A Hong Kong Perspective

I think Singapore and HK have very similar figures...

2010-02-05T14:36:54.111+08:00

I think Singapore and HK have very similar figures for smoking demographics as well as similar bans on smoking, but very different reputation in terms of air quality.

Major differences : Tall cluster-fking buildings that trap particles? The weather system? Waste treatment? Lousy Government that blames the weather?

One thing I've noticed in Singapore is the location of bins with ash trays. They are usually far from building entrances.

Canada has a regulation (since 2008) which bans smokers from lighting up within 10 meters of an entrance. I think that is a fair and clear rule. Gives non-smokers a chance to walk out without inhaling 2nd-hand smoke while acknowledges that smokers do need some place to smoke.

If the argument involves "foul air" as w...

2010-02-05T09:37:56.571+08:00

If the argument involves "foul air" as was the case in the SCMP article, then the rules of debate mean that i can then use that topic in my counter. And quite simply put, if someone is blaming smokers (and second hand smoke) on the foul air in this city, then most likely that person is a complete and utter moron. But, as in my post, it is these spastics - not to mention the cliquey trio of rabid anti-smokers (Headly, Mckay, and the Clean the air group) - who are forming policy on wild speculation and unfounded accusations.

I agree, they shouldn't be (included in the same topic). But if the argument is with regards to foul air, placing the blame solely on the shoulders of smokers is a failure in logic.

I agree that forcing smokers outside has become a major irritation for many non-smokers. But where else would one have them go? Instead of actually sitting down and thinking about the problem, forming hypotheses, and conducting tests to support the theories; conclusions are being formed and jumped to without any reasonable backing.

The health hazards from smoking and environmental ...

2010-02-05T09:26:33.039+08:00

The health hazards from smoking and environmental pollution issues should be handled separately. It's like speeding drivers and jaywalking pedestrians. You can ban drivers all you want but you can't stop jaywalkers from running into the path of a moving car~

I'm not sure, but it does look like the Police...

2010-01-28T20:30:06.750+08:00

I'm not sure, but it does look like the Policeman was trying to cop a feel.

You know as well as I do that these puppets are sp...

2010-01-28T20:24:30.617+08:00

You know as well as I do that these puppets are sponsored by big business already, the only difference is showing the true colours. Which of course will never happen.
If I get the gist of what you are actually saying, it sounds like liable has taken a new dimension. Does this mean that McDonalds can again start saying that their fries contain potato?
I think the best phrase you used on this subject was "a climate of corporate greed". Now oil owns the green business, I guess they can tell the world of it's impending doom all under the guise of Freedom of Speech. They should now be able to do this without the fear of recourse when the sh*t doesn't hit the fan and the world has spent a fortune on "breathing tax" to keep the third world in it's place.

Sorry the last post had some embarrassing grammati...

2010-01-24T17:36:18.985+08:00

Sorry the last post had some embarrassing grammatical errors. This one probably has some too.

Hey ML, Phinneas is my penname, it's me B-Rock (Brandon)

Maybe "premature" is a poor choice of words. To clarify, I meant "premature" in the sense that speech and action have yet to intersect. A radical need not always be reactionary; I think radicals have the important choice to imagine a third option, not even in a dialectical sense, but something "Do Nothing" of which I expound on in my comment, maybe I can clarify.

I agree with you 100%, voicing your opinions is important. In fact, Thinking (voicing opinions) can be more beneficial than Doing.

"Doing Nothing" is an imposition to ignore the youthful impulse to "Act Now There Are X Amount of Y Suffering Now", while there are indeed people suffering, the ideological subtext of this need to act (for the leisure class with enough time and energy to devote to nurturing Messiah complexes) embodies both the guilt of privilege and the desire to lose perspective- so called "Brightening Your Corner Of The World".

Losing perspective means mystifying the underlying structural inequities of, say, global economics that compel the international community to give aid to Haiti- in this instance it is more productive in the long run to discuss how capitalist rhetoric and global politics continually prevent conditions that enable self governance.

Instead, my definition of "Doing" kicks the can down the road until the next earthquake. What you spend on petrol in a week feeds an Earthquake Victim for a month, "Doing" through aid is a convenient way to assuage our privileged guilt, the minimal charge for getting to live in the 1st World.

Thinking does not kick the can; Thinking in the case of the Hatian Diaster brings us closer to why structural problems produced bad building code, bad earthquake readiness and bad emergency response.

Of course, my example and plea does not aim to minimize any relief effort or the contribution any person has made to lessening the suffering in this world, the opposite, I hope we all can go further into providing real change by carefully understanding the implications of our actions. Zizek does a better job of explaining it than me, check out his talk on youtube:

Against Human Rights - Slavoj Zizek

2010-01-24T17:29:47.578+08:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

Well I was thinking that they should have a path f...

2010-01-22T13:28:07.695+08:00

Well I was thinking that they should have a path for us to escape buildings without walking through smog.

ps. check out this post from Waiter Rant: http://w...

2010-01-21T11:00:59.847+08:00

ps. check out this post from Waiter Rant: http://waiterrant.net/?p=1630

NY has pretty much the same laws as HK when it comes to smoking, although Steve (the author) has a different slightly different take on the topic.

@WhiteDusk, I understand where you are coming fro...

2010-01-21T10:48:32.157+08:00

@WhiteDusk,

I understand where you are coming from, a mass of individuals (smoking individuals) in front of a building clogging the exits is no fun for anyone... But if they are outside, then they are complying with the law.

I have no issues with anti-smoking legislation, as long as it is based on a framework which has a provable conclusion: Second hand smoke is bad, people smoke in bars, bar workers will inhale second hand smoke and fall ill. This makes sense. on the other hand "i don't like the smokers outside the building because they cannot smoke inside anymore, so lets get rid of them" does not.

The point i was trying to make above is that if we institute legislation either supporting, or disallowing a particular activity, there needs to be conclusive reasons as to why. If the smokers outside your building are indeed outside then because of their being outside, the smoke they emit is no worse than the foul polluted atmosphere that we in HK refer to as "air".

I don't like idiot fuckwads wandering gormlessly around the streets, but until i can prove that it is a detriment, no laws will be passed saying "you must be self aware when you go outside".

My office is opposite Harbour City TST and the mai...

2010-01-21T10:37:12.088+08:00

My office is opposite Harbour City TST and the main door is always full of smokers. Same situation at the back. The only smoke-free exit will be the side-doors.

As far as I respect the rights of the smokers, I sure hope there will be some rulings against smoking in front of building exits.

What do you think?

@ Phinneas, "generational schizophrenia"...

2010-01-21T10:01:10.341+08:00

@ Phinneas,

"generational schizophrenia" is a seriously excellent term... Lots of good points in your post, especially with regards to how our generation seems so out of the loop; but i just don't see the issue sorting itself out... by the time we, as a generation, are able to contribute to the larger society in a tangible way, the rot that we currently see will be so firmly entrenched that there will be no other options for us but to roll with the status quo... I don't think that the "radical" voices of our generation are premeture, but rather a reaction to the complete inability of those who hold the power to make positive decisions - Climategate, for instance, was as big a farce as one could hope to see in the 21st century, and has essentially doomed the future to a scorched earth reality.

I don't think there is an option to do nothing, because the decisions currently being made, and their outcomes, are wrong. Even if you are writing a blog and voicing your opinions, it's a step in the right directions.

Thanks for your input tho! good food for the brain first thing in the morning.

ringing neoliberal ideology (the conflation of dem...

2010-01-21T09:43:15.493+08:00

ringing neoliberal ideology (the conflation of democracy and capitalism) to its logical conclusion is to expose its contradictions and paradoxes- in this sense we "do nothing", we ride the neoliberal pony until its hooves fall off, we don't recycle, we still purchase goods and we don't question- in this way we bring it [neolib cap'ism] to its paradoxically violent conclusion. This is something everyone does anyway, so the advice here is to be wary of any truly radical voices right now, because it is merely the premature ejaculatory impetuousness of youth, ignorance, hate or fear. I digress;

What are the violent conclusions and contradictions? They are contradictions such as "neoliberal policies are based on wage arbitrage, militarism and cultural imperialism not democracy" and "the earth does not have enough resources to elevate the standards of living of emerging countries to the levels of the West and "hierarchical status quo violence always trumps universal rights to live and prosper and to be social animals". These contradictions will lead to radical revolutionary thought, which will make the job of radical revolutionary action much easier, but thought that proceeds action can only be fostered if we have the courage to follow neoliberalism close to its abyssal "zero point". Eventually we will be confronted with the choice; do I become a martyr for utopian ideals of the past? Or do I make a stand today; become a martyr for utopian ideals of tomorrow. There is truth in the idea that it is darkest before the dawn, the world requires its eschatological ruminations be tickled before it unleashes its earth shattering guffaw.

In this sense we do both; Gen Yers will never be remembered- like the children of the 1930s or the children of the late 1970s we represent a people on the cusp, negotiators and silent actors, on the peripheries but intent and looking in. Nonetheless it is important that we remain vigilant in how we nurture and foster the trajectory of the coming trials and tribulations- 1) don't buy into change that seems too easy; change is tough, too soon; change takes a long time, or too radical; these radicals are probably morons aaaand 2) prepare your utopian vision for the coming revolution, or rather, dream truthfully, if your dreams fail you then follow someone else's, like mine.

Paraphrasing Calvin (and Hobbes), its impossible to be in the right time and place, so its best to find the right place and hang out till the right time comes. Most Gen-Yers will find themselves in the right place, it is only a matter of time then, that the chance for real lasting change will happen. My only advice is to be prepared and to not be caught on the wrong side of the fence when it goes down.

Old people are going to die clutching all the chip...

2010-01-21T09:43:09.520+08:00

Old people are going to die clutching all the chips anyway so fuck 'em, in truth minus the angst; what the fuck do our parents care about us? Old People are not necessarily thinking about the world that we are poised to endure, perhaps I should say, its not that they do not give a fuck, it is merely, that Old People's time horizons do not enable them to conceive of giving a fuck. A small, big difference. They've fought the wars, triumphed over the baddies, they've "done their due".

Young People are looking to us as the next generation of Old People to fix the fucking problems that the generation before us were too shortsighted to mitigate, caused, and we are giving little to no room for failure, given our unique positions as children at the zenith of neoliberal ideology. To put things into perspective; the combined deficits of all of democratic capitalisms are investments put into us and future generations, thus there are only three scenarios: either we begin to pay dividends, if we can (and we should) kick the can down to our children (and say, fuck 'em) or we go bankrupt and we change the system.

Because of the combined investments and expectations bestowed upon us by our parents, we find ourselves in a double bind. We must both stay the course for the sake of continuity, conservatively upholding neoliberal ideology, it being our *only* worldview, we keep the gears oiled, the belts spinning, so as to honor and benefit from the previous generation's investments into us,

BUT we must also attempt to make this world even better for the next, something which may only be accomplished through true radical change, or something that must require the sacrifice that well, shit, none of us were really prepared for anyway. Sacrifice died after World War II anyway, our 80s upbringing mantra is pure Pass-The-Buckism, i.e. synergize your failures with new positive paradigm shifts.

The answer to this dilemma is to 1) do nothing 2) do both.

Hey Mike, let me say, it was really fun reading yo...

2010-01-21T09:42:42.868+08:00

Hey Mike, let me say, it was really fun reading your blog.

I agree Gen-Yers have a sort of generational schizophrenia, I owe this to the many transitional events that have taken place during our "comings-of-age". We've witnessed the digital revolution, the Fukuyamaist multicultural imperialism of yester-millenium's West and defeat after 9/11, as well as the ongoing financial crises.

The fact that a lot of these events occurred neither in the spring or twilight of our lives gives us unique perspective, an ability to both give a shit (old people don't give a shit) and the ability to not buy into most of the horse hockey that gets carted around as truth and happiness these days (you can pretty much convince a young person of anything as long as there's a free iPod in it)

I disagree however with the idea that Science has removed the mystery in this world- technology has enabled opposing ideas to clash at such speed, I believe that truth and science is more ambiguous than it has ever been. Economics was once a science, the secret mathematics of stochastic processes and chaotic randomness that through it s cabal of tie wearing academics translated theory into food, clothing and shelter, now I feel, it is clear that the map is not the ground; without going into too much postmodern drivel, the truth is more complex than we ever thought it to be.

Secondly, Gen-Yers were promised so much. So much more than any generation, even the 90s babies. As I have said before, we were promised a world of peace and stability, the arbitration of international conflict seated firmly in a coalition of countries, instead we found terrorism, bombs, irreconcilable fundamentalism and fear, we were promised greater prosperity, instead we found greed, ignorance, and houses of cards-

Worth pointing out that some of the stuff that eva...

2010-01-20T18:07:29.210+08:00

Worth pointing out that some of the stuff that evangelists believe actually sin't in the Bible. Homosexuality barely comes up. If it was that important, surely Jesus would have mentioned it, if not banged on about it at length. He didn't. He clearly didn't care, so why should we?

The Bible itself is a very curious document. When I find myself arguing religion with evangelical fucktards, I often find that they quote bits at me. But they only quote the bits they've read. They haven't even read all of the stuff they claim to believe as infallible truth! I have read the whole thing. Cover to cover. And it's quite seriously fucked up in parts, deeply weird, and self-contradictary. If I were an infallible being, I'd write a better book. In fact, I'm not an infallible being, and I could write a better book.

Now, I'm a physicist. I only make claims I can back up (apart from the one about my penis, but i digress...) with real, tangible, repeatable evidence. And if it's shown to be wrong, I change my mind. Meanwhile they cherry-pick the bits they like out of a Bronze Age text. And wonder why I look at them with a mixture of pity and disgust.

Excellent stuff, Lamby. Very nicely put. And you&#...

2010-01-20T17:56:46.506+08:00

Excellent stuff, Lamby. Very nicely put. And you've just written my next PSHE lesson for me...

Extrapolating your train of thoughts, it makes gen...

2010-01-20T16:49:50.752+08:00

Extrapolating your train of thoughts, it makes generation z the one you will deal with once all the retarded old folks are gone.. Perhaps after gen z there will be a new gen alpha, provided this world remains habitable and not depleted of all its natural resources. Nice thought-provoking read by the way!

Nice post. Down with Beijing's tyrannical rule...

2010-01-19T12:54:33.102+08:00

Nice post. Down with Beijing's tyrannical rule. Forcing rail links on us like we're Tibetan!

Hong Kong is essentially owned and managed by abou...

2009-12-29T18:08:18.713+08:00

Hong Kong is essentially owned and managed by about six companies. Almost every major consumer presence in HK that you can think of can be traced back to these companies - from mobile phones to utilities to 7-11. That's why there's no true competition in Hong Kong - the real estate companies collude to keep outsiders from getting in.

I'm too lazy to deal with complaining to NOW about the subs, should do it though.

You can check the hboasia.com web site - there's a "contact us" link there. Don't know if it will do any good but let us know if you get a response!

Spike, funny how all these companies run in the f...

2009-12-29T17:58:49.515+08:00

Spike,

funny how all these companies run in the family eh?

Guess i'll need to write an angry rant to HBO then... Much easier than changing the subscription by dealing with the PPCW/NOW "Customer Service" people!

Have you managed to sort the subtitle issue out?

Well, you can blame PCCW for how misleading market...

2009-12-29T17:53:52.307+08:00

Well, you can blame PCCW for how misleading marketing but the miserable selection of movies is up to HBO, not NOW.

On the other hand, the subtitle thing is purely PCCW's fault and bugs the fuck out of me. We watch Asian Food Channel a lot. It's bad enough that they don't put English subs on programs in other languages for this primarily-in-English channel. And then every hour there's an ad by AFC saying that all programs have subs in xxx languages and if you're not getting them, contact your cable operator.

Also worth noting - Hong Kong Electric majority owner is Li Ka-Shing and his son Victor Li sits on the board of directors. Richard Li, another son of Li Ka-Shing, is the majority owner of PCCW.

Yeah I was really disappointed when I first found ...

2009-06-04T15:30:40.111+08:00

Yeah I was really disappointed when I first found out that they would be reverting back to the Apollo design, it seems like a cop out. They may as well have saved the billions in the re-design and just licenced the Soyuz instead.

Interesting article in the Times over the weekend ...

2008-09-16T15:48:00.000+08:00

Interesting article in the Times over the weekend saying that Georgia is probably a CIA-managed crisis, with the goal of boosting the security credentials of McCain.

Presumably if/when he comes to power.

I know, but for some reason i just couldn't do tha...

2008-08-13T09:15:00.000+08:00

I know, but for some reason i just couldn't do that to myself... the coverage on Al Jazeera wasn't ha;f bad though - its well on its way to becoming my favorite news source....