Freshly hand picked News

So UFO does (or does not) exist?

2006-05-10T21:07:00.000+08:00

Earlier this week it was reported that a secret MoD study, code named 'Project Condign', 'found that UFO sightings are the result of rare atmospheric conditions' (Guardian).

Now the Nature argues that the MoD report is more a military risk assessment than a rigorous study of the science behind UFO experiences. In fact, the report did not directly consult scientists but rather relied on literature searchers and 'some pretty "dodgy" theories put about in UFO folklore'.

Twin pillars of autocracy?

2006-04-30T22:51:00.000+08:00

From Washington Post

"[...] the present era may be shaping up as, among other things, yet another round in the conflict between liberalism and autocracy. The main protagonists on the side of autocracy will not be the petty dictatorships of the Middle East theoretically targeted by the Bush doctrine. They will be the two great autocratic powers, China and Russia, which pose an old challenge not envisioned within the new "war on terror" paradigm.

If this seems surprising, it is because neither power took the course most observers predicted. In the late 1990s, despite the failures of Boris Yeltsin, Russia's political and international trajectory seemed roughly to be in a Western, liberal direction. China was, as recently as 2002, assumed to be heading toward greater political liberalization at home and greater integration with the liberal world. [...]

Today these assumptions look questionable even to their authors. Talk of Russia's impending democratization has faded, as has talk of integration. As Dmitri Trenin recently put it, Moscow has "left the Western orbit and set out in 'free flight.' " China continues to integrate itself in the global economic order, but few observers talk about the inevitability of its political liberalization. [...]

If, instead, China and Russia are going to be sturdy pillars of autocracy over the coming decades, enduring and perhaps even prospering, then they cannot be expected to embrace the West's vision of humanity's inexorable evolution toward democracy and the end of autocratic rule. Rather, they can be expected to do what autocracies have always done: resist the encroachments of liberalism in the interest of their own long-term survival.

In small but revealing ways this is what Russia and China are doing, in places such as Sudan and Iran, where they are making common cause to block the liberal West's efforts to impose sanctions, and in Belarus, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe and Burma, where they have embraced various dictators in defiance of the global liberal consensus. All these actions can be explained away as simply serving narrow material interests. China needs Sudanese and Iranian oil; Russia wants the hundreds of millions of dollars that come from the sale of weapons and nuclear reactors. But there is more than narrow self-interest involved in their decisions. Defending these governments against the pressures of the liberal West reflects their fundamental interests as autocracies."

The real babel fish is coming

2006-04-30T21:31:00.000+08:00

Babel Fish as it appears in the Hitchhiker's Guide of the Galaxy

The New Scientist (via Guardian) reports that the US Army in Iraq is testing a gadget that can instantly translate what you hear into your mother language, and what you said into a foreign language. So you can ask your beautiful Russian host to stop offering you vodka next time. Perhaps.

'We don't watch CNN here, you can only watch Fox'

2006-04-29T21:16:00.000+08:00

CNN: White House scribe asks for the remote

Jim Vandehei of WP made a formal complaint to former White House spokesman Scott McClellan why journalists has been refused access to CNN. Jim Vandehei said some offical people had once rejected his request to switch the TV on the Air Force One from Fox News to CNN. Scott McClellan denied any existing policy of showing only Fox News, and resolved the issue by calling up some guys to change channels, which took 18 minutes.

Scott McClellan was then replaced by Tony Snow, the former Fox News Anchor, as the White House Spokesman. (No causal relations)

Humanitarian Aid: contracted out?

2006-04-28T22:18:00.000+08:00

In 2004, the Economist reported that 'some brainy people' at the World Food Programme had come up with the nice idea of buying famine insurance - drought insurance, precisely, for Third World countries.

Basically, the WFP would purchase an insurance policy against drought, defined as rainfall below certain level, for a particular country. When drought strikes, the policy will pay out, and WFP will then have enough cash in hand to provide aids before thousands of people start dying.

WFP launched a pilot programme this March, awarded "the world’s first insurance contract for humanitarian emergencies" to AXA Re, which will provides 7 million USD in case "an extreme drought" hits Ethiopia this season.

As a SPIEGEL article noted, while the WFP-AXA agreement marks the first humanitarian insurance covering country, similar practices has been tried out somewhere else:
"In the past three years in India, for example, companies like Icici Lombard have sold more than 140,000 insurance policies, some subsidized by the government, directly to farmers wishing to insure themselves against a weak monsoon season. Capital market giants like Swiss Re, for example, then provide reinsurance for the weather speculation."
Critics are quick to point out that weather is not the single cause of famine and manmade factors are to be blamed in many cases. To be sure, there is no mircle solutions for famine, but an insurances programme paid by international aid would at least give the farmers working on these drought-laden land what the commerical farmers are currently enjoying.

Uranium enrichment center opened: Govt. says for peaceful use only

2006-04-22T22:00:00.000+08:00

No I am not talking about Iran, not India either.

It is a country in America's backyard: Brazil.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/14402189.htm

"RESENDE, Brazil - As Iran faces international pressure over developing the raw material for nuclear weapons, Brazil is quietly preparing to open its own uranium-enrichment center, capable of producing exactly the same fuel.

Brazil -- like Iran -- has signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and Brazil's constitution bans the military use of nuclear energy.

Also like Iran, Brazil has cloaked key aspects of its nuclear technology in secrecy while insisting that the program is for peaceful purposes -- claims nuclear weapons experts have debunked.

While Brazil is more cooperative than Iran on international inspections, some worry that its new enrichment capability -- which eventually will create more fuel than its two nuclear plants require -- suggests that South America's biggest country may be rethinking its commitment to nonproliferation.

''Brazil is following a path very similar to Iran, but Iran is getting all the attention,'' said Marshall Eakin, a Brazil expert at Vanderbilt University. ``In effect, Brazil is benefiting from Iran's problems.''

Of course, Brazil is generally not perceived as a threat - partly because of its peaceful history, and partly becuase it isn't predicted by cultural conflict theory as a potential threat. However, Brazil has large uranium reserve, and a long history of nuclear development ambition. Back in the 40s, Brazil signed a couple of agreement with the U.S. to exchange monazite with nuclear technology. Since 1975, the Brazilian military secretly ran a program, code-named 'Solimões' and eventually known publicly as 'the parallel program', and sucessfully enriched uranium upto 20%, before the program was exposed and halted by President Fernando Collor de Mello in 1990.

Since coming into power in 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party had taken an assertive foreign policy, pushing for a better trade agreement for the South. Yet during his winning campaign in 2003, he hinted that the NPT is unfair to countries without a nuclear arsenal, "If someone asks me to disarm and keep a slingshot while he comes at me with a cannon, what good does that do?".

In April 2004 Brazil refused to allow IAEA to inspect its nuclear facilities near Rio de Janeiro, citing proprietary information concerns. They also refused to fully cooperate with the IAEA’s investigation into the nuclear black market operated by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, who was reported to have assisted Iran's nuclear program.

It must however be noted that Brazil has currently no, or little, long range nuclear deployment capability. Brazil joined the Missile Technology Control Regime in 1995 and had abondaned its long range missiles programs. While its VLS space rocket program can potentially be transformed into ICBM, the program itself is of little success, having seen all the first three launches failed.

US: Now that's what I call innovative management science

2006-04-22T21:33:00.000+08:00

From Associated Press

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12425510/

Updated: 5:29 p.m. ET April 21, 2006

"ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday it is inviting employees to volunteer to help clean aircraft in an effort to boost morale and improve customer service at the nation's third-largest carrier.

Employees who volunteer aren't being paid for the work, but the Atlanta-based company said the effort is not a cost-cutting initiative."

How doing extra work like cleaning aircraft will boost morale is not clear; but I suppose the rationale would be somewhat like this: by help cleaning aircraft the crew will be more emtionally attached to their workplace (i.e. the aircraft), thus instill a sense of 'ownership' towards the aircraft which, in turn, can boost morale as the crew think they are taking good care of their 'own' aircraft. Not to mention the benefits the positive effects of cleaner working environment.

And they call management a 'science'.

2006-04-20T00:50:00.000+08:00

A proper dinner for a gentleman?

Seattle Times yesterday disclosed the dinner menu for President Hu at Gates home tonight.

Dinner menu

First course

Smoked guinea fowl salad with hazelnuts, spring radishes and Granny Smith apples

Entree

Three choices:

• Fillet of beef with Walla Walla onions, local asparagus, celeriac purée and chervil glacé

• Alaskan halibut and spot prawns with spring vegetables, fingerling potatoes and a smoked-tomato-infused olive oil

• A vegetarian option

Wines

2002 Leonetti Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon or 2003 Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay, Canoe Ridge Estate

Dessert

Rhubarb brown butter almond cake

Source: Lou Gellos, corporate communications at Microsoft

I am not too sure whether the choice of food is appropreiate for such occasion, but looking at the above photo, Microsoft's choice of (or allowing) the use of the red-and-yellow banner, and the not-so-well-fit suit wear by Gates (appearently he's not comfortable with that) make the the whole thing like a visit to a State Factory somewhere in Hubei.

2006-04-19T23:58:00.000+08:00

Field trip and lectures: Wal Mart style PR?

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=1855833&page=1

The second annual Wal-Mart media conference attracted more than 70 print and broadcast journalists to this corner of the Ozarks. Last year just over two dozen print journalists attended — broadcasters weren't even invited. The company's goal is to "ensure that only the accurate information is being generated" about a company that sees a third of the U.S. population pass through its doors every week. From the media's vantage piont, it looks a lot like school.

We start today with a field trip to the home office, and then a visit to a distribution center. Oddly, no video cameras — not even little picture cameras — are allowed.

After the field trip, we'll attend a series of lectures and discussion groups. Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, in the style of a college professor, discusses improving the customer's shopping experience. Susan Chambers, executive vice president for administration and risk management, lectures on benefits and business, and Wal-Mart's vision for solving America's health care challenges. And like any graduation ceremony, our celebrity keynote speaker will be none other than Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott, who tackles "change, growth and success for Wal-Mart and the working families we serve."

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Perhaps Wal Mart does need to gear up its image to face competition from another logistic giants: Amazon.

Amazon launched its Gourment Food store quite sometime ago, taking advantage of its existing supply and logistics networks which are certainly among the best in world. The e-commerce infrastruture of Amazon also fares better than Wal Mart, with the Q4 ACSI showed Amazon's score at 87; while Wal Mart Store receives 72 only.