Skip to main content

15 global challenges that cannot be addressed by any government acting alone

  The 15 Global Challenges  from t he Millennium Project, a global participatory think tank. 1. How can sustainable development be achieved for all while addressing global climate change? 2. How can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict? 3. How can population growth and resources be brought into balance? 4. How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes? 5. How can decisionmaking be enhanced by integrating improved global foresight during unprecedented accelerating change? 6. How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone? 7. How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor? 8. How can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced? 9. How can education make humanity more intelligent, knowledgeable, and wise enough to address its global challenges? 10. How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts,...

My jouney of bypassing the Great firewall of China

Because of the strict censorship China imposes on the Internet, many domain names are censored in china and people in China cannot view these websites. I didn't realise the restrictions until I had a 3-week trip to China.

I heard the term 'Bypassing the Wall' from my father, an old man in his 70s who is very interested in all sorts of news, esp. censored news, though he doesn't know how to surf the Internet. 'The Wall' obviously means the Great firewall of China. 'Bypassing the Wall' is using proxy servers outside the firewall to browse blocked sites. It is not difficult to bypass the Wall for those determined to do so.

The websites that I use frequently in UK such as blogspot and youtube are blocked. I was very annoyed when I tried to show my baby's album on google picasa to my friend I found that it was blocked too. My friend ran a program called 'Freegate' to bypass the Wall and finally saw the album. He told me that Freegate was somehow related to FaLunGong and it was very difficult to find downloads.

This was true. When I went to my sister's house and wanted to show her my children's photos, I googled 'Freegate'. Every link to a download is blocked! I then searched 'bypassing the Wall' and found a tool called 'Puff'. It worked well just like Freegate.

Interestingly, most ordinary Chinese people, just like my sister and brother-in-law, don't feel the restrictions as much as I did during the trip. Probably because when you were born in a jail and live all your life in it, you don't even realise that you were in a jail if it's big enough.

However, there are still many people in China who are determined to see the world outside and have full access to knowledge and information they wish.


PP: I posted this article in Chinese language on a forum in China, it was deleted within a couple of minutes before anybody sees it. I regret that I haven't kept a copy on my local machine. I decide to write it again in English and publish on Blogspot which is safe from Chinese government's censorship. The downside is that not many Chinese people will see this and be able to read it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

coat-of-arms

Heraldry probably began with the knights in armour. When wearing a helmet in battle or in tournaments a knight could not be recognised; so he used symbols to decorate his shield and surcoat. The surcoat was the loose garment worn over the armour to protect it from rain or hot sun and actually was the "coat-of-arms"; it was decorated on the front and back with the same device as on the shield. The correct expression for entire design is an achievement . An achievement consists of the shield, helmet, rest, wreath, mantling and motto. These are the main parts. To them can be added supporters and a compartment. In the centre is the most important part, the shield . The surface of the shield is called the field  and on it the colourful charges are placed. The shield is called the arms or coat-of-arms  and can be drawn in any shape - in an upright position or slanting, which is the position it would fall into if hung on a peg. In Heraldry it slants to dexter. The helmet denot...

You can find your Wireless Network Key on Virgin Media Wireless Router

We have a new netbook computer, and don't know where to find network key, which is needed to setup wireless connection. A network key may also be called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) key or WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) key. A wireless network key is a security feature that prevents unauthorized users from accessing a wireless network. An unprotected network is an unlocked virtual door, anybody within range can piggyback on the network undetected. I use Virgin media broadband with a Virgin media wireless router, this router has a WPA key taped on the router, that WPA key is an English word consisting of 10 letters. To tape network key on the router is a good idea, because we may never lose or forget a wireless network key as long as we possess the router.

15 global challenges that cannot be addressed by any government acting alone

  The 15 Global Challenges  from t he Millennium Project, a global participatory think tank. 1. How can sustainable development be achieved for all while addressing global climate change? 2. How can everyone have sufficient clean water without conflict? 3. How can population growth and resources be brought into balance? 4. How can genuine democracy emerge from authoritarian regimes? 5. How can decisionmaking be enhanced by integrating improved global foresight during unprecedented accelerating change? 6. How can the global convergence of information and communications technologies work for everyone? 7. How can ethical market economies be encouraged to help reduce the gap between rich and poor? 8. How can the threat of new and reemerging diseases and immune micro-organisms be reduced? 9. How can education make humanity more intelligent, knowledgeable, and wise enough to address its global challenges? 10. How can shared values and new security strategies reduce ethnic conflicts,...