We all accept we’re in China and products should be labeled in Chinese. Fair enough. But we tell our Chinese friends that to become more international they should at least put some elementary explanations in English on their labels. It irritates me when taking a shower in some sauna or gym that there are 3 bottles without any indication in English. What does it cost to add “shampoo”, “conditioner”, “body soap”, etc.? How much does it cost to put at least a simple English explanation in manuals or medication leaflets? Referring to a website for further information would also help a lot. All so simple things but it seems so complicated.

I call this poor marketing.

Now when foreign brands do the same or worse – see the many consumer brands on the market – that is real sloppy marketing.

Today my wife bought me the multi-vitamins I normally take, Wyeth Centrum. Problem, everything is in Chinese, so I had no idea if they were appropriate or not (I prefer Silver, if possible Ultra Men’s but those are normally not available here). Looking at the label, no clue. So I Googled and found somehow that “From A to Zinc” is one of the sub-brands. But, good luck at the Wyeth website. It is poorly done, no search, and to figure out what and where was “From A to Zinc” took me some time (basically, through elimination).

Maybe those foreign companies localize their staff too much.

Thumbs down for Wyeth. Maybe I can sell them some consulting on
how to improve their marketing.

I bought this coffee maker in 1994. That means, 15 years of heavy duty service as I am a real big coffee drinker. I regularly clean it completely.

The machine started giving up about two years ago. The plastic tube that carries the boiling water upwards was cracking up. A first simple repair lasted for quite some time: I took out the damaged tube, put aluminum foil around it and secured it by lots of cotton sewing thread, as you cannot use any glue or plastic stuff due to the hot temperature.

But then the whole tube disintegrated. Solution: our Chinese maid found some stainless steel pipes that were a near fit. I replaced the plastic with the stainless steel tube.

As the boiling water goes through it and the pipe sits in the water container, the water starts to warm up slightly but that is not a major problem.

I know, the USA is number one in buy – use – throw away when broken; China is a willing copier of this nasty and shameless consumer habit.

I love my iMac (PowerMac6,1 – model M6498 – 1GHz PowerPC G4), bought in 2003 but still running so well. A PC would never be able to last as long.

Over time the screen started failing, usually doing a sleep/wake up helped but finally the screen gave up. Once on it would work, as long as I would not switch of or let it go to sleep.

Apple and all so-called specialists said the model was too old and they could not repair. So sad, Chinese technicians have become pretty lousy (and lazy).

Thanks to my good friend Patrik (Swiss and used to mess around with computers and watches) we looked into the problem that appeared to be the screen Backlight/Invertor. The made-in-China spare part was of course nowhere to be found in China but I ordered it online (welovemacs.com) in the
USA and got it delivered. Then Patrik simply dismounted the whole iMac, screen and all, to do some cleaning, put in a new internal battery and change the backlight.

Thanks Patrik and too bad for Apple after-sales and the Chinese “specialists”.

Remark – 23 Sept 10
Funny, my iMac sometimes “starts talking” again when starting up. But mostly still no start-up “boing”. Did not yet find a pattern. At first I thought I was dreaming but, it really “talked”… Mystery remains.

As reported by the SCMP on 18 February…
Three women have been caned in Malaysia under Islamic law for the first time.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the sentences were carried out on February 9 in a women’s prison outside Kuala Lumpur after a religious court found them guilty of having sex out of wedlock. Two of the women were whipped six times.
“It was carried out perfectly,” Hishammuddin said. “Even though the caning did not injure them, they said it caused pain within them.”
His comments signal that the mostly Muslim country is now prepared to flog a mother of two for drinking beer, despite the international criticism that the case has sparked.
The case will fuel a debate over rising “Islamisation” in Malaysia, where religious courts have been clamping down on moral offences as well as a ban on Muslims drinking alcohol that had rarely been enforced.
“I hope this will not be misunderstood so much that it defiles the purity of Islam,” Hishammuddin said. “The punishment is to teach and give a chance to those who have fallen off the path to return and build a better life in future.”
Yeah yeah, bunch of muslim hypocrites. In what century are those people living? Then they are surprised we hate them – no problem, they hate us, the infidels, too.
I am proud to be an “infidel”.
Reason enough to kick those people out of our countries. We have no place for you.
Malaysia is a sad case. In the past I liked that country. Now, add them to the blacklist.
China is bloody right to curtail any of those in Xinjiang. Europe could learn from the Chinese, for once. But then lazy Europeans should also start picking fruit and doing other jobs they look down on and have to leave to immigrants. The USA are not better, just see why they need all those Latinos to do the hard jobs.
Another conclusion: here we have bad stuff too. But at least they don’t cane people for drinking beer of having fun in bed.

Our friends of the U.S, Embassy have now started to include ozone figures in their AQI measurements.
Looks not too bad as for now. In the past days air quality was reasonable, with several good days and only a few bad days.
The Beijing officials have lots to learn from BeijingAir, or maybe not. They just want to continue with their fake figures to make us feel happy. I even don’t bother anymore to download their daily tables.
Sad that as a general rule, you can’t trust any figures (or news) from the government here. As the Chinese say “you can’t even trust the weather report”.
Of course we all know the Internet is free, the Constitution guarantees free speech, the authorities control the melamine in the milk, no government hacking, etc. etc. etc. Ad nauseam.
So, feel free to go check BeijingAir on Twitter. Good luck!

Everybody is so full of those solar panels. This good, that good. However,
recent findings show that the panels offer some unexpected hazards that over time are going to affect your health and your appearance.

Here’s one of the test results.

Got this in my mail (from my native Belgium). I simply copy what I received, not changing anything – I hope you read French.

Pour une fois qu’un politique français a le courage de dire tout haut ce que Les Français pensent, et parfois crient: BRAVO MONSIEUR FRANCOIS FILLON! Bien dit … !
Intéressant comme approche …  Apprendre à vivre en paix et harmonie …
Les musulmans qui veulent vivre selon la loi de la “Sharia Islamique” se sont fait dire tout récemment de quitter la France, dans le but de parer à d’éventuelles attaques terroristes, le gouvernement ayant ciblé les radicaux.
Apparemment, le Premier Ministre, Monsieur François Fillon a choqué quelques musulmans Français en déclarant ceci:

LES IMMIGRANTS, NON FRANÇAIS, DOIVENT S’ADAPTER.

À prendre ou à laisser, je suis fatigué que cette nation s’inquiète de savoir si nous offensons certains individus ou leur culture.
Notre culture s’est développée de luttes d’habileté en victoires par des millions d’hommes et de femmes qui ont recherché la liberté.
Notre langue officielle est le français, ni l’espagnol, ni le Libanais, ni l’Arabe, ni le Chinois, ni le Japonais, ou n’importe quelle autre langue.
Par conséquent, si vous désirez faire partie de notre société, apprenez-en la langue!
La plupart des Français croient en Dieu.
Il ne s’agit pas d’obligation chrétienne, d’influence de la droite ou de pression politique, mais c’est un fait, parce que des hommes et des femmes ont fondé cette nation sur des principes chrétiens, et cela est officiellement enseigné.
Il est parfaitement approprié de les afficher sur les murs de nos écoles.
Si Dieu vous offense, je vous suggère alors d’envisager une autre partie du monde comme votre pays d’accueil, car Dieu fait partie de notre culture.
Nous accepterons vos croyances sans poser de question.
Tout ce que nous vous demandons c’est d’accepter les nôtres, et de vivre en harmonie pacifique avec nous.
Ici c’est NOTRE PAYS, NOTRE TERRE, et NOTRE STYLE DE VIE.
Et nous vous offrons l’opportunité de profiter de tout cela.
Mais si vous en avez assez de notre drapeau, de notre engagement, de nos croyances chrétiennes, ou de notre style de vie, je vous encourage fortement à profiter d’une autre grande liberté Française, LE DROIT DE PARTIR.
Si vous n’êtes pas heureux ici, alors PARTEZ.
Nous ne vous avons pas forcés à venir ici.
Vous avez demandé à être ici.
Alors, acceptez le pays que VOUS avez choisi
====
Not that silly or far-fetched while some people of course might have strong objections.
When we go to some of Muslim-influenced countries, we are not allowed to be ourselves (like drinking a beer, as required by Belgian religious beliefs). We have to obey their strict and often medieval laws. Men, women, children can get flogged, stoned, whatever Imams claim is right. So, if they come to our countries, WE rule and WE say what can be done or not. Even this is what the Chinese tell us here (and Bill Gates agrees).
Unfortunately, poor old Europe, if it wants to survive, should make more kids and work harder, not leaving all that to the immigrants and to the Chinese. Otherwise the original population will be reduced to live in rest homes for the elderly and the Muslims will dominate.
Some of our EU countries are also a mess. Look at Italy, where most of the South (or maybe most of the country) is run by the Mafia and the only ones fighting it are …. African immigrants. Not to mention the parents who forgot how to make kids (we could show them?). The French might talk a lot (often a nuisance) but at least they make kids.
Studies demonstrate that Muslims will simply take over the EU within a few decades, by a demographic evolution. No need for a Holy War.
And the Chinese will buy up most of the factories and natural resources.
Maybe the leftover locals can work in the museums and Disney Parks, as attractions.
So, Monsieur François Fillon, make sure the French keep up the good work in bed.
As for the USA, well, we still have some hope they will come out of their difficulties. Anyway, Latinos seem more Western at least than other nations. But as Lawrence H. Summers said, last year before entering the Obama administration:
“How long can the world’s biggest borrower remain the world’s biggest power?”
Talking about challenges. On est mal parti les enfants.

Thanks to our sharp-eyed reader Curt, the previous entry on trees planted by
China has been corrected. Millions had to be billions. Thanks to Google, I got the right data, the former data were from a source I forgot…

Overall the pollution levels in Beijing remain way too high with the very high levels of PM2.5 – not reported by the BEPB who continues to brainwash us with their blue sky days propaganda.
But contrary to many foreign media reports, Beijing (and China) are taking the environmental mess quite seriously and a lot has been achieved. Here some more positive notes.
China planted two trees for every citizen in the past year
New York/Nairobi, 21 September 2009 – The global public’s desire to see action on climate change was clearly spotlighted today with the announcement that the Billion Tree Campaign has reached 7 billion trees – one for every person on the planet.
Over the past three years millions of people ranging from scouts to presidents and from schoolchildren to city dwellers and corporate heads have been rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty for the environment through tree planting.
Today’s milestone was reached with the news that the Government of China has planted 2.6 billion trees as part of this unique campaign, bringing the total to 7.3 billion trees planted in 167 countries worldwide.
Jia Zhibang, Director of the State Forestry Administration, said China aimed to raise its forest coverage rate from 18% to 20% by 2010 and to 26% by 2050. “Planting trees is the best that China can do to contribute to the fight against climate change,” he added.
Advances in Beijing to combat pollution:
– Introduction of new-car emissions standards to the level of Euro IV
– Massive investments are in the pipeline to introduce hybrid cars and electric cars.
– More than 4,100 of the 20,000 city buses run on CNG or LPG, the largest such fleet in the world.
– By 2015, the city aims to be running 18 lines stretching 561 km, while the number of passengers will hit 10 million a day, the authority said.
– The oldest, dirtiest automobiles, called “yellow-label” cars, after the sticker glued to their windshields, are banned from the center city.
– In the past years Beijing has converted 60,000 boilers and commercial heaters to run on natural gas instead of coal.
– The city’s four coal-fired power plants have installed state-of-the-art pollution scrubbers.
– Nearly 2,900 gas stations and petroleum storage tanks have been equipped with recycling controls.
– Hundreds of heavily polluting factories have been moved from central Beijing, including a coking coal plant and the huge steel mill that is scheduled to depart by the end of 2010, the unit of the Shougang Group, China’s fourth largest steelmaker; with its move to neighboring Hebei Province, 65,000 Beijing workers will lose their jobs.
While many look at China, the situation in India is not much better. 45% of its geographical area suffers from some form of land degradation; 3 million deaths per year attributed to air pollution; almost 70% of its surface water is contaminated. India with 17% of the global population accounts for 5.3% of global carbon emissions. The USA (under 5% of world population) accounts for more than 20% of the emissions.