A seriously ill society

A two-year-old girl who was struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run accident in China was ignored by more than a dozen passers-by as she lay critically injured on the road.

Surveillance footage of the horrifying incident on Thursday has sparked outrage and disbelief on China's hugely popular social media sites, where an anguished public debate has broken out about the state of Chinese society.

The footage shows the young girl, named Yueyue, toddling into the path of a van outside her family's shop in a busy wholesale market in the southern Chinese city of Fosham.

The van hits the girl and momentarily stops, before the driver continues, crushing the child again beneath his rear wheels.



What unfolds next is arguably even more shocking.

Up to 18 passers-by are seen in the footage ignoring Yueyue as she lies critically injured and bleeding on the road, with several even changing their walking path to veer around her body.

A man on a scooter steers around the toddler and looks at her body before continuing down the street, as a second van approaches and drives over the girl's legs.

Another motorcyclist applies his brakes and clearly looks at the girl, lying in a pool of blood, before driving off. The scene is repeated as rickshaws and pedestrians give her a wide berth.

It is not until seven minutes later that a street cleaner, later identified as 58-year-old Chen Xianmei, comes to the girl's aid and lifts her from the road, calling for help.

She was ignored by several shopkeepers before finally tracking down Yueyue's mother who took her to hospital.

The Shanghai Daily reported that Yueyue was in a coma in the intensive care unit of a military hospital in the city of Guangzhou but had shown some improvement.

Her mother, Qu, has reportedly set up a blog to post updates on her daughter's condition.

"We have received numerous phone calls expressing strong will to help us," she wrote. "We are speechless and grateful."

Doctors said the girl had suffered major head injuries and was breathing only with the assistance of a ventilator.

"She would not be able to survive any operations. She's very close to brain death," a spokesman for the hospital told news agency AFP.

The highly distressing surveillance footage was uploaded on the popular Youku video sharing site, and attracted more than a million views in a number of hours.

In response, one person lamented: "This society is seriously ill. Even cats and dogs shouldn't be treated so heartlessly."

Another user wrote: "Really, what is up with our society? I saw this and my heart went cold. Everyone needs to do some soul searching about ending this kind of indifference.''

But others linked the incident to an earlier case in which a man who tried to help an elderly woman after she fell over was prosecuted, apparently because his intervention broke government rules on dealing with accident victims.

Police have detained the drivers of both vehicles involved in the incident, Xinhua news agency said.

The man who allegedly drove the second van, surnamed Jiang, was arrested about 9pm on the evening of the accident. The first van driver, named Hu, surrendered to police on Sunday afternoon.

Yueyue is believed to live with her parents and seven-year-old brother in a house near the wholesale market.

Her mother was hanging out washing upstairs when Yueyue went out with her brother to play with their friends.


- with agencies

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/world/a-seriou...018-1ltv1.html

Foshan toddler Yueyue still under intensive care

Earlier media reports that Yueyue, the toddler who was knocked down by two vehicles outside a market in Foshan, has passed away have turned out to be false.

Yueyue's mother has appeared on Sina Weibo herself to clarify the situation. She said that while Yueyue was still unable to breathe on her own, her situation has stabilised, and she has regained some sensation in her limbs. Doctors say that her chances of recovery are now better than earlier estimated.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Yueyue's father lamented, “What’s up with people these days? They make so many excuses to turn a blind eye. The society is so indifferent, so heartless.”

His only hope now though is for his child's survival. “Yueyue is so lovely, often amuses us. Sometime if I quarrelled with her mother and if her mother cried, she would tell us not to cry, she always tried to amuse us. I don’t have any thoughts now, I just hope my child will wake up and call me Dad again,” he said.

Meanwhile, the first driver who knocked down Yueyue has also been apprehended by the police. Chinese media reports say he had just broken up with his girlfriend and was on his cell phone when he hit the girl.

He had called Yueyue's father to say he would never surrender, and that he could give him some money if that was what he wished. When a journalist called (tune in to the call below), he revealed that he was planning to escape to Xinjiang.

"You saw that girl on the CCTV footage, she didn't see where she was going, you know. I was on the phone when it happened, I didn't mean it," he said. "When I realised I had knocked her down, I thought I'd go down to see how she was. Then when I saw that she was already bleeding, I decided to just step on the gas pedal and escape seeing that nobody was around me."

"If she is dead, I may pay only about 20,000 yuan ($3,125). But if she is injured, it may cost me hundreds of thousands yuan," he added.

Golf Ball Position Is Key To Great Shot Making

One of the common traits of good golfers is their ability to hit any type of shot – high, low, fade, draw – and handle any type of uneven or imperfect lie. Watch a good player work on shot making, and you will see that the swing looks essentially the same. The subtle adjustments that allow golfers to control their impact conditions and ball flight can be found in the fundamentals of the setup and start with ball position.

Ball position influences the takeaway and virtually all of the impact factors. When the tour players I work with struggle to hit the ball solidly, ball position is one of the first things I have them check. Proper ball position – combined with the other elements of a good setup – maximizes the natural release of the hands and arms, which allows you to generate more clubhead speed and produce a better impact position.

For normal shots, there are three basic ball positions:

1. Short irons – play the ball about one inch to the left of the center of your stance.
2. Mid-irons – play the ball about two inches left of center.
3. Long irons and woods – three inches left of center, or just opposite the left heel.

The Low Point of Your Swing

Ball position should match the low point of your swing, and should make the clubhead strike the ball before it strikes the ground. This helps you contact the ball crisply and get the proper trajectory on the shot. You can locate the low point of the swing during your practice swing. Just pay attention to where the club naturally hits the ground. Remember that the low point of the swing can change due to many factors. From a downhill lie, for instance, the low point of the swing will be farther back, meaning you should play the ball slightly behind the normal position for the club you’re using. Likewise, an uphill lie calls for a slightly more forward ball position.

Setting Up for Ball Placement

Establish ball position as a part of your standard setup and pre-shot routine. As you visualize the shot prior to hitting it, note the ball flight that you are trying to create. For example, a low shot such as a knockdown or punch shot will require you to play the ball farther back in your stance. If you need a high shot over a tree, you’ll want to move the ball slightly forward in your stance to set up an impact position where the hands will stay just behind the clubhead to create a higher launch trajectory.

Your Game Depends on You

The type of player you are is a factor in determining the correct ball position for you. If your swing is more of an arms swing with minimal lower body activity, the low point of the swing is slightly farther back. This helps you strike the ball with more of a descending blow, which will give you more control of the flight characteristics of the shot.

In general, mastering the normal ball positions for short irons, mid-irons, long irons, and woods will help you develop more consistency in your ball striking and give you better control over ball flight. But be sure to experiment when you practice to see how ball position can help you handle the shot making conditions you will encounter on the golf course.

Tips For Playing Golf In The Rain

You have a tee time at 9:00 a.m. You made the tee time a month in advance at your very favorite course. You’ve been looking forward to a game with good friends. Your clubs are clean and you’re ready to play. But now it’s 7:30 a.m. and a few raindrops have fallen. The sky is full of gray clouds. You’ve turned on the radio and heard that the forecast is mixed–possible showers or thunderstorms. What do you do?

Your first reaction, if you are like most golfers, is disappointment. You’d clearly rather be playing when it’s 70 degrees and sunny or just slightly overcast. However, you’re also thinking that you have a lot invested emotionally in this particular game. You want to play with these friends. It’s your preferred course. “So,” you say, “what the heck? What’s a little rain?”

I’ve listed below some handy tips that will help you have a great round of golf even if it becomes a little wet out there on the course:

If lightning threatens while on the course, take shelter immediately wherever you can. A tunnel or a shed (not under a tree) is a good place to be. Or you can crouch in an open space. Try to take up as little room as possible and get to the lowest piece of ground. Be especially careful not to give lightning something to strike, such as your golf clubs or umbrella. Don’t carry them. Don’t hold them. Put them down somewhere away from your body.

Invest in a good quality rain suit and hat to protect yourself. You’re not going to play well if you’re soaked to the bone. I’ve found that a Gore-Tex suit or something comparable is the best because it keeps out the rain while also allowing the body to breathe. The rain suit should be comfortable. Pants with zippers up the legs help you get the suit on easily over your spikes. You’ll also want one with pockets so that you can easily reach your balls, tees, divot repair tool, and ball markers.

Use a bungie cord stretched across the roofline of the golf cart as a clothesline for hanging extra towels and gloves. You can also use the bungie cords that attach to your portable windshield if you have one. If your grips are wet you run the risk of having your golf club come loose from your hands and fly into the fairway along with your ball. You could hurt yourself or injure someone else (as well as almost guaranteeing that your next shot will be pretty difficult).

Use a plastic windshield on your golf cart. Rain is one thing, but wind and rain together are hard to conquer. Using the windshield will help keep you, your clothes, the seat of the golf cart, and your equipment fairly dry.

If you wear glasses, bring along a baseball cap or “bucket” hat to keep your head and your glasses dry. You won’t be able to play too well if your glasses are fogged up or dripping with raindrops. It helps to carry a couple of extra paper towels along as well.

Make sure you have a rain cover. Most likely one came with your golf bag when you purchased it. Some covers on the market have zippers and are easier to get over your clubs. No matter which cover you choose, be sure to carry it with you at all times.

Carry at least two all-weather synthetic gloves. These gloves will allow you to keep your grip tight even when the gloves get slightly wet. If one set of gloves gets soaked, slip on your extra pair. And, while waterproof shoes are not a necessity, wearing them sure makes a round in the rain a lot more pleasant.

I hope these tips will let you enjoy that long-awaited game of golf.

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Driving Straight

Since the life of many double bogeys (and worse) begins with an errant tee shot on a narrow hole, I’d like to examine a couple effective points that can keep the ball in the short grass a lot more often, thus eliminating the need for trouble shots.

First order of business in hitting a straight drive is to select a club that gives you a reasonably good chance of accuracy. For many golfers, this means using the driver…not the 3-wood, 2- or 3-iron. True, the fairway woods or long irons can be more accurate, but only if you’re familiar with them and have used them enough to exert better-than-average control. For most players, the driver is the second most used club in the bag and the unfamiliarity of the fairway woods and long irons can spell disaster.

Pick a definite target

Pick a definite target in the middle of the fairway and aim at it. This focuses your attention on the target rather than on the trouble, plus it helps you align properly. Next, align properly! Can’t say it any simpler than that.

Finally, swing free and easy. Focus on making a good swing rather than on the result. Did you ever wonder why you can usually hit a great drive on a wide-open hole? Because the tension of getting into trouble is removed by the “safe” margins of the fairway. It sounds easier than it is, but concentrating on the swing rather than the result is a method all good players use.

So, the next time you face a fairway so narrow a dog can only wag his tail up and down, remember:

1. Use your most confident club;
2. Pick a spot in the fairway and aim at it;
3. Align properly;
4. Focus on the swing and not the result.

The top of your game

Many people have trouble topping the ball. While the universal cure-all for consistently hitting the ball in the forehead is “keep your head down,” the reality is that straightening of the knees and upper body is the main cause of striking the ball above its center.

I have several extra-short clubs that I use in my trick shot exhibitions and I have found that practice with a 36″ driver is an excellent way to train the knees and upper body to stay flexed until after impact.

Take an old driver, cut the shaft at 36″ and hit about 25 balls. Then switch to your regular driver and you’ll be amazed at how easy it becomes to stay in position until after impact.

How To Cure A Golf Shank

There is a shot in golf that is so terrifying, so devastating and so completely void of any redeeming quality that most golfers cringe at the slightest hint of its name. Well, the technical term for this mishap that calls to mind images of demons, lost grace and nausea is–a “Shank.”

A shank occurs when an iron shot is struck in the neck (hosel) of the club rather than on the face. Because the ball rolls off the round neck, it flies straight right, producing a shot so utterly useless it renders the game almost impossible to play.

Shanking produces fear unlike any other consequence in sports and this fear, or lack of confidence, is a contributor to the problem.

A shank is the result of the club’s moving outside the swing plane (or intended line of flight) for one or more of these common reasons:

• Moving weight into the toes on the downswing
• Dragging the club too far on the inside on the backswing
• Forcing the club outside the line on the swing pattern
• Swinging the club outside the line on the backswing and staying outside the line on the downswing
• Standing a bit too close to the ball at address

Common cures for such ills:

• Adjust your weight slightly more in heels at address
• Take the club straight back on the takeaway
• Stand the proper distance from the ball at address, arms hanging freely, with the butt of the club resting approximately seven inches away from your legs

With the proper address, all you have to do is swing the club straight back and straight forward. Do not try to manipulate the club’s path.

Swing with Confidence

Although there are as many forms of disability as there are people, a few common threads exist among people playing golf with a physical handicap.

The four major categories of challenged golf are:

1. One arm swing
2. One leg swing
3. Seated position
4. Blind golf

All other actions are modifications of these four root swings. So, no matter what type of disability you are experiencing, a useful bit of advice when it comes to finding the right golf equipment is: Keep it light!

Most golfers think that the heavier the club, the more the distance. Actually the opposite is closer to the truth. Distance comes from speed. The faster you swing the club, the farther the ball will go. Too much weight always slows down velocity and that adds up to a loss of yardage. In the world of handicapped golf, this is especially true, since one or more of the normal physical contributors is missing.

In many cases, women’s clubs will suit the male player much better than the standard models. The shaft flex is a bit more whippy and that helps kick in the club head at impact with more speed.

In addition, lighter clubs are much easier to control. I know that in making trick clubs for my show, the only time I have a problem with a new invention is when the club is too heavy. I have found that I can hit quality golf shots with virtually anything–iron pipes, springs, rubber hoses, universal joints–as long as the weight is kept to a bare minimum.

So check with your local PGA professional or club fitter. Make sure that the “static weight,” overall weight of the club, is as light as practical. Test those whippy shafts as well.

Weather Affects Golf Ball Flight

Have you ever noticed that on some days the golf ball travels farther than on other days. It might be because you’re striking it more solidly, but it might also be due to the weather. Golf is played in many different types of weather. The type of weather affects how far the ball travels and its amount of spin. Knowing how the weather conditions affect your ball, therefore, is necessary to making correct club selections.

The trajectory of a golf ball and the distance it travels depends on its initial trajectory, speed and spin, as well as what it’s moving through (air). The air is not always the same. It varies in temperature, pressure, humidity and density. If there were no air whatsoever, the golf ball would not travel far. Likewise, if a ball is hit in air with no spin (what often happens when you top the ball), it will not travel far. Check out the graph below of a golf ball hit with a driver under 3 different conditions.

Note first of all that the horizontal and vertical scales are quite different so as to depict clearly the differences in the conditions.

• Max Height/Distance
• Trajectory under normal conditions 38 yd – 248 yd
• Trajectory if no air 8 yd – 180 yd
• Trajectory in air with no spin 6 yd – 120 yd

The spin on the ball creates lift, which increases the height reached and increases the time of flight so that the ball travels further. If there were no air, spin wouldn’t matter at all. If the air is changed (pressure, temperature, density), the height and distance traveled will change.

Under normal conditions, the air does not change very much, but the amount can be significant and should be taken into account, otherwise your ball will fall too short or too long of its mark. Below is a table of distances for a 5- iron and Driver under different atmospheric conditions.

• 5 degrees 100% humidity
• 20 degrees 50% humidity
• 35 degrees 80% humidity
• Driver 244 yd – 250 yd – 262 yd
• 5-iron 168 yd – 175 yd- 182 yd

Note that temperature is in degrees Celsius. On the Fahrenheit scale, the temperatures would be 41, 68 and 95 degrees respectively. The distances also depend on the air pressure, which not only depends on temperature and humidity but also on altitude. Hot and humid results in the ball travelling further.

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