USA: hacking democracy

They have them there elections in the US today. For many outsiders, the US voting system appears a ramshackle, third-world affair.

Unlike other countries where the voting system is uniform across a nation, in the US each state is responsible for deciding the method of voting as well as organising and running elections, be they state or federal.

Since there are fifty states, throughout the US there are a variety of voting methods: hand counted paper ballots; mechanical lever machines; punchcards; optical scan systems; and the leave-no-paper-trail electronic voting machines.

The latter are wide open for manipulation for those with nefarious intent.

Scary stuff. . . an HBO Special -- Hacking Democracy (72 min): googlevideo

Old friends: Saddam Hussein, the CIA, and Donald Rumsfeld

The news is in: Saddam Hussein sentenced to death. Ah, but this is the second time Saddam has been sentenced to death!

The first time was in 1959. That was after a plot to kill Iraq's then prime minister, General Abd al-Karim Qasim.

The assassination was authorised by the, um, CIA.

However, the operation was bungled, and Qassim survived. With the assistance of CIA and Egyptian operatives, Saddam fled to Beirut, where he participated in a CIA training course, then was sent to Cairo. There he studied law and helped the CIA compile a list of Iraqi communists and radicals.

In 1963, Qassim was overthrown by the Ba'ath party, and Saddam returned to Iraq to head the Ba'ath party's intelligence service.

Saddam's intelligence service, using the CIA-compiled list, soon went about arresting and interrogating suspected communists -- many, however, were simply and summarily gunned down. The mass killings, presided over by Saddam, took place at Qasr al-Nehayat, literally, the Palace of the End.

The rest is history.















Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984
National Security Archive
Electronic Briefing Book No. 82
(Edited by Joyce Battle)

A few words about Pauline

By Tim and Alison.
Thanks!

Hong Kong: Taxi Driver Hit The School Girl In The Head With A Hammer

Roland Soong compares the reporting in several Chinese-language newspapers and English-language South China Morning Post (no link, SCMP pay-wall) of an incident in Chai Wan yesterday.


(click on image to enlarge)

Mister B is not sure SCMP has any local reporters -- just sub-editors. They who daily sit behind their desks to re-write press releases issued by Hong Kong Government departments, PR companies, and the public affairs departments of Hong Kong Stock Exchange-listed companies.

All that stuff, plus the editing of all those international agency reports from AP and Reuters that also make up most of the SCMP's content.

Roland Soong: EastSouthWestNorth

Cliff Richard: Summer Holiday

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Cliff Richard and The Shads. Summer Holiday. Yeah, I know. But this is a guilty pleasure. Besides, Summer Holiday is a great singalong and also happens to be one of the most politically subversive artefacts produced in the late twentieth century. See below.

We're all going on a summer holiday.
No more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday.
No more worries for me and you.
For a week or two.

We're going where the sun shines brightly.
We're going where the sea is blue.
We've seen it in the movies.
Now let's see if it's true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to.
So we're going on a summer holiday
To make our dreams come true
For me and you.

Most of the audience for the 1962 British film Summer Holiday -- starring Cliff Richard and The Shadows -- had probably never heard of Jack Kerouac nor read On the Road, Kerouac's paean to freedom written in the late 1940s, completed in 1951 but only published in 1957.

Yet by the time the audience walked out of the cinema after the end of Summer Holiday (and the playing of the National Anthem), many had fallen for the charms of a story and visual fiesta which was just as culturally and politically subversive as Kerouac's: screw work; hit the road; explore the unknown; turn your dreams into reality; destination sun, sex and other assorted fun.

Have a great weekend!

The Shame and the Pity

Israeli Defence Force murdering women? The events in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun which led to the shooting dead of two women and injuries to others is not the first such incident. But it must qualify as a new low by the Israeli military.




According to Palestine Centre for Human Rights, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli Defence Force in the Gaza Strip between 25 June 2006 and 6 September 2006 stood at 226. That number includes 47 children and 12 women. In addition, 726 others, mostly civilians, including 196 children, 27 women, 4 paramedics and 4 journalists, have been wounded.

That's June to September. For casualty figures between 6 September and today, Mister B has not so far been able to track down reliable numbers. Whatever they are, they are dreadful.

In praise of Pongo

Pauline Harrison's funeral service and cremation take place in the City of London, tomorrow, Saturday, 4 November, at 11am.

Among the living, those who will be attending include a UK-based contingent of ex-residents of a little island in the South China Sea. Sadly, Mister B won't be in London, but he will be there in spirit + will burn some incense sticks in Pauline's honour at the allotted hour.

Pongo? Please read Tim L's eulogy, which will be posted here on Sunday. Thank you.

UPDATE: a few words about Pauline, by Tim and Alison

Fire! Again. Smokey time to re-name Chung Yeung festival?

Mister B has long held the opinion that the just-celebrated Chung Yeung festival should be re-named Burn a Hillside Festival.

Without fail, every year families clean their ancestors' graves and leave, among other things, burnt offerings. This being the dry season, hillsides catch alight and thus we are treated at night to the sight of flaming necklaces advancing across the mountains.

This year, the outer wind bands of typhoon Cimaron fanned the flames mightily. Of the 139 hill fires reported, the one in Tai Lam Country Park near Tsuen Wan New Town in Hong Kong's New Territories has destroyed an estimated 65,000 trees and made a lot of smoke.

It has taken nearly 680 firefighters and volunteers as well as three helicopters the best part of three days to put out the flames. Hillside fire fans declare the Tai Lam blaze to be the most extensive hillside fire these past ten years.

Welcome to Charcoalsville.

Hong Kong: Typhoon Cimaron

After forming in the western Pacific, typhoon Cimaron last weekend headed west and ripped across the Philippines (what's new?) and then churned its way into the South China Sea. Three days ago, Hong Kong Observatory raised the Number One as the said typhoon had come within 800km of a little island in the South China Sea (as well as elsewhere), and Cimaron looked like it might pose a threat hereabouts.


Fortunately, Cimaron dillied and then it dallied, before losing strength to become a mere severe tropical storm. Cimaron (Philippine wild ox) is now sedately making its way toward the Vietnamese coast.

Still, this is a bit late in the year for typhoons.

I am Mister Bijou and I also approve this message

Keep on Truckin'
Robert Crumb

I am Mister Bijou and I approve this message

Later.

Just desserts?

This week, the streets of Great Yarmouth, a seaside town in Norfolk, England, became blanketed by a considerable quantity of coarsely ground semolina grain. The road crews decided to clear it away by adding water. . .

Town gets stuck into semolina: Guardian Thanks, Gavin + Mick S!

Reading matters

Elephants with post-traumatic stress disorder? 'Fraid so. You may find this (long) article in the New York Times is more than depressing, it's heartbreaking.

Still, while there is life there is hope.

An Elephant Crackup? By Charles Siebert (registration-free link): NYT

John Cooper Clarke: kung fu international

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

Prompted by a post several weeks ago by Birmingham City football supporter and blog person Fat Buddha, Mister B went in search of a clip of the Salford performance poet John Cooper Clarke.

The video quality ain't great. . . but the words come through clear enough. From 1977:

Lantau: Mui Wo. . . planned "facelift"

(click on image to enlarge)

One of the world's most idyllic voyages is the inter-island ferry from a little island in the South China Sea to the village of Mui Wo, Lantau Island.

Nestling in Silvermine Bay, Mui Wo village was in terminal economic decline from the 1960s, but the fabric of the waterfront and beach were spiced up in the mid-1980s. In discussion since at least year 2000, Hong Kong Planning Department has finally now released "Facelift of Mui Wo".

Brothers and sisters, the proposed plans rectify some of the mistakes made in the mid-1980s as well as suggest other changes so as to create a space and place even more interesting and pleasingly aesthetic. To see what is proposed for the "facelift": concept notes (pdf)

The full map -- of which the above is but a detail -- is available in better quality here: Map 3 (pdf).

Other maps are Map 1 (pdf) and Map 2 (pdf).

For Mui Wo residents, there is a public forum at Assembly Hall, New Territories Heung Yee Kuk Southern District Secondary School, 18 Mui Wo Ferry Pier Road, Mui Wo, Lantau Island. When? Saturday, 18th November 2006, 2:15pm - 5:30pm.

Chung Yeung Festival

This coming Monday (30 October, 2006) is the ninth day of the ninth month in the Chinese calendar. In other words, Chung Yeung Festival -- another public holiday.

As this will be a long weekend, a little island in the South China Sea will be overrun with visitors from Hong Kong and Kowloon who are either (a) paying their respects to the dead and visiting the local cemeteries to give their ancestors' graves a clean, or (b) people just taking a break from life in the great metropolis.

Can't say I blame them, if Mister B lived in that high-density environment he'd come over here, too.

The chrysanthemum? It's traditional at Chung Yeung to drink chrysanthemum tea. That, or an infusion made from the flowering Chinese dogwood (zhuyu) bush.

Anyway, happy holiday to one and all!

Hong Kong: Pinochet had gold account with HSBC?

Does Chile's (ex-) right-wing dictator General Augustus Pinochet (seated with sunglasses) have nine tons of gold (appoximate value: US$160,000,000) stashed in The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd (since rebranded as HSBC)?


Pinochet's lawyer says the reports now circulating have no merit.

Pinochet, who was head of the authoritarian military council which ruled Chile from 1973-1990, instigated a brutal oppression of leftists and other political opponents in the several months after seizing power on 11 September, 1973.

Although an accurate figure will never be known, it is believed at least 2,095 murders and 1,102 "disappearances" occurred under Pinochet's watch in the first three months after the coup. Tens of thousands were detained and tortured, including Chile's current president Michelle Bachelet. More than 30,000 Chileans subsequently fled their country.

Pinochet is already under indictment on corruption, tax evasion and multiple human rights abuses charges. The tax evasion charges involve 27 million American dollars stashed in Miami's Riggs Bank.

According to the BBC, HSBC spokesman Richard Lindsay says the bank has started an investigation.

HSBC probes Pinochet gold claims: BBC News

Whether the Pinochet story is true or not, Hong Kong banks have not been averse to having dictators as clients.

Mister Bijou remembers that in the hours preceding the fall of the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos (25 February, 1989), private planes were flying backwards and forwards between Manila and Hong Kong and unloading crates on the tarmac at Kai Tak Airport. Some of those crates were in transit, others were loaded into armoured trucks and delivered to one of Hong Kong's leading note-issuing banks.

Standard Chartered Bank, anyone?

Hong Kong: Cheap thrills

Low-fare airline Oasis Hong Kong commences its non-stop service today between Hong Kong and London (Gatwick).

At start-up, Oasis has two Boeing 747-400s -- each one has 81 business and 278 economy class seats.

Oasis says 10% of all economy seats wil be priced at HK$1,000 (one way) on every flight. Otherwise, tickets are HK$2,500 or HK$3,000 (one way) depending on day and hour of departure.

Surcharges? Yes, air passenger departure tax (HK$120), fuel surchage (HK$481), security surcharge (HK$33). How much is all that? HK$634. But all the other airlines also add those charges to their advertised tariffs, too.

Flight schedule: Oasis

Homepage: Oasis Hong Kong

Update: Oasis' inaugural flight never gets off the ground because Russian officials withold permission for airline to fly through their airspace.

Hong Kong: Cultural Centre

(click on image to enlarge)

Lisi @ Hong Kong: One Photo a Day

North Korea: Country in the Dark

Korean
peninsular
by
night






At night South Korea blazes with light, but North Korea? On the bright side, North Korea is the place to go for an almost perfect absence of light pollution -- which means a superb view of the always astonishing rich panoply of twinkling stars that is the firmament.

There's more. The Internet black hole that is North Korea (registration-free link): NYT

Sunday, Sunday

This afternoon, a Scottish-kilted, tuneful, unisex, Hong Kong Chinese bagpipe band briskly marched up and down the waterfront, followed by disciplined ranks of crisply turned out Boy and Girl Scouts.

That's not all. There followed a red-jacketed brass band that preceded rows of young male and female Sea Scouts, who looked like they had just walked off a ship belonging to Her Majesty's Royal Navy. Sadly, there was no sousaphone in the ranks of the band.

More? You bet. A purple-jacketed Ruritanian-style silver band led thirty or so uniformed junior members of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade.

The whole shebang finally marched through the village square on its way to more jollies at the playground of the Rural Committee's Integrated Youth Centre, which overlooks the beach.

No photos, though. No camera.

Kronos Quartet: Requiem For a Dream

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure.

The year 2000 drug movie Requiem for a Dream has to be one of the most depressing films ever made. But then drug addiction is depressing.

The music, however, performed by Kronos Quartet is tip top. Here it is, with visuals from the Japanese video game series Final Fantasy:

Hong Kong: Nosmo King

The Smoking (Public Health) (Amendment) Bill 2005 was passed into law in the Legislative Council today, 19 October 2006.

From January 1, 2007 the vast majority of indoor areas of workplaces and public places are required to ban smoking.


This includes restaurants, offices, schools, hospitals, markets, karaokes and bars which are frequented by people of different ages

However, smokers in over-18 nightclubs, commercial bathhouses, massage establishments, and mahjong parlours have until 1 July 1, 2009.

Other no-smoking areas: hospital open areas, school open areas (including university campuses), public beaches, public swimming pools, public transport interchanges, and public escalators.

Bus stops, however, are exempt. This is a Good Thing.

Free Hugs in South Korea

Let's free hugs: youtube

Iraq: The science of counting the dead

Publication by the British medical journal The Lancet of the findings of researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the School of Medicine at Al Mustansirlya Univesity in Baghdad recently made headlines worldwide.

The researchers estimate that approximately 655,000 Iraqis have died as a result of the invasion and occupation of Iraq since March 2003, including 601,000 whose deaths involved some form of violence.

A look at how scientists figured these numbers out, how their methods compare to other counts, and whether criticism of the numbers is justified, by Rebecca Goldin Ph.D: stats.org

How the mainstream media covered The Lancet’s Iraqi casualty study? A surprising inability to convey the study’s findings accurately, by Robert Lichter Ph.D: stats.org

Evil Paradises: The Dreamworlds of Neo-Liberalism

Mike Davis is the author of a number of books including City of Quartz (about Los Angeles) and Planet of Slums (about everywhere).

In this extended essay, Davis takes a look at the gloss and glamour of the emirate of Dubai, and the fear and money which underpins what may be the fastest-growing city in the world: New Left Review

Pauline Harrison RIP

Resident of a little island in the South China Sea in the late-1970s and again in the mid-1990s, Pauline Harrison died peacefully in her sleep in a hospice in east London, England, at 9:15pm, 16 October 2006.

She was 57.

Diagnosed with colorectal cancer in October 2004, Pauline underwent extensive surgery as well as chemotherapy and then decided to forego any further intrusive medical treatment.

Instead, Pauline elected to spend whatever time was left to her enjoying life to the max with family and friends, and wrapping up her affairs.

She was great fun, a kind person, an erratic car driver, and much more besides.

The photo was taken on her last birthday -- 12 August (for the huntin' and shootin' crowd, that's the start of the grouse shooting seaon, the Glorious Twelfth).

Condolences to her family and her many other friends around the world. Pauline, thanks for everything.

Foreign bodies: Bedbugs

Confession time: Mister B has been bitten in bed more than a few times. And very nice it was, too. But bedbugs? (See left) Only thrice by bedbugs. Once in a decidely downmarket hotel in Paris' Latin Quarter, another time in an upmarket flat in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and the third and last time (fingers crossed) was in a very cheap hotel cum brothel in Tangiers. That was all a long time ago.

Now, bedbugs are making a comeback! In New York City, that is. Big time. No doubt some of those bugs will soon be making the long-haul, non-stop, trans-Pacific flights to hereabouts. That being the case, be -- as they say -- prepared. . . Everything You Need to Know About Bedbugs but Were Afraid to Ask (registration-free link): NYT

What's real in virtual China

Chinese online superstar Little Fatty aka Xiaopang and friend. For more lowdown on what's going on across the border in virtual mainland China, the très intéressant English-language Virtual China

Hong Kong: Albert Ho investigation

Hong Kong police take hoodman for walkabout in Sai Kung.







Full report: Hong Kong Standard

Ivete Sangalo: Se eu não te amasse tanto assim

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure:



Currently Brazil's most popular chanteuse, Ivete Sangalos, guest artist (?), and the audience celebrate the beautiful Se eu não te amasse tanto assim (If I Hadn't Loved You So Much).

Hong Kong: Something's in the air

Editorial in today's New York Times about Hong Kong's air (registration-free link): NYT

There are problems, however, with comparing Mexico City and Hong Kong. For instance, Hong Kong has the Pearl River Estuary -- in its backyard but across the border. This is a locality which in the past twenty years has become one of the premier workshops of the world. Yes, many of the manufacturies are Hong Kong owned. Many others are Taiwanese, South Korean, Japanese and mainland Chinese owned. Yet others are British, European and American-owned enterprises.

But most of those air-polluting plants are subcontractors for American, British, European and Japanese brands and retailers, and are funded by American, British, European and Japanese banks and finance houses. Ironically, most all of those brands, retailers, banks and finance houses have regional offices in Hong Kong. . .

Still, there are plenty of things Hong Kong can do to lower the amount and types of air pollution the city itself produces. But as long as they can get away with it, those foreign-funded subcontractors across the border in mainland China will continue to crank out local and regional air pollution as by-product in their manufactory of price-busting goods for over-extended consumers in the West.

Yippee! Profits for some, pollution for others.

Gillo Pontecorvo: RIP

Italian film director Gillo Pontecorvo died yesterday. He was old, and probably most well known as director of the film Battle of Algiers.

What a truly awesome film. Watching some sections it is easy to forget this is not newsreel but was made in Algeria soon after that country's independence. A frighteningly vivid portrait of the secular, national liberation struggle during the 1950s of the Algerians against the French colonial system, it was made in the Italian neo-realist cinematic style (with music by Ennio Morricone and Pontecorvo). The film is a classic of 20th cinema.

The Pentagon are reported to have watched the film in 2003, soon after their occupation of Baghdad started to go awry. Given how the situation there has since spiralled out of control, it is difficult to see what they learned.

Mister B saw Battle of Algiers a long time ago. The following two clips from the film are in French and have no subtitles. This is not a problem for Mister B, but may be for others. Oh, the prints are not very good. Stiil, I think a look at both clips gives a taste of the manner, pace and style of the film. Hopefully, there are prints available elsewhere with English subtitles.

Clip 1: youtube
Clip 2: youtube

Hong Kong: Albert Ho

Legislative councillor Albert Ho was the victim of a baseball-bat attack in a crowded McDonald's one Sunday afternoon some seven weeks ago.

Hong Kong police, aided by their confreres across the border, have now arrested a bunch of people. How'd they find them? Depends which newspaper you read. To see how: EastSouthWestNorth

Hong Kong: Internal Affairs

Slick, glossy, fast-paced, the film Internal Affairs starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung was a big local and regional box office success in 2002. So much so that everyone involved went on to make two rubbishy sequels (Internal Affairs 2, Internal Affairs 3).

Now comes Martin Scorsese's remake The Departed. Any good? No idea.

But Mister B can recommend the original film. Here's the trailer (with difficult-to-read English subtitles):



Andy Lau profile in yesterday's International Herald Tribune: IHT

Hong Kong: Invisible city

Hong Kong Observatory now has a new-fangled. hi-tech system for measuring visibility, or conversely invisibility, in Hong Kong's shrinking harbour. To wit, a visometer.

The enemies of visibility: Rain in the summer / Fog in the spring / Haze in the autumn / Smog? / These days -- most of the year.

HKO: the invisible made visible

Singapore: Disneyland with the death penalty

This may, or may not, be true:

Large-size woks will no longer be allowed in Singapore, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s office. The size and shape of metal woks makes it possible to illegally convert them to satellite dishes. Since Singaporeans must be protected from undesireable foreign broadcasts on hundreds of free satellite television channels, the woks must go. Plastic and glass woks will still be allowed, however.

Singapore's finest news source: Singapore Donkey. Via Hemlock

Lost in translation

One word that captures the essence of something, whereas English requires a whole batch of words? Some excellent examples: Guardian Thanks, Gavin!

Not included in the Guardian's list is the Japanese word bakkushan, for a woman who looks good from the back but not from the front. Very useful in the latitudes and longitudes east of India.

Synchronicity? EastSouthWestNorth discusses problems found in rendering into English some Cantonese slang (with accompanying photos): EastSouthWestNorth

Durian & The Double Tenth

Today
is
The
Double
Tenth
Day






The Double Tenth is celebrated in Taiwan, mainland China and the Chinese diaspora to mark the start of the Wuchang Uprising (10.10.1911). A military mutiny which within months led to the downfall of the long-lasting Chinese monarchial system and the establishment of a republic -- yes, a republic -- with democratic ideals.

The Double Tenth is, if you like, Bastille Day à la chinoise.

The Double Tenth is also the birthday of a special friend of Mister B's. Though that friend no longer lives on a little island in the South China Sea, Mister B will celebrate that anniversary with one of the world's most wonderful fruits: durian.

Durian? Yes I Know. Durian has a bad press in the West, mostly as the result of negative accounts in numerous guide books published during the past forty years and written by ignorant, prejudiced British travel writers. Such negative reports are ironic given how bad British food used to be. It wasn't always the case:

A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy.
Alfred Russel Richard Wallace. 1865. Naturalist

Mercifully, Malaysians, Thais, Indonesians and southern Chinese have never read those modern guide books, or, if they have, they continue justly proud of their own culinary preferences -- a bit like the Brits with Marmite.

Which may also show that: one person's poisson (fish) is another person's poison.

Anyway, my friend (who is European) and myself came to our love of durian independently. And then we shared the joy, for a period of time. Now, we don't. So it goes.

Mister B wonders if durian is available where my friend is currently -- a chilly part of the USA near the Canadian border. Probably not. That being the case, Mister B on a little island in the South China Sea will do double helpings.

Happy birthday, you know who you are!

Waterboarding: A User's Guide

Khmer Rouge waterboard (Tuol Sleng Prison, Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

The Japanese used waterboarding against Allied soldiers during World War II. Waterboarding was used around 1968 by U S soldiers interrogating captured North Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. Later on, Cambodia's Khmer Rouge used waterboarding against supposed class enemies.

More recently, the Americans are reported to have used waterboarding against alleged members of Al-Qaeda including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- the supposed mastermind of the aerial attack against financial, military and political targets in the USA on 11 September, 2001.

Usually, a towel is positioned over the (often blindfolded) detainee's mouth. The Americans, however, are reported to have used taped Saran-wrap, which muffles the detainee and has the further advantages of blocking oral breathing as well as impeding the expulsion of water by way of the mouth.

Either way, because your head is lower than your feet, the water courses down your nostrils and fills the back of your throat. Sooner or later you are going to have to swallow that water. You can't get away from the water because you are tied down. It's difficult to breathe, and the water is going into your stomach, or ends up in your lungs.

By all accounts, it doesn't take long to give in - about two and a half minutes, about as long as you can hold your breath. And while there is water, your torturer can repeat the procedure all day.

Photo (above) and more about the history and uses of waterboarding: david corn

In watermelon sugar

There used to be a hawker at the night food market on the waterfront of a little island in the South China Sea, who sold slices of watermelon. Delicious!

Even more so if you followed a local custom of lightly sprinkling the watermelon slices with some salt.

Result? Sweet and sour in one heavenly bite. Plus, but this may have been an old wives' tale, the addition of a small amount of salt was said to ward off diarrhoea.

Watermelons are believed to have originated in southern Africa, but by 1000AD they had arrived in China. They are hugely popular there, Mister B in Beijing in 1984 saw truckloads of watermelons pouring into the city everyday during the hot summer. China is the world's largest producer of watermelons, it is a humongous big business.

Here is a fascinating article about how Chinese peasant farmers have learned how to switch on a computer, gone on-line, and are now using the Internet to market their juicy watermelons. Beijing Times article translated into English by: EastSouthWestNorth

Vitas: Blessed guru

For the weekend, a guilty pleasure:



That was in 2002. Since when, Latvian-born Russian countertenor Vitas has abandoned his Ziggy Stardust personna, put on weight, and let his hair grow, somewhat.

Running the gamut from eccentric techno to classical music, Vitas performed in Beijing in mid-June and there is talk he will do shows in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand in 2007. . .

Official website (English):
Vitas -- The Artist Who Has Been Waited For
Chinese fan site: Vitas中国在线

Hong Kong: Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

Tonight is the night to go up on high ground and admire the full moon. Only thing is, there is a thick carpet of cloud covering a little island in the South China Sea.

No matter; full of mooncake, Mister B will go to the beach to peer intently.

Oh, for times of Hong Kong's Mid-Autumn moonrise, transit and moonset: go here.

The NTSCMP Affair: Final Words

Regarding lack of access to ntscmp.com, Mister B sent an email to PCCW Netvigator's Tech Support on Thursday, 14 September. That elicited a standard Netvigator autobot reply. From Customer Service (?):

Many thanks for writing to us. This message serves as an acknowledgement that your mail has been received. A response to your enquiry will be provided within two working days.

Mister B then received another Netvigator autobot reply on Saturday, 16 September. From Tech Support:

With regards to your message, kindly be informed that we have passed your concern to our relevant department for investigation. Once they have completed the findings, we will get back to you.

Could this be a corporate run-around? Be that as it may, Mister B was unwilling to wait any longer -- and made a first post in the late afternoon of 18 September about the apparent blocking by PCCW Netvigator of ntscmp.com

Lo and behold, today (6 October) a reply from Netvigator:

I am writing in response to your previous enquiry about accessing "http://ntscmp.com", kindly be informed that the situation is resolved. Please kindly try again.

A Netvigator reply which isn't half as interesting as the one sidekick got on 3 October (scroll down comments):

With regards to your last email about the website (www.ntscmp.com). Inform by our backend engineering department, the problem had been resolved. Please kindly try to access again.

Backend engineering department?

Hong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority (ofta) was somewhat prompter. Its reply arrived on 5 October:

With reference to your earlier complaint on blocking of access at the website www.ntscmp.com, we would like to reply as follow:
This Office has made enquiries to PCCW-IMS Limited and Hutchison Global Communications Limited regarding the issue. However, there is no evidence showing that they have wilfully blocked the website "www.ntscmp.com".
Therefore, this Office cannot take any regulatory action under the Telecommunications Ordinance at this stage. We will continue to monitor the situation.

So what did Netvigator's backend engineering department do? Or undo? Whatever. It's done. Case closed, final words, et cetera. Thanks!

Hong Kong: Brave New World

Hong Kong's English-language bi-monthly bc Magazine has an excellent article by Hamish McKenzie on the local Chinese- and English-language blogospheres.

Many of the mentioned blogs have been previously linked here, and there is also passing reference to Yours Truly: bc Magazine

Tornado watch: Brighton division

Brighton, last Sunday afternoon:

"I could see the tornado about a mile off out to sea. I thought that it would back off but it just kept coming in. It must have stretched about 1,000ft into the sky and it was about 150ft wide at its base. It seemed to be throwing up water and other debris as it moved along the seafront and all the seagulls were flying away from it as it came in."

Short video clip: Brighton & Hove Argus Thanks, Gavin!

Tornado report: Guardian

Battle of Cable Street, 1936

Today is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. That was when Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, attemped to lead a march through Stepney in London's East End. Stepney was, at that time, predominantly a Jewish area.

Thousands of anti-fascists, anarchists, communists, Jews and residents of London's East End had other ideas. Coinciding with General Franco's murderous siege of Spanish republican Madrid, the overwhelmingly working-class anti-fascists painted the slogan ‘No Pasaran’ ('They Shall Not Pass') all over East London.

Fascism is still alive and well in the UK. Troubling article in today's Guardian about extreme right-wing thugs who target, intimidate and physically attack journalists, trade unionists and other opponents in Britain of the far right: Redwatch web of hate

News reel footage of the Battle of Cable Street: youtube

Colliding with death at 37,000 feet

A contributor to the New York Times' business-traveller section, Joe Sharkey was a passenger on the Embrace 600 business jet that collided with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon jungle last Friday afternoon. Here is his account (registration-free link): NYT Thanks, Nick G!

The NTSCMP Affair: Access all routes?

Looks like the PCCW Netvigator lack of access to ntscmp.com is now resolved. It would be instructive to know how and by what means that was achieved.

Hong Kong: National Day

(click on image to enlarge)
Make your own comic strip: Commix

Hugo Chavez: Show me the video of the night they took me away

Two independent filmmakers were inside the presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela on April 11, 2002, when president Hugo Chávez was forcibly removed from office. The Irish film crew were also present 48 hours later when, remarkably, Chávez returned to power amid cheering aides.

It's gripping stuff:



The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (75 min)

The NTSCMP Affair: Apple Daily

Thoughful opinion piece by Insider about Not the South China Morning Post, PCCW's Netvigator, and Hutchison Global Communications: Apple Daily

For English translation: EastSouthWestNorth

Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006)

The US already has its own gulag in the tropics (Guantanamo Bay). Now, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales et al have further adjusted the legal code to deal with anyone designated враг народа (that's pronounced: vrag naroda), aka "Enemy of the People".

No more habeas corpus.

Who'd have thought it?

Molly Ivins: Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215-2006)

Hong Kong: water buffalo

(Thanks for photo, Barb!)

Middle of this week a half a dozen or so water buffalo at Pui O, South Lantau were rounded up, immobilised with tranquiliser darts, and had their legs tied together. The water buffalo were then lifted onto a lorry, after which the lorry took off for parts unknown. It is believed the water buffalo are to be turned into pet food and glue.

The "cull", for that is how it is explained, was all done officially. Apparently, the herd has too many buffalo. Oh, yeah?

Some at Pui O would like to get rid of all the water buffalo. Fortunately, there are more enlightened spirits who are determined to save these amiable animals: Lantau Buffalo Association

Lots of locals and visitors love the water buffalo, too. Check out Google blog search: water buffalo Lantau

Hong Kong: National Day

Ready, steady, go . . . the weekend starts here. And as National Day -- 1 October -- this year falls on Sunday, Monday is a public holiday.

The NTSCMP Affair: Hong Kong Internet Society

A couple of days ago Mister Bijou made a post which included a link to a technical report on Charles Mok's blog. The report (in Chinese and English) by Hong Kong Internet Society professionals and technical experts contains their findings on ntscmp.com. The report is followed by several comments, including one by Mr Mok that includes:

2. We used "telnet www.ntscmp.com 80" to test from a Netvigator connection, and we can connect to the site for a very short moment, and then the connection was closed gracefully. So it is most possible that the end site (ntscmp.com) accepts and then closes the connection.
3. Normally, such situation of a connection being caused to terminate gracefully is due to the end site trying to block certain IP addresses from accessing it, most usually because they know they are from hackers or their messages may contain viruses. (But we cannot say definitively that this is the case here.)
4. We were not blocked from accessing the end site (because it did connect momentarily), so it is definitive that Netvigator did not block the end site's IP address from its end (i.e. firewall blocking).
5. On reading tcpdump log from the connection to ntscmp.com, we found that the instruction to close the connection was a "FIN" packet that was issued from somewhere every time we made a connection to ntscmp.com.
6. Such a "FIN" packet can be issued by any privileged user from any of the segments between ntscmp.com and Netvigator (or HGC). The only way to find out would be for us to be able to put a sniffer on first ntscmp.com and then on possible each segment in better Netvigator (or HGC) and ntscmp.com. But, since ntscmp.com is in the U.S., and we do not have any way to actually put a sniffer on the network segment, we are unable to try to identify the source of the "FIN" packet.

"FIN", presumably means "Finish". Yes? That's to say, when you point and click your browser (A) you send a "GET" command to ntscmp.com (B) -- but somewhere on the return trip between (or at) B and A a "FIN" command is issued and closes the connection, hence the blank screen. Yes?

But why is the return trip "FIN" command at or before B only seeming to kick in after a "GET" command from A, that A being Netvigator and Hutchison Global Communications IP addresses? Why isn't the return trip "FIN" command at or before B kicking in after a "GET" command from other IP addresses elsewhere on the planet? That isn't happening.

That puzzles me. Can anyone clarify for this semi-educated online user why "FIN" kicks in for some IP addresses but not for others?

And, given that for every problem. . . people say. . . there is a solution. . . can what has been "done" with FIN be "undone"? Can we, in a manner of speaking, finish with FIN?

Thank you. Mister Bijou salutes you.

Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival: 6 October, 2006

Book your seats for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, aka Moon Festival, aka Lantern Festival:













(click on image to enlarge)

Times of moonrise, transit and moonset:

On Thursday, 5 October
-----------------------
Moonrise at 4.51 pm
Transit at 10.53 pm
(Elevation 64 degrees)
Moonset at 5.02 am (next morning)

On Friday, 6 October (Mid-Autumn Festival)
------------------------------------------
Moonrise at 5.30 pm
Transit at 11.45 pm
(Elevation 71 degrees)
Moonset at 6.06 am (next morning)

On Saturday, 7 October
----------------------
Full Moon at 11.13 am
(below the horizon of HK)
Moonrise at 6.09 pm
Transit at 0.37 am (next morning)
(Elevation 79 degrees)
Moonset at 7.12 am (next morning)

Bill Clinton on Fox News (aka Faux News)

The Chris Wallace interview with Bill Clinton shown on Fox News on Sunday? Before the pre-recorded programme was broadcast, the right-wing Fox spin had already begun and was picked up by mainstream mass media: "Clinton gets very upset. Clinton finger wags. Clinton goes ballistic. Clinton is angry. Clinton is confrontational." This was before they had seen the interview.

Watch Clinton and make up your own mind: youtube

After which, there is the consistently funny The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: youtube

The NTSCMP Affair.

Did Richard Li's PCCW Netvigator and papa Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Global Communications block with malicious intent the English-language satirical website Not the South China Morning Post (ntscmp.com)? There is/was a prima facie case, after all. For details see previous posts.

Or, has some other commercial enterprise with another sort of malicious intent either hi-jacked or compromised in some way the IP address of ntscmp.com -- 69.49.101.19 [reverse DNS - hostedc10.megawebservers.com]. In that case, so as to launch the occasional phishing expedition and other forms of online fraud?

Based on some suberb detective work by EastSouthWestNorth, Mister B suspects the latter is looking increasingly likely. For why that is, please visit: EastSouthWestNorth or ESWN

Other than the evidence presented there, ESWN also has a report furnished by well-known IT expert Charles Mok. The report will be of interest to those of a technical bent: report.

What else? Having read a translation of the report in the Chinese-language mainstream media Apple Daily -- no friend of the Li family commercial empire -- on 22 September, one was waiting with some excitement to reading some more in the English-language newspapers South China Morning Post (paid subscription; no link) or Hong Kong's The Standard.

Nothing yet, though.

All we have is this, according to NTSCMP (via proxy server):

". . .South China Morning Post reacted to the NTSCMP censorship story by booting it quickly downhill to a columnist in the Business department who then got instructions to spike it."

Would that be SCMP's Lai See column?

As for The Standard:

"The Standard's local news team on the other hand seems to be a man, his girlfriend and a bicycle these days."

Erh, discuss.

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (VIII)

The NTSCMP Affair.

DNS Query Results:

; <<>> DiG 9.3.1 <<>> any ntscmp.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 15162 ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 4, AUTHORITY: 3, ADDITIONAL: 3

;; QUESTION SECTION: ;ntscmp.com. IN ANY

;; ANSWER SECTION:
ntscmp.com. 86383 IN A 69.49.101.19 ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns3.meganameservers.com. ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns1.meganameservers.com. ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns2.meganameservers.com.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns3.meganameservers.com. ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns1.meganameservers.com. ntscmp.com. 86383 IN NS ns2.meganameservers.com.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
ns1.meganameservers.com. 110847 IN A 216.251.32.100 ns2.meganameservers.com. 27487 IN A 216.251.32.101 ns3.meganameservers.com. 110847 IN A 64.29.144.65

;; Query time: 2 msec
;; SERVER: 216.69.160.1#53(216.69.160.1)
;; WHEN: Sat Sep 23 11:42:39 2006
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 204

Results courtesy of Kify DNS Query Tool

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (VII)

The NTSCMP Affair. Does anyone know how to interpret: "probable bogus rDNS: no DNS"

09/23/06 12:43:17 Fast traceroute ntscmp.com

Trace ntscmp.com (69.49.101.19) ...
1 219.77.167.254 21ms 22ms 25ms TTL: 0 (pcd-vta8-1-rx.netvigator.com ok)
2 219.76.125.106 21ms 21ms 25ms TTL: 0 (n219076125106.netvigator.com ok)
3 219.76.107.17 25ms 162ms 25ms TTL: 0 (n219076107017.netvigator.com ok)
4 218.102.39.202 23ms 18ms 24ms TTL: 0 (pcd507202.netvigator.com ok)
5 63.218.115.17 22ms 27ms 25ms TTL: 0 (ge5-9.br01.hkg04.pccwbtn.net probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
6 154.54.11.233 192ms 187ms 185ms TTL: 0 (g4-9.core01.sjc03.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
7 154.54.6.81 188ms 247ms 184ms TTL: 0 (v3490.mpd01.sjc01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
8 154.54.2.53 293ms 334ms 194ms TTL: 0 (t7-1.mpd02.sfo01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
9 154.54.6.37 223ms 227ms 275ms TTL: 0 (t2-1.mpd01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
10 154.54.5.205 223ms 227ms 229ms TTL: 0 (g9-0-0.core01.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
11 66.28.4.34 241ms 237ms 236ms TTL: 0 (p5-0.core02.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
12 66.28.4.214 249ms 256ms 254ms TTL: 0 (p5-0.core01.yyz01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
13 154.54.5.78 * 257ms 257ms TTL: 0 (v3491.mpd01.yyz01.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
14 154.54.5.86 256ms * * TTL: 0 (v3493.mpd01.yyz02.atlas.cogentco.com probable bogus rDNS: No DNS)
15 No Response * * *
16 No Response * * *
17 No Response * * *
18 No Response * * *
19 No Response * * *
20 No Response * * *

Traceroute done using Sam Spade

For further news about The NTSCMP Affair: EastSouthWestNorth snd ESWN

Update: see also Hong Kong: Internet censorship (II)

Looking through a lens

One 9/11 picture, thousands of words: Rorschach of meanings.

. . . their simplistic reading of the image, however mistaken in the view of those in it, is more naïve than malicious. Their translation is not absurd and can be supported by elements in the image. The meanings of photographs are inherently unstable. Without captions to nail down who, what, why, where, when, they tend to drift away into the inscrutable oblivion--one reason the medium was so beloved by the surrealists.

By Richard B Woodward: Wall Street Journal

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (VI)

Apple Daily, Hong Kong's Chinese-language, mass circulation newspaper, covers The NTSCMP Affair:

Tycoon Li Ka-shing and his second son Richard Li may not coordinate with each too well in business, but they are unified against outside insults. A website critical of the Li's appears to have been blocked by Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Global Communications and Richard Li's Netvigator.

Read: Apple Daily

Read an English translation: EastSouthWestNorth

Thanks, Roland!

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (V)

Update: EastSouthWestNorth has dubbed it "The NTSCMP Affair".

But who knows how Apply Daily, Hong Kong's mass circulation Chinese-language newspaper, will headline it? Should know soon enough. Mister B has it on good authority -- an email from an impeccable source -- that Hong Kong's Apple Daily will run a story about The NTSCMP Affair on Friday, 22 September 2006.

Well, Apply Daily says it will. Time will tell.

The NTSCMP Affair: the inability of Hong Kong's PCCW ISP Netvigator and HGC Broadband customers to access the satirical, English-language website Not the South China Morning Post: ntscmp.com

Mister B confesses he is not a regular online reader of NTSCMP. But if, and it is if, if two of Hong Kong's largest ISPs are blocking a website such a blockage sets a dangerous precedent. And if that is the case, it is the thin edge of the wedge. After this one, who's next?

And me I thought GFW only applied on the other side of the border: Great Firewall of China

Oh, regarding the words in the photo accompanying the previous post, they are:

"If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

Thank you.

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (IV)

Concerning the apparent blocking of satirical website ntscmp.com by PCCW's ISP Netvigator, Mister B sent an email last week to Netvigator's Technical Support. Other than the auto-reply to acknowledge receipt, Netvigator has not yet responded in any meaningful way.

On 18 September 2006, Mister B emailed Hong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority. The email address, by the way, is: consumercomplaint@ofta.gov.hk

Tuesday, 19 September 2006, Mister B received the following from OFTA:

Mr [Bijou],

Thank you for your email below.
We are now looking into the matter you raised and will reply to you as soon as possible.
Should you have any enquiries about our handling of your case, please feel free to contact Mr Danny xxxx at 2961 xxxx (and then press 3 for English, follow by 7, 2, and wait for the voice instruction to enter the first 7 digits of your case reference number)
Regards,
(Miss xxxx xxxx)
for Director-General of Telecommunications

The content of Mister B's email to OFTA was adapted from that published on ntscmp. The satirical ntscmp.com (Not the South China Morning Post) continues to be inaccessible to this Netvigator subscriber.

You may have better luck: ntscmp.com
No good? Try this proxy: browesatcollege
You can also find ntscmp's letter: here

What else? The very excellent Roland Soong (ESWN) today reports that he finds himself in the middle of an "internet storm in which I do not possess precise informatin." (sic) Further on, he has some very pertinent questions. According to ESWN, the "NTSCMP Affair" has now also been picked up by the very active local Chinese-speaking online community on various forums and blogs. Highly recommended read: EastSouthWestNorth

Maybe Richard Li's PCCW Netvigator and his dad Li-Kashing's HGC Broadband are stricken by some sort of technical problem. Mister B would be alarmed if this is something more sinister: the extension of the techniques of the GFW (Great Firewall of China) to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. If that is the case, paramount leader and bridge player Deng Xiaoping, he of "One country, two systems", will have reason to spin in his grave.

Thailand: uniform pr0n

(click on image to enlarge)
Pix: 2bangkok
flikr
garun

The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics

Military coup in Thailand? It wouldn"t be the first time.

Currently, things are somewhat in flux. The English-language online Bangkok Post is either too busy or someone has pulled the plug (doesn't prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra own the telecoms in Thailand?).

Still, it's a bit late in the day for Thaksin to read a 1960s classic about the role of the military in politics, by Samuel Finer: questa

Bob Dylan: Modern Times

Who’s This Guy Dylan Who’s Borrowing Lines From Henry Timrod? (registration-free link): NYT

The Ballad of Henry Timrod, by Suzanne Vega (registration-free link): NYT

Here, Suzanne, here. Modern Times lyrics and annotations

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (part III)

Notwithstanding traceroute reports that stall in North America -- see previous post and EastSouthWestNorth -- I have it on good authority that Not the South China Morning Post remains accessible from outside Hong Kong.

Inside Hong Kong is another matter. Here, the website continues inaccessible for web-users who use the services of Hong Kong ISPs PCCW and HGC Broadband.

Testing, testing, testing. . . one, two, three: ntscmp
See? Blank page? Use this: browseatcollege

Are you inside or outside Hong Kong? Is Not the South China Morning Post accessible or not? It would be mighty useful to know more. How about leaving a yes or no report and where you are located (country will do) in the Comment box? Go on, please. Thank you.

Hong Kong: Internet censorship (part II)

Yesterday's post has now been picked up by Raymond Roland Soong of the mass circulation blog EastSouthWestNorth. First as a link, and then as a full post. Worth a read, highly recommended. Thanks, EastSouthWestNorth!

Included in EastSouthWestNorth's post is a tracert that suggests something is happening in North America.

Mister B, inspired by EastSouthWestNorth's example, has now also run several traceroutes. Here are two. The first is from UCLA Berkley to ntscmp.com:

(click on image to enlarge)

The second traceroute is from Hong Kong's HGC (Hutchison Global Communications) to ntscmp.com:
(click on image to enlarge)

As you can see, both traceroutes putter to a halt in North America. What gives? Anyone have any ideas? Yet one is still able to access ntscmp.com -- whose webserver is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- by using a proxy server: browseatcollege

Puzzling.

One last thing, EastSouthWestNorth is a lot more circumspect in reporting than has been Mister B. Perhaps Mister B has been hasty. But when it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, quacks like a duck, et cetera. . . As they say elsewhere, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

Fair and balanced? Stay tuned.

Oh, for traceroute aficianados: bgp4

Hong Kong: Internet censorship

[Update: It looks like] Hong Kong's largest telecommunications company PCCW sometime last week took the decision to deny its ISP Netvigator customers access to the website Not the South China Morning Post: ntscmp

Alarm bells! Alarm bells!

NTSCMP's website operates from a webserver in Florida, however, and is still accessble from non-Netvigator accounts in Hong Kong as well as by web users outside Hong Kong: ntscmp

PCCW (and the ISP Netvigator) is owned by Richard Li, son of Li Ka-shing. It has now emerged that HGC Broadband has also blocked its customers from accessing NTSCMP. HGC Broadband is owned by Richard Li's father. Li Ka-shing.

The Li family, father and son. Are we beginning to see a pattern here?

One is accustomed to reading about websites being blocked by the authorities in China. It is therefore very alarming to discover identical tactics are now employed in Hong Kong. If the agency is different, the result is the same: Internet censorship.

Try it yourself, but Netvigator account users will just bring up a white screen: ntscmp Netvigator customers' access to ntscmp via proxy server: browseatcollege

Mister B emailed Netvigator last Friday, but has yet to receive a meaningful explanation.

Here is something else. A suggested letter to Hong Kong's Office of the Telecommunications Authority:

I am a subscriber of PCCW's Netvigator service.
Recently, I have attempted to access the website www.ntscmp.com but was unable to.
At first, I thought the website was down. But then it came to my attention that the website was still running, but it had been blocked by PCCW. I was prevented by PCCW from accessing ntscmp.com from my Netvigator account. I confirmed this by accessing the website at work, and found it to be working normally.
The administrator of ntscmp.com claims the site is being purposely blocked by PCCW. HGC have also blocked the site.
I am very upset that PCCW has decided to censor what I may access on the internet. I am a paying subscriber and I am entitled to access any internet site I wish. I cannot easily switch to another service provider, as I live in Causeway Bay and there are few others.
Please do something about this at once. I believe PCCW may be in violations of its licence conditions.

Netvigator users and HGC Broadband subscribers and other readers to adapt this letter and send an e-mailed copy to: consumercomplaint@ofta.gov.hk as soon as possible. Thank you.

Please read updates: Part II and Part III and Part IV and Part V and Part VI and Part VII and Part VIII, and finally (?) The NTSCMP Affair: Hong Kong Internet Society.

Pete McCarthy: travellin' man

This will be of interest to those who knew M and Barb when they lived on a little island in the South China Sea, and met their friend Pete McCarthy when he used to visit them. Brighton & Hove: Pete McCarthy Thanks, Barb!

Hong Kong: earthquake epicentre

Update: for information about the earthquake in late December 2006 which disrupted telecommunications in Hong Kong and much else of East Asia, please click on "earthquake" in Labels (below, scroll down). Thank you.



(click on image to enlarge)


According to Hong Kong Observatory, the epicentre of the earth tremor was in the region of Dangan Island (Dangan Dao), south-southeast of Hong Kong.

Looking around, an abstract published in December 1997 in International Union of Geological Sciences says Dangan Island is on a major fault zone and "is inferred to have the possibility of generating destructive earthquakes". IUGS

Oh, yeah? Mister B will take his chance. However, now that we know, if there is another violent shake of Mother Earth, Mister B, who spent some time in Los Angeles some years ago, will go into San Andreas Fault Earthquake Drill Mode: if the earth begins to tremble, grab yr shoes and a flashlight and crouch in a doorway.

Hong Kong: earthquake

A few minutes before eight this evening my building shook, me within it. Had we been rammed by a big bulldozer? A big and silent bulldozer? I swear the building shuddered an inch one way and then sprang back to its regular position as CDs rattled on the shelves. Then everything went back to normal, whatever that is.

Now, here's a press release from Hong Kong Observatory:

A minor earth tremor was recorded by the Hong Kong Observatory at 7:53 p.m. today (Thursday, 14 September 2006).
A number of local residents from various part of the territory reported to have felt this tremor, the duration of which was a few seconds. According to these reports, the intensity of the tremor was estimated to be iv (four) on the modified Mercalli Scale of xii (twelve).
Preliminary analysis placed the epicentre of this earth tremor over the sea near Dangan Island, about 36 kilometres south-southeast of Hong Kong. The magnitude was estimated to be 3.5 on the Richter Scale.

Three point five? Shake and shudder.

Head above the parapet

No need for alarm. Got whacked out what with one thing and another. Head now back above the parapet.

9/11 in a Movie-Made World

We knew it was coming. Not, as conspiracy theorists imagine, just a few top officials among us, but all of us -- and not for weeks or months, but for more than half a century before September 11, 2001.

By Tom Engelhardt: TomDispatch

Roy's people

Roy's people? That's Roy Orbison, he of the dark shades, thick mane of hair, and Only the Lonely, Runnin' Scared, In Dreams. His people?

The Shenandoah is not a bar. It's not a tavern. It's a beer joint. The kind that does cash-only business and scratches hard for every nickel it turns. And lately, it is about the only place in my life slowed down and dumbed down enough to honestly relax. It takes a couple of hours. Nearly everyone here on this Sunday morning lives or grew up within blocks of the place and feels most at home here -- which is not unlike myself, who used to sell newspapers on the corner here at age 12 and who, if the light is right, can imagine that pale, scruffy youngster shouting Paaaaaapers! NoozPaaaaaapers! Such nostalgia eases the frustrated wildness in old men.

By the terrific Joe Bageant: counterpunch

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

Something for the weekend? Acts I and II of Spike Lee's documentary When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts covers the before, during and after of hurricane Katrina; the subsequent collapse of New Orleans' levee system; and the terrible flooding and devastation of the city. Some of the newsreel clips will be familiar to anyone who followed those events on TV or online. To view youtube installements of Acts I and II, please go via Lenin's Tomb

During an American TV donation telethon five days after the hurricane, rapper Kanye West abandoned what was rolling down his teleprompter and gave a somewhat disjointed but passionate speech that ended: "George Bush don't care about black people."

Kanye West telling it like it is, next to a puppet named Mike Myers (who's he?): youtube

Not just black people, Kanye. Not as evidenced in Acts III and IV, which have some truly jaw-dropping moments documenting the year since and what has happened in New Orleans. And what hasn't happened. A sample: youtube
To view all the youtubes for Acts III and IV, please go via Lenin's Tomb

Hong Kong: Latin dance finale

Cha cha ching! The plaintiff, HSBC Private Bank Asia Regional Chief Executive Officer Monica Wong, 61, and the defendants, Latin Dance teachers Mirko Saccani, 31, and his wife, Gaynor Fairweather, 49, appeared before Hong Kong's High Court in mid-June.



Now the High Court has finallly spoken: the defendants to repay the plaintiff the money she paid upfront in 2004: HK$62,000,000. That, plus interest.

Whether the defendants still have the money is not clear. Full report: Hong Kong Standard

New view of a little island in the South China Sea

Google Map has updated the satellite image of a little island in the South China Sea. Zoom in and, among other things, you can now see the swimming pontoons and shark prevention nets on Tung Wan and Kwun Yam beaches. (Oh, that circular thing between the two beaches is the heli-pad for the air ambulance). Awesome!

The image is awesome, that is, not the shark prevention nets. The shark nets are completely unnecessary. They were installed because along the inshore eastern waters of Hong Kong a shark (or sharks), some years ago, took to grabbing the occasional early morning Chinese takeaway.

As there would have been an outcry (putting the public at risk!) if the nets were not installed at all public beaches, the nets were therefore installed everywhere. Nevermind that at swimming bays on the western side of Hong Kong no shark had ever been seen, let alone registered as causing any fatality.

Why the occurence of sharks in the clear eastern waters but their absence in the soupy waters of the west? As far as I can tell, sharks value their health, and the health of their offspring, and would not swim in waters which were thick with the particulates gushing out of the nearby Pearl River estuary. Sigh. . .

Google Map

The Guardian: now you see it, now you don't

Monday, The Guardian carried an op-ed by Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister. Based on the first paragraph, the deputy prime minister needs to promptly see his doctor so as to change his medication.

For reason's best known to itself, The Guardian placed the Peres op-ed in the Comment is Free section. And comments there were, plenty of comments. More than two hundred and fifty, until The Guardian closed and 'disappeared' the Peres op-ed and the comments it generated from CIF as well as from the Most Active table.

Perhaps the disappearance had to do with phone calls from an angry Israeli Embassy? Who knows.

For the time being, however, Peres + Comments is still accessible, if you dig around: CIF

Sleazy, Humiliated, Despised

Ross McKibbin on New Labour’s terminal decline: London Review of Books

Attack of the killer ray

Current management principles for stingray injuries: NSW Sea Kayak Club

Step this way, please

Ten spectacular sporting entrances: Observer/Guardian
Thanks, Mick S!

Where’s Mao? Chinese revise history books

Mao's almost out. . . a lot of other changes too, many of them fresh and surprising (registration-free link): NYT

In praise of the pomegranate

This weekend on a little island in the South China Sea, Mister B's fruit and veg lady is selling pomegranates. Retail? HK$8.00.

They come, so I am told, from Guangdong province.

A quick search online reveals, however, that the 'best' pomegranates in China come from Shandong province.

Shandong, you will recall, is the home of Tsingtao Beer -- a beverage first brewed in 1903 by some thirsty Germans in the city of the same name in what was then a German concession. Pomegranates, on the other hand, originated in the country formerly known as Persia.

Be all that as it may, Mister B's relatively locally-grown pomegranate is very good, although a little sharp (like grapefruit). It also has lots of antioxidant whatnot and other healthy properties: wikipedia

Other facts unearthed thanks to an online search: (a) the city of Granada in Andalusia, Spain, derives its name from the Moorish word for the pomegranate, gárnata; (b) likewise the hand grenade because it looks like one.

Plus, the pomegranate has all sorts of sacred meanings, medicinal, and heraldic uses, according to the British Medical Association Journal (scroll down): bmj

Not bad for eight dollars Hong Kong, eh?

When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts

Must-see.
Spike Lee documentary.
Acts I and II.
(In youtube installments, who knows how long they will be up)
via Lenin's Tomb

20th-century music: 25 reasons to reconsider

Tim Page offers 25 recordings of classical music of the 20th century: Washington Post
via aworks

Food politics, the omnivore's dilemma

Once upon a time, so long ago, Mister B sauntered into a supermarket in Crouch End, London. So far, so good. But then he crashed to a halt. It was an arresting experience: one of the supermarket's shelves had a long row of blue tins that were, verily, rhythmically pulsing a day-glo bright blue colour.

Perhaps that had something to do with the hallucinogenic he had ingested an hour or two earlier.

But those eight-ounce tins of Heinz Baked Beans. . . identical, innumerable. . . temporarily neon-light bright. . . where did they come from? And inside the tins, what kind of beans were they? Where did they, you know, grow?

Thus began an alchemical quest to discover the true nature of things. It lasted a couple of weeks, until another distraction interfered. That might have been psilocybin or a girl named Lesley. Or, psilocybin and Lesley. Who knows? It's a long time ago. Anyway, it was only later, much later, that the truth about baked beans became known: baked beans

Elsewhere, a cornucopia of new books tells us where our food comes from. By Tom Philpott, good read: grist