China To Create World's Largest City

Chinese urban planners will join nine large cities near Hong Kong into one sprawling 16,000 square mile city which will be 26 times larger than London. With 42 million people within its boundaries.

The new mega-city will cover a large part of China's manufacturing heartland, stretching from Guangzhou to Shenzhen and including Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Huizhou and Zhaoqing. Together, they account for nearly a tenth of the Chinese economy. Over the next six years, around 150 major infrastructure projects will mesh the transport, energy, water and telecommunications networks of the nine cities together, at a cost of some 2 trillion yuan (£190 billion). An express rail line will also connect the hub with nearby Hong Kong.

The project includes 3100 miles of new high-speed rail lines. By the end of the decade, China plans to create even larger mega-cities with populations of 50 - 100 million.

Does This Mean The TSA Is Going To Start Asking Us To Remove Our Faces?

CNN reports that a passenger boarded a Hong Kong flight bound for Canada looking like an elderly white man, but after take-off he returned from the plane's restroom as himself, a young Asian man. It's all very Mission: Impossible.

The incident occurred on October 29 on Air Canada flight AC018 to Vancouver originating in Hong Kong. An intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency describes the incident as an "unbelievable case of concealment." "Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible impostor on a flight originating from Hong Kong," the alert says. "The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands. During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s." After landing in Canada, Border Services Officers (BSOs) escorted the man off the plane where he "proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection," the alert says.

Reportedly the impostor got on the plane with the boarding pass of another booked passenger, an American who is only 55 years old.

Stay Right, No...Left

China is planning a massive 22-mile bridge connecting its mainland to Hong Kong. However Hong Kong drives on the left and China drives on the right. Above is the rendering of a Netherlands design team's solution to the problem by splitting the bridge mid-span and crossing the lanes under each other. Lots more about the planned bridge at the link.

Apartment Transformer

An architect in Hong Kong has turned his tiny studio into an "apartment transformer" through clever rolling walls and hidden spaces. His place is the same size as mine, but I think I'd tire quickly of all that rolling. Lazy American.

The Next Step In Internet Lovin'

You just know the internet porn industry has got their eyes on this one.

Hong Kong scientists have developed a robotic hand that allows people talking over the web to experience the sensation of touching each other — even feeling the strength of a handshake. The cyber hand can grip and shake as well as make the signs for OK and 'V' for victory. Professor Liu Yunhui, who led researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said: "At this moment the function is not perfect and it can't copy exactly, partly because the robot hand is different from the human hand in terms of the degree of freedom of movement it has.

I give it three years before cyberhands are a basic feature of hookup sites. Maybe sooner. The above rudimentary model goes on sale at the end of this year at the startlingly low price of $35.