Here's an article that caught my imagination: http://www.newsweek.com/id/231116

It's not so much about the news itself, but about the headline: Clash of the Titans: How the Democratic Republic of Google is testing China's appetite for democracy itself.

Think about it. Google is being called a titan, a "democratic republic" on an equal footing with China. I'm not sure if it is on an equal footing (though a public corporation is sort of like a democratic republic, insofar as anyone with money can buy votes in the corporation. Not that shareholder votes tend to matter, but that's off topic) but we're inching towards Shadowrun now that people are beginning to use this kind of language about corporations...

What tickles me the most is thinking about Google's corporate soldiers. Can't you just picture some tough military guys all decked out in guns and body armor, with a rainbow "Google" logo patched on their shoulder? Maybe they'll have a Die for Google Commando Corps, who will have a red, yellow, blue, and green logo like the Chrome logo, only with a skull instead of a sphere thingy

I still prefer citizenship with Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong.

You can get pizza delivered there, right?

I've always wondered if a government like the Pueblo Corporate Council could actually work in real life.

On the subject of Google, I present to you The Church of Google.

ALL HAIL THE GLORIOUS... Google? reminds me of Deus. If Google starts doing anything for DoD its time to get ready for the Terminators.

Who's to say they aren't already? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.

In 30 minutes or less, or else the CEO shows up to give you a free one.

First off, a Democracy and a Republic are two completely incompatable forms of government. Democracy = people say what's right and wrong, and Republic = we have an external set of laws that determine what's right and wrong. In America's case, we are a Constitutional Republic - our Constitution determines what is right and wrong, not the people.

Second off, have you seen Mary Kay's corporate security? My search-fu has failed online, but they look exactly like police officers, with two differences: The city patch on their uniform is a Mary Kay logo, and their shield says Mary Kay on it. Otherwise, they look, act, and feel exactly like police officers.

This is laid out in detail in the NAN books (an old book that is out of print but still a worth while read). It is further expanded in Shadows of North America. The basic premise if the country is, you buy stock in the government so you have a say in the country (and citizenship). The more stock you own, the more say you have. Shareholders (ie citizens) choose the president (the the majority shareholders having the greatest amount of say). Certain citizens (former Ute Citizens, and LA Citizens) where given provisional stocks (ie they get the benefits of citizen ships but can't vote), though they can buy stock in the PCC if they wish (like anyone else). This move was done so that A. half the PCC citizenship weren't SINless, and B. that the original PCC citizens didn't lose control over their country (as most Ute citizens are not likely to buy stocks in the PCC unless they are truly politically active). All PCC citizens need to own land in the PCC to buy stock in the PCC (this prevents external influences from buying out the PCC government).

Also buying multiple shares is done on a logarithmic scale rather than a linear scale. So 1 share cost 1000 , 2 costs 10000 , 3 costs 100000 and so on. This prevents the rich being able to swing any votes they want.

So what's the average number of shares? Is that info in the NAN guide or Shadows of NA?

Both.

(emphasis added)

i'm curious how you went about getting accurate information about that...

heh, and this in combo with iceland and wikileaks exploring the possibility of setting up a "data haven".

Did anyone find it interesting that Hong Kong has a seperate team from China at the 2010 Winter Olympics?

Not really. They are separate countries. It is the same reason that Great Britain and Bermuda have different teams.

Technically, "autonomous region".

Fancy term for "still part of China, but we can't be buggered to deal with the headaches of directly governing them, so as long as they pay their taxes and don't cause trouble they can have their own local governments".



-karma

also, similar to shanghai, it acts as a pressure valve between internal communism and external capitalism (highly simplified but still).

Basically they are colonies. China knows not to kill their golden geese (as long as they continue to produce golden eggs that is).