Conformity Magazine - September 2008 - (Page 6)

Editor’s Note China’s Olympic Challenge The recently concluded 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing will go down as the most expensive in Olympic history. Since being awarded this year’s games in 2001, China has spent a reported $42 billion, dwarfing the $15 billion spent by Greece just four years ago. Almost two thirds of that spending was reportedly directed to important infrastructure projects around the country, but the Chinese government spared no expense in using the Olympics to showcase to the world the image of a modern and strong China. Aside from being the most expensive Olympics on record, this year’s games were also rich in symbolism as well. Take, for example, the opening ceremonies, which were single-handedly orchestrated by Zhang Yimou. Zhang is a filmmaker who has ironically spent his almost 30 year career documenting his country’s struggles against war and poverty, in films that were censored by Chinese officials and almost never screened there. Then, there was the oft-repeated motif of large numbers of people working in unison to create artistic perfection. In one performance during the opening ceremonies, hundreds of individual printing blocks moved up and down in synchronized harmony to create three dimensional patterns on the huge field of the “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium. Convinced that the flawless performance could only have been choreographed with the aid of computerized technology, we were amazed when the “computers” responsible for the blocks’ movements were revealed instead to be hundreds of people, who had trained relentlessly to achieve the mechanized perfection essential for the performance. These and other examples are a testament to China’s meteoric transformation over the past 30 years, and remind us of what can be accomplished when the will of a people is united in purpose. But modern China also faces many problems that will require comparable Olympic-sized efforts to overcome. The most obvious problem is the continuing relief effort © Hbh | Dreamstime.com required to support the millions made homeless by the earthquake this past May in the country’s Sichuan province, and the need to rebuild the education infrastructure there. There is also rampant poverty. Indeed, China’s standard of living has risen dramatically, but gleaming world-class cities like Shanghai and, now, Beijing mask the depth of the problem. The Wall Street Journal reports that there are still tens of millions of Chinese living in poverty, and that government spending on health and welfare programs is not keeping pace with the need. China’s rapid growth has also put it on track to overtake the United States as the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases. Toxic air pollution is a daily constant in major industrialized areas throughout the country. And the Chinese pledge for an Olympics free of polluted air could only be achieved by curtailing automobile traffic and shuttering manufacturing production in and around Beijing for nearly a month. Dealing with these and other significant problems facing China will require the will of a people, and a government, united in purpose. The synchronized performances during the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Beijing Olympics are emblematic of the challenges that lay ahead, but also of the character of the Chinese people and their strength to overcome those challenges. Surely, a country and a people that has honored the world and itself in this year’s Olympic Games is up to the task. Bill von Achen Managing Editor Conformity September 2008 http://Dreamstime.com

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Conformity Magazine - September 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Commission Adopts Regulations for Internet-Based TRS Services Another Company Fined for Non-Compliance with HAC Requirements FCC Extends “Do-Not-Call” Registry Compliance Requirements Marketing Company Gets $1.4 Million Fine for Junk Faxes EU Commission Codifies Directive on TTE Market Competition EU Commission Releases Updated Standards List for the R&TTE Directive Updated Standards List for the “New” Low Voltage Directive Released New Standards List Released for the EU’s Machinery Directive The ESD Association: Voluntary Standards in Action ESD Open Forum Medical EMC Standards: Towards the 4th Edition of IEC 60601-1-2 iNARTE Informer Pre-Pulse Voltage in the HBM ESD Model Digital Interfaces and EMC Performance ESD Design Buyer’s Guide Product News Commission Publishes Updated Standards List for the EU’s Personal Protective Equipment Directive FDA Links “Human Factors” to Adverse Events with Medical Devices CPSC Actions in the News IEC Standards Update UL Standards Update Product Reviews Telcordia Standards Update From Our “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” Department Looking Back: Items from Past Issues of Conformity Advertisers

Conformity Magazine - September 2008

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