Chinese F1 technical site

[manchild]

http://sports.sina.com.cn/f1/technical_home/index.html

Very detail info and graphics, couple examples:





Unfortunately terribly slow. I guess web content must pass trough communist party filter.

[kurtiejjj]

Unfortunately terribly slow. I guess web content must pass trough communist party filter.

Haha, indeed even though they're not 'actually' communist anymore

[Ciro Pabón]

I wonder when the People's Republic of China, governed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 1949, left communism behind...

As far as I know, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao belong to the CPC. Maybe a lot of people wishes they weren't communist, but they are.

I suppose kurtiejj means CPC is not communist because they have incorporated some "market reforms". It's like saying that the Republican party in America is not capitalist because they implement Medicare.

About the site, it's excruciatingly slow. No wonder: a tracert on the site gives me 18 jumps, 6 of them at 0.5 seconds and another 5 at 0.1 seconds. I bet half of them are for filtering...

[DaveKillens]

Haven't you heard about the Great Firewall of China ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_c ... c_of_China

[Carlos]

Ciro - Medicare was implemented by a Democrat - President Lyndon B Johnson - who originally ran on a New Deal platform when he was vying for Congress. The Social Security Act of 1965 implemented Medicare. LBJ signed it into law. Yes, yes; he was a warmonger - but not a Republican. Although he admitted to being a major SOB.
I don't imagine he cared much ... for the Chinese or their party.
On- Topic: Nice graphics on the Chinese site ... but then, they had nice graphics during the Cultural Revolution; did some nice murals, worker solidarity, cull the intelligensia - didn't care for that.
He only looked like a Republican; that was his curse.
I must admit - I admired him for never seeking election to be President.

[checkered]

Nice graphics on the Chinese site ...

Many of those graphics certainly aren't produced there, no matter how many things nowadays are. I certainly haven't seen much of StudioPiola's handiwork (link) online as much of their art and business is understandably dependent on printed media. Whether the Chinese site indeed has the permission to use StudioPiola's material, I of course cannot tell. Maybe I'll ask some "analogue interface" acquaintance of mine to look into it, an increasing number of them is studying the language for obvious reasons. My prowess is limited to a very few social pleasantries and I don't know the alphabet.

All I know is that whenever I've been met with Piola's drawings online, they've usually been obviously scanned off a book or a magazine. Too many intellectual rights are infringed upon online for anyone to control it in any significant way, I can only ask everyone to try and at least balance the freedom here with some respect for those with whom original ideas or material originates. After all, it's an untenable proposition for societies or indeed the entire humanity to just copy each other to no end.

My understanding is that anyone who has experience of thinking originally does know that their ideas, and products that follow from those ideas, tend to have a life of their own and rightly so. It's impossible, counterproductive and in cases even immoral to demand an absolute compensation. But it's a sad day when producing something original with your personal talent, insight, knowledge, capabilities and time becomes nothing but a disadvantage. This has ramifications far beyond our economic environment and as always in history, our societal position on these things is more precarious than we'd propably like to think.

[ss_collins]

OT but the stuff there seems to have been nicked from all over the place - that cutaway was one we ran a couple of years ago of a Toyota driver comfort study.

But China has different copyright laws (ie they ignore them)

[checkered]

Well, I ventured

to "SINA Corp.'s" website and on the surface of it, the operation looks like quite an ambitious one. And why not, with a potential market that by language alone reaches a fifth of the World population. Indeed, they're listed in NASDAQ with a current market value of roughly $2Bn. It makes one wonder, doesn't it, even if SINA's F1 portal must represent only a tiny fraction of their entire business. Quote from their own website:

About SINA (link)

SINA Corporation (Nasdaq: SINA) is a leading online media company and value-added information service provider for China and for global Chinese communities. With a branded network of localized web sites targeting Greater China and overseas Chinese, the Company provides services through five major business lines including SINA.com (online news and content), SINA Mobile (mobile value-added services or ¡°MVAS¡±), SINA Community (Web 2.0-based services and games), SINA.net (search and enterprise services) and SINA E-Commerce (online shopping). Together these business lines provide an array of services including region-focused online portals, MVAS, search and directory, interest-based and community-building channels, free and premium email, blog services, audio and video streaming, online games, classified listings, fee-based services, e-commerce and enterprise e-solutions.

With more than 230 million registered users worldwide and over 700 million daily page views, SINA is the most recognized Internet brand name in China and among Chinese communities globally.

In various surveys and polls, SINA has been recognized as the most valuable brand and the most popular website in China. For three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005, Peking University and the Economic Observer ranked SINA as one of the "Most Respected Chinese Companies". In the most recent study done by the Internet Society of China, SINA again came on top in its total reach for both its overall portal and blog channel, consolidating SINA;s leadership position in online media space in China. In 2007, Peking University named SINA the "Top 10 Innovative Media" and the Ministry of Information Industry of China gave SINA the prestigious title of "Successful Chinese Internet Company of the Year".

They have business partnerships/corporate clientele with some very recognized brands:

SINA Partnership (link)

NASDAQ Summary (link)

Edit: I began to wonder, the human rights violations aspect aside, whether the WTO could be used to argue that internet censorship such as practiced by PRC (a member of the organisation) in fact constitutes unfair protectionism preferential to business entities based in China and also protects those who commit copyright infringements there. The internet is localized by hardware only, otherwise it's a uniform global environment subject to self regulation and international agreements and law. For any country to unilaterally impose economic controls of any kind isn't solely an infringement on its own people and an advantage to a chosen few corporations - it's an infringement on the rights of every net user anywhere in the World, be it private, corporate or governmental.

Meanwhile, you can check whether this website has already been blocked in PRC, here: http://greatfirewallofchina.org/ ...

Sorry for the tirade, I don't even know if I'm off or on topic anymore.

[manchild]

Since this thread is ruined 99.9% let me say that there shouldn't be argument with communist party. Romanian way is the most efficient way.

[Ciro Pabón]

There isn't an argument, MC, of course. What could we say about a site in chinese? I'm waiting for comments from our Albanian friends, but I think they will agree with you: pictures rock (kind of). The text, well...

I, for one, am happy to obey our new masters. Remember, they are watching us with fatherly concern. Blink, blink.



checkered, do you happen to know a site that gives us a clue about NSA spying... erm, I mean, protecting us from terrorism? I, for one, am happy to obey our new new masters. Blink, blink.

[modbaraban]

I, for one, am happy to obey our new new masters. Blink, blink.

Too late, Ciro. The agents are heading your way already. Do not try to escape..... the matrix has you etc. etc.

[Belatti]

What can I say about a text in chinese... it has been said that is one of the most difficult to learn languages in the world.. (maybe with spanish.. jeje)

Ciro, there is no problem in obeying your masters, unless they ban F1... and there is where a terrible war shall began...

[checkered]

checkered, do you happen to know a site that gives us a clue about NSA spying... erm, I mean, protecting us from terrorism?

Perhaps this whole thread should be placed "off topic"?



Nah, I'm not very

security conscious in any meaningful way in my personal communications, so I haven't actually tried to find out "who's listening". Sadly I haven't got that much to hide. I've entertained a feeble interest in issues to do with privacy and human rights (as is propably evident from my postings), but I try to steer clear from vilifying anyone merely because I feel potentially threatened, wronged or insulted by their actions. I have staunch beliefs which have evolved over time, but also hopefully a sense of realism about the imperfections of this World.

That being said, if you're interested I'll post some links here, just in case you haven't found those already ... I've gotten the impression that you're very good at finding your way around the net. WIRED reported about US domestic wiretapping (along with other media) some time ago - The Newbie's Guide to Detecting the NSA (link) - but I haven't really followed up on that since. Maybe a starting point in investigating the matter, though.

It is often taken as a fact that espionage is always at least on a legal grey zone, if not outright illegal. In fact, there's a lot of legislation about the issue as exemplified in "The Ready Guide to Intercept Legislation" (pdf link) ... and it's hardly the US alone that is very advanced in the field. In fact, "Lawful Interception" is big business and not solely the domain of spies roaming around the Earth. They have an industry forum, too, the Global LI Industry Forum (link). (Yesterday, btw, it was in the news that CIA is going to establish a "social networking" site for its spies ... "Faceless Book", perhaps?) The European parliament's ECHELON report (pdf link) is a bit dated by now, I'm sure, but might make for interesting reading nonetheless.

Of course there are also those who are trying to safeguard "digital rights" as they best see fit. My impression is that Electronic Frontier Foundation (link) has voiced many very valid concerns and defends its place very well in the current environment. Hactivismo (link) is an interesting bunch (for the lack of a better word) - they're perhaps a little closer to the fringe than the EFF is, I haven't looked too closely at what they represent ... but they sure have a personal way of communicating their ideas! There's also a site called cryptome that has to do with electronic surveillance and such, but I won't link it here since it isn't at all clear for me what the site is trying to achieve by its actions. Google or Wiki it if interested.

And then for some spying fun: Apparently cryptography and signals intelligence is child's play, after all! CryptoKids (link) , courtesy of the NSA - no kidding! And when you're done with that, you might try and type your "significant other's" mobile number (or perhaps it's better to just use a ficticious number) in this "service" ... SunSat Satellite Solutions Co. (link)

[Carlos]

Wikipedia has an article on nearly everything; including the NSA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency

And This is a Federal News Radio discussion of the NSA:
http://wtop2.com/index.php?nid=35&sid=712179

EDIT - Federal News Radio is an obscure internet-only broadcast mainly catering to US government employees and issues that are mainly of interest to that obtuse audience

[The Nutty Professor]

Is there a translation control? If there is I can't find it.