Manila and the Rise of China's Micro Blogs

I'm back at UCLA after spending several days in Manila.  During my time there, I learned that I like their food.  After a while, I wasn't bugged that their policemen use machine guns to patrol close to my favorite Starbucks.

At the airport, I experienced chaos as our gate didn't list the time or destination for the airplane that was leaving and I received multiple pat downs as I tried to get on the plane.   In the waiting area, there was a big color TV and I joined many other people watching the Lakers defeat the New Jersey Nets.  My Business Class seat on Philippines Airlines had an ashtray.  This suggested to me that the plane was roughly my age.

When I was in Manila,  I had several interesting talks with some new friends of mine who work for the Chinese government.  They were telling me about how useful the rise of the Micro Blogs in China is for monitoring whether industrial pollution problems have taken place.   Just as the U.S has always had "whistle blowers" and we create incentives to reward these guys for providing credible tips about malfeasance, the spatial patterns of micro blog entries provide clues about the damage caused by industrial accidents.  Today, the Wall Street Journal had a short piece  about China's micro blogs.

I have been told that the micro blog entries that focus on the environment do not face risk of censorship because the central government is eager for there to be accountability for industrial pollution.  No more Blinkie the 3 eyed fish from the Simpsons?  I hope this is true but only time will tell.