Not new, global warming, as a topic for conversation. Oh no. But I fear that it may be unfair for First World countries to point the finger at developing countries around the world and tell them to reduce emissions. They have a valid point. Let us look at CO2 emissions per capita instead.
Talk about a huge inequality. Even in the top 10 countries for CO2 emissions per capita, the bottom 2, Poland and the UK, use less than half of the top 4 polluters.
Hate it, I do, when a product fails before I believe it should. I have ranted about such products here before and I stand by my rants. Specifically you see products fail mere months after the warranty has expired, seemingly on queue for you to purchase yet another replacement. The old one goes into the garbage and then landfill, and the environment takes an unnecessary penalty for our stupidity. Clearly this should not be. I purposely buy products that last a long time, if I can, and take measures to ensure they do last.
Driven by a sense of futility with the Chinese justice system and willing to kill himself and others, motorcycle taxi driver Ji Zhongxing went to the Beijing Airport from his home town of Heze, Shandong Province and tried to blow himself up with a home made bomb. Seemingly a rare occurrence of such cases in China, was this guy just a crackpot that blew his lid, or does this point to a deeper and troubling issue in Chinese society? Let us consider the Chinese perspective.
Safety is not something that I feel rates as very important in Chinese culture. There are numerous instances where, if the situation were in Canada, regular Canadians would be up in arms. Chinese people are, instead, chill. I really do not understand this mindset, as the results could be disastrous. Having lived and traveled in China, then returning home to Toronto, Canada, I have seen so many examples. In potentially dangerous situations I see nothing to gain and much to lose.
ICE 3 Vending Machine: Cheaply made in China, stay away and save your money
Deceptive advertising can be, but when you can take a machine apart there is nothing but the truth to see. This is surely the case for the ICE 3 MIS2200 personal vending machine or chill can dispenser. Sold under the names Heartland America or Curtis, this is truly a piece of junk and cheap from bow to stern. At $79 I council you to run away from this unit.
Fresh home made Chinese jiaozi on a hot dog bun. Invented by Little Weed. Heretical but it does taste good. And if you need to ask, the jiaozi was made of pork. Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai
Hilarious! This is a Chinese idiom, but this translation given to Froog is much more colourful.
“The seemingly bright and colourful overcoat could not possibly cover up the patched underwear beneath.”
金玉其外, 败絮其中
jīnyùqíwài, bàixùqízhōng, or “gilded exterior, shabby and ruined on the inside (idiom)”, or my dictionary says “rubbish coated in gold and jade”.
We did not intend to live in a Chinese enclave when we moved into our Scarborough, Canada home in Toronto. It seemed like when a white elderly couple would move out, a Chinese family would move in. As the years passed, this continued, until 50-60% of our street is now Chinese. It also was not our desire to live in a Chinese enclave. Our intention was to live in a multiculturally mixed neighbourhood.
I write this post after being prodded by this article on Markham Chinese enclaves. Markham is just north of the Scarborough and Toronto border, and can be considered an ethnic extension of Scarborough. In fact we often shop there.
As my Chinese teacher said to me in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square incident, history is fluid and can be rewritten. While he nor I believed this at the time, in China this is indeed true. With China’s sophisticated propaganda machine on full throttle, the perception of China, globally and domestically can be changed. This is how China works, and works very effectively.
By destiny, luck or fate, I live in a Toronto neighbourhood that has a high percentage of Chinese families. I have often wondered, like many families, if by neighbourhood is safe, relative to other Toronto neighbourhoods. As well, if a friend from China was about to migrate to Toronto and wanted to live in a safe Chinese neighbourhood, where would I recommend? This blog post tries to answer these questions.
