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December 2007 - Posts

1000

Posted Saturday, December 29, 2007 5:54 AM by will
A milestone of sorts. Today Imagethief hit 1000 live posts (there are a few unpublished ones). I always thought I'd work it out so that number 1000 was one of my big marquee rambles, but in fact it was today's relatively modest pointer to Kaiser Kuo's Read More...
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Hijacking the Olympic agenda, big-time and small-time versions

Posted Saturday, December 29, 2007 3:43 AM by will
The Economist , for it's "The World in 2008" supplement, has got round to examining the politically charged nature of the upcoming Beijing Olympics: In the build-up to the games on August 8th [China's critics] will step up their attacks on issues ranging Read More...
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Kaiser Kuo: Tricky times ahead for China video sharing sites

Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 9:16 PM by will
Don't miss Kaiser's post at Ogilvy China Digital Watch about regulatory changes that could mean a tough 2008 for China's legion of video-sharing sites. Citing Marbridge Consulting's newsletter, and a conversation with Marbridge head Mark Natkin, Kaiser Read More...
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Your very own model truss and other Olympic merchandising genius

Posted Friday, December 28, 2007 5:42 AM by will
When Imagethief read the words "model truss" in the headline of an article on China.org.cn , he had an immediate flashback to the hernia repair operation he had nine or ten years ago. In fact, I never needed a truss (it wasn't that bad a hernia), but Read More...
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Bad air

Posted Thursday, December 27, 2007 9:06 PM by will
There is really little new that can be said about Beijing's air pollution, so I am generally reluctant to write about it. Nevertheless, I feel the last couple of days merit special notice. It has been bad. It has been bad in a way that the word "bad" Read More...
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Merry Christmas

Posted Tuesday, December 25, 2007 12:00 AM by will
Imagethief wishes all readers a merry Christmas, whatever your faith or creed. Spend some time with friends and family, eat something tasty and indulgent, and consider a new-year resolution to stop wasting so much time reading crap from the Internet. Read More...
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Was the China corruption website collapse story "newsiness"?

Posted Monday, December 24, 2007 11:59 PM by will
The greatest contribution that comedian Stephen Colbert has made to modern society is the concept of "truthiness". Reading from the Wikipedia definition , truthiness is: ...a satirical term to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or Read More...
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China buys into Morgan Stanley, cue ominous rumbling

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 6:13 AM by will
Oh no! The Japanese Chinese are buying up all of America's property investment banks! Is this the end of the American way of life? Probably not. From the New York Times , which reports on Morgan Stanley's mortgage-induced financial woes and subsequent Read More...
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Gumby's love child named Shanghai World Expo mascot

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 5:56 AM by will
Via Danwei , here is the new mascot for Shanghai World Expo: Who appears the product of cross-breeding plasticine TV legend Gumby... ...with Izzy, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic mascot: Gumby and Izzy both being somewhat gender-neutral, the only remaining question Read More...
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Is Google News Alerts trying to tell me something?

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:13 AM by will
Today's Google News Alert for "BOCOG": Is Google sending me a message? This same story has appeared in this alert fifteen times in the past eight days (and it's a December 1st story). By the way, I hear BOCOG has replaced their ticketing chief . Read More...
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Why the Yilishen ant farming scandal was the perfect China story

Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007 1:01 AM by will
Imagethief recently found himself huddled in a wintry hutong courtyard in conversation with two longtime Beijing-based foreign correspondents. During this discussion we came to the conclusion that the recent Yilishen ant-farming scandal is more or less Read More...
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Secret Santa's revenge

Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 12:06 AM by will
A few days ago Imagethief, in maximum Grinch mode, wrote a long rant on the miserable office ritual of " secret santa " gift programs. In that post I agonized about how awful I am at buying cheap presents for people I don't know. It seems I'm not the Read More...
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But what I really want to know about China's new labor law is...

Posted Tuesday, December 11, 2007 8:50 PM by will
...is my ahyi going to sue me? Read More...
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I hate secret Santa

Posted Tuesday, December 11, 2007 3:09 AM by will
Imagethief likes the holiday season. He is not one of those December curmudgeons who bah-humbugs his way through Christmas. Give me trees, tinsel, candy canes and a big dinner with my friends. My dad used to roast a goose for Christmas. How traditional Read More...
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What to make of Edwin Maher?

Posted Monday, December 10, 2007 10:59 PM by will
Imagethief found the LA Times article on CCTV9's western anchorman, Edwin Maher, quite interesting. I didn't have time to comment on it when it first appeared, but in general I found the story balanced as it presented both criticisms and defenses of Maher's Read More...
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TD-SCDMA in a nutshell

Posted Monday, December 10, 2007 12:04 AM by will
Unfortunately, it's subscription-only. But if you have access to Far Eastern Economic Review's website , or a hardcopy of the December issue, and you're interested in technology or mobile telephony in China, take the time to read Duncan Clark's review Read More...
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China moon photos: That's all the conspiracy theory you can manage?

Posted Thursday, December 06, 2007 2:35 AM by will
It must really chafe the Chinese Department of Moonshots, or whatever bureaucracy owns the lunar program, that Chinese netizens have been questioning the authenticity of their moon photo. Surely they would have expected to be derided by arrogant foreigners Read More...
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CER column: Judging Yahoo

Posted Tuesday, December 04, 2007 1:13 AM by will
Here is this quarter's column for China Economic Review . Spurred by the latest round of congressional hearings, on November 6th, I wrote about Yahoo. The monthly cycle means this is a bit behind the rest of the blogosphere. Also, this is written for Read More...
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Tell Imagethief what Beijing's ugliest new buildings are

Posted Monday, December 03, 2007 8:00 PM by will
Strolling down Chang'an Avenue recently I was struck by how much of central Beijing's recent construction is, well, nasty. Seriously: Jianwai Soho, Twins Mall, Wanda, it's all transforming the Boulevard into one long strip of gleaming, mixed-use wreckage Read More...
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