(Click here for full size)

Source: Flowtown

...but please don't feel insulted.

"Weaknesses in DoD's financial and management controls left it unable to properly account for $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion in DFI funds it received for reconstruction activities in Iraq. This situation occurred because most DoD organizations receiving DFI funds did not establish the required Department of the Treasury accounts and no DoD organization was designated as the executive agent for managing the use of DFI funds. The breakdown in controls left the funds vulnerable to inappropriate uses and undetected loss."

Source: Boing Boing

I thought you might want to follow and see China through the lens of his camera.

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Hello.

I just wanted to write a brief email to introduce you to a new project that will get started in about 20 days. It's name is "The Middle Kingdom Ride".

The project will involve both myself and my brother, Colin Pyle, circumnavigating China by BMW motorcycle. To date, no one has ever attempted such a journey; we have the opportunity to be the first. Our 60 day - 20,000km - journey will take us through some of the most remote and populated regions of the world. To say the least, it will be an epic journey.

You can follow us on our dedicated website: www.mkride.com.

You can also follow us on our blog: www.mkride.com/blog

Colin and I will be writing throughout our journey with the goal of producing a co-authored book, as well as a documentary film and of course I'll be taking pictures the entire time. Our 60 day journey will take us on a "once in a lifetime" adventure. We hope that you opt to follow our journey and connect with us while we are on the road. We depart on Saturday August 14th 2010 @ 6am from my home in Shanghai, China.

Colin and I will be sure to stay in touch.

You can connect with us on: FACEBOOK, TWITTER, YOUTUBE

The Middle Kingdom Ride wouldn't happen without our wonderful SPONSORS: BMW, Touratech, Airhawk, Pelican, Kodak, Oakley, Cardo Systems, Lowe Pro & Mandarin House.
________________________________

Ryan Pyle
www.mkride.com
ryan@mkride.com

They have these funky three-wheeled Jetsons-esque moto-cars tooling around the city, and this particular one managed to rear end a parked police car.

Wen Qiang, the former top justice official in Chongqing was executed this week for corruption.

Left banner - 处决文强 (Execute Wen Qiang) 共产党万岁 (Long live the Chinese Communist Party) 法律万岁 (Long live the law)

2nd to left - 处决文强是重庆市打击腐败的重大胜利 (Wen Qiang's execution is a huge victory against the Chongqing corruption)

3rd left - 文强死 百姓乐 重庆安 (Wen Qiang Dead, People Happy, Chongqing Safe)

I grew up wearing LL Bean, their jacket, their boots. One of my LL Bean college book bags even made it all around China on the hard seat. (A friend asked to borrow it for a 6-month long train hopping journey through China back in 1988. It was the only bag he took.)

I asked my young Chinese team if anyone had ever heard of LL Bean? Nope.
Any idea why this advert was stuck to this particular wall? Nope.
Any idea where we were? Nope.
Did I seem crazy standing in the mud pointing at a poster on a fence? Yup.

I remember reading a couple years ago something about LL Bean teaming up with a Korean company, Youngone Corp., with talk about opening up a lot of stores in China. Then they opened their first store at Solana in Beijing, a mall which just wasn't making it, and I had doubts if LL Bean would be popping up in other places around China, much as my bag did in 1988.

Anyway, the bizarre juxtaposition of an empty construction site, a bus map branded by a brand no one knew, in The Middle of Nowhere, Xian did achieve an amazing consumer communication connection (ACCC?). As I stood in the mud scratching my head and taking the picture, I really did wish I had on a pair of these: