China 2030

Maybe with tonight's elections results and the Republicans taking back some of the power, the American people have seen the light?

TOO YELLOW!

U.S. Census

What's this US census thing going on right now? The US government wants you to mail in a 10 questionnaire about your family. If you don't do it then they have to go door-to-door to find you. If they know where you live, then why do you need to send information in? Also being the US, everything political and the Republicans are protesting and not sending their questionnaires in. It's supposed to save money right? But then I see ads on TV, doesn't that cost money? And the ad said mail it in. Mail? Who uses mail in 2010. People are too lazy to mail anything. If I could do my entire unemployment claim online, surely people could do a questionnaire online right?

I don't get it. In Canada, they go door-to-door once every couple of years just to make sure no numbers have changed too drastically. I think they use tax returns too to count people.

Shouldn't the US have a year-round government organization that number-crunches year-round? Here we have Statistics Canada and they have all sorts of stuff. We hear it on the nightly news all the time that 69% of Canadians are this, or 57% of Canadian are that. Or something like Toronto now has more non-white people than white people.. stuff like that.

What do you think?

A Chinese 'Hero' for NBC's Hit Drama

Source: CriEnglish

Producers of "Heroes" are considering casting a Chinese actor to help expand its Chinese influence, Chinese media reported.

Producers of the popular American TV series "Heroes" are considering casting a Chinese actor to help expand the drama's growing Chinese influence, Chinese media reported on Wednesday.


Hong Kong-based actor Daniel Wu
The U.S. National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is seeking an English-speaking Chinese actor for the drama's planned sixth season, Yangtse Evening Post cited unnamed sources close to NBC.

Season 4, the latest completed season, will premiere on American small screens next week on September 21.

NBC is currently approaching Hong Kong-based stars Daniel Wu, Allen Ting and Stephen Fung for the role, according to the report. Daniel Wu and Stephen Fung share an American upbringing.

"Heroes", a science fiction drama revolving around a group of people with extraordinary abilities, debuted on NBC in 2006 with Japanese-American actor Masi Oka as one of its leads. Oka's presence has helped "Heroes" attract many Asian fans, particularly Japanese, according to Yangtse Evening Post.

Must be nice to be able to script for a 6th season even before showing 4th season!
As I've mentioned before, Daniel Wu is the worst Chinese actor ever. He's static and not understandable in either language. I would stop watching if he was cast. Allen Ting and Stephen Fung are ok but pretty obscure.

I think NBC need to expand more and research all the young actors in Chinese cinema, not those are have American roots.. This would be my list.

1. Lee Hom Wang

2. Nicholas Tse

These two guys know English for sure.
My other choices for favourite young male actors are..

3. Shawn Yue
4. Jay Chou
5. Cheng Chen

I'm not sure how good their English is but they got 2 years!

N. Korean leader reportedly pardons U.S. journalists

Source: CNN

North Korean President Kim Jong Il has pardoned and ordered the release of two U.S. journalists, state-run news agency KCNA said Wednesday.

The announcement came after former U.S. President Bill Clinton met with top North Korean officials in Pyongyang to appeal for the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who had been arrested while reporting from the border between North Korea and China.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it," the news agency reported. "Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view.

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What a strange place North Korea is. There is absolutely no laws there at all. Looking at this from a neutral point of view, the two journalists are either guilty or not guilty right? How is it that they can be guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison one minute and then because Bubba pays them a visit, they are now free! And that's all it took? Bill Clinton flys into the country, takes a few pictures and North Korea lets them go? I thought it would be much more difficult?

Two journalists = 1 photo-op :)


So strange. If I went and did something crazy, I'm not sure my Prime Minister could get me pardoned even though I live in his riding and I am his friend *wink wink wink*

As happy as I am that the journalists are free, this is not good precedence. Now North Korea can do anything they want (like arrest people) and the US will have make a deal each time!

So happens now? Does the US play nice to get a couple of journalists out and then go back to being tough? We'll see.

----

All the jokes are coming out now, like:

When Bill Clinton wants to bring home two women at the same time, not even North Korea can stop him! :D

Memphis Gas Station Sushi in Gourmet Magazine

Source: Notes From Memphis

In the travel section of the August issue of Gourmet Magazine (page 44) in between articles about the raw mik cheeses from Ragusa Province in Sicily and the food artisans of Vancouver Island, there is a small piece about the sushi at the BP gas station at Ridgeway and Poplar. Apparently, they sell about 300 boxes of fresh sushi each day made by an on-site sushi chef. I knew this gas station had been selling sushi for years but I've never had any or even thought about stopping in to get any.

You know you're in Memphis when....

Sushi in a box is GOURMET!

Obama's First Bad Speech?

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Nothing else on tv on a slow Wednesday night so I watched the Obama HealthCare press conference. For the first time, he seems flustered and didn't sound good. I've said in the past that if Obama read a long shopping list, it would still sound good. But tonight, he didn't sound convincing.

He really sounded like he has no health care plan. Just a jumble of non-specific goals. Then he went off into talking about the fiscal deficit, that it wasn't his fault and he has reduced it looking forward ten years.

There were a lot of words but all saying very little. A long-winded, poorly organized group of statements. A restating of many of the current problems, a list of things that must be done better, nothing about how to get from here to there except 'this bill must be passed now'.

I didn't like his use of the word "incentivize". What kind of word is that? Doesn't sound good.

I would have liked to hear how this bill would address the major problems or the overarching vision of the plan, more specific than 'fix health care'. I am probably asking too much for a five minute speech and fifty minute press conference. but that seemed to be his objective right? To sell the plan to the people on prime time tv, or frame the public discussion, or something. He seemed floundering tonight saying 'we need this, we need it now', without a clear message of how, why this, or how much. And his 2/3 funding of the plan with increased efficiencies is complete bunk.

The fantasy might be over already. Obama's always sounded good but has never said much. During the campaign he mentioned "Hope and Change" alot. I'm still waiting for a definition of what hope and change are. He's bit off more than he can chew I think. He can't "speech" his way out of this one.

This is the life of a political leader. Popular when elected but with each passnig day, one more person hates you.

Wonder Girls American TV Debut

The Wonder Girls made their US TV debut on the Wendy Williams show? (WHO?)
I've never heard of this show.


Youtube Link

I like this song. It's got a good beat :) *dance dance dance*

Japanese like American Food

Source: Slate

The image of Japan as being inhospitable to imports is old, enduring, and not entirely unjustified. The government is offering immigrants from South America—many themselves descendants of Japanese emigrants—$3,000 to return home (the better to free up jobs for native-born Japanese). The vista that meets visitors at Narita Airport is hardly more welcoming: masked staffers, health disclosure forms, and a sign warning that people who are coming in from countries such as Bolivia and Brazil must go in a special line. (They're looking for either soccer players or swine flu.) On the 80-minute ride from Narita Airport to Tokyo, I tried in vain to spot an imported car on the road.

But Japan—Tokyo, at least—isn't uniformly hostile to imports. Though fiercely proud of its many cuisines, Japan is surprisingly open to food-related businesses from overseas. I instantly marked the Subway franchise as the place to turn off the main drag to get to the hotel. An array of recognizable names welcomes visitors to Gaien-Higashi Street: Wolfgang Puck, McDonald's, Outback Steakhouse, the Hard Rock Café (with Hello Kitty playing the guitar in the window). And there's even the ne plus ultra mediocre American cuisine: T.G.I. Friday's. I've traveled about 20 hours and 7,000-odd miles to wind up in a strip mall. Tokyo's SPC (Starbucks per capita) ratio rivals that of Manhattan. And there are also what might be dubbed theoretical imports—faux American brands that exist only outside the United States, such as Bagel & Bagel, which features the ice bagel. (To me that sounds more like a Jewish congregation in Manitoba than something to put some lox on.)

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I think the article here is trying to say that even though it seems that the Japanese don't like foreigners but they like foreign food and so that might ease relations and help people learn about each other. I think that's kind of irrelevant. Food is a service and people don't mind other races when they're serving them. People don't really care where the food comes from and sometimes they just want something different.

For example, Chinese takeout is very popular in America. The fact that people like it doesn't mean they like Chinese people. In fact I think it's the opposite. If there were to be a racist American, he would want the Chinese guy to make cheap Chinese food and nothing else. No professionals and no trades people. Just a slave to service. I bet you someone from the KKK wouldn't mind a Chinese guy delivering food to him all the time. But if you take his job from him, he'll whack you.

U.S. Births Hint at Bias for Boys in Some Asians

Source: New York Times

The trend is buried deep in United States census data: seemingly minute deviations in the proportion of boys and girls born to Americans of Chinese, Indian and Korean descent.

In those families, if the first child was a girl, it was more likely that a second child would be a boy, according to recent studies of census data. If the first two children were girls, it was even more likely that a third child would be male.

Demographers say the statistical deviation among Asian-American families is significant, and they believe it reflects not only a preference for male children, but a growing tendency for these families to embrace sex-selection techniques, like in vitro fertilization and sperm sorting, or abortion.

New immigrants typically transplant some of their customs and culture to the United States — from tastes in food and child-rearing practices to their emphasis on education and the elevated social and economic status of males. The appeal to immigrants by clinics specializing in sex selection caused some controversy a decade ago.

But a number of experts expressed surprise to see evidence that the preference for sons among Asian-Americans has been so significantly carried over to this country. “That this is going on in the United States — people were blown away by this,” said Prof. Lena Edlund of Columbia University.

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Woah woah woah woah... excuse me? New immigrants typically transplant some of their customs and culture to the United States — from tastes in food and child-rearing practices to their emphasis on education and the elevated social and economic status of males but EXPERTS are surprised that Asians prefering boys over girls has carried over? That's the most important one! If people are going to carry on eating rice and praying at the altar then they certainly are carrying on the custom of having boys. If you have no boy, who's going to pray at the altar!? Experts can be so dumb sometimes.

Reporters 'admit' N Korea entry

Source: BBC

Two US journalists who were jailed last week in North Korea have admitted entering the country illegally, according to state news agency KCNA.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee "admitted and accepted" their sentences, KCNA said.

The two women were given jail terms of 12 years' hard labour, after being found guilty of crossing into North Korea from the Chinese border in March.

KCNA also said they had admitted getting footage for a "smear campaign" about North Korea's human rights.

The women's families have always claimed that Lee, 36, and Ling, 32, had no intention of crossing into North Korea.

They fear the two reporters may become political pawns in negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, amid growing tensions over North Korea's nuclear programme and recent missile tests.

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Not much argument anymore now is there? Two people illegally going into a country where everything in censored in order to run a smear campaign? What was this TV station trying to prove putting two reporters lives in jeopardy for a story that no one really cares about. Did they think this was ground-breaking journalism that would win some award? Countless South Korea, Chinese and Japanese citizens have been kidnapped without a trace. Nothing their governments could do about it. Those families just suffer.

If you or I run into North Korea, would the Canadian government save our ass? Just because they're reporters doesn't make them anymore important and the US is going to compromise their entire North Korea stretegy to save them.

Enough with the cries that they were kidnapped. They were not. They were arrested under the law, however asinine that law is. They're as good as dead. I do feel for them and their families. They just happened to be working for a moron, such is life. It about time the media got a wake up call and figure out they have to be very careful and can't be sticking there nose where it's not wanted.

OOPS! Obama is lost!

Doesn't Obama know the directions in his own house? South Korean President Lee Myung-bak keeps having to correct him :)

Kobayashi beats Chestnut in eating rematch

Source: NBC

In a chewy chow-lenge, Takeru Kobayashi outlasted Joey Chestnut when the eating titans faced off to see who could devour the most pizzas.

Kobayashi, a six-time world hot dog eating champion from Japan, consumed 5¾ P’zones in a six-minute span of chaotic consumption Saturday to edge Chestnut. The 25-year-old from San Jose, Calif., wolfed down 5½ P’zones on Stage 15 at Sony Studios.

“I’m a little bummed,” Chestnut said. “There’s nobody I like beating more than him, he pushes me harder than anybody.”

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This sets up the ultimate battle, the annual fourth of July hot dog eating showdown. Chestnut has won that the last two year and Kobayashi wants his title back!

A Chili Sauce to Crow About

Source: NY Times

AFTER-HOURS calls to Huy Fong Foods, here in the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles, are intercepted by an answering machine. One recent day, 14 messages were blinking when Donna Lam, the operations manager, hit “play.”

A woman told of smearing Huy Fong’s flagship product, Tuong Ot Sriracha (Sriracha Chili Sauce), on multigrain snack chips. A man proclaimed the purée of fresh red jalapeños, garlic powder, sugar, salt and vinegar to be “the bomb,” and thanked Ms. Lam’s employers for “much joy and pleasure.”

Another caller, hampered by a slight slur, botched the pronunciation of the product name before asking whether discount pricing might be available. Finally, he blurted, “I love rooster sauce!” (A strutting rooster, gleaming white against a backdrop of the bright red sauce, dominates Huy Fong’s trademark green-capped clear plastic squeeze bottles.)

“I guess it goes with alcohol,” deadpanned Ms. Lam, who, like David Tran, the 64-year-old founder of Huy Fong and creator of its sauce, is both proud of the product’s popularity and flummoxed by fans’ devotion.

The lure of Asian authenticity is part of the appeal. Some American consumers believe sriracha (properly pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) to be a Thai sauce. Others think it is Vietnamese. The truth is that sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods, may be best understood as an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples.

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I don't like hot sauce that much and I can take a little dab in a bowl of PHO. So there's always a bottle of Sriracha in my fridge :)

U.S. Senate: Hello Kitty. She's everywhere!!!!!

Who would have thought! Hello Kitty shows up on TV in the U.S. Senate!
North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan is using The Hello Kitty credit card as an example of credit card companies targeting young people and is the argument for a planned bill to limit the marketting of credit card companies to people under the age of 21.


C-Span Link

It also made the news shows like The Rachel Maddow Show


Youtube Link

Sanrio must be loving it that THEIR credit card is the example of credit card targeting. Free advertising! If you didn't know there was a Sanrio credit card! You do now! And you want one now! Forget 10 to 14 years old. I'm 30 and I want one! :)

Commercial:

Youtube Link

U.S. citizens' confidence in Japan reaches record level

They trust me!

Source: Breitbart

The telephone survey was conducted in February and March, covering about 1,500 U.S. citizens aged 18 and older as well as 250 influential individuals.

"The numbers apparently reflect the importance the administration of (U.S. President Barack) Obama is placing on Japan," a senior ministry official said.

In response to a question asking which county is the most important partner for the United States in Asia, Japan topped the list, with 46 percent among the general public and 44 percent among influential figures.

China came a close second with 39 percent among the general public and 42 percent among influential people, apparently reflecting its growing influence in Washington's relations with and Asian countries.

Asked whether they support Tokyo's push for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, 57 percent of the influential individuals answered yes, up eight points from last year.

About 62 percent of the general public and 67 percent of the influential figures supported the idea of concluding a Free Trade Agreement between Japan and the United States.

Japan's got the Americans right where they want them :)

Obama takes one of the only credible Republican presidential contenders and sends him to China

Damn you Barack!

Source: Washington Post

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. (R) will be introduced Saturday as President Obama's choice as ambassador to China, a source familiar with the decision said tonight.

Huntsman, 48, had been mentioned this spring as a potential Republican contender for the White House in 2012, and Obama's former campaign manager recently suggested that he was a rising force in the GOP.

Several Salt Lake City media outlets reported tonight that Huntsman had accepted the offer to head the U.S. mission in Beijing, and that Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert would replace Huntsman as governor. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Huntsman was in Washington tonight, but that calls to his spokeswoman and various staffers were not returned.

Huntsman was elected in November to a second term as Utah's governor, drawing 70 percent of the vote. He served in the George W. Bush administration as deputy U.S. trade representative from 2001 to 2004 and, for President George H.W. Bush, was ambassador to Singapore from 1992 to 1994. He is an expert on China, and he speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently.

Huntsman has been getting political advice this year from national political consultants, helping to stoke rumors that Huntsman might be positioning himself for a run at Obama in 2012.

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Interesting. I wonder if he really had hopes of running in 2012 that he would take this position. He's relatively unknown now and being ambassador is usually a low profile job. Wouldn't he rather be in the US and be in the news bashing Obama at all times?

Bobby Jindal = FAIL

Ah the great Asian-American republican hope. The man that will bring the Republicans back into primetime and return to power. The man that can match Obama colour for colour.

That speech was a fucking disgrace. I'm republican and I just watched in shock.

If you or I stood in front of a camera, then we'd freeze because of our inexperience.
For all of you that say television is easy, it's definitely not. I was in front of the camera many many years ago and it's not easy at all. So I appreciate that.

But he looked so unprepared. Biggest speech of his life, a prepared statement, and he's reading it off a teleprompter? Surely, he could have memorized that and just made his speech with feeling. You're going against Obama, you have to 'sound' better than time. He lectured to Americans. But I'm afraid all the grade 1 students had gone to bed.

In sports we would call this a choke. A first overall pick that had great potential that couldn't hack it in the big leagues. Ryan Leaf, Alexandre Daigle, Kwame Brown and now, Bobby Jindal.

Or one of my favorite expression: "You drive for show and putt for dough". The American media and people are quick to pounce. You can do good for 100 years and if you make one mistake, you're done. If Jindal shows his face again, people will always remember this awful speech. In this youtube generation it is there forever.

He's done.


This speech was almost as bad as Stephane Dion's speech when the camera was an inch away from his nose and he was asking the country to make time the next Prime Minister.


Youtube Link