Crushed Girl Dies – “Farewell, There Are No Cars In Heaven”

The 2-year-old girl who was repeatedly run over by Chinese motorists and ignored by no less than 18 people as she lay bleeding in the road has died.

So severe were her injuries that she fell into a coma and was later pronounced braindead, with doctors holding out little hope for her survival.

She finally passed away after lingering several days, with the hospital claiming the cause of death to be “systemic organ failure.”

Meanwhile, the humble rag-picker who dragged her off the road has been feted as a national hero and given $15,000 by corporate benefactors as a reward for her heroic conduct in the face of conceivable risk:

The circumstances surrounding the girl’s death have provoked outrage and revulsion in China, with millions angrily decrying the undeniably wretched moral character of modern China.

Many Chinese have expressed the opinion that Chinese law is so backwards and corrupt and the Chinese people themselves so immoral and treacherous that they would fear to help anyone in need lest they be turned on and held financially responsible for the incident by the person they helped – as has in fact happened in several widely reported cases.

Others have pointed to the flagrant disregard for the most basic standards of ethical behavior routinely displayed by China’s government and businesses as evidence of a society which simply does not care about individuals or tolerate them acting morally.

However, with all this universal outrage some will doubtless be left wondering where all these kind-hearted Chinese were as the little girl lay dying in the middle of the road after being run over twice.

Aside from the arrest of the two drivers who ran her over, the only official response has been the provincial government mooting a law to force people to help accident victims (seemingly highly unpopular) and calling for suggestions on how to better promote “socialist morals” amongst the people – although an increasingly large body of Chinese appear to be of the opinion these are what got them into this situation in the first place.

via: sankaku

Mommy, Where Does WoW Gold Come From?

Chinese labour camps are said to be forcing prisoners to farm gold for westerners too lazy to do it themselves, torturing prisoners who do not earn enough, the time spent playing apparently not punishment enough.

The allegations were made by a former prison guard who was jailed and sent to a re-education camp for 3 years as punishment for complaining to the central government about local corruption.

In addition to the usual regime of punishing physical slave labour and communist brainwashing, he reports being forced to farm gold for sale to lazy westerners who cannot stomach the soul-destroying tedium of MMORPG gaming themselves:

“Prison bosses made more money forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual labour.

There were 300 prisoners forced to play games. We worked 12-hour shifts in the camp. I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000rmb ($800-$900) a day. We didn’t see any of the money. The computers were never turned off.”

He was tortured for not farming enough gold, he says:

“If I couldn’t complete my work quota, they would punish me physically. They would make me stand with my hands raised in the air and after I returned to my dormitory they would beat me with plastic pipes. We kept playing until we could barely see things.”

China, the world’s gold farm, has enacted legislation intended to regulate the trade in virtual currencies, but inexplicably nobody seems to take any notice of them.

As the pay and conditions (for the voluntarily employed at least) are said to be significantly better than slaving away in a mine, farm or factory, and western demand for help in bypassing meaningless timesinks is as strong as ever, it is hard to see the practice ending any time soon – save perhaps by the simple expedient of Blizzard selling gold and items straight to users.

[via]

Obama: The New Face of Racism in Japan

A black man reports having  had to endure the heart-rending experience of being called an Obama by a class of Japanese schoolchildren.

The account comes by way of a Japanese journalist:

I met a young American Japanophile on a plane recently. His Japanese was surprisingly good [i.e. he could say his name].

He was dispatched to a Japanese elementary school to teach English this last year. He said he loved Japanese children and was clearly enthusiastic about them, but he had a bitter experience at that school. It was from when Obama was still popular and the subject of something of a boom.

The first day he called at an elementary school in the country, the kids he met pointed at him and said “it’s Obama!” The entire classroom soon broke into an Obama call – “Obama, Obama!”

The entire class was chanting “Obama!” over and over, and even the teacher started grinning and joined in the chant.

He reflected on the experience: “Calling me Obama just because I’m black, isn’t it a racial stereotype? Even the teacher joined in!”

I thought about it.  Certainly, calling a black man an “Obama” is not something you could get away with in America, whether or not you meant anything by it. I can appreciate his discomfort.

But considering it from the perspective of those Japanese kids, maybe they just wanted to greet their new teacher as enthusiastically as possible and so started calling out “Obama, Obama!” Perhaps they had no idea that might be hurtful to some people. The same goes for the teacher as well.

The moral of the story is probably that Japan is so insular that outside of major cities the arrival of a barbarian interloper is still considered worth making a song and dance of (literally in this case), and most will never know any better – although in retrospect being compared to a latter-day Jimmy Carter will probably seem rather more cruel than it does at present.

2ch weighs in:

“Sorry about those yokels…”

“These kind of black jokes are the worst!”

“If I went to the US and got called a ‘samurai’ I’d probably feel the same way.”

“The teacher was an idiot…”

“Why the hell did he join in?”

“He probably wasn’t as black as Obama…”

“How is being called the name of the President discriminatory?”

“How about we call you Hatoyama from now on?”

“I see what bothered that darkie now.”

“If that happened to me I’d be livid.”

“Japanese just get called Bruce Lee when they go to the states though…”

“What’s the big deal? This is just like calling the name of some famous white person when you see another white.”

“Well, it was the country. Those bumpkins can’t be helped.”

“I can forgive them as we’d just be called Chinese in a foreign country anyway.”

“Children can’t be helped, but that scummy teacher needs to resign.”

“This is certainly a very Japanese incident. They can’t understand about the discomfort they cause the person either.”

“Obama doesn’t even look that black – you can find Japanese who look like that.”

“If you look at that McDonald’s ad you’ll see just what kind of little idiots you’re dealing with here.”

“The people who say he is being overly sensitive are themselves being overly dismissive of racial discrimination.”

“If this guy was a Republican it must have been pretty harsh…”

“Blacks are so tedious.”

“It’s just because it was the first real black person they’d ever seen. You never see black or white people out there.”

“This is more like gaijin-sama arriving at a village of the natives and being given presidential treatment.”

“I’m from Kagoshima [almost foreign parts as far as most Tokyo inhabitants are concerned] and when I came to Tokyo they wouldn’t shut up with the funny names based on my origins. It was damn annoying. In fact, as I recall the teacher joined in too…”

“Well, teachers are basically on the same intellectual level as elementary schoolers.”

“If it were me I’d have responded ‘Yes we can!’”

“Where was the change…”

via: sankaku 

GSM HTC 7 Pro Hits the UK

Over at Clove Technologies, the long-awaited HTC 7 Pro is available for purchase. The device is rated for GSM frequencies and will run the buyer £360.00 (£432.00 with VAT). Above is an overview video of the device, which comes with a free bluetooth headset and, of course, all accessories. You can read more at Clove here, or read about the HTC 7 Pro. [Via: WMPU]

FIRST POST OF THE NEW YEAR: BAD NEWS?

Just noticed that Obama's OASDI(social security) reduction took effect on my last pay stub. It's netting me about $160 bucks more a month which is sweet... but if the premise was to let us have now what we might be losing if social security goes bankrupt... I dunno, it's an uneasy feeling thinking that I now have to save for retirement with my own devices. Sure, there's the 401k but a couple years ago the market took a major hit ppl i knew lost as much as 50%, because it relies on market conditions. It could happen again. Money market funds all around? I'm thinking buying a fat bar of gold is getting more attractive nowadays myself... Or maybe we should start farming a human work force that we'll be able to ride on in 18-20 years. Yall start havin' babies and lots of em! 529 plans may still be viable for the kiddies because that'll get cashed out in about 18 years. Us young and aging adults tho.... Do you know what disaster might happen if you leave people to manage their own money?!?! Holy crap!

Whatever the case, i'm shit nervous and you guys probably should be too...

China's Take on Unnamed Giant Mecha

Not to be outdone by Japan’s famed giant Gundam statue, China has decided to copy the whole thing.

The Gundam is reportedly being erected in a Sichuan theme park, and naturally enough is free from any sort of official blessing by Bandai.

Just what it is made of and how long it will remain standing are matters of some conjecture.

If you have any idea what Chinese construction is like, this thing is probably built like a GIANT GARBAGE PINATA.

Picture of a collapsed bridge with exposed "reinforcement".

via: sankaku

Bioware & Funimation Announce Dragon Age Anime

Bioware and Funimation have announced they will be adapting the hit Dragon Age RPG franchise into an anime movie, due for DVD release in 2011.

EA furnishes the usual glib press release peppered with vapid quotes – Bioware begins:

“Anime is a great medium for us to continue the robust Dragon Age story. Partnering with FUNimation ensures that we are delivering the exceptional quality and entertainment value that our Dragon Age fans expect.”

Funimation continues:

“We are thrilled to be working with EA and BioWare on the production of the Dragon Age anime feature. We are going to be bringing the classic visual and storytelling techniques found in anime to create a film that will extend the narrative of the world BioWare has created.”

Bioware’s decision to abandon the (presumably expensive) use of Dungeons & Dragons in favour of its own painfully generic “dark fantasy” setting was generally expected to result in a minor mixed media franchise with novels and similar, but an anime adaptation is quite unexpected – although perhaps logical, given the overlap in fanbases.

Funimation for its part is said to be set on creating a variety of original anime-style productions of its own in future – given the rather dismal history of western produced movie adaptations of games, they may have picked a challenging area in which to start.

via sankakucomplex

Miyazaki: iPad Users “Nothing But Chronic Masturbators”

Hayao Miyazaki, of Studio Ghibli fame, has launched into one of his trademark rambling tirades against the ills of technology, likening “iWhatever” users to “chronic onanists.”

The remarks came in the context of an interview with Miyazaki published in “Neppu,” an in-house Ghibli rag, which had been covering the iPad.

Upon being confronted by an interviewer fiddling with his iPad, Miyazaki let loose:

“That thing that looks like a gaming device in your hand, along with that strange stroking movement you make with your hands is by no means attractive to me, nor am I at all impressed by it. I feel a sense of revulsion for it, in fact.

I’m sure in short time there will be an increase in people on trains making those strange masturbatory strokes. It was the same when everyone started reading manga on trains, and when it became cellphones – I’m fed up with it.”

That was merely his initial statement.

The interviewer went on the defensive, describing how he thought the iPad a good tool for research, and something to buy books on and look up information with.

This only aggravated Miyazaki further however:

“It may seem like I am ignoring your human rights to say this, but you can’t research any of that. Why? Because you have no way of knowing what it’s like to be on an old trireme, or having empathy with the men on board, covered in sweat as they labour at their oars.

You go out into the world without enriching your imagination. You are merely grasping the iWhatever as a skimming tool you use to stroke yourself.

I’m sure there are many people who want to become omnipotent by getting their hands on this iWhatever. I’ll tell you sir, there were once a bunch of people who wore radio cassette players (those bulky things) wherever they went in the sixties. They wore it like a priceless emblem.

They’re mostly probably living off of pension funds now, but you and them are the same. You jump at the newest gadgets, and all you do is relish the pride in owning one as some consumer.

You must not becomes a consumer. You must become someone that creates.”

via sankakucomplex 

Make Your Neighbors Think It's Drunken Family Night with Natal

     Microsoft's Project Natal turned a lot of heads when they're promotional video came out. "Oh my, what's that? It looks like wholesome family fun for everyone!" ... or so the actors portraying the perfect family and Microsoft would have you believe. Watch the official video below and be amazed... temporarily.

     The whole premise of the project is "controllerless" gaming. Users interact by moving their body, for example, if you were in an in-game fight you'd actually have to punch and kick so your avatar could take out the enemy in front of you. In the video below, a Parade Magazine employee gets probably way too into the whole thing, swatting, swimming, convulsing.

     What the heck would you think if you were outside watching your neighbors through the living room window? You know what I'd think? I'd think those guys must be pretty rich to have a living room that big... oh and to have a random crack party.

Studio 4°C to make THUNDERCATS ANIME!!!

Warner Brothers have announced that popular eighties cartoon ThunderCats is to be revived, and Japanese animation studio Studio 4°C has been tapped to animate the series.

Cartoon Network is set to air the series, and they are quick to cash in on the anime connection.

Sam Register, Cartoon Network’s Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs,was quoted as saying the series will be “Warner Bros. Animation’s first anime series,” conveniently forgetting that the original was also animated in Japan by Pacific Animation Corporation, which would go on to became Studio Ghibli.

Indeed, they lay it on quite thickly in their press releases:

Roaring to life through WBA and Studio4°C’s use of the Japanese animated artistry of anime, “ThunderCats” characters Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara and others will spring off the screen with realistic cat-like characteristics inconceivable in previous incarnations.

Studio 4°C already has strong ties with Warner Bros., as they are also working together on the anime adaptation of Halo.

via: sankakucomplex

Rapper Soulja Boy Rips-Off Deathnote

Chart topping rapper “Soulja Boy” has been accused of flagrantly ripping off the Death Note OST in one of his latest releases, imaginatively called “Death Note.”

He is but the latest in a series of minor American celebrities caught plagiarising the works of Japanese artists with the evidently misplaced hope that nobody will notice, a practice since termed “Simmonsing” in honour of its foremost and most shameless practicioner

The track in question, “Long Journey,” which listeners should be warned is exceptionally bad even by contemporary rap standards:

The track from the Death Note OST he is alleged to have flagrantly ripped off, the “Near Theme”:

Whilst liberally “sampling” the music of others is an accepted staple of hiphop, generally it does not extend to stealing entire songs, series names and even fonts, all without credit.

Presumably the rapper, a barely literate 19-year-old who came to fame through such sites as YouTube, thought nobody would notice. He has previously been sued for allegedly stealing the name “Soulja Boy” from another performer, and even amongst other rappers has been dismissed as “garbage.”

As the album in question is merely a freely released “mixtape” it may escape any legal sanction, but this hardly makes it any less ethically dubious.

POWER UP!!!

A boy who was desperate to “power up” after watching “Transformers” started drinking gasoline in emulation of the mechanical heroes of the film, suffering permanent brain damage as a result.

The boy, a 14-year-old schoolboy living in China’s Sichuan area, apparently enjoyed good grades and was good with machines, perhaps explaining his fascination with Transformers.

His parents running a shop selling lighters, he found himself with ready access to lighter fluid, which he began covertly snuffing, in spite of being caught several times. Soon he progressed to filching gasoline in bottles and using the vapours to get high with.

All this apparently took its toll on his cognitive faculties, and soon he hatched upon a scheme based on his viewing of Transformers. Seeing that his mechanical heroes gained power from fuel, he too resolved to try this, and began stealing fuel in mineral water bottles, which he would drink habitually.

Eventually his theft came to light, and he was taken to see a doctor, where it was discovered that he could no longer perform simple sums and appeared to have developed a severe mental disability.

Doctors found him to have become addicted to gasoline, the lead content of which entered his body, causing brain damage. He was subsequently hospitalised in order to curb his addiction.

When asked why he imbibed the fuel, he said only “Because I wanted to power up.”

Via Heaven.

Chinese Cooking Oil “Made from Sewage”

Come on, China. Would you cook an animal one wouldn't normally eat in toxic waste and eat it yourself? ...Wait, don't answer that one.

The news that a tenth of all cooking oil used in China may be made from recycled sewage and laced with toxic contaminants has stunned China.

Originating from a report on a state radio station, the news that “Chinese are eating 3,000,000 tons of ‘recycled cooking oil’ each year, but it is 100 times more toxic than arsenic!” spread throughout China in a matter of days.

The cooking oil is apparently “recycled” from raw sewage taken from sewers and elsewhere, which is heated and filtered. After filtration the liquid is transparent and free of particulate matter, and can be rendered into cooking oil.

Fears over the toxicity of the recycled oil are high. Significant levels of aflatoxins have been detected, a poison said to be “100 times more toxic than arsenic,” and known to cause growth defects in children and cancer.

Viral and bacterial contaminants are thought not to be a problem, assuming the sewage-oil is properly boiled in preparation.

Despite the obvious hygiene and safety problems of using treated sewage in cooking, its usage is thought to be widespread, as the “recycled” cooking oil is all but indistinguishable from normal cooking oil, in all but one aspect – its price.

It costs only 300 yuan ($45) a ton to manufacture, half the price of regular oil, and it is said to be common use throughout China – estimates are that it constitutes a tenth of all cooking oil used in China.

Chinese food safety regulators, such as they are, launched an immediate emergency investigation, although it is not clear if they actually previously approved the activity.

China’s record on food safety is of course already utterly abysmal, but if as widespread as reported this could turn out to be the most damaging scandal to date, as cooking oil is an integral part of food preparation in China.

Nations importing cheap cooked foodstuffs from China may also be concerned that they have been inadvertently poisoning their children by trading with a nation in which regulation and business ethics are all but unknown.