This is so odd I don't know if I can even comment on it much more than that. This has all sorts of red flags raised in my world, but maybe in Japan, it isn't so bad.  I don't know.  But the next Monsanto-sponsored concert that happens in the US in 40 years, I will skip, thankyouverymuch.

What the hell is wrong with the music industry nowadays...

In Southeast Asia, Unease Over Free Trade Zone - NYTimes.com:But nations like Vietnam that focus on the production of cheap consumer goods are more likely to be hurt, said Mr. Severino, head of the Asean Studies Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore ( Read more... )

New Statesman - The next 100 years:The US does what it can to disrupt the re-emergence of Russian national power while building relations with bordering countries such as Poland and Turkey. It encourages unrest in China's border regions, using the ideology of human rights as justification. It conducts direct or surrogate wars on a seemingly random ( Read more... )

Sometimes, people do stupid things.  But the Chinese take stupid things to the next level:In the hope of finding a cure for daughter's psychiatric problems, a woman in China boiled a man's head in a soup, local newspaper reported ( Read more... )

Stay sunny, stay positive...
Stay sunny, stay positive...
Stay sunny, stay positive...

Oregon is number two in unemployment; sometimes it sucks worse to win first place:Michigan once again led the nation with a 14.1% jobless rate, up from 12.9% a month earlier, followed again by Oregon at 12.4%, up from 12% in April. Thirteen states have rates ( Read more... )

The Chinese acquisition invasion has begun:If the purchase is completed, it would mark the first acquisition of a well-known American automotive brand by a Chinese company, after many months of speculation about when this might occur. Chinese automakers have already purchased the MG and Rover brands, two of the most famous names in British ( Read more... )

The Beijing model : What is it?:China’s mixed-economy paradigm strikes a “balance between the role of the government and the market,” says Zheng Yongnian, the director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore (who also attended the Glasshouse Forum), in a commentary in the People’s Daily Online on May 12th. China’s ( Read more... )

Good news from China:Western countries continue to rely heavily on coal-fired power plants built decades ago with outdated, inefficient technology that burn a lot of coal and emit considerable amounts of carbon dioxide. China has begun requiring power companies to retire an older, more polluting power plant for each new one they build ( Read more... )

And in the things-I-never-thought-I-would-read category, the winner of this year's Huh? Award goes to the phrase:The extra penis is gone.

Two chicks at once, man.

-Office Space.

CCTV International: says that 5 were killed.
Reuters says 9000.  Who do you trust?