From our Mailbag 11/04/00 - 11/11/00
Opinionated? Us? You're kidding, right?
From Steve C., Taipei, TAIWAN:
Dear Rod,
I particularly enjoyed Faycal Falaky's article on Jews, victimhood and anti-Semitism. I pretty much agreed with everything he said, and thought some of it applied just as well to Chinese people, or at least the Chinese in Taiwan.
The Chinese-language media here in Taiwan is very eager to report cases of apparent racial discrimination when the victims are Chinese living abroad, and are up in arms whenever a foreign publication criticizes Taiwan or Chinese people. (Taiwanese racism against Southeast Asians or Africans isn't newsworthy, it seems.) However - like the Israeli editor quoted by Faycal - several local columnists excoriate Taiwanese culture, behavior and attitudes on a weekly basis, and not only get away with it, but are respected for it.
A Taiwanese student being murdered/raped/robbed or insulted in Canada, Australia or elsewhere is headline news here; a Taiwanese student murdered/raped/robbed or insulted in Taiwan goes to the bottom of page seven. (I'm told the US media treats deaths of Americans abroad in the same way. I'm from Britain, where there are relatively few murders, so each one tends to be reported in some detail.)
Taiwan's immigration rules are strict, but "overseas Chinese" (citizens of other countries who may not be able to speak Mandarin, but are of Chinese descent) are able to get in, work legally, enter school quite easily. This is somewhat similar to Israel's Law of Return.
And much to the amusement of foreign residents, people who normally go to great lengths to stress their "Taiwaneseness" and distance themselves from China (ie the PRC), were suddenly full of ethnic pride whenever PRC athletes won gold medals during the recent Olympics.
I'd be curious to know what people living in other Chinese societies, Japan or South Korea have found similar things.
Keep up the good work on g21!
Steven C.
From Piyush K., Muzaffar Nagar, INDIA:
Rod,
Congrats! to you for a beautiful cover of this week's issue, I like it and the burning flame is superb! Ý
Regards,
piyush
From Ed C., Bloomfield, MI, USA:
Hats off to Mr. Falaky for a balanced approach to the touchy subject of how "victim" populations, and those outside that group, might best carry on. His theories on "self-victimization" could be applied to a host of "post-victim" populations.
EC
From B.J.S. (No City Provided,) USA:
I love your points, and I agree with you guys. I have choosen to use "blood on our hands" in a speech for school I hope you concure.
From Roget P., (No City Provided,) FRANCE:
G21 is a fabulous magazine I think. But I must agree with another reader from this continent -- Where is your European coverage?
Under "G21 Europe" I find the Balkans and the Eastern Europeans... but nothing from anywhere else. You should remedy this.
Roget
AND your favorite e-mails from The World's Mailbox
From "Father Jerome," (Lord knows where!):
QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD QUFD...... Okay, g21. You want stories, you want news and CONTENT THAT IS RELEVANT TO PEOPLE'S LIVES......Well, let me tell you like it is. This website is a science education site for 5 year old "scientists" who will have their first Doctorate at age 10. Adults also welcome. Okay, that's the "blurb", which implies that the content is certainly simple enough for an adult to understand ("WHAT? Boring, dull, scientific stuff? AGh-h-h!), if it can be enjoyed by a 5 year old. Whoa! Hold it though. Here's the kicker! Once you start reading, you find that it is not only scientific, philosophical, psychological, economic, medical, psychiatric, neurophysics, astrophysics, evolutionary, and a hell of a lot more disciplines than could be mentioned (EVEN theological!), BUT, the underlying CONTEXT......is SOCIAL and SOCIETAL!!! The facts presented touch ON JUST ABOUT ANY AND EVERYTHING! Okay, so much for my "protestations". Here, read for yourselves what others have to say: Check out the Accolades page:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/accolades.html And the website Summary for News Reporters page: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/NEWS.html Even the Awards page:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/websiteawards.html OH! Hey, I forgot...here's the OPENING PAGE: http://go.to/QUFD
Even check the Yahoo! International WebRings and other links which this website is a part of, at the bottom half of the Opening Page. Hey, this website is 1500+ webpages (and the first page - of the Main QUFD document - takes 37 hours to read!) Check the following page: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/keywords.html One more thing. Check this for another kicker: http://www.angelfire.com/ca/sanmateoissues/Pressrelease.html (Incidentally, the previous Press Release webpage contains all the personal and professional references for this individual, as you may wish to check for verification on this email.) Okay, so now, DISREGARD ALL THE PERIPHERY, and READ THE G--DAMN thing, and then you'll have a story! Or at least you'll see the implications, that many of our email readers are telling us about. And THAT may be your story!
Sincerely, Aum, Peace, Amen,
Father Jerome
From Richard B., (No City Provided,) UK:
As Christmas approaches we are extremely busy taking you our customers orders. This newsletter will explain to you a few things that are happening within a company that may be of interest to you.
* New website address. http://www.365calendars.com click to go now.
* New catalogue.
* New products.
* New calendars including Russell Crowe. * Sold-out calendars.
* Sam Fox and other Glamour Calendars.
* Late arrivals.
* Christmas delivery.
New website address: Please note that our website address is now www.365calendars.com please note that our old website address will eventually be phased out. If you book marked the old site you'll need to update your favourites.
We have been contacted by a significant number of people stating that they had been unable to connect to the website. After investigating we discovered that they were trying to connect to our website via search engines.
For those customers who were not overly familiar with the workings of Internet Explorer and would like to have a basic guide on how to find a website that you know the address of, please send us a reply it to this e-mail with the words Explorer information in the subject box and we would be happy to send e-mail advising you how best to connect.
New catalogue: Our new 2001 Catalogue has been mailed to all previous customers. Most customers should have received this with in the last few days. If you did not place an order last year you will not automatically be sent a new catalogue. All the items in the new catalogue are available to order on a website http://www.365calendars.com
New products: We have a number of new products available in a catalogue and on the website these include an interesting range of Corgi collectables cars and Icon figures. There are James Bond cars and figures The Beatles and several cars from famous Seventies, Eighties and Nineties television shows. These include Fawlty Towers, Starsky and Hutch, Morse, Mr Bean and Only Fools and horses. At this stage you can order these product's from the website but there pictures will only be available in the catalogue.
Please note that the Marilyn Monroe Ford Thunderbird which is shown in the catalogue and on the website will not be available until the end of January.
We also have an exciting range of gallery doormats, these feature a range of dog breeds and animals. Images of the mats can be found in a new catalogue.
New calendars: We have lots of new calendars that have only just been added to the range and are not in the catalogue. You can order them from the website but there images will not be available for a few weeks. By far the best-selling new calendar is Russell Crowe the star of gladiator. Even though this is a new calendar those interested in buying it should order it quickly as we are already approaching limited stock and expect it to sell-out shortly.
Other new calendars include the big brother British TV series, tennis superstar Anna Kournicova.
Sold out calendars: I'm sorry to say that many calendars have already sold out. If a calendar sells out we remove it from the website. Therefore if you see a calendar that you like in our catalogue but it is not available on the website this means that almost certainly it has sold out. With all the calendars from 1997 through to 2000 again the same applies if it is not on our website the chances are it is sold out.
SAM FOX and other glamour calendars At Calcom we stock over 2000 calendar titles, however we are sensitive to the fact that not all of our customers are interested in all of the calendars that we sell. Therefore we intend over a period of time to remove the mention of glamour calendars from our newsletters. However we are aware that many of our customers are still interested in receiving details of glamour calendars. If you are 18 years or older and you would be interested in receiving details of our glamour calendars, links to the website showing their pictures and other information then please reply to this e-mail putting glamour in the subject box and we will add due to the specific glamour mailing list that we are creating.
Our new SAM FOX 2001 calendar is now available to order stocks are extremely limited as this calendar was produced as a limited edition of only 2001 copies and over two thirds are already sold out. You can order this calendar via the website. As this is likely to become a collector's item we must restrict purchases in to maximum of two per-person.
Late arrivals: Most calendars are now in stock however we are waiting for a few calendars from the BT range is to arrive most of the football calendars are not in stock yet and our star dog's calendar for 2000 of one were not be available until 10th December. If you have ordered any calendar that is out of stock will hold your order until all the items that you have ordered are in stock unless you have asked us to do otherwise.
Christmas delivery: Obviously at this time of year we get extremely busy, as do the post offices around the world. Therefore it is important if you wish to receive your goods for Christmas delivery they order as soon as you possibly can. Here in the UK our Post Office has experienced delays due to flooding and other factors outside of their control. Therefore to help them and us get your goods to you in time please try to give us as much time as you possibly can and order early. I should say however late your order we will of course still do our best to get your goods to you quickly and within the time that you request.
If I do not get chance to write to you again before Christmas and the New Year I would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and prosperous and happy New Year.
Yours Sincerely
Richard B.
Managing Director.
PS. As you may be aware that despite having over 140,000 customers in over 130 countries we are only a very small company. We have just six employees including myself. As a result of this our continued survival in business depends on serving you our customer's properly. If it any time we do not live up to your expectations please don't hesitate to contact us and we'll do our best to resolve any problems. If we do please you and serve you well I would be most grateful if you could mention it to friends or family who you may feel would be interested in the calendars that we sell. When you purchase from Calcom you are dealing with a small family-run company who really cares and depends upon your custom. We may give you a customer number but we hope never to treat you like a number.
This Week's Most UNUSUAL E-mail to G21.net
From Hiroyuki N., (No City Provided,) JAPAN:
Dear Rod
Butt squeezing exercise -- Joke or effective?
(1)Title :How to Good-bye Depression(URL:http://hometown.aol.com/nishigaki3/index.htm)
Constricting anus 100 times, denting navel to spine 100 times and having a bowel movement 6 times everyday is effective for vigor, anti-aging, good-bye depression, good complexion, beauty treatment, intuition, hair, conjugal affection. Such a butt squeezing exercise enables a 70 year old man to make * * 3 times in succession without drawing out. Author: Hiroyuki Nishigaki. I have written about such a butt squeezing exercise in my book (How to Good-bye Depression, ISBN: 0-595-09472-4) sold by amazon.com. On air at 8 live radio talk shows in America. I am a Japanese in Japan. I has been pleased and embarrassed to explain such a butt squeezing exercise in my broken English. Many Americans cracked up, butt learned something from it unconsciously. It is funny, but you can begin to live without complaints and don't hold a grudge under any circumstance. How about you now?
I dare to add "it can give a good gun or good pliers to man or woman. So, it can sharply decrease the rate of divorce in America. As a result, it can contribute to many American children' happiness"
You can start seeing results only within a few days or a few weeks or a few months. "Hmm, hmm,,,,,,,,,,,,,." No, better try it !
You can visit my site (URL:http://hometown.aol.com/nishigaki3/index.htm) if you want to know more.
(2) Title: How to Bring up Intuition of Business CEO (URL: http://hometown.aol.com/nishigaki4/index.htm)
Business CEO intuition is brought up by satisfaction, good physical condition. Hiroyuki Nishigaki. I have written about intuition in my book (How to good-bye Depression) sold by amazon.com. For executive search and management knowledge. Graduate school can not teach intuition. Once we lose intuition, we will fail in succession. Intuition is essential for CEOs of founders, big men, pioneers, masters.One of the biggest purposes of Yoga, Taoism, Buddhism, shamanism, zen is to judge correctly without information.
PS: needless to say, it is OK with me that you will amend or edit these more decently or humorously following your thoughts if you want to share these with other people.
Hiroyuki Nishigaki,
in Japan, author, How to Good-bye Depression, on air at 11 radio talk shows in America,
E-mail: fwng8854@nifty.com /
Web: http://hometown.aol.com/nishigaki3/index.htm