Alternate Reality

Really, what color is the sky in CCP-land?

Xinhua

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China should be cautious about "Internet mercenaries", a group of people posting comments online to manipulate public opinion, Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said here Wednesday.

The influence of public opinion via the Internet is getting stronger as more and more people use the channel to exchange views and participate in political issues, Zhao said, noting that China had 457 million Internet users by the end of last year.

"We feel that Internet culture and environment is getting more complicated and there has emerged a group of people called 'Internet mercenaries'", he said.

Some of them, backed by institutions for certain purposes, disguise them as ordinary netizens and post comments in order to affect and divert public opinion, or even disturb government policy-making, he said.

It needs attention and alert from the government, and China lacks legislation in this regard, Zhao said.

This is a total farce. The Chinese communist government has hundreds of thousands of people doing exactly this; they pretend to be ordinary citizens but are repeating CCP propaganda talking points.


CCP Spokesperson

Red Bull X1

I just made it to level 30 in Gran Turismo 5 which means I can try out the Red Bull X1 race car. The actual car does not exist; it's only available virtually in GT5. It's what a F1 car would be like without restrictions.



The only problem is that the car is so fast that I can't control it. The challenge is to drive it on three tracks within a certain time limit. I watched the "demo lap" on Suzuka Circuit (real track in Japan) and it takes the final chicane at ~100 mph. I don't think I can steer fast enough on my Logitech wheel at that speed. I did manage to get bronze on the Monza course. The time limit was 2:19.00 for two laps; I think I made it in ~2:18.2.

Made To Worship - Chris Tomlin

Made To Worship (Acoustic) - Chris Tomlin

Verse 1:
Before the day, before the light
Before the world revolved around the sun
God on high stepped down into time
And wrote the story of His love for everyone

Pre-Chorus:
He has filled our hearts with wonder
So that we always remember

Chorus:
You and I were made to worship
You and I are called to love
You and I are forgiven and free
When you and I embrace surrender
When you and I choose to believe
Then you and I will see who we were meant to be

Verse 2:
All we are and all we have
Is all a gift from God that we receive
Brought to life, we open up our eyes
To see the majesty and glory of the King

Bridge:
Even the rocks cry out
Even the heavens shout
At the sound of His holy name
So let every voice sing out
Let every knee bow down
He is worthy of all our praise

Chinese Internet

Soon, there will be two "Internets"... one inside of China, and one for the rest of the world.


Sadly, this is the new image of China. I can't imagine living there... sorry, Leon.

Los Angeles Times

With a wary eye on popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, Chinese leaders are calling for new ways to defuse social unrest in what appears to be an ominous harbinger of tighter controls on the Internet and elsewhere.

Splashed across the front page of Monday's People's Daily newspaper were highlights of a speech given by President Hu Jintao at a Saturday meeting that included all nine members of the Politburo's standing committee and senior cadres from around the country.

Hu, in the speech at the Central Party School in Beijing, called on the nation to "enhance and complete management of information on the Internet" and to "establish a system of public opinion guidance on the Internet," according to excerpts. The speech also called for danwei, the work units to which Chinese traditionally belong, to enhance their roles in "social management"; for a database that would keep track of the movements of migrant populations; and to make clear the "social responsibilities" of private companies.

Zhou Yongkang, the country's top law enforcement official, also called for officials to "strive to defuse conflicts and disputes while they are still embryonic."

Some analysts considered Hu's speech a call to heighten social and media control.

Why is this sh*t acceptable to the Chinese people?

Traffic Cams

I just found out that Sigalert.com has a lot of traffic cams in Orange County. However, most of them are on the toll roads that don't have much traffic. Weird.


55 North at Warner

This is what I see each night if I go home between 5pm to 7pm. :(

Crappy GPS

Even with the Android OS 2.2 update, the GPS performance in my Samsung Vibrant/Galaxy is still crap. It took about 10 minutes for the phone to lock on to a GPS signal, though most of the time it was seeing 3-4 satellites. I'm not sure who to blame... Samsung? Google? T-Mobile? People at work say there is a BCM4329 combo chip (WLAN/Bluetooth/GPS/FM) in the phone... is that causing the problem? The Bluetooth connection to my new car is problematic too. It keeps connecting and disconnecting by itself. I have to manually turn Bluetooth off then on from the phone to reconnect. Lame.

And where is the FM radio app on my phone?! This I think I can blame on T-mobile for disabling it.

Government Scam

I got a letter from the City of Orange today. As if I don't pay enough taxes to the federal government and the state of California, the city wants some of my hard-earned money. Since I help out Leon on some PMI stuff, there are some travel expenses that I don't get reimbursed, and my tax guy files a Schedule C to get a small tax deduction. Well, the City of Orange has determined that I need a "business license" even though I don't really have a business, and receive zero income. I understand if a business uses resources but from the documentation, they decided that any "business" activity, even just consulting for a friend, is a "business" and needs a license and be taxed.

So now, under the threat of more fines and penalties, I have to send in $104 for really no good reason, and "renew" for $23 each year. I post all the time that the communist government in China is like a big mafia; I am disappointed to find that my city government is not much better. Well, at least I can bitch about it online... for now.

==========

BTW, I did this for years while living in Brea and in Costa Mesa. None of those cities asked for money. I already pay the City of Orange ~$8,000/year in property taxes and have to pay for ambulance services. Rent-seeking low-life @$#%!&*!

Aria Hotel Minibar

My parents and I stayed at the new Aria Hotel in Las Vegas last week. Like most "luxury" hotels, they have a minibar in the room with ridiculous prices. Like many travelers, my parents brought some food and drinks, and used the minibar fridge to cool them.

I checked out without seeing the bill and today I noticed a lot of extra charges on my credit card. I called Aria and they sent me the invoices. For my parent's room, there was $35 of minibar charges:

Diet Coke $4.50
Water $5.00
Water $5.00
Coke $4.50
Sprite $4.50
Pistachio $12.00

I told the CSR that we didn't use any of the items. His response was that there are sensors in the fridge (and on the desktop evidently) that charges you if you remove an item for more than 30 seconds. He did remove the charges without me complaining further so my guess is that they get a lot of calls on this.

There are thousands of rooms in Aria. It must of cost a lot of money to put weight sensors on each minibar item in each room. Is this a good investment?

Heavy Metal K-pop

Wow!


Noh Lee Young - newest member of After School

SeeYa is no more

The Last + 내겐 너무 멋진 그대 - SeeYa
Final performance on Inkigayo

Too bad. I really liked them early on, well before Nam Gyuri's wardrobe malfunction. All three have pretty good voices. Gyuri actually left the group but came back to promote this last album (2 new songs + a bunch of old songs).

她來聽我的演唱 - Jacky Cheung 張學友

她來聽我的演唱 - Jacky Cheung 張學友

He sang this song at the concert in Las Vegas. It was one of the many songs I've never heard of... unfortunately, I only remember the title of this song and I happened to have it in my iTunes library.

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Some photos from the concert at Caesar's Palace. They were being really strict about having no photos/videos during the concert so I didn't get any good shots.


Empty stage before the concert


Colosseum at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas







Jacky sang for about 2.5 hours and had good interaction with the audience, mainly in Cantonese though. A few songs (both his and other people's) were rearranged and sounded really cool... too bad I couldn't get a recording. Maybe they'll put out a concert DVD or something.

KMF 2011

It's time for Korean Music Festival again. I've gone the past two years in a row (and spent too much on tickets). Tickets went on sale at the end of January but I can't seem to find out who's coming. Who would buy concert tickets without knowing the artist?

Must see artists:
- Brown Eyed Girls
- Sistar

Sadly, that's all. If there are lots of artists I sorta-like, then I may go as well.

Android 2.2 on Samsung Vibrant/Galaxy S

It's been about a day and a half since I upgraded my phone's Android OS to version 2.2. So far, it's been working well. I don't notice that many differences which is probably a good thing.

One of the reasons I upgraded was to get Skype running on my phone. However, the Skype app is pretty lame. On the PC, you can stack multiple physical phone numbers on a Skype contact. However, on the Android app, physical phone numbers do not show up unless they're on a standalone contact. I guess I can go back to the PC and break apart each combined contact (e.g., Leon has 3 phone numbers) but since I have Google Voice, there's really no need to use Skype-out calling. Also, you can't send SMS to a phone contact using the Android, which is the main reason I wanted Skype on my phone; Google Voice can't send SMS to international phone numbers.

I'm just happy the upgrade didn't brick my phone. The last time I tried to upgrade firmware on a Linksys 11g router, it bricked on me... that's why I'm all Netgear now.

Shareholder Value

Executive Officer
Total Amount of Bonus

President and Chief Executive Officer
$1,472,500

Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer
$637,500

Executive Vice President & General Manager,
Broadband Communications Group
$465,375

Executive Vice President & General Manager,
Infrastructure & Networking Group
$484,500

Executive Vice President & General Manager,
Wireless & Mobile Group
$547,500

Senior Vice President, Corporate Controller and
Principal Accounting Officer
$270,000

Froyo... finally

Samsung released Android OS v2.2 (aka Froyo) for the Vibrant (Galaxy S variant) on January 20th. Since it's not a "required" release, they were quiet about it and I only found out through a Google search. You have to download Kies (Samsung software) and upgrade through a USB cable; T-Mobile won't do an OTA (over the air) upgrade.

Strange thing though... I received an OTA update while I was in Vegas on Wednesday. It didn't tell me what the upgrade was for and it only took about 5 minutes. Maybe it was some minor fix for v2.1. Anyway, I hope the Froyo upgrade won't brick my phone.

Excel 2007 Sucks

I just got back from vacation and slammed at work having to cover two jobs with crazy deadlines. Of course, Excel picks this time to crash constantly. I thought that Excel 2003 was much more stable than Excel 2007, which can't seem to handle copying/pasting entire columns without running out of memory. Now Excel is sitting there trying to "recover my documents"... usually this doesn't work either.

Another two hours of work wasted... if Microsoft made cars, we'd all be dead.

Dell Tech Support

We've been having a weird bug with the new computer (Dell Inspiron 2305). The screen would randomly turn off while we're using the computer and nothing will bring it back. The only solution so far has been to hold down the power button to turn off the computer then restarting it again. I think this has happened 3x in the last month.

Since it takes forever to "talk" to anyone live, I'm on a Tech Support chat with CLKsmb_Allan_18863 at Dell. I started the chat at 9:17am... it's now 9:33am and so far we've determined that I don't have a laptop, and we need to run diagnostics. During the chat, he had to go and find the manual.

The diagnostic is a pre-boot diag which means I have to turn off the computer. Great... hopefully I don't have to tell the next guy my computer is not a laptop.

==========

So far, there's no errors but the rest of the diagnostics will take ~30 minutes. The tech support guy tried to sell me extra warranty at the end of the chat. How'bout getting the computer to work first before trying to take more of my money?!

Chinese "Justice"

New York Times

Chinese Man Who Bragged of Privilege Gets Six Years

SHANGHAI — A Chinese court on Sunday sentenced a 23-year-old man to six years in prison for killing one young woman and injuring another in a drunken-driving accident that drew public outrage in China.

The case became a sensation because witnesses said the suspect, Li Qiming, had tried to flee the scene of the accident in October and evade responsibility by stressing that he was the son of a senior police official.

His words — “Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!” — quickly became a cynical catchphrase to describe various forms of corruption in China and a symbol of the growing divide between the elite and the underprivileged.

Meanwhile, some guy that avoids toll road fees by using military plates gets life in prison (original verdict overturned and case is on hold). Six years seems kind of lenient for driving while intoxicated, killing one pedestrian and injuring another, and attempting to flee scene of accident. I think being Li Gang's son was useful after all.

Chinese Top Gun

Literally...

Ministry of Tofu

Xinwen lianbo, or News Broadcast, on China Central Television, comes under fire again for its report of an air force training exercise on January 23. In the newscast, the way a target was hit by the air-to-air missile fired by a J-10 fighter aircraft and exploded looks almost identical to a cinema scene from the Hollywood film Top Gun.

A net user who went by the name “刘毅” (Liu Yi) pointed out that the jet that the J-10 “hit” is an F-5, a US fighter jet. In Top Gun, what the leading actor Tom Cruise pilots an F-14 to bring down is exactly an F-5. Looking at the screenshots juxtaposition, one cannot fail to find that even flame, smoke and the way the splinters fly look the same.

It's pretty obvious from the screencaps that CCTV blatantly stole video clips from Top Gun.

I guess the question is why? Did the air force actually shoot missiles and did they hit anything? Was there no footage... unlike the "stealth" J-20 with photos and videos galore? Even if they did hit something during the exercise, I'm 100% positive it's not a F-5 fighter. Could they just pay Taiwan for an animated footage?!

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Latest from NMA.tv

Spring Festival Train Tickets

OK, it's not that bad. The picture is from Guangzhou in 2008 when snowstorms forced lots of cancellations. However, my friend in Beijing said she drove her friend to the West Beijing train station to buy tickets for [can't remember where... somewhere west] and it was a complete zoo. After waiting for hours and hours, they were told that the tickets were sold out. Her friend is under a lot of pressure from in-laws to make the trip back to her husband's hometown so the grandparents can see the grandchildren. I suggested that the CCP should decree that Chinese New Year will be celebrated 4 times per year and you're assigned to one of the quarterly dates based on your national ID number. What's a communist dictatorship good for if you can mandate stuff like this?

Happy Chinese New Year

Wow... I think Liu Xiaobo is going to have some new cellmates.

Greed

I found out something at work that is really obscene and I am both disgusted and disappointed. Yet I can't bring myself to quit... and give up my unvested RSU's.

Ugh, I feel like such a sell-out... :(

More Crazy China Driving

I just spoke to Sindy, my friend in China. She had to host a ski party for her clients this weekend at a resort near Badaling, about 2 hours outside of Beijing. Most of them went by minibus from PLA Hospital 301 but she had to pick up someone at the airport. On the way to the resort, she missed the exit by ~50m. She then stopped her car and drove in reverse back to the exit. Since the shoulder was blocked, she did this in one of the driving lanes! Aiya! The client was too scared to ride so he got out to watch for traffic and walked back to the exit.

I keep telling her to just go to the next exit then figure out a detour. It's way too risky to stop on the highway just to save a few miles of extra driving. Sigh...

Maybe only half the drivers are really bad in China. The other have need to drive really well to avoid the crazy half. Since California accepts driver licenses issued by any jurisdiction, I agreed to let Sindy drive on her next trip here... now I'm having second thoughts.

East to West - Casting Crowns

East to West - Casting Crowns

Chorus 1:
Jesus can You show me just how
Far the east is from the west
'Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been
Come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'Cause You know just how
Far the east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other

Verse 1:
Here I am Lord and I'm drowning
In Your sea of forgetfulness
The chains of yesterday surround me
I yearn for peace and rest
I don't want to end up where You found me
And it echoes in my mind
Keeps me awake tonight

Verse 2:
I know You've cast my sin as far as
The east is from the west
And I stand before You now
As though I've never sinned
But today I feel like I'm just one mistake away
From You leaving me this way

Verse 3:
I start the day the war begins
Endless reminding of my sin
Time and time again
Your truth is drowned out by the storm I'm in
Today I feel like I'm just one mistake away
From Your leaving me this way

Bridge:
I know You've washed me white
Turned my darkness into light
I need Your peace to get me through
Get me through this night
I can't live by what I feel
But by the truth Your word reveals
I'm not holding on to You
But You're holding on to me
You're holding on to me

Chorus 2:
Jesus You know just how far
The east is from the west
'Cause I can't bear to see the man I've been
Come rising up in me again
In the arms of Your mercy I find rest
'Cause You know just how far
The east is from the west
From one scarred hand to the other

Ending:
One scarred hand to the other
From one scarred hand to the other

Fire Fall Down - Hillsong United

Fire Fall Down - Hillsong United

Verse 1:
You bought my life with the blood
That You shed on the cross
When You died for the sins of men
And You let out a cry crucified
Now alive in me

Verse 2:
These hands are Yours
Teach them to serve
As You please and I'll reach out
Desperate to see all the greatness of God
May my soul rest assured in You

Pre-Chorus:
I'll never be the same
No I'll never be the same

Chorus:
'Cause I know that You're alive
You came to fix my broken life
And I sing to glorify
Your holy name Jesus Christ

Verse 3:
You've changed it all
You broke down the wall
When I spoke and confessed
In You I'm blessed
Now I walk in the light
In victorious sight of You

Bridge:
Your fire fall down
Fire fall down
On us we pray
As we seek
Your fire fall down
Fire fall down
On us we pray
As we seek

Ending:
Show me Your heart
Show me Your way
Show me Your glory
Show me Your heart
Show me Your way
Show me Your glory

Consuming Fire - Tim Hughes

Consuming Fire - Tim Hughes

Verse 1:
There must be more than this
O breath of God come breathe within
There must be more than this
Spirit of God we wait for You
Fill us anew, we pray
Fill us anew, we pray

Chorus:
Consuming Fire, fan into flame
A passion for Your name
Spirit of God, fall in this place
Lord, have Your way, Lord, have Your way with us

Verse 2:
Come like a rushing wind
Clothe us in power from on high
Now set the captives free
Leave us abandoned to Your praise
Lord, let Your glory fall
Lord, let Your glory fall

Guest List for State Dinner for China’s Hu Jintao

Wall Street Journal

Who makes up these lists? Do they just invite random Chinese people? WHY WASN'T I INVITED?! :)

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How come Michelle Kwan doesn't get to bring a date?

Chinese Human Rights

I hate it when they write/say this:

China has made remarkable economic progress in recent years. Tens upon tens of millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty. Today the majority of Chinese enjoy living standards that would have seemed impossible 30 years ago.

China's citizens also have many more freedoms than they once did, to choose where they work, who they marry, to communicate over the internet and to travel abroad. President Hu is saying this change will continue.

30 year ago is 1981, 5 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Of course China is "better" now in comparison because Chinese society was almost destroyed 30 years ago and 100% of the blame goes to Mao and the CCP. The proper comparison would be to look at different countries and societies in 1949... what has the CCP done in the past 60 years? They don't get a pass on human rights today just because they f*cked up the country from 1950-1980. All the Asian countries were messed up after WWII; why can't we compare Chinese human rights to Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc?

The second paragraph in the quote is super lame too. Are we to celebrate that Chinese people can "choose where they work, who they marry" today?! Why was that right even taken away in the first place? It's like a slave saying he's grateful that his owner is only beating him every other day now... way better than when he was beaten everyday. Ugh.

You Are Good - Israel & New Breed

You Are Good - Israel & New Breed

I've been helping out at CrossPointe (CCCSB's English ministry) for a few month now, playing guitar and bass, and running sound. This week, Uriah picked an Israel Houghton song for worship. I've play a few of his songs at NewSong NOC but always on bass. However, I'm playing guitar this Sunday and I can't seem to get the gospel beat down.

The original chords are also a bit problematic but I figured out how to simplify them using a cut capo. At least I'm not singing... otherwise I'll probably mess up even more.

Embedded MP3s... 4shared.com

Hmm, if I can steal code from tumblr and embed their MP3 player in Blogger, could I do the same with my 4shared account?


니까짓게 - Sistar
tumblr audio player with 4shared MP3 file

Since the tumblr audio player is pretty ugly and has no UI other than a play button, I tried to find another Flash audio player to embed.


니까짓게 - Sistar
Google audio player with 4shared MP3 file

It all seems to work but this is my 2nd attempt. I tried earlier to embed another MP3 on 4shared using the Google player and it couldn't load the MP3 file. Strange.

Embedded MP3s... One More Try

In my never ending quest to embed MP3 audio files into Blogger, I've stolen HTML code from my tumblr blog and pasted it below:


Crazy For You - Nana Tanimura 谷村奈南

It looks like the code works but the only drawback is that I have to upload the MP3 file to tumblr, and they only let you upload one audio file per day.

==========

Hmm... the song skips a bit every so often, yet appears to play fine on the tumblr site. Can't tell whether it's a buffering problem or if it doesn't like my unauthorized embedding/linking to another blog site.

Here's another song I uploaded to tumblr a few weeks ago:


니까짓게 - Sistar

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Arg! This song skips too. It must be something with tumblr to keep people from using their server and bandwidth for blog posts on a competing site. :)

BTW, this is post #1600 according to Blogger's dashboard.

Crazy for You - Nana Tanimura 谷村奈南

Crazy for You - Nana Tanimura 谷村奈南


More images from Google search

Her bio says she just graduated from law school. Do singers make more than lawyers?

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Oops, it looks like it was an undergraduate degree in the College of Law at Aoyama Gakuin University. I don't think I've seen an undergraduate law degree here in the US; I thought you need a graduate degree (Juris Doctor) to be a practicing lawyer.

Anyway, I hope she keeps singing instead of practicing law since they don't make many videos of lawyers in action.

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Internet proves me wrong again...

Welcome Hu?

Ministry of Tofu

Chinese President Hu Jintao is about to visit the United States later this month. Meanwhile, Chinese consulates and student associations in U.S. universities are gathering steam to mobilize students’ interest. Multiple Chinese student associations based in and near Washington D.C. and Chicago have issued notices saying that those who register with the welcoming event on the streets can get allowances ranging from $20 to $80 and their food and travel cost reimbursed.

Despite the fact that Hu Jintao gave the directive himself last April that the protocols of diplomatic trips by Chinese leaders need reforms and that organizing large crowds of Chinese expats and students at an airport should not be required, the embassy and the consulates have started a new bout of marshaling.

Eh? It was "required" before for overseas Chinese people to "welcome" visiting leaders to their country? Heck, I'll go see Hu and wave a flag for $80.

Toll Road Life Sentence Update

Here is a more in depth article from Global Times.

A national scandal over a farmer who was sentenced to life in prison for evading millions of yuan in toll fees took a dramatic twist over the weekend.

The farmer, who had been convicted of faking military car plates in order to evade the fees, saw the ruling overturned by the Higher People's Court in Henan Province when it determined there was not enough evidence to convict him.

The announcement came amid a heated public debate over the severity of the punishment and a day after dramatic scenes that saw the man's younger brother turn himself in to police, asserting that the licenses had been purchased from local military personnel.

Shi Jianfeng, 43, from Yuzhou, Henan, had been sentenced by the Pingdingshan Intermediate People's Court in mid-December to life in prison for driving two of his trucks along the Zhengzhou-Yaoshan highway 2,361 times from May 2008 to January 2009, evading more than 3.68 million yuan ($557,800) in fees, as the vehicles had military plates.

Being a finance guy, the numbers still don't make sense to me. Assuming that both trucks were driven each day, then the average was ~4.4 trip per day per truck, with a toll fee of ~US$236 per trip. In addition, the driver had to pay 1.2 million RMB plus 5000 RMB per month to the police/military. What is he hauling that he can afford such hefty fees?

Even the article's numbers don't make sense.

The toll fee is 0.11 yuan per kilometer for ordinary trucks, according to Jin Yuwei from the Henan Highway Department.

But if found to be overloaded, the toll fee could be up to 15 times that of an empty truck, Jin said, saying a truck with 70 tons of cargo would have to pay about 2,700 yuan to travel 100 kilometers on the highway.

For 100 km trip, the toll fee should be 100 km x 0.11 yuan per km = 11 yuan. Even at 15x for an overloaded truck, the fee is 165 yuan... where did they get the 2700 yuan number? RMB2700 is ~$403. The most expensive toll (5 to 6 axle truck) for the 241 toll road in Orange County is ~$23 for a 40 km trip which scales to ~$60 for 100 km. However, the weight limit for a single vehicle in California is 80,000 lbs or ~40 tons... but still, a $400 toll fee for a 60 mile trip seems ridiculous. Somebody is getting ripped off.

Anyway, I've spent waaaaay too much time on this. It looks like there will be a retrial; hopefully they put the toll road "robber barons" and the military police that "sold" the plates on trial too.

Toll Road Life Sentence

Whew, I'm glad I have a transponder... wouldn't want to risk life in prison for not paying toll road fees.

BBC News

Shi Junfeng said he - and not his elder brother - had put military number plates on the vehicles to evade tolls of 3.7m yuan (£350,000;$560,000).

The case caused an outcry in China, with many questioning the harsh sentence given to Shi Jianfeng.

The court in Henan province had already ordered a retrial.

Shi Jianfeng had been found guilty last week of evading the fees over a nine-month period while delivering sand and gravel in two trucks. The court ruled he had used military number plates, meaning the vehicles could avoid paying road tolls.

He was sentenced to life in prison, a fine of 2m yuan and the loss of his political rights. He also had his illegal earnings confiscated.

So many questions...

1. How can he have racked up that much toll fees in 9 months? Even in two trucks, that's $280k per truck or ~$1000 per day. How can you possibly incur that much toll road fees? The Airport Expressway in Beijing is ~20km long and costs RMB10. If we use that rate, then $1000 converts to about 13,400km... per day!

2. I've always said that the justice system in China is messed up but this is ridiculous. People get months in jail for vehicular manslaughter yet avoiding toll road fees deserves life in prison? Maybe the police/prosecutor made up the crazy toll fee amount so he would be "eligible" for life imprisonment?

3. Maybe they're punishing him for using fake military plates. I've heard many stories about cars with military plates abusing all sorts of traffic laws. I can understand waiving fees if they need to move military assets over toll roads but why does every private car with military plates above the law?

This is so wrong in so many levels... even for China.

Trend - Piggy Dolls

Whoa... I thought their group name was kinda weird.


Trend - Piggy Dolls

It kind of reminds me of the group Big Mama (also Korean) though they seem um... larger. You know if they aren't thin and don't look like models, they gotta sing really really well.

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On second thought, why do they need to have names like Piggy Dolls and Big Mama? Other girl groups have relative normal names like Secret, Rainbow, Heart and Mind (which unfortunately abbreviates to HAM), etc. Do they think that if they don't mention they're "large" in the group name, people will wonder if they know they're fat? Strange...

China to Air Pro-China Ad in U.S. During Hu Visit

Wall Street Journal

China’s State Council Information Office, or SCIO, confirmed to China Real Time yesterday that it has hired a local advertising agency, Shanghai Lintas Advertising, to produce a commercial to be aired in the U.S. ahead of President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington, D.C. next week as part of a broad effort to soften China’s image abroad.

The commercial– “part of our annual working plan,” said an SCIO employee familiar with the effort–is supposed to depict Chinese people from different walks of life, including famous public figures like NBA player Yao Ming. The spot will air in the U.S. first, during Mr. Hu’s visit, followed by Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. It will also be available on the Internet, according to a report on government Web portal China.org.cn.

Efforts to improve its global image are part of China’s latest five-year plan, which calls on the government to “promote vigorous development and prosperity of socialist culture and the soft power of national culture,” in part by improving “external propaganda work and culture exchange, to innovate the ‘Going Out’ strategy for cultural industry and to enhance the international competitiveness and influence of Chinese culture.”

The CCP doesn't get it. The problem is not just PR but the CCP itself... I think the apt expression here is "putting lipstick on a pig."

You can see their strategy of equating Chinese culture/history to socialism but it's simply a lie. We keep hearing about the 5000 years of Chinese history but PRC is only 60 years old. My guess is that most Westerners have no issues with the Chinese "people" but rather the oppressive policies of the CCP.

New Car Mileage

I got gas for the new car on the way home from work. The manual didn't "require" super unleaded gas but it was highly recommended so I paid $3.519/gallon at the Mobil/Exxon down the street.

For the first tank of gas, the trip computer said I drove ~35mph on average and calculated my overall fuel efficiency at ~24.6 miles per gallon... not bad for a 3.5L V6 rated at 290HP. I think slightly more than 1/2 the miles were highway miles so I don't know if the CVT is better on gas mileage than the ol'5-speed auto transmission in the Z.

Half The Sky Orphan Update

I renewed my support for an Half the Sky orphan for another year ($600) and they sent me an update on him.



I knew from the beginning that he was missing part of his right arm (右前臂缺如) but these are the first photo where it's plainly visible. Poor kid. :(



This is the text of the update:

发杨模仿能力很不错，教他喊“爸爸、妈妈”他会立即叫出来，我用手摸摸他的
小脸，他也会伸出他的小手来摸摸我的脸，我亲亲他的脸，他也会立即转过头来亲
亲我的脸。他喜欢到祖祖室去和小朋友们一起玩耍，他看见有他喜欢的玩具，他会
从性的小朋友们手里抢下来，玩高兴了，他会笑出声来。

发杨能慢慢的爬行了，我手拿着玩具，在前面逗他，他用正常的手向前爬动，用
另一只残缺的手撑在地板上，慢慢的向前爬着，这样来回的爬。

发杨能扶着床栏站立一会儿了，我抱着发杨时，他会双脚弯曲，踩着我的肩膀往
上爬，我对他说，会摔跤的，他看了看我，咯咯咯的笑。

发杨的活动量也大了，喜欢来回的爬动，看见椅子放在靠墙边，他也会去攀爬。

MP3 CD Player

My new car has a 6 CD changer that plays MP3 files. I burned ~70 songs on a CD-R and tried it out this morning. First, the car stereo does not display CJK characters so there were a lot of blank spaces. Next, the player only recognized 15 songs; it gave me an error message (forgot what it said) for the rest.

I looked in the manual and the MP3 file specs seem fine: 8kHz-48kHz and 8kbps-320kbps + VBR. Then I read the fine print under CD format:

Files saved using the Live File System component (on a Windows Vista operating system-based computer) are not supported.

Dang it. Doesn't anything work with Vista?!

Airline Tickets

Dang it. My parents need to fly up to Portland next week and tickets are only $69/each way. I check my itinerary for early next month and it's still $69/each way; I booked for $104/each way last week.

I guess I shouldn't complain. I thought $104 was a good price already. It's always the comparison shopping that gets me.

Beijing License Plate

Sindy told me about this earlier. My first thought was to have her enter the lottery for me. I'll probably never drive in Beijing much less buy a car, but if I "win" the license lottery, I can definitely sell it to someone else. Leon had the exact same thought.

Beijing News (translation from Danwei)

Beijing introduces cap on new car registration

To alleviate urban traffic congestion, Beijing started a cap-and-lottery issuance system intended to curb automobile growth.

According to the new policy, starting on December 24th, Beijing will issue 240,000 new car license plates until the end of 2011. The plates will be allocated by a lottery system. Eligible applicants include Beijing residents, non-Beijing residents who have lived here for at least five year and paid tax, foreigners and companies. However, car owners are banned from applying for another license unless they sell or scrap their old vehicles.

Prior to announcement of the policy, Beijing had seen an eruption in car sales due to buyers' fear that they might not be able to get a license. Yesterday, the last day before the limit taking effect, over 9,000 units of vehicles were sold in Beijing, making the total number of automobiles exceed 4.8 million.

Dang... I'm not eligible. :)