China Charlie

A weekly column about living in Dongguan, for those new to Dongguan, new to China, or anyone that likes a good story.  Written by an expat  who first came to Dongguan in 1987,  hopefully this series of articles will be both entertaining and informative.

Archives:

Welcome to China Charlie

Dongguan Driving Challenges

Fun With Air Travel in China

Vertical Speed Bumps

Language and Culture

Mobile Phones and Other Stuff

Karen Carpenter, Kenny G and the Chinese Water Torture… . .

Dan Gerous, where are you when we need  you?

Life in hotels in the “old days”, a “Moon Shot”, and the saga of the pink panties….

Was There Life After M*A*S*H

Camaraderie of Dong Guan in the “old days”.. . . 

Who's on First, China Style

Life at the Ramada/Guangzhou, Resting trucks, Dynamite, and other stuff

Is Dongguan becoming too civilized?

 Roadside Word Games, China Style

Thoughts on American Thanksgiving

The Traffic Food Chain

Hong Kong Sleigh Ride

Those Nuisance Messages

Will the Grinch Steal Christmas?

New Year's Recap

You're Probably in China If..

Chain Reactions for Most Situations

The news media, a hole to China, and Clark Kent where are you …. . . .  .

Those folks that know me personally, know that I have a real ongoing problem with the kind of stories that most of the news media report today. It seems to me as though the news people focus on suffering (real or staged), the negative aspects of life, and crime too heavily.

I realize that people need to be informed, but in some cases I suspect that the current news coverage actually tends to encourage street demonstrations, and “copy cat” crimes.

O.K, so I’ve got that “off my chest”.

While in general I feel that most of the International News coverage is “slanted” toward the negative side, occasionally I see a news story that in my opinion is actually interesting and at least semi positive.

A case in point is a network news show from the U.S. that honors a different person (or group of people) each week for doing something positive for someone else (for a community, for a group, personal, etc.). Actually, it shows some of the better people in the world.

Then there are the “human interest” features.

Recently, there was a story that focused on something that most of us that grew up in North America “learned” as children. That was, that if you could dig a hole straight through the center of the earth, you’d surface in China. According to this news story, with the exception of a couple of remote locations in the U.S. State of Colorado, digging straight down from North America, you would break the earth’s surface under the Pacific Ocean east of Australia and south of the Marianna Islands (the two locations in Colorado, would put you on a couple of volcanic islands). To dig through to China (the Shanghai area), you’d have to start digging your hole a little north of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The chances of digging a hole through the center of the earth are very remote, but there you have it.

Another news item was on the home page of one of the more popular “search engines” recently that sounded like something from DC Comics, or a recent movie that made a “heap” when it opened.

It seems that not too long ago, scientists found a 150+ pound meteorite in a Kansas Wheatfield.

Now, before anyone starts running checks on the whereabouts of, or puts out any all points bulletins on Louis Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, or the rest of the Daily Planet crew, this meteorite is estimated to have impacted the earth about 10,000 years ago.

While the “lead” on this story (“Meteorite found in Kansas Wheatfield”) stirred images of a guy in a blue spandex suit with a cape and big red “S” on it flying around righting the wrongs of the world, and visions of “Kryptonite” in the hands of the “Joker” or other evildoers, it actually was about the successful use of a new Ground Penetrating Radar.

Even the T.V Series “Smallville” couldn’t stretch the time frame enough for this to have been Superman’s intergalactic baby carriage. So much for imagination.

One interesting point in the story is that this “meteor field” is owned by an earthling with the family name of Binford. Remember who Tim Allen’s “Tool Time” sponsor in the T.V Series “Home Improvement” was?

Now, let’s see. I have my shovel, chop sticks, and plane tickets for Buenos Aires.

 Maybe a quicker way to get to the “Bund” in Shanghai would be to take a bus… . .  .

“Y’all have a rice week now”