在 [NullPointer 的 blog](http://www.inblogs.net/npchen/2008/01/blog-post_14.html) 上看到的，5本书的第39页第7行：
- 请打开离你手边最近的一本书。找到并写下第39页第7行的一句话。
At first Leo could not place any woman named White.
- 请打开你最喜欢的一本书。找到并写下第39页第7行的一句话。（其实最喜欢的书不在现在的住处，只好找本现有的最喜欢的书了）
一只早起的画眉在我驾车经过林中小径时，送来了一个两个乐音。
- 请打开随意一本外语书。找到并写下第39页第7行的一句话。（我这里多的是外语书，桀桀桀）
... [A]nd conjunction which is founded on this technology's potential power to provide a `doorway to other worlds'...
- 请打开书架最上一排上左数第一本书。找到并写下第39页第7行的一句话。（最上一排放 CD，取第二排第一本）
... said the patient, his accent more befitting the *Quai d'Orsay* than *Le Bouc de Mer*.
- 请打开封面是你最喜欢的颜色的一本书。找到并写下第39页第7行的一句话。
莱因霍尔梅森纳尔和彼德哈卜勒在没有使用氧气的情况下登顶了珠穆朗玛峰。
有兴趣的话，你可以接着玩下去……
2008年1月14日星期一
2008年1月13日星期日
No country for old men
这片子的宿命感十分强烈。所有人都在沙漠里混吃等死，还美其名曰为了生存。就连我们“正义”的两位男主角，也一个整天带着不义之财东躲西藏，一个只会在下属面前卖弄经验。相比之下，倒是人人谈之色变的杀手，活得很有目的，是个“有原则的人”。不过就连他，最后也要很宿命地遇上点劫难。这有点像银河映像的《暗花》，不同的是这部片子里根本就不存在什么幕后人物。
片子很颓废，但是观众仍然看得非常紧张。因为杀手遇到的90%的人都死了，但是观众们都很关心现在画面里这个人是否能成为幸运的10%，或者概率更小更刺激的，这个人能否在杀手面前上演一出扮猪吃老虎的好戏。然而杀手似乎并不给那个人这样的机会，他的每句话都在将面前的人逼入绝境。观众们也只好在椅子边缘屏息等待杀手出手的刹那……
这一刹那的冲击力随着凌厉的剪辑和音效体现得淋漓尽致。片子里长于10秒的镜头很少，但一旦出现一定是强调荒凉或者积蓄爆发前的张力，真正动手的一刻，猝不及防，而后镜头又立即转到下一个故事或者支线，绝无拖沓。不知道这样的剪辑是无间道在先还是科恩兄弟首创，但我看这片子时从椅子上跳起来两次，是从记事以来绝无仅有的观影经历。音效里没有明显地卖弄影院的 n.1 环回立体声，但影院里人人都可以感受到那种从正面逼近的震慑，有如子弹直击眉心。
就连影片的结尾也让人措手不及。在连串的暴力后，刚看到一点家居生活还没有回过味来，影片就结束了，留下观众在座位上发呆。是的，不如说影片没有结局。这再一次强化了影片中的宿命论观点，生活中的个人不像每一部影片中的英雄一样，都可以在紧要关头反败为胜打得坏人满地找牙抱得美人归，更多的时候人们无力反抗或者不敢反抗，只有留下无尽的悔恨和一辈子的自责。
我以堂堂七尺之躯，走在从电影院到家那段走了无数次的夜路上，第一次感到心里没底。
片子很颓废，但是观众仍然看得非常紧张。因为杀手遇到的90%的人都死了，但是观众们都很关心现在画面里这个人是否能成为幸运的10%，或者概率更小更刺激的，这个人能否在杀手面前上演一出扮猪吃老虎的好戏。然而杀手似乎并不给那个人这样的机会，他的每句话都在将面前的人逼入绝境。观众们也只好在椅子边缘屏息等待杀手出手的刹那……
这一刹那的冲击力随着凌厉的剪辑和音效体现得淋漓尽致。片子里长于10秒的镜头很少，但一旦出现一定是强调荒凉或者积蓄爆发前的张力，真正动手的一刻，猝不及防，而后镜头又立即转到下一个故事或者支线，绝无拖沓。不知道这样的剪辑是无间道在先还是科恩兄弟首创，但我看这片子时从椅子上跳起来两次，是从记事以来绝无仅有的观影经历。音效里没有明显地卖弄影院的 n.1 环回立体声，但影院里人人都可以感受到那种从正面逼近的震慑，有如子弹直击眉心。
就连影片的结尾也让人措手不及。在连串的暴力后，刚看到一点家居生活还没有回过味来，影片就结束了，留下观众在座位上发呆。是的，不如说影片没有结局。这再一次强化了影片中的宿命论观点，生活中的个人不像每一部影片中的英雄一样，都可以在紧要关头反败为胜打得坏人满地找牙抱得美人归，更多的时候人们无力反抗或者不敢反抗，只有留下无尽的悔恨和一辈子的自责。
我以堂堂七尺之躯，走在从电影院到家那段走了无数次的夜路上，第一次感到心里没底。
2008年1月11日星期五
Follow up: on fertilising the ocean
I have written an entry on the topic Ocean Iron Fertilisation to sequestrate carbon. A group of scientists provides their opinion and claim that more experiments will be needed before we can use the technology and incorporate it into carbon trading system:
ENVIRONMENT: Ocean Iron Fertilization--Moving Forward in a Sea of Uncertainty -- Buesseler et al. 319 (5860): 162 -- Science
ENVIRONMENT: Ocean Iron Fertilization--Moving Forward in a Sea of Uncertainty -- Buesseler et al. 319 (5860): 162 -- Science
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Who's driving?
GEOPHYSICS: Daggers Are Drawn Over Revived Cosmic Ray-Climate Link -- Pasotti 319 (5860): 144 -- Science
Some climate change skeptic argue that holding a mainstream view, scientists do not allow opinions other than human-induced climate change to be discussed on. Well, that is conspiracy theory again. Some researchers proposed that climate change may be due to changed geomagnetic field. Although this has been dismissed long ago, the group of researchers say they will carry on to find more evidences and give more solid proofs. Now their idea is published on Science.
This is why we call research of climate change a scientific process: always open to disagreement and debates. The accusation that mainstream voices in science world are abusing the rights of expression is not well-grounded.
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2008年1月9日星期三
Better, but not a solution yet
I think I am a bio-fuel advocate-turned-skeptic now.
Both NewScientist and SciAm report that a native North American perennial grass, switch grass Panicum virgatum can produce 540% of the energy used to grow it. It has been naturally growing at field margins in U. S. for years, yet recently become a new focus in bio-fuel development. Without doubt its efficiency in producing energy beats the criticism that bio-fuel growing is not energy-efficient. It even has nearly permanent underground root system that offset 94 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted to cultivate it and from derived ethanol. Neat isn't it?
However I think environment aware farmers will face certain dilemma when they decide whether to plant it or not. By definition it can be grown on marginal land without intensive care. But it would take many households' yield to form a quantity that is worth further process. The ethanol yield on a field is 2,000 to 3,500 litres/ha, which about equals to 1,300 to 2,250 litres of petrol (using data from here and here). For an average truck that carries the grass from a farm to refinery, the fuel supports it to run for 860 to 1,500 kilometres (using 2005 data from here). There was not an estimate of farm-refinery data that I can find, but this report claims that local food travels on average 56 miles to reach institutional market, convert this to kilometres and times 2, the travel from a refinery to a farm and back along takes about 180 kilometres. This part was not calculated in the model used to calculate net energy yields. Considering that the bio-fuel production is very distributed, it is necessary to incorporate this into the analysis. If the switchgrass is really grown on marginal land, it is very possible that the collector will need to travel more miles before obtaining adequate amount of raw materials for production.
If the grass is grown in field scale, not on marginal land, problems for other bio-fuel plants also exist: investment of land and water, fertilizers and so on. Like all technology, it is dangerous if people are too obsessed and invest their land and money blindly on the switchgrass. With a similar unit area ethanol yield to corn, it still will take considerable land to make the production practical and profitable. The discovery itself is remarkable. But it will not be the single solution to energy problem in the US, nor should it become an excuse to put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Both NewScientist and SciAm report that a native North American perennial grass, switch grass Panicum virgatum can produce 540% of the energy used to grow it. It has been naturally growing at field margins in U. S. for years, yet recently become a new focus in bio-fuel development. Without doubt its efficiency in producing energy beats the criticism that bio-fuel growing is not energy-efficient. It even has nearly permanent underground root system that offset 94 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted to cultivate it and from derived ethanol. Neat isn't it?
However I think environment aware farmers will face certain dilemma when they decide whether to plant it or not. By definition it can be grown on marginal land without intensive care. But it would take many households' yield to form a quantity that is worth further process. The ethanol yield on a field is 2,000 to 3,500 litres/ha, which about equals to 1,300 to 2,250 litres of petrol (using data from here and here). For an average truck that carries the grass from a farm to refinery, the fuel supports it to run for 860 to 1,500 kilometres (using 2005 data from here). There was not an estimate of farm-refinery data that I can find, but this report claims that local food travels on average 56 miles to reach institutional market, convert this to kilometres and times 2, the travel from a refinery to a farm and back along takes about 180 kilometres. This part was not calculated in the model used to calculate net energy yields. Considering that the bio-fuel production is very distributed, it is necessary to incorporate this into the analysis. If the switchgrass is really grown on marginal land, it is very possible that the collector will need to travel more miles before obtaining adequate amount of raw materials for production.
If the grass is grown in field scale, not on marginal land, problems for other bio-fuel plants also exist: investment of land and water, fertilizers and so on. Like all technology, it is dangerous if people are too obsessed and invest their land and money blindly on the switchgrass. With a similar unit area ethanol yield to corn, it still will take considerable land to make the production practical and profitable. The discovery itself is remarkable. But it will not be the single solution to energy problem in the US, nor should it become an excuse to put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
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2008年1月6日星期日
Reform along the other line
SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT: Revolutionizing China's Environmental Protection -- Liu and Diamond 319 (5859): 37 -- Science
Along the lines of economic and political reform, reform in another most-ignored-so-far aspect -- environment, is proposed as a new agenda in China's eleventh five-year plan. Although there have been efforts to incorporate environmental considerations into the country's development before, we still see accelerating pollution, depleting resources and a few environmental catastrophes in the past year.
The article discusses what should and can be done. It suggests reforming the administrative system, re-introducing public Green-GDP auditing, as well as a change in the development model, though the last point is barely explained. However, the implement of these suggestions are almost as difficult as political reform, as it involves the basic systems of how things work. Basically, these measures will need a bigger, more powerful State Environment Protection Agency, if not as powerful as EPA in the Simpsons Movie. It needs to be an enforcer rather than an adviser, and its branches not responsible to local government but directly to SEPA and local people. It should also have as much a say as the National Bureau of Statistics in whether and how Green-GDP and loss from environmental problems should be calculated and published. These roles are not possible in a single-hierarchical system, in which one big government has the final say in affairs of every sector on every level and uses only monetary measurements of performance.
In terms of development model, officially the attitude of the State is that China is not following developed countries which pollute first and treat the pollution later. But in a micro-scale, industries are still walking down this path. Still, the SEPA can do very little with these matters. There are crackdowns and bans on polluting bodies, but that is after the pollution or even environmental disasters. The monitoring and auditing of environmental performance is almost a blank, as there is no law requesting such report to be provided by the industry on a regular basis. There is neither requirement of development of cleaner production technologies in regulations or policies. After the initial environmental impact assessment, the industry is left to do what it likes as long as it maintains the status approved by the initial, possibly incomplete and faulty EIA report, until something breaks.
The article also calls for more transparency in the report of environmental qualities and measurements. Again this is very difficult if local EPAs are just a advisory attachment to the local government and too many interests are interlocked. The grassroots are becoming a potential force of environment protection in China. Nevertheless from a scientist's view it is better if they have their own expertise and some knowledgeable figures to lead their action.
I think, at least something can be done to make environment more relevant in China. In legislation, it would be desirable if regular environmental monitoring/auditing is regulated as a mandatory practice, and continual improvement a recommended measure of business social responsibility. As a student of relevant subjects, I also hope that private sectors are allowed to join the SEPA in establishing a healthy environmental auditing and consulting network, which is able to improve numerous industries' environmental profile, as well as creating many jobs and contribute to the economy.
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2008年1月3日星期四
用 Yahoo! Pipes 优化重组 RSS feed
好吧，我知道这可能是 Pipes 最土最容易想到的应用了。不过我前几天在被堆积如山的来自 BBC 和 The Economist 以及 lifehacker 的 feed 困扰时居然也没有想到这点。
我使用的 Pipes 部件都比较简单，无外乎收集 feed，关键词选择以及时间控制，最多加上一个 union。实现的功能主要是从一系列相同主题的站点中搜集 feed 并按关键词挑选出我想看的内容，时间太久没有时效性的就 block 掉。如此以来我需要用来了解天下大事的时间就大大减少了，而且在 Google Reader 里总的 feed 数量减少到6个，也就意味着鼠标的点击和等待时间都减少了，yay！
目前发现的问题是像 blogbus 这样逆历史潮流而动使用 GB2312 编码的 feed 在通过 pipes 后无法被正确识别编码，也许 Pipes 应该加入对编码的识别，或者加个 iconv 部件？从一般 html 页面生成 feed 的能力很赞，不过目前还没有搞清楚怎样导入。
我发布了一个 [Science News pipe](http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=pgygETW63BGsYmvXJhOy0Q)，内容是 Nature、Science、NewScientist、Scientific American 和 Slashdot Science section 的有关环境和生态学研究的新闻，欢迎使用、克隆、改进之。
我使用的 Pipes 部件都比较简单，无外乎收集 feed，关键词选择以及时间控制，最多加上一个 union。实现的功能主要是从一系列相同主题的站点中搜集 feed 并按关键词挑选出我想看的内容，时间太久没有时效性的就 block 掉。如此以来我需要用来了解天下大事的时间就大大减少了，而且在 Google Reader 里总的 feed 数量减少到6个，也就意味着鼠标的点击和等待时间都减少了，yay！
目前发现的问题是像 blogbus 这样逆历史潮流而动使用 GB2312 编码的 feed 在通过 pipes 后无法被正确识别编码，也许 Pipes 应该加入对编码的识别，或者加个 iconv 部件？从一般 html 页面生成 feed 的能力很赞，不过目前还没有搞清楚怎样导入。
我发布了一个 [Science News pipe](http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=pgygETW63BGsYmvXJhOy0Q)，内容是 Nature、Science、NewScientist、Scientific American 和 Slashdot Science section 的有关环境和生态学研究的新闻，欢迎使用、克隆、改进之。
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