‘Free Tibet’ flags made in China

 

You can’t make this stuff up, who’d order ‘Free Tibet’ flags to be made in China? Must’ve been a subcontracting or something..

‘Free Tibet’ flags made in China (BBC)

Made in China? Police believe some flags may have already been shipped

Police in southern China have discovered a factory manufacturing Free Tibet flags, media reports say.

The factory in Guangdong had been completing overseas orders for the flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Workers said they thought they were just making colourful flags and did not realise their meaning.

But then some of them saw TV images of protesters holding the emblem and they alerted the authorities, according to Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper.

Tibet independence

The factory owner reportedly told police the emblems had been ordered from outside China, and he did not know that they stood for an independent Tibet.

Workers who had grown suspicious checked the meaning of the flag by going online.

Thousands of flags had already been packed for shipping.

Police believe that some may already have been sent overseas, and could appear in Hong Kong during the Olympic torch relay there this week.

The authorities have now stepped up the inspection of cars heading to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and onwards to Hong Kong.

The Olympic torch is due to tour Hong Kong on Friday. It will then travel to a series of cities in mainland China before reaching Beijing for the start of the Olympic Games in August.

 

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デストラーデ、岩村、井口

先日は岩村と井口それぞれの1号ホームランが、決勝ホームランでしたね。

そのハイライトを元西武のデストラーデがアナウンス、ちょっと日本語も使っちゃって、相変わらずお茶目なインテリ君みたいです。アメリカでは日本野球の専門家としても通ってるんだとか…

2008 魔将ウォッチ 4/29

2008年アーロン・ガイエル選手の成績（4/28時点）

23試合 95打席 16得点 8本 21打点 .277/.358/.639（打率/出塁率/長打率） 9四球 2死球 18三振

先週は1本塁打、１四球、6三振とややスランプ気味でした。ブンブン振り回さずじっくり球を見極めるのが、我らが魔将の特徴なので、5試合で1四球とは開幕からホームラン連発してちょっと振り回しすぎになっていつものガイエルじゃなくなっちゃたのか少々心配です。ま、今週様子見てみましょう。

あと、先日2軍から戻ってきて2試合で3本塁打を放った西武のボカチカ選手もウォッチしておきましょう。彼もガイエルと似ている、そこそこパワーのある選球眼の良い選手なので、期待しています（なかなか四球を選ばないブラゼル（125打席４四球、出塁率.304）は早くも攻略されてきてるのか…？）という事で：

2008年ヒラム・ボカチカ選手の成績

9試合 31打席 5得点 4本 10打点 .320/.379/.800, 3四死球 3三振

 

ECHL Playoffs update

Fukufuji almost singlehandedly won the first round of the ECHL playoffs for his Bakersfield Condors against the Victoria Salmon Kings, but he was spraygunned with 61 shots, so it would’ve been a true miracle had the Condors won, as Victoria was truly superior in every other facet of the game. Fukufuji intends on playing in North America again next season, hopefully he’ll get a chance with an AHL club.

 

Every party has a spoil-sport and this one almost did, too. His name was Yutaka Fukufuji. The Bakersfield Condors goaltender was the reason the Salmon Kings were forced into overtime for the victory.

Fukufuji, the first Japanese-born player to play in the NHL, almost single-handedly forced a Game 7. Regulation time was dominated in almost every facet by the Salmon Kings. Every aspect except one — goaltending.

The shots clock at the end of regulation time read a glaring 57-23 in favour of Victoria and ended 61-25.

“He [Fukufuji] stood on his head all series and kept them in it,” said Goldie.

“But we knew if we kept putting the shots on him, some had to eventually go in and we got one more goal than they did tonight.”

But the dominant Salmon Kings not only had to solve the gallant crease efforts of Fukufuji, they had to do it by contending with five against-the-grain goals by the Condors that kept pulses pounding amid the deafening din caused by the near sold-out crowd.

Despite holding a wide edge in play, the Salmon Kings had to fight back from 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3 deficits. But after finally taking a 5-4 lead on third-period goals by Marc-Andre Bernier and Ryan Wade, the Salmon Kings saw the opportunistic Condors tie it 5-5 on former Senators draft-pick Andrew Ianiero’s fifth goal of the series at 13:16 of the third period.

In a game in which the shots were flowing for them like winter-rain water out of the Sooke Reservoir, the S-Kings were forced into the strange and painstaking position of trying to climb back into a game that might have turned into a blowout against a goalie of lesser calibre that Fukufuji.

Bernier had two goals for Victoria and Wade, Chris St. Jacques and Paul Ballantyne one each. Ianiero led the Condors with two goals.

But the biggest goalbelonged to the tricky Goldie in OT, who took a lovely two-on-one pass from Estrada and made a move around Fukufuji that was truly worthy of a golden goal.

Now the Salmon Kings are facing the Utah Grizzlies in the second round. The Grizzlies feature Japanese forward Kazuma Takahashi, but he was a healthy scratch and didn’t make the trip up to Victoria for the first 2 games of the series, which the teams split with blowout scores of 6-0 and 1-6.

As reported earlier Nishiwaki’s Dayton Bombers lost the best of 3 mini playoff round, so he flew back to Japan in time to play in the World Championships Division I B which was hosted by Sapporo. He played well in the tournament, but it was not enough for Japan to advance to the top division as Japan finished a strong 3rd in the tourney.

やっぱり

あまり注意して見てなかったけど、マスコミの長野の聖火リレーの報道が何か変だと思ってたら、長野が中国化してたんだ…

警察によって意図的に中国人のみの沿道を作り、
そこをマスコミは撮影し、
中国人の暴力を黙認して、日本人を逮捕する。
これが日本のやることか？
ここは本当に日本なのか？
中国の旗を持たないと歩けない沿道って何なんだ？

この国は最低な国です。
チベット人は泣きながらありがとうと言っていたけれど、
僕は彼らに謝りたかった。
初めて日本人であることを恥じた。

帰り道、僕らは泣いた。

これが真実です。
僕は日本政府は中国以下だと思った。
弾圧にＮＯを言えずに、言いなりになって彼らの叫びを封殺したこの国は、もう民主主義国家ではない。

4/26日長野。
そこには言論の自由はなかった。
歩行の自由すらなかった。
中国人を除いて。

確かにこの日記を書いた人の視点はもちろん思いっきり偏ってるが、それに負けず劣らず偏っていて抗議者側を迷惑行為者としてしか捉えられないマスコミって…やっぱりマスゴミ。警察も相変わらずって感じで、やっぱり頼りにならないのか。

読売

朝日

まあ、新聞の報道は警察の行動通り、そして警察の行動は国の思惑通りってとこ…？

NPB Power Rankings 2008.4.28

I’m rather busy at the moment, so I’ll try to keep this entry short too. Previous week’s ranking in brackets.

1. Hanshin Tigers(1) 18-6-1 .750

Keeps on going strong, splitting the series against the Dragons (1-1-1) and taking 2 of 3 from the Giants with a dramatic game winning bases loaded walk against Yomiuri’s closer Kroon last night.

2. Chunichi Dragons(2) 15-8-2 .652

Couldn’t overcome the Tigers wall, but didn’t fare badly either. Ace Kawakami returned to the top team, made a relief appearance, but gave up a solo shot in 1 inning of work. He needs to return to form… by October.

3. Saitama Seibu Lions(3) 14-9-1 .609

Dropped both games against the Marines, then feasted upon the Buffaloes weak pitching to the tune of 29 runs in 3 games! The team gets on base (.324 OBP is 2nd in PL) and far outslugs anyone else (.432 SLG and 36 HR, no other team is above .374 and 27 HR). Pitching’s just mediocre though, and Watanabe’s questionable bullpen use (bringing in historically shaky Onuma or Mitsui into high leverage situations) doesn’t bode well for October (and the team’s slugging’s gotta come back down to earth sooner or later). Hiram Bocachica made a dramatic return to the top team, hitting 3 homers in the last 2 games, after a stint in the minors following early season struggles. He adds even more on base ability and power to the lineup, and Watanabe has a happy problem of having too many hot bats to fit into the lineup. If this were the majors, trading one or two hitters for good pitching would be considered, but alas..

4. Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles(8 ) 16-13 .552

Had an undefeated week to jump up to 2nd in PL, thanks to complete game shutouts thrown by Nagai, Domingo, and Tanaka!

5. Chiba Lotte Marines(7) 17-14 .548

A great 4-1 week against the strong Lions and struggling Hawks, continuing its strong play.

6. Tokyo Yakult Swallows(4) 11-12 .478

Another 2-3 week. Though splitting the two games against the Carp, and taking 1 out of 3 against the Dragons is pretty much the expected result considering each team’s strengths.

7. Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters(5) 15-15 .500

2-4 week. The team can’t score runs to save their lives with only 8 runs scored over 6 games, 6 of those against porous Buffaloes pitching. Fighters got swept by the rising Eagles.

8. Fukuoka Softbank Hawks(6) 14-17 .452

Continued its poor play, going 1-4 against key rivals Eagles and Marines. 

9. Hiroshima Toyo Carp(9) 9-13-1 .409

The same ol’ the same ol’, a 2-3 week against the Swallows and BayStars.

10. Tokyo Yomiuri Giants(10) 11-14-1 .440

Continues to struggle. A 4-2 week sounds good, until you realize that 3 of those wins came against the worst team in NPB, the Yokohama BayStars. Kroon blew a save and lost last night’s game against the Tigers. Uehara was sent down to the minors. The team is definitely much less than what the sum of their parts should be.

11. Orix Buffaloes(11) 11-20 .355

Lost 2 to the Fighters who can’t score, and got absolutely bombed by the Lions and got swept.

12. Yokohama BayStars(12) 6-17-1 .261

Won 2 games against Hiroshima! But the team’s winning percentage is still barely above .250.

Aaron Guiel Watch

23GP 95PA 16R 8HR 21RBI .277/.358/.639 9BB 2HBP 18K

Only 1 HR, 1 walk, and striking out 6 times in 5 games, our man may be in a mini-slump.

Pitchers Watch:

Koji Uehara (Giants) – sent down to the minors, there’s definitely something wrong with him physical or psychological, and he already let the team and the fans know that he intends on going to the majors next year in a major PR gaffe (not that he cares about these sorts of things) so his future is really unclear now

5GS 29.1IP 21/8 K/BB 5HR 22RA 6.75ERA

Kenshin Kawakami (Dragons) – Returned from minors and promptly gave up a bomb, we’ll have to see how he does when he gets a start.

4GS 17.2IP 15/3 K/BB 5HR 9RA 4.58ERA

Masahiro “Ma-kun” Tanaka (Eagles) – a shutout

6GS 50IP 45/19 K/BB 2HR 12RA 1.80ERA

Shota Ohba (Hawks)

6GS 43IP 48/10 K/BB 8HR 18RA 3.77ERA

Yu Darvish (Fighters) – 9IP 2RA, allowed his first HR, and team lost in extra innings

6GS 52IP 51/7 K/BB 1HR 5RA 0.69ERA 3CG

Diving stars

Sidney Crosby, NHL’s newest superstar, is a well known diver which his opposing fans often points out, and it’s currently causing some commotions among New York Ranger fans as Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins are up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals thanks to some controversial penalty calls involving Sid the Kid.

I used to abhor the dive, or simulation as it’s known in football, but this great article on Slate changed my mind on the matter. It’s a rather valid form of self-protection for the smaller, more skilled players in these sports. And who would you rather see on the ice or the pitch, the hulking untalented brutes, or the uberskilled superstars?

Consider the classic matchup between a skilled dribbler and a big, tough defender. The attacker must use his quickness and wit to get by. The bigger man, though, can always resort to a “professional foul”—an intentional foul in which there is no attempt to play the ball. The defender will give away a free kick, but that will hurt only in certain parts of the field. So, what is the attacker to do? If he finds a flailing leg in his way, he can do nothing except barge right into it. And maybe writhe around on the ground for a bit, encouraging the referee to hand out a card, thus discouraging the brutish defender from trying such rough tactics in the future.

Far from being a sign of corruption, diving is, in certain ways, a civilizing influence. Divers are usually quicker, smaller players. As athletes get bigger and stronger, the little guy gets nudged aside. If professional fouls and brute force reign supreme, creative play and joyful improvisation will suffer.

…

There is nothing more depressing than a player who goes to the ground when he might have scored. Ronaldinho and Thierry Henry, arguably the world’s best players, will stay on their feet at all cost for the sake of a beautiful pass or a brilliant run at the goal. But the next time you see an artful dribbler derailed by a clumsy oaf, take a minute to think about whose side you’re on. Doesn’t the dribbler deserve a somersault or two to remind the world that the only way to stop him is through violent and graceless means?

 

 

レトロユニホーム

今週末から初めてカナダのケベックシティーとハリファクスで開催されるトップディビジョンの世界選手権では、IIHF発足100年記念として16チーム中１５のチームが１試合だけに特別レトロジャージを使用します。カナダのカナダカップもの、ロシアの50年代CCCPもの、ラトビア、チェコ、ノルウェーとか個人的にいいと思います。

Nice logo

What’s up with logo gaffes in the UK recently (London 2012 logo was just mauled by the public last year), but this is just too funny:

 

OGC unveils new logo to red faces

It cost £14,000 to create, but clearly no-one at the smart London design outfit that came up with the new logo for HM Treasury thought to turn it on its side.

ＡＨＬ史上最長試合

AHL 史上最長試合が行われました。 ５OT、142:58 にフィラデルフィアが決勝ゴール！

…これって軽く２試合＋１ピリ＋α じゃないですかっ！！！

スコアシートが凄い事に、負けたけどシュートを98 本も防いだAlbany のゴーリーは立派だよ。

試合中、どうやって栄養摂取してたんだろう？

実時間５時間３８分だったそうです…お疲れ様でした m(_ _)m