We all knew something like this would happen eventually. The overbranding of franchises like Hello Kitty, Pokemon, and other anime products in China has caused the public to completely lose common sense when it comes to animals.

But in a way I guess you could call it a perfect marketing campaign. These cutesy portrayals of personified pandas have gone on to replace the proper image of the ferocious beast that lies beneath that black and white fur. I present to you, Exhibit A:

“Panda Bites Student Seeking A Hug” - CNN November 22, 2008.

It was only a matter of time, right? This ’student’ or should I say ‘idiot’ in question was a 20-year old college student not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time. So there goes that explanation.

But seriously, after this moron was mauled by the panda while breaking into his cage and ‘trying to hug him’ he said:

“Yang Yang was so cute, and I just wanted to cuddle him. I didn’t expect he would attack,” the 20-year-old student, surnamed Liu, said in a local hospital.

I only wish the panda at this guy.

Tags: China, CNN, marketing, panda, panda bites, worldgaming, Yang Yang

China is a pretty wild place, and with the addition of this it’s going to be even crazier. They’re currently working on the Siduhe Grand Bridge, which will be the tallest bridge in the world when it’s done.

So how tall is tall? Put it this way, you could put the Empire State Building in the valley below it and it wouldn’t touch the bridge, which has an insane 360 feet of overhead. So know that the next thing I wanted to know was how the hell do you get cables across a chasm that large to build a bridge?

Simple. Rockets, of course.

First, they erected huge towers on either side of the valley to anchor the bridge. Next, they attached 3,200-foot cables to rockets, accurately firing them across the valley to the other side. The old way of building large bridges was through using helicopters or kites, that was just a little too practical for these guys.

But hey, it worked perfectly, so who am I to judge? The bridge is still under construction, but at this point officials say that the really hard part is done. You know, the part with the rockets.

So, who wants to be the first to drive across it?

Tags: cabels, China, crazy, Empire State Building, nuts, rockets, Siduhe Grand Bridge, tallest bridge in the world, worldgaming

You’ve probably already heard about it by now, but China’s been dealing with a massive tainted milk problem. Now that hundreds of tons of milk products have been recalled, precincts are scrambling to figure out what to do with the resulting trash. One city in Southern China has decided that one great way to get rid of all that melamine-laden fluid is to bake them into bricks and cement.

Naturally.

Wang Fan, director of the Guangzhou food safety office, told reporters that the milk burned in a kiln produces a residue that can be used to manufacture building blocks. By disposing of it this way, the government can ensure that it doesn’t get poured into rivers (which would contaminate fish) or dumped into landfills (possibly contaminating ground water). The cost is way lower too, about 700 yuan per ton for brick making rather than 1800 yuan per ton for hazardous waste treatment.

The moral to this story: When life gives you tainted milk, make bricks. Well, hopefully that and completely overhaul your food and drug safety system to better regulate a market that’s exploded in size in the last twenty years…I’m just saying.

Tags: bricks, China, contaminated milk, Guangzhou food safety office, milk, Wang Fan, worldgaming

60 Minutes is one of my favorite shows and easily on of the best on TV. 

Recently, correspondent Scott Pelley went to Guiyi, China to document the lives of Chinese e-waste workers there. He was able to get footage of what these pits, which process much of the toxic electronic scrap that we in the West throw away, despite being jumped by angry e-waste lot owners and nearly having his camera confiscated.

The Chinese men who attacked them were trying to keep mum on the lucrative business of mining e-waste for valuable components, including gold. According to Jim Puckett, who works for a group working to stop the dumping of toxic materials in third world countries, “A lot of people are turning a blind eye here. And if somebody makes enough noise, they’re afraid this [business] is all going to dry up.”

The workers who sift through these e-waste pits get paid about $8 a day. They use caustic chemicals and often burn plastic without any type of protection uniform. The air is full of toxins, potable water needs to be trucked in, and pregnancies in the city are six times more likely to be miscarriages. All to deal with the mess we give them.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that even though we don’t see our trash anymore, it still exists. And even though America has laws against e-dumping, companies constantly ignore them with little repercussions.

The segment airs tonight so be sure to watch it after all the football late games are over.

And I will now get off the soapbox I’ve been on all weekend!!!!!

Tags: 60 Minutes, attacked, China, e-waste, Jim Puckett, Scott Pelley, workers, worldgaming

I love MAD architects! They create crazy buildings and giant killer wasps skyscrapers. Yeah, exactly, look it up! I believe to be genius you have to truly be mad mad, and their latest concept is exactly that.

Presented as a gigantic model at the 11th Venice Biennale, the Super Star City is a “mobile China Town” that can be deployed all over the planet to “inject the energy of China to the world.” I’ll be honest…in no way, shape or form do I want the energy of China injected into me but this is just too nuts to not pass along. 

While the city is obviously made of nonobtanium and/or kryptonite, the idea of a self-contained town, using each spike of the star for a different purpose is, interesting. At least, interesting enought for urban planners in planet Krypton and myself. What the hell is the world coming to?!?!

Tags: China, MAD architects, Super Star City, worldgaming