Sunday, February 26, 2006

A 228 witness's testimony

Next Tuesday will be the 61 anniversary of the tragedy happened in Taiwan when thousands of people died. For dozens of years, the incident had been remembered as a symbol of the independence movement, because many people were shot by KMT, then ruling party of China, military police. However, we should also not forget how the whole incident was provoked.

Below is a personal account of the incident by a witness who was at the scene during the entire period. The writer was touring Taiwan, and only survived because of he spoke the southern Fujian dialect, which is also spoken by the mobs. The tragedy started when a routine inspection escalated to a fatal shot, and lost control when armed pro-Japan mobs killed thousands of innocent mainland civilians.


二二八事件中故意被遗忘的章节
时间:2006/02/25 出处:文汇报
本人亲身经历二二八事件,现虽年事已高,但自觉有义务将当时所见所闻加以说明,一爲历史作见证,二来但求告慰这些冤死者在天之灵。

台湾光复初期,因蒋总统以德报怨的号召,从大陆及南洋平安遣返的台籍日军(要注意是台籍日本退伍军人不是台籍日伪军)有数十万人之多,他们已被完全日化,以讲日语爲荣,自认爲大日本帝国台湾国之子民,无法接受日本战败之事实,仍缅怀昔日的皇军威风,无视於当时百废待举,政府仍尽力照顾、遣返、医疗之苦心,却心怀不满,待机生事。同时,在光复两年後,亦有不少昔日皇民化的公务员,因仍习讲日语不讲国语而被替换,一下子无法适应从大人降爲老百姓的心态,也就心生不满而推波助澜。

我是广东人,当时在夏门高等法院作个小职员。与同事朋友十馀人一起赴台观光(当时大陆局面尚未恶化) ,在基隆,台北游玩後,再独自至高雄探望叔伯。我们一行人坐着朋友借来的车子到四处游玩。二二八当日及後两叁天高雄平安无事,大概就在第四五天时,我们在外面玩到一半时,高雄就变成了个恐怖城。

依稀记得当日该是个周末吧,街上游人甚多,在下午一两点,我们欲转往屏东游览时,暴乱开始发生。在十字路口,我们被一群浪人拦车盘查,爲什麽称他们爲浪人呢?因爲他们都是一副日本打扮 - 头绑日本巾,手持武士刀。都是五十岁以下之壮丁,二叁十人一夥,拦人拦车查问。我们夏门也讲台语,因此未遭毒手,但当时我亲见车外两位男子被盘问砍杀的整个过程。

他们当时被拦下,被用台语盘问:「供日语没?」不会。「供台语没?」不会。「供客话没?」不会。当场,巴格野鲁,干XX ,武士刀就砍下来。一人当场罹难,另一人想逃跑,亦被追上用武士刀砍死,身上喷出的血溅了几尺高。

当时只以爲是局部的,偶发的事件,只想逃离现场,结果越走越不对劲,几乎每个大路口,都有这类浪人成群的在把关,街上的□体也越来越多,惨不忍睹。在车上眼见对穿旗袍者就连问都不问,持刀就砍,男女老少全都不放过,有的甚至全家罹难。小的有至□褓中的一两岁小儿及大至十来岁的小孩,都无一幸免,更有的头被完全砍掉,身首异处。不把人当人,只要是不讲闽南话、客家话、日语的中国人,一律消灭,与南京大屠杀军民不分是同样的兽行。

我们深受惊骇,决定绕路返回,结果是愈见愈惨,尤其是高雄火车站,前镇一带及往高雄工职的大马路上,□体堆积如山。就我粗略估计,应有上千人之多。仅高雄一地,仅我所见者就如此,全省死难者更不知有多少。

当时在台的除军人外,外省人大部份就是公务员,及沿海省份来台经商人士,以温州人居多,浙江人也不少,这些人是无辜冤死的大多数。在街头屠杀还不够,这些浪人开始逐屋寻人杀戮,於是外省百姓开始逃向要塞寻求保护。在一些善良百姓帮忙下,假借日本装扮,恶补些日语,台语,以逃避浪人之盘查捕杀。姑不论所谓之定稿评论,柯远芬,彭孟辑,史宏喜,张慕陶等人,在当时的避难百姓眼中都成了保生大帝,救苦救难的观世音菩萨。

我法院一客家同事,先生在新竹当军需处长,住在客家村,亦被暴民入村点名要人。先生虽有两只枪,却不敢用,怕子弹用完仍救不了全家,只好个人躲入粪坑躲藏,还因此得病,但勉强幸免。

当时外省人户籍资料根本不全,所以被屠杀多少,根本无法统计,遗留在大陆之亲戚家人根本无从得知,超渡无门,亦爲人间一大惨事。

在如此悲惨,屠杀多日的局面下,你说政府怎能不派兵?而军队上岸後,所见遍地死□,及街头上耀武扬威拿着武士刀滥杀无辜的浪人,又怎会不开枪呢?

没等到戒严,我就提前返夏门了。现虽已事隔半甲子,但当时之惨状。犹历历在目,难以忘怀,我若不替他们说出来,我心不安。

●其他史实考证资料:

李登辉下令,行政院所出之“二二八调查报告” ,主要根据之书“台湾事变内幕记,记者唐贤龙着”中,强调所有本省死伤细节,而凡外省人被辱杀,□虐部份,全被省略或淡化掉。

同样一本书,怎麽可以说这部份有效,那部份无效?爲何选择性采用?现引述原书部份“原文记录”如下:

1.二二八日早上十一点,台北新公园,除了打死十几个外省人,殴伤二十几个公务员外,更有一个年轻少妇,搀了她一个叁岁多的小孩子,正想由偏僻的小道回家时,却被几个流氓拦住了,们对她尽情的调戏後,一刀将她的嘴巴剖开,一直割裂到耳朵边,然後将她的衣服剥的精光,横加殴打,打的半死半活的时候,便将她的手脚绑起来,抛到阴湿的水沟中,该妇人惨叫良久後即身死,当该小孩正在旁边哭喊妈妈时,另一残暴的台湾人,变用手抓住该小孩的头,用力一扭,即将该小孩之头倒转背後,登时气绝。

2. 又在万华附近,一小孩被民衆将双脚绑捆起,将头倒置地上,用力猛击,直至脑浆流出时方将其抛於路旁。

3. 又在台北桥附近,有两个小学生,路遇民衆,因逃跑不及,即被民衆捉住,民衆一手执一学生,将他们两个人的头猛力互撞,等到该两小学生撞得脑血横流时,旁观之民衆犹拍手叫好。

4. 当天下午,在台北太平丁,有一开旅馆之孕妇,被民衆将其衣服剥光,迫令其赤裸裸地游街示衆,该孕妇羞愤无已,坚不答允,便被一手持日本军刀之台湾人,从头部一刀下去,将该孕妇暨一个即将临盆之婴孩,劈爲两段,血流如注,当场身死。

5. 又在台湾银行门前,有一个小职员,当他刚从办公室□走出来,即被一个台湾人当头一棒,打的他脑浆并流,随即陨命。

6.这时,适有一对青年夫妇路过此地,又被群衆围住,吆喝喊打,吓得他们跪在地上求饶,时有很多的台湾小学生挤进人群中,一看原来是阿山,便连忙你一脚,他一脚,将他们两人踢在地上,滚成一团,这时民衆更拳脚交加,棍棒其飞,不一会,他们变被打得血肉模糊,成了两具破烂的孤独魂。

7. 在新竹县政府的桃园,被羁囚於大庙,警察局官舍与忠烈祠後山叁地之外省人,内有五个女眷,被台湾一群流氓浪人强行奸污後,那五位女眷於羞愤之馀,均愤极自缢殉难。

8. 而该县大溪镇国民小学女教员林兆煦被流氓吕春松等轮奸後,衣服尽被剥去,裸体彻夜,冻得要死,後被高山族女县参议员救护始脱险。

由於很多大陆和港澳同胞,新加坡人民不了解台人爲何要独立,故我以曾在台湾工作十年,和台湾人民共同生活打拼,对台湾人民思想心态的理解,来撰写这篇“驳斥冒牌台湾人强词夺理搞‘台独’”的文章,以让更多中国人能理解“台独”的谬论和更坚定武力攻台之决心。

  ◆驳斥冒牌台湾人强词夺理搞“台独”

  首先要搞清所谓台湾人之定义,依据现今所谓台湾人自己下的定义是指郑成功以降迁移至台湾之闽南人(也称河洛人或福佬人),不包括比他们稍晚抵达的客家人,也不包括比他们早上千年到达台湾之山地人(原住民),更不包括1945以後抵达的大陆人(被称爲外省人)。台语是指闽南语,不是客家语、山地语或北京语。从其定义可知部份台闽人之鸭霸程度,虽并非所有之台闽人皆如此,但现今搞“台独”最烈和其支持者,均是这类霸道人士。他们天天叫嚣着甚麽台湾人优先,本土化,食台湾米,喝台湾水长大的闽裔人士才可称爲正港台湾人,开口闭口都是所谓台语,这种大河洛沙文主义就成爲“台独”的根源。就是那些自命爲正港台湾人之祖先,打杀台湾原住民,霸占台湾原住民之土地,把原住民赶上山,成爲山地人。

  其实正港台湾人皆是冒牌台湾人,真正之台湾人是山地人。有清一代,福客斗、泉漳哄,各种集体械斗、大小民变,从未间断,此种民风使清朝官员皆称台湾爲难治之地。日本投降後,部份日人和其所裁培之台湾士绅包括现今之海基会董事长辜振甫在内,曾策划“台湾独立”,但爲末任总督安滕利吉所阻。

  由於国民党政府历经抗日与内战兵败退台,当时犹如惊弓之鸟,必须尽一切力量保住台湾,而日治台人多受“皇民教育”之影响和部分台闽人之鸭霸和冲动,这两个群体碰撞在一起,“二•二八” 事件是注定要发生的。国民党的官员接管台湾後,利用职权,贪污舞弊、转卖公物,国民党的官兵则抢东西、抢房屋、抢女人,无所不用其极。米糖之乡,竟严重缺粮和物价飞涨。加上台湾人士在日治时代大多□能做下级官员或职员,光复後以爲可水鬼升成王,自己可填补撤退回日本的日藉中高级官员或职员之空缺,但是使他们很失望,此等空缺多由大陆派来官员或其亲友填补。以使台藉人士盟生怨对。其实国民党的官员在台湾所干的与在大陆所干的是完全一样的,他们之所以作出这种事是由於腐败无能和凡事要讲求人事关系所使然,但却被见识不深的台湾人士所曲解,和别有用心的“台独”人士将其歪曲成战胜国对战败国或殖民地的掠夺和压迫。而且更无限上纲将今天中国大陆上的政府和人民引伸成和当年撤退来台的国民党政府和外省人一样坏,都同样会欺压台湾人。

  由此歪理得出歪论:故台湾一定要独立,才可免遭覆辙,这就是其“台独”的重要理论根据,并以此不断通过各种新闻媒体,煽动、古惑和讹骗不了解政治历史的台湾人民,驱使台湾人民去打独立战争,以达其最终成爲一国之君和满足其权力欲望之目的。以上就是“二•二八”事件发生的时代背景。

A PLAAF General's US Tour

General Zheng Qunliang was then commanding general of the First Division of the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). In a recently published diary, he described his trip to the US with an official Chinese military delegate. The diary confirmed some worrisome problems of the PLAAF.

General Zheng observed that it took the USAF 20 minutes to reload missile to an F-15, while it took the PLAAF as long as three hours to do the same to an F-8II. He was also impressed when the USAF fighters took off in group formation under bad weather, when the PLAAF wouldn't allow in fear of accidents.

General Zheng was also impressed by the strong disciplinary behavior showed by the men and women in the US military. He noticed people observe the speed limit in base. He also noticed that drivers stopped at the entrance to the airport to check tires so that they wouldn't bring any stones in.

After the midair collision of a Chinese fighter and a US spy plane in April 2001, news agencies published some areal photos of the Chinese military airport, Lingshui airfield in Hainan Province, where the damaged spy plane made an emergence landing. Despite the fact that the Lingshui airport is one of the most important front line airbase for the PLAAF, military commentators were astonished that it had only one runway. The entire base could be blocked by one bomb fell on the runway, or by one runway accident. At the time, commentators suspected that this was the result of financial difficulty of the PLAAF. At the Elmendorf AFB, it seemed General Zhang was surprised to see the two runways setup. In the diary, he portrayed it as a departure from the traditional one runway concept. Commentators also criticized that expensive fighters were parked on the airfield separated by well-trimmed bushes, but with no bunkers. Even mild weather will damage the fighters. Although it must look good in visual, spreading shrapnel of one bomb can destroy multiple planes even without direct hit.

A satellite image of the Lingshui military airfield captured by IKONOS at 10:32 am on April 10, 2001. The US spy plane can be seen on the taxiway adjacent to the north end of the runway. Picture from the Spaceimaging.com.

Another surprise General Zheng documented was that the air control tower was occupied by sergeants at the Travis AFB. In China, it is filled with commanding officers.

The first division was among the earliest Chinese air force engaged in the Korean War. At the early stage of the Korean War, pilots of the first division entered the war zone with merely 20 hours training and shot down the first US plane, an F-84, on the afternoon of January 29th, 1951. The First Division participated almost all PLA military actions, including shooting down US unmanned spy plane and patrolling the Taiwan Strait.

The First Division is one of the most elite forces in the PLAAF. It is equipped with F-11 (Chinese version of Su-27 Flanker), F-8II (two engine fighter derived from Mig-21), FBC-1 (ground attack version of Mig-21) and Z-9. It is based in Anshan, Liaoning in the northeast of China. Current Commanding General is PLAAF major general Wang Hai.

PLAAF major general Zheng Qunliang currently is the commending general of the PLAAF Wuhan Command. After returned to China, he pushed for the short path touching down protocol he observed in the US, and shortened the touching down time by three minutes, as reported in a China News article dated Nov 9th, 1999. The diary was dated by day and month, but not by year. General Zheng is also a photographer.

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Shut Down Frozen Point

Frozen Point is a weekly news magazine of the Youth Daily, a daily newspaper operated by the Chinese Youth League, a peripheral CCP branch. Recent, the CCP propaganda department ordered the Frozen Point to be closed, and sacked the editor-in-chief Li Datong. The direct cause was an article published on the January 11th issue of the magazine authored by a philosophy professor Yuan Weishi of the Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou.

In his article, Mr. Yuan argued that the reason China was invaded by the western was the Chinese government did not bow to all demands made by the invaders. War and blood could have been avoided if then government had kneed down to the invaders, and kept eye closed whatever the invaders did on Chinese soil. Further, he demanded a textbook augment to reflect above opinions.

The CCP propaganda department has been notorious for doing stupid things, but not this time. The Frozen Point is an operation arm of the CCP, not a academia journal. Even an academic journal should not tolerate inaccurate, fabricated bullshit.

We would like to see the day when China has a free press, but such bullshit article wouldn't survive a day under a healthy competition of free press. The only reason Yuan's article got published is by taking advantage of the media control, executed by then deputy editor-in-chief Mr. Li Datong. What happened next is the CCP correcting the mess in its own way. This incident has nothing to do with free press. It's an misuse of public media for personal agenda, which does not align with either social conscious or professional guidance.

Mr. Li Datong, get lost!

Friday, February 24, 2006

HYSIS Hoax, Update


Xiao Bo, the reporter who broke up silence in traditional media. Her MSN blog ID is barokoliebe. She covered the story knowing it put her life in risk. She is also quite artistic. Her photo album can be seen at flickr.

Professor Yan Xiaolang of Zhejiang University, the top scientist in VLSI design area in China is the 'expert' who represents the government in the verification process. It was said he is brother of the owner, Yan Xiaoqun, of a private company that is in control of the project.

Yan Xiaoqun, the owner of Nanjing SVT Group, ranked No. 86 among the richest Chinese in mainland in 2005. Yan accumulated his fortune in a chain of purchasing and merging of state owned enterprises. A whistle blower revealed that the HYSIS project received more than $1 billion research grants from the government. The project turned out to be a hoax. They showed the government a Motorola freescale chip, and told the government that it's what they produced. The 'Motorola' marker stamped on the surface of the chip was marked off by a farmer worker hired by Dr. Chen Jin.
Dr. Chen Jin, Dean of the Microelectronic College of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University registered an Unincorporated Business ENSOC from a Travis County of Texas to launder research funding of the HYSIS project. He literally stapled a label of something that does not look like himself on his own pocket, and put the money into it. ENSOC was registered in May 2002 by Jin Chen, 1819 Montana Sky Dr, Austin, TX 78727.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) has long been a safe harbor of phony scientific discoveries. They were best known for a multi-billion dollars scandal which involves a drink nutrition supplement Onnly, whose scientific merits were also strongly questioned by researchers. Being formal China President Mr. Jiang Zemin's Alta Mater, SJTU has seen little problem in keep enjoying disproportional state funds.

Nikon D200 Banding Update 3: Phil's Recommendation

Phil of the DPRveview just posted his verdict on the Nikon D200: Highly Recommended. Phil claimed that although some D200 showed banding, the one his used for the testing is banding free.

However, some readers quickly pointed out banding was evident in more than one places in his review, including one in real life settings.

Conspiracy theorists questioned whether the fact that Phil Askey received the testing camera from Nikon directly invalid the impartiality of the test. Phil quickly responded that he had received the testing camera from Nikon before the so called banding issued was revealed. However, On 12/21/2005, Phil said '..I still don't have (a D200) despite other sites having one'. The banding issue had been circulated on other sites, but as late as 12/19/2005, there's a post at dpreview discussing the issue already.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Hopson Beat Home Owner

Li Gang is a committee member of the home owner's association of a condominum complex developed and operated by Hopson Development. The HOA has been in trouble with the developer over contract dispute, and there have been plenty of incidents when owners were beaten by the developer. Their recent clash happened after Hopson reduced a bus schedule which had been promised before people purchased the houses. Residing far from downtown Guangzhou, residents rely on the bus to get into the city. Li Gang has been a vocal supporter of the home owner's rights. In the evening of Feb 15th, 2006, five hitmen broke into Li's home in Huanan Xicheng (华南新城) and beat him in front of his five year-old son.

Doctors of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University had to remove the spleen from Li's body to save his life. In a video clip circulated around the Net, a physician was seen showing a plateful of spleen to the Li's wife after the surgery.

Mainland media was ordered to stay away. Local police has long been known as siding with the developer. This is the second time home owners were beaten by Hopson in two weeks. On Feb 7th, 2006, two home owners were badly beaten by Hopson securities in front of local police. Rumor has it that the CCP Guangzhou secretary, Lin Shusen, is the big backer of Hopson. After the incident, Hopson cut off the Internet connection to the entire complex of 10 thousand residents to prevent them posting on the Internet. It seems there's no way out for the apartment buyers. Hong Kong based Takungpao reported the incident in B1 of their February 19th newspaper. However, subscribers and buyers in Guangzhou found the pape missing from the package.

Hong Kong listed Hopson Development (HKEx 0754) is one of the largest real estate developers in China. Hopson's Chair of the Board of Directors, Mr. Zhu Mengyi, was ranked as the No. 8 richest people in China in 2005.

广州,谁端给你一盘血淋淋的脾脏
作者: 肖容 | 2006年02月19日09时48分

五名大汉入室行凶,监察摄像离奇失灵
广州再显维权血案,弱势群体如何保护?

2.16,羊城晚报报道《番禺区某小区昨晚有人上门施暴》,5名打手闯入维权业主家里,当着他父母亲、小孩子的面将其毒打至脾脏破裂、体内大出血、生命垂危。

那个被下狠手摧残的业主叫李刚。他在番禺华南新城购置一套房子,入住后,小区发生多起冲突,村巴事件、偷窃事件、十几个保安殴打业主事件、一汽事件……,他一直为业主的共同利益奔波出头,为人热忱正直,被选为业主委员会筹委会委员。李刚的网名叫做“空房子”,只要是华南新城的业主都知道,空房子是维权的先锋。

血案背后的背景如何?说起小区华南新城的后台,房地产大鳄王石都会点头钦佩不已。那就是大名鼎鼎的合生创展集团。这是一个92年成立,香港上市的公司,现任总裁谢世东,43岁,96年12月加盟,持有香港大学工程学士学位和英国华威大学工商管理硕士学位,是香港工程师学会和英国特许建造学会会员。现为广州市地产协会副主席和广东地产协会执行董事。毫无疑问,这是个文明社会的精英人才,该集团不乏这样的精英。

能够驾驭这些精英的是什么样子的高人呢?集团董事局主席,大号朱孟依。2004福布斯大陆富豪榜排第10名,家族财富4.36亿美元。来历极其富有传奇性质。朱孟依现年47岁,有个外号叫做“朱老农”,这既暗示了他的地产多,也说明了他发家根底。1980年代中期,在广东丰顺县城,20岁出头的农民朱孟依,凭跟政府合作,挖到了第一桶金。1992年与人在香港共同创办合生创展集团有限公司,HK0754。11年后,合生创展集团已经发展成为一个资产总值过80亿元的公司。朱孟依是个如同赖昌X式的人物,富有市场洞察能力,善于利用政府资源。朱擅长于做大型地产项目,并且远远走在别人前面。他顺着市政发展的方向,向东向南不断开发,不断取得成功。合生创展在广州一个城市的开发规模,就相当于万科在全国五大城市开发的总规模,而1998年、 1999年,合生创展仅在广州一地创造的利润就超过了万科在全国五大城市创造的总利润。

奇怪的是,这样一个成功的企业,属下的楼盘却屡屡发生血案。据业主说,这血案接二连三。

空房子李刚为小区业主维权。业主说,“据说这就注定了他是HS的眼中丁,肉中刺,特别是2月12号在HS的售楼部出面协调7号晚上被HS保安殴打2位业主的事情,JS对其更加恨之入骨。”

李刚妻子在打手撤退后下楼,发现楼下的摄像头被转到一边,成了面对柱子的样子,而平时的摄像头是对着进出大门的,而所有值班保安均说没看到任何可疑人员。但业主立即指证,见5个彪形大汉从李刚楼下仓卒跑出,并从值班保安身边经过。更蹊跷的是,相关的小区摄像头同时均有各种故障,因此无法录下凶手影像。

李刚遭遇不幸。业主们悲愤的抗议说:这些事情是他个人的事吗?这些都是我们业主的共同事情,为我们共同利益的付出却遭到这样的毒手。李刚被送至中山三院,进行紧急手术4小时候至午夜1点40分,进行脾脏切割以挽回性命,输血3000CC以上。手术室里端出一大盘全部切除血淋淋的脾脏…………家属在手术室外悲痛欲绝,现场的业主、记者都忍不住哭泣——为什么总会有冲突,为什么非要流血?没有人知道这个答案,无论是google还是BAIDU。不是互联网对此捉襟见肘,而是因为这是一个揭不开的黑罐子。

我们是一个缺少尊重法律传统的国家,从孙志刚、黄静、宝马等悲剧性的事件,不断的为我们鸣响醒钟。民工发生要跳楼的过激性行为,仅仅是为了追讨属于自己的那分血汗换微薄工资。这些事件不断告诉我们这个民族的大多数成员,要保护自己,法律很遥远,你力不从心。如今广州发生了空房子维权遭受摧残的血腥事件。中国的人民正如一个流血不止的手腕,伤疤刚好又被一次次的割开。“我们为广州纳税、用自己的血汗钱买套房子孝敬父母、哺育子女,想安安份份的做个良民过个普通老百姓的日子,为什么这么难?为什么还要忍受这样的毒打和终身伤残的待遇?”

这血案是合生创展集团酿成的吗?没有证据。但公众眼里看见的是,合生创展集团很有背景,与当地政府关系融洽,发展的如鱼得水;但他们跟当地的消费者关系不太融洽,总有冲突。老百姓出了钱,还要出血。在这一盘血淋淋的脾脏面前,谁都不能装看不见。为什么?为什么??当煤窑倒塌压死矿工的时候,有人为矿工抱不平,问,为什么这事情一而再再而三发生?有人回答说,谁叫你生在中国?!

也许,这就是我们走向明天的代价。但对于中国缓慢的改革和法制建设来说,这代价似乎还远远不够。对于一个正在追求“和谐”的民族和国家来讲,大概还得有更多的生命与 鲜.血.浸染的碑.铭,来提醒我们?匦攵灾?.度与权.力给予足够的尊重。

同时,作为老百姓,对此必须有清醒的认识,作好足够的心理准备。在鲜血流出之后,务必要如某些人谆谆教导的那样“保持冷静和克制”,以“理性”的方式对待种种不合理现象,避免事件升级,避免大规模群体冲突事件的发生,避免流更多的血。如此,大概才有可能安然过完你的余生吧。(肖容)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Life is Beautiful for Vocal Anti-US advocate

Ms. Ma Nan 马楠, who stunned the world in summer of 1998 by sharply questioning then US President Bill Clinton in an aired speech at Beijing University on US human right policies, now lives happily ever after as an US citizen.

Understandably, people in China do not have the freedom to publicly speak out opinions not favored by the Chinese communism authority. However, as everyone in China know, also known to anyone who have basically understanding of ongoing life in China, an individual has absolute right to keep his mouth shut. Ms. Ma chose her behavior with an apparent intention to appease the Communism Party, without a slight consideration of human dignity or integrity if that ever matters to her.

In 1998, Bill Clinton was the first US president to visit China in 10 years, also the fist US president to visit the Beijing University (PKU). The Chinese communism authority and PKU administration made it clear that they wanted to show their hospitality. Regardless, the student activists such as Ms. Ma chose to go the other way, the patriotic way in their mind. What made a chilling scary was that they didn't even aware that they put themselves up in a show, blinding in hope that the show would have appeased the CCP, without even bother trying to read the CCP's mind. 10 years later, the US citizen Ms. Ma admitted that what she said that day was not what she had wanted to say. As a vegetarian, she would have like to ask Mr. Clinton's opinion on green food. However, she chose to do the right thing, to praise China's human rights record and scold the US for the reaching hands.

A Collaborator is always despicable, although we now know that Ms. Ma was never a believer of communism. She's but another ready-for-sell opportunist without the burden of a soul.

Nikon D200 Banding Update 2: Bob Elkind's Explanation in Plain English

In a recently widely reported official acknowledgement of the Banking issue, Nikon indicated that some early productions needed to be re-calibrated. However, customers around the world have been seeing hardware replacement on their Nikon D200s returned from service. Some even demonstrated worse performance in terms of dynamic ranges, noise, and even banding. A DPReview poster supplied a so far best understood explanation of how it happened, and how would Nikon service center conduct the repair. If what the poster theory on the problem were somewhere close to the truth, then the complexity of the repair process might actually worsen the quality if the service was not performed professionally.

Forum Nikon D1/D2/D100/D200
Subject engineer's explanation (long!) - part 1 of 2
Posted by bob elkind
Date/Time 4:50:34 PM, Thursday, February 16, 2006 (GMT)

OK, I'm an electronics design engineer with 25+ years experience, so hopefully this explanation will make sense.

The CCD (or CMOS sensor, it doesn't make a difference for the purposes of this discussion) imaging sensor is an analogue device, not digital. If you take two "identical" shots of identical subject matter, there will be differences between the two images. The differences can be characterised as noise.

The analogue voltage levels output from the sensor are converted to digital data (this is the A/D converter stage, analogue => digital converter). Once the image information is converted to digital data, all operations are utterly repeatable with identical results, if given identical digital source data.

The A/D converter stage is critical. There are several critical aspects to this circuitry:

1. Black level - what analogue level coming in will correspond to a digital "black" level. This needs to be tuned/calibrated, and the A/D needs to match the sensor's characteristics. If this isn't done properly, there will be a loss of effective dynamic range. This tuning is NOT utterly repeatable. If you perform this calibration/tuning over and over again on the same sensor and A/D converter, noise and "resolution" in this process will lead to at least *SOME* differences each time this step is performed. This may not be comforting to us, knowing that there is not one (and only one) "perfect" setting. That's life in an analogue world.

2. White level - what analogue level coming in will correspond to a digital "white" level. - see the above description of black level above, because the same characteristics apply here.

Both of these settings adjustments can be made in a number of ways, but most commonly such adjustments to A/D converter stages are established as:

a. offset (matches sensor's black level output to digital value corresponding to black)

b. gain or amplification (matches sensor's full range of output to full range of digital values, after subtracting the offset)

Sounds pretty straightforward so far, but we're already dealing with the notion that analogue systems are *inherently* inconsistent. The degree of inconsistency is usually accounted for as "noise". Yes there are things that can be done do minimise the degree of inconsistencies, but we need to deal with the reality that noise and inconsistencies do and will exist. All we can hope for is to reduce the inconsistencies to levels where they are not "significant"... and in the world of photography, that threshold of "success" is often determined by the "eye of the beholder".

If you are bothered by this, consider that ISO1600 *film* grain is, essentially, nothing other than noise. ISO100 film also has noise (or grain), it's just that the level of noise is so low that *most* folks don't notice it, but it *IS* there.

You've been very patient so far, and you are undoubtedly thinking to yourself... what does this have to do with the D200. We're getting to this.

OK, we've established that two identical sensors and two A/D converters should theoretically be calibrated identically... but they aren't. There are going to be some differences in the calibration settings, in spite of the design engineer's best efforts to make these differences "insignificant". Noise happens. Rounding errors happen. Light levels fluctuate. Voltage levels fluctuate. Operating temperatures fluctuate. Air purity (dust, smog, whatever) fluctuates. Now consider that all sensors and A/D converters vary from one to the next, and that is why we need calibration adjustments in the first place, to "dial out" these sample-to-sample variations as much as possible.

Here's where we get to the D200 issues...

Analogue sensors such as those found in dSLRs do not (repeat DO NOT) respond uniformly to all light levels. In a properly exposed picture with laboratory/studio quality lighting levels, one expects that whites are white, blacks are black, and 50% grey is exactly centered between the two. At the point where the sensor's analogue output meets the A/D converter's input, this is probably NOT true. The analogue voltage level for 50% grey is likely NOT centered between the voltage levels for white and black. In engineering=speak, we say that the sensor's response is not "linear". There needs to be a correction table to process the digital levels captured by the A/D converter and make them truly linear (or *more* linear, since noise happens). This is probably done digitally (arithmetically, by calculation) in the camera's image processor. This is entirely analogous to applying curves (or gamma correction) in your image editing software.

So, a 0.3ev light difference near the white level is a different voltage difference at the sensor output than a 0.3ev light difference near the black level.

In dSLRs, the image processing algorithms to correct for all these inconsistencies and non-linearities and noise components are critical. One of the most difficult functions is to take a full dynamic range image and properly and accurately and consistently correct (or compensate) low-level details. The image processor's correction table needs to be set up for the entire range of sensor output levels, and at the same time the sensor output at the low end of its sensitivity range (where the sensor is likely LEAST linear and noise is likely to be MOST noticeable) needs to be heavily processed to reconstruct linearity. Because of the heavy processing at the low end (the shadows, so to speak), any differences (errors, variations, etc.) in calibration of the A/D converter (to the sensor output) are GREATLY AMPLIFIED (caps for emphasis!).

Now, to speed up image acquisition, the Sony sensor in the D200 has two sets of outputs (this is an oversimplification, but for the purposes of this discussion we'll call them ODD and EVEN columns). Odd column voltage outputs and even column outputs go to different sets of A/D converters. Both sets of A/D conveters are individually calibrated, but absolute total matching in the A/D converters or their calibrations is inherently impossible to achieve. Ideally, the matching is so good that any differences are insignificant (and see comments on the definition of "insignificant" above). The extent to which the differences are not insignificant, the differences would show up as level differences between odd and even columns. In the context of the D200, we've come to know these manifestations of level differences as banding.

There is a saying... a man with one watch *knows* what time it is, and a man with two watches is never sure. Differences between the odd and even columns are impossible to eliminate entirely, and the "system" (calibration methods, correction algorithms, image processing, etc.) is most sensitive to differences at low light/voltage levels, within an image that spans the full range of light levels/voltage levels.

The whole process of correcting any/all possible images captured by any/all sensors, converted by any/all A/D converters, is mind-boggling in its complexity and detail. Having multiple sets of sensor outputs (odd and even, for example) is a fundamental architectural advantage for speeding image acquisition, etc., and its cost is that the degree to which calibration and correction is critical has been compounded.

Here are the key points that need to be made:

1. dSLRs and sensors are far from perfect. The camera designers go to incredibly extreme measures to correct for imperfections, and the measure of success is that the imperfections are simply not noticeable in the final result. "Not noticeable" does not mean that the imperfections are absent.

2. Low light levels mean low voltage levels from the sensor, and that means noise components are a much more noticeable relative to the "true" image signal voltage levels. Noise happens.

3. The D200's sensor architecture inherently introduces additional noise/error components, particularly at low light levels. The error/noise components can be tuned/calibrated/corrected to be "less significant", or possibly even "not noticeable", but the fundamental architecture requires more calibration points and makes calibration and image processing much more critical than in single-output sensor architectures.

3.a All dSLRs with sensors with multiple row or column outputs and multiple A/Ds for a given colour channel, including the D200, will have banding. The question is degree rather than existence.

3.b All dSLRs, with or without multiple-output sensors, including the D200 and the D2x and the 5D and the 20D, do have noise and non-linearities. The question is degree rather than existence.

4. There is no perfection (or utter repeatability/consistency) in ANY analogue system, there is only "better" or "worse" - terms that more often than not are subjective and situational rather than simply quantitative.

FINAL NOTE: I do not work for Nikon or Sony, I do not even own a D200 (just a D70), and the only basis for this post and the assertions and "insights" herein is my years of experience as a design engineer.

Here's a followup...

I've tried to watch for followup questions to my contribution to this thread, so as to not "post and run" and leave important questions unanswered or murky. As usual, the participants in this forum are engaged and thoughtful, and pose challenging questions.

One prevalent question has been raised:

Question: Based on my wisdom and keen insight (and no doubt my good looks, as well), would I buy a D200 or would I buy (name any camera body) or would I wait for the "D200s" ?

Obvious (and somewhat true but useless) Answer: This is a question for every individual to answer for his/her self. (Thank you for that brilliant insight, duh!)

Another way of phrasing this question is: as a design engineer who *may* have an insight into the type/nature of the D200's difficulties (such as they are or might be), is there a compelling reason to dismiss the D200 product, out of hand, as a fatally flawed implementation.

Phrased as such, I'm more comfortable answering this question. The answer is *NO* - not yet.

The D200 isn't like a handheld MP3 player, where the underlying technology (audio DACs) so greatly exceeds the product's technical requirements that it is practically impossible to design a bad one.

The D200 isn't pushing the limits of esoteric technology, but it *IS* pushing the capabilities of the components in its cost/price range. The D200 is much of D2x performance at a cost closer to a D70. Some of the units off the line will perform more like a D2x in some regards, and some will perform much worse. It is up to production test and quality control to catch the odd units that aren't "lucky" and either scrap them or re-calibrate them to meet performance requirements. In such a case, the final product's performance (at least some aspects of it) is determined by the production quality control test criteria, rather than by the underlying design. The fundamental product design/architecture is good enough to get the final product "in range" so that a combination of production calibrations and screenings can get you "the rest of the way" to a final production unit that meets performance specs.

A completely successful product design does *NOT* require recalls to the factory for re-fit or re-calibration, this is much is clear; and Nikon (by their own admission, to their credit) has been "surprised" by both the inconsistent performance in the product and the very nature of the "failure mechanism" (careful, as this is a loaded term).

My opinions, expert or otherwise:

a. The Nikon folks probably oversimplified (or underdesigned) the production calibration/test process. Even if such unit-to-unit variations are impossible to avoid (and that's a huge and completely unfounded assumption on my part), a proper quality control screen would have kept the worst performing units from leaving the factory. This can and will be corrected by Nikon, this much is clear from their official statements.

b. Once Nikon addresses point (a) above, only then can we know what Nikon will "allow" the D200 to be. After Nikon redesigns their quality control tests and screens, only then can we judge what Nikon will allow (or not allow) in terms of performance for a market-worthy D200 unit.

Until Nikon retools their production cal and screening, the unavoidable fact of the matter is that individual customers are bearing much of the burden of product quality control. Nikon realises this, they are embarrassed by it, and they are correcting it.

Is the D200 (today) good enough for you ? Since the individual customer is performing quality control, the answer is YES if the individual unit you buy works well enough -- and NO if it doesn't, in which case your options are recalibration/re-fit, return and swap it for another unit until you find one that works well enough, or just pass on the D200.

The question that begs to be answered is: while Nikon is passing quality control responsibility to customers, how can anyone judge the product's performance (in the sense of a product review) with any confidence ?

At the risk of repeating myself, the D200 product performance (in some regards) is defined by either the individual customer or the standards and capabilities of the service technicians performing "rework."

If I were in Phil Askey's shoes, I would be very reluctant indeed to publish a D200 test report until I was confident that the unit is truly representative of what the customer is likely to receive.

Nikon always has the option of making minor design changes to the D200 to reduce scrap or calibration/test costs, or to specifically "design out" the need for some of the calibrations (e.g. design out the 2-A/D design in favour of a single-A/D design). As a design engineer, I know that such a redesign is possible (there are lots of opportunities for cleverness here, making the best use of the existing CCD sensor)... Cost and expected benefit will be considered.

If I had the time and money, I would not hesitate to buy a D200, given that I can always return it if not satisfied. Of course, just because I'm satisfied with my unit doesn't necessarily mean that the unit you get will be as good, or that you will be equally satisfied, as of today. That is probably weighing on Phil Askey's mind.

- Bob Elkind


Previous Entry, the Update

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

It's a Girl!


Jiaoajiao was born at 15:28 on Feb 15th, 2006. She's 7 lbs 15 oz, and she measures 20 inches. What a big girl!

gethuman cheats

gethuman cheats

Pingr


For many earliest enthusiasts of online Chinese newsgroups, Tu Ya is a true legend. Now we know that he studied mathematics at University of Oregon (XU@math.uoregan.edu) in Eugene 1985-1993. He was seen active on ACT (alt.chinese.txt) from 1993 to 1997. His sudden disappear from the Net has been one of the lasting myth in Chinese online community. Unlikely many prominent Net figures, his legend lives on the altar constructed by the mass oversea Chinese Netizens. He has no enemies, or simply no one would admit to be his enemy. Today, many people still consider him the best online Chinese writer ever. Despite his intensive online activities and fame, very few ever met him in person; none had talked about his personal life, except Pingr.

Pingr (Shuping Lu Roman 卢蜀萍) is a female writer, who also has seemingly phased out from the online community. She left an essay on her relationship with Tu Ya in the summer of 1995 and 1996.


ZT 和涂鸦擦肩而过

作者:瓶儿


我见过涂鸦两次。分别在1995年和1996年的夏天。

我和涂鸦的交往是从1992年底开始的。我们都在为CND服务。他在CND办的当编辑。我给12月份那期投了一个圣诞节的小故事,接到正好负责编辑该期的涂鸦的回信。说将采用,并建议我有空去Alt.Chinese.Text(简称ACT)看看。他说他也写文章,随即寄给我和其它一些文章,还有一篇用英文写的小说。我看了之后当即拜倒。开始和他通邮件并经常光顾ACT。

95年夏天,我因事去西海岸,顺便去看望涂鸦。我从旧金山乘一架小飞机到俄勒岗的波特兰大市,他开车从尤金市来和我会合。他在一家汽车旅馆订了个房间。当夜我们谈到很晚。

第二天我们沿着哥伦比亚河往上走,看风景,看人钓鱼。路上见到有人把渔线绑到一根很粗的插在地上的竿上,用机械力将很大的鱼钩弹射出去到很远的深水处。涂鸦解释说这是钓一种很特别的鱼(记得叫Sturgeon),一条鱼得用一个小卡车来装,切成块放在大冰柜里,足够一个冬天吃。他认为这种鱼就是传说中的龙的原型。

第三天我们离开波特兰大,沿着101号公路南下,走走停停,路上经过一个雾气腾腾的景点,参观了一个水族馆,吃了一顿生Salmon。他买了一对鱼的形状的银质耳环作为纪念品送我。

第四天我就离开了。这次相见双方都有意犹未尽之感。我们后来频繁通电话,谈谈其他网人,也谈谈废话。

我曾用电脑的小老鼠画过一些简单的画,贴到网上哗众取宠。后来涂鸦给我寄来他画的一些电脑画,画得很好,让我自惭形秽。其中一幅是一个女孩坐在伸出的山石上,托腮仰望着一轮明月。他说画这幅画的时候想着这女孩是我。

大约1996年春天,有些网人决定在华盛顿特区开一个聚会,力邀涂鸦出席。其中有人告诉我涂鸦也会去。我很兴奋,向他求证。他说是说着玩的,他因为某种理由不宜公开露面。他邀请我夏天再去俄勒岗,我一口答应了。

96年的夏天,我如约去了俄勒岗。这时他和妻子刚分居,我得以住在他家里。他计划教我Visual Basic,以便我挣点生活费(当时我还在学校学习),他认为这很容易学。(我印象中他没有认为什么东西是不容易的。)

在他家的书架上摆着几张照片,一张是他参加一个漂亮女孩子的大学毕业典礼。他说这就是去年和我说起过的那个他的读者。

去年沿哥伦比亚河而上时,我在他的车里放一盘乡村音乐,里面有一首题为的歌。涂鸦说这使他想起他带那个女孩子钓鱼的情景。他告诉我那个女孩子怀疑我和他有点什么,因此对我比较在意。

我问那个女孩子现在在那里。他说他也不知道。最后一次通话时,女孩子说她怀了他的孩子,但是因为生他的气而打掉了。这反过来使涂鸦也很生气,责怪她没有和他商量。

涂鸦的妻子在照片上看起来很端庄。据他说她的离去和他整天“不务正业”埋头写作有关。

我在那里住了十天,每天上午去钓鱼,如果下午之前回来就学一会Visual Basic,晚上散步、下围棋、看白天拍的录象(涂鸦特地为这次度假买了一个Hi8)。钓鱼的地点每天不一,经常去很远的地方,到傍晚才回家。

因为涂鸦在文章里吹牛自己是个烧鱼专家,我就叫他负责厨房里的事情。不知道是口味不一致还是他更多地是个理论家,他做的鱼我没觉得有什么很特别。

我去之前,他和风月客正在网上激战。风月客有点象韦小宝,举止象个小无赖,但没什么坏心眼。涂鸦可能是帮方舟子说了几句话,引火烧身,招来风月客的调戏。涂鸦从来不落任何人的套子,以前也有人试图惹过他,他往往是轻轻甩几招,然后脱身就走,决不恋战。不知为何这一次他好像中了邪一样,不把风月客打垮决不罢休。

我见过风月客和他的妻子洁冰。他们两个也是挺有幽默感的人。风月客经常在网上挑逗别人,很多人知道他就是图个好玩,跟他嘻嘻哈哈一下就算了。但是方舟子忍不了这口气,於是引起了一场持久战。不料涂鸦也卷了进去。

我劝涂鸦不要和风月客计较。但是涂鸦认定风月客是个下流小人之辈,一定要把斗争进行到底。

这一点我觉得不象涂鸦。

小题大作,我们散步的时候开始争论起人性来。涂鸦认为人性是邪恶的,当时使我大吃一惊。那时我天真地以为,一个把人和事看得那么喜剧的人,一定认为人是很可爱的动物。(很久以后我才悟出来,喜剧大师的产生,是因为在他们眼里,芸芸众生只不过是一群可笑的跳梁小丑。)

涂鸦为了证明他的观点,开始引证我做的一系列事情和他做的一系列事情都是出於自私自利的目的。

例如:首先,我在此番去他那里之前刚开始和另一个人谈恋爱,但我还是去了,显然是为了利用他,因为他答应要教我一门谋生技术。其次,在我们没有见面的一年间,虽然我们调情说爱,但他涂鸦并没有放弃和别的女人上床的机会。

我当时还是一只把头往沙子里钻的鸵鸟。虽然有例子在面前,我还是拒绝认同他的人性观。这次交谈很不愉快。我因为突然发现了涂鸦的黑暗深处而感到恐惧。眼前的涂鸦看上去有些可怕,他闷着一股劲似地抽烟,目光有些发狠。我警惕地看着河边的芦苇丛,生怕涂鸦为了证明他的邪恶将我一把推进去。

往回走时,快到家门口,一辆VAN开过身边,车上一个小伙子探出车窗,故意泼了我们一身啤酒,然后一车人大笑着开走了。涂鸦沉默地看了我一眼,我也无话可说。

世界突然变得不美好起来。

涂鸦说他的一篇文章被人全篇一字不拉地偷去登在上,他并不知道署名的人,也没有人以任何方式和他联系过。我问他要不要打官司,他说他就不在这上面浪费时间了。

我劝涂鸦也不必在网上瞎耽误功夫,不如自己多些时间写文章。他说他也在想这个问题,准备不久就歇了。

涂鸦问我还愿不愿意跟他去南美洲。我们在95年夏天开始说这个事情,好像是我们下一步要做的事情似的。但对我来说,这作为一个美丽的梦想更为诱人。而且,涂鸦也在我还处于梦想他的阶段时更为可爱。涂鸦说他计划去南美洲或阿拉斯加。

涂鸦送我上飞机。我们在候机室坐着,都不说话。临走时,他送给我一套最新的Visual Basic软件,又掏出一个包着钱的信封给我。我们知道以后不大可能再约会了。

我从此后没有再和涂鸦联络,也没再上ACT。后来听说涂鸦彻底地从网上消失了。过了几年后,我重新开始到网上看东西,再也没有读到过涂鸦那么精华的文章,我才意识到我们那时有涂鸦是多么地幸运。

在失去涂鸦的这些年中,我越来越认同涂鸦的观点,越来越欣赏他的智慧和他的真实。可是,斯人何在?

瓶儿于2003年11月


Off line, Pingr is a legend in real life. She grew up in a poor countryside family in Zhejiang Province. She was admitted to Beijing Normal University with excellent entrance examination grade (45 points above admission line) on age 14. She came to the States in 1991 pursuing graduate degree in Psychology in NYU. In 1998, she received prestigious award for writing a screen play script in Writers Guild of America/Scenario magazine screenwriting competition while she was a 3rd year film student in the Columbia’s School of the Arts.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Achieve-IT!: How to Take A Caffeine Nap

Achieve-IT!: How to Take A Caffeine Nap

Freedom to Travel


Citizens of Denmark, Finland and the US enjoy the most freedom to travel abroad in terms of visa exemptions they receive from other countries and territories. Henley & Partners AG" of Zurich published the first global ranking of its kind, in which 195 countries and territories are included in the study.

1. Finland, Denmark, United States, 130.
4. Germany, Ireland, Sweden, 129.
7. Britain, France, Italy, Japan, 128.

21. Singapore, 122.
22. Australia, Greece, Iceland, Malaysia, 120.
27. South Korea, Malta, 115.
30. Hong Kong, 110.
62. Barbados, Bahamas, Macau, 71.
97. Taiwan, 42.

152. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dominican Republic, India, Madagascar, 25.
178. Burundi, China, Ethiopia, North Korea, Vietnam, Yemen, 18.
191. Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, 15.
194. Iran, 14.
195. Afghanistan, 12.

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Nikon D200 Banding: Official Acknowledgement


Nikon just acknowledged the banding issue of the newly released dSRL Nikon D200, but pleaded not guilty nevertheless. The official response has been expected for months, with various speculations on how will Nikon fix the problem (click on the picture to see banding). According to Nikon US website, the vertical strips can be adjusted, but can not be eliminated. In other words, D200 buyers will live with the banding issue for the life of the thing they paid $1600 for.

Earlier Link, another link, Bjorn Rorslett's D200 review where the banding issue was studied (page 5, noise performance) first.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Yahoo Jailed Another Political Dissident

Mr. Li Zhi, a 32-year-old local official from Dazhou, in Sichuan province, was sentenced for eight years in prison on the charge of conspiracy to subvert state power. Yahoo helped prosecutors by tracking down his identity with an Yahoo EMail account libertywg@yahoo.com.cn. In an separate case exposed earlier, Mr. Shi Tao was sentenced to ten years in prison, also thanks to Yahoo. Same as the previous case, Yahoo Hong Kong supplied the information to the Chinese authorities.

Yahoo Hong Kong is not based in mainland China, and according to laws in both mainland and Hong Kong, they are not obliged to comply with requests from mainland police, contraray to the execuse cited by Yahoo. As a matter of fact, Yahoo has frequently been dennounced by other Hong Kong media for their voluntary collaboration with the mainland police, which is considered damaging to free press in Hong Kong.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody?


Are you the favorite person of anybody?
What?
Are you anyone's favorite person?
No.
Are you sure?
No, definitely.
Okay, em, well can I ask you how sure you are of that, are you

  1. Very certain?
  2. Confident?
  3. You think so?
  4. Not so sure?
  5. Could be?

I'm very certain.
That's, that's the highest.
I know.
Do You want an orange?
What?
My wife asks me to get rid of some of these oranges. We have three trees that just keep producing.
So is it free?
Totally free, you are doing us a favor.
Can I take two? My girlfriend might like one.
Take three.
Are you sure?
Yeah,
Terrific, these are good oranges, thanks.
Thank you!

Well, are you?

NASA polictical appointee faked resume

University officials confirmed that George Carlton Deutsch III did not receive a degree from Texas A&M, on controrary to what was asserted on his NASA resume.

Mr. Deutsch was a 24 years old presidential appointee at NASA, who played a significant role in a recent cross agency effort to exert political control over the flow of information to the public. In one recent incident, a renowned NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen told New York Times he was constraint from talking about global climate, because officials did not want the public to hear about global warming.

Although it was eye-catching when a senior NASA official was caught with falcified resume, but what's more import is: 1) this is but a small incident of the current trend of the aministration to tell scientists what they should speak to the public; 2) How can a person by-pass the standard NASA background screening up employment.

Mr. Nick Anthis who runs a blog on science policy questioned Mr. Deutsch's educational record on Monday Feb 6th, 2006. Mr. Anthis graduated with a biochemistry degree from the Texas A&M in 2005.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

HYSIS Hoax


Rumor has been smoldering around the online community alleging that HYSIS, the first made-in-China Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chip might have never existed.

It was alleged that professor Chen Jin of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) mail ordered some Motorola freescale 56858 chips (56858 data sheet) in August 2002, and masked off the freescale mark and stamped an SJTU mark. Professor Chen worked for Motorola as a test engineer before he went back China to lead the effort of developing China's own processing chips.

Although it's uncommon to find a research fake their data, it's very rare to find a collaborated project by several research groups to be faked, not to say the project involved several first class manufactures and national and governmental agencies. The success of HYSIS project was hailed in China on the same level as the manned space project. It was seen as the evidence that China can directly compete with developed countries in areas of microelectronics, and received more than $10 million government grants. The project participants include Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), Global Advanced Packaging Technology Limited (APT), Amkor Technology, Shanghai Research Center for Integrated Circuit Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It was also alleged that the Ministry of Science and technology and the military who funded the project were informed of the scandal but decided to cover it up for unknown reasons.

The Shanghai Jiao Tong University where the research is conducted issued a brief statement on its website claiming they stood by the research.

If the allegation is proven to be true, or never clarified to be false, the incident will be remembered as the largest scientific scandal in China ever. According to people familiar with the field, it would take five seconds to tell whether the chip was a masked off and repackaged one. Every chip has an internal ID that could be read by testing instruments. Also, even after the chip was remarked, after removing the surface paint, the original MOTO mark would still be visible. However, the top Chinese scientists in this field certified the work anyway. The experts who endorsed the 'faked' product are:

  • Professor Wang Yangyuan 王阳元 of Peking University, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Wang is the Dean of the School of Software and Microelectronics of Beijing University, associate Director of the China Institute of Electronics (CIE), associate chief editor of Acta Electronica Sinica, associate chief editor of Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, IEEE Fellow, IEE Fellow.

    Professor Wang has been on vacation with his family in Hainan Province ever since the story broke out. His assistant in Beijing University said he might not return even after the regular semester started (Feb 13th, 2006) due to 'health reasons'.

  • Professor Yan Xiaolang 严晓浪 of Zhejiang University. Professor Yan Xiaolang is the Dean of College of Electrical Engineering of Zhejiang University, Dean of School of information Engineering of Zhejiang University City College, Director of the Institute of VLSI Design of Zhejiang University, Head of the VLSI Design Expert Group of the National 863 Program. Professor Yan also holds a position at the School of Microelectronics of SJTU.

    Professor Yan refused to make a comment.

  • Mr. Zou Shichang 邹世昌 of Shanghai Institute of Microsystem And Information Technology, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

    Mr. Zou could not be reached for comments.

  • Mr. Xu Juheng 许居衍 of Wuxi Microelectronics Scientific Research Center, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, alternate member of the 14th Central Committee of the CCP.

    Mr. Xu could not be reached for comments.

Also involved in the project are: professor Xie Shengwu, Wang Zongguang and Zhang Wenjun of SJTU. Dr. Wei Shaojun of Tsinghua University.

On January 23, all mainland Chinese media were prohibited from reporting this incident.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Newspaper Editor Died, Victim of Police Brutality



Mr. Wu Xianghu 吴湘湖 of 'Taizhou Evening' died of liver and kidney failure in hospital on Feb 2nd, 2006 at age 46. He had stayed in hospital after being beaten by dozens of police officers when they stormed his office on Oct 20th, 2005. Mr. Wu is survived by his wife and a twelve years old son.

Pictures show the cops captured Mr. Wu from the news agency he worked for, and was about to take him away with a patrol car. Although police brutality is a common problem around the world, very rarely has a police force attacked a news agency in a dense urban area in daytime where hundreds of cameras are ready to click. Actually the building complex being asaulted is shared by a number of news agencies.

Unhappy with a news report exposing police corruption on Oct 19th, 2005, Jiaojiang District traffic police chief Mr. Li Xiaoguo 李小国 went to the news agency the next day. He requested the newspaper to retract the article and reprimand the reporters. Mr. Wu who is the deputy editor-in-chief refused to comply. Mr. Li immediately deployed a task force of more than 40 policemen to storm the news agency.

Although the authority promptly silenced major news agencies such as the People's Daily and Xinhua News, many local and regional newspapers as well as online communities had spread pictures of the scene before a gag order was issued. Facing mounting grassroots media pressure, the CCP Taizhou committee order Mr. Li Xiaoguo to be transferred to another post.

On a side note, this is not exactly a case of freedom of press, but rather an reflection of the engagement protocol used by the police when they are facing a dispute with anyone else. The news report in question was instructed and approved by Taizhou CCP disciplinary committee, an upper level authority overseeing both parties involved.

'Taizhou Evening' is a regional daily newspaper. Taizhou is a city in eastern Zhejiang Province. Zhejiang lies right below Shanghai on China's east coast.

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Nikon D200 Banding Issue

A reputable Nikon user posted at DPReview, a popular digital photography website, saying that Nikon Hong Kong had confirmed the banding issue with the newly released Nikon D200 digital single lens reflex (dSLR) camera.

According to the message posted by Mr. Lin as confirmed by a Nikon Hong Kong representative, the issue was caused by faulty CCD technology. Nikon could manage to minimize the problem, but was not able to eliminate it. The banding issue of showing vertical strips on the boundary of high contract objects has been staying at the center of a consumer turmoil since it was first reported two months ago. Nikon never officially acknowledged it, nor did Nikon deny the existing of the problem. Traditional medias have been circumventing the issue, white online photography sources have been giving mixed reviews. The most authoritative digital photography website, the DPReview has not published an official review in more than two months, unprecedentedly for a major Nikon product release.

Nikon has been seriously lagging behind Canon in the past few years in digital camera release. Nikon has not released any full frame dSLR, while Canon has been enjoying the higher-end market exclusively with its 1DS M II and 1DN M II, and 5D. Nikon was also crashed by Canon in the lower end consumer level digital cameras (DC). Three years after Nikon D100, D200 was terribly overdue in terms of marketing. If the unrepairable flaw is confirmed, this might be the last star that crashed the camel.

Mr. Matthew Lin is a member of Nikon Historical Society and a long time Nikon user and collector. His website features an impressive collection of Nikon gears, as well as excellent photography works produced by himself over dozens of years using Nikon equipments.

Friday, February 03, 2006

Woman Charged With Rape


An American woman was charged 1/31/2006 on sexual assaults while she worked as a volunteer at a shelter in Kenya. The prosecutor accused Ms. Chow of sexually assaulting five boys at a children's rehabilitation center in Nairobi between 2004 and last year. She was ordered to remain in custody while more boys are turning up to lodge complains against her. She was also ordered to return things she took from the boys.

Ms. Sherry Hsiao Hwa Chow was born in Taiwan in 1981. After graduated from Harvard University, she has been staying in East Africa for the last three years working with street children. The trial date is set on April 18, 2006.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Maryland HB324 on Chinese Spring Festival


HB 324 introduced by Delegate Susan C. Lee of District 16 went through first reading in the House. The bill is expected to be enacted as it is co-sponsored by more than half of the total delegates.

"In recognition of the economic and cultural contributions of the many Marylanders for whom the lunar New Year holds special significance, the governor annually shall proclaim the day designated as new year on the Asian lunar calendar as Asian Lunar New Year Day."

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Call for Paper: Innovative Computational Sciences Education and Curricula

Click to find out detailed information. The technical session is held in conjuction with The 2006 World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and Applied Computing.

A Son like Zhang Shangyun


《玛特琳娜的家》: “我们就生活在她身边,她就是最正直的人。俗话说,要是离开了这种人,就不会有村庄存在。也不会有城市存在。更不会有我们的整个地球存在。” 

Nowadays, many Chinese men and women have been praying: if they would have a son, he should be like Zhang Shangyun.

子曰,“夫孝,天之经也,地之义也,民之行也”。

Shangyun is a 24 years old young man recently graduated from college. Almost right after he was admitted to Changchun Taxation College in the year 2000, his mother was diagnosed with a disease associated with severe brain damage. In order to better take care his mother, he took her to Changchun, where he attended college.

弘一法师:‘日日做不怕千万件事,日日走不怕千万里路’

Shangyun took all kinds of jobs he could reach, including mentoring students, washing dishes, construction, transportation, etc. to earn money for mother's medications, his tuition and living expenses for the family: his mother, his grandmother and himself. To take his mother to see specialists, he bought a tricycle, and peddled thousands of miles among several cities. They can't afford taxi, or often even public transits. People often saw he carrying his mother on his back, walking miles.

Hard labor did not stopped him stayed up to study college courses. He was the first in his class to pass the national computer exam. In the next six semesters, he was awarded merit based scholarships five times. On November 30th, 2004, he scored Number one among more than one thousand applicants in the civil servant examination for the national tax bureau in Kaifeng, Henan Providence.

蓼莪

蓼蓼者莪,匪莪伊蒿。哀哀父母,生我劬劳。
蓼蓼者莪,匪莪伊蔚。哀哀父母,生我劳瘁。
瓶之罄矣,维罍之耻。鲜民之生,不如死之久矣。无父何怙?无母何恃?出则衔恤,入则靡至。
父兮生我,母兮鞠我。抚我畜我,长我育我,顾我复我,出入腹我。欲报之德。昊天罔极!
南山烈烈,飘风发发。民莫不穀,我独何害!南山律律,飘风弗弗。民莫不穀,我独不卒!

Dahew, Henan Baoye, Renmin Daily