Blood & Treasure

got nothing for you

If you’ve noticed a slight lack of inspiration round here recently then you’re not alone. I’m off on holiday soon anyway, but I think it’s time as well that I took a short break from blogging. Or maybe not so short. We’ll see. I started doing this on impulse so I suppose I’ll start doing it again when the impulse returns.

Google Analytics tells me that around 3,000 people visit B&T more than fifty times a month; which is nice, as the chap off the Fast Show used to say. I’m only sorry that I’ve got nothing for you right now, apart from this:

“The top layer was Burroughs” writes Miles “the distinguished scion of an Old St Louis family. Below that was a nervous, possibly Lesbian English governess, with a prissy, self-conscious, simpering personality. Below that was Old Luke, the tobacco farmer, with the personality of a psychotic Southern sheriff. Beneath them all was an implacable, silent Chinese sitting starving and skull headed on the banks of the Yangtze, with no ideas, no beliefs and no words…

See you round.

a different kind of statement

US president visits dictatorship. Helpless dissidents stage forlorn gathering in order to reach out to last best hope of the world...or maybe not quite:

Beijing activist Qi Zhiyong, who was crippled by gunfire during the June 4, 1989 military crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen square, said Wednesday he was planning a different kind of statement. Qi said he will go to police headquarters in Beijing on Friday to protest Obama's visit because the trip will likely result in him being put under house arrest.

Chinese authorities routinely round up dissidents ahead of politically sensitive anniversaries such as June 4 or when foreign dignitaries visit to prevent them from demonstrating or meeting with foreign delegations.

"His arrival is a great inconvenience for many of us activists and petitioners and other people because we will end up waiting for it while under house arrest or being detained and locked up," said Qi.

I believe that protesting against Obama’s visit falls under Chinese law as “disturbing public order”. As Mr Qi made this disturbance by registering his complaint with the cops, he’ll probably get off with a warning. And a short period of house arrest.

His point’s a good one though. And his action might just push it into the news cycle. That said, I'm not sure if he's trying unorthodox means to get attention or is actually serious. Foreign leaders come and go from Beijing with nothing in it for dissidents but close encounters the cops, and as far as domestic opinion goes there's no advantage in being seen as too close to the Americans, or anyone else for that matter.

Chairman Cowell is great, glorious and correct

Her Excellency Madam Fu Ying wrote to The Sun newspaper in response to a report that the Chinese embassy had complained about the disturbance caused by crowds of screaming fans outside the neighbouring X Factor house.

Madam Fu Ying wrote: "It was fun finding myself caught up in X Factor fever and reading about the 'diplomatic row' involving my Embassy."

She continued: "I learnt about The X Factor in the neighbourhood from embassy colleagues living nearby who complained about the noise made by the young fans outside the X Factor house.

"My daughter emailed me wondering if she could fly in and join the screaming fans!

"I have to admit that I also enjoy watching The X Factor when there is time and have my favourite contestants.

"I think it would be unfair to mention who my favourites are, but I think all the acts have some great qualities.

"This kind of entertainment show, combining live performances and competition appeals to young people in China as much as it does in the UK.

"Good luck to the contestants of X Factor."

It has to be said that the X Factor combination of populism and regimentation is quite a good fit with official approaches to popular culture in China, as it is in Britain right now. And the local version of Popstars – the Rivals was very popular on Chinese TV a couple of years back.

formidable benches

UK youth parliament members so overawed by appearance in actual parliament that they apparently forget how to sit down:

The suggestion that "getting everyone seated on the green leather benches was a bit like herding kittens" is a shameful insult. Young people have never been allowed to sit on the formidable green benches before, and I imagine that some were daunted by the prospect.

Yeah, tricky one that. Anyway, our correspondent tells us how these young idealists got to their destination prior to the entirely understandable arse/seat confusion.

Many of the 300 young people attending the debate, including the young person I accompanied, left home at 5.30am during their half-term holiday to represent the views and opinions of their peers, and they did so with passion and integrity.

Little wankers. I used to hate kids like that when I was their age and I’m glad to say I still do. It makes me feel young, apart from anything else.

dowsing for bombs

A British company is selling dowsing rods to Iraq for use as bomb detecting devices, with predictable consequences:

The suicide bombers who managed to get two tons of explosives into downtown Baghdad on Oct. 25, killing 155 people and destroying three ministries, had to pass at least one checkpoint where the ADE 651 is typically deployed, judging from surveillance videos released by Baghdad’s provincial governor.

These devices are being sold through a British based company called ASTC run by a Jim McCormick. Unity has a full rundown and background to the scam.

Per the NYT, these devices seem to be especially popular with corrupt militaries looking for kickback opportunities, selling at a list price of US$18,000 but an actual price in Iraq of $60,000 per unit. They’re also very popular with the Thai military, where their deployment has had similar consequences and have also cropped up in Lebanon.

There are a number of blogs apparently dedicated to exposing the scam, of which this seems the most coherent.

The youtube video below shows what happened after Thai police used the device to declare a city street clear of explosive devices.

teatime reading

Coming up empty today. But since you’re here, allow me to point you towards this review of an Intellectual History of Cannibalism. I should point out that it’s a history of thinking about cannibalism rather than something with recipes, say.

plan b

It looks like the intelligence services are taking the opportunity provided by events in Afghanistan to raid the army’s budget through the medium of a former minister:

A major fissure opens up in Labour's support for the Afghan war with a call from the former Foreign Office minister Kim Howells for the phased withdrawal of British troops from Helmand.

Howells, who is now Gordon Brown's intelligence and security watchdog, said the billions of pounds saved should be redirected to defending the UK from terrorist attacks by al-Qaida.

Writing in the Guardian, Howells, who had ministerial responsibility for Afghanistan until 2008, said: "It would be better to bring home the great majority of our fighting men and women and concentrate, instead, on using the money saved to secure our own borders, gather intelligence on terrorist activities inside Britain."

Controversially, he accepts that such an approach would result in "more intrusive surveillance in certain communities" – a tacit acknowledgment that Britain's Muslims would be subject to greater scrutiny by police and intelligence services.

Near enemy versus far enemy: I thought that’s how the other side were supposed to look at things. I like that word “accept”, btw, especially in its new meaning of “promote” and “advocate.” I don’t think the Guardian editors should have let that bit of stenography go by.

It’s also incredible stupidity. Intelligence activity is supposed to be a measured response to the actual threat under investigation, not a compensatory measure for ceasing to pursue activity elsewhere. It does, I suppose, look tough, and as we know by now that’s all that matters.

Lastly, this doesn’t sound to me like any sort of rift. It’s a kite being flown by a government loyalist. The Tories might like the look of it too. Just dump the failure of the Afghan mission on the local Muslims.

an Englishman in Tashkent

No doubt you’ve seen Sting doing the promotional rounds from behind his newly minted mature celebrity beard experience. He’s been busy elsewhere too. Via.

Walter Mitty as satirist

A conman with a long history of posing as wealthy and important people to win the affections of women has been jailed for three years.

Northampton-born Paul Bint, 47 - dubbed "King Con" over his 30-year criminal career - was convicted of offences including theft and fraud last week.

Southwark Crown Court heard Bint, of no fixed abode, convinced one woman he was the director of public prosecutions.

I wonder what that scam was in aid of. Or maybe it was just sheer joie de vivre.

middle class crime

There appears to be some difficulty in deciding how dishonestly applying for a school place should actually be defined:

Schools Adjudicator Ian Craig said an estimated 3,500 parents lied on school application forms each year.

Local authorities should use all means open to them to deter parents from cheating the admissions system.

This includes removing places from the guilty and pursuing them through the courts, possibly using the Perjury Act.

In his government-commissioned report Dr Craig said currently people had "nothing to lose" if they lied to get a place, but he stopped short of calling for school place fraud to be made a crime.

There already is a definition in criminal law for this kind of activity: anti-social behaviour, and dishonestly depriving another child of his or her rightful school place is anti-social in the exact meaning of the term. Or is that definition only supposed to apply to chavs?

Shadow schools minister Nick Gibb said he did not condone parents making fraudulent claims but that the government was dealing with the symptoms rather than the causes of parental dissatisfaction.

Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws claimed the government was in a complete muddle over the issue and considering a media campaign to highlight this issue.

"It is wrong for parents to cheat the system. However, the problem is more likely to be solved by creating more good school places than a daft media campaign."

That Lib Dem statement strikes me as wrong. The sort of parents who cheat to get their kids into better schools would do it irrespective of what the other schools were actually like. The point is to get one over on the other lot. Maybe this is why the Tories seem to have forgotten in this instance that they’re supposed to be the party of personal responsibility.

customs of the country

This is the official logo for China’s General Administration for Customs, responsible, amongst other things, for enforcing bans on the import of unacceptable books and disturbing information of all sorts (though afiak, they’re not responsible for Net Nanny)

It maybe helps to look at it three dimensionally. In the background you have China, represented by the five star flag and the representation of the Great Hall of the People. Then you have this great big key. That makes things pretty clear: no entrance without our say so. But what gets me is the staff of Hermes front and centre: this is what the key is blocking, the bringer of news, the protector of thieves and merchants.

There’s a superficial resemblance to the caduceus of Aesclypius, associated with the medical profession. The difference is that the staff of Hermes has twin serpents coiling around it rather than one. That refers to the myth of Tiresias, who once found two serpents intertwined. He killed the female and was transferred into a woman. Seven years later, he found and killed the male of the pair and was changed back into a man. The reference is to the transformative power of news and information.

Given that this symbol is part of the general occidental bag and baggage it’s a bit of a surprise to see this cropping up in the insignia of a Chinese state agency, though I suppose it’s appropriate to one tasked with ensuring that imported news and information has no disturbing transformative power at all. My guess is that this is a Deng era design, in keeping with the old brute’s dictum that the window should be open, but vigilance maintained against entry by flies and unpleasant creepy crawlies (I paraphrase).

It shows a good understanding of the symbolic meaning as well: that information is fundamentally indivisible, though obviously the GAC people mean to challenge that notion. It also harks back to the early days of the opening up process when there was a general naïve belief in China that Westerners had a profound knowledge of their own cultural roots which China should either learn from or counteract, depending on whether you were a hopeful reformer or a state employed censor. There’s since been a general disillusionment on that matter: only the censors are still flying the flag of enlightenment.

Anyway, I nicked the logo from this Danwei article on the GAC’s banned list, and one man’s attempt to get it published.

MGI watch: Huizhou

Now here’s one with a difference.

Yesterday morning, the Huizhou city Department of Industry and Commerce held a press conference over the October 26 incident: On October 26, more than 140 e-city workers charged into office building, surrounded the department leaders, overturned desks and chairs, and assaulted security guards and police officers. In short, this was "a serious incident that was an organized, large-scale assault on a law enforcement agency, a disturbance of public order at a state agency and battery of law enforcement officers."

So, a riot by public sector IT workers. Southern Metropolis Daily explains:

Yesterday, Huizhou Department of Industry and Commerce director Zhang Shuisheng told the media that their investigation showed that these people were affiliated with the e-City information stations.

The e-City model exists only in Huizhou. None of the other cities in Guangdong province has Internet service providers of this form. In Huizhou, there are more than 2,000 e-City information stations but only 577 legal cyber cafes. The original intent of these e-City information stations was to provide government information that would be convenient to citizens. People could buy tickets, refill their phone cares, get service, etc. But instead, these stations have evolved into illegal cyber cafes that charge money to admit elementary and secondary school students 24 hours a day. Whereas the legal cyber cafes are patrolled by the Department of Culture and therefore would not dare to admit underage users, these e-City information stations are not subjected to those regulations. That is why youngsters congregate there.

For some time, the Department of Industry and Commerce has been accused of doing nothing or, worse yet, acting as the protective umbrella of these e-City station. So when the Department started to take action, the illegal operators fought back.

Cyber cafes are still ubiquitous in China, and subject to extensive monitoring and policing. So when the city authorities in Huizhou decided that they were going to embark on one of those user friendly e-government initiatives, the interests that controlled the cafes promptly moved in on them. Either that, or the officials responsible spotted a gap in the market.

doing something to them

Peter Oborne has a useful analysis of the Tories’ school of Blair relationship with Murdoch media and hw it informs their ongoing problems over the EU, but on the wider issue David Mitchell is more concise:

Only a minority behave as if the EU matters and most of them hate it. From Eurosceptic Tories, through Ukip to the BNP, the people who frequently mention Europe are the ones who find it annoying. It's doing something to them they loathe. I'm not sure what it's doing to me, but I don't think I mind, largely because those who do generally seem like twats. 

styles of official mourning

From 2006:

Among the more high-profile supporters of the appeal are the newsreaders on the major channels, most - if not all - of whom pin a poppy to a lapel.

At the BBC, there is no policy on poppy-wearing, it is a personal decision. A spokeswoman says that most do wear one, generally from 31 October until 13 November.

This year:

Organisations like the BBC usually choose a day for presenters to start wearing one. This year it was from 6am on 24 October.

Not so voluntary now, and earlier too. All the politicians suddenly started sprouting poppies at the same time too. I suppose the next stage will be having them officially issued early to significant personages, because, you see, they care more and earlier. Meanwhile, every moderately efficient PA has the appropriate unveiling date marked in the desk diary, somewhere between “wipe nose” and “change nappies”.

messenger shot, message sent

Professor David Nutt, the government's chief drug adviser, has been sacked a day after claiming that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol.

Nutt incurred the wrath of the government when he claimed in a paper that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than many illegal drugs, including LSD, ecstasy and cannabis.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The home secretary has asked Professor Nutt to resign as chair of the ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs]. "In a letter he [Alan Johnson] expressed surprise and disappointment over Professor Nutt's comments which damage efforts to give the public clear messages about the dangers of drugs.

When we said that we wanted science what we actually wanted was someone to dress in a white coat look authoritative, stand in front of some boiling retorts or machines going ‘bleep’ and nod along solemnly while we were tough on something. We’re now going to see if Manpower can get us a Magnus Pike impersonator, or maybe one of those people who do the voiceovers in shampoo ads.

It’s not as if there’s any obligation for the government to accept the scientific advice it’s offered. It can always point to other reasons not to legislate accordingly. But that would be to accept that science exists autonomously rather than just being there to lend scienciness to whatever the government decides to do.

Additional question: given this, what does it say about any scientist who would agree to work for the government under these conditions?

survivor types

As Marines train to deploy to war zones, there is daily discussion about how to detect and disarm the buried roadside bombs that are the No. 1 killer of Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military researchers have found that two groups of personnel are particularly good at spotting anomalies: those with hunting backgrounds, who traipsed through the woods as youths looking to bag a deer or turkey; and those who grew up in tough urban neighborhoods, where it is often important to know what gang controls which block.

Personnel who fit neither category, often young men who grew up in the suburbs and developed a liking for video games, do not seem to have the depth perception and peripheral vision of the others, even if their eyesight is 20/20.

The odd thing about this is that it reflects the pop culture fears you see in portrayals of crazed rednecks and feral urbanites. One day the casts of The Hills Have Eyes and Assault on Precinct 13 will unite and destroy the suburbs.

I wonder how this maps on to the British army.

American way of death, updated

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, now plans to hold on to customers even after they die - by selling coffins.

Prices range from a "Mom" or "Dad Remembered" steel coffin for $895 (£540), to a bronze model at $2,899.

The retailer is allowing customers to plan ahead by paying for the caskets over 12 months for no interest. They can be dispatched within 48 hours.

Should be a hit with the secondary Goth market, too. Funeral directors apparently say that it won’t work because it lacks the “personal touch”. But that simply amounted to a sales pitch which enabled undertakers to leverage family grief and guilt into spectacular mark ups, as explicated at length in Jessica Mitford’s The American Way of Death. I guess this is the sort of thing Mitford would have approved of, despite being a pretty much lifetime Communist.

Anyway, the Mom Remembered coffin is here. You can “be the first to review this product.”

meat hand

“The nails are made of onion”, apparently.

who we're fighting for

Get your warlords here. I think they should make a calendar. Also:

In August, a report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee revealed that the Pentagon’s Joint Integrated Prioritized Target List — a roster of 367 approved terrorist targets — had been expanded to include 50 “nexus targets”, or Afghan drug lords with links to the insurgency. Since Mr. Karzai, a “suspected” drug boss, obviously isn’t on the list, the only conclusion one can draw is that the United States is wiping out his competitors for him.

That’s not President Karzai, by the way. That’s his brother.

approaching zero

David Icke fans debunk telly psychic, or why skeptic is an increasingly valueless term.

I know, bee/bonnet insertion, etc. It’s just bugging me today for some reason.

I think its time to appropriate and repurpose the word nihilist. Let the buggers try and steal that one.