Coverage has a number of meanings:

• The state of being covered:
  • In insurance, the amount and extent of risk covered by an insurer.
  • cell phone connectivity
  • radio frequency
  • news ("press coverage", "media coverage")
• In filmmaking:
  • Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce
  • Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene.
  • Coverage, a short summary of a script, written by script readers to recommend whether or not a film should be made
• Code coverage, a measure used in software testing
• Coverage data, the mapping of one aspect of data in space, in geographic information systems
• Coverage, a 2003 album by Mandy Moore

More on [ Coverage ]

TIME.com: China Blog

One Month to Go
Simon Elegant Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:05:54 -0500
So. One month to go to the big day. At eight minutes past eight on the eighth day of the eighth month of, yes, '08, this Olympic Games will finally start. I for one will be hooting with joy. I am thoroughly sick of the build up. Can't imagine what it's like for the organizers, tho I suppose the fear of some looming cock up is bracing enough to keep their minds off other matters. There's not too much to add about the physical preparations. Most things look to be on track. And as far as the air quality, well, we'll just have to wait and see. Barring some fairly cosmic bad luck (which China has already had a dose or two of this year, sad to say, as well as lesser but still hardly routine stuff: who would have thought of a green algae attack?), the measures that have been put in place such as banning odd-even license plates etc (details here) should do the trick. Today's API by the way is hovering around 100, which would be unhealthy for most other cities but is the dividing line between acceptable and, er, not so acceptable in Beijing. On other issues, I think it can be said categorically that the visa restrictions and other heavy strictures (details, story here) put in place have proved a far bigger problem than anybody even remotely anticipated. I have a friend who runs a business helping new investors into China. He says business has dropped sharply in the last few months and queries about India and Vietnam as possible alternatives to China have risen in proportion. Sure, some of it will come back after the Games, he says, but some people are just thoroughly fed up by the whole experience and packing up and going elsewhere. I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise though. The order went out that ensuring a secure and peaceful Games was priority number one and everything else came a distant second. So bureaucrats --and security types are particularly prone to this as it only takes one slip up to bring on a major problem--went to maximum CYA (cover your er, donkey) lockdown. It will be interesting to see how things shake out after September. It's often easier clamp down than get the system to loosen up again. Nature of the beast after all. And what about the human rights and general openness that were supposed to have been enhanced by the awarding of the Games? It hardly needs to be said that the exact opposite happened and most dissenting voices have either been jailed or intimidated into silence. Same goes for the promised greater media freedom, as Human Right Watch have pointed out in their latest report. (Here with proxy or VPN if inside the Wall), China's Forbidden Zones. Again, it will be instructive to see how things turn out later in the year. My feeling is that the conservative forces in the top leadership (or hardliners if you prefer) will be emboldened by the fact that despite a severe crackdown in the full glare of pre-Olympics publicity, there has been virtually no substantive international reaction. I'd wager that they'll argue that there's no reason not to keep those irritating dissidents in jail if there's no downside. It could even encourage security forces to tighten further once the Games are over. 秋后算账 as one policeman told dissident Hu Jia last year: we'll settle accounts after Autumn. In his case of course they didn't wait, putting him away in Spring.
Another Shout Out: My Beijing Birthday
Simon Elegant Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:23:20 -0500
Saw a wonderful documentary the other day. Really moving and funny, but also gives great insight into how China and the Chinese are changing. It's called My Beijing Birthday and the prime mover (and shaker, quite literally in this case) is Howard Snyder who, apart from being a great guy and living in my compound also speaks just about the best Chinese I have ever heard from a foreigner. This is of course profoundly irritating and envy-making, even more so now that he has made this lovely movie. See the trailer here and be sure to catch it when it comes your way, most likely by pirated DVD if you live in China.....:)
Weng'an Protests: Heads Up
Simon Elegant Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:54:47 -0500
Forgot to mention that we put up our take on the Weng'an protests over the weekend. Link here. I hesitate to call anything in China a turning point, but it is certainly a major milestone. And as we all know, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, grasshopper.
Beijing-Tibet Talks: Railroaded
Simon Elegant Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:19:17 -0500
Today is the 73rd birthday of the Dalai Lama. That's significant as it is now becoming increasingly clear that Beijing's approach to the Tibet issue is to stall until he dies. The Beijing talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials last week appear to have been dire despite the fact that pretty well the only thing the Tibetans were asking for was a meeting with President Hu Jintao. The Tibetans said they were disappointed and that there was no point in talking if Beijing wasn't going to be serious. Beijing said there would be more talks before the end of the year, which translated actually means....well, you can figure it out. I guess I should have gone with my first instinct in my last, optimistic post on this issue. Looks as though the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be that oncoming train after all. This doesn't bode well at all for ordinary Tibetans. Reminds me of that phrase by some long gone dictator about Mexico, "Poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States."
Maison Boulud Beijing: The Movie
Simon Elegant Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:15:43 -0500
As I mentioned earlier, I ate at the new Beijing outpost in the growing empire of New York-based super chef Daniel Boulud. The food actually exceeded my expectations, which were pretty high, classic, unfussy dishes highlighting the ingredients. Not an atomiser in sight (or molecularizer or whatever it is they use at Bulli, the much-caressed experimental restaurant in Spain). Anyway, I shot some footage of the action in the kitchen. You'll see they are by no means understaffed with around 14 cooks and bottle washers. I guess that's what it takes to achieve that level of cooking on that scale. The two dishes you see being prepared are pork belly, which Boulud himself describes in the clip, and a starter you can see him assembling of scallop and fried zucchini flower with roast tomatoes and, I think, a salsa verde. I had it. It was great.
They All Sound The Same To Me
Liam Fitzpatrick Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:39:13 -0500
I was going to tell you about an enjoyable exchange of emails between my father-in-law Colin and the BBC World Service over the BBC's constant mangling of Chinese names. But I can't improve on Colin's words (go Dad!), so I'm pasting them in mostly verbatim, with a few edits for space and clarity. Note that the BBC haven't actually replied to Colin. They simply forwarded an internal email to him by mistake. From Colin to the BBC: Sent: 28 June 2008 04:59 To: World Service Subject: Bad Pronunciation of Chinese People's Names Dear BBC, This morning your sports correspondent treated us to the usual slovenly BBC pronunciation of Chinese people's names. For Zheng Jie, the Wimbledon giant killer, who has just beaten top seed Ana Ivanovic, we had something like "Je-ang Jee" with the "Je" sounding like the French word for "I". This is just so far off the mark one does not know where to begin to explain. But you have plenty of Chinese language staff who can. [Your correspondent] can pronounce Ana Ivanovic, so why can't he make more effort with a Chinese person's name? Because he does not care. Since this problem is so prevalent in the BBC World Service, I conclude that the whole of the BBC does not care either. The only comfort I can take from all this is that at least during the Beijing Olympics (that's Beijing not "Beige-ing") Chinese people will not have to listen to your radio service murdering their names, because the World Service cannot be received in mainland China. And the ban should continue until you start taking the pronunciation of Chinese names seriously. Shame on you BBC, shame! Colin Instead of replying, the BBC clumsily forwarded this internal communication to Colin: From: World Service [mailto:worldservice@bbc.co.uk] Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 6:32 PM To: Colin Subject: RE: Bad Pronunciation of Chinese People's Names Hi Ken. We have a standard response which notes that where pronunciations of non-English names are particularly difficult for native English speakers, it is accepted that an approximation is used (i.e. we don't expect presenters to learn Chinese intonation and pronunciation just for the Olympics!). And BBC World Service can be received in mainland China, contrary to what Colin says. I haven't replied, in case you want to. Regards, Hilary To which Colin answered: Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 11:34 AM To: 'World Service' Subject: Bad Pronunciation of Chinese People's Names Dear Hilary & Ken, Permit me to elaborate with an example. To your presenters Xiang, Zhang and Zang are all the same. They pronounce them "Je-ang". But in Chinese these are three distinct sounds – quite different from each other. It would be as if Mr. Brown, Mr. Town and Mr. Down, were all called Brown – confusing to say the least. And to make matters worse the "Je" sound mentioned earlier does not exist in standard Chinese (Putonghua), which makes the "Beige-ing" persistently heard on the BBC so irritating. To return to Zheng Jie, the tennis player briefly: the Zheng is not "Je-ang" and the Jie is not "Jee". In Chinese pinyin "Ji" sounds like your sports presenter's "Jee", but Jie is distinctively different, with two vowel sounds. Ji-e. From the tone of your email I can detect that you do not take this subject seriously. You say: "we don't expect presenters to learn Chinese intonation and pronunciation just for the Olympics!" What about them learning how to pronounce Chinese names for all the other times during the year? China and Chinese people are constantly in the news for one reason or another. China is not some obscure backwater. It is the home to a quarter of mankind. It is the second most powerful country in the world. China will most likely top the medal board in August. We are not asking for all your staff to become instant Chinese language experts. We are just asking you to eliminate the most obvious mistakes. That is all. You can receive the World Service on short wave on the mainland. You are right. Sometimes you can listen on the internet, but not always. It is not unusual in my experience for it to be impossible to get past the BBC World Service home page. I only ask that you take my suggestions a bit more seriously. Colin

BBC News | Special Reports | World Edition

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TIME: Andrew D. Arnold - TIME.comix

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chicagotribune.com - Nation/World

Florida lottery players pumped about prize
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:59:00 -0500
New promotion in Florida gives five second-place game winners option of free gasoline for life A new promotion in the Sunshine State gives five second-place game winners the option of free gasoline for life.
FDA calls for urgent warning on antibiotics
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:37:00 -0500
Drug safety officials Tuesday imposed the government's most urgent safety warning on Cipro and similar antibiotics, citing evidence that they may lead to tendon ruptures, a serious injury that can leave patients incapacitated and needing extensive surgery.
Judge to Bush admin.: Guantanamo is top priority
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:38:00 -0500
A federal judge overseeing Guantanamo Bay lawsuits ordered the Justice Department to put other cases aside and make it clear throughout the Bush administration that, after nearly seven years of detention, the detainees must have their day in court.
Fringe autism treatment could get federal study
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:32:00 -0500
Pressured by desperate parents, government researchers are pushing to test an unproven treatment on autistic children, a move some scientists see as an unethical experiment in voodoo medicine.
'Honor killing' alleged in Atlanta suburb
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:29:00 -0500
Pakistani immigrant is accused of strangling daughter who opposed her arranged marriage Twenty-five-year-old Sandeela Kanwal of suburban Atlanta was not happy with the marriage her father, a Pakistani immigrant, had arranged for her. After a heated argument with her father over the matter, she was dead. The Tribune's Dahleen Glanton and Antonio Olivo report.
Cheney wanted cuts in climate testimony
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:23:00 -0500
A former EPA official says Vice President Dick Cheney's office pushed for major deletions last October in congressional testimony on the public health consequences of climate change.

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Elizabeth Edwards calls Ann Coulter