Top 10 key terminologies .....

And the Top Ten Key Terms:

1) "Auspicous Clouds"

2) "Good Luck Beijing"

3) "One World, One Dream"

4) "Opening and Closing Ceremonies"

5) "Bird's Nest and Water Cube"

6) "Countdown"

7) "Ticket Lottery"

8) "Torch Relay Route"

9) "Olympic song"

10) "Beijing invites the world"

The "Top Ten" voting period ran from November 22, 2007 to December 21, 2007, Beijing time. A total of 1,063,954 web users took part in the voting, representing 49 countries and regions, including China, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, Japan, and Germany.

The campaign was organized by the Internet Affairs Bureau of the State Council Information Office, the Beijing Internet Affairs Office and the Media and Communications Department of BOCOG. It was sponsored by 13 well-known websites.

Bionic Ball, Technology in the foot ball ....

A new "bionic ball" being tested at the Club World Cup in Japan could soon be a regular feature at FIFA tournaments, its developers said on Thursday.The technology, involving magnetic sensors that determine if the micro-chipped ball has crossed the goal line, has worked well so far, according to co-designers adidas and Cairos.

The developers added that feedback from the players at the seven-team competition had been positive."We are very satisfied," adidas's chief of FIFA Affairs Gunter Pfau told a news conference in Tokyo to demonstrate the ball's qualities. "No ball was damaged. All the systems have worked."An implanted microchip sends an instant signal to the referee's wristwatch to indicate if the whole of the ball has crossed the line.

courtesy : the daily star

Green Bus

The first batch of 20 double-decker, environment-friendly buses have been manufactured.

The diesel-run bus, upgraded to meet the national IV Emission Standard, is 90 percent domestically produced and extends 12 meters.

The steward-less bus adopts a passenger-friendly design in the floor layout, passenger flow, and seat material and maintains stability while being driven.

A total of 350 buses of this kind are expected to serve Beijing ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.

The stadiums ..... venue for the victorious

Hey some of the places where the action will happen at the Beijing 2008 olympics ...... be there to watch the fun, atleast be glued to your TV sets to watch the action.

Pin the hopes

The medal(s) for the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 is designed with inspiration coming from Bi ....... China's ancient Jade piece inscribed with Dragon ....

Fuwa - the mascots of Beijing Olympics 2008

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.
Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Bei Bei is the Fish, Jing Jing is the Panda, Huan Huan is the Olympic Flame, Ying Ying is the Tibetan Antelope and Ni Ni is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.
Spreading Traditional Chinese Good Wishes Wherever They Go, In the ancient culture of China, there is a grand tradition of spreading good wishes through signs and symbols. Each of Fuwa symbolizes a different blessing -- and will honor this tradition by carrying their good wishes to the children of the world. Prosperity, happiness, passion, health and good luck will be spread to every continent as Fuwa carry their invitation to Beijing 2008 to every part of the globe.

At the heart of their mission -- and through all of their work -- Fuwa will seek to unite the world in peace and friendship through the Olympic spirit. Dedicated to helping Beijing 2008 spread its theme of One World, One Dream to every continent, Fuwa reflect the deep desire of the Chinese people to reach out to the world in friendship through the Games -- and to invite every man, woman and child to take part in the great celebration of human solidarity that China will host in the light of the flame in 2008.

courtesy : xinhua

Command centre - the nerve of the Beijing Olympics 2008

Beijing's first government data pool and emergency command center has commenced operations.
The center will operate during and after the Olympics.
The Digital Beijing Building, located a few hundred meters northwest of the National Stadium, the main stadium for the Games, will be the central powerhouse of all statistical, visual and audio information from all 37 venues nationwide during the Olympics.
The center will be able to receive live images from spectator stands at all venues, sources told China Daily.

The center, 11 storeys high and two levels below ground, will continue to be the government's command headquarters in the event of an emergency after the Games.
"Here we have access to the cell phone network, the land phone network, the government's network and the police network, either cable or wireless networks. That's why we are able to respond as the command headquarters in times of an emergency," an official from the municipality's IT office, who requested anonymity, said.
"Because we have been working with five telecom and Internet service providers, we are basically a telecom headquarters."
Experts said that with such a network, the city would be able to track phone and Internet communications in the event of a terrorist attack.
"Unlike the US where reportedly 100 percent of phone communications and 80 percent of Web communications are monitored, our country has not obtained advanced technologies like that," said Liu Jianwei, an electronics information expert from Beijing-based Beihang University.
"At the moment, problems like web communication filtering have not been solved. But I believe both citizens and the technical personnel should conduct themselves under the framework of the law."

courtesy : xinhua

It's really small - ~the world around~

One half of me was really surprised and the other (cynical one, i guess) was not equally surprised to see the same / similar posts in this link (of a Confused Calcuttan) and leading me to another link of Adino on my earlier post on East Vs West .......... (also check out the 3 depictions missed by me in Adino's post with topics : "Stomach Ache, Defnition of Beauty & Perception of Each other's culture")

This only makes you realise how small the world around you is !!!

Please visit the ORIGINAL of the East Vs West design too ....


errata : my earlier post said this design was conceived by Liu Young, But its actually Ms Liu Yang

East vis-a-vis West

A very interesting email hit my mailbox, this was a caricature based comparion of the various attributes of the Easterners (China, Malays, Indonesians, Thai, India .... mostly Asians) and of the Westerners ( i guess mostly eurpoeans).

Though some of them you don't tend to agree fully, but this brings smile and a nod to most of our lips. This was concieved by Liu Young, born in China & Educated in Germany.

The BLUE coloured ones depict Westerners

The RED coloured ones depict Easterners.

on Opinion :-

on Way of Life :-

on Punctuality :-

on Contacts :-

on Anger :-

on Queue when waiting :-

on Me :-

on Sundays on the road :-

on Party :-

on Inside a restaurant :-

on Travel :-

on Handling of problems :-

on Three meals a day :-

on Transporation :-

on Elderly in day to day life :-

on Shower timings :-

on Moods and Weather :-

on The BOSS :-

on What's trendy :-

on The Child :-

on Things that are new :-

Do you agree ? .............