Janez Drnovšek

Janez Drnovšek (May 17, 1950 – February 23, 2008) was a Slovenian liberal politician, President of Yugoslavia (1989-1990), Prime Minister of Slovenia (1992-2002) and President of Slovenia (2002-2007). He was born in Celje, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, today in Slovenia. He died on February 23, 2008 in Zaplana (near Vrhnika), Slovenia.

Drnovšek's presidency was highly controversial. In the first three years in office, he rarely appeared in public, save for the most important official duties. In 2006, however, a change of style became visible.

He launched several campaigns in foreign policy, such as a failed humanitarian mission to Darfur and a proposal for the solution of the political crisis in Kosovo.

In January 30, 2006, he left the Liberal Democracy of Slovenia. Shortly afterwards, he founded the Movement for Justice and Development and became its first president.

He claimed this was not meant to be a political movement, but rather a wide initiative, aiming to "raise human consciousness and make the world a better place".

On June 26, 2006, he announced that he would not be running for a second term in an interview on TV Slovenia.

During his time in office as the President of Slovenia, he wrote and published several books in spiritual philosophy, including Misli o življenju in zavedanju ("Thoughts on Life and Consciousness"), Zlate misli o življenju in zavedanju ("Golden Thoughts on Life and Consciousness"), Bistvo sveta ("The Essence of the World"), and his last one called Pogovori or Dialogues.

According to his own accounts, it took him only two or three weeks to write each of his books, due to - in his words - "the higher consciousness" he was able to access.

Because of his new lifestyle and the content of his books and blogs, he was often regarded as an adherent of the New Age movement, although he rejected such a qualification as being too narrow. His lifestyle was a mixture of elements from various traditions: from the veganism of Hindu philosophy, the non-attachment of Buddhist philosophy, to the monkish traditions of Celtic Christianity. He also valued the indigeneous traditions of the world, being the only foreign dignatory at the inauguration of Evo Morales', the first native American president of Bolivia. He later hosted Bolivian ethnic musicians in the Presidential Palace in Ljubljana.

He revered the spirituality held within these traditions. He repeatedly claimed nature was his best cure, and he spent much time at his home in Zaplana. He died there on February 23, 2008, aged 57. His body was cremated shortly afterwards. He was buried with honors in a private memorial service in his native Zagorje ob Savi, along his parents.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/)

We are people, and as people we have a great task before us: to change the world of suffering and lies into a world that is deserving of life...More

(See Also: http://www.loveocean.org/consciousness/author.htm)

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Le Projet Triangle of Paris

"Le Projet Triangle" is set to be completed by 2014, making it the first new skyscraper in Paris for 30 years.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- There is to be a revolution in Paris -- plans for a 50-story building have been given the green light, which will make it the first skyscraper to be built in the city for 30 years.

A law limiting the height of new structures in central Paris has been overturned and now a number of high-rises are planned for the city.

But it's not just Paris that's reaching for the sky -- there's a new generation of innovative, exciting skyscrapers set to appear all over the world over the next 10 years.

Some truly mind-blowing structures are being planned for the Middle East. While the ever-growing Burj Dubai is already the tallest man-made structure in the world, the Nakheel Tower, also planned for Dubai, is set to go even higher. Developers suggest the finished building will be at least 1 km tall.

Hot on its heels, the Burj Mubarak Al Kabir, proposed for the planned 'City of Silk' in Kuwait, could also break the 1000-meter barrier.

While they may be mere midgets compared to the mega structures of the Middle East, Russia Tower in Moscow and the Okhta Center Tower in St Petersburg promise to provide some stunning eye candy.

Spiraling its way through the Chicago skyline, the Chicago Spire will have a striking corkscrew design, while a gleaming Freedom Tower is to be the highlight of the rebuilt World Trade Center. And proving the skyscraper renaissance is a global phenomenon there are stylish giants planned for Panama, Pakistan and South Korea.

In the short term, the credit crunch may make it harder to fund the construction of these mega structures, but long term, it seems that when it comes to futuristic high-rises, the sky's the limit.
(Source: http://edition.cnn.com/; image by: http://dekonstruktivist.blogspot.com/)
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Melamine-Tainted Food from China to the World

FDA: Tiny amount of melamine in food usually OK ???
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Eating a tiny bit of a melamine, the chemical responsible for a global food safety scare, is not harmful except when it's in baby formula, U.S. food safety officials said today.

Melamine-tainted formula has sickened more than 54,000 children in China and is being blamed for the deaths of at least four tots. The chemical has also turned up in products sold across Asia, ranging from candies, to chocolates, to coffee drinks, that used dairy ingredients from China. Authorities in California and Connecticut have found melamine in White Rabbit candies imported from China.

China declines to say how many kids sick in milk scandal

HOHHOT, China (AFP) — China on Tuesday declined to release updated figures revealing just how many children have been affected by the tainted milk scandal, as it insisted it was working hard to boost confidence.

The health ministry said it had new statistics showing how many babies were believed to have been left ill by the crisis, but did not release the data and gave no indication of if or when it would made the latest information public.

"We've not released the latest number of cases because it is not an infectious disease, so it's not absolutely necessary for us to announce it to the public," a health ministry spokesman told AFP.

Previous official figures said milk powder tainted with the chemical melamine had claimed the lives of four children and made a further 53,000 ill.

Melamine, used to produce plastic, can make watered-down milk appear richer in protein than it really is.

Since melamine was found to be the cause of kidney stones in thousands of Chinese children who had been fed tainted baby formula, a worldwide wave of recalls and warnings over Chinese products has kicked in.

Amid milk scare, China's elite get special food
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING - While China grapples with its latest tainted food crisis, the political elite are served the choicest, safest delicacies. They get hormone-free beef from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, organic tea from the foothills of Tibet and rice watered by melted mountain snow.

And it's all supplied by a special government outfit that provides all-organic goods from farms working under the strictest guidelines.

That secure food supply stands in stark contrast to the frustrations of ordinary citizens who have faced recurring food scandals — vegetables with harmful pesticide residue, fish tainted with a cancer-causing chemical, eggs colored with industrial dye, fake liquor causing blindness or death, holiday pastries with bacteria-laden filling.

Now that the country's most reputable dairies have been found selling baby formula and other milk products tainted with an industrial chemical that can cause kidney stones and kidney failure, many Chinese don't know what to buy. Tens of thousands of children have been sickened and four babies have died.

Knowing that their leaders do not face these problems has made some people angry.

"Food safety is a high priority for children and families of government officials, so are normal citizens less entitled to safe food?" asked Zhong Lixun, feeding her 7-month-old grandson baby formula after he got checked for kidney stones at Beijing Children's Hospital.

(Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/, http://www.chron.com/, http://news.aol.com/, http://afp.google.com/;
image by: http://community.kmtr.com/, http://litbrit.blogspot.com/, http://www.foodhaccp.com/, http://afp.google.com/)
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Tainted Food from China

Unilever latest to find tainted milk in Chinese goods
By Jenny Wiggins, Consumer Industries Correspondent

October 1 2008 03:00
Unilever yesterday became the third multinational food group in less than a week to issue a product recall linked to the Chinese melamine scandal, highlighting weaknesses in global food safety practices.

Unilever said it would stop using Chinese milk powder for some products after it found melamine, an industrial chemical that has made thousands of Chinese children sick, in batches of Lipton-branded tea powders exported to Hong Kong. It recalled four batches of milk powder.

The move follows US food group Heinz's recall last week of 270 cases of Chinese-produced baby food sold in Hong Kong, and UK confectionery group Cadbury's this week of all chocolate produced at its Beijing factory.

The recalls have forced food companies to test their own products for signs of contamination, rather than rely on food safety checks from local authorities, and more carefully assess their suppliers. Most multinational food companies buy ingredients locally.

When the melamine scandal broke earlier this month, companies assumed their products were free of the chemical because the dairies from which they bought liquid milk had been cleared by the Chinese government. Subsequent tests by companies had found melamine in their products, nonetheless.

Unilever, which had imported milk powder for use in its tea sachets from New Zealand and Europe until May, when it switched to Chinese suppliers, is switching back to imported powders.

Unilever could not comment on whether imported powders would be used for the ice-cream it makes and sells in China. It does not use Chinese milk powder in the ice-cream it exports from China, but it does use local powder in the ice-cream it sells in China.

Cadbury said yesterday it had added "additional checks and procedures" to its Chinese manufacturing process, such as requiring suppliers to produce a so-called "certificate of analysis" from an accredited laboratory showing products are safe to eat.

Swiss food group Nestlé - which cited government clearance of its suppliers when defending the safety of its Chinese-made infant formulas and chocolate bars this month - has started running its own tests for melamine in China, as has Mars, the US food group.

Indonesia's food and drug regulator last week said it had found traces of melamine in several foods imported from China, including Mars's M&M's and Snickers brands. Mars had previously been told by Chinese authorities that none of the milk powders supplied by its two Chinese and two foreign dairy suppliers were contaminated.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
(Source: http://www.ft.com/; image by: http://www.aboluowang.com/)




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The 3rd Digital Art Festival Taipei 2008

Venue:
Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei     
No. 39, ChangAn West Road, Taipei City

ChungShan MRT Exit 1

Opening Ceremony:  19:00 - 21:00, Friday, September 12th, 2008
Duration:  Friday, September 12th, 2008 - Sunday, November 9th, 2008
Daily Hours:  10:00 am - 18:00

TEL: (02) 2778-9268
FAX: (02) 2773-6980
EMAIL: daf@dac.tw
WEB: http://www.mocataipei.org.tw/; http://www.dac.tw/

Se Mi Sei Vicino

Sonia Cillari is an Italian media artist and architect, lives and works in Amsterdam. Her work involves the creation of sensorial and perceptual mechanisms in immersive and augmented environments. Over the last years she has been specifically interested in a field of research concerning the 'Body as Interface'.

With Se Mi Sei Vicino she received the Excellence Prize at Japan Media Arts Festival and the Honorable Mentions at Prix Ars Electronica: Interactive Art category and VIDA 9.0: Art & Artificial Life International competition. She has been one of the expert jury for the Prix Ars Electronica 2008: Interactive Art category.

The interactive performance Se Mi Sei Vicino (If you are close to me) is a practical research into the possibility of using the 'Body as Interface'.

The main point of departure was the idea to measure human encounters, with the participants realizing that the boundaries of the self extend beyond their skins.

A core element of the work is a sensor floor on which a performer is standing, functioning as a human antenna; when coming close to or being touched by members of the audience, the body movements are registered as electromagnetic activity. Surrounding the floor are large projections showing real-time algorithmic organisms connected to audio compositions, which change form according to fluctuations in the electromagnetic field.

The relative distance between the bodies determines what is to be seen and heard. This work has to be considered in relation with the tradition of performance and installation art, which problematizes the distinction between active performers and passive spectators.

In fact the audiences needs to participate with the whole body. Moving, approaching and touching must be included. This interaction makes that the boundaries of passivity and activity are blurred. Everyone is a potential performer.

SoniColumn

Jin-Yo Mok is known as young Korean multimedia artist. He received his BFA and MFA from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, Korea and continued his studies at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program. His artwork has been featured and invited from a lot of venues over the world: Ars Electronica Festival in Austria; ISEA 2006; WIRED NextFest; 2005 in Sao Paolo, Brazil; Artport at Whitney Museum of America in New York.

SoniColumnis an interactive sound installation that can be played by a person's touch. The installation takes the form of a column-like cylinder, of a height that does not quite reach the ceiling but just high enough for one's reach. Grids of LEDs installed inside the column light themselves on by the users' touch and emit unique sounds. When a user cranks the handle, the column slowly rotates itself and plays the light patterns of the user's touch.

SoniColumn is one of artist series of works, The MusicBox Project, the reproduction of his experience with a small music box that he happened to play a long time ago. The lucid sounds coming from a simple play mechanism stirred him up with his old memory echoed with them. He is pleasantly and cautiously reproducing this happy experience with a small toy which was not sublime nor mysterious, but simple and easy.

DriftNet ver.-1

Norimichi Hirakawa is a media artist of new generation, completed the master course of Tama Art University. His work Global Bearing won the excellent award in 8th Japan Media Art Festival, and has exhibited the works in Yamaguchi Art center of Arts and Media, Open Space 2007 at NTT Inter Communication Center (ICC) and transmediale.08 in Germany. He had won the award of distinction in Interactive Art category of Ars Electronica 2008.

DriftNet ver.-1 shows us a new method to recognize our digital world what we get along with. The world wide internet network is just like some kind of ocean, or media to Japanese. When we look around the end of ocean beach, it is like an emptiness space in searching engine site. It unfolds the anticipative energy of the ultimate searching.

We are never free on the net to choose the links and explore. What we can do is stare at the disappearance and splash of waves, like we are surfing in the internet world. The work of DriftNet ver. -1 proposes another point of view to our interactive network.
 

ALAVs 2.0 

Jed Berk Born in New York, lives in Los Angeles, CA. He received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Art Center College of Design.

He has shown in the US and internationally in institutions such as Orange County Museum of Art in California; Museum of Modern Art in Austria; Brandts, Odense in Denmark; Espaço Cultural Oi Futuro in Brazil; Art Center Nabi in Korea.

ALAVs 2.0 (Autonomous Light Air Vessels) are networked objects that communicate the concept of connectivity among people, objects, and the environment. Through the use of mobile technologies, people can influence the behavior of the ALAVs by starting conversations and building closer relationships with them.
 
ALAV 2.0 reflects upon the current state of connectivity in our everyday lives. The potential of ALAVs 2.0 lies in its ability to captivate a wide audience and communicate the idea of people cohabiting a shared space with networked objects.

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The Egmont Group: International Anti-Money Laundering Network

The Egmont Group, an international anti-money laundering network that played a key role in alerting Taiwan authorities to a high-profile case of possible money laundering embroiling Taiwan's former first family, commented for the first time on the matter Saturday, saying that its aim is to combat money laundering but that it is not involved in the probe.

In response to a CNA inquiry by e-mail, the group, headquartered in Canada, finally broke its silence 10 days after a scandal that embroiled former President Chen Shui-bian's family members broke.

"One of the main goals of the Egmont Group is to create a global network by promoting international cooperation between 'financial intelligence units' (FIUs) , " the Egmont Secretariat said in the e-mail, adding that for any information relating to a specific operational matter the FIU in the relevant country should be contacted.

"The Egmont Group does not get involved in such operational matters," the Secretariat said.

According to the Egmont Group, FIUs, which provide an important avenue for information exchange, are entities created by countries around the world to deal with the problem of money laundering.

It said operational case matters within a country or between countries may involve one FIU, or a number of FIUs getting together to follow the money trail, and is up to each FIU to determine whether it is appropriate for it to seek the involvement of other FIUs, or for it to be involved in this process.

Chen admitted last Thursday that he had lied about the campaign expenses for his two mayoral elections and two presidential elections between 1993 and 2004. He said that his wife had wired surplus campaign contributions to overseas bank accounts held by members of his family.

His confession came only after the Foreign Ministry confirmed earlier that same day that Swiss authorities had been seeking Taiwan's help in a probe into a possible money laundering case in Switzerland involving Chen's son Chen Chih-chung and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching.

The former president, who has been prohibited by prosecutors from leaving the country, claimed that his wife Wu Shu-jen made the wire transfers without his knowledge.

(Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/)

The matter came to light when a local magazine, based on a report by the Egmont Group, claimed that Huang had laundered money for the former first family by secretly wiring NT$300 million (US$10 million) overseas in 2006 after the exposure of a "state affairs fund" embezzlement case that implicated Chen and his wife.

The Egmont Group was established in 1995 to stimulate international cooperation between financial intelligence units, meeting regularly to find ways to cooperate, especially in the areas of information exchange, training and the sharing of expertise.

There are currently 108 countries that are members of the Egmont Group. Taiwan's Money Laundering Prevention Center under the Investigation Bureau joined the network in 1998.

Noting that governments around the world recognize the "corrosive dangers" that unchecked financial crimes pose to their economic and political systems, the Egmont Secretariat explained that FIUs, at a minimum, receive and analyze information from financial institutions and other reporting entities and after analyzing the data received, the FIUs may then disclose information relating to suspicious or unusual financial transactions to the competent authorities.

The Chen scandal was exposed under such cooperation.

Taiwan is now actively seeking judicial assistance from Switzerland, Singapore and the United States in the investigation of the scandal.
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Taipei 2008 Mammoth Exhibition

One of the exhibition's organizers said the melting Siberian permafrost that uncovered the animals also held a dire warning on global warming.

The frozen remains of Yukagir and Oymiakon, two woolly mammoths uncovered from the Siberian permafrost, were unboxed at a press conference in Taipei yesterday as preparations for the nation's first mammoth exhibition got into full swing.

The organizers unboxed the head and ivory of Yukagir, a male mammoth aged between 40 and 45 years old that dates back to 18,000BC, along with the front half of the body of Oyamiakon — a year-old female that dates back to between 28,000BC and 38,000BC.

Excavated in Siberia in 2002, Yukagir still has hair and skin tissue and is one of the best-known mammoths in the world, having been seen by millions of visitors at the 2005 Aichi Expo in Japan.

Oymiakon was discovered in 2004 and is being exhibited for the first time.

Preservation experts carefully moved the delicately packaged mammoths from the container to a frozen exhibition room, which is being kept at minus 15˚C and a consistent humidity to preserve the delicate remains.

"The environmental protection and scientific issues related to the excavation of mammoths has made the exhibition richer and more diversified," said Hsiang Kuo-ning, the director of the Chinese-language United Evening News, one of the exhibition's organizers.

Hsiang said that the mammals had been discovered because of Siberia's melting permafrost, and while the mammoths might solve some of the mysteries of the Earth's prehistoric environment, their discovery has also served as a warning that global warming might destroy this wealth.

"I hope people in Taiwan can gain better knowledge of mammoths and the history of the Ice Age through the exhibition," said Innokentiy Pinigin, representative of Russia's Sakha Republic and deputy director-general of SakhaEXPOMammoth, a company that specializes in mammoth exhibition and scientific research.

The Taipei 2008 Mammoth Exhibition opens on Saturday and will run through Nov. 4 at the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall.

The show includes about 140 mammoth parts provided by the Sakha Republic, the Osaka Museum of Natural History, the National Taiwan Museum, the Chi Mei Museum and a private collector.

The exhibition will be open from 10am to 6pm daily. Admission is NT$200 for adults and NT$180 for students and seniors.

(Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/)

The China Post: Mammoth exhibit opens Friday
The largest paleontological display ever in Taiwan, the Taipei Mammoth Exhibition 2008 will be held from July 11 to November 4 at National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall, previously known as Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, in downtown Taipei. 
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The Truth In What We Told

Part of the elaborate Olympics fireworks show broadcast to the world in the opening ceremony was altered, done digitally in 3-D computer graphics, according to several news reports.

While the dramatic display actually happened as portrayed on television, members of the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was necessary to replace live video with computer-generated imagery because the city's hazy, smoggy skies made it too difficult to see, according to The Beijing Times, which first reported the story.

Committee members also said they were concerned that the helicopter pilot who would have flown overhead to film the fireworks would have been "at risk by making him try to follow the firework route," according to a quote from a committee member reported in a Daily Telegraph story.

NBC broadcasters Matt Lauer and Bob Costas made mention of the alteration as it aired.

"You're looking at a cinematic device employed by Zhang Yimou here," Lauer said. "This is actually almost animation. A footstep a second, 29 in all, to signify the 29 Olympiads."

Costas responded, "We said earlier that aspects of this Opening Ceremony are almost like cinema in real time. Well this is quite literally cinematic."

It took planners almost a year to create the 55-second sequence which appeared to be more than two dozen footprints amidst fireworks in the sky, said Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony, in the Daily Telegraph story.

(Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/)

Even those at the city's new Bird's Nest National Stadium, where the Olympics are being held, viewed the computer-generated footage from their seats as they watched on the stadium's giant television screens, said Britain's Sky News in a story.

"Stunned viewers thought they were watching the string of fireworks filmed from above by a helicopter," said SkyNews.com. "But in reality they were watching a 3-D graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce."

There were some real fireworks going on outside the stadium. But the footprint display was "inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment," the Daily Telegraph said.

"Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible," the newspaper reported Xiaolong as saying. "They sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."

"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks," Xiaolong said in comments that appeared in the Daily Telegraph. "But most of the audience thought it was filmed live — so that was mission accomplished."

Because the only organization in control of all Olympics footage is Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the feed went out to everyone broadcasting the event, including NBC, which has exclusive rights in the United States to show the games. NBC's online coverage is being delivered by the MSN Network, NBCOlympics.com on MSN. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

During Friday night's opening ceremony, the network averaged 34.2 million viewers, making it the biggest television event since the Super Bowl, according to the Associated Press.

The network has been criticized itself for the 12-hour tape delay in showing the opening ceremonies, which it did because of the time difference between China and the United States, driving some viewers to other Web sites around the world to see the event live.

(Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/)
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Panda couple Soon In Taipei Mucha Zoo

Tuantuan and Yuanyuan

(Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/)

Two giant pandas, gifted by the mainland to Taiwan in 2005, will travel to the island after its agricultural body gave permission to the Taipei zoo to accept them.

The announcement by the island's agricultural council clears the way for Tuantuan and Yuanyuan, which mean reunion in Chinese, to travel to Taiwan.

The "agricultural council" said a panel of experts chose the Mucha Zoo in Taipei to house the pandas over the Leofoo Safari Park in Hsinchu after a field inspection on their qualifications and ability to feed them.

The Mucha Zoo could now apply for import and quarantine licenses from Taiwan authorities and then discuss the acceptance issue with the mainland.

(Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/) By Meggie Lu
Chinese pandas may arrive in Taipei by October

HOME, SWEET HOME:: The two pandas, whose names together mean 'to reunite,' have stirred political controversy since they were first offered to Lien Chan in 2005.

Giant pandas "Tuan-tuan" and "Yuan-yuan" may begin their new lives at the Taipei City Zoo as early as October, after the Council of Agriculture (COA) yesterday ruled that the zoo was equipped to care for them.

The decision came after the Forestry Bureau Panda Case Review Committee inspected two contending zoos yesterday morning — the Taipei Zoo as well as the Leofoo Wild Animal Park in Hsinchu County — to determine whether their facilities and personnel would be able to accommodate the animals.

"The committee, which consisted of seven experts in the fields of veterinary medicine, educational displays, wildlife conservation and animal care, inspected the zoos based on three major concerns — animal pens, medical care and educational and research plans — and decided that the Taipei City Zoo had passed qualifications in all three areas," Forestry Bureau Deputy Director-General Lee Tao-sheng  told a press conference.

The Leofoo facility failed because of unsatisfactory medical care capabilities and educational &research plans, he said.

The two pandas, whose names together mean "to reunite," have stirred controversy because of the political implications they have carried since 2005, when they were offered to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan during his landmark visit to Beijing.

Beijing repeatedly accused the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of rejecting the animals for political reasons.

On Wednesday, animal rights groups, including the Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), the Taiwan Academy of Ecology and the Wild at Heart Legal Defense Association, lambasted the [current] government for its "closed-door decision" to import the pandas, saying that it employed political manipulation in the matter.

Pandas are listed as an appendix I animal in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) — an agreement between governments to ensure that the trading of wild animals and plants do not hurt their prospects for survival.

Animals and plants listed in Appendix I are those under the threat of extinction, and are prohibited from being traded commercially.

After the committee's announcement yesterday, the Taipei Zoo would be allowed to apply for the pandas, Lee said.

Asked by the media whether on the CITES documents China would be listed as the "export country," instead of the trade being treated as "within the country," Lee said the documents would be filed according to the Wildlife Protection Act Article 26, section 2, without elaborating what the article entailed.

"The committee's job today was to review whether the zoos were fit to host the pandas. We did not discuss the [export] matter," he said.

However, the article states that the animals would be traded by "filing applications to the export countries."

Lee also did not say why animal right activists were not included in the committee, but he said the makeup of the committee was in accordance with the law.

Regulations state that the zoo can now begin its application process to import Tuan-tuan and Yuan-yuan, with 30 days of quarantine for both before and after their transportation. Taiwanese may see them in Taipei as early as October, many Chinese-language media said.

Taipei City Government spokesman Yang Hsiao-tung yesterday expressed the city government's joy over the choice of the Taipei Zoo as the pandas' new home.

"We are thrilled to hear the news. Taipei Zoo has been ready to house Tuan-tuan and Yuan-yuan, and we believe the two pandas will be well cared for in the zoo," Yang said at Taipei City Hall.

The city government has been hoping to receive the pandas since President Ma Ying-jeou was mayor.

The zoo has spent $9.9 millions to build a three-story panda exhibition hall, and sent 17 zookeepers to the panda-breeding base in Sichuan, China, the San Diego Zoo in California and Ueno Zoo in Tokyo to learn how to raise and breed giant pandas.

Additional Reporting By Mo Yan-Chih
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The Perfect Score: 2008 Summer Olympics

A 10 Isn't Necessarily Perfect in New Scoring System for Gymnastics By JULIET MACUR

In one of the most memorable moments in Olympic history, the American gymnast Mary Lou Retton received a perfect 10.0 on her vault at the 1984 Los Angeles Games to clinch the all-around title.

No gymnast will repeat that feat at the Beijing Games, guaranteed.

The gymnastics scoring system based on a top mark of 10.0 will not exist at these Olympics. The system, which had been in use for about 80 years, was replaced two years ago with one that has no ceiling.

Some gymnastics purists, including Retton and her former coach, Bela Karolyi, are still mourning.....

Spurred in part by the judging errors at the 2004 Olympics, the international gymnastics federation, known as the F.I.G., changed the system to better differentiate one gymnast's routines from another's.

Gymnasts now receive separate marks for degree of difficulty and for execution in each event. The two are added to obtain the overall score, which usually ranges from 14 to 17 for top-level gymnasts.
....

The new system is heavy on math and employs two sets of judges, an A panel and a B panel, to do the computations. Two A-panel judges determine the difficulty and technical content of each routine. Six B-panel judges score routines for execution, artistry, composition and technique.

The A-panel judges'scorecards start at zero, and points are added to give credit for requirements, individual skills and skills performed in succession.

The A panel counts only the gymnast's 10 most difficult skills, which are ranked from easiest to most difficult (from A to G for women and from A to F for men). An A-level skill, like a back handspring in the floor exercise, is worth one-tenth of a point. The value increases by one-tenth of a point for each subsequent level, meaning a B-level skill is worth two-tenths and an F-level is worth six-tenths.

Dirk Nowitski’s Olympic haircut. (EPA/Gero Breloer)
Required elements add a maximum 2.5 points to the score. Extra points, either one-tenth or two-tenths, are given for stringing skills together.
....

Nastia Liukin of the United States team, for example, performs a routine on the uneven bars that has a sky-high difficulty value of 7.7. Her father and coach, Valeri Liukin, crunched numbers last year to invent the complex, high-scoring routine.

He did the calculations on a Post-it before handing it to his daughter at practice one day. She gasped.

"I was like: Wow, you want me to do all of that? Is that possible?" Nastia Liukin said. "But then I realized that I need to do all that with this new scoring, if I even want to think about a gold medal. I said: OK, cool. I'll learn it."

At the United States championships in May, Liukin nailed her performance and scored a 17.1, the highest score by any gymnast from the United States since the system changed. She said she expected to score even higher at the Olympics.

Liukin could do just that if she is able to pull off the routine, which is filled with risky skills. At her best, Liukin seems as if she is weightless as she floats above and between the bars.
....
(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/, http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/)
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Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water

By Andrew Martin

CAIRO — Global food shortages have placed the Middle East and North Africa in a quandary, as they are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their already scant supply of water.



For decades, nations in this region have drained aquifers, sucked the salt from seawater and diverted the mighty Nile to make the deserts bloom. But those projects were so costly and used so much water that it remained far more practical to import food than to produce it.



Today, some countries import 90 percent or more of their staples.



Now, the worldwide food crisis is making many countries in this politically volatile region rethink that math.



The population of the region has more than quadrupled since 1950, to 364 million, and is expected to reach nearly 600 million by 2050. By that time, the amount of fresh water available for each person, already scarce, will be cut in half, and declining resources could inflame political tensions further.



"The countries of the region are caught between the hammer of rising food prices and the anvil of steadily declining water availability per capita," Alan R. Richards, a professor of economics and environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said via e-mail. "There is no simple solution."



Losing confidence in world markets, these nations are turning anew to expensive schemes to maintain their food supply.



Djibouti is growing rice in solar-powered greenhouses, fed by groundwater and cooled with seawater, in a project that produces what the economist Ruslan Yemtsov calls "probably the most expensive rice on earth."



Several oil-rich nations, including Saudi Arabia, have started searching for farmland in fertile but politically unstable countries like Pakistan and Sudan, with the goal of growing crops to be shipped home.



"These countries have the land and the water," said Hassan S. Sharaf Al Hussaini, an official in Bahrain's agriculture ministry. "We have the money."



In Egypt, where a shortage of subsidized bread led to rioting in April, government officials say they are looking into growing wheat on two million acres straddling the border with Sudan. Economists and development experts say that nutritional self-sufficiency in this part of the world presents challenges that are not easily overcome.



Saudi Arabia tapped aquifers to become self-sufficient in wheat production in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the kingdom had become a major exporter. This year, however, the Saudis said they would phase out the program because it used too much water.



"You can bring in money and water and you can make the desert green until either the water runs out or the money," said Elie Elhadj, a Syrian-born author who wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the topic.



Egypt, too, has for decades dreamed of converting huge swaths of desert into lush farmland. The most ambitious of these projects is in Toshka, a Sahara Desert oasis in a scorched lunar landscape of sand and rock outcroppings.



When the Toshka farm was started in 1997, the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, compared its ambitions to building the pyramids, involving roughly 500,000 acres of farmland and tens of thousands of residents. But no one has moved there, and only 30,000 acres or so have been planted.



The farm's manager, Mohamed Nagi Mohamed, says the Sahara is perfect for farming, as long as there is plenty of fertilizer and water. For one thing, the bugs cannot handle the summer heat, so pesticides are not needed.



"You can grow anything on this land," he said, showing off fields of alfalfa and rows of tomatoes and grapes, shielded from the sun by gauzy white netting. "It's a very nice project, but it needs a lot of money."



Mr. Mubarak calls his country's growing population an "urgent" problem that has exacerbated the food crisis. The population grows about 1.7 percent annually, considerably slower than a generation ago but still fast enough that it is on pace to double by 2050.



Adding 1.3 million Egyptians each year to the 77 million squeezed into an inhabited area roughly the size of Taiwan is a daunting prospect for a country in which 20 percent of citizens already live in poverty.

....

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/)
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HerbalLife Celebrates 13 Years in Taiwan

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An-an's Website (安安免費教學網站)

芯菱母親 口述於 九十四年初夏

母親的話： 猶記得在十多年前的一個冬天，我曾在媽祖廟前祈求：「上天若能留給我們一條生路、賞口溫飽，我們必定教導孩子以愛待人。」芯菱卻將此誓言銘記在心，並實踐於大愛中。說起來也慚愧，芯菱的第一部電腦，是將我們的玉飾變賣和四處奔波所借貸的資金籌措而來。但芯菱卻因此更加惜福、更加苦學……

芯菱從小就是個體貼懂事的乖孩子，她出生時候的環境相當艱苦，也沒有兄弟姊妹能陪伴著她成長。經濟的壓力迫使我們得四處遷徙，讓她和我們過著早出晚歸攤販的生活。雖然我們很希望，但實在沒有能力送她去接受學前教育。她從小的生活就和一般孩子不一樣，嘗過家徒四壁的生活，大熱天時， 鐵皮屋內如同火爐般悶熱；下大雨時，雨水從天花板上滲漏，滴答滴答地響。在幾坪大的狹小空間裡，我們盡可能地擺張六十公分的正方形棋盤桌，讓芯菱得以讀書、寫字。我們買不起昂貴的學習書籍，只能藉著二手書來 自學。所幸，這些物質上的匱乏並不會讓芯菱妄自菲薄，而是讓她更加珍惜每次學習的機會。

我們從不認為她有傑出的天賦，從不要求她要爭第一，也沒想到她會擁有「電腦神童」的美譽。我們所注重的，是她的心中擁有「愛」，有一顆善良的心，說好話、做好事，盡全力幫助我們所能幫助的人。我們堅信心靈上的滿足與暖溫，足以勝過所有實質上的酬勞。每每看見需要幫助的人能得到 一些協助，對我們而言就是最好的福報。令我欣慰的是芯菱似乎很能體會箇中的道理，也許因為我們曾走過貧困的生活，所以感受特別深地。除了睡覺以外，她那小小的腦袋彷佛隨時隨地在運轉，不停地在思考著： 「我該怎麼做，才能幫助那些和我們有相同遭遇的人呢？」

芯菱從小對電腦特別有興趣，於是她苦學電腦多年後，終於在國小五年級時成立了『沈芯菱電子網站工作室』，希望能用一己之力賺取金錢，最初從幫助學校同學，到後來承製數十個公司網站，所得酬勞投入公益活動、關懷貧困者。而在芯菱國小六年級時候，便立志要架設全國首站─集國中 、國小全科目的免費教學網站，藉著無遠弗屆的網路，讓弱勢學子有一個免費的學習管道。除了心疼這些小朋友們缺乏資源外，芯菱更希望他們能和一般小孩一樣平等的擁有學習 機會。在架設教學網站期間，芯菱以優秀成續考取私立明星學校，但還是選擇了公立國中就讀，為的是節省差額學費來供應教學網的經費 。

架設網站過程中，她遇到許多想像不到的難關，也經歷了許多次的挫折和失敗，大多必須靠著自己一步一步的摸索出解答。在雲林的我們，時常遇到資源上的不足、架設過程的艱困，以及她不願意接受金錢的贊助，一人獨自承擔種種壓力 。這讓她的身影日漸消瘦，勞累逼出她眼球中的紅血絲；多方的壓力，讓她本該烏黑亮麗的秀髮，多出了許多不相稱的白髮。身為母親的我很難想像在她小小的身軀裡，到底還能裝進了多少壓力?

每次在漫長寂靜的夜裡，我們多麼想制止整晚都立在那兒的背影。但是一向聽話的她，此次卻非常的執著，帶著十分堅定的語氣，甚至是懇求，允許我們讓她把時間花在建置網站上 。我了解到，這對她才是真正的快樂，既然她已找到自己想做的，我又有什麼立場去阻止她呢？因此，我們將固執轉為支持，雖然我們對電腦一竅不通，但我們所能做，就是成為她精神上的支柱，為她在半夜裡泡一杯熱牛奶，在她失意難過時替她加油打氣。

經過多年的努力，現在的「安安」，已成了兩岸三地熱門的教學網站。毎日的持續管理、增添資料，建置數萬筆多元領域的教學資料，蛻變成一個大型的教學網站。 因為喜愛奉獻，芯菱做了許多公益之事，常為此而忙碌到深夜、耗費無數的心力。我們希望她的堅持和耕耘能獲得大家的肯定，並能幫助更多的弱勢學子們，以及永久免費服務於兩岸三地 ，和開發中國家的莘莘學子。

感念後來上天的眷顧，使她在14歲時就已賺進了 第一個100萬 ，並且將全部的金額都投入公益，至今也舉辦過數十個活動等公益行腳。她相信「做公益不能只是紙上談兵就可以，如果沒有金錢當作基石，也將寸步難行。但是公益也不是用金錢來衡量，而是心力、腦力、行動力的交織，所以每一個活動，我都盡力希望能做到最完美，用最低的支出，獲得最大的效應。」若你問她下一個願望，我想她會堅決的告訴你，要賺進更多的100萬，繼續致力於公益與公義之中！

我們自知女兒所學不多、能力有限，但「安安」就是她最真切、最無私的付出。在這裡懇請大家能好好利用此網站之外，也請把缺點等建議告訴芯菱，她將會虛心接受，以及努力改進。也願大家都能珍惜此免費資源，讓女兒的付出能更加值得 。她最希望看到的，就是有人能因此而得到知識、改變貧窮，這對我們而言，就是最大的福報。最後，感謝您們的關懷及鼓勵，「安安」因為有您們，才能一天比一天 的更加茁壯！

祝福各位：線上學習愉快

(Source: http://www.anan1.webnow.biz/)

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"Checkpoint Friendly" Laptop Cases

By Joe Sharkey

For years at airport security checkpoints, passengers have heard the refrain, almost a dirge: "Laptops must be removed from their cases and placed on the belt."

Get ready for a change. The Transportation Security Administration has given the go-ahead for passengers to use newly designed carry-on bags that will let them pass through security without having to take their laptops out for the X-ray inspection.

Kip Hawley, the agency's director, told me Monday that the T.S.A. would accept the new laptop cases as soon as they come on the market.

Two of the biggest luggage manufacturers - Pathfinder Luggage and Targus - say they are rushing to produce the new "checkpoint friendly" laptop cases and expect them to be available by late September or early October.

Two problems with the existing laptop cases are that security officers have difficulty seeing inside them with X-ray equipment, and many of the cases are so crammed with extra gear - power cords, a mouse and the like - that the computer is obscured.

The new cases include either a fold-down section in a bigger briefcase or a stand-alone protective sleeve that contains no extra clutter and can be readily viewed through the scanner.

More than a half-dozen luggage manufacturers, among about 60 that initially responded to a T.S.A. request for proposals about three months ago, have submitted prototypes for testing at checkpoints at three airports: Dulles, outside Washington; Austin-Bergstrom in Texas; and Ontario, near Los Angeles.

The agency says that more than a quarter of all air travelers carry laptops through security.

Along with having to remove shoes, the requirement to take a laptop out of its protective case has long rankled business travelers, who worry about damage to exposed computers as well as potential loss in the pileup of various travelers' possessions on the other side of the X-ray station.

Mr. Hawley, meanwhile, has often said that confusion at checkpoints is itself a security problem. Designing laptop cases that can improve customer service while keeping security at a high level is a way to better ensure a "calm and predictable" checkpoint environment, he said.

....

Ron Davis, the executive vice president of Pathfinder Luggage, said that his company had just started producing its two new cases at a plant in the Philippines. He said both had been tested at checkpoints to ensure that they met government specifications.

"They don't want anything obscuring the view of the laptop," he said. "In our case, the material is nylon and foam, and the X-ray machine will see right through that."

Pathfinder is making two models but plans others. One is a briefcase in which the attached laptop holder is exposed when the case is unzipped. The other is a wheeled carry-on with a removable laptop case.

Mr. Davis estimated that the briefcase version would sell for $100 to $150 and the wheeled version for $150 to $200.

Targus, the largest maker of cases for laptops and notebook computers, is about to begin production at factories in China of four new models of checkpoint-compatible bags, said Al Giazzon, the vice president for marketing.

"We've got to produce a lot of them," he said. "We're currently scheduled for a late September or early October delivery of our first bags."

Among the bags Targus is producing is a backpack design, Mr. Giazzon said. He said that retailers were already clamoring for the bags, which will cost from $39 for a basic model to about $100 "for our corporate series, for heavy-duty travelers."

Mr. Hawley said that the T.S.A. has deliberately avoided formally certifying various manufacturers' bag designs.
....

To make sure the cases are easily identifiable, the T.S.A. said in its request for proposals sent to manufacturers in March that bags should be designed with "self-evident features," including an absence of buckles, pockets or zippers.

Manufacturers were also told that they could label the bags as "checkpoint friendly," or use similar terms, but that they could not state nor imply that the bags were certified or approved by the T.S.A. or use a T.S.A. logo on them.

It will be immediately apparent if a laptop case is not properly designed for unobscured visual inspection because it will not give security officers a clear X-ray image, Mr. Hawley said.

The case and laptop will be removed from the belt for a close look by security officers, he said.

Mr. Davis said that passengers who are forced to take a laptop out of its case and rerun it through the X-ray equipment will, in itself, encourage manufacturers to ensure that "checkpoint friendly" cases really are.

"If a customer buys the new case and sends it through security and the security officer said, 'Sorry, this doesn't work,' then you've got a very upset customer," he said.

(Source: http://www.nytimes.com/ Image by: http://projectdisaster.com/)

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Congratulations on your achievements, Ang!

李安以電影《色戒》拿下威尼斯影展金獅獎，也是三年內，連得兩座金獅獎的第一人！

他曾經六年沒工作，但對電影的愛，一路走來始終如一。

1993年，電影《喜宴》抱走柏林影展金熊獎。2001年，電影《臥虎藏龍》坐上奧斯卡金像獎。2006年，電影《斷背山》拿下奧斯卡最佳導演，也征服威尼斯金獅。今年，2007年，導演李安再度以《色戒》騎走金獅。頒獎舞台上，永遠少不了李安的位置。尖叫聲從台灣到國外，從來沒斷過！ 但是李安曾經度過六年有一頓沒一頓的苦，這個導演筒真的不好拿。

放下昨日的辛苦，放下對電影的喜愛，李安究竟是用甚麼方法，讓全世界都愛上他的電影？ 是表達同志感情的《喜宴》流露東方禮教文化? 是《臥虎藏龍》的飛簷走壁抓住了西方人佩服中國功夫的口味？還是電影《色戒》中，30年代中國間諜故事的上海風情? 無論是什麼，李安都抓住了西方人的眼光焦點，讓自己發熱、發光！
Born in 1954 in Pingtung, Taiwan, Ang Lee has become one of today's greatest contemporary filmmakers.

Ang graduated from the National Taiwan College of Arts in 1975 and then came to the U.S. to receive a B.F.A. Degree in Theatre/Theater Direction at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters Degree in Film Production at New York University. At NYU, he served as Assistant Director on Spike Lee's student film.

After Lee wrote a couple of screenplays, he eventually appeared on the film scene with Tui shou (1992) (aka Pushing Hands), a dramatic-comedy reflecting on generational conflicts and cultural adaptation, centering on the metaphor of the grandfather's Tai-Chi technique of "Pushing Hands".

Hsi yen (1993) (aka The Wedding Banquet) as Lee's next film, an exploration of cultural and generational conflicts through a homosexual Chinese man who feigns a marriage in order to satisfy the traditional demands of his Taiwanese parents - it garnered Golden Globe and Oscar nominations, and won a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.

The third movie in his trilogy of Taiwanese-Culture/Generation films, all of them featuring his patriarch figure Sihung Lung, was Yin shi nan nu (1994) (aka Eat Drink Man Woman), which received a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination.

Lee followed this with Sense and Sensibility (1995), his first Hollywood-mainstream movie. It acquired a Best Picture Oscar nomination, and won Best Adapted Screenplay, for the film's screenwriter and lead actress, Emma Thompson.

Lee was also voted the year's Best Director by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Lee and frequent collaborator James Schamus next filmed The Ice Storm (1997), an adaptation of Rick Moody's novel involving 1970s New England Suburbia. The movie acquired the 1997 Best Screenplay at Cannes for screenwriter James Schamus, among other accolades.

The Civil War drama Ride with the Devil (1999) soon followed and received critical praise, but it was Lee's Wo hu cang long (2000) (aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), that is considered one of his greatest works, a sprawling period film and martial-arts epic that dealt with love, loyalty and loss - it swept the Oscar nominations, eventually winning Best Foreign Language Film, as well as Best Director at the Golden Globes, and became the highest grossing foreign-language film ever released in America.

Lee then filmed the comic-book adaptation, Hulk (2003) - an elegantly and skillfully film with nice action scenes. Lee has also shot a short film - Chosen (2001) (aka Hire, The Chosen) - and most recently won the 2005 Best Director Academy Award for Brokeback Mountain (2005), a film based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx.Source: http://www.imdb.com/、PCHome News (images by http://big5.xinhuanet.com/)
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讓生命成為一次神奇旅行

A search is underway for millionaire American aviation adventurer Steve Fossett who has been reported missing after taking off in a light plane from a ranch in the US. FAA says Steve Fossett took off in a single-engine plane from a private airstrip in western Nevada and didn't return.

A friend reported the 63-year-old missing.

In 2002, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone in a balloon. He later become the first person to fly a plane solo around the world without refueling.

The millionaire adventurer has survived numerous near-misses and crash landings over the years, including a plummet into the Coral Sea because of a storm-shredded balloon. This time, Steve Fossett had reportedly not filed a flight plan.

美國富豪冒險家佛賽特駕小飛機失蹤6日進入第四天，救難人員仍然鍥而不捨的進行全面性的搜救行動。佛賽特的好友，英國億萬富豪布蘭森也透過Google的衛星地圖比對服務，尋找佛塞特的下落。

美國內華達州的飛航巡邏機6日天一亮，就在晴空萬里視野最佳的情況起飛搜尋佛塞特的下落。酷愛冒險的富豪佛塞特3日駕著一架單引擎小飛機，從內華達州一處私人農場起飛，卻沒有依照原定時間抵達目的地，至今已經宣告失蹤四天。

搜救單位四天來出動了超過十架配有熱影像系統的飛機及直升機在內華達山區和沙漠進行地毯式的搜索，搜索範圍超過4000平方公里，只是到目前為止都還沒有任何令人振奮的消息。

但是搜救人員並不氣餒，內華達飛航巡邏隊辛西亞雷恩說：「這一類型的搜救通常會長達兩周甚至更久，所以（現在）四天而已，我們還在開始的階段。如我稍早所說，要想累積發現他的可能性必須在不同光源，不同氣象的情況下持續搜尋，才能夠將某個區域排除。」

到目前為止，搜救單位對於佛賽特可能生還還抱持樂觀的態度。內華達公路巡警恰克艾倫：「我們要充滿希望的結果，我們還只是在第三天，天氣很不錯，只要佛塞特沒有受到重傷就有生還的可能。」

佛塞特的英國富豪冒險家好友布蘭森也動用關係，透過Google的衛星地圖比對服務協助尋找佛塞特的下落。現在眾人都希望，佛塞特能平安歸來。

在這之前，經過8年的努力，美國富豪冒險家史蒂夫．福賽特終於完成了他期待已久的單人無停頓、不加油的環球航行。在這之前他曾經失敗過5次。美國當地時間3月3日下午1點50分，經過67個小時，飛越了37000公里以後，他乘坐的「環球飛行者」單引擎噴氣飛機安全地降落在航行的起點堪薩斯州的薩利納市，比他預計的時間提前了13個小時。

面對著地面上那麼多歡迎等待他的人們，福賽特說：「相信我，可以重回陸地真是太好了。這是我所做過最艱鉅的任務之一，值三天的班，不分晝夜，事實上根本沒睡覺。這是一次對耐力的考驗。」

福賽特說，他靠著十二份奶昔與水撐過這三天，最大的問題是頭痛，不過喝水後就沒事了，另外就是缺乏睡眠。對於有這麼多觀眾透過電視與網路觀賞他的飛行，以及數以萬計的民眾到機場看他降落，福賽特十分感動。

回憶起這三天三夜，福賽特說：「雖然我有點害怕，但是我覺得我不能從我的飛機上跳到海裡去。在返回出發地的時候，我有點不想著陸，我想繼續飛下去，但是沒有燃料了。」 這次飛行計劃的負責人穆爾表示，油料可能是外洩，不然就是飛行初期消耗超過預估，令他幾乎無法越過太平洋。

這並不是福賽特第一次單人環球航行，他在2002年和2004年都曾經做過這樣的嚐試。

福賽特被美國人推崇為美國當代最偉大的探險家之一。

1997年，他經歷了第一次駕駛熱氣球環球航行的失敗。1997年1月13日，他駕駛熱氣球從聖路易斯安納州的布赫體育館出發。這次航行持續了6天2小時44分鐘。

1997年12月31日，他又一次踏上了征途。但是因為加熱器的故障，他不得不在俄羅斯的諾沃基羅拉夫斯卡亞降落，4天11小時的時間飛越了7300公里。

1998年8月7日，他從阿根廷的門多薩啟程，這時候他所駕駛的熱氣球更大而且裝載了更多的燃料，他希望能夠飛越整個南半球。但是很不幸的是福賽特8月16日經過澳大利亞上空時遇上了暴風雨，熱氣球受到了損壞。

當時他在澳洲大堡礁上空29000英尺的高空中遇上雷暴，氣球失控直線墜落，墜到4000英尺高度時，福賽特攀越密封艙頂上的活門，割斷燃料和氧氣桶的繩子任其掉落，藉此減緩氣球下墜的速度，最終得以活命。地面營救隊伍找到福賽特的時候發現他並沒有受到重傷，精神也很好。

福賽特最崇拜的偶像之一就是弗里特約夫．南森。南森1861年出生在挪威，是著名的探險家、科學家和人類學家。他曾領導挪威北極考察隊到達北極，他自己本身也是最早進行極地探險並到達北極點的人之一。

福賽特是這樣評價自己的偶像的，「就算情況再艱難，他從來沒有捨棄過團隊裡面的任何一個成員。在那個困難的年代中，他專門成立了收容難民的機構，他是當之無愧的諾貝爾和平獎獲得者」。

福賽特是一個平靜而又時尚的人，他的腦海中充滿了夢想，除了飛行探險，他還喜歡賽車、登山和滑水。

1985年，他從英國入水，游泳橫渡英吉利海峽。

福賽特創下了航行方面的8項官方世界記錄。其中包括駕駛熱氣球用16天17小時21分鐘完成從日本橫濱到美國舊金山的航行，橫渡太平洋。雖然他並不是總能贏，但不斷的嚐試增強了他的體力和耐力，讓他的生命本身變成了一次神奇的旅行。

Source: ABC Radio Australia、ETtoday、Epochtimes.com (image by http://www.epochtimes.com/)

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How did Barbie lose her shirt?

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Mattel Inc., announced late Tuesday that it is recalling about 700,000 Chinese-made toys that have excessive amounts of lead paint.

The recall covers 675,000 units of various Barbie accessory toys that were manufactured between September 30, 2006, and August 20, 2007.

The action also involves 8,900 different toys involving Big Big World 6-in-1 Bongo Band toys from the company's Fisher-Price brand.

It marks Mattel's third major toy recall of Chinese-made products because of lead paint in a matter of a month.

Mattel's last recall, announced on August 14, covered about 19 million toys worldwide. They included Chinese-made toys that either had excessive amounts of lead paint or had small magnets that could easily be swallowed by children.

On August 1, Mattel's Fisher-Price division said it was recalling 1.5 million preschool toys featuring characters such as Dora the Explorer, Big Bird and Elmo because of lead paint.

Source: CNＮ News (image by AP)

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Fake? Real? Can you tell?

去年才換發的國民身分證，號稱具備二十一道防偽設計，但在宜蘭竟然出現不法集團破解防偽設計，正準備大量偽造，還好被警方及時攔截。　　

一張又一張的身分證擺在桌上，每一張都幾可亂真！

宜蘭警方破獲將近四百張偽造身分證，成品半成品都有。要不是男性身分證，貼上女性照片，可以輕易辨識之外，其餘的全都難辨真假。　　

為了提高防偽功能，內政部去年才花了七億，陸續換發完成新版身分證，強調具備二十一道防偽設計，如今卻被偽造集團一舉破解，內政部怎麼解釋。

百密終有一疏，號稱二十一道防線的身分證，如今也可能出現假貨，民眾也得學會怎麼分辨真假。　　

簡單三步驟，肉眼就能察看。

首先，身分證正面拿起來透光，可以看到玉山、內政部徽、台灣，三個浮水圖案。再來辨明這像鈔票一樣的金屬安全線，透光後是不是連成一線。還有，同樣是透光看，中央會有雷射穿孔的台灣圖案。

第二步是轉一轉，身分證右下角，偏個角度，可以看到發亮的蝴蝶和台灣。背面還有會變色的內政部徽。

最後是摸一摸身分證正面中間，會有浮起的台灣才是真的。

Source: MSN News (image by http://www.ris.gov.tw/)

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Music Chair? Let's play!!

美國商業周刊報導，以 Google 為首的科技公司紛紛提撥大筆資金，投資新興企業。

報導指出，Google 正積極投資、收編矽谷有潛力的新事業，甚至向印度新創科技業者注資。據了解，Google 對這些新事業投資約 50 萬美元，但過沒多久就買下這些投資標的。一名創投業者說，這種作法與傳統創投作法截然不同，後者通常是長期多次分批投資，最後才收割成果。

許多創投業者猜測，Google 投資時可能會一併簽訂獨家合約，使新創公司想要出售時，Google 有優先權買下，阻擋其他創投公司介入出價的空間。Google 也大舉招募金融專家，協助運用手頭 45 億美元現金。

根據 PwC 會計諮詢公司與美國創投業者協會 (NVCA) 統計，本業不是投資公司的企業，今年上半年在美國共投資 390 個創投案，總值 13 億美元，比去年同期成長 30%，是自 2001 年網路泡沫破滅以來，企業界最大一波創投風潮。

其中 Intel (英特爾) 對美國的新創公司投資 1.12 億美元，領先群倫。Motorola (摩托羅拉)則是在上半年投入 3,000 億美元創投資本。Cisco (思科)、Qualcomm (高通)、SAP (思愛普)等科技大廠也積極投入創投事業。

目前最成功的創投案例是 VMWare 公司 IPO (上市案)。英特爾當初投資 2 億美元，現在這些股權價值三倍以上。思科也投資 1.5 億美元，同享股價狂飆的豐收成果。

企業再度掀起創投風，一方面是為了布局成長迅速的印、中、俄等新興市場，一方面是股東開始願意承擔較高的風險。藥廠在這方面動作積極，NVCA 的統計顯示，Novartis (諾華)與 Johnson Johnson (嬌生)也名列創投投資大戶之林。

Source: http://udn.com/NEWS/FINANCE/
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Phish up the monster

美國政府發言人周四表示，由美國政府出資的一個求職網站，約有 14.6 萬名用戶的個人資料，被侵入Monster.com 電腦的駭客竊取。

美國人事管理局發言人Peter Graves (格雷弗斯) 表示，USAjobs.gov 網站資料被竊。該網站擁有約 200 萬名用戶，Monster 則是代理美國政府經營該網站。

被盜信息包括姓名、郵寄地址、電話號碼和電子郵件信箱。資料庫裡的社會安全號碼是經過加密處理，所以安全無虞。

他解釋發現過程，一名用戶 7 月 20 日提交一封疑似欺詐電郵，讓政府首次意會到該網站可能遭侵入。人事管理局的官員立即將該訊息轉告 Monster 公司。直到周三，Monster 公司才回覆人事管理局，USAjobs 網站資料庫有多少資料被盜。

格雷弗斯說，政府隨後在該求職網站張貼一封通知，警告用戶他們可能成為 phishing (仿冒身份欺詐) 的受害者，他們並將以電子郵件各別通知各個用戶。

Source: Yam News
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