2011年2月18日星期五
2011年2月16日星期三
互联网: Facebook上的沙特留学生按性别隔离
社会: 中国投入4万亿应对水资源短缺
中国宣布将在未来10年投入4万亿人民币，应对水资源短缺，确保未来有充足的淡水供应。但对计划细节有所了解的科学家担心，该计划可能会破坏湿地，可能是无效率的，因为政府部门之间在合作处理水问题上经常是推卸责任。这项十年计划的目标是控制用水量，提高灌溉效率，限制地下水抽取等等。由于该计划过于强调人类活动的用水，有些科学家担心可能会导致湿地和其它脆弱生态系统的水资源被抽走。清华大学生态学家Peng Gong认为要进行系统性研究，此外该计划需要在各部门之间实现数据共享，如果不打破官僚主义障碍将很难实行。
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月15日 09时12分 星期二
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月15日 09时12分 星期二
社会: 多数女性认为遛狗的男性更具魅力
淘宝网女装春装新款 写道 "女人眼中的iPad和狗 谁更酷？如果你是Geek，也许你会为自己是一名时尚电子玩家而感到自豪，也许你会到处在公共场合拿出iPad来夺人眼球，但是我要告诉你的是，iPad不会像你认为使你显得那般酷！一项新的调查显示，近半年轻男性都认为智能手机能够让他们变得更有吸引力，但是只有36%的女性持相同观点。大部分35岁以下的女性认为，相比于使用时尚手机的男士，遛狗的男士更具吸引力。调查还发现，不管是男士还是女士，他们都认为阅读纸质书本的人要比盯着iPad看电子书的人有魅力。但在年薪超过20万美元的人看来，他们反倒觉得拥有诸如时尚智能手机、笔记本电脑或iPad等电子产品的人更对得上眼。"
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月16日 11时30分 星期三
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月16日 11时30分 星期三
现实版的达芬奇密码——伏尼契手稿
伏尼契手稿(Voynich manuscript)堪称现实版的达-芬奇密码，其中撰写的奇特符号、图案和数字困惑着近100年的科学家。目前，美国科学家通过碳定年技术揭晓这一神秘手稿撰写的时代为15世纪早期，这比之前科学家预计的早100多年。
然而，这仅是揭晓伏尼契手稿神秘面纱的开始，科学家目前并未深入理解手稿中撰写复杂文字的真实含义。这听起来颇似科幻电影中的故事情节，相比之下电影《达-芬奇密码》也略为逊色。
1912年，美国书商威尔弗里德-伏尼契(Wilfrid Voynich)在罗马Villa Mondragone发现这本内容古怪的古代手稿，他花费了毕生18年的时间来研究这部神秘手稿，试图解释其中混合植物图案、圆圈和人类祷告文字以及出浴美女的内容，最在他死亡之时也未能解开其中的答案。
之后伏尼契手稿辗转于同时代数位科学家，他们得出结论称，这可能是某种语言，虽然他们并不知道其中的具体含义。近期，美国亚利桑那州大学的研究人员获得了突破性发现，他们切开手稿第四页4片1毫米×6毫米大小的样本片断进行深入分析，据悉，这部手稿保存于耶鲁大学百内基珍本书图书馆中。
同时，其它专家正在研究该手稿神秘撰写者的颜料和墨迹。美国亚利桑那州大学物理系副教授、副研究科学家格雷格-霍德金斯(Greg Hodgins)博士称，我们发现手稿中一些色彩与文艺复兴时期所使用的色彩相近。但最终起到决定性作用的还是碳定年测试法，科学家对该手稿进行了放射性碳14数量测定，这种方法可揭示测试目标的自然腐烂速率，能较为准确地测定其形成年代。
通过碳定年测试，霍德金斯博士发现伏尼契手稿撰写时代可追溯至15世纪早期，他说：“我发现这部手稿是非常具有吸引力的，它是一种独特思维的窗口。将这些片断组合在一起将出乎人们的预想。它是否是一种密码？或许有某种工具对这些文字进行统计分析，但目前我们仍未掌握其中的奥秘。”
霍德金斯强调称，其中的内容像重复使用的文字或者一些字母以交替顺序出现。像这样独特的手稿真得非常难以理解和分析。它或许描述的植物学内容、或者描述海洋有机生物，抑或是占星术。目前没有人能够揭开其中的谜团。
2011年2月15日星期二
2011年2月12日星期六
知识精英崛起
《经济学人》1月20日一期做了一个《关于全球领袖的特别报道》专题，其中一篇文章讨论了知识精英获得的奖励越来越高。歌星通过唱歌和球星通过打球变得富有，但他们的数量与通过知识变富相比是微不足道的。大多数赚钱职业，如律师、医生、科技业和金融业，都需要平均值以上的脑力。技术的进步推动了知识奖励的进一步增长。计算机提高了信息的可用性，增加了知识整合的需求。有学士学位的美国工人平均工资在1991年是高中辍学工人的2.5倍，如今则是3倍。高等教育在不同群体中的差异性日益显著，父母如果是大学毕业，他们的子女更有可能获得大学学位。文章还提到，用基尼系数衡量的财富不平等在许多国家日益明显，从1980年代到21世纪初，美国从 0.34增加到0.38；德国从0.26增至0.3；中国则从0.28飞升至0.4；巴西略有下降，从0.59降至0.55。
blackhat 发表于 2011年1月26日 17时00分 星期三
blackhat 发表于 2011年1月26日 17时00分 星期三
2011年2月11日星期五
性和暴力有联系
根据发表在最新一期《自然》杂志上的报告，研究人员发现性和暴力在老鼠大脑中有交集。鼠脑深层中的一小块神经回路决定了它是去战斗还是去做爱。这些神经细胞位于名为下丘脑的区域，该区域已知与暴力行为有关联。纽约大学的神经学家Dayu Lin和加州理工的同事David Anderson试图找出暴力和性的确切位置。他们让雄性老鼠持续与外来的雄鼠和雌鼠相遇，利用荧光标记识别出哪些神经细胞被激活了。他们意外的发现名叫下丘脑腹内侧的区域既在打斗中激活，又在做爱时激活。研究人员推测，性和暴力在大脑中交织能帮助老鼠正确对入侵老鼠作出反应，无论它们是雄性还有雌性。实验视频(mov)
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月11日 12时48分 星期五
2011年2月10日星期四
2011年2月9日星期三
THE CHANCE FOR DEMOCRACY IN EGYPT IS LOST
While much of American media has termed the events unfolding in Egypt today as "clashes between pro-government and opposition groups," this is not in fact what's happening on the street. The so-called "pro-government" forces are actually Mubarak's cleverly orchestrated goon squads dressed up as pro-Mubarak demonstrators to attack the protesters in Midan Tahrir, with the Army appearing to be a neutral force. The opposition, largely cognizant of the dirty game being played against it, nevertheless has had little choice but to call for protection against the regime's thugs by the regime itself, i.e., the military. And so Mubarak begins to show us just how clever and experienced he truly is. The game is, thus, more or less over.
The threat to the military's control of the Egyptian political system is passing. Millions of demonstrators in the street have not broken the chain of command over which President Mubarak presides. Paradoxically the popular uprising has even ensured that the presidential succession will not only be engineered by the military, but that an officer will succeed Mubarak. The only possible civilian candidate, Gamal Mubarak, has been chased into exile, thereby clearing the path for the new vice president, Gen. Omar Suleiman. The military high command, which under no circumstances would submit to rule by civilians rooted in a representative system, can now breathe much more easily than a few days ago. It can neutralize any further political pressure from below by organizing Hosni Mubarak's exile, but that may well be unnecessary.
The president and the military, have, in sum, outsmarted the opposition and, for that matter, the Obama administration. They skillfully retained the acceptability and even popularity of the Army, while instilling widespread fear and anxiety in the population and an accompanying longing for a return to normalcy. When it became clear last week that the Ministry of Interior's crowd-control forces were adding to rather than containing the popular upsurge, they were suddenly and mysteriously removed from the street. Simultaneously, by releasing a symbolic few prisoners from jail; by having plainclothes Ministry of Interior thugs engage in some vandalism and looting (probably including that in the Egyptian National Museum); and by extensively portraying on government television an alleged widespread breakdown of law and order, the regime cleverly elicited the population's desire for security. While some of that desire was filled by vigilante action, it remained clear that the military was looked to as the real protector of personal security and the nation as a whole. Army units in the streets were under clear orders to show their sympathy with the people.
In the meantime the regime used the opportunity to place the military in more direct control of the government while projecting an image of business as usual. In addition to securing the presidential succession to Gen. Omar Suleiman, retired general and presidential confidant Ahmed Shafiq was sworn in as prime minister, along with a new cabinet, in all due televised pomp and ceremony. Gamal's unpopular crony businessmen supporters were jettisoned from the cabinet, with their replacements being political nonentities. Mubarak himself pledged that the new government would focus on providing material security to the people.
The stage was thus set for the regime to counterattack the opposition through a combination of divide-and-rule tactics, political jujitsu, and crude application of force. The pledge by Mubarak not to offer his candidacy, the implied succession to Suleiman rather than Gamal, the commitment to revising constitutional provisions that govern the presidential election, and the decision to suspend parliamentary sessions until courts have ruled on contested candidacies from the November election succeeded in convincing some opposition elements that they had gained enough to call it a victory and go home.
As for those elements, including the coalition formed around Mohamed elBaradei, that deemed these concessions to be insufficient sops intended to preserve the status quo, the regime offered further provocations. Mubarak described them as opportunists and called their patriotism into question, implying that they were stooges of the United States and that he was defending the nation's independence and dignity. This was classic political jujitsu, for the enraged crowd now redoubled its efforts and demands, using much more insulting language to describe Mubarak himself. This in turn paved the way for the regime to unleash its goon squads to attack protesters.
The military will now enter into negotiations with opposition elements that it chooses. The real opposition will initially be ignored, and then possibly rounded up. The regime will do all possible to restore a sense of business as usual. Cell phone and Internet connections have already been re-established, and automatic teller machines are functioning, though banks remain closed so there can be no run on them. Businesses will be encouraged to reopen, and all possible will be done to ensure a flow of essential supplies into Cairo, Alexandria, and Suez.
The last challenge remaining is economic. Even before demonstrations broke out a few weeks ago, the economy was just limping along. It is now broken. Even in the best-case scenario of a rapid return to stability, Egypt faces a cash crunch. Capital flight, loss of foreign direct investment, drying up of tourist revenues, downgrading of sovereign debt and commensurate increase in interest, and lost earnings from interrupted production will all hammer the revenue side of the balance sheet. The expenditure side will be placed under yet more stress by acceleration of inflation already running at 10 percent, devaluation of the currency, and need to repair damage resulting from the clashes. Egypt will have to turn to its "friends" if it is to avert economic disaster and if the regime that just narrowly survived defeat is not to be challenged yet again.
The Obama administration, having already thrown its weight behind the military, if not Mubarak personally, thereby facilitating the outcome just described, can be expected to redouble its already bad gamble. Fearing once again that the regime might be toppled, it will lean on the Europeans, the Saudis, and others to come to Egypt's aid. The final nail will be driven into the coffin of the failed democratic transition in Egypt. It will be back to business as usual with a repressive, U.S.-backed military regime, only now the opposition will be much more radical and probably yet more Islamist. The historic opportunity to have a democratic Egypt led by those with whom the U.S., Europe, and even Israel could do business will have been lost, maybe forever. Uncle Sam will have to eat yet more humble pie, served up by the dictator who has just been insulting him.
Robert Springborg in Foreign Policy:
Robert Springborg is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School.
2011年2月8日星期二
孟买高等法院裁决占星术是科学
blackhat 发表于 2011年2月04日 22时36分 星期五
《印度时报》报道，科学界通常不把占星术当成科学，但如今印度却扩展了科学的定义。孟买高等法院最近作出裁定，占星术是历经4000多年时间考验的科学。
《印度时报》报道，科学界通常不把占星术当成科学，但如今印度却扩展了科学的定义。孟买高等法院最近作出裁定，占星术是历经4000多年时间考验的科学。
2011年2月7日星期一
2011年2月3日星期四
UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record - Leslie Kean 1
这访谈共有9辑，网友可上 YouTude 继续收听。
2011年2月2日星期三
冬
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2011年2月1日星期二
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