China is well known for its ability to detain foreigners from exiting the country. It is often used to settle business conflict between foreigners and Chinese companies. The Chinese company contacts the police to say that a foreigner has not paid or lived up to some business dealing and Chinese border control puts a ban on the foreigner’s exit. These are called “exit bans“.
Bian kong, “边控“， short for bianjing kongzhi, “边境控制” is a system that can bar a foreigner from leaving China. We normally call it an “exit ban”
Black Diamond Cheddar. How long is old cheddar aged? How about the extra old? I asked but did not get an answer.
I eat cheese on a regular basis. My favourite brand is Black Diamond. It is of consistent quality, and I have never had a problem with packaging. I wanted to know how long their “Old” cheddar is aged, vs their “extra old” cheddar. It seems to me a simple question.
The Black Diamond website has lovely pics of their cheese, but did not answer my question. I therefore filled in a feedback form asking my question. The response was, not really a response.
Little Weed had a problem with his Google Pixel and Freedom Mobile. While he could call people he could not text, and received an error message “Can’t send message with freedom, error 8”.
We went to the Wind store and this is what the guy did. It did take a couple of seconds to kick in:
settings > network and internet > mobile network -> advanced > access point names > … (top right corner) > reset to default
Sim card was fine. I’m glad the guy knew his stuff.
Old GPS does not have this on its maps, even though the camp has been there forever.
Shadow Lake Camp
15041 Ninth Line, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 7X3, Canada
Shadow Lake Camp, 15041 Ninth Line, Whitchurch-Stouffville, ON L4A 7X3, Canada, GPS 44°02’06.7″N 79°16’13.8″W Plus Code 87P22PPH+3R
I found it on Google Maps but it would not give me a proper GPS coordinate, so I tried the “share”, which gave me incorrect map coordinates. Clicking off the exact location gave me GPS coordinates which I could then tweak for the proper location.
44°02’06.7″N 79°16’13.8″W
44.035196, -79.270488
Plus Code: 87P22PPH+3R
Very odd, it is, that a day after Canada issues a travel advisory against China for arbitrary arrest, and the possibility of a death sentence for drug-related crimes, that China would issue a tit-for-tat government advisory as well. This has occurred due to the arrest of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou due to an extradition request from the US. Her extradition hearing is scheduled for 2019 Feb 05.
After close to a month, where two Canadians were arbitrarily arrested in China, the Government of Canada has updated their travel advisory. Better late than never.
Latest updates: Risk level(s) – risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws; Laws and culture – death penalty, penalties for drug-related offences
Government of Canada issues new travel advisory to China for arbitrary arrest, death penalty, 2019-jan-14
There are marked differences on how people are arrested, go to trial and convicted in Canada and China. I have read so many first hand accounts of Chinese arrest and torture that they are too numerous to mention. There are many common methods used in China, and common through numerous different areas of China. The differences are stark: Canada adheres to the Rule of Law, human rights and transparency, while China is very uncertain, oblique, and treated on a case-by-case, “Rule-is-law”, basis.
Huawei, one of China’s large computer companies, has been accused of selling US computers to Iran. The US asked and planned with Canada to arrest Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, when she was on route from Hong Kong to Mexico. The arrest occurred on 2018 Dec 01. Shortly after this China arrested two Canadians in China fo “endangering national security”. They have not been heard from since. It is widely understood to be retribution against Canada by China for assisting the US for the arrest.
Abandon All Hope All Ye Canadians Who Enter Here. SCMP
The first arrest was Canadian ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig, detained in China today for unknown reasons. The second Canadian was Michael Spavor, who runs an NGO specializing in tours to North Korea.
The US, Canada and Mexico have signed the USMCA, to be ratified by all, but pretty much done. One of the more controversial sections is Articles 32.10: Non-market Country FTA, designed to seemingly limit all three countries from having a free trade agreement with non-market countries, unnamed but specifically China. How does this work?
The actual Article 32.10 section is below in its entirety, quoted verbatim from the USMCA. Let us get to the important points.
Summary: If any USMCA country enters into a free trade agreement FTA with a non-market economy, the other USMCA countries could turn the USMCA into a bilateral agreement.
No photo says it more clearly than the photo of Angela Merkel staring down Trump at the recent G6+1 summit in Quebec, Canada. This was supposed to be a meeting of Allied countries, not a meeting of enemies.
Merkel and the rest of the G6 countries confront Trump, 2018 May 11, Charlevoix, Quebec
I quote Stephen Colbert: “Still Life With Douchebag”. Not only funny but apt. There seems a lack of friendliness with Allied countries, which Trump has put tariff on all Allied countries. Then there is the issue of insulting Justin Trudeau and Canada in general.
