Hong Kong reader contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

Peeping Tom Falls Off tenth Floor

photo credit: bortescristian

A 44 years old HK man dropped off a 10th floor balcony while attempting to video his next door neighbour whilse in the shower.

The twenty-nine story building was designed so that 2 units have their rest room windows right next to one another. This made it simple for the person to climb over and peep on his neighbour.

The victim, a twenty-eight years old sales woman, was showering when she spotted a peculiar hand holding a mobile phone outside the toilet window. She screamed for help and saw the individual outside climb into the adjacent room, which was an empty loft.

Her husband and other residents blocked the door entering the next door flat and called the police. The peeping tom, realizing his only way to flee was out the window, climbed out the window back onto the ledge from which he fell by loosing his footing in the dark and greasy conditions.  He fell 10 floors to the ground but luckily for him his fall was slowed by a tree which broke his fall.

He was discovered alive but badly hurt with a damaged rib puncturing his lung. He was arrested and rushed to the local hospital under police supervision where he remains in bad way. His mobile phone was smashed beyond repair along with the film clib of the showering victim.

Beijing

Reader Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

photo credit: treasuresthouhast

More rescuers and help providers were yesterday rolling slowly into the remote Qinghai province area flattened by a devastating tremor that left more than 600 folks dead and 100,000 destitute.

President Hu Jintao called the tremor “a big difficulty ” and confirmed he was rushing back from a peak in Brazil. Fighting bitingly chilly weather conditions and a dearth of oxygen, rescue workers clawed with hands thru the rubble of houses and colleges toppled by the 6.9-magnitude quake that hit Yushu county on Wed. . Authorities expounded medical groups and imperative supplies like tents and duvets were on their way to the disaster sector, where doctors set up temporary infirmaries. But thousands were bracing for another night without shelter in freezing temperatures after the elimination of pretty much all the mudbrick-and-wood houses in Jiegu, the local capital, as well as faculties and other buildings. The total of known dead rose to 617 and includes scores of youngsters, while the amount of hurt reached 9,110. The fatality count was predicted to carry on rising, with hundreds still buried in ruins. Local officers were, in the meantime, reporting a lack of medical provisions and heavy digging clobber.

“The rescue job in this disaster zone faces many difficulties, ” asserted Miao Chonggang, assistant chief of the China Quake Administration’s quake relief and emergency reply department. Premier Wen Jiabao, who has deferred a trip the week after next to Indonesia, Brunei and Burma, made a trip to the quake area, which lies on the Tibetan plateau known as the “Roof of the World. ” “the circumstances are truly bad here – the damage is huge, ” claimed Pierre Deve, a Frenchman working for a Chinese non- governmental organization in Jiegu. “some buildings are still up.

There were bodies everywhere in the rubble. ” Infantrymen , police and firefighters were using spades, iron bars and hands to dig thru heaps of rubble from fifteen thousand toppled home buildings.

The area lies around eight hundred kilometers by road from the provincial capital, Xining, and about four thousand meters above sea level, meaning rescue employees from outside the area struggled to deal with the absence of oxygen. Miao expounded that even sniffer dogs were being influenced by altitude illness, making them less efficient in the search for survivors. The tremor and a sequence of robust aftershocks damaged roads, caused landslides that blocked the route between the airfield and Jiegu as well as interrupting telecommunications and knocking out power and water supplies. The govt. declared electricity has been revived to lots of cities, but the complicated terrain, sour cold and the remoteness of the area were hampering rescue efforts. In Beijing, Zou Ming, the head of the disaster relief dept at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, claimed virtually forty thousand tents were being sent to the area together with 120,000 items of clothing and 120,000 covers, while food supplies were also being airlifted Talented rescuers, medical groups and troops were being sent in, while efforts were being made to fly out the more seriously wounded victims, officers claimed.

Osaka

Reader Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

A 3rd of U.S. Kids with cellphones send more than one hundred texts a day as texting has exploded to become the hottest means of communication for youngsters, according to new research. The study by the Pew Web and American Life Project, which offers a glance into teenager culture and communication, revealed that texting has risen seriously even since 2008, eclipsing cell telephone calls, instant messaging, social networks — and speaking face-to-face.

The Pew Research Center expounded that three quarters of younger people between the ages of twelve and seventeen now own phones and of the ones that do, girls usually send or receive eighty SMS messages each day and boys, thirty per day. “Texting is now the central center of communication in the lives of teens today, and it has truly zoomed in the last eighteen months, ” Pew analyst Amanda Lenhart related, attributing the increase partly to payment plans that permit unlimited texting.

photo credit: dno1967

The study’s writers also say that, unlike telephone calls, text messaging can be silently carried out under the noses of moms and pops, teachers or other authority figures and, unlike PCs, it can be done almost anywhere. “We’ve sort of hit a balancing point where now kids expect other teenagers to retort to text messaging and to be available, ” Lenhart said. “there’s certainly a factor of text messaging that fits so seamlessly into their lives. ” Text messaging has gotten so much part of youths’ lives that 87 percent of those that text related that they sleep with, or next to, their telephone.

Study writer Scott Campbell related focus groups conducted by Pew also offer comprehension of the subtleties of teenager communication and culture, showing for example that, while boys don’t generally use punctuation, for girls such subtleties are urgent. “If a girl puts a period at the end of a text ( to another girl ) then it comes across as she is mad, ” Campbell expounded, which explains the superiority of smiley emoticons.

“They have these practices because they have learned that texts can lead to misunderstandings, ” Lenhart announced.

“it is a deliberate thing and it’s also a part of a culture that is keen on differentiating itself from adult culture. ” The proportion of youths with telephones who sent 1 text a day increased from 38 p.c in 2008 to 54 p.c in Sep 2009, according to the study. In the meantime 38 % of youths claimed they daily make 1 cell telephone call, thirty % asserted they talk on a landline phone and twenty-four p.c claimed they used instant messaging.

Osaka

Reader Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

photo credit: Edyta.Materka

Regime eyeing further help for Haiti / Help package could total a hundred million greenbacks Chikara Shima / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer PORT-AU-PRINCE–The central authority is considering providing further fiscal help to help reconstruct quake-devastated Haiti, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada told Haitian President Rene Preval on Saturday during a trip to the Caribbean country.

The governing body might add another 30,000,000 greenbacks to the seventy million bucks it already has sworn to help the stricken country get back on its feet, according to sources.

The govt. is predicted to say its plan at a major donors meeting in Long Island on March 31. Okada’s trip to Haiti is the 1st by a Japanese Cupboard member since the potent quake hit in Jan . In a meeting with Preval on Sat. , Okada also informed the president he would like to talk about further help for the country by working with the Haitian state and the global community.

Preval allegedly recognized the heavy damage due to the temblor was the results of policies that focused too heavily on developing the capital, Port-au-Prince, while leaving regional towns untouched. The president further said he was hoping to pump his states’s reconstruction with assistance from the world community. “As the wet season approaches, it’s critical we secure shelter for folk [affected by the quake] and take measures to stop communicable diseases,” Okada said at a press meeting after his meeting with Preval. “As Japan, too, is susceptible to quakes, we’ve got wide-ranging experience and data we should use to help reconstruct Haiti,” Okada expounded.

Before the meeting, Okada paid a visit to a Ground Self defense Force camp that serves as home to staff indulging in a U.N. Peacekeeping operation. “The environment [in which you are operating] is extraordinarily tough, but I am hoping you are all endeavoring to do your best,” Okada recounted to the SDF members.

Reader

Contribution.

Edited by James M. Kelly

Killed by Falling Body

HONG KONG – In a very peculiar turn of events, a Hong Kong-based widow from the Ma On Shan district ended up slaughtering a short lived pedestrian when she lost her footing and slid from outside her tall flat.

photo credit: tiny_packages

The aged and significantly bigger girl, Lam, was picking up her washing when she slipped and dropped down from the 27th floor. Zebra crossing 600×402 Falling OAP Lands on Passing Pedestrian picture According to diverse reports, Lam was outside her flat, picking up garments from a drying rack when the accident occurred.

In a congested town like HK, it was comparatively normal to dry garments in this fashion. The other victim was Chan Kwai-mui, a 51 year old cleaner, who was on her way from work. Sadly for her, she was apprehended in Lam’s sad flight down. It’s a security guard who discovered the result at the bottom of the block where both ladies were in a heap. Chan’s neighbours were particularly distressed by the news.

One of them noted the girl had been mourning the passing of her partner for a bit now, an incident where the construction employee had been finished by a falling down crane. She had just managed to get over the demise of her husband, was her words.

HongKong

Reader Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

photo credit: PIAZZA del POPOLO

Vietnam: Man Spends Three Nights in Tree During Storm

A watchman, unable to swim, spent 3 nights and 2 days in a tree due to Mirinae storm in Vietnam which has already taken lives of over 100 people. Phan Cao Chuc, 69, was finally rescued by lowering a cable from an army helicopter after various failed attempts.

The rescue however wasn’t easy. The cable broke down, throwing the soldier into 5 meter (16 feet) waters. He somehow swam to safety but Chuc got even more terrified and held the tree tighter. Chuc was finally rescued when a soldier was able to reach him through a cable shot by a spear into the tree.

“The man initially refused to go, fearing he could be dropped into the river,” Lieutenant Nguyen Duc Vinh was quoted by Associated Press as saying. “It took me 20 minutes to persuade him that it was safe to go with me.”

“It’s a miracle that this old man survived on rain water for two days and three nights in the tree,” he added.

Chuc managed to survive by sitting between the two tree branches and gathering rain water in his helmet. On-ground soldiers couldn’t reach him but managed to give him milk, biscuits & a cell phone on Wednesday via a pulley attached to the tree. Soldiers also called him on the cell phone to give him encouragement.

Chuc was working as a security guard at an under construction hydroelectric facility based in Gia Lai, Central Highlands. Five people have already died from flooding in the region. Unfazed by rising levels of floodwater, he decided to stay and watch the equipments. When the water rose to unacceptable level, Chuc climbed the tree. His colleague, trapped with him, knew swimming and reached the land to sought help.

The storm, Mirinae has already claimed 108 lives in Central Vietnam by Friday.

Singapore
Correspondent

Edited by James M. Kelly

Singapore crowned as the Top International Meeting City
In a recent survey conducted by the Union of International Associations (UIA) 2008 Global Rankings, Singapore was recognized as the most preferred international city for meetings for the second consecutive year, ahead of favorites Paris and Vienna. Singapore also consolidated its position in the category of Top International Meeting Countries by moving to the third position, behind U.S.A (first) and France (second).
In addition, Singapore also became Asia’s most preferred country to conduct a meeting, a tag which this country has been bestowed upon for the last 24 consecutive years. Singapore accounted to over 22.5% of the total meetings held in the Subcontinent in the year 2007. Over the past ten years, Singapore has seen an astounding growth of 256% in the number of meetings conducted over here.
Renowned for its excellent infrastructure facilities and a renowned tourism landscape, Singapore offers a host of luxuries to business travelers and organizers. The Singapore Tourism Board is confident on strengthening and expanding Singapore’s share in the global business market by constantly improving its facilities and offerings.

As the world is gearing up to give Singapore a tough competition in this area, the Singapore Exhibition and Convention Bureau (SECB) has also stepped up its own plans to encourage and foster a relationship with other Singapore’s government agencies to attract more business to the country. This new scheme has been a success and has attracted over 450 business events to the country, resulting in a significant contribution to the total tourism receipt.

Industry experts’ credit this prestigious award to the professional and dedicated workforce of Singapore that co operates fully with the organizers to create an unforgettable experience for the business travelers. New initiatives such as the opening of integrated resorts have ensured that business travelers are provided with a host of entertainment and fun activities to enjoy after their business meetings.

Bangkok
Reader

Edited by James M. Kelly
The Unfortunate Correlation between Your Skin Color and Fame in Thailand

Thailand as a nation, has been in the grips of white fever for a long time now, and still continues to be, if internal reports from the entertainment and media industry are to be believed. Numerous individuals have come up with complaints that they were discriminated against in the entertainment and media industry just because the color of their skin was black, and not white.

One such case has been of the famous Thai DJ Nakadia. Due to her bold exploits, she has made a name for herself more in Europe than in Thailand. She even played at one of the world cup finals, but her performance was not shown on Thai television. However, her complaints are not directed at the general public of Thailand, but at the people heading the media and entertainment industry for creating problems while conducting business with her.

Some argue that people of a half Thai nationality are more famous in Thailand because they have all that is required by the Thai public: a natural white skin and all the facial features that the general Thai public likes.

This may be true to some extent but the problem of color discrimination still remains demystified in Thailand. One of the most accepted causes for such discrimination is that due to the fact that Thailand has a majority of dark skinned people, white skin looks more attractive to the public. Uniqueness of the white skin is what attracts Thai people and in turn sows the seeds of discrimination.

People in the entertainment industry might not refer to all of this as discrimination by saying that they are providing what the public is demanding. But a closer look at the selection process of actors, actresses, TV anchors and other people who would appear on national television, and you would come face to face with the ugly truth of color discrimination.

Reader
Contribution

Edited by James M. Kelly

30 Million Year Old Mega-Dung Fossils Disclose the Secret Ecology
Studies have revealed that 30 million year old fossil ‘mega-dung’ sourced from the giant size extinct mammals in South America, disclose facts about the complex ecological connections and hazards of dung-beetles’ food stores by other animals.

It is evident from the facts that absence of dung-beetles would have bee filled with animal droppings of herbivores such as cows, elephants and rhinos as they eat and produce more.

Dung-beetles bury wastes in the soil and thus, improve the quality of the soil by making it more fertile. Moreover, these dung-beetles lessen the number of flies that would lead to infestation of the dung.

Paleontologists have found out that around 30 million years ago, South America was home to the mammals known as South America Megafauna. It included some of the most giant herbivores that are extinct, such as bone covered armadillos that, six meters tall ground sloths and elephant-sized hoofed-mammals.

The presence of such diverse megafauna would have led to the production of mega-dung, which called for the presence of creatures like the dung beetles for cleaning it. The results are preserved in the form of fossil ding balls, some of which are almost 40 million years old.

According to the studies made by paleontologists in Argentina, the dung balls are a great source of information about the lost world’s ecology.

In a report published in the journal Paleontology, Graduate Student Victoria Sanchez and Dr Jorge Genise mention traces of other creatures found within fossil dung balls.

Dr Sanchez explained, “Some of these are just the results of chance interactions”. She further added, “Burrowing bees, for example, dug cells in the ground where the dung balls were buried, and some of these happen to have been dug into the balls”.

On the other hand, traces confirm the behavior of other animals stealing the food gathered by dung beetles.

As Dr Sanchez commented, “Although none of these animals is preserved in these rocks, the fossil dung balls preserve in amazing detail a whole dung-based ecosystem going on right under the noses of the giant herbivores of 30 million years ago”.

Osaka
Correspondent

Edited by: James M. Kelly
The banned balls bite the dust.

The funny green doll often found on Japanese key chains, has got its name Marimokkori by the combination of two words, marimo and mokkori. Marimo is a rare and beautiful type of algae which grows in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. Marimo forms soft green globes and sit in clusters on the lake bottom. Mokkori, on the other side, means an erection.
The green guy looks as if he’s carrying a large ball of algae in the front of his pants, justifying its nomenclature. Though the details may vary from one doll to the next, all Marimokkori have at least these two things in common: a big smile and a big bulge in their trousers.
This extremely popular figure in Japan got its manufacturer into big trouble with its new version. The little fellow in its new version is in a seated position, and like its counterparts, with the trademark big grin and big bump. However, his gold headdress and ancient robes give him a distinct resemblance to common statues of Lord Buddha. It’s hard to understand why in the first place they gave a big bulbous bulge to the Buddha statue.
Selling of this version was a little too much for the monks of the famous eighth-century Todaiji temple in Nara. The monks got furious and asked HN and Associates, its manufacturer, to take it off the market.
“It’s true that we didn’t have their approval beforehand,” said the company representative, who declined to be named. “We understand the view that giving a bulge to a Buddha statue is imprudent.” The company didn’t put much of an argument and promptly granted the monks’ wish, putting the version off sales. The new version of Marimokkori was hurting the religious sentiments of Buddhists and it didn’t seem wise to the manufacturer to offend the believers.