Iron Mike was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona early Friday morning for driving under the influence and possession of cocaine. At 1:45a.m., after leaving a night club, Mike ran a stop sign and almost nailed a police cruiser. The facially-tattooed Tyson reportedly was cooperative with police and admitted to the arresting officer that he was “an addict” and had been abusing substances in the last few days. Mike had two bags of coke on him and according to the police report, as the officer approached Tyson’s vehicle, Mike was frantically brushing off the dashboard. The former champ was told he would be charged with felony drug possession and was released without bond. My first thought was what the hell is Mike doing in Scottsdale? Seems like the last place for Tyson. And then I thought if you’re Mike Tyson and you’re at a nightclub in Scottsdale and you have 2 bags of coke in your car, why don’t you leave the club with a girl? Could there be a better recipe for picking up a club chick? “I’m Mike Tyson, I can kick the shit out of anyone, I have 2 bags of coke and you live in Scottsdale. Wanna get out of here?” It really couldn’t get any easier.

• Reuters: Former Boxer Tyson Arrested

In this age of rapid scientific discovery, there is still no precise way to predict an earthquake. Many countries have state-of-the-art earthquake detection centers– scientific laboratories where seismologists track and analyze the size and movement of waves throughout the Earth. Often, these labs have advanced machinery that produce seismograms, records of the waves caused by movements and shifts in the Earth’s plates. While these methods are not perfect, at the very least, they are scientific. In China, we have snakes. Why pay all that money for “machines” and “research” and “scientists,” when you can just use snakes? In China, a place where ancient methods never seem to die (chopsticks), employees at the earthquake bureau in the southern city of Nanning, have turned to snakes for earthquake detection and warning. Bureau workers have hooked up 24-hour video surveillance on snakes on local farms and watch the feed by broadband transmission back at the lab. Director of the earthquake bureau Jiang Weisong said of the snake system, “Of all the creatures on the earth, snakes are perhaps the most sensitive to earthquakes.” Apparently, snakes can detect an earthquake from over 70 miles away three to five days earlier than humans can feel the rumble. When the snakes sense an earthquake, they slither out of their nests no matter how cold the air is. And when snakes feel threatened by seismic waves, they have been known to slam their heads into the sides of their cage in an effort to escape. These reactions in the past have been consistently correlative to seismic activity. Strangely, the China Daily article exposing this bizarre snake talent did not make any mention of whether or not snakes predicted this week’s earthquake near Taiwan. You know, the one that took down all of East Asia’s internet? Dogs and chickens also demonstrate strange behavior before an earthquake but both animals are just too darn delicious in China to be used in any crazy earthquake detection program.

•China Daily: Nanning Turns to Snake-based System to Predict Quakes

As the popularity of wife-beaters continues to soar, according to a Bureau of Justice report, instances of wife-beating has fallen significantly over the last 12 years. Reports of domestic violence against women in the U.S. dropped by more than half from 1993 to 2004. A bureau official asserts the drop is due to “more vigorous law enforcement, increased education and an expanded network of services for battered partners.” I would add that women have progressively put up with less and less shit over the last half century. Which is a good thing. Reports of assaults, rapes, homicides and robberies fell from about 10 for every 1000 women in 1993 to about 4 in 2004. In the same period, the instances of domestic violence against men fell about 20%. Let’s be honest though. While I’m sure domestic attacks against men exist, it’s not really the same thing. My hunch is that they’re a lot less brutal and significantly less regular. But the major difference is that when a wife beats the shit out of her husband, he probably deserved it. This not usually the case when women are battered. But hey, a drop in violence is a drop in violence and the U.S. has experienced a decline in all types of crime since the early 90s. What I’d like to know from the Bureau of Justice is how many wife-beaters actually wear wife-beaters.

• L.A. Times: Domestic Violence Falls by Half

Flumesday has received word from the originator and lone determiner of the Death of the Year, located in the British West Indies. The 2006 Death of the Year is Saddam Hussein. And as the founder of the Death of the Year Award so wisely told me, “this is why you always wait until December 31st before declaring.” So wise. I’ll take my chances and declare a day early.

Early Saturday morning in Baghdad, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hanged (photo) for his role in the 1982 Dujail massacre, in which 148 Iraqis were executed. The execution took place outside an intelligence office in the Green Zone (whatever that is) and reportedly, there were no Americans present at the hanging. Hussein was handed over to Iraqi forces hours before hang time. Witnesses to the execution reported to the media that Saddam “had fear in his face” and according to NBC news, one witness told reporters, “the son of a bitch is lying under my feet, I can’t talk now because of all the cheers.” Reportedly, the Iraqi crowd at the execution was dancing and singing after Saddam’s neck snapped and they were hurling insults at Saddam’s dead body. One reporter who was on the phone with an official from the Iraqi prime minister’s office said he couldn’t hear anything on the phone because onlookers were so loud in their celebration of Hussein’s death. American forces were determined to stay away from the execution, so that nobody would get the wrong idea about any sort of American involvement in the demise of Hussein. President Bush said, “Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial– the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.” From everything I’ve read about Saddam’s trial, I don’t think “fair” would be the first word I’d use to describe it. But maybe some trials don’t need to be fair. O.J. had a fair trial. Bush went on to say, “Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself.” And what better way is there to kick off a new democracy than to have a public hanging of its former dictator followed by people yelling vulgarities at the dead body while dancing and cheering? The future for Iraq is uncertain. What is certain is that Saddam Hussein is this year’s Death of the Year. He was 69.

•Flumesday: The Croakies - Death of the Year Awards 2006
•MSNBC: Saddam HusseinExecuted

This time of year, those of us who read the news are bombarded with all sorts of top ten lists– short, simple written pieces that rank the importance of items within a certain group. For instance, one of my favorite lists around New Year’s time is the top ten inventions of the past year. This list takes 10 innovations and ranks them in terms of how useful they are or how useful the writers predict they will be. Because these lists are all about opinion, a top ten is as good as the person writing it. And to be honest, the people writing them have not been very good this year. Reality Magazine, whatever the hell that is, did a “Top 10 Outrageous Moments in Reality TV.” So outrageous! The China Daily wrote “The Top 10 Olympic Stories Unveiled.” I read it and I still don’t get it. And the worst of them all was this thing I came across from a Toronto news station that published the “Top 10 Weather Stories of 2006.” As tempting as it is for me to write an end of the year top ten list, this time of year it’s played out. Instead, I have decided to begin a Flumesday tradition. At the end of every calendar year, I will hold the Death of the Year Awards, or if you prefer, “The Croakies.” Around Christmas time, my dad used to choose the one most significant death of the year. While a bit morbid, it was always well thought out and some years, even mildly suspenseful. But my thinking is why just have one film of the year award, when you can have whole fucking Oscars? So in honor of he who sired Flumesday, I am proud to offer the first ever “Croakies”– the Death of the Year Awards 2006.

The Death of the Year Awards 2006

As a result of the earthquake in the waters off the southern tip of Taiwan, internet access in mainland China has been disrupted. Internet users in Shanghai early Wednesday reported outages or major slowing on all major websites including Google, Yahoo! and MSN. All of Shanghai’s major news sites were out of commission Wednesday morning.

The 6.7 or 7.1 magnitude earthquake (depending upon whom you ask) damaged undersea telecommunication cables in the waters east of Shanghai and west of Taiwan. A China Netcom official quoted in a China Interfax report said of the internet outage, “The earthquake in Taiwan affected the undersea optical cable, which disrupted the Internet connection to international Web sites. We are trying to restore the Internet connection by using some back-up networks and satellite communication.”

A Shanghai-based production director for a U.S. hat company complained he wasn’t able to send or receive emails from late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. “My internet is totally non-functional,” he said, “my employees are unable to reach me and are probably baffled as to why they have not heard from me. We use the internet to communicate all day long.” This worker was not alone in his inability to do business Wednesday morning. According to a Reuters Singapore story Wednesday:

China Telecommunications Group, the country’s biggest fixed-line telephone operator and parent of China Telecom Corp., said the earthquakes had affected lines “from the Chinese mainland to places including the Taiwan area, the United States and Europe, and many have been cut.”

“Internet connections have been seriously affected, and phone links and dedicated business lines have also been affected to some degree,” it said.

Officials declined to give further details. “Undersea communications cables fall in the area of state secrets,” said a ministry of communications official in Beijing.
(Reuters 12/27/06)

And the damage from Tuesday night’s earthquake is not limited to China. South Korea’s biggest broadband provider said many of their major customers had reported outages. Currency traders in Tokyo reported that internet and phone outages had place the Australian dollar and British pound in a “tenuous situation.” Hong Kong’s main telecom provider said data transfer there had been cut in half. While on Tuesday, the Philippines was spared the predicted 3-foot tsunami and deaths and injuries in Taiwan were at a minimum, on Wednesday, the aftershocks of the earthquake can be felt all over Asia.

•Reuters: Asia Quakes Damage Cables; Internet, Banks Affected

I took this photograph last week as Best Buy employees rushed into the new Shanghai branch to set up shop. At around 9 in the morning Thursday, I witnessed 100 of Best Buy’s new staff members lining this elevated walkway and engaging in some pre-opening rituals whereby they chanted “Best Buy” over and over again. Hey, it’s China. Monday, the lanterns were hung and firecrackers stood by for the grand entrance of Best Buy into the Chinese market. Tuesday, U.S. electronics outlet Best Buy opened its doors for the Chinese and foreign press to preview Shanghai’s newest electronics mega-store. Thursday, the store will be officially be open to the public. At 80,000 square feet, the 4-floor Shanghai branch is the largest Best Buy anywhere in the world and the only Best Buy outside of North America. And lucky for me, this branch is located 50 feet from my office in the ritzy Xujiahui neighborhood in south central Shanghai. I haven’t visited the store yet, but from all I’ve heard and read, Best Buy has brought American-style service and a pleasant shopping environment to a city where both are hard to come by.

•AP: Best Buy Opens First China Outlet

The 38th president of the United States, Gerald Ford, has passed away at the age of 93, his wife Betty said Tuesday. Ford’s health had been worsening in the last year as he was hospitalized in January with pneumonia and had two heart treatments in August. A Reuters report early Wednesday morning states that Ford died at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California, where Ford was being treated however an AP article claims the time and location of Ford’s death are still unknown. Betty Ford said of her husband’s death, “My family joins me in sharing the difficult news that Gerald Ford, our beloved husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather has passed away at 93 years of age. His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country.” The former center for the 1932 and 1933 national champion Michigan Wolverines was the longest living U.S. president. Known as “the accidental president,” Ford cleaned up the mess left in Washington during the Nixon presidency. Gerald, wherever you are, I hope you are in peace. And from one Wolverine to another, I salute you with a “Go Blue” that may last for eternity.

•Reuters: Gerald Ford Dies at 93

10:00 p.m. Shanghai local time: a massive 7.2 earthquake struck Southwest Taiwan on Tuesday evening and a resulting 3-foot high tsunami is expected to hit the Philippines. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the massive 9.1 earthquake off the coast of Indonesia that triggered the 2004 tsunami that killed 233,000 people. The initial tremors were felt near Hengchun on the southern tip of Taiwan. The AP reports that buildings rocked and the quake was felt in the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 260 miles from Hengchun. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.

Update, 11:54 p.m.: One person dead, three injured when a house collapsed in Pintung in southern Taiwan. Reports of streets cracking and damage to a major bridge. The actual magnitude of the quake was 6.7 on the Richter scale. No danger of a tsunami.

The next day, 11:00 a.m.: No big thing. 2 dead, 42 injured in the Taiwanese quake. The two dead were crushed in the collapse of a furniture factory in Hengchun on the southern tip of Taiwan. Reportedly, 6 undersea telecommunication cables were damaged disrupting service in Taiwan and South Korea. The earthquake was felt in China and Hong Kong. Thankfully, there was no tsunami as the Pacific Tsunami warning center feared late last night. The Philippines experienced a major false alarm.

•AP: Taiwan Quake Kills Two

China doesn’t seem like a place that has much of a drug problem. Drug use is not a visible problem in China and when I have had conversations with Shanghainese people about drugs, it seems as though they have never seen drugs, much less used them. But according to a government official Tuesday, in China there exists the same dark underworld of drugs that one would find in any other country where there is youth, addiction and the resulting market for drugs. And the Chinese government has been waging a war on drugs similar to that which you would find in America. Minus those stupid public service announcements.

According to a Xinhua report, the Chinese police have been vigilant in the past year in the detection and confiscation of illegal drugs within and on their way into China. The deputy director of the anti-narcotic bureau of China’s Ministry of Public Security announced Tuesday that in 2006, police seized 4.79 tons of heroin, 1.52 tons of opium, 4.9 tons of crystal meth (which the Chinese still call “ice”), 329,000 ecstasy pills, 1.5 tons of ketamine and 267.5 tons of chemicals used to make drugs. That’s a lot of drugs. The Ministry’s report made no mention of marijuana.

When considering the amount of drugs confiscated and accounting for the amount that goes untouched, the great mystery is where these drugs are going and who it is that is taking them. Offhand, I would say it’s the foreigners. But really, the expat community in China simply isn’t large enough to consume this amount of drugs. No matter how strung out some foreigners here appear to be. And looking at the numbers, only 24 of over 4,000 drug arrests in Beijing this year involved foreigners. This means there’s a great many Chinese that like to get high.

China News Digest, a Mandarin site, estimates there are over 4 million Chinese drug addicts in China, just under 0.3% of China’s total population. A pretty small percentage. Heroin is the drug most commonly targeted by both the media and police, as intravenous drug use has always been blamed for the spread of AIDS in China. The most popular destinations for international drug trafficking are Guangdong province, on the south border, and Yunnan province, which borders Southeast Asia, the area that was once known as the “Golden Triangle,” Asia’s major opium region. Myanmar is the most prevalent origin for international drug trafficking into China.

According to a People’s Daily article Tuesday, China has invested nearly USD$14 million this year into stepping up drug detection at the borders. And on Tuesday the government boasted that in 2006, police had made 45,000 drug arrests. While this sounds like a lot, the U.S. Bureau of Justice reported that from 1995-2005, U.S. cops made over 1.5 million drug arrests per year. Like violent crime and obesity, drug use is somewhat of an overblown issue in China. While drug trafficking and abuse are both problems worthy of prevention and defense, Chinese need only look at the the States to truly put these issues into perspective.

•People’s Daily: Chinese Police Step Up Crackdown on Drug-Related Crimes
•China Daily: Police Say Drugs Scarce in Beijing