Ad campaign muddies waters
IN April this year, East China's Zhejiang-based Qiandaohu Yangshengtang Drink Water Co Ltd made the surprise announcement it would no longer be producing purified water and its brand - Nongfushanquan - would now be associated with natural water alone.
TV launches new service
THE Near Video on Demand service from Shanghai Cable Television (NVOD) was formally launched last week by Shanghai Cable TV Station and Shanghai Cable Network Company Limited. It enables users to read Eastday website news and watch a movie on TV.
Artist draws on pandas to highlight major issues
THE giant panda, a beloved icon of China, stars in a series of public service advertisements entitled "Zhao Bandi and the Panda."
Hoary hoodlums up crime
WHILE juvenile delinquency continues to draw increasing concern from the public, crime by the elderly is also creeping up, according to Minhang District Procuratorate.
Lufthansa boss happy to land in Shanghai
"HOME is where the family is," said Dieter Groose, manager of Lufthansa German Airlines's Eastern China operations. "I now naturally see Shanghai as my home."
Vernon mayor craves investors
LEONIS C. Malburg, mayor of Vernon, a small city in Southern California of the United States, regretted his stay in Shanghai was so short.
Foster arts and industry, says Italian consul general
WITH China's anticipated accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Sino-Italian trade is expected to enter a new stage of expansion, according to Leonardo Baroncelli, Italian consul-general in Shanghai, in an interview last week.
Classic shows for art fest
ABOUT 13 shows have been selected for the second Shanghai International Festival of Arts, to be held this November.
Natural gas to serve homes in Puxi
RESIDENTS of Puxi (the west side of Shanghai) will have natural gas for cooking and hot water by the end of this year, according to Shanghai Gas Business (Group) Co Ltd.
A toast to speeding nukes disarmament
ABOUT 60 diplomats, academics, and journalists attended a cocktail party on Wednesday in aid of nuclear disarmament.
'Red Tide' ebbs
RED tide, which has engulfed coastal areas around Taizhou Bay in East China's Zhejiang Province since early May, is receding.
Agitated sunspots cause trouble
By Tian Xiuzhen
IF the lights in your house keep flickering, blame frequent sunspots. A sunspot is actually a whirlpool of charged particles flying at the speed of 3 million kilometres an hour out of the surface of the sun, to form sunstorms. Every 11 years, the sun, as its energy accumulates inside up to a certain point, will puff out streams of charged particles, which affect the earth in different ways. "Shanghai has not yet had any reports of obvious influences from sunstorms," said Zhang Jianwei, president of Sheshan Astronomical Observatory in Songjiang District. He said the observatory is keeping close watch of the movement of the sun. Zhang explained the earth, which is directly energized by the sun, is influenced in a number of ways. One is that the magnetic field of the earth is much disturbed because of the sun's interference in the ionosphere, which is 80 to 500 kilometres above the earth. Zhang said wireless short-wave communication which depends on the wave's reflection against this layer of atmosphere is likely to be jammed. Hongqiao International Airport has demonstrated this but assured the public that flights are safe. Local mobile phone companies said no subscriber has complained about the quality of the sound transmission. Zhang said the active movement of the charged windstorm also has effects on the weather. He said, according to research conducted by the former Soviet Union from 1957 to 1960, the frequency of earthquakes above six magnitude can be linked to the movement of the sunspots. He warned that people outdoor should be careful to protect their exposed skin and eyes with clothes, umbrellas and sunglasses from the strong sunlight rich in ultraviolet rays. Though little research about how exactly the sunspot will negatively harm the health of the people is unavailable, Zhang saw reports from Pyongyang Astronomical Observatory, of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, which claim they will cause an increase in the incidence of heart disease and skin disease in the next few years. "The nervous system is also affected, traffic accidents are more frequent when sunspots are active," Zhang said. "It is hard to say when the sunspots are most active in the year, but they have been moving violently since June 8," Zhang added. "This episode will last possibly eight days."
Copyright 2000 by Shanghai Star. All rights reserved.