Links: 2008-06-02

• For the life of me - Mountaineer chronicles his Everest rescue by Calgarian Andrew Brash and defends those who left him for dead
• Quotes from Yves Saint Laurent (1936 - 2008) * "I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it." (2002) * New York Times slideshow and obituary
• "Asset-backed insecurity" - an interesting piece about sovereign-wealth funds by The Economists
• Poor People With Checks - nicely done video "Checkmate"
• ABC Blesses Blogs, Endorses Embedding
• Owning the Clouds [via Cory

Canadian Mars Weather Station

• MDA Solution To Look For Clues Of Water Above And Below The Surface Of Mars
• MDA working with Mars spacecraft
• Local invention to be used on Mars

A neat post about the Mars mission (with links) from an unexpected source.

Here is a neat Google Tech Talk video about a 3D live motion video camera (blogged two years ago) that uses LIDAR. I wonder if we are talking about the same LIDAR technology as the one used in Mars?

Paris Hilton Inc.

You can watch this insightful documentary from CBC Doc Zone Paris Hilton Inc. about our celebrity culture that dominates our daily media and social dialogue.

Wikimedia & Sue

Two interesting articles about Sue Gardner (former head of CBC.ca) and Wikimedia.

Seed Magazine

Seed (subtitled: Science Is Culture) is a science magazine published bimonthly by Seed Media Group (founder and editor-in-chief, Adam Bly). "Each issue looks at big ideas in science, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture."

Here are some interesting ones,

• Seed Video Feature: Lawrence Krauss + Natalie Jeremijenko (Full Cut, 45+ mins) - The Star Trek physicist enters the Seed Salon to discuss participation, the politics of knowledge production, and seduction with the artist/engineer.
• The Mandelbrot chat
• The artist/filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson enters the Seed Salon to discuss artifacts, presence, and invisibility with the Stanford archaeologist Michael Shanks. - real neat chat
• Marc Hauser + Errol Morris (and video) - The evolutionary psychologist (Hauser) and the documentary filmmaker (Morris) discuss game theory, Stanley Milgram, and whether science can make us better people.

BBC SuperPokes Facebook Privacy Risks

From Privacy Commisioner of Canada’s blog (emphasis added),

And while Facebook says it advises its users to “employ…precautions” when downloading applications, any Facebook user will tell you that most applications simply won’t work if you don’t agree to give the developer access to your information.

BBC’s technology program Click decided to test out this security flaw (with news video) by creating its own Facebook application meant solely to “steal the personal details of you and all your Facebook friends without you knowing”.

Zimbabwe arms return to China

Very good news.

• Arms destined for Zimbabwe returning to China, official says - CBC News
• Zimbabwe arms shipment returns to China - Guardian UK
• Zimbabwe-Bound Ship Heads Back to China - NYT
• China says Zimbabwe arms shipment to return to China - AP
• Chinese arms shipment to Zimbabwe turning back: Beijing - AFP
• China's Zimbabwe arms ship turned away by African nations - Telegraph UK

An excerpt from CBC (emphasis added),

A shipment of weapons destined to Zimbabwe from China will be returned after neighbouring countries refused to allow them to be shipped through their territories, a Chinese spokesman said.

Countries neighbouring Zimbabwe refused to allow the Chinese freighter carrying the weapons, which included mortar grenades and bullets, to dock at their ports.

"This cargo was not unloaded because the Zimbabwe side was unable to take delivery as scheduled," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.

[...]

Jiang said the shipment was a purely commercial transaction that broke no laws and had nothing to do with the ongoing political crisis. [K: If China wants to be a true world power, commerce can no longer be the only consideration. Of course, the Chinese gov may have wanted Mugabe to stay in power and that will be a different issue all together.]

There is no international arms embargo against Zimbabwe, and China is one of the southern African nation's main trade partners and allies.

World's best chef

From Guardian UK - "Meet the world's best chef - His restaurant, El Bulli, in Spain, has been named best in the world - for the fourth time. So how does Ferran Adrià do it?"

Pressuring Olympic sponsors

From Guardian UK - "Follow the money: Olympic protest movement turns its sights on to sponsors"

Chinese Nationalism - Grace under fire

I am allergic to all forms of nationalism, be it Canadian, American, or Chinese nationalism. Here are some articles about some recent acts of Chinese Nationalism that alarmed me. In particular, the attack against Grace Wang (Qianyuan, 王千源), a Duke University Chinese student under attack.

• New Freedom, and Peril, in Online Criticism of China - WaPo
• Grace Wang and Chinese Nationalism - NYT Blog
• Grace Wang's home vandalized in China - Duke Chronicle (student paper at Duke where Grace is a student)
• Here is a NPR interview of Grace Wang on NPR - "Tibet Protests Stir Chinese Nationalism"
  
• Protests against French supermarket Carrefour spread
• France target of mass protests in China

And here is an excerpt from an insightful article written by Grace Wang in the Washington Post - "Caught in the Middle, Called a Traitor" (emphasis mine),

I study languages -- Italian, French and German. And this summer -- now that it looks as though I won't be able to go home to China -- I'll take up Arabic. My goal is to master 10 languages, in addition to Chinese and English, by the time I'm 30.

I want to do this because I believe that language is the bridge to understanding. Take China and Tibet. If more Chinese learned the Tibetan language, and if Tibetans learned more about China, I'm convinced that our two peoples would understand one another better and we could overcome the current crisis between us peacefully. I feel that even more strongly after what happened here at Duke University a little more than a week ago.

Trying to mediate between Chinese and pro-Tibetan campus protesters, I was caught in the middle and vilified and threatened by the Chinese. After the protest, the intimidation continued online, and I began receiving threatening phone calls. Then it got worse -- my parents in China were also threatened and forced to go into hiding. And I became persona non grata in my native country.

It has been a frightening and unsettling experience. But I'm determined to speak out, even in the face of threats and abuse. If I stay silent, then the same thing will happen to someone else someday.

So here's my story.

When I first arrived at Duke last August, I was afraid I wouldn't like it. It's in the small town of Durham, N.C., and I'm from Qingdao, a city of 4.3 million. But I eventually adjusted, and now I really love it. It's a diverse environment, with people from all over the world. Over Christmas break, all the American students went home, but that's too expensive for students from China. Since the dorms and the dining halls were closed, I was housed off-campus with four Tibetan classmates for more than three weeks.

I had never really met or talked to a Tibetan before, even though we're from the same country. Every day we cooked together, ate together, played chess and cards. And of course, we talked about our different experiences growing up on opposite sides of the People's Republic of China. It was eye-opening for me. [...]

Some people on the Chinese side started to insult me for speaking English and told me to speak Chinese only. But the Americans didn't understand Chinese. It's strange to me that some Chinese seem to feel as though not speaking English is expressing a kind of national pride. But language is a tool, a way of thinking and communicating. [...]

The next morning, a storm was raging online. Photographs of me had been posted on the Internet with the words "Traitor to her country!" printed across my forehead. Then I saw something really alarming: Both my parents' citizen ID numbers had been posted. I was shocked, because this information could only have come from the Chinese police.

I saw detailed directions to my parents' home in China, accompanied by calls for people to go there and teach "this shameless dog" a lesson. It was then that I realized how serious this had become. My phone rang with callers making threats against my life. It was ironic: What I had tried so hard to prevent was precisely what had come to pass. And I was the target.
[read the rest of the article]

Grace, your levelheadedness is truly a breath of fresh air and I really admire you and your family for being so brave. I hope some reasons will get into the head of the fen qing (angry youth), internet mob, and the people that have been threatening your and your family's safety.

Links: 2008-04-18

1. Chinese ship carries arms cargo to Mugabe regime - this is just terrible
2. Hedge fund managers reap billions amid slump
3. Starving Cancer - with video
4. NAB snapshot: “Flying-Cam”
5. RED Scarlet 3K camcorder, James Cameron on the future of digital cinema
6. Guardian: The value of Jeff Jarvis’ blog

The making of a Pulitzer winning photo

A video and story behind the making of a Pulitzer winning photo.

Dalai Lama - Golden Period

Here is a link to 43 minutes long and insightful video interview with the Dalai Lama by Ann Curry for NBC Nightly News (transcript included). Great job Ann. (emphasis added)

ANN CURRY:

China says you're not helpless. China blames you for it. (LAUGHTER) It calls you, "A wolf in monk's clothes. A devil with a human face. A terrorist." Are you a terrorist?

DALAI LAMA:

(LAUGHTER) You should judge. (LAUGHS) Is sometimes you see uh the wolf with Buddhist robe during Cultural Revolution, now these words is used. So, now again, you see they use these uh also they-- these old words. Okay, doesn't matter. But one thing I really consider is-- (SNIFF) uh because of official propaganda, millions of innocent Chinese in mainland China, who have no sort of, I would call access to know through sort of third information or some more, I think realistic information. uh they're only relying, they have to rely on their own, how to say, government sources. So, if those innocent Chinese, very sincere Chinese brothers, sisters-- millions of these people really feel-- how-- is something uh demon. (LAUGHS) Then I feel really sad. But otherwise no problem. Whatever you call me-- people call me-- I'm still a human being. (LAUGHTER) I'm still a simple Buddhist monk, and that's all. No problem. And in fact, as a Buddhist practitioner, this is-- now, this is real sort of test period that I sincerely practicing, sort of Buddhist teaching. Teaching of compassion, tolerance, and these things. If because of such sort of circumstances, if I lose my temper, heated. Then that means I'm not really sincere Buddhist practitioner. So, these are for practitioners, (UNINTEL PHRASE) Golden Period.

ANN CURRY:

A Golden Period?

DALAI LAMA:

Uh-huh (AFFIRM).

ANN CURRY:

Is this a period in which you are, as the Chinese government says, did you or your government encourage any of these protests in Tibet, in London, in Paris--

DALAI LAMA:

No.

ANN CURRY:

--in San Francisco?

DALAI LAMA:

No.

P.S. I applaud NBC for posting the full 43 minutes interview online. I hope CBC, CTV, and other news media in Canada will post more full length interviews online.

Ted Turner on Charlie Rose

Very interesting and insightful chat between Ted Turner and Charlie Rose. [Hat tip: Byron]

Olympic Torch - A beacon of light on Chinese Human Rights, Tibet, etc.

Few days ago I spent sometime talking to Calgarian Ralph Maclean, a Hong Kong veteran who fought for Hong Kong in the Canadian army during the Second World War. In fact, Ralph was captured by the Japanese army and became POW for 3 years and 7 months. His love of Hong Kong has continued to this day and he actually visited HK in recent years and was part of a HK-made documentary about that war and these HK vets.

The reason of my chat with Ralph was that he was really upset and disappointed of what he saw how the Chinese government has mistreated the Tibetans and jailed other innocent Human Rights activists in China. He read this article “Olympics? I will not run, jump or dive in China” and wanted to hear our thoughts on it. So I called Ralph to share with him my thoughts.

I told Ralph that, in my humble opinion, having the Olympics in Beijing and the torch relay around the world can actually bring some unintended but needed attentions to Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan (which indirectly prolong the genocide in Darfur). The protests in London, Paris, and today in San Francisco created an unprecedented international platform to focus on, I repeat, Chinese Human Rights problems, the Tibet stalemate, and even Chinese investment in Sudan.

Membership to World Trade Organization, host country of the Olympics, de facto “Factory of the World”, etc are achievements that the Chinese should be proud of. At the same time, it is about time the Chinese government also starts to respect human rights, helping to halt the genocide in Darfur, etc.

I can write more but I should stop now and end with a crowd-shot London protest video clip and an excerpt from Telegraph.

Here is an excerpt from Telegraph.

Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London Olympic Committee, has described the Chinese officials guarding the Olympic torch as “thugs”, piling more embarrassment onto the Games’ organisers. [...]

Lord Coe made the comments as a member of Channel 4 News staff was attempting to contact him over the telephone and they were accidentally connected via the switchboard to a private conversation.

“They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English … I think they were thugs,” he said.

In a statement, Channel 4 News said: “By chance Channel 4 News had attempted to contact Lord Coe’s press office via their switchboard and was accidentally connected to the conversation he was having with a colleague, a 2012 press officer Jackie Brock Doyle.”

New lecture by Justin Lin, Chief Economist of The World Bank

[hat tip to: Leona]

Justin Lin, new Chief Economist of The World Bank, delivered a new English speech “Development and Transition: Idea, Strategy and Viability” at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on March 31, 2008.

Enjoy.

You can’t ignore child labour

I previously blogged about my friend Larry Giesbrecht’s insightful film call “Children who work“ about child labour in Egypt. It is nice to see World Vision launched a campaign to create more awareness around child labour. (look closely at the automatic revolving doors)

Romeo Dallaire at Engineers Without Border Calgary - Are all humans - Humans?

It was my great pleasure and deep honour to meet a true Canadian hero last month when Senator Roméo Dallaire came to speak at the Engineers Without Border event in Calgary.

The following are links to eight different excerpts of Dallaire’s March 16, 2008 speech.

• When a super power like the US is nervous and feels vulnerable

• Are all humans - Humans? Or some more humans than others? The legacy of Bill Clinton’s decision.

• On Child Soldiers. The special tragedy of girl child soldiers. Responsibility to Protect doctrine.

• Q&A about Darfur and Kenya
• World’s lack of action in Rwanda, Darfur, compare to Kosovo
• An era of world disorder
• Peace keeping is out, conflict resolution is in
• Moving away from era of classic war & classic peace keeping

Ryan Spencer Reed, photojournalist and contributing photographer to the Darfur/Darfur multimedia exhibit

It was real nice to meet and hear Ryan Spencer Reed, photojournalist and contributing photographer to the Darfur/Darfur multimedia exhibit, spoke when he was in Calgary opening the exhibit. As I blogged previously, I found some the following videos in Ryan’s site,

1. Quicktime slide show with beautiful music of some photos by Ryan
2. An video interview of Ryan set to some of his photos

In the following video, Ryan tells the story of how one of his photo was used by Newsweek very differently in its international edition and in its American edition. To me, it is a telling story of how US media are tailoring their story to their own national interest.

Here is my interview with Ryan where he shared with us his emotional experience in taking pictures in Sudan, and what can actions can people in the west take to stop the atrocities in Darfur (SudanDivestment.org).

Darfur/Darfur Calgary opening night - videos

As promised in a previous posting, I’ve finally found some time to process and post the following two video clips of the opening night.

• Maryam (a Darfurian in Calgary recently visited Darfur) speaks at DARFUR/DARFUR opening night.

• A short video clip of the Darfur/Darfur multimedia exhibit on the outdoor wall of Glenbow Museum in Calgary.