That's for you, guys. We traveled to Europe (France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Holland, etc) three times in the last 4 years and the general public attitude towards the Americans are nights and days as compared to those pre 9/11. It's not only from our personal experience. My wife and I talked to lots of American tourists (from both blue states and Jesus land) during our trips, and lots of our friends who traveled to Europe within the last several years. More than 80% of those were shocked to see the hostility shown against them and feel that it is a more troublesome issue than pickpocketing. Our personal worst experience happens when 1) a guy working in Paris railway station information office called us American b****es and refused to give us info; 2) we were denied gas at a gas station when the boss shouted to us that he would not sell gas to Americans in Switzerland.
Hey, Rockets fans in China: Just curious - can you/do you guys use Google? We've been hearing all this uproar about Google (and other big search engine companies) allowing the Chinese government to censor the search results that are returned when searching for certain 'controversial' subjects, such as the T-Square Massacre.. Are you guys able to get around all that mess somehow? Please say you can..
But see, I don't understand that and I think it's much more of a myth than reality. If anything, I have very rarely seen any Asian (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Taiwanese, whomever) ride around in anything other than a Toyota/Lexus or a Honda/Acura. I think it's a myth, most of my Asian friends are proud owners of Hondas (Civics, Accords, Preludes)
I don't mean, can you GET to Google. I meant, could you get to an UNCENSORED Google. That is what I am curious about.
Yes only Taiwanese will ever stoop that low, market for Japs goods, the Chinese won't ever market them, they just buy them. Taiwanese =/= Chinese
Yes, true, but that's illegal, unlike Japanese products being legal in the States and elsewhere. I am merely saying that I think most Asians I have come across don't regard purchasing Japanese products as something offensive to their cultural sensibilities, if that was the case, most Asians would be riding around in GM of Ford vehicles, or some other Euro product. Of course, I could be wrong here, but I am just relaying what I have come across from personal experience.
Actually I had a uncle who would not buy Japanese cars for decades, that is until his GM cars kept crapping out on him, he finally tried a Toyota and now he is a Japanese car only driver.
I think his point is you can hate Cuba but still be fond of Cuban cigars. Chinese dislike Japanese but they don't mind Honda cars. But a celebrity like Yao has to worry about public image issues. Besides, Toyota does suck. It doesn't have any personality at all!
How do we know that our phone calls, emails are not censored by HSD? Even the congress doesn't know what is been done.
That pic of Jackie Chan just reconfirms my deep seeded belief that Chuck Norris would so beat his ass.
Most of Asians have Japanese cars becuase they are oil-efficient especially when the gas price is skyrocketing these days. Yao has enought money not to care about that. Besides, earning some Japanese Yen will make him lose more money and respect. He is a smart guy.
Google did offer an uncensored version, google.com, just like anywhere else. It's a bit slow, and not endorsed by the government. The self-censored version is google.cn
