World Consumer Rights Day marked in China

As reported by CFP/Xinhua on 16 March 09…
Officers from the local drug administration spray diesel on a giant pile of confiscated fake cigarettes in Weishi county, central China’s Henan Province, March 15, 2009. More than 30,000 packs of fake cigarettes worth 1.2 million yuan were burned in an event to crack down on counterfeit products during World Consumer Rights Day in Weishi county.
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So, for sure not “World Environment Day”. When will those people learn? Diesel to burn all this, pollution, CO2. Agreed, nice picture. All to show the “leaders” are doing a great job. Not as good as CCTV Hotel though, now that was a real good fire. Way for improvement!

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

All this talk about “stimulus packages” and “bailouts”…
A billion dollars…
A hundred billion dollars…
Eight hundred billion dollars…
One TRILLION dollars…
A newspaper article indicated that if we spent a million dollars a day every day since Christ was born (over two thousand years ago), we will not have spent a trillion dollars.
Click on the Link below.  At the end of the presentation there are step-by-step calculations and dimensions for those who may be interested.
See: http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

Where have all the leaders gone?

Got this recently through my mail. To be honest, no idea where it came from and not sure this is for real. Also won’t buy the book. But, makes some interesting and puzzling reading! No comments…
Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it’s death throes? He’s now 82 years old and has a new book, ‘Where Have All The Leaders  Gone?’ and here are some excerpts.
Lee Iacocca Says:
leeiacoccabook Real book? Like the cigar though!
‘Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s  happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody  murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But  instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the  politicians say, ‘Stay the course.’
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned ‘Titanic’. I’ll give you a sound bite: ‘Throw all the bums out!’
You might think I’m getting senile,  that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.
The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While  we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to  know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pom-poms’ instead of asking hard  questions. That’s not the promise of the ‘America’ my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have. The  Biggest ‘C’ is Crisis ! (Iacocca elaborates on nine C’s of leadership, with crisis being the first.)
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is  forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve  never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
On September 11, 2001, we needed a  strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A hell of a mess so here’s where we  stand.
We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving.
We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country.
We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs.
Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble.
Our borders are like sieves.
The middle class is being squeezed every which way.
These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: ‘Where  have all the leaders gone?’ Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the  point.
Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo?
We’ve spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.
Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane or demanding accountability for  the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm.
Everyone’s hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn’t happen again. Now, that’s just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you’re going to do the next time.
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when ‘The Big Three’ referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to  do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call  them a name? Give me a break. Why don’t you guys show some spine for a change?
Had Enough? Hey, I’m not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I’m trying to light a fire. I’m speaking out because  I have hope – I believe in America. In my lifetime, I’ve had the privilege  of living through some of America ‘s greatest moments. I’ve also  experienced some of our worst crises: The ‘Great Depression,’ ‘World War  II,’ the ‘Korean War,’ the ‘ Kennedy Assassination,’ the ‘Vietnam War,’ the 1970’s oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with  9/11.
If I’ve learned one thing, it’s this: ‘You don’t  get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to  take action. Whether it’s building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. That’s the challenge  I’m raising in this book. It’s a call to ‘Action for people who, like me,  believe in America ‘. It’s not too late, but it’s getting pretty close. So  let’ s shake off the crap and go to work. Let’s tell ’em all we’ve had  ‘enough.’
Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone  you know and care about. It’s our country, folks, and it’s our future. Our future is at stake!!

More action on the Gongti Strip

On 28 March 09 China Daily reported the opening of one more disco nightclub on the Gongti Strip, see the full article below, including the pic of what seems to be two “Balinghou”.
I am constantly amazed by the ignorance of some expats and local Chinese on what is really happening in the turbulent Beijing nightlife. I am writing my book on Chinese society and I mention the incredible changes in society with the new “Balinghou and Jiulinghou” generations, I am challenged by those people who often have no clue on how those new generations act and think. Not that all are the same, obviously. But a late night visit to discos in Gongti Xi Lu might be an eye opener. “We Chinese don’t go to bars, we Chinese don’t stay up so late”. Yeah. Just pop up on the Strip at 3 am and you’ll see. As for how they think, well, there are some (other) China Daily articles that might bring a light into your darkness. As I said in one of my recent articles, better to carefully check the younger graduates out before hiring them. Some can be great but some have, as the older (Chinese) generations openly claim “no any responsibility” – including at work.
Going loco @ LA Club: more action on the Gongti Strip
090328-laclub
Making a big splash in the Beijing club scene, Banana (as in GT, Coco and most recently, Babyface) has added a new hotspot to its luxury empire.
LA Club claims to be the city’s “hottest VIP hip-hop club” and hip it certainly is. From its gentle opening at the beginning of March to its scandalously sexy fetish party last Friday, the club blasts out hits from the golden era of disco and funk to the freshest hip-hop tracks of today.
The trendy aims to celebrate the full Gucci-Moet-Cartier hip-hop experience and feed selective urbanites with a taste for celebrating the high life.
With a 1971 Cadillac parked outside, and more than 60,000 faux diamonds and a rotating, elevated dance floor at its center, LA Club is sure to dazzle the eyes and ears of even the most experienced clubber. Banana’s sound engineers have a heart-thumping Turbosound system that makes you want to clap your hands and strut your stuff all night – the DJs keep the dance floor grooving ’till 6 in the mornin’.
The club plans to line up an impressive list of international artists over the coming year. It’s quickly becoming the place to grind with the capital’s beautiful people. If you’ve got money to burn, you’ll definitely want to try out one of the revolving, ultra-deluxe VIP booths, where you can sip on gin and juice, indulge in bottles of Mumm Champagne (at 580 yuan a time), or the two-for-one mixed drinks. LA Club signifies a new height of Beijing clubbing. Hip-hop hooray!
West Road of Workers Stadium, next to COCO Banana.
Story by Carissa Welton, photos provided by LA Club

Yoga and fatwas

We need some real bad news from other countries to feel happy over here. We are actually spoiled and complain too much. Honestly, things are just great over here. No madmen going around with machine guns killing people, no suicide bombers blowing up 30 people at once, no kidnappings in broad daylight.
And we can have YOGA. Not like in Indonesia where medieval minds come up with all kinds of fatwas to make everybody feel miserable, especially women (anyway, those are inferior beings, you know). Even yoga is bad. In Bali they are not too happy about it. Seeing all those hated religious extremists, I feel like becoming a Party Member.
Just wait till week and there ain’t no better place to be than Beijing.
Let’s all be happy, have a beer in Sanlitun, a Brazilian BBQ, a night out in the disco with lots of booze, a nice massage, some belly dancing, whatever is on your mind. And go back home at 3 am without fearing for your life. And at home there is electricity, running water and the fridge is stocked with goodies.
Try that in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Mexico, Brazil, etc. etc. etc. etc.