January 2008
Chinese news in English
Tau Tiul Yat Bow has a very simple concept - take the top story from HK Headline News (a free Chinese language newspaper) and translate the headline into English
The SCMP likes to think it is a serious important newspaper. In truth it's a local newspaper that prints lots of agency stories. And 'Talkback' is filled up with trivial complaints such as one today about Plaza Hollywood branch of ParknShop, not delivering someone's groceries.
I have no idea what to make of the Hong Kong stock market. In the last few weeks it seems to have become routine for the HSI to go up or down by hundreds of points for no reason at all, so in response to a general fall in stock markets all over the world, it wasn't all that surprising that it contrived to fall by 2,000 points (8%). 
That means the index has fallen by 14% in two days. Yes, the prospect of a recession in the US is a worry, but is the average Hong Kong company really worth 14% less tonight than it was on Sunday night? Don't think so.
About a week ago, I came across a strange story about a pair of twins getting married. I think it first surfaced on the BBC website (Parted-at-birth twins 'married') - where the use of inverted commas around the last word indicated that it was not a verified fact. This all seemed a bit too much like an urban myth - and hats off to Heresy Corner, a blog that has established it is was indeed fiction.
Some people get very excited about announcements from Apple. I don't. However, Apple TV may be quite a significant development. It seems to me that rather than a battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, what we are really seeing is a 3-way battle - the different flavours of DVD vs. illegal downloads vs. legal downloads. For the last of the three. the concept of Apple TV seems exactly right - thousands of movies and TV shows that can be downloaded to a small box to watch on TV, and no horrible computer.
This really is the gift that keeps on giving... I thought Newcastle's board were going to spoil the fun when they said that they would take their time finding a manager and might consider appointing a foreigner. Gérard Houllier was mentioned, and then Didier Deschamps was suddenly installed as favourite. They even turned down Alan Shearer's bid for the job. So far, so good. Then last night they announced (drum roll) that, er, Kevin Keegan is returning as manager.
I see that Harry Redknapp somehow managed to resist the temptation of a few months up on Tyneside followed by the inevitable departure "by mutual consent". Makes you wonder why they were in such a hurry to sack Allardyce if they didn't have a replacement lined up.
Yet another Premier League manager has been fired, and once again it is by 'mutual consent', as if that meant anything
Most of the products that are exported from China to Europe go by boat. Yes, some go by air, but that's an expensive option. Yesterday an agreement was signed to set up a regular freight train service that will take 18 days to get from Beijing to Hamburg, less than half the time it takes by sea.
Two recent studies say that drinking moderately is good for you (and that exercise helps a lot). The first survey also concludes that it's OK to be overweight as long as you eat your sprouts. The second survey is specifically about heart disease, and shows that moderate drinking and exercise both lower the risk of heart disease.
posted by Chris @ Thursday, January 31, 2008
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