In my e-mail inbox today (along with LOADS of returned mail from my server because arsehole spammers are spoofing my domain name):

Please forgive the intrusion.

Nguyen Tuong Van is to die this Friday. We must convince as many governments as possible to terminate diplomatic relations with Singapore if Van is executed. This may force Singapore to reconsider its actions.

First, thank you for taking time to sign a petition to grant Van clemency. We now ask that you take another action to save his life.

Nearly 40 contact addresses of World Leaders and Foreign Ministers have been collected. The recipients have influence over their country’s diplomatic relationship with Singapore. Please send them an e-mail, asking that all diplomatic relations with Singapore be terminated if Van is hanged.

His letter to world leaders can be found online.

Shouldn’t he then also agitate for suspension of diplomatic relations with Indonesia and Malaysia, since they also advocate the death penalty for drug smugglers? Why is this case special? Is it because he’s 25, is it because he’s Australian, is it because he was only in transit through Singapore when he was caught?

I don’t have to agree with the application of the death penalty in this case, but you have to admit that he was pretty fucking stupid to take the drugs through Singapore when its stance towards drug trafficking isn’t exactly ambiguous. If leaders of other nations took a stand against Singapore because of this moral problem, one wonders if they then shouldn’t suspend diplomatic and trade relations with other countries that are somewhat… blurry in the application of justice and fairness.

Why is Singapore being singled out? Is it because it can be used as an example with minimal political damage to its trading partners in the West? If Nguyen Tuong Van wanted to live, he shouldn’t have agreed to courier the drugs via Singapore. He was an idiot. He’s going to pay disproportionately for being an idiot, and it’s right for people to be upset, but the law is the law — it wasn’t harsher, nor did it only apply to him.

If it was my relative or friend who was about to be executed, yes, I’d be sad, I’d wish it were different, hell, I might even protest, but every time I read about a drug trafficker being caught in Singapore, my automatic reaction is, How can you be so fucking dense, thinking you’ll get away with it in Singapore?

(I’ve written about this many times before, and my views are probably pretty damn obvious, but it riles me up every time someone thinks just because the victim (prisoner?) is [insert mitigating circumstances here], they deserve special treatment above and beyond the clearly laid down laws. World leaders aren’t going to let their country’s commercial and diplomatic interests change because of one person who broke the laws in another country, and who will now suffer the consequences. Unless it’s the leader’s own offspring, I suppose.)

Thanks to Terry, I now know that there is a porn DVD for sale that stars probing Daleks and women who have really, really bad fake boobs.

(Confession: I’ve never seen Dr Who, well, maybe part of an episode once, many years ago.)

I snapped this photo along Hexiang Xilu — Uighur men were flogging furs on a, er, freelance basis outside McDonalds. I did my best to work out what it was they were selling, but the best I can come up with is some kind of ferret-like creature (long pelts as neckwarmers?) and feral cats (possibly an asiatic wildcat on the left?).

I personally do not have a big problem with the fur industry, as long as the animals are treated humanely (and killed as painlessly as possible). The thing that gets me most about how people treat animals is the cruelty, as if beings that are different do not feel pain. I don’t own any fur myself, but I stomp around in leather Doc Martens, so I’m not about to get all PETA on fur-wearers — but if anyone chooses to farm animals for their skins, they had better make damn sure the animals are treated kindly while they are alive, and not to waste what is left after they have been skinned.

And now we hear an allegation of 300 bird flu deaths in China, where seven cases were caused by human-to-human transmission:

But Masato Tashiro, head of virology at Tokyo’s National Institute of Infectious Disease – a WHO-collaborating centre for bird flu – told the meeting of virologists in Marburg, Germany, on 19 November that “we have been systematically deceived”. His comments were reported in the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

He told the stunned meeting, called to mark the retirement of a senior German virologist, that there have been “several dozen” outbreaks in people, 300 confirmed deaths and 3000 people placed in isolation with suspected cases.

Seeing what happened with SARS doesn’t, sadly, make this completely implausible.

“These rumours have been investigated, and we’ve been told by the Chinese Ministry of Health that there’s no foundation to them,” Dick Thompson, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, told New Scientist.

Once again, SARS! We were systematically deceived only 2.5 years ago!! Has the WHO not learned that China has not learned??!!

Virologists consider the relative absence of human cases of bird flu in China unusual, given its widespread infection in birds. China has reported poultry outbreaks in twenty counties all across the country since mid-October, the latest being on Thursday.

AAAAUUUUGGGHHHH!!!!! We are, like, totally doomed.

Update: a comment from Will worth promoting to the front page — a post on ESWN tackling the story with a little more research: The Masato Tashiro Statement.

Via Terry, here’s news of the Vatican policy on homosexuality in its priests: they can join the priesthood if they “have clearly overcome homosexual tendencies for at least three years”, but those who are “practicing homosexuals and those with “deep-seated” gay tendencies and those who support a gay culture should be barred”. So basically, if you’re a sexual predator and sociopath whose life is fulfilled by deception and violence against other people, or if you’re willing to completely repress who you are, you’re okay by the Pope. If you’re gay and embrace who you are, and live a religious and celibate life, you’re not welcome.

Not exactly an earth-shattering revelation that the conservative Catholic Church is incredibly short-sighted and uses a band-aid to cover a gunshot wound. Infuriating, nonetheless.

My uncle is a top bloke. He splits his time between Singapore and Glasgow (his grandkids live there), and I was wondering why he’d not responded to my text messages for a few days. Turns out he was in Pakistan, as part of a volunteer medical team for Pakistan Quake Relief TRAC Team II. His patients must have thought he was a complete weirdo — “Here, let me take a photo of your tongue / tonsils!”

Heh.

… what in the world possessed the producers of Star Trek: Enterprise to change the backing music of the theme, so that Russell Watson went from singing a song that was somewhat grand and hopeful to warbling a peppy country and western tune? Bloody hell, I love the man’s voice, but the backing track makes me want to spew.

After pledging openness about SARS to prevent another mass outbreak a couple of years ago, Beijing is now pledging renewed openness about H5N1 infections:

Bird flu outbreaks have to be reported to the State Council, or cabinet, within four hours of being discovered by regional governments, and fines of up to 5,000 yuan ($620) can be levied for obstructing prevention work or refusing to comply.

Expect more candid reports and discussions of politically-sensitive topics as the Chinese government opens up.

(I jest, of course.)

And in the ‘No shit, Sherlock’ category, Sian Griffiths, director of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health at the Chinese University, dispenses common sense advice to those panicking and stockpiling Tamiflu: cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze, and remember to wash your hands thoroughly. It’s called hygiene, people.

Finally got off my lazy arse and cycled to the gym yesterday morning, put my legs and lungs through a bit of a workout on the treadmill, felt some small-scale wanderlust, and decided to locate Zhonghua Pianqu (中华片区), an old neighbourhood that is slated for demolition and redevelopment.

The neighbourhood is pretty old and a lot of the buildings are really beyond hope (i.e. the redevelopment, in principle, is a good thing), but does Xiamen really need another mall or overpriced condo development downtown?

L-R: Vivian, Angela, Andrea. Over 18 months ago, the three of us launched What’s On Xiamen. A lot has happened since then, and here we are, photographed for posterity on 16 November 2005 at The House. I’m the only one still involved in the magazine (i.e. work for no pay, that’s the price for being stubborn, I suppose), and I still look like a little boy. Jesus H. Christ.

Shanghaiist asks, Why in the world would Chinese cities ban electric bikes? We all know that China is far more friendly to cars than bikes these days. The good thing is most motorists (most of whom barely have any driving skills, by the way, but that’s a rant for another day) are aware of cyclists. China may be a city Chinese cities may be known for bicycles, but it is staggering how few of these cyclists actually know how to go in a straight line, follow traffic rules, watch where they’re going, take care to pay attention to their surroundings, and be sensible road users in general.

Those on (silent) electric bikes are exactly the same, they just do it without pedalling and go much faster. There is nothing worse than someone who is out of control on a push bike — except for someone who is out of control on an electric one. Electric bikes are dangerous between the legs of these people. Therefore, they should be banned.

Looks like China needs a happy, peppy, and kinda scary Speak Mandarin Campaign of their own.

A Chinese government official has confirmed that a boy in Hunan province has tested positive for antibodies to bird flu, but there are no details on which strain was identified.

Aigo and Tencent are partnering to sell the QQ Peng Peng Ji, an MP3 player that sends the owner’s profile to other QQ Peng Peng Ji players within a radius of 20 metres. I can spot the DOM setting his profile as ‘hot young lady looking for casual friendships and experiences’.

In an editorial in the International Herald Tribune, Philip Bowring opines on what he sees as exploitation of foreign workers. I thought this statement was interesting:

Maids are allowed only from specified Asian countries, with the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka heading the list. Chinese are not on the list, which leads some to allege that only “brown people” or those from non-Confucian societies are to be employed in this most menial job.

IMHO, Mainland Chinese are not on the list because it is the common (mis)perception among Singaporeans that all PRC women come to Singapore to snag local men, married or not. Come to think, there is a law forbidding foreign maids from marrying Singaporeans (they have their work permits terminated, are repatriated, will never, ever get another visa to enter Singapore).

Anyway. I was born and raised in a, I suppose you would call it an upper middle class family. We’ve always had a maid. I’ve never seen anything wrong with that. I reckon that if you come from a poor country and this is the only way out, it’s not exactly the best option but an option nonetheless. What counts is how your employers treat you.

It’s an employer-employee relationship, not a master-indentured servant relationship. Both the employer and employee have rights and obligations.

An employee is entitled to clearly-delineated working hours and days off, their duties are to be outlined in detail and contracts signed. As they are resident in their employer’s home, I believe they have a responsibility to conduct themselves accordingly. I know of one maid who, when they had time to themselves, borrowed their (female) employer’s clothes to go out and solicit. One of my mum’s maids stole her jewellery and fled the country. Clearly not on.

The employer has an obligation to treat the employee as they would any other employee: with respect. If the employee does not work out, they should be free to terminate the employment and the employee seeks work elsewhere. The current situation where the employer pays for all sorts of things may be too inflexible. It may be because the government doesn’t want a large influx of foreign maids coming in and out too freely.

(The pay situation is ridiculously low. Perhaps it’s to discourage job hopping, but I think it encourages the less moral of those to turn to other forms of revenue generation. I don’t know why they are excluded from the Employment Act, perhaps it’s so they are not regarded as employees, which is just plain wrong.)

Perhaps the solution is to treat the hiring of domestic maids similarly to hiring anyone else for a job. Interviews, background checks, maybe some testing. Pay levels would be commensurate with experience and good testimonials from previous employers. As with any job, it’s not a foolproof method of finding a great employee, but it’s not stopped our corporate world.

I think it would prevent those who are just looking for a slave, too, because it involves a contract with legal remedies in the case of breach, thus giving some real rights to the maids. I can understand the argument that the Singapore government wants to cover the lowest common denominator, worst-case scenario when it comes to a foreign worker’s motives and whatnot, but what about the employers? Shouldn’t we be trying to cover that lowest common denominator, too?

In other porn-related news, there’s a report in MSNBC looking at the potential of porn on portable video devices, namely the new video iPod. This is one of those things I don’t really get, but I suppose if you’re a teenager trying to sneakily watch porn in your bedroom, downloading video to your portable player is the way to go. It doesn’t quite match the illicit excitement of sneaking Penthouses out of a locked cupboard and hiding them before your parents go out for dinner so you can read the naked chick comics while they’re out, though.

Terry, on the other hand, wants the world to know about the iBuzz, the world’s first iPod vibrator. If you had multiple iPods and multiple iBuzzes you could… never mind.

Via TuTu comes news of a tragic accident — a bloke took his leftovers out to feed the dog, fell over and cut his throat on the broken crockery, thus bleeding to death.