china celebrates by burning down the Mandarin

Ain't no party like a CCTV party, cause a CCTV party don't stop.....until it's burned down the Beijing Mandarin Hotel due to illegal fireworks. So many humorous observations can be made from this disastrous exhibit of a Chinese Party faux pas but I'll just look at the images and laugh.

Here's the quaint and party approved statement Mandarin issued:

“Beijing Fire Control Bureau says CCTV staff responsible for the construction of the new TV complex, hired staff to ignite large festive firecrackers outside the building, and caused the fire. The move did not receive approval from related authorities. The fire has caused severe damage. CCTV sincerely apologizes for the damage that the fire caused, and the inconvenience it has brought to the public.”

now look at pictures

cctv = BURN!

The Rise of Urban Farming Worldwide

There’s something poignant about this photo of a former bank vault in Tokyo that’s been converted into a semi-automated urban farm. In Japan, urban agriculture is not only making good use of spaces where money used to be, it’s also compensating for the traditional farmers that its shrinking population is shedding.

From Mumbai to Manila, cities in emerging economies are looking to urban farming to bolster job growth, improve food security and make more productive use of organic waste. The surprising role model for off-farm farming is Havana, Cuba where 90% of fresh produce supply is grown in the city. Nationwide, urban farming has created 350,000 jobs for Cubans and has boosted the average caloric intake from 2,323 per Cuban per day in 1993 to 3,547 today. Apparently, one main cause of this shift in food sourcing is the inefficiency of state-owned farms.

a picture of plants

China is also exhibiting how to industrialize the trend on a massive scale. The Modern Agricultual Science Demonstration Park in Beijing shows how a farm in the city can provide vegetation as well as aquaculture and livestock. Don’t expect an organic meal to come from here though. An entire section is dedicated to plant cloning and seed hacking.

China could end up owning the majority of US & UK financial systems

China could easily end up owning the lion’s share of the US and UK’s financial systems. - Inspired by Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor

With the collapses on Wall Street this week and signs in the United Kingdom pointing towards a housing market crisis as well, it appears that the U.S. and the U.K. have left the door open for other world economies to step in and take over the global economy. Peston reports: “It's a world in which the Chinese state, if it co-ordinated the investments of its cash-rich institutions, could end up owning more-or-less the entire financial system of the US and the UK.” It is conservative institutions, he says, and those with simpler business models with a history of careful management of their funding sources, which will become the new superpowers.