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tongoscar

Macau and Hong Kong are too different for Beijing to treat them like peas in a pod | South China Morning Post - 0 views

www.scmp.com/...nt-beijing-treat-them-peas-pod

shared by tongoscar on 20 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • Macau therefore presented more attractive prospects for succumbing to the control of a communist legal system that is itself an amalgam of the Soviet legal system
  • It is the Hong Kong government’s refusal, presumably backed by Beijing, to allow an independent investigation into the conduct of the Hong Kong police that prevents progress towards moderating the prevailing strife.
  • Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Macau to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Portugal’s handover of the territory to China is an occasion to consider why the “one country, two systems” formula that has been applied so smoothly to Macau has led to a depressing disaster in Hong Kong.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The English did not bring political democracy to Hong Kong, but they did bring the common law and its belief in and practices for subjecting government to the rule of law.
  • By the late 1990s, however, Beijing was ready, willing and able to implement one country, two systems in Macau in ways that Britain would not permit in Hong Kong.
tongoscar

Beijing's governing formula may be the same but Hong Kong can never be like Macau | South China Morning Post - 0 views

www.scmp.com/...e-hong-kong-can-never-be-macau

shared by tongoscar on 20 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • During my recent business trip to New York, what struck me was the unprecedented interest in the latest news from Hong Kong among many of my American friends.
  • Beijing has been understandably upset over the appearance of American flags at protests in the city, furious at local politicians going all the way to Washington to lobby support for the anti-government movement,
  • Former Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming, while attending this paper’s China Conference in New York last week, confirmed that Beijing did not want the trade talks to be affected by Hong Kong, but added that no agreement would change the new normal of bumpy bilateral relations, at least for the foreseeable future.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Also, Hong Kong, having enjoyed decades of special ties with the United States, and now rocked by more than half a year of massive social unrest with still no easy solution in sight, is likely to be haunted by the ups and downs of China-US relations.
  • Firstly, Beijing has regularly reminded Hong Kong to take neighbouring Macau as a good reference, in particular for plugging national security loopholes. Only that Hong Kong can never be like Macau for reasons going beyond the fact that both cities are governed by the same, unique “one country, two systems” formula.
  • The complex situation this city finds itself in requires some real leadership that can take Hong Kong out of troubled waters. Beijing should better acknowledge such sentiment among Hongkongers.
peterconnelly

In Hong Kong, memories of China's Tiananmen Square massacre are being erased - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

hong kong memories

shared by peterconnelly on 04 Jun 22 - No Cached
  • For decades it was a symbol of freedom on Chinese controlled soil: every June 4, come rain or shine, tens of thousands of people would descend on Victoria Park in Hong Kong to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
  • Authorities in mainland China have always done their best to erase all memory of the massacre: Censoring news reports, scrubbing all mentions from the internet, arresting and chasing into exile the organizers of the protests, and keeping the relatives of those who died under tight surveillance.
  • In 2020, despite the lack of an organized vigil, thousands of Hongkongers went to the park anyway in defiance of the authorities. But last year, the government put more than 3,000 riot police on standby to prevent unauthorized gatherings -- and the park remained in darkness for the first time in more than three decades.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Even before the massacre, when student protesters in Beijing would use the square as a base to push for governmental reform and greater democracy, Hong Kong residents would hold rallies in solidarity. Many would even travel to the Chinese capital to offer support.
  • Since that last vigil, there have been many symbolic erasures of the city's ability to publicly remember, protest and mourn the massacre.
  • Last December Hong Kong University removed its "Pillar of Shame," an iconic sculpture commemorating the Tiananmen victims, which had stood on its campus for more than 20 years. Several other local universities have also taken down memorials.
tongoscar

In Hong Kong, the coronavirus outbreak is deepening the political divide from the 2019 protests - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by tongoscar on 19 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • Rumors had spread that toilet paper supply would be cut off due to new border closures with mainland China, implemented in an effort to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak.
  • The government's reassurances and calls for order went unheeded as millions of residents, gripped by fear and suspicion, descended on stores citywide to panic buy.The novel coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China, was first detected in Hong Kong on January 22. Since then, there have been 62 confirmed cases and two deaths in the city.
  • The numbers are far lower than in mainland China, where at least 1,868 people have died so far -- but Hong Kong carries the memories of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, and people aren't taking any chances.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • By the time she withdrew the bill -- that would have allowed criminal suspects to be extradited across the border to mainland China -- protesters' demands had expanded to include action on deeper social grievances.
  • In January, many Hong Kongers across various sectors, including elected lawmakers, called to shut Hong Kong's borders with mainland China to contain the virus. But these demands also reintroduced familiar strands of localism, an ideology focused on preserving Hong Kong's autonomy.
  • This is why closing the Chinese borders is a politically significant and symbolic act -- and perhaps why Lam resisted doing so for weeks.
  • The 2019 protest movement may appear to have fizzled out -- but it educated an entire city and generation of youth on organized resistance. Now, this spirit of political action has been redirected toward the outbreak, as people protest for a stronger government response.More than 7,000 health care workers participated in a week-long union strike in early February to demand closed borders; that's nearly 10% of all medical staff of Hong Kong's Hospital Authority.The labor union that organized the strike was one of several born from the 2019 unrest, founded during the tail end of the protests.
  • Hong Kong's schools are shut until at least mid-March, and many businesses have closed or have instructed employees to work from home.With cases of community transmission confirmed, many people are staying at home for weeks at a time to avoid infection, only venturing out for groceries or quick strolls.
  • Fear and anger are palpable in the city, especially earlier this week with the disappearance of two people who violated quarantine after returning from mainland China. They were found after being added to a police wanted list.
tongoscar

What will Taiwan election results mean for Hong Kong's future under China? | South China Morning Post - 0 views

www.scmp.com/...s-mean-hong-kongs-future-under

shared by tongoscar on 20 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • As newly re-elected President Tsai Ing-wen might agree, the outcome was determined by the youth of Hong Kong in the streets of Hong Kong.
  • It is also possible that, in preparing to deal with the United States in 2021 and a newly elected US president, the central government in Beijing will begin to prepare for further negotiations by showing a new face in Hong Kong.
  • While it is clear in the near term which way Taiwan is headed, this is not the case for Hong Kong. The success of forces in Taiwan who are against greater engagement with China could well lead to the imposition of more stringent controls on Hong Kong. And this could serve to discourage potential dissidents elsewhere in China.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The last thing we need from Beijing is an armchair tough guy making comments about a subject which he seemingly knows very little of.
tongoscar

China says it banning US military visits to Hong Kong - CNN - 0 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

shared by tongoscar on 02 Dec 19 - No Cached
  • China will ban US warships and military aircraft from making stops in Hong Kong in the wake of Washington passing legislation supporting the territory's pro-democracy protesters,
  • "In response to the unreasonable behaviors of the US side, the Chinese government decides to suspend the review of requests by US military ships and aircraft to visit Hong Kong as of today," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news conference in Beijing.
  • Hua also announced that Beijing would impose sanctions on several US non-governmental human rights organizations that have been monitoring and reporting on the protests in Hong Kong.
tongoscar

Cathay Pacific to halt Hong Kong-Israel flights amid coronavirus fears - The Jerusalem Post - 0 views

www.jpost.com/...ts-to-and-from-Tel-Aviv-618101

shared by tongoscar on 19 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • Cathay Pacific said it was halting flights between Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport and Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport on Wednesday, citing measures imposed by the Israeli Ministry of Health to counter the novel coronavirus outbreak.
  • The airline cited measures imposed by the Health Ministry as the reason for the cancellation of flights.
  • “The company will assist passengers affected by the flight cancellations by finding suitable arrangements,”
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  • Since the start of the outbreak, the airline has been hit hard by travel restrictions and plunging demand. Inbound passenger traffic to Hong Kong in January 2020 decreased 40% compared to January 2019, according to figures published on Monday. In late January, Cathay Pacific and subsidiary Cathay Dragon said it would halve the capacity of flights to and from mainland China until the end of March.
Javier E

Wikipedia China Becomes Front Line for Views on Language and Culture - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...s-on-language-and-culture.html

china wikipedia language culture

shared by Javier E on 29 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • Wikipedia editors, all volunteers, present opposing views on politics, history and traditional Chinese culture — in essence, different versions of China. Compounding the issue are language differences: Mandarin is the official language in mainland China and Taiwan, while the majority in Hong Kong speak Cantonese. But mainland China uses simplified characters, while Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional script.
  • users across the region have experienced “some form of cultural shock,” which triggers arguments. “Users from different areas have received different education, and have been influenced by different political ideologies,” Mr. Wong said. “We discovered that the things we learned as a kid were totally different from each other.”
  • Today, the site has five settings: simplified Chinese for mainland China; orthodox Chinese for Taiwan; traditional Chinese for Hong Kong; traditional Chinese for Macau; and simplified Chinese for Singapore and Malaysia.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • “This software feature could also be seen as an embodiment of Wikipedia’s neutrality principle, in that it brings together editors from different political systems and enables productive discussion and collaboration between them,”
  • most Internet forums have a parochial focus, but that Chinese Wikipedia offers rare opportunities for all Chinese-speaking people to engage in discussion. “There is some form of integration across the region,” he said. “But that does not mean that mainland China assimilates Taiwan or Hong Kong. Every area stands on the same ground.” He pointed out that the flexible language options put all countries on an equal footing. For example, this year Macau was given its own setting, despite having a population of only 500,000.
  • “There was more bickering in the early days, but the discussion matured at a quick pace after 2009,”
  • “When I first joined the Chinese Wikipedia, I was an ‘angry youth,”’ said Wilson Ye, a 17-year-old Wikipedia editor from Shanghai who started writing entries four years ago. “I was furious when I came across terms like Taiwan and the Republic of China. But after more interactions, I understand how people in Taiwan think, and I become much more tolerant.”
  • Isaac Mao, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, attributed the maturation to the fact that more users are learning what Wikipedia is all about. “It all came back to the ‘five principles’ of Wikipedia, including authenticity, accuracy, neutral point of view and the use of references,” Mr. Mao said. “If there are disagreements over management and editing, people can engage in discussion based on these principles. Such atmosphere has been built up in the Chinese Wikipedia community gradually.”
tongoscar

Why US travel warnings for Hong Kong are the ultimate irony | South China Morning Post - 0 views

www.scmp.com/...s-hong-kong-are-ultimate-irony

shared by tongoscar on 20 Jan 20 - No Cached
  • Yes, developers have contributed – and still do – to various charities. But be assured this is only window dressing, since their donations are tax deductible.
  • Like the anti-Trump Democrats in the United States, they seem to be falling over themselves to obstruct the workings of the government at every opportunity
  • Such efforts can’t come from the underprivileged, they can’t come from the ignored majority. They have to come from the establishment, which means our government – together with the vested interests.
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  • New York, with a population of 8.62 million, recorded 318 murders last year; London, with a population of 8.9 million, recorded 149; and Hong Kong, with a population of 7.39 million, recorded 18.
  • And, as with the sickening support from Democrats for arch-terrorist facilitator Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian military leader killed in an air strike by the US, they have yet to utter one word condemning the savage vandalism and violence that the so-called fighters for freedom and democracy have subjected Hong Kong to over the last seven months.
tongoscar

Coronavirus Live Updates: China Is Tracking Travelers From Hubei - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...china-coronavirus.html

shared by tongoscar on 14 Feb 20 - No Cached
  • To combat the spread of the coronavirus, Chinese officials are using a combination of technology and policing to track movements of citizens who may have visited Hubei Province.
  • Mobile phone owners in China get their service from one of three state-run telecommunications firms, which this week introduced a feature for subscribers to send text messages to a hotline that generates a list of provinces they have recently visited. That has created a new way for the authorities to see where citizens have traveled.At a high-speed rail station in the eastern city of Yiwu on Tuesday, officials in hazmat suits demanded that passengers send the text messages and then show their location information to the authorities before being permitted to leave the station. Those who had passed through Hubei were unlikely to be allowed entry.
  • Top officials in Beijing on Thursday expanded their mass roundup of sick or possibly infected people beyond Wuhan, the city at the center of the outbreak, to include other cities in Hubei Province that have been hit hard by the crisis, according to the state-run CCTV broadcaster.
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  • Chinese officials reported Friday that a surge in new infections was continuing, though not as markedly as the day before, when the number of people confirmed to have the virus in Hubei Province skyrocketed by 14,840 cases.
  • Japan has confirmed its first death from the virus.
  • For a moment on Thursday, it seemed as if there might be some good news from the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship being held in the port of Yokohama in Japan, when the authorities said they would release some passengers to shore to finish their quarantine.Instead, Japanese health officials announced the first death from the virus in the country, of a woman in her 80s. It was third death from the virus outside mainland China. The woman had no record of travel there.
  • The Centers for Disease Control said Thursday that a person under quarantine at a military base in San Antonio had tested positive for the virus, bringing the number of confirmed coronavirus patients in the United States to 15.
  • For the first time in a decade, global oil demand is expected to fall.
  • The arts world, too, is feeling the squeeze.Image
  • Movie releases have been canceled in China and symphony tours suspended. A major art fair in Hong Kong was called off. And spring art auctions half a world away in New York have been postponed because well-heeled Chinese buyers may find it difficult to travel to them.
  • The U.S. reported its 15th case after a person under quarantine tested positive.
  • The travel industry in Asia has been upended.Image
  • China ousted a provincial leader at the center of the outbreak.
  • China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday summarily fired two top Communist Party officials from Hubei Province, exacting political punishment for the regional government’s handling of the crisis.
  • A second citizen-journalist in Wuhan has disappeared.
  • A video blogger in the city of Wuhan who had been documenting conditions at overcrowded hospitals at the heart of the outbreak has disappeared, raising concerns among his supporters that he may have been detained by the authorities.The blogger, Fang Bin, is the second citizen journalist in the city to have gone missing in a week after criticizing the government’s response to the coronavirus epidemic.Mr. Fang began posting videos from hospitals in Wuhan on YouTube last month, including one that showed a pile of body bags in a minibus. In early February, Mr. Fang said he had been briefly detained and questioned. A few days later, he filmed an exchange he had with strangers who showed up at his apartment claiming to bring him food.Mr. Fang’s last video, posted on Sunday, was a message written on a piece of paper: “All citizens resist, hand power back to the people.”Last week, Chen Qiushi, a citizen-journalist and lawyer in Wuhan who recorded the plight of patients and the shortage of hospital supplies, vanished, according to his friends.
  • South Korea quarantined hundreds of soldiers who visited China.
tongoscar

Hong Kong protests: Knife attacker bites man's ear after stabbing four - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-asia-china-50281914

shared by tongoscar on 03 Nov 19 - No Cached
  • One of the injured had his ear partially bitten off by an as-yet unidentified male attacker, who was subdued by passersby in the mall.
  • The campaign began in March with demonstrations against a bill that would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China but evolved into broader demands.
  • In the five months since they began, the protests have evolved into a call for universal suffrage for the territory - the right of almost all adults to vote in elections.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • With no end in sight, China's leaders signalled this week that they were preparing to change how the mainland administered Hong Kong.
clairemann

How the U.S. Could Sleepwalk into a War with China | Time - 0 views

time.com/...sleepwalk-war-with-china

world war history thinking

shared by clairemann on 26 Mar 21 - No Cached
  • Our assessment is that both nations are rapidly ascending the slope of that metaphorical mountain, and will likely find themselves in a full-blown, Cold War-like status in the near future
  • The two nations are significantly at odds over the status of the South China Sea, which China claims as territorial waters, potentially giving them control over rich oil and gas deposits and dominance over the 40% of the world’s trade that passes through these strategic seas.
  • China; offensive cyber activities undertaken by both sides; widespread human rights violations against the Muslim Uighur population within China; and the status of Hong Kong, where the U.S. believes China to be in violation of the treaty which returned the former British colony to a “special status” within China.
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  • American companies in China who refuse to toe the line on Chinese policy issues (such as the status of Taiwan and the treatment of Uighurs); the devastating results of COVID-19 in the U.S. originating from a virus that first started to spread in Wuhan; and the freedom of Taiwan to decide whether or not to eventually unify politically with China.
  • If such an incident occurred, perhaps in the Taiwan Straits adding in the additional factor of extreme Chinese pride and nationalism over their view of Taiwan as a sovereign part of China, it could easily spark a far larger military exchange than the warning shots and close approaches we have seen thus far.
  • Larger strikes from either side could follow, as could a far broader cyberattack, perhaps against critical infrastructure. Carrier strike groups on both sides could deploy head-to-head. With even more significant losses, the temptation to employ a tactical nuclear weapons – perhaps at sea, thinking it could never then escalate to a strategic exchange – might rise.
  • The chances of the U.S. and China stumbling into a war are real and increasing.
ilanaprincilus06

Pandemic Update: Vaccine Rollouts, U.K. Variant Fears, Extreme Lockdowns : Goats and Soda : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ost-extreme-pandemic-lockdowns

Covid-19 USA UK

shared by ilanaprincilus06 on 16 Jan 21 - No Cached
  • The last Sunday of 2020 was ushered in with both promise and apprehension on the global pandemic front.
  • At the same time, some of the year's most severe lockdowns and travel restrictions are being implemented around the world, prompted by concerns that new variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could lead to more rapid spread.
  • The U.K. variant, which is now the dominant strain in Britain, "may be more transmissible than previously circulating variants, with an estimated potential to increase the transmissibility of the virus by up to 70%,"
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • On the domestic front, travelers arriving in the U.S. from the U.K. are now required to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test under new rules issued by CDC on Christmas day.
  • Despite such measures, the new strain has already been detected in mainland Europe, Israel, Canada and Japan, among other places.
  • compared to Hong Kong, which has put in place a "prohibition of group gatherings of more than two persons."
  • While some other places are shortening COVID quarantines from 14 days down to 10 or 7, Hong Kong is now requiring a mandatory 21 days.
  • Thailand, which had kept its daily tally of reported COVID-19 cases in the single digits for much of the pandemic, is grappling with its worst surge to date.
  • South Korea, which successfully contained two earlier waves of COVID-19, is facing record numbers of new cases and a spike in fatalities.
  • Given the high levels of transmission already occurring in the U.S., a more transmissible form of the virus could mean more even more dire numbers just as massive vaccine campaigns are starting.
anniina03

Coronavirus: Why some countries wear face masks and others don't - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/world-52015486

psychology bias

shared by anniina03 on 27 Mar 20 - No Cached
  • Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak some places have fully embraced wearing face masks, and anyone caught without one risks becoming a social pariah.But in many other parts of the world, from the UK and the US to Sydney and Singapore, it's still perfectly acceptable to walk around bare-faced.
  • the official advice from the World Health Organization has been clear. Only two types of people should wear masks: those who are sick and show symptoms, and those who are caring for people who are suspected to have the coronavirus.
  • a mask is not seen as reliable protection, given that current research shows the virus is spread by droplets and contact with contaminated surfaces. So it could protect you, but only in certain situations such as when you're in close quarters with others where someone infected might sneeze or cough near your face.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Removing a mask requires special attention to avoid hand contamination, and it could also breed a false sense of security.
  • in some parts of Asia everyone now wears a mask by default - it is seen as safer and more considerate.
  • In mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Taiwan, the broad assumption is that anyone could be a carrier of the virus, even healthy people. So in the spirit of solidarity, you need to protect others from yourself.
  • In East Asia, many people are used to wearing masks when they are sick or when it's hayfever season, because it's considered impolite to be sneezing or coughing openly.
  • The 2003 Sars virus outbreak, which affected several countries in the region, also drove home the importance of wearing masks, particularly in Hong Kong, where many died as a result of the virus.So one key difference between these societies and Western ones, is that they have experienced contagion before - and the memories are still fresh and painful.
  • Some argue that ubiquitous mask wearing, as a very visual reminder of the dangers of the virus, could actually act as a "behavioural nudge" to you and others for overall better personal hygiene.
  • But there are downsides of course. Some places such as Japan, Indonesia and Thailand are facing shortages at the moment, and South Korea has had to ration out masks.
  • There is the fear that people may end up re-using masks - which is unhygienic - use masks sold on the black market, or wear homemade masks, which could be of inferior quality and essentially useless.
  • People who do not wear masks in these places have also been stigmatised, to the point that they are shunned and blocked from shops and buildings.
  • In countries where mask wearing is not the norm, such as the West, those who do wear masks have been shunned or even attacked. It hasn't helped that many of these mask wearers are Asians.
Dunia Tonob

The World Today - Speculation rife over missing Chinese leader 11/09/2012 - 0 views

www.abc.net.au/...s3587507.htm

shared by Dunia Tonob on 11 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes) Alternate WMA version | MP3 download ELEANOR HALL: China's anointed successor to Hu Jintao as leader of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping, has been missing from public view in recent days.Officials are yet to provide
  • an explanation for his absences, and now speculation is building about why and what it could mean for the transition to a new generation of leaders in China later this year.
  • This is a bit unusual, but it is not totally surprising in view of the age of the Chinese leaders. I do believe that the Chinese authorities are extremely sensitive and worried about various potential adverse events or developments that may affect the image of the leadership succession process and the coming party congress.
  • ...2 more annotations...
    • Dunia Tonob
      Dunia Tonob on 11 Sep 12
       
      Such a culture shock! If something like this occurred in America, I do not believe that the government would get away with keeping it hidden.
  • convention that one should ask about top leaders' health and should not talk about it.
Javier E

To Stop Procrastinating, Start by Understanding the Emotions Involved - WSJ - 0 views

www.wsj.com/...ats-really-going-on-1441043167

time management procrastination emotions psychology

shared by Javier E on 06 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • researchers say chronic procrastination is an emotional strategy for dealing with stress, and it can lead to significant issues in relationships, jobs, finances and health.
  • Psychologists also are studying other ways people might be able to reduce procrastination, such as better emotion-regulation strategies and visions of the future self.
  • Many chronic procrastinators believe they can’t get started on a task because they want to do it perfectly. Yet studies show chronic procrastination isn’t actually linked to perfectionism, but rather to impulsiveness, which is a tendency to act immediately on urges,
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  • People may assume anxiety is what prevents them from getting started, yet data from many studies show that for people low in impulsiveness, anxiety is the cue to get going. Highly impulsive people, on the other hand, shut down when they feel anxiety. Impulsive people are believed to have a harder time dealing with strong emotion and want to do something else to get rid of the bad feeling
  • Some people claim they purposely leave things to the last minute because they work better under stress, but true procrastinators get stressed out by the delay. It’s arguable whether the quality of their work is actually better
  • The mental-health effects of procrastination are well-documented: Habitual procrastinators have higher rates of depression and anxiety and poorer well-being.
  • procrastinators with hypertension and heart disease were less likely to engage in active strategies for coping with the illness, such as finding meaning or taking action, such as arranging to exercise with a friend. They were more likely to adopt maladaptive behaviors
  • procrastinators often seem unable to see as clearly into the future about their choices and behaviors as non-procrastinators—a phenomenon she calls “temporal myopia.” Their vision of their future selves is often more abstract and impersonal, and they’re less connected emotionally to their future selves
  • an anti-procrastination strategy. They teach people to recognize that they might have strong emotions, such as anxiety, at the start of a project but to not judge themselves for it. The next step is just to get started, step by step, with a narrow focus.
  • the group wanted to design an intervention that, if shown efficacious, could be rolled out widely, such as via the Internet,
  • One component focused on goal setting, such as breaking down long-term goals into smaller and more-concrete sub-goals. Instead of saying one was going to work on a paper on Tuesday, participants were taught to be specific and divide it into manageable sub-goals: I am going to work on a paper for one hour at 11 a.m.
  • The intervention also employed a reward system. Participants would give themselves something positive, whether a cup of coffee or a break after accomplishing mini-goals, rather than wait until finishing the overall goal.
  • The results showed that after intervention with both guided and unguided self-help, people improved their procrastinatio
  • Dr. Steel’s lab is testing and helping to develop new software with a Hong Kong company, Saent, that helps by delaying the loading of websites such as Facebook for 15 seconds or so, using “micro-costs” such as requiring a password before surfing the Web. Sometimes these little bits of effort are all that are necessary to deter procrastinators from distraction
sgardner35

Edward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...d-says-no-to-surveillance.html

shared by sgardner35 on 05 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • MOSCOW — TWO years ago today, three journalists and I worked nervously in a Hong Kong hotel room, waiting to see how the world would react to the revelation that the National Security Agency had been making records of nearly every phone call in the United States. In the days that followed, those journalists and others published documents revealing that democratic governments had been monitoring the private activities of ordinary citizens who had done nothing wrong.
  • Privately, there were moments when I worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing — that the public would react with indifference, or practiced cynicism, to the revelations.
  • Since 2013, institutions across Europe have ruled similar laws and operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on future activities. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights. In Latin America, the efforts of citizens in Brazil led to the Marco Civil, an Internet Bill of Rights. Recognizing the critical role of informed citizens in correcting the excesses of government, the Council of Europe called for new laws to protect whistle-blowers.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • are now enabled by default in the products of pioneering companies like Apple, ensuring that even if your phone is stolen, your private life remains private. Such structural technological changes can ensure access to basic privacies beyond borders, insulating ordinary citizens from the arbitrary passage of anti-privacy laws, such as those now descending upon Russia.
  • Spymasters in Australia, Canada and France have exploited recent tragedies to seek intrusive new powers despite evidence such programs would not have prevented attacks. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain recently mused, “Do we want to allow a means of communication between people which we cannot read?” He soon found his answer, proclaiming that “for too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: As long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.”
Javier E

What I Discovered by Visiting Every Disney Park - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...isiting-every-disney-park.html

Disney comparison international

shared by Javier E on 23 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Disney haters have long criticized the company’s overseas parks as products of cultural imperialism: the evil Mickey Mousification of the globe.
  • “We made some mistakes early on, but we learned from them,” a senior Disney executive once said to me. “How can you judge us without seeing for yourself?”
  • To compete with the splendor of Paris, Disney spent lavishly to open the resort in 1992, and its ornate landscaping has only improved with age: Austrian black pines, endless rhododendrons, pathways that hug serpentine streams. Of all the Disney castles, the one here is the most extravagant.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • I thought about what visiting the 13 parks had taught me about how Disney operates, particularly overseas. Far from monolithic, the company’s theme park empire is full of quirky surprises. Yes, the notion of Disney as a cultural bulldozer needs to be retired — especially as it builds a 14th park in Shanghai that will be the first to do away with a Main Street-style entrance. (Instead there will be a vast garden that will accommodate Chinese cultural festivals.)
  • At the end of the day, what makes a Disney park unique are the people who occupy it.
  • In France visitors stroll along those glorious garden paths — no rushing to the rides. Disney World in Florida is a melting pot endurance test, while the original Disneyland in California relies less on tourists than on annual pass-holding locals. Tokyo visitors, once completing that initial sprint, stand politely and quietly in tidy lines; Hong Kong attendees from mainland China show little interest in personal space, even leaning on one another in the ride queues, and go gaga for simple go-in-a-circle rides that would bore most Americans.
anonymous

Baidu driverless car completes test on Beijing roads - BBC News - 1 views

www.bbc.com/...technology-35059938

science research knowledge psychology technology car test roads

shared by anonymous on 10 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • Chinese tech giant Baidu has successfully tested its driverless car on roads near the company's headquarters in Beijing.
  • "complex road conditions", including human drivers, the firm said.
  • "Fully autonomous driving under mixed road conditions is universally challenging, with complexity further heightened by Beijing's road conditions and unpredictable driver behaviour,"
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • The car is able to detect vehicles, road lanes and objects in its path.
  • "It sounds a sensible move for them - whether it's driver assistance or towards automation, there's going to be a lot of development of the sensors, communications and the cloud computing,"
  • Google's prototype has been involved in nine crashes since testing on public roads began, though the company has said these are all the fault of humans, not the car's autonomous technology.
  • Finally, Elon Musk's high tech firm Tesla has had to limit the automatic steering and lane changing functions in its autopilot mode for drivers in Hong Kong.
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