Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by animemy

Socialism with Chinese characteristics explained

animemy — Sat, 26 Jun 2021 21:10:17 +0800

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From Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s to Xi Jinping today, China’s leaders have long said the country practises a unique type of socialism – “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” Framed as an adaptive, flexible socialism, it’s tailored specifically to China’s conditions and problems. Initially, the phrase meant an embrace of free markets, free enterprise and trade, to reverse the economic stagnation of the Mao Zedong years. However, current leader Xi Jinping has declared the start of a “new era”, requiring a new type of socialism with Chinese characteristics – with the clearest continuity being that the Communist Party remains large and in charge.

Do you agree NUR_VER.3 account to be terminated?

animemy — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 20:31:27 +0800

Based on https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4942149

If there's no letter received by lowyat forum administration by next Tuesday, 21st April 2020, do you people think NUR_VER.3 should be given a final chance with hefty warning and holiday or the damage has gone too far beyond comprehension and deserve to be terminated?

How did coronavirus start and where it come from?

animemy — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 17:44:25 +0800

How did coronavirus start and where did it come from? Was it really Wuhan's animal market?

In the public mind, the origin story of coronavirus seems well fixed: in late 2019 someone at the now world-famous Huanan seafood market in Wuhan was infected with a virus from an animal. But there is uncertainty about several aspects of the Covid-19 origin story that scientists are trying hard to unravel, including which species passed it to a human. They’re trying hard because knowing how a pandemic starts is a key to stopping the next one.

Prof Stephen Turner, head of the department of microbiology at Melbourne’s Monash University, says what’s most likely is that virus originated in bats. On the hypothesis that the virus emerged at the Wuhan live animal market from an interaction between an animal and a human, Turner says: “I don’t think it’s conclusive by any means.” The fact that the virus has infected a tiger in a New York zoo shows how viruses can move around between species, he says. “Understanding the breadth of species this virus can infect is important as it helps us narrow down down where it might have come from.”

Scientists say it is highly likely that the virus came from bats but first passed through an intermediary animal in the same way that another coronavirus – the 2002 Sars outbreak – moved from horseshoe bats to cat-like civets before infecting humans. One animal implicated as an intermediary host between bats and humans is the pangolin. As reported in Nature, pangolins were not listed on the inventory of items being sold in Wuhan, although this omission could be deliberate as it’s illegal to sell them.

Prof Edward Holmes, of the University of Sydney, was a co-author on a Nature study that examined the likely origins of the virus by looking at its genome. On social media he has stressed that the identity of the species that served as an intermediate host for the virus is “still uncertain”. One statistical study looked at a characteristic of the virus that evolved to enable it to latch on to human cells. Pangolins were able to develop this characteristic, but so were cats, buffalo, cattle, goats, sheep and pigeons.

Another study claimed to have ruled out pangolins as an intermediary altogether, because samples of similar viruses taken from pangolins lacked a chain of amino acids seen in the virus now circulating in humans.

The study Holmes worked on suggested that the scenario in which a human at the Wuhan market interacted with an animal that carried the virus was only one potential version of the Covid-19 origin story. Another was the possibility that a descendent of the virus jumped into humans and then adapted as it was passed from human to human.

Analysis of the first 41 Covid-19 patients in medical journal the Lancet found that 27 of them had direct exposure to the Wuhan market. But the same analysis found that the first known case of the illness did not. This might be another reason to doubt the established story.

Prof Stanley Perlman, a leading immunologist at the University of Iowa, says the idea the link to the Wuhan market is coincidental “cannot be ruled out” but that possibility “seems less likely” because the genetic material of the virus had been found in the market environment. Perlman told Guardian Australia he does believe there was an intermediary animal but adds that while pangolins are possible candidates, they “are not proven to be the key intermediary”.

Dr Michelle Baker, an immunologist at CSIRO who studies viruses in bats, says some of the research on Covid-19’s origins have stepped off from what was known from the past. But “we really don’t know” how accurate the origin story is, she says: “There’s some sort of connection [to the Wuhan market] and there were people exposed to the market that were infected.” Baker says what is “very likely” is that the virus originated in a bat. “It’s a likely scenario but we will never know. The market was cleaned up quite quickly. We can only speculate.”

“These wet markets have been identified as an issue because you do have species interacting,” she says. “It’s an opportunity to highlight the dangers of them and an opportunity to clamp down on them.” Turner adds: “We’ve found the ancestors of the virus, but having broader knowledge of the coronavirus in other species might give us a hint about the evolution of this thing and how it jumped.”

Source: The Guardian UK

China Is Winning the Coronavirus Information War

animemy — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 12:55:57 +0800

Westerners often say the Chinese word for crisis has two meanings: “danger” and “opportunity” (wēijī, 危机).

The existing world order was formed in the era of American empire and hegemony, a world defined by the growth of capitalism and spread of democracy; a system that has existed since the middle of the twentieth century, where the United States controls trade routes, extends military power and possesses the most powerful object in the world: the global reserve currency, the United States dollar.

In a post-coronavirus world, the U.S. risks losing its status as leader of the free world and, with it, the claim to a set of ideals framed in our Constitution. The power on the other side of that dichotomy is the world’s great emerging power, the People’s Republic of China, and its authoritarian system of state capitalism.

The CCP silenced those who spoke out about it, promote conspiracy theory virus originated from US, obviously obscured the data related to those who were sick and have died (this they continue to do), and refused entry of international health officials. Furthermore, the CCP propaganda machine has taken great lengths to establish and brand the global pandemic as “COVID-19,” instead of allowing any geographically descriptive naming convention to take root.

Political divisions within the United States have aided in turning this into a left/right issue, with the President referring antagonistically to COVID-19 as “ChinaVirus” and being pilloried in response by the left-leaning political commentariat, already inflamed by the early failures of the U.S. response, and reeling itself from its lack of teeth in waiting so long to cover the crisis in broad publications. Meanwhile, whitewashing the Chinese association from the pandemic’s global nomenclature (many prior pandemics are descriptively termed based on their regional origin, such as Zika, West Nile virus, the Spanish flu, Ebola, etc.) is a key part of the strategy to separate China from its role as initial source of the of the outbreak and smoothes the transition into its preferred and powerful narrative as defender of the globe and supplier of medical equipment to stricken nations.

The CCP did, however, buy the entire world critical time – a month or more – to prepare for what was coming by implementing draconian measures to close entire cities and economies and implementing social distancing by force and mandate. Reports indicate that, once taken seriously, the CCP and President Xi executed and implemented the pandemic playbook with precision and authority (keeping people inside and separate, cancelling public events, requiring the wearing of masks in public in affected areas, etc.). By that time, any reasonable person with a spreadsheet and a basic understanding of exponential math knew the risk of COVID-19 spreading across the globe was high. But Western governments, including the one that leads the world, our government in Washington DC, failed to respond to take advantage of that window.

Instead, as the United States cannot even internally allocate resources to deal with our sick and dying, China is manufacturing medical equipment and supplies, and shipping it to the rest of the world. And the all-important publicity campaign – coordinated through diplomats, official and unofficial CCP spokespeople, global media, state media, and non-governmental organizations – of announcing these provisions of aid to virus stricken countries has been equally strong. The picture being drawn across the internet, if you zoom out enough, is of one a world power in decline – hardly able to fight the virus on its own home turf – while another one rises to the occasion, and not only stops the virus at home, but extends that leadership abroad, saving lives in countries around the planet.

It is broadly accepted by historians that major shifts in geopolitical relationships — wars, phase transitions, shifts in balances of power – often coincide with massive disruptions to economies – debt crises. History shows that politics, power, and economics are always tightly intertwined. COVID-19 is an opportunity for the CCP.

Capitalism, and systems of government that work functionally alongside and through it, has proven to be the greatest system in the history of the world for raising humans out of poverty, increasing total wealth levels and distributing opportunity across populations. But a new model has arisen in the East – Chinese State Capitalism – and its time may have arrived.

The CCP’s ability to control, decide, and enact appears at this moment in stark contrast to the American model of disagreement, disorganization and delay.

Source: Teddy Fusaro from Coindesk

What do you think about MCO so far?

animemy — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 16:42:24 +0800

It's been more than 2 weeks, do you think the MCO was well implemented or it can be further improved for balance between economy and disease control as well some other issues.

The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It

animemy — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 07:45:39 +0800

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Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich presents the reader's digest of his latest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It. He explores the system of power in America that bails out corporations instead of people, even in times of crisis, and breaks down how we have socialism for corporations and the rich, and harsh capitalism for everybody else.

As power has concentrated in the hands of corporations and the wealthy few, those few have grabbed nearly all the economic gains — and political power — for themselves.

Meanwhile, workers have been shafted.

This isn’t a democracy, where all power is shared. It’s an oligarchy, where those at the top have the power to grab everything for themselves.

But history shows that oligarchies cannot hold on to power forever. They are inherently unstable. When a vast majority of people come to view an oligarchy as illegitimate and an obstacle to their wellbeing — which is happening before our very eyes as this crisis exacerbates — oligarchies become vulnerable.

The coronavirus did not escape from a lab

animemy — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:37:19 +0800

One persistent myth is that this virus, called SARS-CoV-2, was made by scientists and escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, where the outbreak began.

A group of researchers compared the genome with the seven other coronaviruses known to infect humans: SARS, MERS and SARS-CoV-2, which can cause severe disease; along with HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E, which typically cause just mild symptoms, the researchers wrote March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine.

"Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus," they write in the journal article.

Kristian Andersen, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, and his colleagues looked at the genetic template for the spike proteins that protrude from the surface of the virus. The coronavirus uses these spikes to grab the outer walls of its host's cells and then enter those cells. They specifically looked at the gene sequences responsible for two key features of these spike proteins: the grabber, called the receptor-binding domain, that hooks onto host cells; and the so-called cleavage site that allows the virus to open and enter those cells.

That analysis showed that the "hook" part of the spike had evolved to target a receptor on the outside of human cells called ACE2, which is involved in blood pressure regulation. It is so effective at attaching to human cells that the researchers said the spike proteins were the result of natural selection and not genetic engineering.

Scientists have studied how SARS-CoV differs from SARS-CoV-2 — with several key letter changes in the genetic code. Yet in computer simulations, the mutations in SARS-CoV-2 don't seem to work very well at helping the virus bind to human cells. If scientists had deliberately engineered this virus, they wouldn't have chosen mutations that computer models suggest won't work. But it turns out, nature is smarter than scientists, and the novel coronavirus found a way to mutate that was better — and completely different— from anything scientists could have created, the study found.

Another nail in the "escaped from evil lab" theory? The overall molecular structure of this virus is distinct from the known coronaviruses and instead most closely resembles viruses found in bats and pangolins that had been little studied and never known to cause humans any harm.

"If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness," according to a statement from Scripps.

Where did the virus come from? The research group came up with two possible scenarios for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 in humans.

We contracted the virus directly from an animal — civets in the case of SARS and camels in the case of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). In the case of SARS-CoV-2, the researchers suggest that animal was a bat, which transmitted the virus to another intermediate animal (possibly a pangolin, some scientists have said) that brought the virus to humans.

In the other scenario, those pathogenic features would have evolved only after the virus jumped from its animal host to humans. Some coronaviruses that originated in pangolins have a "hook structure" (that receptor binding domain) similar to that of SARS-CoV-2. In that way, a pangolin either directly or indirectly passed its virus onto a human host. Then, once inside a human host, the virus could have evolved to have its other stealth feature — the cleavage site that lets it easily break into human cells. Once it developed that capacity, the researchers said, the coronavirus would be even more capable of spreading between people.

All of this technical detail could help scientists forecast the future of this pandemic. If the virus did enter human cells in a pathogenic form, that raises the probability of future outbreaks. The virus could still be circulating in the animal population and might again jump to humans, ready to cause an outbreak. But the chances of such future outbreaks are lower if the virus must first enter the human population and then evolve the pathogenic properties, the researchers said.

Live Science

Visualizing the History of Pandemics

animemy — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 00:22:36 +0800

As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has.

The more civilized humans became – with larger cities, more exotic trade routes, and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and ecosystems – the more likely pandemics would occur.

Despite the persistence of disease and pandemics throughout history, there’s one consistent trend over time – a gradual reduction in the death rate. Healthcare improvements and understanding the factors that incubate pandemics have been powerful tools in mitigating their impact.

Scientists use a basic measure to track the infectiousness of a disease called the reproduction number — also known as R0 or “R naught.” This number tells us how many susceptible people, on average, each sick person will in turn infect.

While measles may be the most virulent, vaccination efforts and herd immunity can curb its spread. The more people are immune to a disease, the less likely it is to proliferate, making vaccinations critical to prevent the resurgence of known and treatable diseases.

As organizations and governments around the world ask for citizens to practice social distancing to help reduce the rate of infection, the digital world is allowing people to maintain connections and commerce like never before.

Source: Visual Capitalist

Why Japan Sucks at eSports

animemy — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 14:37:28 +0800

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Huawei outsells Apple in 2019

animemy — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 01:10:25 +0800

Counterpoint credits Huawei's success in its home country of China for its success, saying, "This was the result of an aggressive push from Huawei in the Chinese market, where it achieved almost 40 percent market share." According to the firm, China makes up 60 percent of Huawei's shipments.

For what it's worth, Canalys has Q4 2019 as Huawei's first quarterly decline—down seven percent from Q3—in two years, which it blames on the export ban. Together with the annual Apple Q4 surge thanks to the launch of a new iPhone, Huawei fell to third place again within that time period.

But again, this ban doesn't affect Huawei's marketability in its biggest market, China, where Google doesn't do much business. Huawei has had its own software ecosystem in China for years, with the "Huawei AppGallery" store, cloud storage, a browser, and a theme store. With Google declared off-limits, really only the 40 percent of Huawei's shipments that are outside of China are seriously threatened.

If the US and China don't reconcile, or if they do reconcile and Huawei decides to go cold turkey from the Google apps anyway, it's hard to imagine Huawei being successful outside of China. Huawei recently gave conflicting statements about whether or not it would use the Google apps in a scenario where the export ban was lifted, so the company seems to at least be thinking about the idea.

The US's Huawei export ban has been extended three times now in 90-day intervals, and the next deadline is February 17, 2020.

Source: Ars Technica

5 Ways to Stop Corporations Ruining Future Work

animemy — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 15:13:25 +0800

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Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains how technological change and automation may only benefit those at the top, unless American workers have a voice.

European Parliament bids farewell to UK

animemy — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 01:53:56 +0800

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The European Parliament gave its final approval to the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on January 29, 2020. Members of the parliament ratified the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement by 621 in favour to 49 against and 13 abstentions.

4 Reasons Why Millennials Don't Have Any Money

animemy — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 09:01:34 +0800

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Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich explains the forces driving the generational wealth gap between baby boomers and millennials.

Toll booth worker in China forces herself to smile

animemy — Tue, 28 Jan 2020 17:13:18 +0800

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A toll booth worker in eastern China’s Zhejiang province was filmed being scolded by a driver to the point of tears. She then had to force herself to smile as she turned to serve other drivers.

Why China bashing would strengthen CCP rule.

animemy — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:24:50 +0800

Perhaps some of us would hope someday China would establish some form of democracy in a slow and steady fashion, ending the authoritarian system and pave way towards better freedom of expression and human rights that would transform China into more creative and robust economic powerhouse.

Sadly, almost all that criticize China has absolutely no distinction between the CCP regime and its 1.4 billion people whom we can all agreed there are definitely good Chinese out there just like other countries and races that might share similar thoughts with us but instead completely grouped together and being judged as a whole rather than separate entity.

This simply pushes all of them despite difference of beliefs but belonging to the same motherland into supporting the CCP regime despite knowing well the flaws and problems of the administration as the aforesaid bashing based on race or group rather individuals solidify a perception by the mainland Chinese that outsiders simply enjoy any tragedy and demise not just the CCP regime alone but the entire population of China rather than supporting the people to have a better future.

It's not surprising that most would have to defend its race, party or country to the last breath as either they allow themselves to become someone else puppet and eliminate their own community or simply choose the lesser evil with hope that it can be changed into a better form.

While CCP have to work hard to make sure the people of China is happy enough not to overthrow the government, it can depend some on China bashing as a mean of justifying its authoritarian rule by reminding its subjects the fear of losing everything that can be proud for.

Could China Take Over the Camera Industry?

animemy — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 10:49:01 +0800

Japan Changed the Camera Industry

After the Second World War, if you were a professional photographer, then you would have used cameras from companies like Hasselblad and Leica which were essentially the standard. The price points were one of the most prohibiting factors for many people looking to enter the photography industry but the solution at the time came from lesser-known companies that were based in Japan.

Japanese-made cameras were considered inferior, only known for producing cheaper knock-off Leica cameras. Companies like Canon only saw real success when they started to produce their own cameras. In 1956, Canon produced its very first original rangefinder camera, the Canon VT. One could consider this to be the true beginning of the company.

Fast-forward to more recent times, more professionals and enthusiasts shoot with Japanese cameras, and it’s clear to see why. These cameras, for the most part, offer better, more effective, and a wider range of features at a much lower price.

The Rise of Chinese Brands

Over the last couple of decades, we’ve seen a huge increase in Chinese manufactured products. Many of these products have been copies of products from well-known brands but some companies like Venus Optics (Laowa) is a great example of a Chinese brand that’s been developing high-quality products. What seems to be separating it from many other manufacturers is the fact that it produces somewhat unusual and interesting lenses.

Another company that comes to mind is DJI, the leading manufacturer of drones in the world. The drone and gimbal industries as a whole are being led by Chinese companies, and there are no viable competitors anywhere else in the world.

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Pro Cameras from China?

There is no such route for China. Currently, smartphones have replaced low-cost photography markets. The complexity of high-end digital cameras requires the integration of multiple professions. It requires high-precision mechanical design and manufacturing. The design has to deal with electronic circuits and consist of software algorithms and more importantly, the manufacture of sensors is almost monopolized by Japan. I don’t think that in the short term China can replace Japan’s status in [the] digital camera area.

It could be feasible for Chinese manufacturers to gain a foothold via a merger or a buyout. Companies like Nikon and Ricoh/Pentax don’t seem to be doing extremely well in these tougher environments and they could be potential acquisition targets.

Cinema Cameras

For DSLR and mirrorless cameras, we may not see a new major manufacturer enter the industry for some time. The main reason is that the margins are simply not there. Cinema cameras, however, could be where the battle is won and lost. A high-end RED camera system can cost more than $180,000. Even if we’re looking at just the brain section of the system, the 8K version is currently priced over $50,000. The alternative is a company from China called Z-Cam.

Z-Cam currently offers a number of cinema cameras including one with a full-frame sensor that shoots up to 8K. Of course, the RED Monstro is better in almost every regard, however, considering that it costs almost 10 times that of the Z-Cam, you can see that there is room to compete.

Final Thoughts

It’s not a huge leap of the imagination to say that companies from China may start to change the photo and video industry. Cinema cameras may be the first to be hit because companies like Z-Cam could start eating away at profits from companies like RED, Panasonic, and even Canon.

The difference in manufacturing cost is very real and this could give Chinese companies a great advantage over their competitors. I imagine that in the next decade we may start to see a few notable buyouts and mergers that solidify China’s impact within our industry.

Source: PetaPixel

Legend of Deification: Jiang Ziya (2020) Trailer

animemy — Sat, 14 Dec 2019 21:31:57 +0800

[YOUTUBE]5EVNxNVj9go[/YOUTUBE]
Chinese animated film "Legend of Deification," which tells of Jiang Ziya, a mythological figure sharing the same universe with Nezha, is set to hit Chinese mainland cinemas on Jan. 25, 2020

Cold War don't work well against China

animemy — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 16:59:48 +0800

The US can’t use Cold War tactics to engage with China, says former NSA head Michael Rogers

To deal with China effectively, U.S. business people should understand the country’s goal is to achieve dominance in the technologies that will be important in the 21st century. After World War II, Rogers said, “It was the West who developed the core technologies that powered this economic growth. That gave gave the West this military advantage which then translated into significant diplomatic and political power,” he said.

That power also came from developing global technological standards that allowed the U.S. to retain a global leadership position in technology, and then ushering in the creation of global technology corporations that could dominate in a variety of technology sectors.

China is looking to this model, but for the next generation of technological advances, Rogers said, and is therefore spending resources on quantum computing, 5G networking, biotechnology, nanotechnology and other key technologies.

“The last time we had a near-competitor who we viewed as a potential adversary, in terms of a nation-state, was the Soviet Union. They were largely a political, diplomatic and a military challenge. They were never an economic challenge. They were never going to surpass the United States economically. They didn’t have the global economic impact or capabilities that we had. They never had those kind of things as options,” Rogers said.

“Fast forward to now: China also represents a significant diplomatic, political and military challenge. But what makes it so different is it combines all of that with this significant economic capability. We have also not had a near-peer economically who is also such a competitor or potential adversary,” in those other ways, Rogers said.

But he cautioned that it would not be productive for political or business forces to default to treating China as an enemy. He also said comparing our current trade, privacy or security standoffs with China to a “Cold War” is also unhelpful. In particular, he argued, attempting a “containment” strategy probably wouldn’t work as it did with the Soviet Union, he said, referring to a series of U.S. foreign policy decisions starting in the 1940s that focused on minimizing the spread of Soviet ideology and power.

Rogers said that China’s sponsorship of its companies puts the country on an uneven playing field with its Western competitors, by centralizing funding and providing a cushion that doesn’t exist for U.S. firms.

But he also cautioned that competing with China tit-for-tat likely wouldn’t work for the U.S. Increased government intervention with technology companies simply wouldn’t fly in the U.S., and providing government support for taking competitors’ intellectual property or trade secrets would not be helpful, he said.

The U.S. can’t “turn everything into a space-like effort from the 1960s,” he said, but it can prioritize working together on the “core technologies of the digital age,” and create new policies that give companies incentive to develop those technologies, in order to compete better with China. “I think on an even playing field, we will compete very well.”

CNBC Sauce

Can China Compete Japan Animation in 10 years?

animemy — Sun, 01 Dec 2019 15:37:58 +0800

[YOUTUBE]zztD5_2cByA[/YOUTUBE]
"In 10 years the Chinese animation industry will outperform the Japanese anime industry." These aren't my words but instead Yoshitada Fukuhara's. In this video I explore a bit more into the idea of donghua and anime as rivals and how the two industries may develop in the future. You can consider this an update to my older video about donghua transcending anime as that one was a little harsh in tone compared to this. Please let me know what you think.

Human-powered Ferris wheels in Myanmar

animemy — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 03:41:26 +0800

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In the Myanmar city of Taunggyi, Ferris wheels at fairgrounds are entirely driven by human power. Hundreds of young men in Myanmar make a living by climbing on the 20-metre (65ft) high Ferris wheels without any safety equipment. For 9 months a year, they are on the road and work without a day off, earning US$70 to US$100 per month.