Day: July 14, 2003

Real Life — The Review

Gamespot has an amusing review of the multiplayer online role-playing game we’re all stuck playing known as Real Life.

Player death is a serious issue in real life, and cause for continued debate among players, who often direct unanswerable questions on the subject to the game’s developers, who are apparently (and understandably) so busy that they generally keep silent. In short, players who die–at the hands of other players, by the occasional environmental hazard, or when their account expires–are essentially removed from the gameworld and apparently cannot return at all. This further discourages players from engaging in PVP combat, but it does help real life’s rapidly growing player population from getting too out of hand (though eventually there will be a need for additional servers).

China Flower Magnate Sentenced to 18 Years

The other day I wondered what had happened to Chinese flower magnate Yang Bin. Yang Bin had been caught up in a political dispute between China and North Korea over a free market zone near the border of the two countries. He was arrested last Fall by Chinese authorities and accused of falsifying financial documents and other crimes. The BBC reports that he was sentenced to 12 years in jail, though his lawyers are planning to appeal his sentence. Source: China’s ‘orchid king’ gets 18 years. The BBC, July 14, 2003.

Who Better to Represent the African Union than Robert Mugabe?

The BBC is reporting that the African Union has named Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe as its ambassador to southern Africa. According to the BBC,

Correspondents say his job involves promoting the ideals of the AU and raising funds for AU projects.

Mr Mugabe says his nomination shows Africa’s “admiration for Zimbabwe”.

What it shows is that the rhetoric among the African Union about promoting democracy and stemming corruption on that continent is simply the latest round of hot air from political leaders in that region.

Speaking of the situation in Liberia when Bush was visiting Africa last week, Thabo Mbeki said that African nations needed to do more of the heavy lifting in that continent. Instead, he and his fellow AU leaders are simply maintaining the status quo of making Africa safe for dictators and tyrants.

Zimbabwe opposition spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi characterized Mugabe’s selection as a betrayal of Zimbabwe and rightly characterized the AU as a “union of dictatorships.” Conveniently, the BBC reports that in addition to giving this post to Mugabe,

The Zimbabwe crisis was removed from the agenda of the AU summit.

And Mbeki and other African leaders wonder why Western nations are increasingly turning a deaf ear to that continent’s demands for economic assistance.

Source:

Mugabe African post condemned. The BBC, July 14, 2003.