Is bird flu making a comeback?

by Josh Lew on

Three chickens in Hong Kong recently tested positive for the bird flu. The sick birds were found on a farm with 60,000 chickens. Actually, the infected birds only tested positive for the H5 virus. Further tests are needed to discern if the deadly N1 strain is present.

Officials are acting quickly. The 60,000 feathered farm residents were destroyed, along with 20,000 others in the area. This will, one hopes, prevent the spread of H5 to other birds in the territory. As a precaution, authorities have imposed a 21-day ban on poultry imports. All farms surrounding the one with the infected birds are considered part of the area.

As scary as it might be to hear that the dreaded virus is still lurking, it is equally encouraging to see a swift response by authorities. Despite the fact that H5N1 hasn’t been in the news lately, health officials, at least in Honkers, have not become complacent.

Sleeping Chinese shares hysterical non-action shots

by Mike Barish on

Everyone has their own idea of what makes the perfect photograph. For some, it’s a city skyline at the magic hour. For others, it’s a field of flowers stretching towards the horizon. And for one German expat living in Shanghai, it’s candid shots of Chinese citizens sleeping in public.

Sleeping Chinese is the brainchild of a German who simply goes by “Bernd.” While in China, he has snapped photos of Chinese people sleeping on benches, rocks, shopping carts and under trucks. The site has gained such popularity and the gallery has grown so large (700+ photos), that Bernd has invited visitors to the site to submit their own photos of “sleeping Chinese.”

I, for one, am all for silly photo projects like this. When you travel, how many shots of building exteriors and famous statues do you need? You can find those types of photos in books, magazines, websites and postcards. The best pictures capture quirky moments in time that no other person could replicate. Those moments are unique to you. And if your moment happens to include a sleeping Chinese citizen, then here’s to you!

Before you go thinking that sleeping in public is only popular in China, rest assured that you can find it just about anywhere. I happened upon these tuckered out Japanese folks at a Mos burger in Tokyo earlier this year.

Tainted pork is not from China. This time a food problem is Ireland’s doing.

by Jamie Rhein on

As the problem with tainted milk from China fades into old news of foods we shouldn’t eat– like White Rabbit milk candy, a new food concern has appeared.

The latest is Irish pork tainted with dioxin. Dioxin, a chemical known to cause cancer and other health problems, ended up in pork in Ireland from contaminated feed. It didn’t end up in all feed in Ireland. Thus, dioxin didn’t end up in all pigs. If you follow that thread, you’ll conclude that the dioxin didn’t end up in all pork either.

It did appear in enough Irish pork to cause alarm. As a result, Irish pork has been pulled from grocery store shelves–not only in Ireland, but in France and Great Britain as well. According to this New York Times article, the pork could be in 20 to 25 countries. If you’re in Ireland in a restaurant and are craving bacon, sausage, a pork meat pie, or anything else like that, there will be no pork for you. Restaurants aren’t serving it either.

The tainted pork problem should be cleared up soon and Irish pork will be back on the shelves. Even if you did eat Irish pork tainted with dioxin, you’d have to eat a lot of it over a long period of time for damage to occur.

Perhaps this latest food recall is more about letting consumers know that there are people in the food industry who are actually paying attention to what happens to what we eat before we put it in our mouths.

Photo of the Day (12.07.08)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

I don’t think this Chinese Terracotta warrior ever expected to become a 21st Century sex symbol. Flickr user troshy seems to be worried about this guy’s popularity though, so he gave him some cool aviator shades. I know nothing about the rules regarding touching or interacting with these statues, but I do really like the contrast – it ends up looking like a 200 B.C. US Weekly photo. Pretty hilarious.

Have any unique travel photos you’d like to share with the world? Why not upload them to the Gadling pool on Flickr? We might just pick one as our Photo of the Day.

Why you’ll still be able to find the new Guns and Roses album in China

by Josh Lew on

Yes, I will put a shamed expression on my face and admit that I felt a bit of excitement when I heard that Guns and Roses was releasing a new album. Come on, I was an awkward, pimple-ridden junior high-schooler when Axl and Slash were still at the top of their game. I thought that they were the shit.

Well, the new album, which was actually made by Axl Rose and a bunch of session musicians, is less than mediocre. But when I heard that Chinese authorities were critisizing it because of its content and about to ban it, I had to laugh. Not because the government was taking a bunch of has-beens so seriously, but because I know that if I walked into a Shenzhen bootleg CD shop right now, I’d have a pretty good chance of finding a copy of the album. The same goes for pirated versions of controversial books and DVDs. I don’t have the official numbers, but I’d wager that over 85% of the music and movies sold in China are bootlegged. So your hip Shanghai record store might not have G&R, but the bootleggers probably will.