Thursday 30 April 2015

Pest in Midst: Dinosaur with Multiple Species Traits

REBLOG=>XingCai Tang

Scientists have discovered remnants of a strange dinosaur with an unusual combination of traits in southern Chile. It was named Chilesaurus diegosuarezi to honor the country where it was unearthed and the 7-year-old who spotted the first fossils. "The skeletal anatomy of Chilesaurus gathers characteristics of different dinosaur groups, like a floor is composed of mosaics of different shapes and colors. No other dinosaurs exhibit such a combination or mixture of features," said paleontologist Fernando Novas of the Bernardino Rivadavia Natural Sciences Museum in Buenos Aires. The modern-day version of such misfit is the platypus, an egg-laying, duck-billed mammal from Australia, Reuters reported on 27 April 2015.




Chilesaurus it is a member of the same dinosaur species as Tyrannosaurus rex. Its skull and neck bear a resemblance to those of primeval long-necked dinosaurs, and its vertebrae those of primitive meat-eating theropods which are the largest land meat-eaters in Earth's history. Strangely enough Chilesaurus ate only plants, given a beak and leaf-shaped teeth and two blunt fingers on each hand. It is a two-legged created with a bird-like pelvis. Unlike the three-talon feet of most theropods, Chilesaurus had a wide feet with four toes. Four nearly complete skeletons frames were found to establish these typical misfit traits. It was relatively small, reaching up to 10.5 feet (3.2 meters) long, although most specimens found were more the size of a turkey. It lived in a region crisscrossed by rivers approximately 145 million years ago.


 Right jaw and teeth of the Chilesaurus diegosuarezi

University of Birmingham paleontologist Martín Ezcurra said, "The most interesting (aspect) about Chilesaurus is the story that it tells about how evolution works, 'Convergent evolution' is a process in which two unrelated species or groups acquire similar characteristics from living in similar environments or having a similar behavior," He used the example of having the wings of a bat and a bird. For 'mosaic convergent evolution,' it involves different parts of the body resembling those of other unrelated species.


My Comments

 Charles Darwin

Misfits such as these mocks at the theory of evolution of species. Evolutionist had come a long way to prove Charles Darwin’s theory. Today evolution had gained wide acceptance but more discoveries will make evolutionist fit new data into their theory but coming up with newer concepts and jargons. Eventually it would point to the evolution of species being a demon-possessed heretic’s wild idea. Perhaps the man on the streets today will think that Darwin overdose on some weird substance. Would the dominant ideology go back to the existence of a sole creator who designed the species according to his whims and fancies?

Anything Under the Sun: America's 9 Best Entry-level Jobs

REBLOG=>SavySeph

Job hunters need to be mindful that there is always compromise between job security, career development or high pay in the job process. High paying jobs are usually at high risk for being automated or offers little growth potential over the next few years. Based on a study from WalletHub, the top 9 entry-level jobs scores well in all the three categories mentioned. CBS News had compiled their findings on 28 April 2015 to guide college students and high school seniors to consider which field to major in.




Job Starting Pay Median Pay Qualification Growth
9. Financial analyst $51,848 $76,950 bachelor's degree in business, finance or related -
8. Information security analyst $55,310 $86,170 - 37%
7. Web designer $53,041 $62,500 know programming and graphic design 20%
6. Software engineers $62,522 $90,374 bachelor's degree in computer science -
5. Environmental engineer $57,266 $86,340 bachelor's degree in environmental engineering or related 15%
4 Attorney $83,907 $133,470 law degree and pass a state's written bar exam 10%
3 Network Engineer $61,744 $91,982 degrees in computer science or related 12%
2. Web applications designer $54,586 $59,000 know developer languages such as PHP and HTML 12%
1. Training specialist $47,621 $55,930 college degree and strong communication skills 15%

The starting annual salary and the median pay for all workers in the field are based on the latest information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The salary for software engineers were based on information on the employment site Glassdoor.com. Figures for network engineer and web applications designer were derived from the employment site Payscale.com. The job growth rate is projected from 2012 to 2022 by the BLS. A growth of 10 percent or higher is deemed as normal. A growth rate of 15 percent and above is consider rapid growth.


Job Hunting

The information security analyst had the greatest potential growth of 37 percent. Their job entails a simple maintenance routine but once the system gets hacked, they will have to work round the clock to restore the system, pronto. I believe being a hacker is the best qualification for this job but there is no such thing as a certified hacker at the present moment. This may be the reason WalletHub did not list down the qualification for this job. The reason growth is not projected for financial analyst is unclear.


Growth rate for software engineers were not projected as this profession is a bit unusual. While the jobs in this field are plentiful, careers in the field may be short-lived. According to Bloomberg News, most software developers have left the profession by the time they're 40. The industry tend to favor younger engineers because of the impression that they will be more up-to-date with the latest trends.


Although the training specialist had a low income, it top because of job openings and growth potential. About one-quarter of Web designers were self-employed in 2012 but it is forecasted that employment in this field will grow by 20 percent. I believe the forecaster is expecting these self-employed individuals would grow and had the need for expansion.



My Comments

Information security analyst are like crime fighters or the fire department. Crime exists because enforcements are always one step behind the criminals. It is a retroactive activity by nature so it waits from trouble to happen and response to it. It can only take a proactive stand by taking preventive measure. The best preventive measure will not ensure that trouble will not happen. The job would fit a person who constantly think of loopholes in the system. This trait is rare among employees, so employers should be contented with a person who like to play cop. It is the next best thing.

Sunday 26 April 2015

Anything Under the Sun: Google’s Mobile Friendly Test

REBLOG=>SavySeph

My Casino Gambling Tip is now a mobile friendly website. My next task would be to get XingCai Gambling Tales to be mobile friendly too. I had outlined the step involved to get it mobile friendly in my previous blog and will use the same procedure. The wave of mobile suffers had got Google to cater to them or lose page ranking. This would be a concern for webmasters until they fix the problem.


Google Mobile Friendly Certification

While Google had written to webmasters with some links to make a mobile friendly website, they provided no link to test the mobile-friendliness of the site. Using W3C tidy up could provide some additional help on the meta tags. After much surfing, I found certification from Google themselves. Visit this link and type in your website’s URL.



My Comments

Your Gambling Tales is great. It shows the dark side of gambling. It will help create an awareness of the social ills of gambling.

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Willie Nelson's Pot

Willie Nelson, noted for singing about the virtues of smoking pot in country and western music, is producing his own brand of marijuana. The product features "high quality strains of marijuana," and will be marketed as "Willie's Reserve". It will be grown and sold in Colorado and Washington where it is legal to get stoned without a doctor's note, CNN Money reported on 20 April 2015. The motivated singer said, "I am looking forward to working with the best growers in Colorado and Washington to make sure our product is the best on the market". He founded the company out of a desire to get involved in the growing market for legal pot, Elaine Schock spokeswoman for "Willie's Reserve" told CNN Money.

Willie's Reserve picture from CNN

Nelson,81, had gone a long way where pot is concern. He has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana legalization and an advocate for industrial hemp production. Nelson will focus on the quality of the products, encouraging responsible use and pushing for legalization. "He will serve as more than a figurehead. His values and vision set the bar for everything the company does," Schock said. A new song "It's All Going to Pot" which Nelson duets with Merle Haggard was on April 20 to coincide with his announcement. It will make 4/20 (April 20) an unofficially declared National Weed Day. In time to come the song may be the anthem for the National Weed Day but Nelson is not the first musician to lend his name to a marijuana brand. Last year, the estate of Jamaican reggae icon Bob Marley struck a deal with a private equity firm to market and sell marijuana and other products under the name "Marley Natural."

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Anything Under the Sun: Think Small to Design Websites for Mobile

REBLOG=>SavySeph

Deciding on picture size is my next task in getting my website to be mobile friendly. In my previous blog on this topic, I figured that reducing the size of navigation menu is a good place to start to design a website to fit mobile device. I used single word for title and double word for subtitle. This seems to work out some of the problem. I figure the next step would be to have a universal width for all pictures. Ideally the picture could be stretch or shrunk to fit across the multiple platforms without losing too much picture quality.


Given the size of webpages, stretching and shrinking a picture is not the real problem. Pictures who are magnify twice or reduce by half are never too shabby when it comes to quality. This should be enough do the trick to fit an image into a website. The bigger concern is manipulated images sometimes take a longer time to load. The 4G phones are great for speed but as the best for the current technology they are a minority user. Most people would have the lower 3G speed on their phones. The loyalist to old phone will still surf with 2G and there are still a number of these mobile surfers out there. These people will favor sites who were sufficiently fast for their devices.


I went window shopping for mobile phones using google and decided that I have 3 categories to please. Based on their minimum screen width, I simply name them mini (80 pixels), midi (321 pixels) and maxi (481). After throwing some math around, I decided that all images on my website will be 240 pixels wide. Shrinking 240 to 80 (the lower end of the mini) is one-third reduction. This will likely cause some problem in loading speed. For the higher end of the mini (320 pixels), the image is stretch less than 50% which is acceptable. For the 481 pixels width, there is no stretching of image. The image with text displayed by the side will be at least half of the screen.


Terminologies in Casino Gambling Tips

I now had all my pictures resize to 240 pixels width. Going through the pictures one by one had been a tedious exercise. Some of my image were name by their sizes. A cat image, for example, had been named cat330x250. The 330 represent the width and 250 is for the height. I still maintain the old name of the image. It would sound silly but once something is publish it is not advisable to make changes. Keeping the old name will ensure that people who link my pictures will not get a blank image. I actually have three manga pages outstanding. These three cartoons are at least 600 pixels wide. The task will be to break them down to smaller pictures who are 240 pixels wide. The main picture that will adopt the old name while new pictures will carry the old name with a sequential numbering suffix.


Going through image by image can also make you see things from a different angle. I redraw two images. I hope the people who had link the old pictures prefer the new pictures. I had also came up with 5 new pictures. These are for the pages which previously did not have a picture. The remaining task, unless new development crops up, I will drop the navigation menu for the mini users.


My Comments


Thanks for sharing. Designing a website for multiple platform involves a lot a details.

Filling Bottles: Employers Ask Illegal Questions

REBLOG=>Sue DaJi

One out of three surveyed didn't know the following questions are illegal to ask in a job interview:

  • What is your political affiliation?
  • What is your race, color or ethnicity?
  • How old are you?
  • Are you disabled?
  • Are you married?
  • Do you have children or plan to?
  • Are you in debt?
  • Do you social drink or smoke?

The finding was based on a nationwide survey of more than 2,100 hiring and human resource managers released Thursday by CareerBuilder, which commissioned Harris Poll, the CBS News reported 10 April 2015.


Job Application

Discrimination of some form can be detected in the question asked. Not included in the list above is location. It is okay to ask if applicants are willing to relocate but not where the applicant live. This can be construed as a prejudice towards a certain residential address. Inquiring about long-term plans is acceptable but asking when interviewees plan to retire can be deems as biases to age.


My Comments

Even if you are not prejudice, you can be accused of job discrimination if you are not careful with words.

Sunday 5 April 2015

Revenge Porn Operator Gets 18 Years

Kevin Bollaert, who was convicted of 27 felonies for operating a "revenge porn" website in California, was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison. He had been found guilty in February of six counts of extortion and 21 counts of identity theft. He created a website that allowed people to post lewd images of people without their knowledge. The sexually explicit material, primarily of women, was routinely posted by angry former boyfriends and ex-husbands, authorities said. It contained their real names and links to their Facebook profiles.

Kevin Bollaert

Bollaert used another website solicited payments from people who wanted to have their photographs deleted. He charged $250 to $350 for taking down the photos. The site made about $30,000 the attorney general's office said. "Sitting behind a computer, committing what is essentially a cowardly and criminal act will not shield predators from the law or jail. We will continue to be vigilant and investigate and prosecute those who commit these deplorable acts," Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Bollaert defense attorney admitted her client made moral transgressions but wasn't legally responsible for the 10,170 photos submitted in the year the websites operated, the CNN reported on 3 April 2015. Bollaert's father apologized to the victims during Friday's hearing, saying "how sorry we are here today because of a shameful, stupid, inappropriate thing my son did. My heart goes out to all of you."

Thursday 2 April 2015

Anything Under the Sun: My Mobile-friendly Website

REBLOG>Anything Under the Sun: My Mobile-friendly Website

ss's Original Blog

Google wrote me a warning letter about 2 weeks ago asking me to make my website more mobile friendly. Google said the increase demand in mobile phone browsing had been tremendous. Well, it is not a warning for doing something that pissed google off. It was actually a concerned notification. Google anticipated that the wave of mobile surfers will get stronger with the passage of time and webmasters were advised to cater to their needs. If I were to take it as a friendly notice I don’t need to do anything. I choose to take it as a stern warning so that I will have to adapt before I get left out.


Heck! I don't have the slightest clue where to start. I hope I could just wave a magic wand with some code and bingo! Fortunately, google is a good place to start looking for those hocus pocus code. Knowing the right keyword to punch into google would help. Next comes the endless list of reading materials on the technology to make your website flexible to multiple devices. Climbing the steep learning curve was no fun. It’s just nothing but reading without having enough knowledge to start doing something.


I concluded that it was about starting small. Fit the small screen then the bigger ones and eventually the desktop. This calls for a re-engineering as my website was catered for desktop size. I have started with reducing the size of my menu. I used single word titles for the menu items to shorten it for mobile size. Sub menu items could use double or triple word titles. Whoopee, I managed nail down some of the problem. For screen smaller than 320 pixels wide, I may have to do away with the menu. I will get around to this but the next step would be resizing all my images. I am going to do a lot of experimenting to find a good size that could be stretch or shrunk to fit across the platform without losing too much picture quality.


My Mobile Size Home Page


My Comments

Although the mobile facilitates surfing on the go, the mini screen of the phone don’t appeal to me. I think I will always stick to desktops.

Wednesday 1 April 2015

Anything Under the Sun: Gambling Requires Skills

REBLOG>Anything Under the Sun: Gambling Requires Skills

SavySeph's Original Blog

I tried to convince my readers that gambling requires skill. There are tons of researches that would conclude otherwise. In a recent (2012) study Professor Gerhard Meyer, of the University of Bremen's Institute of Psychology and Cognition Research, suggested that poker was chiefly a game of chance. There were 300 participants in Prof Meyer's research. They played 60 hands poker each, on tables of six. The players were classified as 'expert' and 'average' players based on their ability to make money from good, bad and average hands. The research found that 'expert' players lost less money on bad hands, but did no better than 'average' players on mediocre hands - and made slightly less on good ones. Prof Meyer concluded that 'poker players overestimate the skill factor in their play'.


A research studied 456 million hands of poker from a year's worth of online game. In just a few hands the better-performing players fared better half the time. Their success rate gradually increased until they played 1,471 hands. Given that frequency, they could do better at least 75 per cent of the time. Dr Dennie van Dolder, of the University of Nottingham's School of Economics, said the study showed 'skilled players will consistently outperform less skilled players if enough hands...are played.'




Researchers from the University of Nottingham, working with colleagues from Erasmus University Rotterdam and VU University Amsterdam, also noted that players who finished in the top one per cent in the first half of the year were 12 times more likely than others to repeat the feat in the second half. Writer and TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell, one of Britain's top professional players, has won more than £1.5m - including £400,000 at a single event. Dr van Dolder said, "It's up to legislators to decide whether the role of chance diminishes fast enough for poker to be considered a game of skill," the Daily Mail reported on 25 March 2015.



My Comments

Victoria Coren Mitchell's achievement is impressive. It must have took her some time to acquire the skill.

Seeking Enlightenment: Trans-Siberian Highway

REBLOG>Seeking Enlightenment: Trans-Siberian Highway

Sophia Logica's Original Blog

Motivated by China's plan to rebuild the silk road, Russia Russian Railways president Vladimir Yakunin has proposed a plan for a massive trans-Siberian highway to link America. Yakunin said the road would connect Russia with North America via Russia's far eastern Chukotka region, across the Bering Strait and into Alaska's Seward Peninsula, the CNN reported based on the Siberian Times dated 23 March 2015. According to the Alaska Public Lands Information Centers, the shortest distance between mainland Russia and mainland Alaska is approximately 88 kilometers (55 miles).


Trans-Siberian Highway

The project is dubbed the Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TEPR). It will put up a new train network and oil and gas pipelines alongside the existing Trans-Siberian Railway. The distance between Russia's western and eastern borders is roughly 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles). The main route of the Trans-Siberian railway runs from Moscow to Vladivostok and covers 9,258 kilometers.


The main obstacle would be the isolated region of Alaska. Nome would be the nearest town after crossing the Bearing Strait. The next major city would be Fairbanks which is separate by 836 kilometers (520 miles) of desolate terrain. Being the second largest city in Alaska, Canada and 48 contiguous U.S. states can be reached by road. On the European side CNN fancifully calculated the trip from London to Alaska via Moscow might cover about 12,978 kilometers (8,064 miles). Assuming a road to Nome were ever built a fantasy road trip from London to New York might cover 20,777 kilometers (12,910 miles).



My Comments

Vladimir Yakunin never said anything above connecting Nome to Fairbanks because this is not their sovereignty. CNN, seems to enjoy sneering at Yakunin where this stretch of road is concern. When Alaska studied the feasibility of connecting Nome, there was no reason for it due to its seclusion. If there is a possibility to trade with the Russian, it would be a different ball game.


Sunday 29 March 2015

Redheads Lack Sunlight

If sun tanning darkens skin tone, then insufficient sun should result in fairer skin and red hair. This was discovered by scientist after having studied the gene evolution of 1,000 people from Spain. "The 'ginger gene,' or 'V6OL allele,' showed up 50,000 years ago after humans left Africa for colder climates. This gene made human’s skin lighter, as they were exposed to less vitamin D from the sun" [Irish Central, 26 March 2015].

Irish Central referred to another study by the BritishDNA found on the Mail Online two years ago. The BritishDNA study was based on data from 2,343 people who have undergone DNA tests to learn more about their ancestry. They created the first-ever map detailing the distribution of red-headed genes. They looked at three different variants of the MC1R gene which causes red hair; those with 151-Cysteine-red have a 70,000 year old variant that probably arose in West Asia, those with 160-Tryptophan-red are descendants of someone who probably also lived in West Asia 70,000 years ago, and 294-Histidine-reds belong to a much younger group who come from a European who lived about 30,000 years ago. The BritishDNA concluded that for a child to develop red hair, both parents must be carriers of one of these red-hair gene variants. But even then there is only a 25 per cent their child will be born ginger.

Map on redheaded genes concentration by BritainsDNA

Irish central also points to ScotlandsDNA Project in 2012 that found the Celts flaming red hair was caused by the weather. The experts believe that the gloomy climate in Scotland has seen a deliberate genetic adaptation. The red hair helps to take advantage of sunny days and allows the body to absorb more vitamin D. Unfortunate, redheads suffer more discrimination per head of population than ethnic minorities. The Centre for Equality Policy Research said that, "A job applicant with ginger hair is seven times more likely to be rejected than a dark-haired applicant, and eight times more likely than a fair-haired applicant."

Tuesday 24 March 2015

On Empty Thoughts: Behold the Teddy Bunny

REBLOG> On Empty Thoughts: Behold the Teddy Bunny

Guerrilla Gamblers' Original Blog

Tianshan had been known by kung fu fiction fans to be the home for endless generations of invincible swordsmen. Endowed by majestic landscape, this is the favored choice of movie makers for continuous sword clashing in midair as the actors hang down the cliff from suspended strings. Now Tianshan holds another Chinese treasure – the Ili Pika. I guess you can call this creature a teddy bunny. It is rabbit that looks like a teddy bear – a fantastic combination for cute.


Ili Pika

There are less than 1,000 of these cute little teddy bunnies around which make them rarer than panda. These mammals are natives to the Tianshan on the mountain range in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China, says conservationist Li Weidong. Initially they were named Ochotona iliensis, in 1983. He estimates its numbers have declined by almost 70% since its discovery. "I discovered the species, and I watched as it became endangered. If it becomes extinct in front of me, I'll feel so guilty," Li told CNN.


The Ili Pika were 20 centimeters in length. They live on sloping bare rock faces and feed on grasses at high elevations. Global warming had affected their habitat. The altitude of permanent snow has risen in the Tianshan due to rising temperatures and receding glaciers. The teddy bunnies were forced retreat to mountain tops. Initially they inhabit at elevations between 3,200 to 3,400 meters. Now they have retreated to elevations of 4,100 meters. Li said.



My Comments

When you mentioned good spot of kung fu movies, I look at the various photos in the article and found this.


Ili Pika

I can why this is a good spot. For a trained mountaineer, most of the parts are suitable for free claimbing. Then you have water in a nice drop-down cliff for fighting will suspended in midair.

Wednesday 11 March 2015

On Empty Thoughts: Ecstasy Drugs Temporarily Legal in Ireland

REBLOG> On Empty Thoughts: Ecstasy Drugs Temporarily Legal in Ireland:

Guerrilla Gamblers' Original Blog

A written judgment by the Irish court of appeal declared part of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 unconstitutional. This would render government's orders banning substances such as ecstasy and magic mushrooms void.


ecstasy pills

Stanislav Bederev was charged for having the substance in 2012 and brought a high court challenge in Dublin seeking to stop his trial. His legal team argued the substance on the controlled drug list were no passed in consultation with the Irish parliament. The court found that the act was added by ministerial order and consulting of both houses of the Irish parliament was bypass. With their hands tied the court deemed the act unconstitutional, the Guardian reported on 10 March 2015.


The Irish government will have to go through some red-tape to rectify this matter. For the time being there will be a window of opportunity for offenders even though it could be rectify in a day through emergency legislation and laws. This case will be a point of academic discussion for a long time.



My Comments

Wild party for Ireland but living on the edge.

Don't Eat Three Meals A Day

Partaking three meals a day is now termed as a racist act. Research had shown that taking breakfast had zero effect on metabolism. Historian Abigail Carroll, author of the book Three Squares: The Invention of the American Meal, told Kiera Butler, senior editor at Mother Jones that the thrice-daily eating schedule was brought to North America by European settlers.

"Civilized" Eating Habits.

The Europeans continued to eat at ridged times when they settled in America. Their meals were made up of light meal in the morning, a heavier cooked meal at midday, and a meal similar to the first later in the day. In contrast, the native eating times and portion varied according to the season. Since this eating pattern is similar to animals, the settlers reasoned that the natives were uncivilized.

Change in Lifestyle and Eating Habits

Meat was added to breakfast and dinner as the settlers prosper. The industrial revolution brought people away from their homes and turned lunch into a casual affair. The cooked meal was shifted to dinner when the people get back from work. Although lunch and dinner were switched, the amount of food consumed daily did not change.

three meals image

The Heavy Breakfast

From an active farming lifestyle to a sedentary one, "People were still eating these giant country breakfasts," says Carroll. Soon, doctors reported that more of their patients were suffering from indigestion. Nutritionist suggested a lighter breakfast and the Kellogg brothers took this opportunity to promote corn flakes as a healthy alternative to heavy breakfasts. As time progresses breakfast became known as a meal for health food. Fruit-grower associations began their ad campaigns to choke the world with newly discovered vitamins.

Science Indifferent to Breakfast

Breakfast gets glorified and the interested party warn about skipping the most important meal of the day. This doctrine continues until today but science showed otherwise. A 2014 study by the University of Bath showed that breakfast had zero effect on metabolic rate. The University of Alabama concurred the finding with a similar study. These researches affirm a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition in 2010. In the study one group ate three meals a day, while another ate six with the same total calorie count. No weight or hormonal differences between the groups were found. Similarly in 2014, University of Warwick researchers found no difference in metabolism between a group of women that ate two meals a day and another group that ate five.

Fasting Improves Metabolic Rate

As it turn out research are proving that fasting improves metabolism. Mark Mattson, a neuroscientist at the National Institute on Aging, has observed mice for over two decades. He found that mice who skip feedings are leaner and live longer than who don't fast. The fasting mice also have more robust brain cells. Mattson theorizes that caloric deprivation acts as a mild stress to trigger the self-defense. This wards off damage from aging, environmental toxins, and other threats. In another research, Satchidananda Panda of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, shown that periodic fasting may also prevent heart disease. Panda observed that mice consuming all of their calories within an eight-hour window were less likely to develop metabolic diseases like diabetes than those who ate whenever they pleased.

Back to Nature

Wooh the civilized settlers regiment were wrong and the dictated by nature indigenous were right. While eating dinner with your family to keep your girlish figure becomes a myth, it is very essence that keeps family together.

Monday 9 March 2015

Seeking Enlightenment: The Silk Road

REBLOG> Seeking Enlightenment: The Silk Road
Sophia Logica's Original Blog

The Silk Road's Recent Development

China's proposals to build a modern-day trading route on the skeleton of the ancient traders' trail, known as the silk road, have been welcomed by its neighbor. The China Daily reported on 9 March 2015 that the project had led to misunderstanding and criticism. Oppositions fear this ambitious and long term project would be derailed. The Polish were supportive of the project and pledge to be part of the project. First secretary of the Polish embassy in Beijing, Wojciech Jakobiec, said "for us, the Silk Road Economic Belt is an especially important project, and we would like to participate in it."

Europeans Understanding of the Silk Road

Based on UNESCO's understanding, silk road was a recent term. They traced it to German geologist, Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen. He called the trade and communication network Die Seidenstrasse (the Silk Road). The silk road is sometimes used in the plural term because the network extend to a web of sea and land routes.

Map of The Silk Road

Baron Coining Silk Road Don't Jive

With due respect to the UNESCO, I do not think that the silk road is a recent term. The Baron lived from 5 May 1833 – 6 October 1905. UNESCO had established that silk was a monopoly of China and found its way to Rome "at some point during the first century". Such and important route could not have been named in 1877 [see Wikipedia] by the baron. I believe it had some reference to it since if was even in existence until the 17th century.

China Reference to the Silk Road

The Chinese had referred to the silk road as "silu" form as far as the recording of their chronicles existed. That goes back to the time that the prominent Chinese diplomat Zhang Qian of the Han Dynasty (206BC—220AD). The UNESCO article also concur with this date. Since this is not about conquest there was not much to hide. The Chinese account had not been inconsistent with the accounts of those they had traded with.

The Meaning of Silu

Out of curiosity, I looked up the translation for "silu". Actually I was not surprised it meant silk road. Si is the word for silk while lu is the Chinese word for road. It is whimsical to think that such a simple name is coined up in 1877 when people who traveled the road to buy or sell silk for ages would refer to it as silk road for simplicity.

Light and Easy Talk: Solar-powered Plane Takes First Trip Round-the-wor...

REBLOG> Light and Easy Talk: Solar-powered Plane Takes First Trip Round-the-world
Veronica Glowsome's Original Blog

First Solar Power Plane Circumnavigate the World

A solar-powered aircraft took off successfully from Abu Dhabi on 9 March 2015 in its first attempt to fly around the world without any conventional fossil fuel. Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg of Switzerland will take turns to pilot the plane dubbed Solar Impulse 2 (Si2). Piccard and Borschberg, co-inventors of the Si2, will visit India, China and America before flying back to Abu Dhabi through South Europe or North Africa. The activities of the Si2 will be monitored by her control center at Monte Carlo of Monaco the Xinghua reported. Conor Lennon, communications manager of the Si2 project, told Xinhua that the control center is in charge of "meteorological data monitoring, air traffic control, mission control and flight strategy control", adding that many promotional activities would take place during the aircraft's stopover in Nanjing, China.

Si2 takes off at Abu Dhabi

Plane's Specifications

With a width of about 72 meters, the Si2 is wider than a Boeing 747 jet. She only weighs 2.3 tons which slightly heavier than a sedan. She employ more than 17,000 solar cells on her wings to power up four electric motors. Solar Impulse 2 is expected to complete the 35,000 km journey within five months.

Si2 project team at Monaco

Attempts to Fly

This first attempt to fly using power from the sun reminds me of the first successful attempt to fly by the Wright brothers. While Orville and Wilbur are always depicted as a two-man team chasing a crazy dream, Piccard and Borschberg had a great team to support them. As long as their communication do not fail, the Swiss would be rescued if there is any failure. Nonetheless, it is still a courageous project that these two Swiss are taking. Their success would make air travel cheaper in future. It may pave the way for Gene Roddenberry's USS Enterprise. Leonard Nimoy should had seen this before departing.