Grand Fromage posted:

Yes, it is incomprehensible to me. I can intellectually follow how countries build up their disputes as political bugbears, but I cannot comprehend on any personal level how broken you would have to be to give a gently caress about a border dispute. The US has border disputes and there is literally nothing anyone could ever do to make me give the world's tiniest poo poo about them.

Top Hats Monthly posted:

I saw the same Chinese tour group dump at least one garbage bag full of trash on the ground in Södermalm and Gamla Stan in Stockholm. How do you generate that much trash

evil_bunnY posted:

Do you not hand it back to them? I did that to an English tourist who tossed a can in the street and the look on his face was a sight to behold.

evil_bunnY posted:

Do you not hand it back to them? I did that to an English tourist who tossed a can in the street and the look on his face was a sight to behold.

Steakandchips posted:

Beautiful. Where was this? What did he say?

Top Hats Monthly posted:

I was too far away in Södermalm and most of the trash got tossed over the bridge in Gamla Stan.

evil_bunnY posted:

Do you not hand it back to them? I did that to an English tourist who tossed a can in the street and the look on his face was a sight to behold.

tote up a bags posted:

Dokdo (or Takeshima, as the Japanese call it) like all islands, belongs to China, here is a map we just found that is one year older than the oldest counter claim that shows the island DEFINITELY NOT EDITED IN BALLPOINT PEN.

Steakandchips posted:

Beautiful. Where was this? What did he say?

Outrail posted:

English, so equal chance mumble something and put it in a bin, loudly complain about how rude the local are or rip off their shirt and start a brawl.

Grand Fromage posted:

I love the nine dash line because A) it's incomprehensible to me how average people can actually care about a border dispute and B) it's such an incredibly brazen territory grab. So many border disputes are disputes about a border but that one is literally just "lol yeah we're just going to violate all international standards by taking this entire sea just because we're giant assholes "

Outrail posted:

Vietnam, Indonesia, Laos, Taiwan, the rest of South East Asia, Australia, Iceland, Mongolia, Lichtenstein etc should release their own TEN-dash line that traces right along the Chinese coastline claiming ten thousand years of sovereign ownership.

quote:

A Chinese double amputee has become the first person without legs to climb Mount Everest from the Nepal side. The 69-year-old reached the summit on his fifth attempt to reach the top. Xia Boyu lost both his feet to severe frostbite more than 40 years ago after he gave his sleeping bag to a friend during an unsuccessful climb, and he later lost both his legs to cancer.

quote:

A Chinese airplane was forced to make an emergency landing in the city of Chengdu Monday after a windscreen in its cockpit was ripped out at 32,000ft.

None of the 119 passengers on board were hurt in the incident. However, a co-pilot and crew member suffered minor injuries, the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) Southwest Regional Administration confirmed via its website.

Sichuan Airlines 3U8633 flight left Chongqing on Monday, heading for the Tibetan administrative capital of Lhasa. According to the airline’s Weibo account, Sichuan Airlines claimed the incident was the result of a “mechanical failure,” but no details have been given as to what caused the windshield to break off.

The airline added that it has switched the flight’s passengers to another aircraft to carry on their journey to Lhasa.

According to Shine.cn, a video of the incident showed oxygen masks dropping in the cabin, while a flight attendant can be heard telling passengers to “trust [we can] properly handle the incident.”

Pictures published by government-run Chengdu Economic Daily showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows as well as damage to the cockpit controls. Chinese social media users praised the pilots for landing the flight safely without incurring any passenger injuries.

According to FlightRadar24, the world’s most popular flight tracker, the plane was an Airbus A319.

Sichuan Airlines, a regional airline headquartered in Chengdu, operates mostly domestic flights but also flies internationally to countries such as Japan, Canada and the Czech Republic.

Incidents involving cracked windshields happen on a regular basis due to occurrences such as bird or lightning strikes but ones involving entire windshields coming off are rare.

In 1990, one of the pilots on British Airways Flight 5390 was blown partially out of the cabin window after its windshield blew out at 23,000 feet. He survived the incident, which occurred on a BAC-111 jet.

An engine on a Southwest 737 in April ripped apart during flight and shattered a cabin window, killing a female passenger in the first U.S. airline passenger fatality since 2009. On May 3, another Southwest Airlines flight made an emergency landing after a cabin window pane cracked in flight.

Anidav posted:

It took 2 years for them to notice thier dog was actually a bear

Blistex posted:

10 minutes later I got home and my mother in-law had boiled a $25 pack of beef ribs I was going to throw in the smoker this weekend.

CAPTAIN CAPSLOCK posted:

https://i.imgur.com/rdxogm3.mp4

Gorilla Salad posted:

Who boils ribs?

Who?

quote:

Gap apologizes for selling T-shirt with 'incorrect map' of China

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - U.S. retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N) apologized on Monday for selling a T-shirt which it said had an incorrect map of China, adding it would implement “rigorous reviews” to prevent a repeat mistake.

The apology came after a person posted pictures of the T-shirt on Chinese social media network Weibo, saying that Chinese territories, including south Tibet, the island of Taiwan and the South China Sea, were omitted from the map. The user said the photo of the T-shirt was taken at an outlet store in Canada.

“Gap Inc. respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. We’ve learned that a Gap brand T-shirt sold in some overseas markets failed to reflect the correct map of China. We sincerely apologize for this unintentional error,” it said in a statement posted on its Weibo account on Monday evening.

It added that the products had been pulled from the Chinese market and destroyed.

Gap’s apology comes as China has been ramping up efforts to police language used to describe Chinese-claimed territories such as Taiwan. Other U.S. companies which have issued apologies for similar incidents include Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and Marriott International Inc (MAR.O).

Earlier this month, the White House sharply criticized China’s efforts to force foreign airlines to change how they described Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on their websites as “Orwellian nonsense.”

quote:

Mayor responds to criticism over bull Taiwanese flag issue

ROCKHAMPTON Mayor Margaret Strelow expands further on explaining what happened with regards to a painted flag on a bull statue that has attracted international attention.

The bull statue was one of many offered to local schools to paint as part of Beef Week. Here is Mayor Strelow's statement:

Firstly let me say that Rockhampton welcomes people from every country and encourages them to hold fast to their culture.

But from the moment a Year 11 student painted the Taiwanese flag and the Chinese characters for 'Tai Wan' on a bull sculpture that was to be installed in a public place, our response was inevitably going to be a matter for international comment.

The students had been asked to paint 'what the Rockhampton Region means to them'.

The Chinese vice consul in Brisbane made contact with one of our officers and sent through photos of the fish shaped flag, clearly showing the Chinese characters. ( The Vice Consul is well known to us and she is a regular visitor to Rockhampton. )

Council officers contacted the school to explain that there was a problem. When the school couldn't offer a solution, council staff proceeded to paint over the flag and words.

The Australian Government's agreement with China is that Australia does not recognise Taiwan as a separate country, (hence no flag). The addition of the name 'Tai Wan' across the flag made the matter even more sensitive. We were in a highly charged political minefield.

With the world about to converge on our doorstep, and our most important event only days away, this was no time for an international incident.

There was no easy or 'right' response for us. Council's actions reflect Australian foreign policy. Negotiating international policy is not our normal role.

The way this has played out among the Australian Taiwanese community that is predictable in such highly charged times.

The publicity has been driven by groups outside of Rockhampton.

The first comments that I can see on social media were from a Melbourne woman who works for a migration agency. Her Facebook page also shows a photo of the 'fish flag' when it was only partially complete. She initially posted a question on the high school's Facebook page about the painted over flag.

Her copyrighted photos of the completed bull 'before and after' were quickly distributed to news channels around the world. I have been receiving hate mail for some days now and council has been advised of the prospect of legal action.

Thankfully most local media accepted that council was in a 'no win' situation and there was very little disruption during Beef Australia.

Taiwan is an important trading partner for Australian beef. In fact I hosted both Chinese and Taiwanese delegates at a breakfast during Beef Australia. The pathway that allows Australia to maintain cultural and trade relationships with both China and Taiwan must be very complicated for DFAT to negotiate!

I wasn't personally involved in what happened. That said, while I may have wished I had been briefed, I can't honestly say I would have done anything different. And believe me I've thought about it a lot. Our goal was to ensure that Beef Week was a success without a diplomatic incident. Mission accomplished. Now to manage the fall out!

Fojar38 posted:

Someone posted on reddit a US Army Pocket Guide to China circa 1942

https://imgur.com/a/fGwrBFu

Gorilla Salad posted:

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Have we reached peak butthurt?


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-gap/gap-apologizes-for-selling-t-shirt-with-incorrect-map-of-china-idUSKCN1IG02Y




No we have not:


https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/mayor-responds-to-criticism-over-bull-taiwanese-fl/3413652/

value-brand cereal posted:

I can't stop laughing at Pink Shirt doing the splits Jesus Christ that's a scene from Elf movie

These stairs are protected by the Katamari. Pak Chooie Unf.

Grand Fromage posted:

Yes, it is incomprehensible to me. I can intellectually follow how countries build up their disputes as political bugbears, but I cannot comprehend on any personal level how broken you would have to be to give a gently caress about a border dispute. The US has border disputes and there is literally nothing anyone could ever do to make me give the world's tiniest poo poo about them.

feedmegin posted:

Meanwhile, as a British citizen, while I don't care much myself I can very much see why some people give a poo poo about them.

*sound of IRA bombs intensifies*

Anidav posted:

There is more canine confusion in China.

Just a few days after news broke that a woman found out her puppy bought from a Chinese pet store last year is actually a fox, another pet owner has come to a similar conclusion.

According to The Independent, two years ago, Su Yun, from Kunming in the Yunnan province of China, bought a puppy on vacation, believing it to be a Tibetan Mastiff, and brought the animal home.

From day one, Yun and her family were impressed by their pet’s massive appetite. The “dog” reportedly chowed down on a box of fruit and two buckets of noodles everyday.

But it wasn’t until the pet reached 250 pounds and started walking around on its hind legs that they realized there was a mistake.

This “dog” is actually an Asiatic black bear.

Since the family is slightly (and reasonably) afraid of wild bears and is not capable of caring for one of the large creatures, they have since transferred their former family pet to Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Centre, where it will receive proper care from wildlife professionals.

Gorilla Salad posted:

Like the Falklands.

Turns out, stupid poo poo like that, with an easily identifiable 'enemy', is a great way to get people to ignore problems at home.