself, though belatedly, bearing in mind that its moves to realize its invariable wild ambition for aggression are only driving the U.S. to thorough isolation. This would do the U.S. good.

Tom estimates Reagan's funeral cost about US$400mm in giving Federal employees Friday off. In fact the number under-estimates the cost significantly. Many financial firms had the day off because the markets were shut. Add in other firms that rely on the Federal Government being open, plus all 50 states and their employees and we're talking big numbers. This is apart from the cost of the funeral itself with its attendant security and ceremony. The multiplier effect of this sudden holiday will hinder growth, even when offset against the increased discretionary spending due to the holiday.

This is not about whether it was worth it or not. However while Reagan would be flattered by the attention and national holiday he would be horrified at the costs to the economy. It is that oh-so-90s irony at play. It was not the best way to celebrate his legacy.

Mrs M and I are contemplating trading in the "hunk of junk", a 10 year old piece of German engineering at its worst, for a more modern Japanese chariot worthy of a growing family. I have spied a particular specimen and have tried ringing the showroom. But of course it is only 11:15am on a Monday so nobody is there.

What the hell is it with Hong Kong that no-one starts before midday? I know that place goes until late but midday - just read the very word. It's the middle of the day and still shops haven't opened. It's particularly hell for those with kids.

Just open the bloody shops at a normal time, please. Sometimes I have money I want to spend in the morning. It's crazy, but that's gweilos for you.

There are now two and a half weeks until July 1st. Last year predictions were made that 30,000 people would turn up in Hong Kong to march. Half a million people did. That's about 6.75% of the population. In context, it is like 16.875 million people marching on a single day in the USA. This year expectations are at least 300,000 people will march despite one of last year's key issues, Article 23, no longer being on the agenda. Instead Beijing has given everyone plenty of other reasons, such as the re-interpretation of the Basic Law, the pressure on more outspoken media pundits and the ongoing incompetence and unpopular HK Government. There's a fair chance that 500,000 mark will be given a nudge.

Meanwhile the SCMP reports:

A fashion chain has removed bags with a Nazi-themed design from its shelves after complaints from South China Morning Post readers. The bags, bearing an image of a second world war German soldier, have been on the shelves of the Paradise chain of shops since last month. The soldier has an SS symbol on his hat and the bag carries the slogan: "Keep it up brother, there's a lot of countries left to invade."...

Louis Yau, owner of the chain, said he had thought the image was "appealing" and had not realised what the image was referring to...The chain also sells bags with a pattern of the Iron Cross, a symbol used in Adolf Hitler's Third Reich...He admitted what he had done was ignorant, but said he had not meant to cause offence.

Last August fashion chain Izzue decorated 14 stores with swastikas and Nazi flags to promote Nazi-themed clothing. The line was withdrawn after public outrage.

My current briefcase is a plastic shopping bag. It might be time to invest in a better one, perhaps made out of cow hide rather than long polymer chains.

In far better news, it must really suck being English today. It must seem so far away since...

This blog will be enjoying a long weekend and taking a well-deserved Friday off to bask in family love and Hong Kong sunshine. Thus an early version of this beloved post.

My audacious Charity Readership Drive is off to a great start. But do not rest on those laurels - it takes 2 weeks of sustained readership to get those charity dollars happening.

Two main events dominated headlines this week. Firstly the 60th anniversary of the D-day landings. Silent Running ran a brilliant series called Beebvision with all the posts here and a final summary. And in true media fashion it's yours to keep. Matt also had a great summary of events. He also has a voicemail from the famous Mr. Green that is well worth a listen. And CVE is engaged in a WW2 Oral History project.

The other main event was Ronald Reagan's passing. Tim Blair has a comprehensive round-up of responses. Via Conrad who has been busy exercising) there is also this impressive summary by Functional Ambivalent. Reflecting on Reagan and the Cold War is the blogosphere's most interesting, thought-provoking and well-written blog, Wretchard's Belmont Club.

On Iraq A.E. Brain makes an interesting comparison between Iraq and another war, but not the one you think.

I already mentioned this in Asia by Blog but sometimes the name is the thing (via Richard).

DaGoddess points out a Lord Of the Rings version by the Monty Python crew.

Jim had a very mixed week - he lost his job AND bought a house all at the same time. I've no doubt he will find another job quickly because he's a good guy and he's funny and good funny guys deserve happy endings. And if not then I can organise for him to get a "happy ending" here in Hong Kong instead.

The Blogosphere's Survivor has had its first tribal council.

Rob takes issue with Van Halen's "reunion".

The Commissar has found Cambodia's latest best-seller. Hours of interesting reading, once you've finished with blogs, of course.

In a busy week for the Beltway James lead me to Kevin and the most important countdown of the week. Soon it won't be a crime. Also Kevin has a competition for what is apparently considered a lucrative prize: a gmail account. Space Monkey shows off - he's got 3.

Jeff G places an extra special McDonald's order.

Goldie had some bad news this week, tempered by the fact that it was her birthday and that she remains an absolute hottie.

Harry's sorry.

The well-designed and darn interesting Fall of Jericho has been doing some tweaking and I have found myself in some elite company. Absolutely honoured, Mike.

And to finish on a good note Trey has some funny photos to get you through the weekend.

Oops and oops.

A slightly shorter version today...but you must at least read the first link - it's the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. As Homer says, it's funny coz it's true.

Firstly the names some people take require more thinking (via Richard).

Shaky does it again. Life in HK isn't easy. UPDATE: Shaky tries to explain himself.

Sinobling has some lesson on what not to do in China. T-Salon links to an interesting article asking if the internet could lead to the CCP's downfall.* Richard points out that talk of Taiwan/China attacks in 2006-8 face a problem: Beijing's Olympics in 2008.

DTL clearly states another good reason for democracy in HK and tells DAB chairman and Beijing support Ma Lik to get his own house in order. The always good ALN reports that protest in China is not as rare as you think.

The Sassy Lawyer has a Philippines blog round-up.

Alex makes a change. Asialand Diaries gives the rundown of places to eat in HK (June 9th entry). You should note that the Ningpo Residents Association actually has a rather large neon sign in LKF. Fumier has a recommendation too and Danwei brings us a food update from Beijing.

Angry Chinese Blogger talks about China's response to US troop reductions in South Korea as well as China's efforts to catch up with America in the culture stakes. Marmot has plenty more on the US troop withdrawal from Korea plus an interesting (albeit long) post on anti-Americanism in South Korea.

Admist all the grieving for Ronald Reagan, Adam looks at his record in Asia.

Rebecca MacKinnon of NKzone fame is heading to Shanghai.

* _{My work is still blocking Sinosplice blogs which means I only get to view them at home. Given I surf from home once a week at best...}

Ronald Reagan's body is now lying in state with thousands walking past to pay their respects. Fair enough, the man was a popular President and has become more so as time has passed. But isn't it all a bit late? He's dead so he can't see all these people paying those respects. It makes far more sense to have some kind of ceremony before you die so at least you get to enjoy the experience. It's a bit hard to see and hear it all from a coffin once you're dead.

In today's WTF department England again proves to be home of the eccentric.

It is getting hot and humid in Hong Kong as summer approaches. So when someone comes up with the idea of creating some ice to help the situation, the cops get involved. It is good to see HK reclaiming its place at the heart of Asian finance and commerce.

In other news it turns out being able to speak English has not been important for at least 1/3 of HK's English teachers. They should get other jobs given the Government is building more schools where they are least needed. And HK's papers have been whipped into a frenzy because one member of the pro-democracy camp, trade unionist Lau Chin-shek, suggested moderation to achieve results with Beijing. Nice idea, shame it has no chance of working. The words moderation and Beijing don't really work in the same sentence unless the words "absolutely no" are in there too.

There's plenty more but the real news is this (from the SCMP):

Superstitious players pursuing tomorrow's $60 million Mark Six jackpot may consider travelling southwest and wearing red, orange or pink when they leave home. But such meticulous preparation will probably be no use to those born in the years of the rabbit or rooster...the luckiest hours to place bets were from 9am to 1pm, but not 7pm to 9pm.

In a truly random lottery draw each event is statistically independent of the previous one. In English that means the past has absolutely no bearing on which numbers will be draw next. But what else can you fill a newspaper with?

This post is the 1,000th entry in this blog (including its predecessor). At this arbitrary juncture many would take the time to look back at some of those posts, enjoying the highs, lamenting the lows. Not I, though, my loyal readers. I am casting aside the self-congratulary air for something far more diabolical.

Charity readership drive

I am blessed with a wide and interesting readership. Through this little blog from the Big Lychee I have found people from all over the globe (if you are the person at the IAEA reading this, you really should be concentrating on Iran) and I have been lucky enough to have met some of these people in person. It has often been said that one cannot put a value on readers. That's cr@p.

According to (the admittedly imperfect) Sitemeter the current daily average readership of this blog is 203 people*. That's worthy, especially given the high quality of this readership. But it is time to take it to the next level. It is time for a readership drive. And I'm prepared to pay for it.

In 2 weeks I will check Sitemeter again**. For every extra reader above the current 203 I will donate HK$2 (about US25 cents) to a charity***. The charity will be at the discretion (with my agreement) of the person who is able to generate the most additional traffic to this site. While that does limit it to blog owners, if you are a blog reader suggest to other blogs they link to this and send me proof. If that link creates the most traffic you will be the "winner". There is one caveat. In order to prevent bankruptcy in the highly optimistic case that I get several Insta- and other -lanches in the next two weeks, I am imposing a generous but undisclosed upper limit on the total donation. That way I won't go bankrupt. I am not disclosing it because I don't want you to stop once the limit has been reached. Suffice to say when I say generous, it is not in an Uncle Scrooge kind of way.

It is an HR person's favourite situation: win-win. I get more readers, someone's charity gets money. Get going...

UPDATE: Welcome to all those visitors from Sgt. Hook and further afield. Please take the time to look around. And please be aware that for the charity you have to keep visiting...the donation depends on the average number of visitors over the next week or so. Thanks again and spread the word!

* _{I know Sitemeter underestimates and is not reliable but it's as good as anything else and is publicly available.}

** _{The precise date will be either June 23rd, 24th or 25th but I am deliberately leaving it open so that there can be no manipulation of the numbers.}

*** _{If this backfires and my readership goes down, I am going to bill a charity instead for the difference. It's harsh but fair.}

The SCMP has run a story on Hong Kong students applying for Chinese universities instead of Ivy League or Oxbridge. The entry criteria include accepting the "one country, two systems" philsoophy and accept the Basic Law. Not particularly onerous conditions and slightly ironic given Beijing itself "re-interprets" the Basic Law rather than accepting it as is. Like any interview the key is knowing what answers they want to hear and it isn't too hard to guess what these universities want to hear.

More interesting are the logic tests for entry to Tsinghua University, one of the two offering places. The questions are:

1. Why are manholes round in shape?
2. How was the universe born?
3. What is the theoretical difference between ice skating and roller skating?

Personally I'd withdraw my application if that is what passes for a logic test at a prestigious Chinese university. Nevertheless let me try and answer each in turn. The manhole question is one as old as time. Plato and Aristotle both considered the question without reaching definitive answers. The mathematical approach of surface areas is far too superficial. Neitschze thought the question was the wrong way around: it should by why are manholes not any other shape than round? In modern philosophy there are two schools of thought. The English school thinks it is because of the societal paradigm that dictates round is always best. The Iowa school says it is because that is the nature of manholes. Personally I think the question is too abstract in a Chinese context.

The second question is on how was the universe born. Who cares? Stop living in the past and look to the future, people. The third question is the most puzzling. What is the theoretical difference between ice and roller skating. One could mention one is on ice and the other concrete. One could answer one uses blades and the other wheels. These would be wrong. The truth is roller skating was big in the 70s and remains a movie cliche for referring to that era. Ice skating was big in the 80s because an English couple called Torvil and Dean proved men look stupid in tights on ice too. Then Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding took it to a whole new levels in the 90s with their white trash/princess routine. Lastly ice skating is a winter Olympic sport. Roller skating isn't. They do share one thing in common: they're both stupid.

Now you know the questions for entry to Chinese universities I expect you all to gain admission.

Alarm didn't go off this morning. Scrambled to make the bus only to find it was running late. My bad mood was already set. It was made worse by an unavoidable conversation on said bus when all I wanted to do was listen to my MP3 and read my magazine. Got into work and found blog posting was impossible due to system problems. Then lunchtime comes around and the guys decide to order pizza but due to a few weeks of over-indulging I'm dieting and strongly resist the lure of pepperoni by going for sushi. I am served by the loudest person in all of IFC, who proceeds to tell me the regular sushi dish I order isn't on today. Nothing is as it was anymore.

On the upside no-one has mentioned friggin' Venus this morning.

Scum.

In better news it appears almost every able bodied person in HK is planning to march on July 1st. Organisers think numbers will be down on last year because the issues this time around are "less personalised". But the Government is still incompetent and democracy is an issue that many feel strongly about. I think plenty will turn out.

When Stanley Ho isn't counting his billions from his 12 Macau casinos he's busy with his other business interests including his Portugese shipping line Portline. The SCMP reports:

Casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun has welcomed the central government's drive to attract investment from Hong Kong and Macau tycoons to revitalise northeastern provinces. Mr Ho said after a visit to the Dalian New Shipbuilding Heavy Industries Company yesterday that he intended to place an order for an US$80 million, 300,000-tonne cargo vessel for his Portugal-based shipping company, Portline. Mr Ho said he bought three 400,000-tonne cargo vessels from Japan and the Philippines for Portline, the biggest logistics company in Portugal.

"After visiting Dalian New Shipbuilding Heavy Industries Company, I found that ordering a vessel here is cheaper than placing the order in Japan because of cheaper wages in Dalian," he said.

The T1 warning has just been posted: that means Typhoon Conson is within 800km of the Big Lychee. We need T8 to get the day off work and the definitions are here. I have no idea why it goes from T1 to T3 to T8 - I suppose they followed the tennis scoring system or something. But unfortunately this one is only headed for Taiwan. So we go on waiting for our promised typhoon(s) so we get our day off.

UPDATE: Chris is also on the case.

By popular demand (precisely one person, but I'll take) Asia by blog is back to give you a taste of what's what in Asia recently.

Firstly Hemlock finds himself waiting alone outside the HK General Post Office waiting to indulge his philately. Conrad questions Europe's rush to sell arms to China, sees that headlines are in the eye of the beholder and says what you see is not what you get in China. E@L agrees on that last one. DTL has reactions to Anson Chan's Time article. He also has an interesting two part post about American William Hinton's thoughts on Tiananmen Square.

The 15th anniversary of the murder of protesters and students in Beijing's Tiananmen Square saw many bloggers commenting and remembering. ESWN has photos of the HK commemoration and fisks a NYT report of the event to boot. Glutter also covers the HK event and has more here (warning: graphic photo) . Shanghai Eye's thoughts are here. The officially returned Adam goes over some of the facts and myths and more here. Via I Got Up comes this article, also looking at the facts and myths. In the silver lining department Adam also notes that Salon did an article on China blogs. The always comprehensive Richard covers an article by Wang Dan in the WSJ and has one of the most famous images of the 20th Century. China Letter sees a big difference between students then and now and wonders if the West has read too much into those events although Durian disagrees. Phil Sen correctly points out that Tiananmen was not unique. FY thinks the similarities between Tiananmen and the Gwangju Massacres should lead to Chinese-Korean student solidarity.

The Sassy Lawyer responds to an article on Philippine "democrazy" and before reviewing John Woo's Paycheck she reveals Philippine TV's worst secret - it doesn't work in typhoons.

Andres has a good piece his experiences as an expat in China.

Adam learns the God, China and TV don't mix.

Note to self: don't bother with a mobile phone in North Korea.

ALN reprints an article on modern slavery in Asia. Stephen almost has some photos of "Chinese" working conditions and compares them to a factory in Australia.

Oranckay sees a small Pacific island standing up to South Korea. Jeff has a big, mostly Korean, blog round-up. Marmot has an entry in the most bizarre restaurant gimmick category.

Finally Paul has proof of Chinese irony. Like Che before him, Mao's picture is becoming a "cool" brand or icon rather than the face of evil he actually was. That's irony for you.

TV in Hong Kong can be bad. But even it is more appealing than the transit of Venus. Little planet passes in front of sun but whatever you do don't look at it. Instead watch it on CNN, where a tiny black blemish is moving across the face of the sun. Wow. I can hardly control my excitement. It reminds me of the fuss over Halley's Comet. I remember waiting up until the right time, trudging out to the backyard, seeing a tiny streak on the night sky and wondered why I had given up some precious sleep time for that. Especially when I could just go online and buy the photo from NASA anyway.

These space freaky types need to wait for something really interesting to come along. Like that asteroid in that Bruce Willis movie. If I hadn't been stuck in the movie theatre I would have rushed out to see that.

Right, back to not looking at the sun.

MWLLKR.com - you really need to see it to believe it.

Reagan died. Those affected the most get a day off.

My workplace has a convoluted system for claiming expenses. Everything needs to be sorted by date, time, expense class and star sign and entered via a wonderful internet portal. As one small example of how ridiculous it is, food bills need to be split from drink bills. I think. Luckily my computer is one of three in the whole firm where the system doesn't work. This means I have the luxury of dumping all the tedious work on our office secretary instead. When I've returned from a big trip I have receipts for everything in no discernable order and she needs to collate, enter and make sense of it all before the monthly deadline.

Let us call this lady Choo-choo. She is without doubt the most powerful person in the office. While officially she reports to the MD, in reality nothing happens without her. We all curry favour by buying her lunch, showering her with compliments and being extremely nice to her. Which is quite easy given she is friendly, well-dressed and pretty. But one false step could send me to administrative oblivion.

So I sit here now looking at the large envelope containing the collected receipts of my trip. I need to get this in soon before Choo-choo is swamped with work and so it can be done before the deadline. But I cannot do it too quickly either. I have resolved to wait until she leaves for the day before delicately placing it on her desk with a polite note. Then I will go home and pray to all the deities I can think of and prepare to buy Choo-choo lunch tomorrow.

Much like Hong Kong itself, we work in quiet fear of a powerful far bigger than any of us.

There are some crimes so low they defy any attempt to understand them. There is no rationale or logic to such crimes. In a time where people are becoming immune to violence and moral decay is rife, there is sometimes a crime which betrays not just the laws of man but the laws of nature.

This is such a crime.

Two people were released on bail last night after helping police investigate two separate cases involving counterfeit admission tickets to Ocean Park. Officers would not say if the four fake tickets seized were part of a larger scam.

I have returned from my various travels slightly jet-lagged. It appears I didn't miss much: Ronnie Reagan is dead, 80,000 Hong Kongers remembered Tiananmen Square, 60 years since D-day etc. Far more importantly Jim lost his job, proving management at his company have no idea of what talent, nay genius, looks like. I hearby dedicate the following entry to Jim:

A downside of travel is you spend large amounts of time in an aluminium cigar being propelled forward in a desperate attempt to avoid falling out of the sky. To take one's mind off this attempt to beat Newton's laws of gravit they supply a parade of movies which in my case included the epic Cold Mountain, which took almost as long as the American Civil War itself.

The plot is simple: hick Confederate town (the appropriately named Cold Mountain) gets preacher with hot viriginal chick (Nicole Kidman in Southern Belle mode). Chick spies matinee idol but almost mute Jude Law and immediately fancies him ina suppressed kind of way. In the 1860s version of love at first sight they manage a 3 second pash-and-grope moments before Law is called away to fight the damn Yankees. Jude endures the horrors of war, especially the incompetence of his own side and some terrible dialogue. Meantime Nicky Kidman's old man kicks the bucket - that's what clear country air does to a man from the city. Now she's in charge of a farm but she has no clue until pouty Renee Zellweger turns up in her Oscar winning role. She's the tomboy farmer girl with the no-good daddy who can drag Kidman into the 1860s with some good old fashioned elbow grease and pouting. The next hour drags along as Jude Law deserts his mates in the trenches because he realises he wants to f*ck Kidman (and let's face it, who can blame him). Kidman has kept herself pure, "knowing" that Jude's coming back for her, despite the attentions of the local leery sheriff. Someone dies, Jude meets a crazy old woman, the bad men shoot some good ones and some more sh!t happens before the climatic meeting of Kidman and Law. Happiness ensues for 60 seconds before more people and shot and the whole thing is mercifully over.

The characterisation was thin. The direction had as much lead as the bullets those damn Yankees fired at those southern half-wits. The whole film reeked of begging for Oscars with its "epic scale" and "devotion to detail". That said, they overlooked a stereotype: there were no money-hungry Jews. Otherwise they got them all. The predictable story line and uninteresting sub-plots all help to steal away 3 hours of your life that you can never get back. Damn you, Oprah Winfrey, and your book of the month. If the original book was half as bad as the movie then I shed a tear for all those poor trees. At least bark is vaguely interesting to look at.

No, I didn't enjoy it.

Point 16.

There will be no Enemablog this week, mostly because I am single-handedly saving the world from a fate far worse than reality TV. Expect regular blogging, including the oh-so-popular Asia by blog and Enemablog, to return next week. In the meantime, why don't you leave your computer and go outside, or read a book, or even just watch some TV? There's a big world out there, people.

Jim at Snooze Button Dreams has a great blog and not just because he links to me a lot. He's almost like a brother to me, even though we don't have the same parents and that I already have a brother and that I've never met him. OK, so we're not such a close family. But he's co-anchor of Memeblog so it's close enough.

Nevertheless I hereby announce a world-first:

Hong Kong - Simon of the famous blog Simon World has again set the pace by announcing a brave and daring new venture. In a packed press conference he announced he is launching a takeover bid for the Snooze Button Dreams blog. "He gets more readers, he's had an Instalanche," said Simon.

The offer is a whopping 1.3 Simon World posts per 1 SBD post. Simon declared that he is aiming for nothing less than 100% control of his target. "I see great synergies between our two sites. Working in two opposite time zones, together we can create the world's best 24 hour slice-of-life with a sprinkle of politics blog. With my proven management skills and ability to cut costs while growing businesses, this is a win-win situation."

When asked about potential job cuts, Simon responded "Look, I won't lie. In any merger there are areas of overlap the result in lost jobs. It is not something I look forward to. However we will work hard to find other opportunities within the company and only resort to firing incompetent hacks and deadwood as a last resort."

Commenting on the move, Simon's Mum said, "What's he doing now?" Mrs M, an analyst, said "Great, now he can spend even more time on the friggin' website." Glenn Reynolds added "I see a lot of benefits from this move. It could well result in this new blog joining my roll or even getting a link."

Under International Blogging Law, the target blog has 7 days to respond to the offer. Section 17.21.a states "Anything goes", usually interpreted by blog lawyers as meaning there are no rules and making their clients wonder why there are so many other rules and sections.

Thanks to Charles for pointing out this article:

The biggest study of global mental illness shows that rates vary greatly - with 4.3 per cent of people living in Shanghai showing symptoms of mental disorders in the past year, compared with 26 per cent in the United States...In the US, more rich, suburban patients are being treated for mild mental illnesses than are poor people with serious mental illness, said Professor Kessler.

Those interviewed in Japan reported a 5 per cent rate of anxiety disorders, for instance, and in China less than 4 per cent, against 18 per cent in the US. But Professor Kessler said reported rates in Japan and China were "implausibly low", as Japan has the world's highest use of anti-anxiety drugs called benzodiazepines and China has the world's highest rate of suicide. (my emphasis)

Met her last night in trendy and swinging London town. I promised I wouldn't divulge that she is extremely beautiful, smart, funny, interesting and one damn fine woman. She and Mr. Y are obviously happy and in love but not in that nauseating "schmooky-pooh" way. No, they are mature and comfortable which each other with a kind of happiness that is rare to find. Now if I wasn't happily married and if Mr. Y hadn't been such a good bloke (and there with us the whole time) I would have been seriously contemplating switching the Aussie charm lever to maximum...

The conversation was wide and broad, always interesting and never-faltering. Even though it was our first meeting it was like we were long time friends, which (in a manner) we are. If blogging has achieved nothing else I feel vindicated that it introduced me to people as wonderful as Helen.

Did I mention she's a complete honey?

/mutual admiration society.

A couple of weeks back I was in a lift with a co-worker. Let's call them X. X's job is in sales and was complaining how hard her job is. X was rushing off to a meeting and had been out three times that week entertaining clients until 1am. So the complaint can be summarised thusly: X finds it difficult to spend night after night indulging the company expense account at fancy restaurants and bars in the company of men who no doubt flirt outrageously with her. Please control your sympathy.

I bit my tongue. Working in a coal mine is physical hard work. Working as a social worker is emotional hard work. Working as a surgeon is dexterous hard work. Working in an air-conditioned city office and going out for a living is not hard work. X really needs to get some perspective and perhaps a clue.

At work we sit in rows in an open plan format. There are no cubicles, just long desk that seat 6 people each in front of a few computer screens and with phone boards and a small chest of drawers seperating each pair. This makes for little privacy but a social and interesting work environment, full of lively discussion. Either by co-incidence or design, all the gweilos sit in one particular row, known as the Gweilo Ghetto. There are a couple of others at a distant desk, but otherwise we're all nicely contained within one row. It tends to be the loudest and most boisterous area of the room (there are a total of 7 rows in the room).

I just don't know who's protecting whom and from what.

If you only read one thing this year, you really should read more. However if you only read one blog entry this year (excluding this one) you need to read Ace's adventures in chasing blogging stardom.

Oh, and I'm meeting Helen for dinner tonight and you're not. A gentleman never tells.

There's a few more posts trickling out over the next few days and more regular posting will resume next week.

I am sick of tired of women in the office and on the street mentally undressing me all the time.

They should at least have the courtesy to ask.

In part of our ongoing series of reviews, today I bring you a review of Barbie of Swan Lake. This is the third in the series of Barbie movies that has taken the little girl world by storm. Featuring the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Barbie and Kelsey Grammer of the baddie, Rothbart, this follows the same formula as Nutcracker and Rapunzel (the first two in the series). The story itself is sandwiched between a short vignette of Barbie mentoring young Kelly, in order to teach an important life lesson. Sort of like that TV show Doogie Howser, MD, where the young Doogie would type the show's moral/theme just to make sure you understood what it was all about.

This movie continues using the London Symphony Orchestra and the NY City Ballet. This will result in you accompanying your daughters in a rough approximation of the ballet appearing on the screen. They will be in the Barbie role, while you will be the Prince. DO NOT attempt to play the Barbie role yourself. The music is actually very good and faithful to the original. The ballet is good too, I think. It's hard to tell when you've got a unicorn doing pirouettes.

The plot is simple: Barbie plays Odette, who finds herself in the magic forest, best friends with a unicorn and trying to save the Fairy Queen and the cute animals from the clutches of the evil Rothbart and his nasty daughter. The baddie turns Barbie into a swan but luckily Prince Whats-his-name narrowly avoids killing his one true love and in fact helps save the day. Yes, they live happily ever after with a magical wedding scene. What they don't show is the messy divorce 6 years later when the Prince goes and shacks up with that tart from Shrek.

The reviewing panel has a range of views on this one. The younger members like it, placing it somewhere between Lilo and Stitch and Pochahontas on the rotation pile. For adults the music, reasonable story and adequate direction helps alleviate the similarities with the oft-watched others in this series. The Barbie crew know they're on a good thing and stick to the tried and true formula.

I rate it 3.5 stars out of 5.

I know there's some strange history behind the layout of the QWERTY keyboard. But why is the "S" button right next to the "D" button? Control-S = "save". Control-D = "delete". The world would be a happier place if "S" was a long, long way from "D".

They can send a rocket millions of kilometres and land it precisely on a certain point on the moon. Now we use that precision in a technology parents around the world would find helpful - a child finder. Just like those clickers you can get so you can always find the car in a large car park, this little gizmo emits a special sound to help locate that kid of yours that always wonders out of sight. Or use it on the special "quiet" mode, which negates your child's vocal chords so the whole shopping centre can avoid the anguished moans of a child denied the latest toy/lolly/ride. An optional extra is an electric shock, for those special times. Sounds are like mobile phone ringtones, downloadable at very inexpensive rates. Upgrade to the new version with strong electromagnets that enable you to "retrieve" your child without leaving the comfort of where you are.

Available now from all good pet shops.