URL Encoding

Here's a good reference on Javascript URL encoding, specifically on the differences between escape(), encodeURI() and encodeURIComponent(). Of course, in the JDK there's always java.net.URLEncoder but when you're out there on a web page you only have Javascript to help you out with that part.

I forgot the one-way thingy, and kept trying to pass in a Javascript variable to URLEncoder. Silly, silly .. :)

(2005-07-26 13:25:42 SGT) [Tech] Permalink

Environment Suffers Severely In China's Dash to Develop

peakoil.com -> enn.com

China's environmental woes are so large that they've begun to generate social instability.

Choking on vile air, sickened by toxic water, citizens in some corners of this vast nation are rising up to protest the high environmental cost of China's economic boom. In one recent incident, villagers in this hilly coastal region grew so exasperated by contamination from nearby chemical plants that they overturned and smashed dozens of vehicles and beat up police officers who arrived to quell what was essentially an environmental riot.

Across China, entire rivers run foul or have dried up altogether. Nearly a third of cities don't treat their sewage, flushing it into waterways. Some 300 million of China's 1.3 billion people drink water that is too contaminated to be consumed safely. In rural China, sooty air depresses crop yields, and desert quickly encroaches on grasslands to the west. Filth and grime cover all but a few corners of the country.

China's central government isn't sitting still. It's enacting fuel-efficiency requirements for cars and shutting down mammoth dam-building and other projects. By some accounts, it now has world-class laws on environmental protection. Yet provincial and local officials, who feel pressure for economic growth, often shield polluters and ignore environmental laws ...

ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS

Here are some of China's environmental problems:

BAD AIR: China is the world's second-largest producer of greenhouse gases, after the United States. Two-thirds of its cities have poor-quality air, often due to coal dust from power plants. Auto exhaust is also a factor, and it will get worse: China expects to have 140 million automobiles plying its roads by 2020, seven times more than it has today.

BAD WATER: More than 30,000 children die each year in China from diarrhea that's due to contaminated water. Of China's seven biggest rivers, only the Pearl and the Yangtze are rated good in terms of water quality; the others are rated poor or dangerous. Forty percent of the raw sewage in the boom industrial city of Shenzhen, which has 10 million people, is flushed directly into city waterways.

WASTE: Just a snapshot: Chinese consumers throw out 2 billion plastic bags per day, clogging streambeds and landfills.

Resale Value of SUVs Tumbles

This article belongs to the GM, Ford and Chrysler bankruptcy watch story arc.

peakoil.com -> usatoday.com :

SUV and pickup owners — already stung by rising gasoline prices — are paying another penalty when it comes time to trade in or sell: falling resale values for the gas-thirsty vehicles. The resale values of large SUVs and pickups are slumping in response to a supply glut, higher gasoline prices and lower sales of new SUVs and pickups.

Roy Holderbaum's love affair with his 1993 GMC Yukon recently came to an abrupt end when his gas bill shot to $100 a week. Now, he wants someone to take the hulking SUV off his hands. "It's a gas-guzzler. I'm selling because I can't afford to drive it back and forth to work," said Holderbaum, 23, a suburban Detroit resident who has a 20-mile commute.

Owners of SUVs might be trying to dump their vehicles because they foresee trouble in new SUV sales, which are plummeting despite hefty rebates. Demand for new full-size SUVs has declined 12% this year.

"When you look at the contrast between compacts and full-size (SUVs), it has to be driven in part by gas prices," [Tom Kontos, chief economist at Adesa, a firm that tracks wholesale used vehicle prices] said. "Why else would there be such polarity?"

Rover sold to Nanjing Automobile

peakoil.com -> news.bbc.co.uk :

Chinese carmaker Nanjing Automotive has secured ownership of MG Rover for an unknown sum, after a three-way bidding battle spread over three months ... the news is a blow for UK businessman David James, whose Kimber group had put in two bids to buy parts of Rover.

However, Nanjing's successful bid could start a prolonged legal battle. SAIC bought the intellectual property rights to sell the Rover 25 and 75 models in China during a previous attempt to take over the carmaker. Nanjing had previously rejected any claims that SAIC's ownership of the rights to the Rover 25 and 75 engines would affect its plans.

And Honda - which owned the rights to some of MG Rover's technology - has repossessed equipment and blueprints, making it more difficult for any buyer to restart production of the Rover 45 - based on the Honda Civic - or MG ZS models.

(2005-07-26 12:42:10 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

Main | Next day (Jul 26, 2005) »

Most popular blog postings on lowem.log :

1. Singapore MRT rail network length to double by 2020
2. 2010 Nissan Leaf electric car specifications : 107hp, 24KWh lithium-ion batteries, 100-mile range
3. Live spot gold price quotes chart on COMEX
4. 2010 Toyota Prius specifications released : 50 mpg, 1.8L, 134hp, Ni-MH, solar roof option
5. AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011 direct download link
6. Real-time live gold and silver price quotes chart on COMEX
7. Singapore electric vehicles : Government agencies EMA and LTA to study EV introduction
8. Book review : Shut Down by William Flynn

Featured articles on lowem.log :

1. Book review : Shut Down by William Flynn
2. Singapore electric cars testing starts with 9 electric vehicles
3. Honda, GS Yuasa JV to make lithium-ion batteries for 2010/2011 Honda Civic Hybrid
4. 2010 Honda Civic Hybrid preliminary specifications released
5. 2010 Honda CR-Z hybrid, 2010 Honda Fit/Jazz hybrid models confirmed
6. 2010 Toyota Prius specifications released : 50 mpg, 1.8L, 134hp, Ni-MH, solar roof option
7. NYMEX crude oil recovers from $32.40 low after 2.2 mbpd OPEC production cut announced
8. Singapore : Nuclear power not ruled out