Notorious immigrant smuggler Sister Ping got 35 years today for having smuggled hundreds of illegal immigrants to the US in packed cargo ships. In the infamous Golden Venture episode of 1993, ten immigrants died. It's outrageous that Sister Ping only got 35 years, considering that cocaine and heroin traffickers generally face mandatory sentences of far longer duration. Apparently Chinese lives aren't worth much in this justice system: Manhattan federal Judge Michael Mukasey told her that what she said was "simply incredible." He then gave her the toughest sentence he could under the law. So she got 20 years for money laundering, 10 years for trafficking in ransom proceeds and 5 years for conspiracy to commit alien smuggling and related crimes. In other words, negligent homicide barely even factored in.
In fact, this heinous smuggling hearkens back to the days of slave ships, when Africans were packed into cargo ships for the long, arduous journey to the United States. How heinous was her behavior? In a two-decade smuggling career, the prosecutor said, Ms. Cheng charged exorbitant rates for a sea trip in which passengers were given little food and sometimes only two sips of water a day. Once they arrived in the United States she hired gang members to ensure that they paid their debts to her. Even the notorious Fuk Ching gang members testified against her. Given that she was one of the biggest "snakeheads" (human smugglers) of all times, the message sent here is that those Chinese lives sadly enough didn't matter much. And future smugglers will surely take note.
Tags:
golden venture, human trafficking, immigrant smuggling, sister ping, snakehead
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Posted on 3/16/2006
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Coney Island isn't the only setting for Japan's finest, Takeru Kobayashi, the world's greatest competitive eater. It might not be the Fourth of July yet, but watching the True Life profile of Kobayashi in training and in competition at Nathan's vs. Manhattan's Tim Janus, a/k/a Eater X is like watching a heavyweight champ take on a lightweight. Kobayashi, if you recall, ate more than twice as many Nathan's hot dogs as Eater X last July. And he didn't even beat his own record! Kobayashi admits in the MTV documentary that he only competes against himself, and that's quite obvious watching Kobayashi down 22 pounds of noodles and shaved ice in Nagoya, Japan. The shaved ice is way too spicy, obviously spiked by the chef to throw off Kobayashi, who sweats profusely trying to finish it off. But like any true champ, he perseveres. Both guys take their eating competitions very seriously, but unlike Eater X (who works as a day trader on Wall Street), Kobayashi seemingly does nothing but lift weights and eat.
As competitive eating increases in America—it's been a big deal in Asia for years—more contests emerge, from zucchini to spoonbread eating. But the real challenge is Nathan's. And watching relatively tiny Kobayashi, with his washboard abs and bleached hair go mano-a-mano with some of the fattest big guys in Brooklyn is pure WWF for the gullet.
Kobayashi says when the weather starts to get hot in Nagoya in May, that's when he begins his annual training for Nathan's. See you in Coney Island!
Tags:
coney island, eater x, hot dogs, mtv, nathans, takeru kobayashi, tim janus
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Posted on 2/23/2006
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Chinese artist Song Dong has utilized 72,000 biscuits, "including digestives, chocolate digestives, rich tea, hobnobs, caramels and fruit shortcake" (how very British!) in building a cityscape at London's Selfridge's department store.
There are many reasons why you might wish to see Song Dong replicate New York's skyline out of famous American brands of cookies and crackers. The possibilities are breathtaking, along the lines of Song Dong's thinking: "Eating the City" was built to highlight Mr Dong's concerns over the current development of cities in Asia which he says all look the same.
The Bowery and Lower East Side would certainly need to be a mix of broken Triscuits, wheat thins, Oreos, and Fig Newtons. Coney Island and Boardwalk could be Honey Grahams and Keebler's Pecan Sandies along with Nutter Butters sprinkled with Ritz bitz, etc. (photo: BBC)
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biscuits, bowery, coney island, cookies, crackers, lower east side, song dong
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Posted on 2/21/2006
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Although everyone blogged last week about Western Union's sending its last telegram (the New York Times only ran the story today), the real news is in Wi-Fi. Future Wi-Fi won't just mean you might be able to get rid of all those cables behind the t.v., it will mean having your wonderful Wi-Fi handset and jumping from one connection to another, which on an island as densely populated as Manhattan might actually mean better wireless service than with cell carriers. Or does that mean the cell carriers will become hybrid Wi-Fi carriers? Or since Google and Skype are backers of this service, does it mean everyone will run around with the UTStarcom making scrambled phone calls, trading MP3s, downloading annoying ringtones and making lots of noise at Starbucks?
Yep. That's exactly what it means.
Tags:
google, manhattan, mp3s, ringtones, skype, starbucks, telegram, utstarcom, western union, wi fi, wireless
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Posted on 2/6/2006
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