In the Future

This is a great picture of life in the future.

Planet China

I've been recovering from a nasty cold. I took it easy this weekend and listened deep into J. Maarten Troost's Lost on Planet China. I like it because the author doesn't pretend to deal even-handedly with China. He is disgusted by a lot of things there and lets you know. It has a similar effect to Into Africa: I'm now both repulsed and fascinated by China. I'd be up for a trip there - but only a short trip to get the catburger flavor on my tongue. Then I'd get out as fast as I could.

China My China

Also Richard Gere's supposed to speak at the Civic Center tomorrow. Wednesday the Olympic torch gets protested.

I don't know anything about politics with China and Tibet. It just seems like China's a shitty place to live, and the U.S. government turns a blind-eye to its human rights abuse because our economy depends so much on their goods. Even if China wasn't molesting Tibet it would lose points for censorship and the virtual slavery that make their stuff so cheap.

I'm still waiting for the equivalent of birth control for military enlistment - something that will naturally lower the number of people willing to fight for a government. Maybe that's the internet and it's working as fast as it can.