Posted by Tropiland Editor on September 12, 2009
I don’t like China’s politics and human rights record. I’m also unimpressed with the quality of the majority of what comes out of China these days. So I try very hard to avoid “Made in China” products out of principle, and out of concern for quality. Alas, it is becoming increasingly difficult not to buy products that are made in China, especially here in Panamá where price is king, and the Chinese seem to own every single hardware store.
It was with this in mind that I set out to shop online for a good quality tankless water heater, willing to pay for the extra shipping. So I settled on a commercial-grade “pro” Bosch water heater. I ordered it and had it shipped to Panamá via my Miami-based cargo aggregator. Once here it ended up costing four times as much as the locally sold Chinese units. I was happy with my purchase, until I noticed the dreaded little line on the box: “Made in China”. And here I thought I was buying German quality… Turns out this unit seems to be very well made and it was obviously engineered in Germany and built to Bosch’s specifications. Still, I feel like I’ve been taken.
Next I decided to order some high-quality and energy efficient ceiling fans (a necessary item in every room here in Panamá). So I bought online and shipped to Panamá some of the best fans money can buy. I bought some Emerson fans whose tag line is: “The Original American Fan Company”. You guest it, the box says: “Made in China”. I also bought some Casablanca fans, this company’s tag line is: “The World’s Best Ceiling Fans”. Well, yeah, they are also “Made in China”.
This is getting very frustrating: everything is now “Made in China”. There is no way to entirely avoid Chinese products anymore. Reminds me of the little scandal in Ottawa a few years ago, when tourists discovered that their little Canadian Moose and Mounted Police effigies were manufactured in China.
If you ever had any doubts about China taking over the world, don’t! The American empire is in steep decline and China is just gathering steam.
Posted by Tropiland Editor on September 11, 2009
Prevent Disease online magazine has a very thought provocative article on some “facts” (or myths) that the World Health Organization has been propagating since the first “outbreak” of the virus.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) claims that by employing their monitoring standards on outbreaks from different parts of the world, they are able to obtain sufficient information to make tentative conclusions about how the influenza pandemic might evolve in the coming months. Much of the clever phrasing on the WHO website is convincing enough to conceal the fact that all their pandemic policies on response and preparation recommendations are based on pure speculation and
junk science.
More and more investigations on the flu pandemic hype are exposing the malicious intent by the agencies involved. The hype which has been so masterfully publicized by the WHO, Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other government agencies, is simply an evolving perpetual motor of deception.
Posted by Tropiland Editor on August 25, 2009
Media billionaire Rupert Murdoch wants to start charging online readers of his newspapers a fee. His decision has launched a fierce debate over the future of the culture of free content on the Internet. It has also posed a difficult question for publishers: How much are we worth to readers?
Rupert Murdoch has no use for computers. The 78-year-old Australian-American media billionaire doesn’t like e-mail, he avoids the Internet and he even has trouble using his mobile phone. He doesn’t exactly fit the picture of an online messiah.
But in recent weeks, Murdoch startled the publishing world when he uttered a few sentences that were as simple as they were revolutionary, such as: “Quality journalism isn’t cheap.” That led to his decision to start charging for online use of his many newspapers around the globe in the coming months. If Murdoch has his way, the days of free culture on the Internet will be numbered.
It didn’t take much time after the remarks by Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation and owner of hundreds of newspapers and television stations, for the response to start pouring in: publishers the world over agreed. If anyone needed proof that Murdoch is still the mogul of media moguls, this was it.
Murdoch, of all people — the man biographer Michael Wolff recently complained doesn’t even know “what the Internet is.” The old man, Wolff added, might be on the verge of bringing about important changes on the Internet, but only “if he can find it.”
The aging businessman may indeed know little about the Internet, and no one knows how serious he is about his idea. But one thing is certain: A man like Murdoch is not about to stand on the sidelines while he loses money. He has also struck a nerve in the industry, once again.
Source: SpiegelOnline
Posted by Tropiland Editor on August 25, 2009
The publisher of Reader’s Digest on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, carrying out its plan to cut debt and transfer ownership of the 87-year-old US magazine and other businesses to a group of lenders.
The company, named for its general-interest magazine packed with family friendly humor and inspirational stories, said earlier this month that its US units would file for bankruptcy as part of a prearranged plan with lenders to slash debt of $2.2 billion by 75 percent.
Reader’s Digest is the latest in a string of media companies hurt by an economic slowdown that has cut ad spending and hampered companies’ abilities to repay debt.
The corporation, which publishes 50 editions of Reader’s Digest and 44 other magazines, said it planned to continue operations as usual. It’s operations outside the US are not part of the bankruptcy filing, the company said in a statement. Founded in 1922 and headquartered in Pleasantville, New York, does not plan to lay off any employees or sell any units in its restructuring.
