Operation Yellowbird, but for hamsters

For all its NatSec laws, media clampdowns and imprisonment without trial, Hong Kong remains defiant. Animal lovers approach people taking hamsters to the government Humane Handling Management Centre Death Camp in Shatin and offer to hurry the pets away to safety. 

A few little things for the weekend…

Stats showing that daily arrivals at HKIA are barely enough to fill one Airport Express train. But then there are the departures, netting out at over 4,000 a week. That rate would work out at well over 150,000 – 2% of the population – for the year.

What do Hong Kong officials do when they’re not strangling hamsters? Here you go.

How Chinese U is going patriotic. (Is this seriously supposed to induce anything but cynicism and contempt among students?)

China Digital Times on Beijing’s warning to Winter Olympics athletes: ‘just shut up and play’. More from the Guardian.

On culinary matters…

I came into possession of a can of ‘Omnituna’, a synthetic vegan version of the indispensable fish. Looks like the real thing (not in chunks but shredded in appearance) but improbably has the same sinews they put in vegan meat to make it look authentic. Smells sweetish, rather like cat food. Texture is mushy rather than chewy. Tastes a bit like Seven-11 pork floss, with a musty/powdery/cardboard tone that lingers.

You would not want this in a sandwich, let alone a salad. I stir-fried it with greens and noodles, and made it more or less OK – thanks no doubt to my adroit (soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, chili) use of seasonings and aromatics. Set off a serious bout of hiccups. Why wouldn’t a devout vegan just use tofu? Or is this aimed at the ‘self-punishment’ market segment?

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12 Responses to Operation Yellowbird, but for hamsters

  1. Cares about oceans says:

    If you mix the veggie tuna with mayonaise and finely cut onions, you get a more than half-decent nicoise. I guess meat eaters would poopoo it, but tuna fishing fucks up a lot more than just tuna.

  2. Joe Blow says:

    The picture of that “bachelor cuisine” dish almost put me off my lunch. What’s next? Beans on toast? (also vegetarian). How difficult is it to order from Deliveroo instead?

  3. Toph says:

    Authoritarian regimes are fine with cynicism. People who are outwardly compliant while inwardly contemptuous of the regime are nearly as useful as true believers, as long as they learn to play the game. China’s full of people who secretly think they’re too clever to believe the propaganda but that it’s necessary to keep all those other bozos in line.

  4. Big Al says:

    “How Chinese U is going patriotic. (Is this seriously supposed to induce anything but cynicism and contempt among students?)”. Well, it the CHINESE University, after all. What did you expect?

  5. The Flagellator says:

    My mother would not be impressed with me eating such a meal, and I suspect yours wouldn’t either. You need to find a nice young lady and settle down. Whatever happened to that Winkie Yip girl? She sounded nice. You should give her a call and tell her that you’ve stopped scoundrelizing.

  6. justsayin says:

    Vegan meat/fish and cultured versions of same are investment darlings at the moment. I’d probably stick to either the sustainable versions (when available) of the real thing or tofu alternatives myself.

    Or perhaps shredded hamster meat, while that’s going!

    PS What is the Vegas line on which diplomatic boycott nation will have an athlete who isn’t able to leave Beijing ’22 for spurious reasons?

  7. justsayin says:

    hit send on the last comment too quickly then read the Guardian link
    Genocide is a major violation of the Olympic spirit and making attendees install spyware on their phones is a minor one.

    This is obviously not the original, but rather Olympic Spirit with Chinese Characteristics.

    All hail Ski Jumping the grand Poohbah of the North. This Olympics will be the best in the 5000 years of human history of the Glorious Fatherland.

  8. Carrie Lamster says:

    Last week I bought a “Meadows” (generic brand from the supermarket these days) packet of ready-made pasta with salmon and lobster. It cost $ 18-. and you can microwave it. It also tasted like $ 18- and I am absolutely sure that it contained neither salmon nor lobster. On the other hand it contained a ton of sodium so it was not without taste. Maybe a dinner option for eternal bachelor Hemlock.

  9. HK-Cynic says:

    Since July 1, 2020 (NSL Day).

    411,205 have flown into Hong Kong
    646,288 have flown out of Hong Kong.
    A net of -235,083 have flown out of Hong Kong.
    About 3.2% of the population.

    If you include land crossings, “only” 165,794 have left Hong Kong – or about 2.25% of the population. (not good for HK retailers, is it?)

    Or you can read it as “seditionist locals” are being replaced by “patriotic Mainlanders”.

    Just another city in China coming soon.

  10. Mark Bradley says:

    “Last week I bought a “Meadows” (generic brand from the supermarket these days) packet of ready-made pasta with salmon and lobster.”

    I bought that once too and it looked and tasted like the slop in Penny Bay. Never again. The microwavable dim sum meals are way better and almost like the real thing in comparison.

  11. The Flagellator says:

    The NSL appears to be turning BL into an elderly bachelor’s support blog. Any tips on knock-knackered knees and hair trimming of head-area orifices would be greatly welcomed.

  12. dimuendo says:

    I would like somebody suitably eminent, such as a memberof the CFA or even our esteemed “Secretary for Justice”, to explain why the NSL is taking priority over the BL?

    In my naivete I thought that as the NSL is part of HK law by being included in schedule III of the BL, then it can only have such power as the BL allows and in the event of a conflict surely the BL should prevail?

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