Politics | Dominik Mayer – Products, Asia, Productivity

Former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow, now managing director at Teneo Risk, explains how the Service protects the President and other VIPs.

Interesting to hear what they’re looking at regarding venues. I never thought about threats coming from air conditioning or light access.

New lyrics for a new time. Roy Zimmerman and friends to the melody of The Lion Sleeps Tonight:

In the White House, the mighty White House the liar tweets tonight
In the West Wing, the self-obsessed wing the liar tweets tonight

The Washington Post’s national security correspondent Greg Miller tells the story of Crypto AG, a trusted cryptography company with many countries among its clients:

But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA in a highly classified partnership with West German intelligence. These spy agencies rigged the company’s devices so they could easily break the codes that countries used to send encrypted messages.

The CIA exited 2018. Imagine what else they might be running.

Former assistant secretary of the Treasury Emil Henry thinks that Mitt Romney should run for president again in 2016. He would be the first failed candidate to get another chance since Richard Nixon in 1968.

that there will be a time, where each June 4th, the Chinese leaders will gather together with the Chinese people around a memorial site at Tiananmen Square, commemorating the victims of injustice.

And I hope it won’t take another twenty years.

A recent discussion among friends. They think the Chinese government is on a good way. It’s working in the best interest of the country. We have to understand that.

Today, the Golden Shield also blocks Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail, Live, and Bing.

One of the friends is now “disappointed by the government.”

I feel confirmed. And helped her to set up tor.

“Tor” is German for gate or short for “The Onion Router”, an anonymity network finally allowing me to access the world outside. VPN hasn’t been working for long. Again. Thanks to a great guide I don’t have to rely on it any longer.

So VPN works now. Quelle surprise. Maybe because I’m using a neighbor’s Wi-Fi as our cable network gets disconnected every other minute. And I’ve read they’re going to censor more after the end of the Olympic Games. Great prospects. If I’ll be gone for the next four months, you know why.

Wikipedia knows:

The Ba rong ba chi (Eight Honors and Eight Shames) (Simplified Chinese: 八荣八耻 Traditional Chinese: 八榮八恥 Pinyin: bā róng bā chĭ), officially the Core Value System or the Eight Honors and Disgraces, is a set of moral concepts developed by current President Hu Jintao for the citizens in modern-day China.

Namely (emphasis added):

• Love the country; do it no harm.

• Serve the people; never betray them.
• Follow science; discard superstition.
• Be diligent; not indolent.
• Be united, help each other; make no gains at other’s expense.
• Be honest and trustworthy; do not sacrifice ethics for profit.
• Be disciplined and law-abiding; not chaotic and lawless.
• Live plainly, work hard; do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.

So what does that mean? Obviously not that you should tell the truth. Faked fireworks, a faked singing girl and now 55 faked children. They were said to represent the different ethnic groups inside the country but in fact were all Han.

A Chinese friend suggests that the organizers might not have found beautiful children in the ethnic groups. Let’s check Wikipedia again (emphasis added):

Besides the majority Han Chinese, China recognizes 55 other “nationalities” or ethnic groups, numbering approximately 105 million persons, mostly concentrated in the northwest, north, northeast, south, and southwest but with some in central interior areas.

So no beautiful children in 105 million persons? I admit that it might not be the easiest task to find the 3000 Lhoba, the “smallest officially recognized ethnic group in China”. But then be honest and don’t call it:

Fifty-six children from 56 Chinese ethnic groups cluster around the Chinese national flag, representing the 56 ethnic groups.

Spiegel Online helps the Germans to find out which one of the US presidential candidates they should vote for if only they were allowed. In my case it’s Barack Obama. Hm.

German news site Spiegel Online seems not to be available without VPN. Probably due to their coverage of the situation in Tibet.

Check this article on The Atlantic for details about Chinese internet censorship. (Thanks to Google Blogoscoped for the link.)

Angela Merkel shows us the Bundeskanzleramt. It’s a real pitty that there’s no English version.

Thanks to Frontal21 for digging this up. They also have links to other politician’s videos on their site.

1. Flight Mechanics I is not Flight Mechanics II. The same applies for the exams.
2. Mechanics exams were longer two years ago.
3. On a late trip to the botanical garden it’s advisable to visit the greenhouses first.
4. If you want someone reluctant to come along, you just need to find the right person for asking.
5. Bavarian politician Gabriele Pauli wants marriage to automatically end after seven years unless it’s been renewed.
6. Coming back from Sweden to Germany is like switching from a monthly to a strip ticket.
7. Pizza in TribüHne is inexpensive and tasty.
8. You better don’t eat anything in China and use tap water only for showering, bottled water for everything else.