在小岛上一直想看这本书，无奈书价实在太贵，而且学校图书馆又不收藏这种过多地探讨宇宙终极问题的读物。回国后找到了电子书下载，在硬盘上放了一个多月后终于读完了一遍。
文字和细节方面，书本比电影还是稍胜一筹，不过在阅读很多段落的时候还是禁不住要联想到电影里的画面，特别是 Heart of Gold 在超空间飞行的那段，电影的处理相当有趣。
阅读时发现了一个可能跟 Google 有关的细节：有一台计算机名字里有 Googleplex 这个词，不知道 Google 当初是不是用它给自己总部命名的。
2007年8月14日星期二
2007年7月19日星期四
What went right in I. Mongolia and what went wrong in Tibet
A news focus article "Getting at the Roots of Killer Dust Storms" on this week's [*Science*](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/317/5836/314?etoc) reported the recent progress in combating desertification by grazing management and ecological restoration in Bayinhushu, Inner Mongolia.
Apparently by reducing the number of livestocks and grazing intensity, as well as natural restoration, after five years the vegetation in this villiage is recovering towards the level 50 years ago. The production of pastoralism products are not hindered as the output per livestock doubled due to improved nutrient from corn planted by villagers instead of natural grown grass.
Other measures employed before, such as forestation and settlement development, proved not feasible while counterproductive in the semi-arid areas. Trees either die or suck too much groundwater, thus make draught worse. Settled communities brings higher pressure to the land and create denuded rings around their villages.
The success in Inner Mongolia is due to its consideration over economic and social as well as ecological effects. Such approach suits better to the local situation. However, the successful method cannot simply be copied to other semi-arid areas in China, such as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Inner Mongolia has better water and nutrient conditions than TAR. If it is to be imitated, at least local environmental conditions should be considered first.
In some areas in Tibet, where moving sand dunes make the hand-off approach not feasible, human intervention may be needed to stablise sand dunes first, then surface vegetation can be reestablished. The fragile economy and poor soil in Tibet may prove difficulties to local people who are asked to control the grazing. But the experience from Inner Mongolia does provide a more desirable to restore grassland in Tibet than the current settle-down policy.
Apparently by reducing the number of livestocks and grazing intensity, as well as natural restoration, after five years the vegetation in this villiage is recovering towards the level 50 years ago. The production of pastoralism products are not hindered as the output per livestock doubled due to improved nutrient from corn planted by villagers instead of natural grown grass.
Other measures employed before, such as forestation and settlement development, proved not feasible while counterproductive in the semi-arid areas. Trees either die or suck too much groundwater, thus make draught worse. Settled communities brings higher pressure to the land and create denuded rings around their villages.
The success in Inner Mongolia is due to its consideration over economic and social as well as ecological effects. Such approach suits better to the local situation. However, the successful method cannot simply be copied to other semi-arid areas in China, such as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Inner Mongolia has better water and nutrient conditions than TAR. If it is to be imitated, at least local environmental conditions should be considered first.
In some areas in Tibet, where moving sand dunes make the hand-off approach not feasible, human intervention may be needed to stablise sand dunes first, then surface vegetation can be reestablished. The fragile economy and poor soil in Tibet may prove difficulties to local people who are asked to control the grazing. But the experience from Inner Mongolia does provide a more desirable to restore grassland in Tibet than the current settle-down policy.
2007年7月16日星期一
ifmslide -- 一个似乎没什么人用的 LaTeX 演示宏包
今天在无聊的时候随便用
- 可以方便地定义背景图像；
- 可以自定义导航按钮的形状和位置；
- 可以方便地开关导航栏和定义导航栏位置；
- 用 pdf 格式时生成幻灯片，用 dvi 格式可以生成 handout ，基本不需要改动代码。
不过还不清楚对中文支持如何，也不清楚是否像
locate 命令看了一下自己的硬盘，发现 TeXlive 2005 里还有一个用于制作 slide 的宏包，叫做 ifmslide。这个东东似乎利用了 texpower、seminar 等多个宏包的功能，有一些它自己的特点，包括：- 可以方便地定义背景图像；
- 可以自定义导航按钮的形状和位置；
- 可以方便地开关导航栏和定义导航栏位置；
- 用 pdf 格式时生成幻灯片，用 dvi 格式可以生成 handout ，基本不需要改动代码。
不过还不清楚对中文支持如何，也不清楚是否像
Beamer 那样支持 pgf 提供的绘图命令。另外一个缺点就是没有提供设计好的模板，不清楚做出来的幻灯片美观程度如何。
2007年6月29日星期五
"New Priorities for Climate Change Research"
Apparently the new IPCC synthesis on climate change has provided ground that current climate change is largely anthropogenic. Although it may still take up to decades for the U.S. to put carbon emission control system into their legislation, the responsibility of *Homo Sapiens* cannot be easily exempted.
For the U.S., their research focus has been shifted from proving the responsibility to "the causes, the impacts, and solutions". From [Science](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/316/5833/1828b):
> [the budget bills] include more than half a billion dollars for new applied energy research, a novel $50 million climate research commission that would address regional impacts, and some $17 million to spread the message on climate change through education and public outreach....
>
> ...[A] draft spending bill would set aside $24.9 million for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to begin to develop two of the canceled sensors--both crucial for measuring Earth's heat balance--to bolt onto the crafts later if possible.
These priorities are, in fact, hardly anything new. The scientific society has called it for years. It is just at present that these budget requests are finally seen to. Of course such investment and prioritisation of climate-related research will surely accelerate the gain of understanding of climate trends and impacts. But the U.S. should not be boasting such late-bestowed attention to a pressing and significant problem.
For the U.S., their research focus has been shifted from proving the responsibility to "the causes, the impacts, and solutions". From [Science](http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/316/5833/1828b):
> [the budget bills] include more than half a billion dollars for new applied energy research, a novel $50 million climate research commission that would address regional impacts, and some $17 million to spread the message on climate change through education and public outreach....
>
> ...[A] draft spending bill would set aside $24.9 million for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to begin to develop two of the canceled sensors--both crucial for measuring Earth's heat balance--to bolt onto the crafts later if possible.
These priorities are, in fact, hardly anything new. The scientific society has called it for years. It is just at present that these budget requests are finally seen to. Of course such investment and prioritisation of climate-related research will surely accelerate the gain of understanding of climate trends and impacts. But the U.S. should not be boasting such late-bestowed attention to a pressing and significant problem.
2007年6月27日星期三
Scientists in the blogosphere
This is an initiative of [Nature][1], providing a platform for scientists to write their opinions as blog entries. It can be seen from [this page](http://network.nature.com/blogs/list). Apparently there are already a number of researchers put their names on the Nature's list. However, if you take a closer look, you will find that most of them has only a handful of posts. Except for [this one](http://network.nature.com/blogs/user/U2929A0EA).
The causes of this gloomy appearance may include: a. established scientists are way too busy to write their blogs; b. few scientific blog writers like the templates and space provided by Nature Network; and c. there are scientific blogs out there but they are just like needles in a pile of stray that needs one to pay considerable effort to find.
By typing keywords "science" and "blog" into the search engine, it can be find that there is no serious and influencial blog space dedicated to the science community, which I think is a shame for both the Internet and scientists. I do believe that blogs can be a good place for scientific information and ideas to disseminate. While there are too many blogs which has virtually nothing meaningful on them, a scientific blog service provider may be helpful to counterbalance this trend.
****
[1]: http://www.nature.com
The causes of this gloomy appearance may include: a. established scientists are way too busy to write their blogs; b. few scientific blog writers like the templates and space provided by Nature Network; and c. there are scientific blogs out there but they are just like needles in a pile of stray that needs one to pay considerable effort to find.
By typing keywords "science" and "blog" into the search engine, it can be find that there is no serious and influencial blog space dedicated to the science community, which I think is a shame for both the Internet and scientists. I do believe that blogs can be a good place for scientific information and ideas to disseminate. While there are too many blogs which has virtually nothing meaningful on them, a scientific blog service provider may be helpful to counterbalance this trend.
****
[1]: http://www.nature.com
2007年6月15日星期五
不许郁闷
>“主席，世界上啥子四情是最痛苦地哟？”
>“上自习。”
>“还有比上自习更痛苦地不得？”
>（烟）“天天上自习……”
在北京痛苦的找房过程终于结束。目前我寄居在某大学的防空洞改造的招待所里，冬暖夏凉，安静舒适，而且既没有手机信号也没有网线，适合隐居。
之前找的几个房，因为都拿不出靠谱的房产证，虽然居住方便一些，但终归是不放心。现在想来，虽然我对小岛上的房子有诸多的不满，但当时租房的过程毕竟比这次方便多了。
为了用手机与他人保持联络，就必须从招待所的地洞里钻出来。作为一个穷学生，钻出来也没有多的事可做，只有假装还是个本科生，然后跑到该大学的教学楼去上自习。除了8月份要再考一次雅思考试需要复习，其它大量的自习时间应当怎样度过呢？其实这段时间倒觉得上自习并不是一件难熬的事，天天上自习也没有什么，大概是没有什么考试压力的缘故吧。既然时间很多，那么决定好好复习一下吃饭必须的统计学知识，有空再复习一下微积分，然后看看能不能自学个数学分析或者离散数学啥的。
>“上自习。”
>“还有比上自习更痛苦地不得？”
>（烟）“天天上自习……”
在北京痛苦的找房过程终于结束。目前我寄居在某大学的防空洞改造的招待所里，冬暖夏凉，安静舒适，而且既没有手机信号也没有网线，适合隐居。
之前找的几个房，因为都拿不出靠谱的房产证，虽然居住方便一些，但终归是不放心。现在想来，虽然我对小岛上的房子有诸多的不满，但当时租房的过程毕竟比这次方便多了。
为了用手机与他人保持联络，就必须从招待所的地洞里钻出来。作为一个穷学生，钻出来也没有多的事可做，只有假装还是个本科生，然后跑到该大学的教学楼去上自习。除了8月份要再考一次雅思考试需要复习，其它大量的自习时间应当怎样度过呢？其实这段时间倒觉得上自习并不是一件难熬的事，天天上自习也没有什么，大概是没有什么考试压力的缘故吧。既然时间很多，那么决定好好复习一下吃饭必须的统计学知识，有空再复习一下微积分，然后看看能不能自学个数学分析或者离散数学啥的。
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