Extra! Extra! 3D maps, a new world record and a blogger freed

• A new traffic website and hotline is going to help drivers avoid the places where traffic is snarled up. Yet 10,000 more cars hit the road every month.
• Liu Xiang could probably have run the distance from our home to our dinner appointment in less time than it takes for us to get there by bus or taxi. He just set a new world record in the 110 meter hurdles at 12.88.
• Rental rates at the top office buildings in Shanghai have now reached a new high at the rate of $1.01 USD per square meter
• We knew there was going to be a bridge connecting Shanghai to Chongming Island, but we didn't know that Metro Line 9 is going to go out there too!
• A 3-D website of Shanghai is going to be open on July 15. It's navigable and has real pictures. So far Shanghai is the only they've developed it for, more Chinese cities to come in the future
• Half of China's chemical and petrochemical plants pose significant environmental risks
• Not satisfied with the revival of Maoist education, a school in suburban Shanghai is basing 80 percent of its curriculum on reciting Confucian classics (with some Shakespeare thrown in). No math(s), no English, no science, no legal? That's what some folks say. We say that these kids are going to grow up to be professional philosophers at Harvard.
• Rejoice! Plum Rain Season ends today, July 12. Next is hot and humid weather. Thank god, we almost thought that hot and humid weather wasn't coming this summer!
• Another reason to rejoice: Jailed blogger and filmmaker Wu Hou has been released.
• A heavy metal mashup featuring CCTV's notoriously overzealous World Cup announcer.
• Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.
• Zhang Ziyi nude! Or is it?
• What is the average salary of a production line worker in China?
• Fudan University Professor vs. Sohu.com.
• USA vs. China (in basketball).
• A story about a Chongqing website dedicated to asexual marriages -- but no mention of the URL of the website.

Compiled by Peijin Chen and Dan Washburn

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