PPM's Blog

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 18/05/2008 11:59

As a reminder, the Myanmar government only accepted a limited fraction of the foreign assistance that was on offer, mostly in the form of relief boxes on which they pasted the names of some generals as a propaganda exercise, and refused to let foreign volunteers access the country. China missed a perfect opportunity to prove it [...]

Article in The Standard on tycoon Ma — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 21/05/2008 15:39

I was surprised to read the above article published in The Standard, in Hong Kong, on Tuesday 20th May 2008. The text is also reproduced below for easier reading: QUOTE Charity stays at home for mean tycoon Ma Guess how much Alibaba.com chairman Jack Ma who sits on a net worth of at least HK$4 billion has donated [...]

Li Yue, Young Quake Survivor — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 21/05/2008 16:49

I saw in today’s South China Morning Post a Reuters/China picture from a young victim of the earthquake, with one of her legs missing. I read about her (see quote below) in the paper early this morning, but her story and image are very much engraved in my mind many hours later. I reproduce above [...]

Cyberman, essai de télé-connectique — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 17/05/2008 15:07

Cybe.rm@n, essai de té.lé. conne.ctique. Qu’est-ce que la télé connectique ? C’est une NTIC – une Nouvelle technique de l’information et de la communication –, déjà omniprésente dans nos vies immatérielles, que ce soit pour relier nos cerveaux à des prises d’alimentation de toutes sortes ou pour relier les différents éléments de nos systèmes nerveux, nos [...]

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 25/05/2008 12:45

Very unfortunately, this catchy title does not refer to a sports score, but is one way of summarizing the current status of the 109 nation conference meeting now in Dublin aimed at banning cluster munitions. Articles on this conference, based on a reporting from Agence France Press in Dublin,  were published today  on Yahoo News (article [...]

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 25/05/2008 11:54

I read the below article in today’s Sunday Morning Post (page 4, bottom left). While the Premier might be a little more accommodating to honest feed-back from his people, the dreaded “local officials” are still as dangerously small minded as ever. Or could there be another explanation? QUOTE Wen’s meeting with Ban well scripted Sichuan Earthquake - [...]

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 18/05/2008 10:55

China reportedly welcomed a number of foreign teams of relief workers (from Russia, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan) to assist in the rescue efforts in the aftermath of the Sichuan Earthquake. This excellent news was unfortunately marred by a “black spot” in Hong Kong, where, due to China’s current stringent visa requirements, rescue teams from Scotland and [...]

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 24/05/2008 05:43

An excellent video by 599 production, posted by nils alb on Vimeo:

Tag Galaxy — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 25/05/2008 01:34

Tag Galaxy is an impressive research project by a German student: find Flickr photos in 3D based on “planets” / tag selection… 2008 diploma thesis project by Steven Wood using Papervision3D and the Flickr API. Prof Dr Heinz Brünig & Hans-Georg Hopf. Georg Simon Ohm University of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg. [...]

PPM — by Pierre-Philippe Martin — last modified 17/05/2008 06:04

It is simply unbelievable that such horrible and inhuman behavior can still go unpunished at this day and age. Such completely ridiculous and shameful practices, clearly from another time (well, the dark ages!), have no place in today’s India, nor in today’s world. I strongly hope that the Indian government and the many enlightened and [...]