Superpower? China Makes Its Play

Have you been wondering what country will challenge the globe's current one-superpower structure? Meet China.

A superpower must have enough economic and military clout to get other countries to align with them. While China's economy is relatively small per-capita compared with western nations, it is growing, and they seem to be doing a better job than the old Soviet Union of mixing socialism (which is an economic wet blanket, to say the least) with capitalism. While both China and the former USSR are/were socialist states, they had very different economic structures starting in the late 1970s. The Soviet Union was very similar to North Korea in that a tremendous percentage of their resources went into the military while their economy at home was always teetering on the edge of disaster. Their manufacturing was shoddy, even for their military equipment, and their collective farms were terrible. (They were really good at espionage, however, and extremely successful in stealing information from the West.) China, on the other hand, shouldn't suffer from manufacturing problems, as that is an area of expertise for them. This excerpt from the CIA World Factbook entry for China paints a picture of their economic progress:

In late 1978 the Chinese leadership began moving the economy from a sluggish, inefficient, Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state organizations and individual citizens has been steadily increasing. The authorities switched to a system of household and village responsibility in agriculture in place of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety of small-scale enterprises in services and light manufacturing, and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment. The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978.

As they grow economically they are plowing resources into their military as well. China's military has historically been long on manpower but short on technology--in WW2 the much smaller Japan had their way with China. But obviously they are trying to change all of that now.

As a growing power both economically and militarily, China is embarking on the next step toward superpower status. It appears that they are trying to cultivate satellite states among the bad actors and despotic regimes of (resource-rich) Africa.


FoxNews: China, Africa Dictator Links Ring Alarms


If they get their gear together, with a population of 1.3 billion (US: 0.3 billion), they might make quite a powerful superpower.


filed: politics.world

Original Column: The Emperor Has No Clothes

Note: It has come to my attention that some of the content of this blog may seem a little dry to certain groups of people, nay, to entire swaths of the population. To you I say this: You will continue to get what you pay for. However, I do have some stuff that's a little more fun, and I'd like to mix it in here and there.

This is one in a series of columns I wrote for a local newsletter in the past couple of years. The column was called The Brink of Normal, and was full of humor and truly fun for all ages. I have wanted to start republishing the columns here, and this seems a perfect time to start. This one's for you, America. And really for the whole english-speaking world.

The Emperor Has No Clothes!

Yes, I said it, and I’m not sorry. This has gone on long enough, and somebody had to get the truth out there. That’s how it always is. It always falls to those of us on the edges, at The Brink of Normal, to do the dirty work and be the first to say what you and everyone else is thinking.

Now the reason you don’t think I know what you were thinking is because somehow I started this column at the end and you have no idea what I’m talking about. You’re challenging me to tell you what you were thinking. Gotcha.

OK, here’s what we were all thinking: There is a no real difference between things that are stupid and things that are cool.

Most of you out there are probably freaked out that I read your mind. For those of you who may not have actually been thinking this exact thought, let me explain.

Here is a little boy in his front yard after a rain. He is inquisitive, he is young, he is eating snails. Is this cool? “No!”, we all shout! “This is disgusting! Someone stop the little boy and teach him not to eat snails!"

Meanwhile at a downtown restaurant whose name has more vowels than consonants a man is looking at a menu written completely in French. He summons the waiter, pronouncing his name easily, and expertly orders escargot for himself and the lady. She is impressed with his sophistication.

What is wrong with this picture? They are eating snails! The boy in his yard and the man at the restaurant are engaged in the same activity, and while one is taken to the doctor as a precaution the other enjoys his meal in high style. How can this be?

The answer lies deep in the human psyche. With our built-in desire for acceptance we try to choose a herd and follow wherever they may go. If someone is able to convince a leader that something is cool, the entire group will likely follow right along without a peep lest they be found unworthy of membership. This has been going on since long before the emperor was scammed by the people with the invisible clothes, and there is always a need for people like little children and yours truly to tell the herd what is what.

Now that I have exposed escargot for what it really is, I’d like to move on to that bastion of unthinking herd behavior we call fashion. From your local department store to designer runways in Milan the entire industry is all about leading-but still being a part of-the herd.

The problem with fashion is that you can’t escape it because you have to wear clothes, and no matter what you wear it makes a statement about who you are. That’s not a big problem if you like to make a statement, but I’m pretty much past that now and I just wear clothes because it separates me from the animals. My clothes are beginning to tell everyone that I haven’t cared about fashion since sometime in the last millennium.

Are you beginning to see what a racket we’re dealing with here? If I don’t pony up and buy whatever the fashion herd has anointed as cool, I am perceived as a cave-dweller or fuddy-duddy by everyone I meet. Fortunately for me my wife makes me stay reasonably fashionable, but what about all those people who don’t have someone to keep them in line? It’s an outrage.

For the people at the top of the fashion food chain things aren’t exactly hunky-dory either. How many actresses have attended a glitzy awards show wearing a $100,000 gown by a big name designer that appears to have been crafted from facial tissue and fishing tackle? Everybody stands around and says how the dress flatters her and the designer is a visionary, but in the back of their minds they’re wondering if that’s actually Kleenex and fishhooks.

And what about art? Perhaps you’ve seen one of those exhibits that appears to be a canvas salvaged from a paint factory explosion. The museum guide reverently explains that it was from a very bitter time in the artist’s life and that this work reflects a deep angst and anger unparalleled in any paintings of that period, which explains why it was appraised at 40 bazillion dollars. You suspect that it was created by a monkey on a motorcycle, but you say nothing.

So it seems that the only thing that separates the acceptable from the ridiculous is the majority’s belief that something is indeed acceptable. And this is why, when I see the latest crazy new thing, I again think to myself that the emperor does indeed have no clothes.

So now that you know the secret, you can change the world. The new world will be based on substance instead of style, reality instead of perception, steak instead of sizzle. I wish you luck in your quest.

If you need me I’ll be in the basement trying to make 40 bazillion bucks with my angst, anger and tempera paint.

filed: humor; column

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's a Bird-Plane?

Here's the question that's been nagging at us all: why has nobody since Wilbur and Orville looked at our feathered friends when they designed a plane? The Wright brothers, of course, daydreamed about flight while watching birds and managed to get into the air themselves using observations they made. But in the first 100 years of flight almost all heavier-than-air flying machines have been more or less rigid structures with fixed wings. With very powerful engines, planes travel much faster than birds, but have almost zero maneuverability comparatively.

While that has fit our needs for aircraft up until now, there seems to be a developing market for low-speed, highly-maneuverable small craft as mini-robotic drone planes. So it's back to the birds. While this little prototype hardly flaps it's wings (watch the video to see it slowly move its wings) it has obviously taken a cue from the avian world. And I think we can all agree that that's long overdue.


MSNBC.com: Futuristic Spy Plane Maneuvers Like a Bird


Bonus science news: I include this interesting tidbit mostly because the headline is so fun to say. Say it out loud for maximum effect. (Anemone must be pronounced correctly)

MSNBC.com Enemy Anemones wage all-out war


filed: science; technology

Free Speech and Stupidity

This whole free speech thing is a messy business, what with all of the idiots clogging our public discourse with idiocy, but what is the alternative? You could follow in the footsteps of Turkmenistan, which has outlawed lip-synching and opera, or maybe North Korea, where long hair for men is definitely bad.

While I am not a big fan of opera or long hair, I have begun to see the advantages of lip-synching. If we are going to continue to churn out singers whose main talent is actually sexiness, we must not let them perform without the benefit of electronic assistance. The screeching hurts my ears.

However, the main point here is this: One of the most important freedoms we have is the freedom to be stupid. If you outlaw dumb behavior or idiotic opinions then you have some government committee or official deciding what is criminally stupid. Given the corruption that comes with power, "criminally stupid" quickly devolves into "disagrees with me", and we might as well be some two-bit dictatorship.

Of course there must be legal limits to stupidity. One handy line to draw is that your stupidity must not harm others. You don't have the right to falsely yell "FIRE" in a crowded building. However, sometimes even stupidity that hurts others should not be interfered with. For instance, if a parent believes and teaches their children that the earth is flat, should the children be taken away? Teaching lies to kids is harmful, but what can you do besides set up a "Truth Committee" to police parents? And what lies are harmful enough to take away children? How about "Santa Clause brings presents?" Or would the Committee allow "The government is wrong?"

I think not.


filed: politics

It's a Documentary - It Must Be True

We commented recently in passing about Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me documentary, which blasts McDonalds' food as unhealthy to the point of deadliness. This article takes issue with some of his claims:

FoxNews: Spurlock Food Scare a Super Size Scam

Whaaaat? A "documentary" film with an axe to grind that skews the facts? Say it isn't so. Michael Moore must be livid right now that the integrity of his chosen medium is being dragged down by shoddy fact-checking and inattention to the rules of logic. Oh wait. It turns out Moore's own filmmaking methods are being called into question by ANOTHER documentary called Michael Moore Hates America, and here's an old article (from Slate magazine??!?!) that picks apart the logic of his Fahrenheit 9/11 movie into little bitty pieces.

No real point here, I guess, except that it's clear the documentary movie business seems to be dominated by idealogical partisans with a point to make, rather than by unimpassioned observers seeking to find the truth. Or maybe these are the only kind of documentaries that make the news...

filed: media; us.politics

An American in Japan

I found an interesting blog written by an American guy living in Japan. It's kind of a chronicle of his life there, and features, as he says, "fantastic and unremarkable stories from afar". It makes for surprisingly engrossing reading, featuring as it does so many normal, mundane, slice-of-life stories and observations. I don't know how much we have in common--for instance, he is a semi-militant vegan, while I only eat meat as much as possible--but it's cool to see another perspective, and also an American-eye view of Japan. I've often thought that you can't really see a country unless you leave the tourist spots and live with the people somehow, and that's exactly what he's doing. Note: Don't visit if you're offended by the occasional profanity.


Japanatter: Ramblings from my life in Japan


filed: etcetera

I'm Back!

After a few weeks of work-induced silence, I'm ready to keep bringing all of my fans (both of my fans? Hello? Anybody?) the stuff you just can't get anywhere else. Or at least links to it.

In that spirit, here is some news you can use about cheerleaders doing their part for society.


ESPN.com: Cheerleaders foil hit-and-run with help of chant


filed: etcetera