The man with the golden gurn

You might have expected this to be Liverpool’s week, with Nick Clegg and his power-drenched Lib Dems rolling into town to collide with Britain’s largest visual arts festival.

UN plan for ‘alien ambassador’ a case of science fiction?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman
Malaysian astrophysicist Mazlan Othman denies Sunday Times report that she is to become Earth’s first contact for ETs
If a Martian, proverbial or otherwise, had landed on Earth in the last 24 hours the media had some practical advice. Or so it seemed. According to the Sunday Times and numerous other media outlets that followed up [...]

Identifying, Measuring, and Taking Action on the Risks of China

Risk. Everyone in China is exposed to it. Some recognize it, and act on it, better than others.

First Three Weeks

I’ve been in China now for three weeks working with factories on quality control and also trying to find suppliers for new projects.

Environmental Justice in China

I had a chance to catch up with Chris Groves, director of the Hoffman Environmental Research Institute at Western Kentucky University, about his fieldwork in China and the concept of ‘environmental justice’.

US Public Views on China

Every year, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs conducts a survey of US opinion on foreign affairs. This year, they asked quite a few questions about China, with the subsequent report summarizing US public attitudes on China.

Why I’ve joined Damien Hirst’s bad taste party

There is nothing worse than good taste. Nothing more stultifying than an array of consumer choices paraded as a philosophy of life. And there is nothing more absurd than someone who aspires to show good taste in contemporary art.

Australia’s Next Top Model isn’t . . .

An “Ely”, as Douglas Adams and John Lloyd’s indispensable book The Meaning of Liff defines it, is “that first tiniest inkling you get that something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong”.

The Great GREEN Race

“The Great Green Race (GGR)”is a community competition to collect as much waste as possible in select park areas of Beijing within a 3-hr time period.

Life in a Vineyard

So for one day, you will be a vineyard worker.