Wukan (烏坎村): China’s Democracy Experiment – great documentary

A documentary about the Wukan Village’s (烏坎村) Democracy Experiment that happened after the protests is a film that I wish I had the guts, access, ability, and talent to make. Have a watch of the full six-part series playlist on Youtube (more info on Aljazeera) or you can click the episodes below. Also check out Lianain Films’ James and Lynn Facebook and website.

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 1

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 2

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 3

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 4

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 5

Wukan: China’s Democracy Experiment – Episode 6

Why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One of his presidency

*** Why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One of his presidency *** //I respect my FB friend for his professional work but I disagree with him. Here is my comment (with added web links & slight updates).//

XXXX, One day I would love to chat in person. Until then, here is my wordy take of why I think President Trump has made the world a much worse place on Day One. Starting with the least damaging (the mere “monetary” damages). Trump said the following in his Inauguration Speech and he has said all of these during the campaign so they are not new.

1) “For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;”
>>> International trades benefit everyone or we just don’t do it. Stances like this is getting China, Canada, etc worrying about trade wars. For the record, //Canada is the top export destination for 35 states. Nearly 9 million U.S. jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada.//

2) “Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;”
>>> Forgoing defence of NATO, Japan, etc?? Should they pay? How much? Think like a foreign leader for a moment. Which sovereign leader is stupid enough to be held hostage for a king’s ransom for its defence? This will force the world into an arms race? EU politicians are taking notice and starting to distrust US. Putin’s mission accomplished in Day One of Trump’s presidency. Fantastic!

3) “We’ve defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own;” & “From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.”
>>> This is probably one of the saddest part of this cluster-beep.
Spoiler alert, I’m giving the answer before I tell the story.
We Canadians are PROUD of us NOT putting Canada First! We PRIDE ourselves of putting “Others First”!

Some Americans have very short memory. On one sunny 9/11 day years ago, some evil people thought of turning planes into high-tech guided missiles with built-in human collateral protection. In that uncertain time, Canada let ~200 flights fully loaded with people (potential terrorists flown missiles) diverted to our major cities like Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal and Toronto (all with millions of people).

The “Others” we Canadians put “First” happened to be thousands of Americans and people visiting US! I would say the probability of me winning the lottery last night is higher than Trump coming to aid of Canadians if the shoes were swapped.

I’m human but I try to live by the Golden Rule when I can. What kind of horrible world we live in if we always and only put ourselves first?!

Right now, with “America First”, it feels like a great friend has flipped and become a psychopath.

And 1, 2, 3 and many more are the reasons why Trump Day One is the worst day of any US President’s Day One!

P.S. For me to write this wordy blah blah blah, I had to take a strong dose of Trump-vaccination. So I watch a 9 minute CBC News video of U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson paying tribute to the town of Gander, N.L. for “its generosity on 9/11, hailing its residents for their grace and good humour and representing “the best of us.””

//“This could well be the motto of this town: ‘Without waiting to be asked,'” Jacobson said.
He spoke about one stranded passenger, a child, who turned four in Gander soon after 9/11. All his gifts were stuck on the plane he had been on, so to make him feel better, a local Gander family threw him a party.
“They consoled and they cooked, they cooked and they cooked,” Jacobson recalled.//

Ref (with video, an easy Google): Gander on 9/11 told ‘you were the best of us’ CBC News Posted: Sep 11, 2011

Watch “Revolution Trilogy” 睇「革命三部曲」

(Watch my trilogy of documentaries.)

Watch my docs Revolution Trilogy 睇「革命三部曲」

20190812 Director new preface re the word “Revolution”:

The title of my debut documentary “Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」” was decided in 2004, so 15 years ago. The rationale is similar to “industrial revolution” or “internet revolution”, ideas for improvement. Nothing to do with violence.

“長毛革命”在2004, 15年前定名, 其實跟”工業革命”或者”互聯網革命”道理相同, 是嶄新改革的意思, 完全同”暴力”沒有任何關係.

It saddens and pains me that Hong Kong today has deteriorated so badly that the word “Revolution” has now been twisted by both the HK and BJ governments to mean violence and the guaranteed and international recognized free speech right is almost gone in HK.

可憐今天的香港, 還是逃不了中國幾千年以來皇帝”以言入罪”, 沒有”言論自由”的悲哀。

=====

Director/producer/independent reporter Kempton Lam has made three full-length documentaries from 2004 – 2015. Kempton’s debut documentary Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」 has been collected by the Canadian National Archive since 2009. The three documentaries are collectively known as “Revolution Trilogy” 「革命三部曲」 and are in Cantonese with English subtitles (廣東話、英文字幕). You can watch the three films at this YouTube Playlist (beautifully projected on your big screen HDTV or on your computer). Enjoy!

Long Hair Revolution 「長毛革命」 (full-length 2005) (read film & Canadian national archive info)

HKtv Revolution 「香港電視革命」 (full-length 2015) (read Director’s Statement)

Umbrella Revolution: History as Mirror Reflection 「雨傘革命實錄：以史為鏡」 (full-length 2015) (read Director’s Statement)

Peterborough mosque arson/hate crime reactions – Without waiting to be asked

“Community Support for Peterborough’s Only Mosque” crowdfunding campaign screen capture

It sickens decent Canadians to watch the news of Peterborough mosque arson (a suspected hate crime) and knowing the fire has caused ~$80,000 in estimated smoke damage. Peterborough mayor Daryl Bennett, MP Maryam Monsef and Imam Shazim Khan came together quickly to condemn the attack and the mayor said the attack was “totally out of character”. And Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement in response to multiple recent incidents, “Diversity is Canada’s strength. These vicious and senseless acts of intolerance have no place in our country and run absolutely contrary to Canadian values of pluralism and acceptance.”

Sometimes darkness gives people a chance to shine light. A crowdfunding project entitled “Community Support for Peterborough’s Only Mosque” was quick in raising $110,536 (far exceeding the upper estimate of the repair costs) from 2097 contributors in just 2 days, all “without waiting to be asked” (to quote the five eloquent words by U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson’s 2011/09/11 tribute (CBC video) at the town of Gander, N.L.).

P.S. For the record, I like to acknowledge Duane Rousselle‘s awesome work by quoting a 2015 Nov 15 Huffington Post Canada article,

“Duane Rousselle, a Peterborough resident, quickly started a FundRazr page on Sunday to encourage those “of all or no faiths” to help the Muslim community rebuild the mosque.

Donations immediately started flooding in, totalling roughly $6,600 in two hours.

“It is heartwarming, to say the least,” Rousselle wrote on his personal Facebook page, about these initial figures.

Four hours later, the campaign hit the $20,000 mark — and reached over 25 per cent of its total fundraising goal.“

On Nov 18, 2015, Duane gave the following public Facebook update plus some feedback to the online fund raising tool Fundrazr.

“The numbers are in:
Total amount raised before fees = $110,536.35
Total combined FundRazr/WePay fees removed = $9,361.47
Total amount remaining after fees = $101,174.88”

P.P.S. In a previous post, I wrote about my tiny volunteering work in “Thanks from Office of Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman – Without waiting to be asked” not to “brag” but simply trying to inspire others to volunteer and to help “without waiting to be asked”. Just like Duane, we can all do what we can, big or small.

Remembrance Day – Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman (year round care, vigilance and actions)

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan’s 2015 Remembrance Day message

Remembrance

On Remembrance Day, it is customary to honour and show our appreciation of our veterans past and present for their service and sacrifice for Canada. Quoting our new Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan‘s Facebook posting,

On this Remembrance Day, we honour the courage shown, time and again, by our men and women in uniform, past and present. We show our deep appreciation for all they have sacrificed for Canada.

Once a year, we buy our poppy pins and wear them on our clothing to show we remember and we care.

Year round care, vigilance and actions

In 2010, Canada’s first Veteran’s Ombudsman Colonel Pat Stogran, via his passionate/frank words and actions (Ottawa Citizen “Embattled ombudsman Pat Stogran makes his last stand for Canada’s veterans“), got my blood boiled and taught me that as Canadians we could and should do more by speaking up to help our veterans at home by holding our governments in Ottawa accountable to keep our promises to take care of our veterans and their families.

Power of social media

As a start, please LIKE & SHARE the Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman & Ombudsman des vétérans du Canada official Facebook pages.

“The Veterans Ombudsman works toward ensuring that the sacrifices of Canada’s Veterans and their families are recognized through the provision of services, benefits, and support in a fair, accessible, and timely manner. The Ombudsman plays an important role in raising awareness of the needs and concerns of Veterans and their families.“

LIKE & SHARE these pages so we Canadians can help the Ombudsman to keep issues important to our veterans in Canadians’ hearts & minds and hold our government accountable to do the right thing for our veterans all year round. When we make noises in social media, call or email our MPs, they listen.

Blood boiled since 2010

In 2010, Rick Mercer talked about Canada’s first Veteran’s Ombudsman Colonel Pat Stogran’s battle with our government to fight for our veterans. My blood boiled and I was changed forever

Dianne Feinstein on the CIA and the Separation of Powers

Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, on the CIA and the Separation of Powers.  Watching and reading American history in the making (I hope).

Video via C-Span. Full text via Guardian.

The CIA: the double life of Dianne Feinstein (Guardian editorial)

March 13, 2014 update: “The CIA shows its fangs at home: Neil Macdonald – Spy agency allegedly hacked into senate committee computer“

60 Minutes interview with ex-CIA No. 2 Mike Morell – Op-ed

This most insightful 60 Minutes segment from last night is totally worth checking out,

“An interview with ex-CIA No. 2 Mike Morell opens a rare window into the inside affairs of the U.S. intelligence agency during a trying time in U.S. history. John Miller reports.”

First of all, I think former Deputy CIA director Mr. Mike Morell is a consummate professional. The likes of Mr. Morell and former deep cover CIA operative Ms. Valerie Plame command my respect as they are professional spies that have been trained and spent their lives to serve and protect the interest and safety of the United States.

Having declared my respect for Mr. Morell, I have to say I disagree with his view re Mr. Edward Snowden and I consider Mr. Snowden a whistleblower.  I shared this in a Facebook status,

“Former CIA Deputy Director Mr. Mike Morell is entitled to his opinion. As a Canadian, I beg to differ. The United States used to stand as a beacon of light and a shining example for countries and citizens around the world. Now, US is no better than second rate countries like China who spy on her own citizens and snoop around the world for military and business gains. In fact, if one day America were to learn Chinese thuggish and lawless behaviours towards her own citizens, then US will become one step closer to being like China, a country that sends her plain cloths police to beat up her own citizens. Thinking about it, the US does send drones to kill her own citizens already, so congrats, the US has officially worst than China in some area already!“

Take this news “NSA’s alleged spying on Merkel may have broken German law” for example. My dear NSA, what the beep were you thinking?? Sure POTUS may have plausible deniability but did you guys think through the full implications? What the beep?!!

My dear NSA, imagine you are married to 10 hot supermodel babes, why the beep would you want to spy on your Germany hot babe?!!

In more serious words, do you remember the War in Afghanistan (2001–present)? Germany along with Canada and eight other countries helped and risked the lives of our soldiers and citizens’  to help you fight that war. You bunch of beeping morons were now found to have spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel since 2002!!! How dare you?! Enough said for now. It is time for the US to talk to the world, allies and enemies (China, Russia, etc) and rebuild lost trust.

Oct 28, 2013, 11:10pm HK time update: CNN Opinion, “NSA scandal highlights Obama’s unfulfilled promise“

interview Horatio Tsoi, former HKTV documentary producer/director

This is my Cantonese interview with Horatio Tsoi, former HKTV documentary producer/director on 2013/10/27 訪問蔡錦源港視前高級編導.

Cantonese interviews with HK Legislative Council members Claudia Mo & Alan Leong Kah-kit

The following are two Cantonese interviews with HK Legislative Council members Claudia Mo & Alan Leong Kah-kit.

立法會 毛孟靜 議員政總十月二十一曰訪問

立法會 梁家傑 議員政總十月二十一曰訪問

Kashy Keegan sings “This is my dream” LIVE at HKTV rally outside of HKSAR gov HQ

Kashy Keegan sings “This is my dream” LIVE at HKTV rally outside of HKSAR gov HQ

Kashy Keegan #HKTV rally interview after “This is my dream” performance 

Commentary: HK Chief Executive Mr. CY Leung and the Chinese government may not realize it until it is too late. But the repeated protests on the street and in front of the HKSAR Government HQ for  various bad policies may have the unintended consequence of training citizens to voice their views publicly which is required in any healthy democracy.

Happy 57th birthday, “Long Hair”, Leung Kwok-hung!

I want to wish “Long Hair”, Leung Kwok-hung, happy 57th birthday, good health and all the best! Here is my 2005 documentary “Long Hair Revolution” filmed only two months after his election to Legislative Council of Hong Kong. I’m happy to say my first documentary has been added to the federal government “Library and Archives Canada” permanent collection in Ottawa.

Long Hair Revolution 長毛革命 @ national archive of Canada

“Chilling” effect on federal archivists and librarians

From “ABCs of ‘behaviour regulation’ for federal librarians and archivists”

“The code says that LAC staff, which includes Canada’s leading librarians and archivists, who set foot in classrooms, attend conferences or speak up at public meetings on their own time are engaging in “high risk” activities.

Given the dangers, the code says, the department’s staff must clear such “personal” activities with their managers in advance to ensure there are no conflicts or “other risks to LAC.”

The code is already having a “chilling” effect on federal archivists and librarians, who used to be encouraged to actively engage and interact with groups interested in everything from genealogy to preserving historical documents, says archivist Loryl MacDonald at the University of Toronto.“

Belated Happy 102nd Birthday to Prof. Ronald Coase with special #PDFtribute

Happy belated 102nd Birthday to Nobel Economics Laureate Professor Ronald Coase. Wishing professor Coase good health and all the best in 2013!

In 2009, I took the initiative to spend a few days to download, process, upload, transcribe (small part of), and time-code professor Coase‘s 2003 Coase Lecture (a massive .mov file) to share on YouTube (6 clips in a playlist) to allow interested people from around the world to watch and learn as a way to celebrate professor Coase‘s 99th birthday.

Here is the 2003 Coase Lecture by Ronald Coase – Part 1. Watch the other 5 parts via this YouTube playlist.

For the last few birthdays of professor Coase, I mainly reshare the above video clips (with a new text interview in 2011). This time around, I’ve taken a new initiative to honour professor Coase‘s 102nd birthday. You see, a few years ago I went to the University of Calgary Law Library to conduct some US patent research for a client. As a bonus/treat for myself, I spent some time to download quite a few academic papers by professor Coase.

To celebrate professor Coase‘s 102nd birthday, I’ve uploaded the following three important papers plus a bonus paper as a special gift to readers of professor Coase‘s ideas.

Here are the PDFs of the academic papers
– 1937 – Nature of the Firm
– 1959 – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
– 1974 – The Lighthouse in Economics

Bonus academic papers
– 1947 – The Origin of the Monopoly of Broadcasting in Great Britain

In the wise words of professor Coase,

“The only support I got was from my contemporaries. […] If this tale has any general significance, it is that new ideas are most likely to come from the young who are also the group most likely to recognize the significance of those ideas.”

I was inspired to upload these academics papers by the #PDFtribute movement to honour the 26 years young Aaron Swartz (1986 – 2013) who died partly as a result from his fight with the outdated and outmoded JSTOR system to make academic papers available for free for all.

For me personally, I received these important papers for free from the Law Library. And I see them (Firm, FCC, Lighthouse) deserve to be read by as many people as possible instead of under the messed up limited JSTOR manner. The bottom line, to me, by having these papers available by a single click here is that this save people’s physical travel time to go down to their local university libraries where these papers can be downloaded for free anyway!

It has not escaped my attention and noticed the paradox that The Lighthouse in Economics is a paper that disprove, with facts, the incorrect belief by many people (including my former MBA classmate who has a B.A. degree in Economics) that Lighthouse services cannot be charged thus has to be made freely available by the governments!

*** Concluding thoughts ***

I want to emphasize that I totally agree with the many academics in the #PDFtribute movement and Aaron that it is about time we in Canada and US require academic papers to be made publicly downloadable for FREE in perpetuity if any part (or whole) of their research funding come from any level of government (thus tax payers’ money, our money)!

Happy 102nd birthday professor Coase!

Goodbye Aaron, you left us far too soon!

Video interview with Oscar Shortlisted doc director Alison Klayman, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

The insightful, fun, and sometimes deadly serious documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (艾未未：道歉你妹; title in Taiwan 艾未未：草泥馬) has been Oscar shortlisted from 126 films down to 15, coming out ahead of films like “The Central Park Five” by the legendary Ken Burns et al, and “Head Games” by Steve James (director of the amazing Hoop Dreams).

Alison Klayman, director of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, was very nice and cool to do her first post-Oscar-shortlist video interview with me on the day after she came back from a Bangkok film festival trip. Here is my video interview with Alison.

Video interview with Oscar Shortlisted Alison Klayman, director of Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry trailer (Official selection Sundance 2012 Film Festival)

I just noticed on the back wall in the following film still, the pictures are the concept drawings that lead to the Remembering (2009), an installation for the Façade of the House of German Art.

Alison and I talked about the middle finger salute in the interview. To me, it is a show of defiance to the powerful, be it the one-party ruled Chinese government or any other governments or powerful institutions.

July 1st #CanadaDay and LIVE broadcast of massive #HK71 street protest via @feng37 – #Democracy #RuleOfLaw #FreePress

As I watched the #HK71 massive July 1st, 2012 street protests (on the day of the 15th anniversary of the hangover of HK to Chinese government, and the swearing-in of the new Chief Executive of HK, CY Leung), I can no longer pretend to be just a happy man on #CanadaDay. In fact, as I see massive problems in HK, I have to be honest and admit that I see Canada is full of our own problems as well when I tweeted,

145secs till Canada’s 145th birthday! Happy #CanadaDay I LOVE you #canada I promise 2 work harder to make you better! #democracy #ruleoflaw

To point out one bright spot. I’ve been searching for **ANY** LIVE broadcast by citizens re the #HK71 street protests, I finally found the following clip(s) in a channel!

feng37 is broadcasting LIVE #HK71 street protest clips like http://bambuser.com/v/2794775 via his Bambuser channel http://bambuser.com/channel/feng37 #democracy #RuleOfLaw

Make sure you check out the clips at this channel http://bambuser.com/channel/feng37.

Update: I’ve confirmed via John Kennedy @cyberzombies, Web producer at South China Morning Post), that he is feng37 saying “@Kempton Hey, yeah @feng37 is my account for Chinese tweets.” Note that I got to know about all the video uploads initially via John‘s tweets.

P.S. Re Canada – I love you.  In Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom, when news anchor Will McAvoy was asked,

“What makes America the greatest country in the world.”

Executive Producer MacKenzie McHale as an audience member (without McAvoy knowing if she was there), wrote on a card and signal to McAvoy on stage, “IT’S NOT” On the next card, McHale wrote “BUT IT CAN BE.“

The same question can be asked of Canada. And I submit the same answer applies.

*******

I am happy that feng37’s solution of using bambuser (which I also used in my AB election report) was much easier to handle (just an app on a mobile phone, iPhone/Android/etc) to film LIVE #HK31 street protests have given us some great footage to watch without Television stations’ filtering.

*******

The following are what I’ve tweeted earlier tonight. And I am happy that they have been superseded by the above broadcasted clips.

*******

Tweeted the following tonight for #hk71 street protest.

Anyone streaming LIVE video of #hk71 street protest? Can someone post links so people can watch? If not, here is a guide how anyone can do it

9 Steps to LIVE broadcast #hk71 street protest Step1:Get 3G wireless USB stick & plug into laptop Step2:From gmail, get free Google+ AC

Step3 to LIVE broadcast #hk71 install G+ Hangout video plugin Step4:Link YouTube account to G+ Step5:Start Hangout On Air Step6:Broadccast

Step7 to LIVE broadcast #hk71 Share YouTube live video link on social media channels:Twitter,FB,G+,etc Bring extra batteries 4 #democracy

Step8: Here is Google demo1 of LIVE broadcasting using G+ #HangoutOnAir

Step9: Here is Google demo2 of LIVE broadcasting using G+ #HangoutOnAir #hk71

Are polls broken?

After the recent Alberta general election and the universally incorrect polls, I wonder if our polls are broken fundamentally in “Are polls broken?” Feel free to leave your comments over there.

LIVE broadcasting Premier Alison Redford at 2012 Alberta Election PC HQ

Last night after the 2012 Alberta general election winners were declared unofficially on TV, I went down to do some LIVE broadcast from the PC HQ in Calgary Metropolitan Centre (see also here, here, here). Yes, I am a freelance reporter, I don’t have expensive broadcast equipment but I was doing LIVE broadcast from the PC HQ in Calgary Metropolitan Centre using my mobile phone!

It was quite an experience and experiment in that I was holding not one but TWO cameras! One was my Galaxy Nexus broadcasting live on the WIND Mobile network using my unlimited data plan. In another hand, I was holding my digital camera capturing higher quality video for later use (which I am sharing with you here in this post).

I’ve now used the 2012 Alberta general election as the testing ground of my first LIVE broadcast. I will be doing more LIVE broadcast in the future. For one, I will make sure I link the LIVE broadcast page where readers of my articles can actually watch my video reports LIVE on my channel!

My personal favourite moments last night were the quieter moments of Alison Redford out of the spotlight – Alberta Election 2012 (PC HQ)

Alison Redford’s first post-victory media scrum – Alberta Election 2012

Premier Alison Redford’s victory speech – Alberta Election 2012 (from PC HQ)

Alison Redford at 2012 Alberta Election PC HQ Festivities

See my whole set of Premier Alison Redford at 2012 Alberta Election PC HQ photos here.

2012 Alberta Elections – report and random exit poll

NOTE: All interviews are non-scientific and random depending on availability. (Total voters interviews requested: 19; Accepted: 5, Declined: 14)

11:12pm update: All my LIVE broadcast tonight from the PC HQ in Calgary Metropolitan Centre have been posted here.

6:30pm update: Saw this super cute yappy dog (video) on my way to vote in the 2012 Alberta general election.

4pm update: On camera LIVE exit poll and why this voter voted the way she did. LIVE interview #1, additional LIVE interview (#1a) as I was told the voter actually sat on former MLA Ron Stevens‘ board of directors.

***

The 2012 Alberta general election is one of the most hotly contested elections in recent years. What voters decide today will have deep impact to Albertans, Alberta-based, and Canadian businesses in general. Do Albertans and Alberta-based businesses want a new government? We will find out tonight.

The following are some unscientific random interviews done at a polling station in Calgary and one can wonder/guess if it means anything for the voters who don’t want to share who they vote for. Of course, I totally respect in Canada we have secret ballot for a good reason. TorStar has reported the Wildrose party has raised $2.3m, that is $800,000 more than PCs raised ($1.5m). Calgary Herald is reporting the election front-runners cast their votes in southern Alberta and Edmonton Journal will be one of the media posting election results later tonight.

2012 Alberta Elections – report and random exit poll

Note: If you have questions about the legalities of my exit poll and questions, please see my reply in the comments section.

China’s Ai Weiwei 4 Self-Surveillance Cameras ordered to shutdown, Beijing Gov’s 15 Surveillance Cameras still running

Chinese original (see below for English translation): “艺术家艾未未在其位于北京草场地258号的办公室、卧室、院子分别安装了4个摄像头，通过weiweicam.com 网站直播日常生活。2012年4月2日19点开始，至4月4日18:09分被迫关闭，进行了47小时9分钟，点击520万次，下载100GB。”

English translation: “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei installed four webcams in his office, bedroom, and yard at his Beijing studio (258 Fake) live-streaming his daily life on http://weiweicam.com The live-streaming started on 19:00 April 2nd, 2012 (one year anniversary of his illegal “disappearance” by Chinese government). The cameras were forced to shutdown on 18:09 on April 4th. The broadcast lasted 47 hours 9 minutes, 5.2 million visits, 100GB data downloaded.
The following are 73 screen captures of the live broadcast.”

When the Beijing Chinese government has 15 video cameras set outside of Ai Weiwei‘s studio/home recording all the comings and goings of Ai and his guests, it is a bit absurd that the four self-surveillance cameras installed by Ai inside his studio/home were ordered to be shutdown. I very much agree with Twitter user’s sentiment.

““It’s fine for them to set up cameras to look at you, but it’s not fine for you to set up cameras to help them look at you,” one Twitter user wrote in Chinese after the cameras went down. “Absurd in the extreme.”” [HT WSJ]

CNN has a video interview with Ai. BBC has an audio interview with Ai. Also see reports from WSJ, Guardian, France 24, NYT, LA Times, MSNBC.

Only in an absurd world you will see any government afraid of its people singing its national anthem! Well, here I’ve set pictures from Ai Weiwei’s 4 Self-Surveillance footage to he People’s Republic of China‘s national anthem “March of the Volunteers 义勇军进行曲“. Feel free to read the attached lyrics.

Ai Weiwei Self-Surveillance-HD set to March of the Volunteers (PRC national anthem)

*** English Translation of “March of the Volunteers” via Wikipedia:
Arise! All those who don’t want to be slaves!
Let our flesh and blood forge our new Great Wall!
As the Chinese people have arrived at their most perilous time.
Every person is forced to expel his very last cry.
Arise! Arise! Arise!
Our million hearts beating as one,
Brave the enemy’s fire, March on!
Brave the enemy’s fire, March on!
March on! March on! On!

*** Chinese Simplified original
起来！不愿做奴隶的人们！
把我们的血肉，筑成我们新的长城！
中华民族到了最危险的时候，
每个人被迫着发出最后的吼声。
起来！起来！起来！
我们万众一心，
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
冒着敌人的炮火，前进！
前进！前进！进！

NDP leadership vote cyber-attacked – Is the NDP claim of “No possible way to get into their process” misguided?

In response to CTV reporter question re integrity of the leadership vote, NDP Brad Lavigne (Principal Secretary to the Leader of the Official Opposition) stated “No possible way to get into their process.“

Really, is Brad serious? He should really read the October 2010 Washington Post article “Hacker infiltration ends D.C. online voting trial” for a change and stop the “No possible way” misguided claim at least (or delusional at worst)! Absolute declarative statement like “No possible way” is a sign of NOT understanding the complexity of security matters especially surrounding internet voting.

In Aug 2011, I wrote an in-depth article re the potential problems of internet voting if used in a Canada wide general election, “A software engineer’s critique of Elections Canada Chief Electoral Officer’s plan“. I thought it is timely to repost my article “A software engineer’s critique” again.

Currently according to the Spanish e-voting company Scytl and NDP, they are claiming the NDP leadership vote suffered a DoS attack and the integrity of the vote was not affected. As I tweeted: How did they prove there was no vote tempering? Won’t it be #NDP & #Scytl self interest to coverup their incompetence? #ndpldr

News articles,
– Globe and Mail, “Hackers attack NDP, delaying electronic leadership vote”
– CTV.ca, “Attempted cyber-attack holds up NDP leadership vote”
– CBC News, “NDP leadership voting delayed by outside attack“