JISHOU, HUNAN — Sometimes satire hits a little too close for comfort, at least among rabid supporters of Robert Mugabe, dictator , excuse me, president of Zimbabwe.
Nando’s of South Africa recently ran a satirical commercial with actors playing several now-dead dictators and a forlorn Mugabe look-alike, who misses all his old dictator pals at Christmas time. Supporters of Mugabe, who has controlled Zim since 1980, threatened Nando’s staff, prompting the restaurant chain to pull the commercial.
Of course, as long as there is an Internet, nothing will ever disappear. So, here it is for your enjoyment.
Nando’s, by the way, sells really tasty (and spicy) chicken. Their chips (aka French fries) and rolls are pretty good, too. Seeing the ad makes me want some now. Num, num.
JISHOU, HUNAN — Back when I was a science teacher, I started blogged about an Ohio public school science teacher who got in hot water for (1) allegedly using a Tesla coil on his students, (2) teaching evolution was false and (3) going overboard with his religious proselytizing in the classroom.
Without going into a lot of details, let’s just say that teacher, John Freshwater of Mount Vernon, was removed from classroom teaching pending an administrative hearing about insubordination. After a two-year-long administrative hearing process, Freshwater lost his job earlier this year. He and the Mount Vernon school system were also named in a federal discrimination complaint brought by a student’s family; the school district settled out of court and Freshwater, following an unsuccessful appeal, also had to pay damages to the family. Meanwhile, he filed, and later dropped, his own discrimination complaint in federal court against the school system.
So, after all these proceedings which suggest that Freshwater was to some degree culpable, I learn that he has the nerve to play the victim card on David Barton and Rick Green’s WallBuilders Live radio program.
Here’s a partial transcript, courtesy of Right Wing Watch.
JISHOU, HUNAN — Last week, two of my colleagues and I debated whether the common English greeting, “long time no see,” was Chinglish or English slang. Since I’ve heard it since I was a kid, I contended it was authentically American. They insisted that its origins are Chinese, because there is a phrase in Chinese that is identical word for word. It turns out we are both right.
I checked for the origins of this phrase. One early appearance apparently was in a 1901 book about Native Americans; the white writer had a Native American speaking pidgin English, “long time no see you.” But a more likely origin is from western trade with the Chinese in the late 19th century.
“Long time no see” is the literal translation of the Cantonese 好耐冇見 (hou2 noi6 mou5 gin3) and the Mandarin 好久不见 (Hǎojiǔ bùjiàn). British (and perhaps American) seamen brought the phrase back home, where it eventually became part of the English language. (I also suspect it spread quickly because of early movies, and radio and TV programs featuring Chinese characters, like the Charlie Chan detective dramas, but I have no evidence.)
As it turns out, “long time no see” is not the only Chinese phrase “borrowed” by the English language. Here are some other common ones.
JISHOU, HUNAN — The Atlantic Monthly has an interesting article about the surprising alliance between multinational corporation Walmart and China’s Communist government to improve product quality and foster environmental responsibility among the retailer’s estimated 1,000 Chinese suppliers.
China has been plagued by a series of food-safety scandals and environmental disasters in the last decade. Chinese shoppers no longer trust the products they buy are safe to eat. They trust foreign hypermarkets, like Walmart, Metro and Carrefour, more, and Walmart, for one, is playing that card to its advantage.
Walmart got all green and organic a few years ago, and has been trying to impose its more stringent requirements on its suppliers in China. Thought its prices may be higher for some products, concerned shoppers here are willing to pay extra for products labelled “green” and “organic,” because they trust Walmart is telling the truth.
Meanwhile, China’s central government, which has been woefully ineffective in monitoring regional and provincial food and environmental safety standards, benefits from Walmart’s quasi-governmental influence.
As the article infers, it’s a marriage of convenience that seems to benefit everyone concerned. I recommend reading the whole article. Walmart may treat its workers in the USA like crap, but in some respects it’s not entirely evil.
So, what’s wrong with this photo? It came from a campaign mailer from Patricia Phillips, who is a Loudon County, Virginia, Republican running for a state senate seat.
OK, but thanking a US veteran might be more appropriate.
The keen-eyed and quick-witted will note that this distinguished old officer is — or more accurately, was — not a member of the US Armed Forces. He’s a Soviet naval officer. You know, our enemies back in the day.
I propose that Phillips’ campaign staff is neither keen-eyed nor quick-witted. And her opponent must be laughing his ass off.
JISHOU, HUNAN — Maybe my problems with Picasaweb are over for now. While the Great Firewall of China seems to screw up uploads to my Picasaweb albums, it doesn’t seem to prevent uploads using Google+ Photos. It’s still snail slow, but at least I can get it done.
Then again, my access to Google+ seems to come and go, so I probably just shot myself in the foot publishing this tidbit of news.
JISHOU, HUNAN — Like a lot of other writers, I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a book. So far, that’s as far as I’ve gotten with the notion, though, so don’t hold your breath waiting for the first Wheat-dogg bestseller. It’s still in the preconceptual stage.
Certainly, there is fodder for a book from my experiences as a foreigner teaching English in China. Many ex-pats end up writing books or ebooks about their lives abroad. Having read a few as market research, these books (and for that matter, blogs) fall into a few main categories:
My life abroad was wonderful, life-changing! You should give it a try.
My life abroad has made me an expert in all things abroad. Read my book!
My life abroad was a crappy experience, but I am going to write a funny book about it anyway.
My life abroad showed me that America is the bestest place evah in the whole world.
My life abroad showed me that America is traveling down the road to ruin, but my chosen living place is a virtual paradise. (By the way, I’ve got some land to sell you if you wanna come here.)
I want to write something different, of course. I need a catchy hook to get started, but as yet, the muse has not provided me any imaginative hook, despite a boxful of bait.
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