China, Taiwan and the Solomon Islands riots: Many Chinese-owned businesses have been burnt to the ground, and Australian troops had to be called in to control riots in the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, I am reading a slew of different and sometimes contradictory stories about what ignited the conflict, and while I still can't sort it out, China and Taiwan are the keywords that keep popping up. Biff- I left the following comment at Pekingduck.org (a site well worth visiting): -- Perhaps you've already read Amy Chua's book, "World on Fire : How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability" Her Chinese aunt was murdered and ripped off by the hired help in the Philippines. The police report only listed 'revenge' as the motive and the cops refused to pursue the case out of sympathy for the killer. Minorities hated for their financial savvy naturally includes the Chinese in SE Asia, but also Lebanese in West Africa, Ibo in Nigeria, Kikuyu in Kenya, etc. You get the picture. Yesteryear's global bogeyman was the Jew. Today it's the American. Apparently in the Solomons (frighteningly scary places according to both Jack London and Paul Theroux) the bogeyman is Chinese. And doesn't Fiji suffer from major bad blood between its Melanesian Mormons and Indian Hindus. Fiji sounds like comedy on the face of it, but it's actually a pretty serious business I gather...

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China 'selling prisoners' organs': Professor Wigmore described this as quite widespread and growing. He and his colleagues, he said, had all seen cases of British patients who had considered going to China for transplants. He really hoped, he added, that people would think very hard about whether they should. Biff- Dying people ain't going to be thinking hard about this. Secrecy surrounding executions in China has always made it difficult to gather facts. Biff- So is this actually taking place? Or is this more hype safely sold to papers by reporters who know that no credible rebuttal will emerge from authorities. Think back to Iraq and all the previously credible hype which has since been refuted. How eagerly do you wish to believe?

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BBC: Mount Merapi smoulders: Farmers on the Indonesian island of Java are silhouetted against volcanic Mount Merapi, which has recently begun spewing smoke and ash... Seventy-nine-year old Marijan is the "gatekeeper" of Mount Merapi - appointed by the nearby king to mediate with the spirits of the mountain. Biff- Sounds like something from J.R.R. Tolkien unless you remember the 1998 financial crisis. Local travelers were murdered across Java because they were suspected of being the demons, temporarily in human form, who were responsible for the crisis. Authentically dangerous.

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Capital sees its population ageing: Experts define an ageing society as one with more than 7 per cent of its population aged above 65. A survey found Beijing has 1.66 million residents over 65, making up 10.8 per cent of the permanent population.

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新丐幫》穿著整齊 乞討兼打劫: Biff- Comic crime in which a beggar with fake impediments is so flush with the thought of stealing a real beggars takings, that he fails to notice the photographer beside him taking pictures while he stealthily commits his crime. A truely homeric achievement of The Simpsons proportions.

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The Minister of Minstrelsy: But while Peterson's strident style may be unique, with his extremist politics he is merely playing the role of front man for a murky, well-funded network of white nationalist activists and right-wing Beltway operatives. By deploying Peterson to gatherings like the Heritage event and into the media, this coterie of conservatives have been able to apply a bold veneer of blackness over the brand of bigotry they find increasingly inconvenient to espouse on their own. Biff- What's a left-wing rant without a conspiracy theory and a grab-bag of assorted evil-doers? The more the far-left throws stones at the far-right, the more they mimic each other's values and rhetoric.

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Professor Disrupts Rev. Peterson’s Speech at University of Texas at San Antonio: Wary of potential trouble, guards hovered around Jesse. A black student approached him asking, “Why do you say you hate black people? (Of course he never said that). Another asked, “Why do you say you’re not black?” (Rev. Peterson never said he’s not black, he said he’s not an African American). Biff- Just another day on campus enjoying the freedom to be heterodox and speak one's mind. I've been saying for years that not one person in a hundred really believes in free speech until they've been actively persuaded. With most people, when under fire, the default position is completely at odds with the expressed position.