TV-B-Gone

匙釦型關電視遙控 掀搶購潮10月 21日 星期四 02:10 更新

【明報專訊】討厭在機場、餐廳和巴士上的電視機吵個不停﹖一種可以把大多數電視機關掉的小玩意可幫到你。這種用作鎖匙扣裝飾的小小遙控器，在美國甫推出即成搶手貨，連發明者也感到意外。
這個小巧的萬能遙控器名為「TV-B-Gone」，由47歲的三藩市人奧爾特曼發明，售價14.99美元（約117港元）。它與普通遙控器無異，但只有開關功能。用戶只須按一下按鈕，它便能讀取約200類控制了近千種電視機型號的紅外線密碼，大多數電視機會在17秒內有反應，有些則要等約1分鐘。
奧爾特曼說，自他周一在《Wired》等網上雜誌宣布推出這小儀器後，當天即接到數以百計訂單，因有興趣者眾，有時還令其公司的網站大擠塞，令他十分意外。
他說，在10年前，他與一班朋友光顧一間餐廳，發覺人人都只顧抬頭看電視而談不了話，又沒有人能把電視機關掉，於是想到要設計這種小玩意。在數年前，擁有電機工程碩士學位的他開始全職研究，終於發明TV-B-Gone。
他說，曾悄悄地在多個地方測試，連其他國家也試過，發覺電視機被關掉後，只有很少人甚至沒有人會理會，只有香港是例外。
奧爾特曼不是說電視沒有好東西，但他說﹕「我們一生的時間太少了，為何要花那麼多時間在一些不一定享受的東西上﹖」他自言童年時代大多數時間都浪費在電視上，成年後才戒掉這習慣，而且24年來不曾擁有過電視機。
美聯社

Dyslexia

Dyslexia, the inability to learn to read fluently. No single definition of dyslexia is accepted by all reading specialists. In the United States, federal law governing special education classifies dyslexia as a “specific learning disability” or as a “specific reading disability.” The World Health Organization labels dyslexia a “specific reading disorder,” and other sources label it a “specific language disorder.” However, a central feature of all definitions is an unexpected and substantial difficulty in learning to read. The lack of a commonly accepted definition of dyslexia has caused some educators, physicians, and researchers to avoid using the term altogether.

Because there is no clear and widely held definition of the problem, estimates of the number of persons with dyslexia vary widely. Most researchers have suggested that dyslexia is rare, occurring in 1 to 2 percent of the world’s population. However, others contend that 10 to 20 percent of the population have dyslexia or display dyslexic characteristics. Those arguing for the higher incidence levels also suggest that dyslexia can appear in differing levels of intensity, affecting the reading achievement of some individuals more than others. Dyslexia is usually identified during childhood, but it continues to affect individuals throughout their lives. See also Reading and Education of Students with Learning Disorders.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Manifest Destiny

Manifest Destiny, jingoistic tenet holding that territorial expansion of the United States is not only inevitable but divinely ordained. The phrase was first used by the American journalist and diplomat John Louis O'Sullivan, in an editorial supporting annexation of Texas, in the July-August 1845 edition of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review, a magazine that featured literature and nationalist opinion. The phrase was later used by expansionists in all political parties to justify the acquisition of California, the Oregon Territory, and Alaska. By the end of the 19th century the doctrine was being applied to the proposed annexation of various islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

© 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Tallest building on Earth - Taipei 101

On my first post on Blog, i would like to research the great on earth.
the first project, would be the tallest human built.
let's switch our focus to Taipei 101, the tallest building on Earth.



Design theory:
 設 計一個有代表性的超高層大樓最難的不是建造技術，而是文化表現在區域文化和國際文化表現中求得平衡並找到最適當的原創性造型和象徵意義高聳建築，在西方象 徵對未知的崇仰、征服、和追求東方觀點，則代表著對未來更寬闊的瞭解和包容「登高」是為了「望遠」高，不是一蹴而就，而是逐漸長成自然的層層茁壯，宛如花 開般節節登至富貴頂峰這樣的思考，成就了全球獨特的多節式超高層摩天大樓
Taipei 101
以節節攀升的高度，象徵台灣在新世紀中的全新視界！




The Tallest Buildings in the World

			Height1
Rank	Building and Location	Year Completed	m	ft	Stories

Buildings
1	Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan	2003	509	1,671	101
2	Petronas Tower I, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	1998	452	1,483	88
4	Sears Tower, Chicago (IL), United States	1974	442	1,450	110
5	Jin Mao Building, Shanghai, China	1998	421	1,380	88
–	One World Trade Center2, New York (NY), United States	1972	417	1,368	110
–	Two World Trade Center2, New York (NY), United States	1973	415	1,362	110
6	Two International Finance Centre, Hong Kong, China	2003	412	1,352	88
7	CITIC Plaza, Guangzhou, China	1997	391	1,283	80
8	Shun Hing Square, Shenzhen, China	1996	384	1,260	69
9	Empire State Building, New York (NY), United States	1931	381	1,250	102
10	Central Plaza, Hong Kong, China	1992	374	1,227	78
11	Bank of China, Hong Kong, China	1989	368	1,209	72
15	The Centre, Hong Kong, China	1998	346	1,135	73
16	John Hancock Center, Chicago (IL), United States	1967	344	1,127	100
19	Chrysler Building, New York (NY), United States	1930	319	1,046	77
20	Bank of America Plaza, Atlanta (GA), United States	1993	312	1,023	55
21	U.S. Bank Tower, Los Angeles (CA), United States	1990	310	1,018	75
24	AT&T Corporate Center, Chicago (IL), United States	1989	307	1,007	60
1. Height for inhabited buildings (with stories) does not include TV towers and antennae. 2. Collapsed as a result of terrorist attack, September 11, 2001. 3. Collapsed during renovation, August 1991. (– = not applicable.)
Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2004. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Che Guevara

Che Guevara

Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna, (May 14, 1928--October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. Guevara was a member of Fidel Castro's "26th of July Movement," which seized power in Cuba in 1959. After serving various important posts in the new government, Guevara left Cuba in 1966 with the hope of fomenting revolutions in other countries, first in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later in Bolivia, where he was captured in a CIA-organized military operation. The CIA wanted to keep him alive for interrogation, but he was executed by the Bolivian army. After his death, Guevara became a hero of Third World socialist revolutionary movements; he remains an iconic figure, although more widely admired for his spirit than as a theoretician or tactician of asymmetric warfare.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.