China Screws Up

I would not want to be the audio guy in charge of the cutting short of The Star Spangled Banner after Michael Phelps won a gold medal in the swimming. 

Here’s the video:

I wonder how long the audio guy will live. 

Embarrassing China is not a good mistake to make.

Opening Ceremony

They’re calling it a security breach: a Korean reporter manages to slip inside a full dress rehearsal for the upcoming Olympics’ opening ceremony and record it on video.

My first thought: “Brave fucking journalist.” I mean, what do you think the penalty for that is in China? Crucifixion’s too good for him, sir?

As for the ceremony itself…it’ll want something new, something to distinguish itself from all the others. Something uniquely China. I’m thinking tanks, lots of ’em. And Nicki Webster. I’ll leave the details to your imagination.

Spot the difference

Both photos were taken at around the same time on different days. Both were taken from casa de la bingbing. Pollution? No. Well not man-made (for the most part) anyway. Just a bit cloudier? No. The first one was taken on a day when Korea copped a good dose of China’s yellow dust. On the day the second one was taken, the wind had changed direction. Our athletes are really gonna cop it in 11 days.

Click on the photos to do them justice. Today, I can see all the way across the bay. Last Wednesday, I was lucky if I could see half as far.

UPDATE

Apparently it’s just mist.

Anecdotal, but a Chinese official on CNN TV said it was just steam.

Kristie lu Stout said, ‘Steam? Hmmm.’

Yeah fucking right. Oh China, this is gonna be fun.

1st In a new series, Mumblewatch.

The Australian public broadcaster is fairly renowned for its lefty bias, however in recent times it has hit a new low, providing a haven for a particularly vile anti-semite known as “Mulga mumblebrain”.

No accusation is to vile to point at the “evvvil Jooos!!”, and as a result it has been barred from commenting in a number of places. The ABC runs a moderated forum called “unleashed” which provides an open area for articles and commentary from people outside the ABC. All well and good, however its apparent sanction of jewhate by its commenters is beyond the pale. I have reported a couple of the worst ones for moderation, and as they are still present, I can only draw the conclusion that the ABC has no problems with blood libel and anti-semitism.

The worst of these filth is a creature Called Mulga. It is my intention to start a little ‘Mulgawatch” section here with quotes from the ABC forums, a log of comments “reported to moderators” and any responses by the ABC.

I hope El Cid will indulge me in this little vanity project. The following post is extremely long, and only comprises a fraction of comments from this poster. It would be extremely satisfying if a few of us could lodge enough complaints to embarass the ABC into removing such filth from a government funded website. please ad your own “report comment” by visiting the website and picking a couple of favourites.

(Apologies for not commenting much, am starting a new business as well as working, so am as busy as a dingo in a child care centre)

Here is the link to the whole “Unleashed” site. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/

Here is the moderation policy for the site. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/comments.htm

And here is the first link containing the mumble. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2226078.htm#comments

And let us begin our thrilling reading:

A few comments about the Olympic Torch.

I wouldn’t recommend them, honestly, except that I made them. Here.

Contaminated Heparin: Australian TGA issues urgent safety advisory

As an update to my post back on February 18 2008 about adverse reactions and deaths in the USA from cheap, contaminated, counterfeit Heparin ingredients coming out of an unregulated, never-inspected factory in China, I note that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration Agency has now issued an “Urgent Safety Advisory” regarding Heparin here in Australia.

In the US, the heparin was said to have been contaminated by unregulated “consolidators” in China with a less expensive ingredient derived from animal cartilage, [which] isn’t approved in the U.S. for medical use. The contamination in the Australian batches is also reported to have come from China.

From the recent Australian TGA Bulletin: “Initial results of the TGA’s testing … have confirmed the presence of the contaminant identified by the FDA in a heparin product distributed in Australia by Astra Zeneca. It is unclear whether the contamination is related to single batches or affects heparin products more generally.”

The Australian reports:

March 26, 2008 – AUSTRALIA’S medicines regulator has issued an urgent safety warning over the use of some anti-clotting drugs, after tests revealed contamination by the substance suspected of causing hundreds of serious adverse reactions and even deaths in the US.

Drug giant AstraZeneca is expected to ask the Therapeutic Goods Administration today to approve a recall of 100,000 doses of heparinised saline, after the contamination alert was confirmed late last week.

Right now it appears that AstraZeneca is only recalling one specific type at this point, the version mainly injected into IVs, Central Lines, Portacaths and the like to keep them clear.

“The TGA said it was ‘unable to issue advice’ about the use of more processed drugs called low molecular weight heparins, as testing of these was continuing.

“Alex Gallus, professor of haematology at Flinders University, said that if low molecular weight heparins were found to be contaminated also, ‘then we have a real problem, because we have very few alternatives to them at this time’.”

Not to be an alarmist, but I have the feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Australia is not alone – today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Heparin is also being recalled in France, Italy and Denmark. It had already been recalled earlier in the USA and Germany.

Y’all are going to get tired of me saying this, but this is my soapbox and I’ll say it ’till someone listens. Our big pharmaceutical companies have no business sourcing drug ingredients from China until China gets its act together. China is fundamentally incapable of safeguarding the safety and efficacy of the products they make. And I don’t necessarily trust our regulators to pick up on the shoddy drugs and do the right thing in a timely manner when this cr@p does hit our shores. So bear with me here, for the fourth time…

Memo to big Pharmas: Forget this ‘lowest bidder’ shit. Get the f#&k out of China.

• For more details and collections of links on this, see my previous posts here, here and here.

.

Disclaimer: Remember I am in no way, shape or form a medical person, so if any Aussies have questions or concerns please take the advice of Dr Paul Bennett, from the Australian distributor Astra Zeneca, regarding intravenous Heparin products: “We hope that those people will realise that this drug may present a problem … If they would like to go back to their pharmacist or to the doctor then they will get appropriate advice on what to do in this situation.”

Anyone else just see a protester try to attack the Beijing Olympic Commitee president?

A pro-Tibetan guy apparently, according to CNN.

UPDATE

Now, according to CNN, it was a protester from Reporters Without Borders.

UPDATE II

The RSF claim was on the TV, but that seems to have been retracted.

UPDATE III

Nup, it was them.

UPDATE IV

Fuck it. Who cares? RSF are too Left for my liking anyway. Just thought it was cool the Commie copped it, albeit pretty lamely.