tagged w/ Chinese
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As expected Mayor Ed Lee will announce today that he is running for re-election as Mayor of San Francisco. This is coming from the man who received the position of Mayor all because he is not a politician and because he vowed not to do what he is now going to do. Ed has been a good Mayor in the seven months he's had to do the job but he has now done the first thing that all politicians should not do — broken his promises to the people.As expected Mayor Ed Lee will announce today that he is running for re-election as... more
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Lake Namtso, one of two holy lakes in Tibet, forms the centre of the valley floor and is surrounded by the Nyanchen Tanglha mountain range. In 1986, Robert Hefner, President of the Bradshaw Foundation, found himself standing here on top of the world (or what felt like it) a little while before he made a remarkable discovery. This is how he described it: "The deep blue Tibetan sky encompassed barren, craggy, rocky peaks, full of spectacular geological structures typical of the Tibetan plateau. Beside the road was a pile of carved religious rocks and a pole with many fluttering prayer flags. Only 300 metres below was a sapphire lake enclosed by snowy peaks: the great valley of Lake Namtso." http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/section-blog/42989-a-note-on-the-rock-art-of-lake-namtso-tibetLake Namtso, one of two holy lakes in Tibet, forms the centre of the valley floor and... more
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worrg
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added this
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10 months ago
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Rose Pak, the power house iron Queen of Chinese politics in San Francisco has had a few things to say about our State Senator and Mayoral candidate Leland Yee today.Rose Pak, the power house iron Queen of Chinese politics in San Francisco has had a... more
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CAPTION: Police bust an operation that "recycles" cooking oil collected from the sewer.
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Okay, the Chinese are getting more and more out of control with their toxic food products. We all have heard about the melanine in infant formula which causes kidney stones in infants...it is getting systemically worse in China.
In a wedding party of 500 people, half were taken to the hospital after (what they think) was pork raised with excessive corticosteroids to increase the growth and growth rate.
The Chinese are making cooking oil out of oil discarded by restaurants into sewers, scooping it up from the sewer.
It goes on and on...
Worse, the whistleblowers in China are locked in prison or have to flee the country because of threats.
And, of course, our FDA isn't even testing targeted food items from Japana after Fukushima....they certainly aren't going to inconvenience the Chinese by inspectnig their products.
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http://tinyurl.com/3tm6sct
China wrestles with food safety problems
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By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times
Sun Jun 26 2011 5:35 PM
Reporting from Beijing-- It was a wedding the guests would never forget. Everybody of consequence in the village had been invited to a banquet to celebrate the marriage of the son of one of the wealthiest families. Fifty tables groaned under a lavish spread of dumplings, steamed chickens, pork ribs, meatballs, stir fries, all of it exceptionally delicious, guests would later recall.
But about an hour into the meal, something seemed to be wrong. A pregnant woman collapsed. Old men clutched their chests. Children vomited.
Out of about 500 people at the April 23 banquet in Wufeng, 286 went to the hospital. Doctors at the No. 3 Xiangya Hospital in nearby Changsha, capital of Hunan province, blamed pork contaminated with clenbuterol, a steroid that makes pigs grow faster and leaner. Consumed by humans in excess quantity, it can cause heart palpitations, nausea, convulsions, dizziness and vomiting....
...It hasn't helped. If anything, China's food scandals are becoming increasingly frequent and bizarre.
In May, a Shanghai woman who had left uncooked pork on her kitchen table woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that the meat was emitting a blue light, like something out of a science fiction movie. Experts pointed to phosphorescent bacteria, blamed for another case of glow-in-the-dark pork last year.
Farmers in eastern Jiangsu province complained to state media last month that their watermelons had exploded "like landmines" after they mistakenly applied too much growth hormone in hopes of increasing their size.
Such incidents cut to the quick of the weaknesses in China's monolithic one-party system. Chinese authorities are painfully aware that people will lose confidence in a government that cannot give them assurances about what they eat. They are equally aware that tainted foods could cause what communist authorities fear most: social unrest.
"Food safety concerns the people's interests and livelihoods, social stability and the future of socialism with Chinese characteristics," is how the Supreme Court put it in its notice last month accompanying the announcement of the death penalty.
The government's efforts are looking frantic....
...It's doubtful, however, that anybody will heed the regulation — China is famous for promulgating laws that are never enforced. There is no equivalent of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: A myriad of different agencies reporting to various ministries, including the Agriculture Ministry and Health Ministry, tend to kick responsibility from one to another. Offenders are not usually prosecuted until something goes badly wrong, as in the baby formula case, in which two people were executed.
The incentive to cheat is greater than ever before, with inflation at its highest level in nearly three years. Food prices in May were up 11.7% from last year, and flooding this month is expected to push them even higher....
...To make some breeds of fish mature more quickly, aquatic farmers feed them ground-up birth-control pills, which cost virtually nothing because of China's strict limits on family size. In April, authorities in Hefei province busted businesses that were selling a glaze that makes pork look and smell like more expensive beef — bad news in a country with more than 20 million Muslims....
..."The profit margin is bigger than drug trafficking if you add the lean pork powder to the pig food," said Zhou Qing, an author and dissident, who has styled himself as China's equivalent of Upton Sinclair, whose 1906 novel, "The Jungle," exposed the horrors of the U.S. meatpacking industry.
In 2006, Zhou published a book about the Chinese food industry that would extinguish the heartiest appetite. He wrote about foods tainted with pesticides, industrial salts, bleaches, paints and, especially nauseating, imitation soy sauce made from clippings swept up from hairdressers' floors, sold for 5 cents per pound and sent to factories that extract from it an amino acid solution. Zhou wrote that fish farmers confessed to pouring so many antibiotics and hormones into their ponds that "they never eat the fish that they farm."
Although Zhou's book has been published in 10 countries — it sold 50,000 copies in Japan alone — it is not available in China. After failing to get the book in shops, receiving threats from police and getting beaten up by thugs, Zhou left China in 2008. He now lives in Germany.
"In China, the reflexive desire to cover up and hide has trumped transparency and the need to protect public health," said Phelim Kine, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.
The poor treatment of whistleblowers makes it nearly impossible for a consumer movement to take root. The Health Ministry went so far as to announce this month that it would set up a blacklist of journalists who were deemed to report irresponsibly on food safety issues.
Last year, He Dongping, a professor of food sciences at Wuhan Polytechnic University, in Hubei province, published results of an investigation into the recycling of discarded cooking oil, which was being scooped out of sewers outside restaurants, reprocessed and then sold at a fraction of the cost of fresh cooking oil. He found that one in 10 restaurants in his area bought the recycled oil, even though it was known to contain a carcinogenic fungus.
Afterward, the professor was reprimanded by the university and ordered not to speak again about cooking oil. Contacted this month, he hung up when told the caller was a foreign journalist.
Even victims are punished if they complain too loudly. Zhao Lianhai, an advertising executive who led a campaign for safer baby formula after his son developed kidney stones as a result of the melamine-tainted baby formula, was sentenced in November to 2 1/2 years in prison for "inciting social disorder."
As a result, people are often too frightened to speak up. More than a dozen who were contacted about their experience at the wedding in Wufeng begged not to have their full names used. They said their medical bills had been paid by the local government and the newlyweds' parents, who were connected to the local Communist Party branch. They said they never got answers about what had happened.
"We asked many times, but there were no answers. The doctors wouldn't say. So we stopped asking," said one woman, adding nervously before hanging up the phone, "Don't tell anyone I told you this."CAPTION: Police bust an operation that "recycles" cooking oil collected... more
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When Muni started the 48 Quintara bus line some where back in the 80′s I was happy because I could be a lazy guy and just walk down to the corner to catch a bus.When Muni started the 48 Quintara bus line some where back in the 80′s I was... more
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A 62-year-old male nurse at a seniors' home in central China has been detained on suspicions of beating up patients and forcing them to drink urine, police said.Zheng Huanming, the nurse at the Changleyuan Seniors Home in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province, allegedly woke up elderly people at 4 a.m. every day and...A 62-year-old male nurse at a seniors' home in central China has been detained on... more
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Who would have thought Internet gaming would turn out to be such serious hard labor, both virtually and literally?
Detainees at a labor camp in China are being forced to play hours of "World of Warcraft," a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), in a "gold farming" operation, UK-based The Guardian reported.
"Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labor," a former inmate told the Guardian.
The former inmate had been detained at the Jixi re-education-through-labor camp in Heilongjiang province. He was released before 2009, The Guardian reported.
Up to P40k a day
He said that there were 300 prisoners forced to play games in shifts of up to 12 hours at night - after breaking rocks and digging trenches in the open cast coalmines of northeast China during the day.
The goal of "gold farming" was to build up credits on online games such as "World of Warcraft." Prison guards would trade the credits for real money, the inmate said.
"I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb (P33,359 to P40,000) a day. We didn't see any of the money. The computers were never turned off," the 54-year-old former inmate said.
Real-world punishments for virtual losses
Punishment for falling behind in game-playing was real.
"If I couldn't complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things," he said.
But the former inmate believes the practice of prisoners being forced to earn online currency in multiplayer games is still widespread.
"Many prisons across the northeast of China also forced inmates to play games. It must still be happening," he said.
The former inmate said this game-playing was the most surreal experience in the detention facility.
During his detention, he had also carved chopsticks and toothpicks out of wood planks, and assembled car seat covers that the prison exported to South Korea and Japan.
He was also made to memorize communist literature to pay off his debt to society.
Rampant trading in virtual currencies
The Guardian report said the trading of virtual currencies in multiplayer games has become so rampant in China that it is increasingly difficult to regulate.
In April, it said the Sichuan provincial government in central China launched a court case against a gamer who stole credits online worth about 3000rmb (P20,015).
Such a lack of regulations has meant that even prisoners can be exploited in this virtual world for profit, the report added.
The Guardian report cited figures from the China Internet Centre, indicating £1.2 billion (P85.881 billion) of make-believe currencies were traded in China in 2008 and the number of gamers who play to earn and trade credits are on the rise.
Full-time gold farmers
It also estimated 80 percent of all gold farmers are in China, where there are thought to be 100,000 full-time gold farmers.
In 2009 the central government issued a directive defining how fictional currencies could be traded, making it illegal for businesses without licenses to trade.
Jin Ge, a researcher from the University of California San Diego who has been documenting the gold farming phenomenon in China, noted China is the factory of virtual goods.
"You would see some exploitation where employers would make workers play 12 hours a day. They would have no rest through the year. These are not just problems for this industry but they are general social problems. The pay is better than what they would get for working in a factory. It's very different," said JinWho would have thought Internet gaming would turn out to be such serious hard labor,... more
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China has agreed to immediately provide 50 JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, a major outcome of a visit by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to Beijing this week, Pakistani officials said Thursday.China has agreed to immediately provide 50 JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, a major... more
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I suppose I stepped a bit over the line the other day when I posted that Leland Yee called me a racist. He did, or should I say his twitter account did in a passive aggressive way infer that my dislike of shark finning to provide the main ingredient for the beloved shark fin soup was born out of racism by the use of the hash tag #racism.I suppose I stepped a bit over the line the other day when I posted that Leland Yee... more
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Well, I thought yesterday’s article would smooth things over a bit by posting a rational, not overly emotional piece aimed at the politics in San Francisco and to help Senator Leland Yee understand that his campaign people are ruining his shot by playing the race card for him as well as not understanding what misusing social media can do for you.Well, I thought yesterday’s article would smooth things over a bit by posting a... more
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I stopped working downtown too soon. It wasn’t my choice, but I missed the first rush of the new sensation that’s sweeping San Francisco and everyone’s smartphone — food trucks. I’m not talking the old beat up taco trucks that you used to see in Oakland, but these are upscale trucks serving upscale food and the best way to find out about where they are in on you smartphone.I stopped working downtown too soon. It wasn’t my choice, but I missed the first... more
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"I've got my finger in more pies than Kirstie Alley." Stand-up comedian Chris Martin discusses the hazards of being a renaissance man December 22, 2010 at Strange Matters in Richmond, VA. Ron Rogers is the MC.
http://wwww.chrismartincomedy.com"I've got my finger in more pies than Kirstie Alley." Stand-up comedian... more
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Apologies in advance for all of the quotes below, but I had an interesting event happen to me two nights ago that I wanted to wait a bit on before saying anything. I was just sitting at my computer checking twitter every so often and noticed that @JenniferFearing who works for the United States Humane Society sent the following tweetApologies in advance for all of the quotes below, but I had an interesting event... more
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This post is meant for people in San Francisco or who used to live in San Francisco because they’re going to understand it better. The Sunset District has blossomed recently with a huge influx of Asians, mostly Chinese.This post is meant for people in San Francisco or who used to live in San Francisco... more
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Follow Franco, as he shares his trip from New York to Madagascar. We will encounter: Madagascar mining, pristine beaches, ancient wooden fishing boats, beach fires,the prized Zebu,and the cuisine of the indigenous Malagasy peoples of Madagascar.Follow Franco, as he shares his trip from New York to Madagascar. We will encounter:... more
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Last week Leland Yee proclaimed that the elimination of shark fin soup as an attack on ancient Chinese culture. The next day he held a conference serving shark fin soup to the media to show how wonderful and delicious it is.
Then apparently, Leland remembered how environmentally friendly the people of San Francisco Bay Area are. He sent out a rather waffly sounding email that says that while he condemns the finning of sharks, he opposes the ban on shark fins.Last week Leland Yee proclaimed that the elimination of shark fin soup as an attack on... more
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Gawain
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added this
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1 year ago
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Today I read an article on sfgate.com about AB376 a bill that if passed would make the sale of shark fins for shark fin soup illegal. The reason behind this is that the fins for this soup come from a process known as “finning” where a captured shark has its tail and fins cut off and then is thrown back in the water. You might think that the shark would die instantly from this, but that’s not how it works.
The sharks can live on for quite some time suffering and unable to swim the shark dies in one of two ways, starvation or suffocation. Sharks need to keep water moving over their gills in order to breathe. If they can’t then they suffocate from a lack of oxygen.
Senator Leland Yee made a big mistake in the article. He claimed it as an “attack on asian culture“. Riiiiight. Leland, in a city that is 60% asian it’s best not to play the race card when you’re trying to sit in the Mayor’s seat. San Francisco needs a mayor who can bring the people together not separated because of their different cultures. San Francisco is a melting pot of cultures from all over the world, not a side order of shark fin soup.Today I read an article on sfgate.com about AB376 a bill that if passed would make the... more
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