来自NASA的地外之旅

NASA专业人员从LRO/LCROSS火箭上获取了真实的影像，展示了从地球到太空的全过程，是一次难得的旅程与体验。

For Download :

LRO/LCROSS Launch(HD Edition)

LRO/LCROSS Launch(FLV Edition)

The offical provided video about STS-125 space shuttle launch

The mission insignia for STS-125 - the fourth Hubble servicing mission. Image: NASA

It's a mission to once more push the boundaries of how deep in space and far back in time humanity can see. It's a flight to again upgrade what already may be the most significant satellite ever launched.

And, for the space shuttle, it's a final visit to a dear, old friend.

The STS-125 mission will return the space shuttle to the Hubble Space Telescope for one last visit before the shuttle fleet retires in 2010. Over 11 days and five spacewalks, the shuttle Atlantis’ crew will make repairs and upgrades to the telescope, leaving it better than ever and ready for another five years – or more – of research.

The shuttle Discovery launched Hubble in 1990, and released it into an orbit 304 nautical miles above the Earth. Since then it’s circled Earth more than 97,000 times and provided more than 4,000 astronomers access to the stars not possible from inside Earth’s atmosphere. Hubble has helped answer some of science’s key questions and provided images that have awed and inspired the world.

“We’ve actually seen an object that emitted its light about 13 billion years ago,” said Hubble senior scientist Dave Leckrone. “Since the universe is 13.7 billion years old, that’s its infancy, the nursery. From the nearest parts of our solar system to further back in time than anyone has ever looked before, we’ve taken ordinary citizens on a voyage through the universe.”

But Hubble has not done it alone.

Atlantis’ crew – Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Gregory C. Johnson and Mission Specialists Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, John Grunsfeld, Mike Massimino and Megan McArthur – will be the fifth shuttle crew to fly to the telescope. Their predecessors have replaced and repaired failed and faulty components and added new and improved cameras and scientific equipment, and the STS-125 crew will be no different.

In fact, just 17 days before they were originally scheduled to launch to the satellite, one side of the computer that sends commands to Hubble’s science instruments and formats science data for transmission to the ground – called the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit, or SIC&DH – malfunctioned. Mission managers were able to postpone the visit to allow time for a spare unit to be tested and to give the astronauts time to learn to install it, further extending Hubble’s life.

And it will be a more robust life, thanks to the new scientific instruments Atlantis’ spacewalkers will install. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, for instance, will observe the light put out by extremely faint, far-away quasars and see how that light changes as it passes through the intervening gas between distant galaxies. In this way scientists will learn what that gas is made of, how it’s changed over time and how it affects the galaxies around it.

The Hubble Space Telescope is in the grip of space shuttle Columbia's robotic arm in March 2002 at the beginning of STS-109, the third Hubble servicing mission. Image: NASA

“It’s an important player in the story of how galaxies are formed and how the chemical makeup of the universe has changed over time,” Leckrone said.

And the new Wide Field Camera 3 will allow Hubble to take large-scale, extremely clear and detailed pictures over a very wide range of colors. At ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths the WFC3 represents a dramatic improvement in capability over all previous Hubble cameras. It is also a very capable visible light camera, though by design not quite as capable at visible wavelengths as Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. The WFC3 and ACS are designed to work together in a complementary fashion.

“If I want a complete family album of the universe, I need to look at it in all these different wavelengths,” Leckrone said. “This will be the first time we’ve had an opportunity to take all these different images together, to have a comparable quality of pictures across this whole wavelength band.”

Before those much anticipated views are seen, though, the equipment has to be installed – a process that will be exciting in its own right. The spacewalks necessary to outfit Hubble will be very different from the spacewalks conducted at the International Space Station.

“It’s more like brain surgery than construction,” Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci said. “On station spacewalks, you’re installing large pieces of equipment – trusses, modules, etc. – and putting it together like an erector set. You can’t do that with Hubble. Hubble spacewalks are comparable to standing at an operating table, doing very dexterous work.”

Although the installation of the new equipment and the replacement of some old items – gyroscopes, batteries and a fine guidance sensor, in addition to the SIC&DH – will be challenging, it’s the repairs the astronauts plan that will be the most complicated.

The new camera and spectrograph are designed to complement the scientific instruments already on the telescope – specifically the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. But pieces of those instruments have failed in past years – not the entire instrument, but specific pieces inside of them. The crew will replace only the pieces that have failed.

But those instruments were never designed to be repaired in space. In fact, they were specifically designed not to come apart.

“When we first looked at it, we were going ‘well, maybe, maybe not,’” Ceccacci said.

The Hubble Space Telescope is seen in March 2002 with its new solar arrays after the completion of STS-109, the third Hubble servicing mission. Image: NASA

Since then, the team has come up with a plan for the work that Ceccacci believes will be very successful. But it won’t be easy – the repair of the spectrograph, for instance, requires the spacewalkers to remove more than 100 screws to access a computer card they will pull out and replace.

Still, the mission’s commander pointed out that it’s good practice for the future.

“I think it’s a step that we need to take to make us better able to go to places like Mars,” Altman said. “You don’t want to drag a whole spare giant box along – you’d like to be able to have the one little transistor you need to plug in when that fails. Being able to demonstrate this in space is a key element of us growing as a space-faring people.”

The Hubble spacewalks won’t be the only things that differ from missions to the space station. Confined to just the shuttle, the quarters will be tighter; with five back-to-back spacewalks, the pace will be faster.

Without the station crew to give the shuttle a once over and photograph its heat shield , the customary survey of the heat shield done the day after launch will be much more intensive. The crew will use the shuttle robotic arm and its 50-foot boom extension and sensor systems to perform not only the standard nose cap and wing leading edges inspection, but also a survey of the upper crew cabin and the entire underside.

In the unlikely event that irreparable damage is found, the crew also won’t be able to get to the space station to wait for a ride home – Atlantis can't reach the station from Hubble’s orbit. Because the crew won't have access to the station and the support it could provide in an emergency, the mission to Hubble requires some changes on the ground.

For every shuttle mission since Columbia, there has been a contingency plan in place to allow another shuttle to be launched if needed to rescue a stranded shuttle crew. On station missions, that stranded crew can wait longer at the station than would be the case for Atlantis. So, for 125, another shuttle will be standing ready on Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-B. If needed, space shuttle Endeavour, manned by the flight deck crew of mission STS-123 which flew in March, will be ready to fly to Hubble and retrieve Atlantis’ crew within days.

What puts Altman’s mind at ease, however, are the changes NASA has made to keep damage from occurring in the first place.

“I feel pretty good that we’ve made incredible improvement in the external tank,” he said. “That’s the root cause. But if something does happen, I think we have the tools to find it, see where it is, evaluate how serious it is and fix it. And then on that one-way-down-at-the-edge-of-the-probability-level chance that you could have damage such that you wouldn’t want to come home on it, we have the capability to stay up there – extend our time and have another shuttle come get us.”

The risks, he believes, are relatively small, and the payoff is huge.

“Hubble puts cutting edge science together with a visual image that grabs the public’s imagination,” Altman said. “I think that’s the first step in exploration. Because Hubble takes light that’s been traveling for billions of years, sucks it in and shows it to us. It’s like taking you on a journey 13 and a half billion light years away while you sit there at home and look out at the universe.”

For Download：

STS-125 Space Shuttle Launch (HD Edition)
STS-125 Space Shuttle Launch (FLV Edition)

谁让马化腾是中国人？

其实腾讯在我看来和微软的性质没什么区别。一样的谋利，一样的赚钱。也怪当年马化腾好思想，硬是把开源的O（Open）ICQ做成了版权的QQ，可怜呀。当今世界上最大的版权公司不是微软（大家不要仅仅把电脑想成你们现在用的机器），而是Oracle（甲骨文）。当年比盖茨穷得多，却依靠版权保护开发数据库做到了第一。SUN公司（升阳科技）也许一部分看到这篇文章的人会熟悉。但我估计没几个人会知道其中的'S'代表的是座落于硅谷的斯坦福大学。SUN公司是开源业界的领军人物，倡导软件的自由与免费，推出了JAVA（大多数人手机上都有的那杯浓咖啡）和能够与Office抗衡的OpenOffice。而是到如今结局却是Oracle收购了SUN，许多事情都结束了。想到当年老马开发OICQ的念头到现在凭借着没有成本的虚拟商品大发其财，感到人的思想确实可怕。当然赚钱不是他的错，但从当初仅仅是想要改进ICQ的中文支持，又被AOL以侵犯ICQ商标告倒赔偿了20万并改名为QQ，思想上也就把Open从他内心删去，甚至来了个大转弯。用腾讯QQ的人也许不知道，也不可能知道。其实大多数聊天软件只是一套固定了服务器的连接协议，IMs提供的主要是协议而不是客户端，协议直接决定你能否登录。而全世界的聊天软件（IM）当中，只有QQ没有公布协议代码。换句话说大家也不会用到稳定的来自非腾讯官方的QQ客户端（珊瑚虫和彩虹仅仅是在腾讯QQ的基础上加以改造，就像maxthon用的是IE的内核，不值一提），因此他才可以在QQ上放满了广告。试想一下ICQ，网易泡泡，MSN，AIM,Yahoo Messenger和QQ本质上的区别（尽管QQ性能也不错）。现在的QQ，固然拥有最多的客户群，但那是因为他是在中国，世界上人口最多的国家，而在国外的普及率甚至比不上任何一款知名的IM。我很难想象外国人见到腾讯QQ会是什么感觉。在众人的讨伐之下，腾讯不得已推出了OpenQ协议，一个删减了诸多功能的所谓的QQ开源协议。然而现在的QQ每三个月定期更新通讯协议，因此OpenQ也就成了废纸一堆。人有时还是很可怕的，尤其是跟钱在一起的时候。 那么腾讯靠的是什么？13亿中国人和中国人狂热的爱国情。当年不是没有ICQ，MSN，当年不是没有Winamp，Realplayer。中国人充分发挥了仿造的天性，现在才知道，那叫山寨。让QQ追上来，让暴风拿第一，让千千静听占领了80%以上的份额。马化腾要是出生在太平洋的岛国上，是决然一点事也做不来的。他要感谢我们伟大的祖国，感谢我们伟大的汉语言。
因为上述种种原因，作为一个略微专业一些的人，我真的不愿意屈服于腾讯，何况我还是如此地Objective。但是人多力量大，周遭的人士都在用QQ，我一个人用些别的倒也真没有腾讯的一条龙完整，总不能让认识我的人都去改用ICQ吧？价值观真是不太一样。腾讯的法宝，一在于开发时间早，二就是形成了一定的规模，用户之间互相牵制，最终只能停留在QQ上。当初在OICQ时期他不敢撒野，现在有了足够的人数互相牵制，就算他再怎么瞎折腾你也无可奈何了。
国外几乎从未出现过QQ这样的‘行业垄断’（除去波兰的Gadu-Gadu）。腾讯从开发商成为了一个庞大的媒体这也算是一大创举和成功。在腾讯的在线人数刚达到八位时，新浪的整体实力要比腾讯强得多，也有自己的IM（UC）。然而事实是人数却只有6位。不要小看这两位，这就差了一百倍！不过开发更早的网易泡泡，采用了Jabber协议，甚至有可以和Gtalk等IMs聊天的强大功能，都败倒在QQ之下，也说明腾讯在市场运作方面有一定的经验，不过后期用错地方了。
腾讯的思想着实怪诞。有的很超前，先进，有的却腐朽至极。在开源势在必行的今天，在Free大行其道的今天，腾讯却依靠它的用户们发了家，致了富，赢了。
这个世界，也太......

关于7.5事件的一点点看法，联想到了GFW......

这次事件很明显，显然是一次民族冲突。从境外媒体报道来看一方面说明CCP的统治引起了维族人民的不满，另一方面也说明中国与世界的交流不够好。大家了解新闻的渠道大多是网络，而中国人一方面英文总体水平不够高，不能够登录国外的网站和论坛发表看法，另一方面国外仅有的中文站点（如BBC中文，VOA中文）也被屏蔽。国际社会了解中国人民的渠道何在（新华社在国际上几乎就没什么影响力，而且又是当事国的官方机构）？境外对于CCP的信任在89年就被彻底颠覆了，国外媒体只能瞎猜测。只剩下CCP喊破嗓子说事实却没人信，这就是封锁网络，闭塞信息的代价。

伊斯兰史专家谈新疆民族问题『转自BBC，仅代表作者个人观点』

麦克尔·迪伦
中国伊斯兰史专家


新疆乌鲁木齐的骚乱并非完全出乎意料，其根源是维吾尔人和汉人之间的民族矛盾。这可以追溯到几十年前、甚至远至18世纪满清对新疆的征服。
新疆维吾尔人是信奉伊斯兰教的穆斯林
在1940年代，部分新疆地区曾经成为东土耳其斯坦共和国，许多维族人认为这就是他们天经地义的归属。
可到了1949年，整个新疆都成了中华人民共和国的一部分，新疆被宣布为维吾尔自治区。
但所谓自治其实有名无实。尽管目前的新疆自治区主席是一名维族人，但真正的掌权者却是北京派来的汉人党委书记王乐泉。
移民政策
在共产党的领导下，新疆的经济取得了相当的进展，但过去二、三十年来，大批受过更好教育的年轻汉人移民的迁入使新疆维族人的生活面临更多困难。
和大多数维族人相比，这些移民都能讲流利的汉语，最好的工作也由这些人获得。
这理所当然地引起了维族人的反感。他们认为，这些汉人移民进入新疆是政府实行的民族同化政策。其目的是淡化维族文化，防止出现有碍北京控制的严重抗拒行为。
近来一段时间，政府还鼓励年轻的维族人离开新疆前往中国其他地区寻找工作。
宗教压制
新疆维族人的最大不满之一是中国政府对他们宗教的压制。
新疆现在所拥有的清真寺数量不但比1949年前少了许多，而且还遭受严格限制。
18岁以下者以及共产党和政府的官员都不能前往清真寺进行礼拜，宗教学校受到严格控制，曾经是新疆维族人生活中心的其他伊斯兰学院也被禁止。
中国所有的宗教都是国家宗教委员会的控制监视对象，但针对维族人的伊斯兰教的控制却远为严厉。
这种严厉控制的结果导致了穆斯林团体和新疆独立运动的结盟，而疆独运动令北京深恶痛绝。
新疆一些组织支持疆独观点，但他们无法公开表达自己的意见，因为"分裂祖国"被视为叛国罪。
在1990年代，随着苏联的垮台和中亚地区许多穆斯林国家的独立，新疆出现了对"分裂行动"的公开支持，最后演变成伊宁地区1995年和1997年的大规模抗议示威。
示威活动遭到了北京的严厉镇压（本人保留意见--转载者注），活动分子或者逃出新疆前往中亚以至巴基斯坦，或者被迫转入地下。
"恐怖气氛"
随着1996年的"严打"，中国开始了严厉的压制行动。其中包括更为严格控制宗教活动，拘留涉嫌支持分裂运动的人士及其家属等。
这种做法不仅制造了恐怖气氛，也引发了维族人对中国政府和汉人的极度憎恶。
奇怪的是，这种憎恶直到今天而不是更早才公开爆发出来，而这也正说明了北京当局对新疆压制的严厉程度（本人保留意见--转载者注）。
在欧洲和美国有一批维族组织，一般情况下他们只是倾向于支持新疆获得真正的自治。
北京过去一直指责是东突伊斯兰运动导致了新疆的动乱，然而却没有证据表明这一运动曾在新疆存在。
北京当局一直不承认它自身的新疆政策可能是导致骚乱的根源，而是一味地把它归咎于外部势力的挑动。在西藏和达赖喇嘛问题上北京也是采用这种说法。
其实，即使一些维族团体企图挑起新疆的动乱，也将是一件非常困难的事情。大部分情况下，根本不需要任何外来的干涉，新疆内部的矛盾已足以引发动乱。
（麦克尔·迪伦曾任英国杜伦大学中国现代研究中心主任，曾撰写《新疆：中国西北地区穆斯林》一书。）

大胆地讨论关于’两个中国的问题‘

其实，一个国家存在两种政权在国际上是一种不新鲜的行为，比如曾经的民主德国和联邦德国，现在的朝鲜和韩国，刚过和民主刚果（扎伊尔），尼日利亚和尼日尔等。这些国家在国际上都受到承认而又都宣称自己是正统继承的政权。那么看现在的两岸，其实CCP是无需担心的。因为现在两岸在政治地位上已经差得太多。作为中国人，大多数都从未思考过这个问题，好像一个中国就是天经地义。其实两个朝鲜都已经存在，两个德国曾经存在，事实上，不可否认，现实中的确存在海峡两岸双方互不承认的‘两个中国’！一个’中华民国‘，一个中华人民共和国。虽然马英九政府强调‘一个中国，各自陈述’的政策，但前提是Formosa方面坚持的‘中华民国’。虽然两岸在交往中尽力克制，求同存异，但Formosa方面也是有原则的。而CCP方面却刻意对民众隐瞒了这一点。现在对Formosa不利的一面是他已经不能够在面积如此小人口有如此少的地方继续维持R.O.C了，所以民进党提出的‘台湾入联’对于Formosa来说还是比较实际的，可行的--尽管牺牲了所谓的‘主权’。所以，从理论上讲，虽然Formosa有15个‘邦交国’提案入联，比当年P.R.C的23不少多少，但由于CCP领导下的P.R.C近年来高速发展，综合国力有极大提升，因此尽管CCP一贯在人权自由方面饱受国际社会诟病，但各国不会以Formosa问题作为牵制CCP的一步。如果这样做，就显得有些愚蠢。而且近期Formosa的信任度也不足以使任何国家甘冒这等风险来与CCP对抗。

Objective要有好的来源

既然是Objective的人，就显然不能只接受来自CCP的消息，因此我从网上找到了一部分Objective的消息，放在了Sidebar里面。譬如像全球第一大新闻社的路透社，因为对CCP有所忌惮只好把重点放在了财经版块而不是他擅长的政治，也正是因为如此才没有被大陆当局屏蔽。还有来自日本的第一大新闻社：共同社，联合香港凤凰传媒、台湾联合报再加上新加坡联合早报和英国广播公司(BBC)在中国大陆无法登录的中文网，给大家带来一个全面的Objective信息来源。