German designer Barbara Walter created a collection of unique tulle-skirts for soccer fans to express the sporting and fighting spirit either in ballet or soccer.
Yeah, sure.
My purpose for visiting Xinhua.net wasn't to find oddly worded passages about unfortunate German fashions, rather I followed Drudge's link to Xinhua, the state owned press agency of The People's Republic of China for their coverage of the major earthquake near Chengdu (one of those 10+ million person metropolitan areas in China and India that you've never heard of till now), and browsing through their pages is like looking in a funhouse mirror.
Besides the previously unbeknownst to me reputation of balletic pugnaciousness, there's also Xinhua's coverage of the Burma crisis, which takes great care not to challenge or refute the claims made by their fellow despots.
China may have opened up their economy some, but it's still a very closed society in most aspects. The problem with States that promise to be everything for its people, is that when bad things happen, their citizens may lash out. Past outlandish claims about being able to forecast earthquakes days in advance aren't helping matters now.
When a state demands complete control, and asserts near divine authority over its people, and even claims the ability to predict the unpredictable, or command the weather at its whim, you can expect a serious bout of collective cognitive dissonance when these claims prove to be utter bunk.
This was a terrible disaster, but earthquakes are a fact of life in many parts of the world (being from sunny SoCal I've been through a few myself), they can't be prevented or predicted within a small window of time, but they can be anticipated. Strong building codes, rigorously adhered to, and informing the population that in the event of a major quake you'll likely to be without services of any kind for up to a week is essential. This was a very powerful quake, but it was centered a considerable distance from Chengdu, so the death toll seems a bit outsized, unless many of the buildings weren't built to withstand the shaking, which seems likely.
Poorly managed responses to disasters (comingled with authoritarian hubris) are the things revolutions are made out of . . .
(and for some info from the USGS, here's a link to a 6 minute podcast discussing the event)
UPDATE: Poking around some more at the USGS site (and after listening to the podcast) there's a new tool their called PAGER, which superimposes shake maps with population data so you can quickly surmise the number of people in the worst effected areas. According to their table that over 1 million people were in areas at a X or IX Modified Mercalli Intensity which would suggest even well built places could suffer serious damage, and poorly built structures are likely uninhabitable for over 1 million people, and possibly as many as 5 million people (if those in the VIII area, are also experiencing some structure failure). This would test any government's ability to respond, but I think China will be especially challenged, given its paternalistic relationship with its people. When you promise to be mother, father, and protector to your people, letting something awful happen (even the parts that are out of your control) will inevitably lead to a backlash.
Showing posts with label It's Only Soccer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label It's Only Soccer. Show all posts
21 July 2007
Lot's of Hype, Not Much Game . . .
The debut of Beckham just ended. He played the last 13+ minutes, had only a few touches, and got tackled in extra time which put a scare into the sold out Home Depot Center. Lucky for the LA Galaxy that Chelsea isn't in the same league, cause they aren't even close to being in the same league.
Chelsea plays at a completely different gear.
The final was 1-0, but it wasn't close, the game was played almost entirely in the Galaxy's end, but for solid goaltending by Cannon and excellent defense by Xavier, Chelsea would have scored 3 or 4 times.
Against another MLS team, they might be good, haven't been paying enough attention to know.
The ESPN coverage covered the 'stars' in the stands more than the game at times, Victoria Beckham was there of course, and she drug Eva Longoria and Katie Holmes (clutching Suri) with her. Kevin Garnett was here, I'll take that as a sign that a deal is getting done to send KG to LA. The Governator took some time off from Governating and brought the wife and kids. Drew Carey was there to actually watch the game, which seemed out of place.
Chelsea plays at a completely different gear.
The final was 1-0, but it wasn't close, the game was played almost entirely in the Galaxy's end, but for solid goaltending by Cannon and excellent defense by Xavier, Chelsea would have scored 3 or 4 times.
Against another MLS team, they might be good, haven't been paying enough attention to know.
The ESPN coverage covered the 'stars' in the stands more than the game at times, Victoria Beckham was there of course, and she drug Eva Longoria and Katie Holmes (clutching Suri) with her. Kevin Garnett was here, I'll take that as a sign that a deal is getting done to send KG to LA. The Governator took some time off from Governating and brought the wife and kids. Drew Carey was there to actually watch the game, which seemed out of place.
13 July 2007
Big Deal? Seriously?
Becks and Posh arrived here in Los Angeles today. The Mayor of Los Angeles himself greeted David Beckham (Villaraigosa was booed at the press conference, the local news anchor pointed out that the boos were because Villaraigosa is a Chivas fan (the other MLS team in town), and not due to his recently made public affair).
The coverage is pretty intense here, but the coverage is more about the coverage, and about how excited we're supposed to be, rather than any real excitement over the prospect of watching Beckham bend it at Home Depot Center in Carson.
They got the usual ritzy mansion in Beverly Hills for themselves, I would have been more impressed if he chose a compound in Carson and built some massively gaudy mansion near the place he'll play.
One annoying note from the coverage locally, they kept referring to the FIELD at Home Depot as the PITCH. Take your Britishisms and stuff 'em up yer arse, I say. If Beckham can call the sport he plays soccer, than we can keep calling the field, a field.
Speaking of coverage, here's BBC, The Sun, Guardian, and Evening Standard going crazy over this crap. Here's the video (with the reporter calling the field a pitch) from the local newscast on KCAL 9. And here's what his commute might look like (don't know the exact location of his new mansion, but it has to be up in those hills somewhere). I wouldn't want to drive it, the 405 is a nightmare, usually.
The coverage is pretty intense here, but the coverage is more about the coverage, and about how excited we're supposed to be, rather than any real excitement over the prospect of watching Beckham bend it at Home Depot Center in Carson.
They got the usual ritzy mansion in Beverly Hills for themselves, I would have been more impressed if he chose a compound in Carson and built some massively gaudy mansion near the place he'll play.
One annoying note from the coverage locally, they kept referring to the FIELD at Home Depot as the PITCH. Take your Britishisms and stuff 'em up yer arse, I say. If Beckham can call the sport he plays soccer, than we can keep calling the field, a field.
Speaking of coverage, here's BBC, The Sun, Guardian, and Evening Standard going crazy over this crap. Here's the video (with the reporter calling the field a pitch) from the local newscast on KCAL 9. And here's what his commute might look like (don't know the exact location of his new mansion, but it has to be up in those hills somewhere). I wouldn't want to drive it, the 405 is a nightmare, usually.
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