Yahoo Censors the Most
According to an article by the Register, 97% of illicit search queries in China, as determined by governmental censors, are filtered by Yahoo. Sometimes the search engine even imposes a time-out penalty:
In fact, researchers found that searching for “Tibet independence” or “6-4″ (4 June is the anniversary of Tiananmen Square) won’t just give you shonky results but will get you barred from the site for an hour.
I must point out that censorship of the internet is simply fighting a losing battle. If people are saying that your government sucks, the solution isn’t to prevent other people from hearing them, but to make your government un-sucky.
Chops: Chinese Wax Seals
If you’re interested in Chinese name stamps, normally called chops, you should check out this flickr group devoted to them. They’ve got hundreds of photos of the stone stamps, some of which are quite stunning:
Japanese Models In Sales
I’ve always wondered why everything sold or promoted in Japan seems to be accompanied by the cutest of models. Take, for example this xBox 260 game, Call of Duty:
A quote from Natsuki Yoshihara and Haruka shows that they’re not attending the game premiere to play video games:
“I just fired at people no matter if they were allies or enemies,” Yoshihara said. She said that the game’s voice-chatting feature had gripped her attention.
Everything in Japan has to have a half-dressed model on it, if it’s to sell well…