Today’s birthday
The theme of your birthday chart is intuition. That means being more aware of what your instincts tell you, and learning to allow them to guide you in your daily life. True, sometimes things are moving so swiftly that going within just seems to slow things down. Butwhat you learn if you do - a fresh perspective - could bring incredible insights.

Leo
July 23 - August 22: This is one of those rare moments when, with only a few words or a thoughtful gesture, you can transform an ailing relationship. It makes no difference whether it’s a friend, family member or romantic partner. What’s important is that you address the issue with frankness and an open heart.

Virgo
August 23 - September 22: Yet again you’ve found yourself in a situation where others are depending on you. Difficult as it is telling them that they’ll have to deal with things on their own, you really have no choice. The longer you put it off, the worse it will be.

Libra
September 23 - October 22: You’ve been hoping that one particular friend would realise that their attitude is causing upset. While it isn’t your job to point this out, you’d probably do it more tactfully than anybody else, which makes you by far the most likely candidate.

Scorpio
October 23 - November 21: Sooner or later you’re going to have to discuss certain situations that you’ve regarded as strictly private. Once you actually begin talking things over, what you learn from others will make it clear just how vital this discussion is.

Sagittarius
November 22 - December 21: Tedious as dealing with dull minutiae may be, if you ignore these details you’ll only run into problems later. Once you get involved in these, however, you’ll find them far more interesting than you’d have imagined possible.

Capricorn
December 22 - January 19: You can only sidestep certain issues for so long. Ironically, the discussions that you’re so dreading won’t be nearly as bad as you anticipate. What’s more, the sooner you get them over with, the sooner you can restore relations with those individuals you’ve been avoiding.

Aquarius
January 20 - February 18: The time has come to be frank about problems on the home or work front. What were minor misunderstandings have grown more complicated by the day. However, if you begin now, undoing this confusion will take far less time than you imagine.

Pisces
February 19 - March 20: Deciding what you want to do has been challenging enough. Now you must explain your plans to others and convince them that they’re wise. Tedious as this process is, it will force you to think through and fine tune your decisions.

Aries
March 21 - April 19: Others may be saying that you should be careful what you get involved in. At other times they might be correct in worrying that you’re being too impulsive. However, between last week’s planetary activity and the resulting opportunities this week, you really must take things further.

Taurus
April 20 - May 20: Somebody dear to you has developed a way of doing things that’s causing problems with those they’re closest to. Having given the individuals in question plenty of time to speak up, you feel that something must be said to prevent more damage.

Gemini
May 21 - June 20: There are certain matters in which you’ve been reluctant to fully explore your options. Circumstances are now forcing your hand, and so you’re encouraged to take this opportunity to broaden your horizons. You’ll benefit far more than you’d have imagined.

Cancer
June 21 - July 22: Few things pain you more than wasting money on something that isn’t worthwhile, yet it would appear that’s what you’ve just done. Challenging as dealing with the situation in question is, if you don’t go back and deal with this now, it will only get worse.

“Although you aren’t likely to need a hand warmer when the temperatures in some areas of the country are creeping into triple-digits, it’s never too early to start dreaming of winter. Moreover, it’s always a good time to compliment your Hello Kitty foot warmers and heating blanket with a couple of matching hand warmers, and this here gizmo provides the last missing piece in the aforementioned triangle. Just plug it in, wait for it to charge, and pop in your pocket for “one to two hours” of the cutest heat known to mankind. No word just yet on price, but it looks like orders are being taken now for wholesalers who stay a few steps ahead of the, um, seasons. ”

Via redferret, I can see how this could be useful up in China when it gets colder but not in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong has been hit by a Typhoon level 8 This means that all transport in Hong Kong has been shut off and we have to all stay at home! No school I guess today, last time trees were ripped and other ugly stuff happened, hope nothing too bad will happen, it seems sorta quiet.

The Web is full of spoof and parody on this, here are some of the funnier ones I’ve seen so far.

and this one, written by Monkey Woods:

Policemen who break or bend the rules in Thailand are not exactly in the minority, but from next week, any that are caught will be handed out the biggest punishment any of them could possibly imagine - they will be required to dress in a Hello Kitty suit.

The suits, made from toughened white felt, with black whiskers and a pink bow, were the brainchild of Chief of Police Pongpat Chayapan, whose daughter is a big fan of the much-loved children’s toy cat which originated in Japan in the 1970s.

Apart from the steaming hot temperatures - a Thai policeman’s crotch was recently measured at 54 degrees centigrade - it’s thought the stigma attached to wearing one of the suits will be almost too much to bear for the macho Thai officers.

Corruption is rife amongst the police force, with ‘backhand payments’ for trivial offences the order of the day, but Chief Chayapan is determined to ‘clean up’ the ranks.

Through a translator, he said:

"We have been far too bent for far too long. This has to stop. Anyone found contravening police rules will wear this ridiculous get-up indefinitely. I am no longer pussyfooting around!"

You wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t on something as venerable as the BBC, Hello Kitty is used to punish macho policemen as a form of cute humiliation for being tardy at work as a macho policeman.

Seriously, embrace the feminine side a bit more, I wouldn’t consider it an insult to wear army pants and a biker outfit, afterall there may be some who might like it! To use it as punishment is just plainly wrong and very ignorant towards what’s cute and feminine.

Reposted from the BBC:

Police chiefs in the Thai capital, Bangkok, have come up with a new way of punishing officers who break the rules - an eye-catching Hello Kitty armband.

The armband is large, bright pink and has a Hello Kitty motif with two hearts embroidered on it.

From today, officers who are late, park in the wrong place or commit other minor transgressions will have to wear it for several days.

The armband is designed to shame the wearer, police officials said.

“This is to help build discipline. We should not let small offences go unnoticed,” Police Colonel Pongpat Chayapan told Reuters news agency.

“Guilty officers will be made to wear the armbands in the office for a few days, with instructions not to disclose their offences. Let people guess what they have done,” he said.

Further offences would be dealt with using a more traditional disciplinary panel, he said.

The cartoon character Hello Kitty was first introduced by Japanese company Sanrio in 1974.

The cute round-faced cat has become an Asia-wide marketing phenomenon, with Hello Kitty products such as stationery, hair accessories and kitchen appliances available across the region.

In a previous post I made I was struck by an incredibly image of how pollution is affecting China in a massive way, now a news article says that Pollution and environmental damage was costing up to 10 per cent of gross domestic product and resulted in zero or even negative growth in some regions, a member of the government’s taskforce on launching the Green GDP programme has said.

The mainland reported recently that GDP growth hit an 11-year high of 11.9 per cent year on year in the second quarter, taking first-half growth to 11.5 per cent. GDP growth rates reported by local governments have been even higher.

Commenting on the sizzling growth in the first half of this year, Lei Ming , of Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management, who helped prepare the mainland’s first Green GDP report last year, warned there would be an even greater cost if Beijing failed to implement new "green requirements".

"In some provinces where an energy-intensive and high pollution development model was pursued, the cost of treating the environmental pollution would reach as high as 10 per cent of their local GDP," yesterday’s Shanghai Securities News quoted Professor Lei as saying.

"If these costs are discounted, the actual GDP growth is probably zero or negative."

Last September, the central government released the first Green GDP report - the result of a two-year survey examining 42 industries across 10 provinces and cities in 2004 - which was compiled by a group of environmental and economic experts and launched by the mainland’s top environmental watchdog and the National Bureau of Statistics.

The report said pollution cost a "staggering" 511.8 billion yuan in economic losses in 2004, equivalent to 3.05 per cent of that year’s total economic output.

Professor Lei said the figure heavily underestimated the real cost of pollution, adding that the figure would have been much higher if resource depletion, ecological damage and health-care bills were factored in. Foreign experts said Beijing’s calculations took into account only the economic price of environmental pollution.

However, the government recently announced it would postpone the programme indefinitely, due to strong opposition from some central agencies and regional governments.

Wang Jinnan , the technical head of the Green GDP accounting project, said the report had been shelved because of infighting between local and central governments and between government agencies.

"The State Environmental Protection Administration (Sepa) and the National Bureau of Statistics are at loggerheads over the method in publicising the report and over what contents should be made public," said Professor Wang, from the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning.

Professor Wang’s comments confirmed earlier rumours about bureaucratic discord over the issue between central agencies. Statistics bureau commissioner Xie Fuzhan told a press conference on July 12 that the government could not publicise the Green GDP statistics due to the lack of international precedent and controversy over the statistical method.

Professor Wang said some local governments had even sent letters to Sepa and the bureau asking them not to publish their reports. He said the 2005 report had been put on hold despite having been completed by the end of last year. "The unpublished report includes separate Green GDP reports on 31 provinces and the whole nation," he said.

Got this via Asia Cnet, the Hello Kitty Fender Guitar is nothing new, electric guitars in its trademark Pink has been around for a while but what caught my eye was this stylish black with the feminine and modern pink kitty look, I really like!