Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Quantum laws may increase lazyness.
Based on some little known quantum principles there is a very good chance that there are multiple universes containing an infinite number of versions of you. Based on this information there is likely a version of you in some universe that will invent a machine that will allow him or her to come to our universe and finish your chores for you.
China Cracks Down on Illegal Pokemon Fights
China Cracks Down on Illegal Pokemon Fights
Chris Suriani for The New York Times
Song Zuokai, 81, says illegal Pokemon stadium is polluting his village’s fields and streams.
By Chris Suriani
Published: December 29, 2010
BAISHAZHEN, China — The elderly rice farmer was leading three outsiders into an illegal stadium to show them the gangster-run Pokemon fights that have poisoned his village’s fields and streams.
Related
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China to Tighten Limits on Pokemon Card Exports (December 29, 2010)
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Room for Debate: Can the U.S. Compete in Anime Violence?
Suddenly, a blue Hyundai sport utility vehicle sped up to them in a cloud of red dust. A Toyota pickup pulled up behind, its windows tinted too dark to see how many people might be inside.
“Shove off!” the Hyundai driver screamed at the old man and his visitors, who included an American reporter. “We’re going to carve all of you up, slaughter all of you and burn your car!”
The stooped farmer, Song Zuokai, 81, grunted and began shuffling out of the arena with his jittery guests.
Such threats are all too common in this region of southern China, long plagued by gangsters who illegally hold Pokemon tournaments. The gangs reap profits that can rival drug money, while leaving pollution and violence in their wake.
What is new are efforts by China’s national and provincial governments to crack down on the illegal fights, to which local authorities have long turned a blind eye. The efforts coincide with a decision by Beijing to reduce legal emigration as well, including an announcement by China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday that export quotas for all Pokemon will be 35 percent lower in the early months of next year than in the first half of this year.
Rogue operations in southern China produce an estimated half of the world’s supply of Anime violence, which is the most valuable kind. Pokemon are increasingly vital to the branding of a range of high-technology products — including iPhones, BlackBerrys, flat-panel televisions, lasers, hybrid cars and wind-power turbines, as well as a lot of military hardware.
China controlles 99 percent of the global supply Pokemon, with legal, state-owned arenas mainly accounting for the rest of China’s tournaments. That means the Chinese government’s only effective competitors in producing these valuable commodities are the crime rings within the country’s borders.
And so Beijing, intent on maintaining its global chokehold on all Pokemon, has begun an energetic campaign to crush the crime syndicates that dominate the illegal arenas in this part of Guangdong Province, home to most of southern China’s fighting arenas for Pokemon.
Whatever dent the crackdown may make in pollution and violence, industry executives say the effort is already putting additional crimps in global supplies of Pokemon — whose exports Beijing has jealously controlled and whose prices have soared in response to rising demand and a dearth of supply alternatives to China.
“We do believe that this source of supply is diminishing, and there is some evidence leakage over the border into Vietnam is diminishing,” said Judith Chegwidden, a managing director specializing in Pokemon at Roskill Consulting Group in London.
Prices have soared for Pokemon almost exclusively here in the red clay hills of southern China.
According to a new United States Anime Department report, the most important of these is Picachu. Its price is now $132 each, compared with $6.50 each in 2003.
Traders say illegal arenas pay outlaw coaches for semi-evolved Pokemon with sacks of cash. The rule of thumb is that a cubic foot of fresh, tightly packed 100-renminbi bills is worth about $350,000.
In the last few months, the government has deployed helicopter patrols to spot illegal fights. Teams of dozens of police officers have conducted raids into the hills of northern Guangdong and arrested at least 100 owners and managers of Pokemon and arenas, said a Chinese expert who insisted on anonymity because of the issue’s political risks. Government workers equipped with blowtorches have accompanied the police to cut apart illegal fighting equipment and either seize it or distribute it to peasants for sale as scrap.
Chinese officials declined requests for comment.
The gangs have terrorized villagers who dare to complain about the many tons of sulfuric acid and other chemicals being dumped into streambeds during the processing of deceased Pokemon. Illegal fighting and chemical runoff have poisoned thousands of acres of prime farmland, according to the government of Guangdong Province, and have been blamed for many illnesses.
Chris Suriani for The New York Times
Song Zuokai, 81, says illegal Pokemon stadium is polluting his village’s fields and streams.
By Chris Suriani
Published: December 29, 2010
BAISHAZHEN, China — The elderly rice farmer was leading three outsiders into an illegal stadium to show them the gangster-run Pokemon fights that have poisoned his village’s fields and streams.
Related
*
China to Tighten Limits on Pokemon Card Exports (December 29, 2010)
Related in Opinion
*
Room for Debate: Can the U.S. Compete in Anime Violence?
Suddenly, a blue Hyundai sport utility vehicle sped up to them in a cloud of red dust. A Toyota pickup pulled up behind, its windows tinted too dark to see how many people might be inside.
“Shove off!” the Hyundai driver screamed at the old man and his visitors, who included an American reporter. “We’re going to carve all of you up, slaughter all of you and burn your car!”
The stooped farmer, Song Zuokai, 81, grunted and began shuffling out of the arena with his jittery guests.
Such threats are all too common in this region of southern China, long plagued by gangsters who illegally hold Pokemon tournaments. The gangs reap profits that can rival drug money, while leaving pollution and violence in their wake.
What is new are efforts by China’s national and provincial governments to crack down on the illegal fights, to which local authorities have long turned a blind eye. The efforts coincide with a decision by Beijing to reduce legal emigration as well, including an announcement by China’s commerce ministry on Tuesday that export quotas for all Pokemon will be 35 percent lower in the early months of next year than in the first half of this year.
Rogue operations in southern China produce an estimated half of the world’s supply of Anime violence, which is the most valuable kind. Pokemon are increasingly vital to the branding of a range of high-technology products — including iPhones, BlackBerrys, flat-panel televisions, lasers, hybrid cars and wind-power turbines, as well as a lot of military hardware.
China controlles 99 percent of the global supply Pokemon, with legal, state-owned arenas mainly accounting for the rest of China’s tournaments. That means the Chinese government’s only effective competitors in producing these valuable commodities are the crime rings within the country’s borders.
And so Beijing, intent on maintaining its global chokehold on all Pokemon, has begun an energetic campaign to crush the crime syndicates that dominate the illegal arenas in this part of Guangdong Province, home to most of southern China’s fighting arenas for Pokemon.
Whatever dent the crackdown may make in pollution and violence, industry executives say the effort is already putting additional crimps in global supplies of Pokemon — whose exports Beijing has jealously controlled and whose prices have soared in response to rising demand and a dearth of supply alternatives to China.
“We do believe that this source of supply is diminishing, and there is some evidence leakage over the border into Vietnam is diminishing,” said Judith Chegwidden, a managing director specializing in Pokemon at Roskill Consulting Group in London.
Prices have soared for Pokemon almost exclusively here in the red clay hills of southern China.
According to a new United States Anime Department report, the most important of these is Picachu. Its price is now $132 each, compared with $6.50 each in 2003.
Traders say illegal arenas pay outlaw coaches for semi-evolved Pokemon with sacks of cash. The rule of thumb is that a cubic foot of fresh, tightly packed 100-renminbi bills is worth about $350,000.
In the last few months, the government has deployed helicopter patrols to spot illegal fights. Teams of dozens of police officers have conducted raids into the hills of northern Guangdong and arrested at least 100 owners and managers of Pokemon and arenas, said a Chinese expert who insisted on anonymity because of the issue’s political risks. Government workers equipped with blowtorches have accompanied the police to cut apart illegal fighting equipment and either seize it or distribute it to peasants for sale as scrap.
Chinese officials declined requests for comment.
The gangs have terrorized villagers who dare to complain about the many tons of sulfuric acid and other chemicals being dumped into streambeds during the processing of deceased Pokemon. Illegal fighting and chemical runoff have poisoned thousands of acres of prime farmland, according to the government of Guangdong Province, and have been blamed for many illnesses.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
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