Wednesday, January 1, 2003

One step forward, two steps back: China Cracks Down on Protests After Sending Dissident to U.S. - N.Y. Times 11:16:18 PM      comment Chinese to launch manned spacecraft - Associated Press BEIJING - China plans to launch its first manned spacecraft in the second half of this year, state media said Thursday, citing a senior aerospace official. 11:05:15 PM      comment Boeing, Hughes Helped China Illegally -Reuters Business News Hughes officials are alleged to have given China detailed information about rocketry to help them figure out why their rockets were failing soon after launch. So what? Well, those improvements to China's satellite launch capability also improved their accuracy for targetting ICBMs against the U.S. In 1995, P.R.C. military forces conducted missile test firings near the coast of Taiwan in an effort to intimidate and influence democratic elections. The Chinese were outraged when the U.S. responded by moving naval forces toward Taiwan as a demonstration that the U.S. still opposes a forceful reunification. Shortly thereafter, a Chinese military leader told Assistant Secretary of Defense Chas Freeman the P.R.C. does not fear retribution from the U.S. because American leaders `care more about Los Angeles than they do about Taiwan,' which the former Clinton Administration official interpreted as a threat to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. should it defend Taiwan. The betrayal by Boeing, Hughes, and Loral was an early presage of the total lack of civic responsibility being demonstrated by U.S. corporate executives. The frayed edges of Capitalism were just beginning to tear... 5:50:33 PM      comment Beijing University of Science and Engineering has developed a robot that can play Taichi - it has no attached cables and is able to self balance over changing levels of terrain. Making a machine "play Taichi" is not that impressive considering that Taichi is basically a series of predetermined moves (like "Kata" in Karate) - but since the robot is not tethered to anything, and assuming it performs some of the more unbalanced moves in Taichi (like raising one leg) it would demonstrate a good balance control mechanism. But the one legged hopping robots, as pioneered at MIT are pretty impressive balancers too. 1:30:55 AM      comment

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