11.19.08
Posted in Awesome, Law and Order at 12:27 by ODB
The register is reporting that China is about to take measures to clamp down on lip-synching:
China’s ministry of culture has announced a clampdown on miming professional musos, marking an end to lip-synching and fake guitar strumming…
…the new regs will not affect amateur performers such as Lin Miaoke, who famously mimed Ode to the Motherland at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
The ministry’s Sun Qiuxia said it would first “consult with the public over the next few weeks, before agreeing final details of new rules on commercial performances”.
Nator, in case you were worried, the new regulations will not apply to Air guitar, so we are definitely still on for next Friday!
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10.25.08
Posted in Awesome, Law and Order, Media/Internet at 10:10 by ODB
As reported by Ars Technica:
Those who are using pirated versions of Windows—particularly those in China—are getting riled up over Microsoft’s latest tactic to “encourage” them to purchase legit copies. The software giant recently began issuing an update that changes users’ desktop backgrounds to a black wallpaper with a reminder to switch to a legal copy of Windows as part of the Windows Office Genuine Advantage program. Now, Chinese users in particular are getting up in arms over the tactic, saying that Microsoft is violating their rights and isn’t thinking of its users.
How dare they! Read the rest of this entry »
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10.02.08
Posted in Awesome, Beijing at 22:07 by Little Herschel
Useless ID, an Israeli punk band from Haifa, put on a great show last night along with No Opinion, a German band, and local talents SKO and Recycle.
The show was scheduled to take place at the MAO Livehouse in Jiaodaokou but a suspicious last minute safety inspection deemed the venue unfit for rocking. Supposedly, there were very high levels of “hydrogen” in the building and the show was forced to move elsewhere. Apparently the local constabulary were worried that the show would disturb the coffee-sippers across the street at Nanluoguxiang.
Despite the temporary setback, the bands/organizers called an audible and the show was moved across town to the Get Lucky Bar. And what a show it was!
Shame MUL couldn’t make it; I guess he’s too busy Fatwatching in Hong Kong.
October 8th update.
Here is a picture from the actual show:
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09.28.08
Posted in Awesome, Beijing, Chinese Nationalism, Technology at 22:53 by ODB
The story of Chinese astronauts conducting their first ever space walk has been all over the news today.
China catapulted itself into the upper reaches of space science yesterday, becoming only the third nation after the former Soviet Union and the United States to successfully conduct a spacewalk.
Sorry but I fail to see all the excitement, what exactly is the big deal?
It appears that astronaut Zhai is only the 298th person in the world to have conducted a space walk. There were no scientific or technological breakthroughs being made.
Seems to fall a little short of those black holes being made in Switzerland.
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08.11.08
Posted in Awesome, Beijing, Industry, Traffic and Infrastructure at 13:28 by ODB
Just took this photo with my cell phone on the way to lunch.
A London black cab with Beijing colors colours…
NATOR ADDS: China Car Times had some info on this back in May.
ODB ADDS: I know Israel was also testing these cabs out a few years ago, as they are supposed to be more secure with the driver being in a separate compartment from the passengers.
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05.13.08
Posted in Awesome at 09:56 by ODB
If you are using Outlook then you must download this plugin.
Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that helps you organize your flooded inbox.
Go to www.xobni.com and download it now.
SHTig Adds: ODB, what’s up with spamming your own site?
ODB: It’s my website and I can spam if I want to.
NATOR adds: It’s worth mentioning that ODB is a statistics junkie and would spend the entire day playing with Google Analytics and other stat generators if he could.
ODB: Nator also downloaded it and knows it rocks!
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05.12.08
Posted in Awesome at 10:40 by Nator
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04.24.08
Posted in Awesome, Industry at 22:21 by Mul
The NY Times provides a good story today on increasing car ownership in China. Most interesting part of the story? No, not the part about the explosive growth of the Chinese car market. And, no, not the part about wider segments of society gaining the ability to make large purchases like a family car. The best nugget (word trademarked by SHTig) is that Geely manufactures a car called the “King Kong“.
How awesome is that? Answer: super awesome.
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04.11.08
Posted in Awesome at 19:33 by Nator
You know you want to.
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04.09.08
Posted in Awesome, Industry, Law and Order at 14:02 by ODB
Just wanted to share a not-so-recent discovery of mine, fake Chinese products are not limited to the offline world only.
See if you can spot the differences between Pacific Epoch and Market Avenue.
Pacific Epoch is one of the best English financial news sites in China. I strongly recommend subscribing to their daily news summary (you can do so from their home page).
Market Avenue provides a very similar service–in fact, almost identical. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, these guys are extremely sincere. Even better, they have provided a graphical representation of their “sincerity” in the above chart, which comes from this page. As best as I can tell, the “H” in the chart is Market Avenue, and the “Exemplar” is Pacific Epoch. At least they’re honest that they’re weaker in every single area.
If you have come across similar “sincerity” on the web please share it with us.
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