Overseas Chinese Web Guide

Honestly, I had my doubts about the Apple iPhone: slow data network speeds, no integrated GPS, and high cost. I tried to hold off until Apple released iPhone 2.0, presumably with a 3G chipset and other goodies, but I surrendered to frustration. And, I blame Google for it all.

Without a doubt, Google revolutionized the Internet. Suddenly, I could find anything on the Internet. Not just standard information like who is the First President of the United States, but really relatively obscure facts like who is the Second Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty. And, the more useful I found Google, the more I used Google until I couldn’t part from Google. I needed to take Google along with me. And, that’s why I had to buy an iPhone. I just experienced too many instances where I encountered a problem while away from my computer where I realized that I could solve my problem in seconds with access to Google or the Internet.

• Dull EDGE. All the iPhone reviews noted that AT&T’s EDGE data network was slow. Unfortunately, the reviewers understated the problem. I could not use EDGE for regular web browsing; e.g., reading the New York Times or visiting other websites. I don’t like waiting in line. I don’t like waiting for pages to load. I don’t like waiting. Period. Safari is fine with Wi-Fi access, but seriously underwhelming on EDGE. Would love to see Lynx on an iPhone.
• Maps. I would certainly welcome faster network speeds, but EDGE is passable for Mail and Maps. Maps has already saved me on one occasion when I was lost in an area for which I did not have a paper map. If you commute at all and forget to check the traffic before you leave your house or place of work, Google Maps shines there as well.
• Google. While every other website features congested layouts and graphics, Google focuses on speed. Google is one web site that I can use even with EDGE. To quickly search another company’s website, I use the site:domain.com modifier on Google. I find that I can get instant results even on EDGE instead of waiting for someone else’s graphic-intensive website to load.
• Notes. Notes is good if you’re not taking a lot of notes. On my MacBook Pro, I take notes using Yojimbo and would welcome an iPhone version. Despite its counterintuitive name, Yojimbo is a fast and easy application that lets me store information and documents with password and tagging options. For example, I have one note where I keep the store hours for all the shops I visit frequently; i.e., Target, Costco, Home Depot, Farmers Market, etc. I look at that page most weekends. Why memorize store hours when all the data is just a few clicks away.
• Killer App. The true killer app on the iPhone for me is Google + Safari. When I’m out at some of the shops mentioned above, I can easily price shop. Oh, Target is selling this for $15? I wonder how much Costco, Crate and Barrel or some other retailer is charging? Now, I have the answer.

Associated Press: China Suspends Some U.S. Meat Imports. China has suspended imports of chicken feet, pig ears and other animal products from seven U.S. companies, including the world’s largest meat processor, in an apparent attempt to turn the tables on American complaints about tainted products from China.

This is great news! You know China is meticulously scrutinizing every shipment of American food products. To their credit, they discovered American meat products contaminated with salmonella, anti-parasite drugs and food additives. This is one instance where when governments play tit-for-tat, the people actually benefit. I hope they continue scrutinizing each other’s food products. It only means safer foods for the rest of us.

I stopped by the Los Altos Art & Wine Festival this morning. Even for those who aren’t big fans of art or wine, the Festival offers many interesting attractions. Of course, most of the booths featured arts and crafts items for sale, including photos, paintings, and assorted handicrafts. Also present were local vendors, such as Whole Foods and Elephant Pharm, offering free food samples and branded tchotchkes. The Festival also had inflated play structures for the kids, food booths with tempting treats, and entertaining music for those who wanted to sit down and just enjoy the sunny morning.

Had lunch at Mike’s Cafe in Palo Alto yesterday. I usually don’t order a salad for lunch (except as a side dish) because I don’t want to be hungry in the middle of the afternoon. But, being in an experimental mood, I tried the Cobb Salad—which I have never ordered before at any restaurant. That experimental!

Anyways, the Cobb Salad featured a bed of fresh, crisp lettuce tossed with dressing. On top were slices of hard-boiled egg, feta cheese, chicken breast, tomatoes and crumbled bacon. I also tasted a hint of anchovies, but I didn’t see them. Maybe they were mixed in with the bacon or I was just imagining these flavors. Despite being just a salad, I found this dish quite filling. It keep me full through the afternnon and well into dinner time.

However, I discovered that I wasn’t a fan of cold chicken breast. I can handle deli-sliced chicken breast, like the kind found in sandwiches, but chunks of cold chicken wasn’t my thing. Also, a few weeks ago, after I bought some Cherokee Purple heirloom tomatoes at the Farmers Market, regular tomatoes have tasted “just regular” since.

Despite my above comments, I still think this was a good, solid, filling salad.

Reuters: China Calls Official’s Execution a Warning Siren. China on Wednesday hailed the swift execution of the nation’s former drug safety chief as a warning to corrupt officials while detailing a web of graft that thrived for years without punishment.

If China’s food and drug safety problem is truly limited to a handful of corrupt officials, then the execution of Zheng Xiaoyu should represent a good first step in a quick clean-up process. However, if the problem is cultural or institutional, then this execution was meaningless and will not solve the larger problem confronting China.

As China has demonstrated, they can try, convict and execute a government official in a matter of months with chilling efficiency. However, rooting out the culture of corruption that pervades all aspects of society will be a more difficult task and not a task that can be resolved in months. It demands checks-and-balances, eternal vigilence, and institutional commitment to audit, probe and investigate corruption at all levels—high and low. And, it cannot be done on the cheap.

China may or may not be aware that it now must play to two different audiences—the domestic and the international. In previous decades, China could afford to act alone domestically without regard to international pressure or perception. However, that is no longer the case now. If you sell to the American consumer, you must act in a manner that doesn’t breach the trust and goodwill you have earned with the American public. Because when circumstances reach the tipping point, all that trust and goodwill can evaporate suddenly. And, China will have to work for years, if not decades, to rebuild that trust.

Earlier this week, I took a stroll down the street and counted cars. I tallied the American cars on one hand, and the foreign cars on another. The final score? 79 to 29. That’s 79 foreign cars to 29 domestic cars. In truth, I was expecting more of a 50-50 ratio instead of the lopsided margin. This told me why the Detroit auto makers are all struggling. If the American public has not forgiven Detroit for its past sins of pumping out poorly manufactured automobiles, what chance does China have?

The American Cancer Society released a report on Cancer Incidence, Mortality, and Associated Risk Factors Among Asians Americans of Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese Ethnicities in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. The report looked at prostate, breast, lung, and colon/rectum cancer among Asian Americans in California.

• “Chinese Americans had among the lowest incidence and death rate from all cancer combined; however, Chinese women had the highest lung cancer death rate (among Asian Americans).”
• “Chinese Americans in California have high rates for colorectal, liver, and lung cancer compared with other Asian ethnic groups.”
• “The high rate of colorectal cancer among Chinese in California contrasts sharply with the low risks in China, and the increase in risk with time since migration implicates behaviors associated with the Western lifestyle.“
• “The incidence and mortality rates … for liver cancer among Chinese men in California … are more than twice as high as in Japanese men ….” In Asia, Hepatitis B virus infection is the main cause of liver cancer, while in America, Hepatitis C, alcoholic cirrhosis, and obesity are more common causes of liver cancer.

Read the Full Report.

Lately, the American mainstream press has focused on China’s poor food and product safety record. However, the open secret is that there’s no secret at all. Before the pet food debacle, these same stories would appear in the newspaper, but be buried in the international news section. Now that American pets have died, these same stories are now front-page news. News is all contextual.

If you have any concerns about food safety, you may want to visit a local farmers market. A recent study on organic food indicates that organic foods may be better for you. Not just in the sense that organic foods do not contain pesticides, but that the level of antioxidants in organic foods is greater than that of conventionally grown foods. The real good news is that at many farmers markets, you will find Asian farmers selling organic Asian vegetables.

New York Times: China Finds Poor Quality on Its Store Shelves. China said on Wednesday that nearly a fifth of the food and consumer products that it checked in a nationwide survey this year were found to be substandard or tainted, underscoring the risk faced by its own consumers even as the country’s exports come under greater scrutiny overseas.

No question. China has been getting pounded by the press as of late for all kinds of safety lapses. Unfortunately, we no longer live in an era where environmental, health and safety problems in China are “their” problems. Because we breathe the same air and use the same manufactured products, “their” problem is “our” problem as well.

So far, our government does not have a solution to this crisis and neither does the Chinese government. While the politicians can pontificate and legislate all they want, ultimately this will boil down to an enforcement issue. How can we “trust but verify” that Made in China products are safe?

The answer will probably come from the private sector. Whichever company can step into the void by offering a solution to test the safety of Chinese products can act as a gatekeeper to all of China’s imports—and collect a treasure in tolls along the way. The cost of testing will be paid by Chinese manufacturers who must earn the trust of the world market now that the safety of their products is tainted. So, who will it be?

Los Angeles Times: China speaks out on food safety. Clearly annoyed by the bad press China has been getting, officials Thursday also denounced media reports that they said exaggerated the nation’s flaws and overlooked the fact that more than 99% of Chinese food exports to the United States in the last three years had met quality standards.

The problem with government-based or corporate-based logic in such a situation is that is is not consumer-based. Do I want to eat food with a 1% chance of being tainted? No. Do I want to eat food with a 0.1% of being tainted? No. I want my food to be safe and fit for human consumption. Because when our food supply is tainted with bacteria, pollution or unsafe chemical additives, people can get severely ill and die. And, there’s no upside to that.

Besides, food safety is a two-way street. As the U.S. beef industry has witnessed, whenever a case of mad cow disease is found in American livestock, no one wants to import our beef. You can pull out all the statistics you want, but it’s a hard sell.

Once upon a time, high school seniors who were not admitted to Stanford University just resigned themselves to spending their next four years of life at UC Berkeley. But now, the fallback to actually attending Stanford University is pretending to attend Stanford University? Seriously, if Stanford doesn’t admit you, then attend your fallback school, get great grades, and try again as a transfer student. If that doesn’t work, you have another shot when it’s time to attend graduate school. However, pretending to be a Stanford student isn’t going to get it done unless it’s all about style, not substance.