The Darker Side of China's Miracle

I just read a short article titled The Darker Side of China's Miracle which wasn't terribly remarkable, but contained the line,

Scholars insist this is the unavoidable consequence of a country being run by the Chinese Communist Party - an extreme version of the Republican Party that couples Genghis Khan's intolerance with Hank Paulson's authoritarian capitalism.

which I really enjoyed reading.

Will he ever see the inside of a cell? Will any of those bastards?

It's not what it looks like, but yes, jailbait, and they're referring to it as 'Bottomgate'

Apparently if you watch the video mentioned in the article, Obama is clearly not looking at this young girl's bum and is most definitely helping some little old lady across a street or something.

But Nicolas Sarkozy was totally busted, and doesn't care one whit.

Pressed Volume 8: Coming soon to a newstand nowhere anywhere near you

Many years ago a young Canadian immigrant named Jason Tomassini followed a dream and started an English literary journal just off the side of the Great Chinese Empire, on the island of Formosa which is different from China and from Thailand, too. When the journal was started there were about 800 medium range missiles pointed at it.

Years later Mr. Tomassini lost the publication in a late night Twister game that he barely remembers to this day and is rumoured to have been fixed. The other young Canadian immigrant who finagled his way into publishing history was named Joel McCaffery.

Then Mr. and Mrs. McCaffery had control over the journal and everyone thought that things would be alright after all; at this point there were roughly 1500 missiles pointed at the stalwart publication.

The McCafferies skedaddled in the middle of a moonless night, taking it with him to the land down under, to Austria, where there are currently no missiles pointed at it.

Now this unique Canadian-Taiwanese-Australian literary journal is about to release its eighth issue - somewhere deep in the heart of northern Europe, in Melbourne.

The best adverts to save the planet

There was a slide show in the Guardian yesterday called, The best adverts to save the planet. The introduction said,

Since 2001, Swiss-based not-for-profit organisation ACT Responsible (Advertising Community Together), has been collecting global advertising that 'promotes responsible communication on sustainability, equitable development and social responsibility' in a bid to highlight how the creativity of advertising professionals can be used to address the world's problems.

Among its 2,500 ads from more than 40 countries and 140 award-winning agencies is a striking collection of adverts that focus on environmental and social issues: from deforestation to recycling and conserving water to climate change.

You can find more of these posters, and more information about the group, ACT, here. Until then, act responsibly.


"For nature, everyday is 9/11"

"Albatross: how to starve to death on a full stomach"

"The devastation of nature threatens more animals than you think."

Michael Joseph Jackson (1958 - 2009)

Home - a documentary about the Earth - free

Home is a documentary which chronicles the present state of the Earth. It was shot mostly with aerial photography in 50 countries and was released on the same day in 181 countries. This film is by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, the photographer who takes all those bird's eye view photos from helicopters, and French director Luc Besson, who directed Leon and The Fifth Element. It was given without charge to the entire world on June 5th of this year. I found out about it by watching the talk that Arthus-Bertrand gave at TED.

You can watch it here for free.