AP IMPACT: Chinese drywall poses potential risks

Something new to worry about...
AP IMPACT: Chinese drywall poses potential risks

China forcing 6-months' pregnant woman to abort (from AP/AZCentral.com)

Very interesting...

China forcing 6-months' pregnant woman to abort (from AP/AZCentral.com)

China reassures Taiwan consumers on milk safety (from AP)

The issue is sad, but this headline makes me laugh (and wonder):
China reassures Taiwan consumers on milk safety (from AP)

Especially when you see the following associated headlines:
China orders more milk testing, HK boy sick (from AP)
5,800 Chinese babies hospitalized on tainted milk (from AP)

Trust us! Why should I?!?

Two links to share

Two interesting links to share (via maoxian.com):

Room With a View: A photo diary of Beijing's Air

Passing the Torch: An Evolution of Form (from the New York Times)
make sure you hover over the graphic - very nicely done!

Spotlight on Beijing (only two and a half days to go!)

First the reports that China is censoring media internet access... (even though they promised unrestricted access)

followed by many stories about terrible air quality (even after the government has spent over $17 billion to clean up the air)

...today's news about members of the U.S. cycling team arriving in China wearing face masks:
U.S. Cyclists Are Masked, and Criticism Is Not (from the New York Times)

and now this latest news:
China revokes visa of gold medalist, Darfur activist Cheek (from Yahoo!)

Beijing's haze thickens even with pollution controls in place (from McClatchy)

another interesting one via maoxian.com:
Beijing's haze thickens even with pollution controls in place (from McClatchy)

Highlights:

The officials referred to the gray haze over the city as "fog" and "dust" but refrained from calling it air pollution.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the city's Environmental Protection Bureau, said at a news conference that observers should not rely on the visual appearance of the sky, or make judgments from photographs, in assessing whether Beijing is making headway in fighting air pollution.

"You should not rely on photos," Du said, chastising the British Broadcasting Corp., for publishing photos on its Web site showing dismal haze in Beijing this month.

At a news conference, Du offered blanket assurances that air quality would meet standards of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the upcoming competition.

"We can guarantee good air quality during the Games," Du said.

Du might have shot himself in the foot with that last remark! We'll find out soon - the opening ceremonies are less than two weeks away.

A Packed Weekend

We had the busiest weekend ever...lots of food involved so it was a good kind of "busy".

Friday night we had dinner at Pizza A Metro (my posting about the visit). Great stuff, highly recommended.

Saturday afternoon, I had my monthly volunteering event (for Washington Street Foundation). We went to see Valley Youth Theatre's production of Cinderella at the Herberger Theater. It was a pretty good show (much better than sitting/suffering through A Winnie the Pooh Christmas Tail a few months ago =)

After the volunteer event, I met up with Patty at a going away party for one of her co-workers. We only stayed for a little while before rushing off to meet my some of my co-workers for dinner.

This past weekend was the grand opening of The Dhaba. The owners of the restaurant are Thunderbird alumni, so we were there to show our support. The food was great (we all shared the food so I'm not really sure what we ordered). They had a few belly dancers on hand for the festivities. Here are a few pictures:

Sunday morning, we met up with some more T-Bird friends for dim sum at Great Wall. Great Wall has pretty reliable dim sum and it's the only decent place in the West Valley. We enjoyed a ton of food...

After lunch, we headed to Tempe to see My Fair Lady at ASU's Gammage Auditorium.

The show was good, though it a bit too long (a total running time of around 3 hours). I was kind of disappointed that the understudy (Dana Delisa) was performing the role of Eliza Doolittle. I had read a few great reviews of Lisa O'Hare's performance of Eliza. Doh! Delisa's performance seemed pretty average for me. That's what we get for seeing a Sunday matinee...oh well. I thought Tim Jerome (Arthur Doolittle) and Justin Bohon (Freddy Eynsford-Hill) gave fantastic performances. I do have to admit that both Patty and I did end up falling asleep during parts of the show...we must have been tired from eating too much for lunch! Overall, it was good, although it was a bit of a let down (on par w/ Rent). I thought it was going to be a fantastic show (like Phantom, Les Mis, Miss Saigon, and Oliver).

Time for some rest!!!


Places mentioned:

Pizza A Metro
2336 W. Thomas Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85015

The Dhaba
1872 E Apache Blvd.
Tempe, AZ 85281

Great Wall
3446 W. Camelback Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85017

The Connection Has Been Reset (from TheAtlantic.com)

Very interesting article about how the Chinese government will be opening up internet controls on IP addresses where foreigners are expected to work or stay during the Olympic Games (hotels, internet cafes, etc.). The government is trying to create an illusion of open access for these visitors...

Read more about China's "Great Firewall" here:
The Connection Has Been Reset (from TheAtlantic.com)

Wary U.S. olympians will bring food to China (International Herald Tribune)

Found this interesting article via another blog (Maoxian.com):

Wary U.S. olympians will bring food to China (International Herald Tribune)

From the article... (highlights are mine)

When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. "Enough to feed a family of eight," said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues.

"We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive."

Scary...

Chinese dumplings sicken 10 Japanese (from Yahoo! News/AP)

"Ten Japanese were sickened, including a child who fell into a coma, after eating Chinese-made dumplings contaminated with insecticide, police and health officials said Wednesday."

Yikes! Patty and I usually eat frozen dumplings once or twice a month!
I think from now on, we'll be making them from scratch more often.

Here's the full article:
Chinese dumplings sicken 10 Japanese (from Yahoo! News/AP)

The price we are all paying for China's focus on economic growth.

The New York Times has published an eight part series titled, "Choking on Growth", about China's pollution crisis.

I just finished the last episode titled "In China, Farming Fish in Toxic Waters". The article and video are pretty alarming.

Here are some highlights:

"China produces about 70 percent of the farmed fish in the world, harvested at thousands of giant factory-style farms that extend along the entire eastern seaboard of the country."

"More than half of the rivers in China are too polluted to serve as a source of drinking water."

"The nearby Dongzhang Reservoir, a water source for agriculture and more than 700,000 people, was recently rated level 5, near the bottom of the government scale, unfit for fish farming, swimming or even contact with the human body."

"This is one of the solutions to the water crisis in China: to seek out virgin territory and essentially start the cycle all over again. And that worries scientists, who say aquaculture in China is not just a victim of water pollution but a culprit with a severe environmental legacy."

Still want to eat that shrimp, catfish, unagi (eel), or tilapia?!?

Beware of food from China!

The craziest thing happened last week while we were over at a friend's house. They were soaking dried shitake mushrooms and found three rusty 2 inch nails embedded in three of the mushrooms. I should have taken a picture of them...

Sure enough, the mushrooms were from China (as almost all dried shitake mushrooms are). We generally try to avoid food products stamped "Made in China", but for many things, it's difficult to tell (i.e. fruit, packaged foods made w/ raw ingredients from China, etc.). I'm guessing a bunch of those cereals I love may use raw materials from China.