The candidates are Ms. Tsai Ing-Wen(the Chair-woman of Democracy Progressive Party), Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou (the current President and the Chair-man of Nationalist Party), and Mr. James Soong Chu-Yu(the Chair-man of the People First Party). More than twenty years ago before the direct election of president, all of those three candidates served in the government of ROC. During the past 20 years, a lot of affairs happened among them, especially between Ma and Soong. In the year 2008, Soong supported Ma’s election because the similar cross-strait policy , but the relationship between them became worse for some reasons. Some suspected that was why Soong took part in the election this time. While Ms. Tsai was elected as the Chair-woman of DPP after the defeat in 2008′s presidency election. She was in charge of drafting the Special state-to-state relations doctrine of President Lee Teng-hui. People believed that she is a Taiwan-independence element due to her deny admitting the existence of 1992 Consensus.

Because of the special relationship between China mainland  and Taiwan, the impact of China central government is always huge on the election of Taiwan, since the Taiwanese hate the pressure from Beijing. In 1996, PLA launched several field-to-field ballistic missiles to the targets near Taiwan to stop the success of Lee Teng-Hui in the election. Obviously, the strategy failed at last. In the next two elections, Beijing switched threat of power to announcements. Chen Shui-Bian, a DPP member successfully finished his two-terms of presidency. Due to the corruption of A-Bian’s administrative, DPP lost in the 2008 election, both in presidency and legislation. Ms. Tsai once was in charge of the cross-strait affairs as the Minister of Mainland Affair Council in A-Bian’s first term and was appointed Vice Premier under Premier Su Tseng-chang until the cabinet’s mass resignation in 2007. The intense cross-strait relationship was partly because Tsai’s insisted on Taiwan independence. Once A-Bian would like to admit 1992 Consensus but Tsai immediately denied in public on that day. From her speech in the debate, she is trying to use soft words on her stance. She also admit the meet of cross-strait in HK in 1992 and there was something she could take that could called anything but 1992 Consensus. Just a few days before the election, many entrepreneurs support 1992 Consensus in public because the benefits from ECFA, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between China mainland and Taiwan based on 1992 Consensus. In addition, Ma’s honesty won the support from thousands of scholars and scientists. The involvement of Tsai’s in TaiMed arouse the controversy, since some scientists, especially the biochemist support her role in the case.

The 1992 Consensus or Consensus of 1992 is a term describing the outcome of a meeting in HongKong in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) in mainland China and the Republic of China (“ROC”) in Taiwan. From the charts of the two political forms of government, there is only one China and it covers the mainland China and Taiwan. During a phone call between President Hu Jintao and Presient George W. Bush, Hu once talked about the 1992 Consensus, which sees both sides recognize there is only one China, but agree to differ on its definition. While DPP always said that there was no 1992 Consensus during the meeting and no such an agreement between two Communist Party and Nationalist Party. If the PRC government admitted the exist of the ROC on paper, that is to say there were two China in the world, which broke the one China principle the government obeys and the world admits. I have to say that Tsai is either fresh hand on political issues or trouble maker in the world.

Since Tsai and DPP tried to copy the Jasmine Revolution in North Africa or Occupied Wall Street in the campaign to call for the 99% to fight the 1%, she has to face the failure at last. Because most people in Taiwan want peace and prosperity in the coming four years, especially the threat of great depression or recession due to Europe and US. The ECFA will bridge the connection between China Mainland and Taiwan, and offer the Taiwanese opportunity to access the domestic market of China. But for 1992 Consensus, the ECFA could not be reached. Also, if Tsai took power and denied the 1992 Consensus, according to the last item of ECFA, the mainland China could stop the agreement at ease. That is not the threat as some DPP said, but the truth everyone should face.

At the end of the article, I would like to share in my viewpoints on the possible results of the campaign. I believe Ma would win with more than 50% of the vote. Soong may not win with only half a million votes.

In the early morning of Jan. 14, my friend and I stopped at a motel in Dayton after around 500 miles ride. After a rest, around 11 o’clock we left the inn for the museum. We supposed to reach the site in minutes, but my friend missed an exit on the highway. When we got to the place, it was almost 11:30. Along the Springfield St., near the Harshman Rd., a symbol made of a plane in front of a series of hangars came into my eyes as seen below.

Fig. 1 Symbol of the museum

We continued driving the car following the road, and then we saw a huge concrete wall with the museum’s name.

Fig. 2 Concrete wall with the name of the museum

After having turned right at the corner, some aircrafts exhibited on the field could be seen, such as the retired USAF Lockheed C-141C Starlifter.

Fig. 3 Lockheed C-141C Starlifter

Due to limited time, I directly went to Modern Flight Gallery(including Korea War and Southeast Asia War), where F-22A is shown. In fact I do not know why the museum put the most advanced fighter in this gallery.

Fig. 4 Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor

Thus, I entered the Cold War Gallery, where I took a lot of pictures. In this building, almost all the aircrafts in service could be found except for F-22A and some unmanned aircrafts. In the museum, it was very crowded. In addition, I brought a long focus lense with me. The above picture of F-22A looks fine, but as for B-2A, only part of the aircraft could be taken into the lense.

Fig. 5 Northrop B-2A Spirit

Fig. 6 Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk

Except for those stealth fighters or bombers, I also took pictures of some other aircrafts, such as F-15, F-16A, A-10A, B-1B, SR-71, and Mig-29A. Last year when I went to tour the Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, I have taken a picture of F-16, actually which was borrowed from this museum I visited this time. But I am not sure whether they are the same one or not. The picture of SR-71 is very blur, then I won’t upload here. It is very easy to recognize the tank killer, A-10A.

Fig. 7 McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle

Fig. 8 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

Fig. 9 Fairchild Republic A-10A Thunderbolt II

Fig. 10 Rockwell B-1B Lancer

I was surprise to see Mig-29A, a former Soviet Union two engine light fighter in the museum. In Jun 1989, a Mig-29 crashed while doing a high-performance aerobatic routine at the Paris Air Show. The most impressive thing is that the pilot was saved by the great rocket ejector since the chute didn’t open due to the low elevation since the fighter fell into two pieces and then hit on the ground³.

Fig. 11 Mikoyan MiG-29

The 30 minute tour could never satisfy me at all. Before I left the museum, I talked to an assistant in the Cold War Gallery and explained the reason why I had such a quick tour. Also, I told him that sometime later I will make a long visit to the biggest military aviation museum in the world.

References:

1. National Museum of the United States Air Force(official website).

2. National Museum of the United States Air Force(wikipedia).

3. MIG-29 Crashes at Paris Air Show Pilot Ejects From Soviet Fighter Plane Before Jet Explodes.

1. Finishing my PhD study.

2. Finding a job.

3. Publishing at least one paper of my work.

4. Practicing writing skills through blogging every week.

Fig. 1 Snow Began Hitting on the Grass

Fig. 2 Snow at 11AM on Dec. 26, 2010

Fig. 3 Snow at 6PM on Dec. 26, 2010

Fig. 4 Blizzard Around My Apt At 6PM on Dec. 26, 2010

Fig. 5 Footprint of Mine on Accumulated Snow at 6PM on Dec. 26, 2010

Fig. 6 Accumulated Snow at 10PM on Dec. 27th, 2010

Fig. 7 Channel through Snow Pile that Near the Window

Initially weather.com showed the snow would begin at 6AM, actually I checked the outside at 11:15 (15 minutes after the corrected time) and found there was snow on the ground⁹. I took several pictures of the snow for memory. I guess that is the first time for me to witness the very beginning of a snow. I still remember the white Christmas on the Junior High School English textbook. Three years ago, I went to see my cousin in Boston. To be honest, I love New England so much. As you know, the trees, the lake, and the snow, since I had to help my cousin to dig a driveway for my brother-in-law. Last night I sent a message to my cousin to express that I miss them very much, also the time that her daughters and I played with snow.

Fig. 8 Local Weather Report on 2010 December 26(www.weather.com)

References:

1. THE COLDEST WINTER FOR 100 YEARS – SO WHERE ARE THE GRITTERS.

2. Another Record Breaking Winter, What Happened to Global Warming?

3. It’s official, coldest winter in 130 years in Ireland.

4. Europe Is Off To A Flying Start.

5. La Niña， Strong St. Baby Girl (in Chinese, “拉尼娜”：“强壮的圣女婴”).

6. Australia Summer Marked By Snow, Heavy Flooding (VIDEO).

7. Snow storm bears down on Mid-Atlantic, Northeast.

8. Blizzard Warning for New York as Storm Heads Up East Coast.

9. Blizzard Warning for Richmond (staten Is.), NY.

I have no comments on Generals words, but I think it is very strange that General Bell’s warning on China’s involvement in Korean conflicts started from Korean media in Korean and Chinese. I could not find any English version of his words. Also, no video could be found on the internet. I guess that is a rumor created by Korean media. It is not very difficult to find out why they did that. But I cannot understand why US would allow they do such a stupid thing. It is time for US to do something to rein South Korea.

BTW, one more funny thing is that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan plans to send troops to the Korean Peninsula if a war break out, which has been dismissed by South Korea¹¹. Japan government is insistently over warmhearted on others’ land.  At the end of this post, I wanna say please do not forget from Dec.13, 1937, Imperial Japanese Army killed more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and POWs, and raped thousands of women, which is called Nanking Massacre.

References:

1. Former USFK chief urges ‘asymmetric’ retaliation for future N.K. provocations.
2. Bell: hard stand is only option.
3. The only option, powerful military retaliation to future provocations by North Korea(in Chinese, 应对朝鲜挑衅 除了武力报复之外别无他途).
4. Bell, the former commander of United States Forces Korea, said, use of forces as a solution to North’s provocations(in Korean, “北 도발 해법은 무력사용뿐” 벨 前주한미군사령관 ).
5. No alternative options other than military retaliation to North’s further provocations(in Korean, “北 추가도발시 무력보복외 대안없어”).
6. The former commander of USFK told Korean media, If China involved the Korean conflicts, it will back to 100 years ago (in Chinese, 驻韩美军前司令答韩媒：中国参战将被打回100年前).
7. Luo Yuan: China’s involvement in the Korean conflict if the U.S. would be “100-year nightmare”.
8. General Peng Guangqian talked the US-Japan joint military drills and the security situations in northeast Asia(in Chinese, 彭光谦谈美日联合军演及东北亚安全局势).
9. Chinese Envoy Rejects Call to Rein in N.Korea .
10. After North’s provocation on Yeongpyeong Island, if China retreated 100 years, its opponent should retreat 200 years(in Korean, <北 연평도 도발 이후>“전쟁으로 中 100년 후퇴땐 상대방은 200년 후퇴할 것”).
11. Seoul dismisses Japan PM’s comment on troop dispatch .

Fig. 1 Major US Shale Basins⁷

The Barnett Shale play is reportedly the most active natural gas play in the United States with as many as 182 drilling rigs at work in 2008^{6, 8}. According to the Railroad Commission of Texas’s statistic data, as of September 22, 2010, there are total of gas wells 14401 entered on RRC recrods since the discovery of Newark, East (Barnett Shale) Field on October 15, 1981⁹. For January through July 2010, gas well gas production accumulated for 1025 Bcf, which accounts for 27% of Texas production⁹. Total natural gas production in North Texas’ Barnett Shale has passed a milestone level of 8 TCF¹⁰. Until January 1, 2009, as the biggest Barnett Shale producer, XTO Energy Inc.’s Well TRWD #H 2H in Tarrant County has produced 4.4 Bcf gas in 43 months¹¹. While EOG Resources, Inc.’s Well Fowler $4H in Johnson County had a record of 8.6 MMCFGPD peak month as the biggest Barnett Shale well based on peak month daily average¹¹. There are a total of 234 operators in the Newark, East (Barnett Shale) Field now⁹. In 2002, Devon Energy Production Co., L.P. Purchased Mitchell Energy & Development for $3.5 billion in cash and stock from Mr. George Mitchell, the father of the Barnett Shale, and has established itself as the leading producer from the Barnett Shale^{9, 12}. Not only the advancement of technologies, but also the increased price and gas demand drove the development of shale gas. In another hand, the development of shale gas lower the price of natural gas¹³.

Now water issue has become the biggest problem despite of the economic downturn and resulting lower natural gas prices¹⁴. Hydraulic fracturing needs tremendous water to crack the formation thousands of feet under the ground, especially in the water lack area, such as Texas. For a typical horizontal well frac, it needs more than 3 million gallons water¹⁴. The potential pollution from the chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluids may halt the application of this technology¹⁵.

Fig. 2. Horizontal Well Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing¹⁶

References:

1. US Shale Gas Brief.

2. Shale.

3. International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2010, Chapter 5 , Natural gas market outlook, Page 187.

4. Shale Gas.

5. Kuuskraa, V.A., et al., Worldwide Gas Shales and Unconventional Gas: A Status Report.

6. Andrews, A., et al., Unconventional Gas Shales, Development, Technology, and Policy Issues.

7. What You Need To Know About Shale Gas Investing and the Pros and Cons of Fracking.

8. RigData Rig Stats.

9. Newark, East (Barnett Shale) Statistics Updated: 09/23/10.

10. Barnett Shale natural gas field passes a milestone.

11. Powell, Jr., M.E., Recent Developments in the Barnett Shale.

12. The Father of Shale Gas.

13. As Oil Explodes, Why Natural Gas Prices Stay Low.

14. Texas Energy Sector & Barnett Shale Update.

15. Barnett Shale.

16. The Marcellus Shale: New York is the Natural Gas Industry’s New Lab Rat.

Fig. 1 Disputed Maritime Demarcation Line between Koreas¹

Fig. 2 People watch as plumes of smoke rise up from buildings on South Korea’s Yeonpueong island after North Korea fired hundreds of artillery rounds⁴

Fig. 3 CCTV captures the moment a shell lands on the island⁴

Fig. 4 A South Korean marine walks through destroyed houses on Yeonpyeong (Photograph: Lee Jin-Man/AP)⁵

Before the current president of South Korea took the power, the relationship between Koreas was smooth and stable. As we know, North Korea is developing its nuclear power, and the explosion could be regarded as one from atomic bomb. Just before the artillery barrages, a report by Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker stated that North Korea has a modern, clean centrifuge plant of more than 1000 centrifuges all neatly aligned at the country’s Yongbyon nuclear complex and could make two nuclear bombs per year⁶. One more fact that we could not ignore is that the low living standard in Korea. Thus, we can concluded that North Korea develops mass destruction weapons without considering the starving people. Hold on, please. Here is a question. Why Kim spent so much on the weapon? Killing Chinese? No, I do not think so. Killing Korean? Maybe. Japanese? Possible. American? How? If there was no troops in South Korea, I believe it is hardly for North Korea to attack Washington. Frequent military exercise near or in the Korean Peninsula made the area very sensitive. During the Korean war in the mid 20th century, the threatens of atomic bombs from US on China and Korea were the motivations to develop the nuclear weapons for their own. After China successfully tested its first atomic bomb in 1964, the Communist government claimed that China undertakes not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones at any time or under any circumstances⁷. North Korea needs a secure environment to develop its economy, while the aggressive President Lee Myungbak and the US troops in South Korea made the wish less possible. Now US and other countries press China to rein in North Korea to prevent further provocative incidents such as the deadly artillery attack on a South Korean island close to the border⁸. On the other hand, US deployed the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) and four other US Navy (USN) warships to the West Sea (Yellow Sea)⁹ and began a joint military exercise with South Korea within a broad range which covers 34 degrees 30 minutes north latitude to 36 degrees to 125 degrees east longitude 124 degrees 42 minutes announced by South Korea’s National Oceanographic Research Institute on Nov. 27¹⁰. The location of the joint exercise is close to China and North Korea, since it is sort of far from the disputed area¹⁰. North Korea has condemned the 4-day war games bring the divided peninsula “closer to the brink of war”¹¹. China started a series of diplomatic activities to ease the tensions, such sending senior officials to Koreas¹¹, exchanging ideas with related countries¹², and calling for emergency 6-way talk¹³. Recently, Wikileaks released US diplomatic cable including the attitude of China on Koreas¹⁴. The joint military exercise is to make the situation more complex and worse. President Lee Myung-bak is very confident about the military forces of South Korea, but if North Korea showers Seoul with artillery rounds and rockets, there are predictions that half of the capital will be destroyed in just a day¹⁵. It seems that what Lee has done at the risk of millions of South Korean’s lives. The unification of Koreas should be a long term process provided that North Korea could develop its economy and democracy under a stable environment. Otherwise, it is a disaster for all the people in Northeast Asia, especially for China and Koreas. US government and President Lee Myung-bak should abandon the strong and unrealistic policy to North Korea, and drag the Korea Peninsula back onto the right track to peace and denuclearization.

References:

1. Dispatch: North Korea Shells a South Korean Island.
2. N.Korea fires artillery shells toward Yeonpyeong Island, killing two marines.
3. Bombardment of Yeonpyeong.
4. Korea on the brink: South warns of retaliation after North’s shellfire strike kills two marines.
5. South Korea cancels Yeonpyeong island drills.
6. North Korea could make two nuclear bombs per year.
7. China’s National Statement on Security Assurance.
8. US to press China to rein in North Korea after attack.
9. US sends aircraft carrier to Yellow Sea following North Korean attacks.
10. U.S. military exercises in South Korea Yellow Sea in Shandong sailing 170 kilometers away from the warning is announced.
11. US-South Korea Joint Naval Show Sparks High Voltage Tension.
12. Peace & the Koreas.
13. China Calls For Six-Party Talk With N. Korea.
14. China frustrated with North Korea: WikiLeaks.
15. Gov’t Mulls Turning Baeknyeong into Forward Deployment Base.

If the lost data contain some common used format files, such as word, excel or powerpoint, the software have special recover program for each format. I remember that I helped my colleagues to recover bunches of reports, data, and presentations. Since EasyRecovery doesn’t have such a module,  I almost successfully recovered all the pdf files today.

No software is perfect, and EasyRecovery is not an exceptional case. There are still some pdf files are not fully recovered. One of them only gives a name but no content at all. Also, I tried recover some word files before, but the results disappointed me a lot.

In nowadays, the hard drives run more quickly than before. Also, the size of theirs are by far larger than before. Therefore, the hard drives seem to be more fragile. Thus, all of us should remember the most important thing is backup. Even, more than one backups should prevent the damage from the disasters. Maybe solid state drive is another choice, but the threshold is too high for most user. The online storage offers one more option to keep the data, which also could remotely accessed. The internet connection is a must under such a situation. Besides, the net speed is concerned. Eatra money is needed, and the quality is not fully guaranteed.

One week before, I went to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which locates on the west shore of Manhattan Island, close to the Central Park and Times Square (as shown in Fig.1 below). In Fig.1, the red circle indicates the location of Time Square and the yellow one on the right top shows the Central Park.

Fig. 1 Location of USS Intrepid (Green circle)

Zoom in the google map online, you can see the aircraft carrier with a Concorde supersonic passenger airliner (blue circle)  and a diesel-electric submarine USS Growler (SSG-577)(purple circle). Actually the arrangement of the aircrafts on the flight deck in the figure below was different from what I have seen. I am not sure how often Google Maps updates the data. At least a legend surveillance aircraft, Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, was not on the map. Actually the blackbird and F-14 Tomcat were on the side close to 12th Avenue. When I first saw the aircraft carrier and the two planes at the corner of 12th Avenue and 46th Street, I thought that was Su-27 Flanker, a great and famous fighter made by former USSR and Russia. The vertical tails look very similar to each other. With the crackdown of Soviet Union, US also obtained several flankers from former USSR members for personal use and collection.

Fig. 2 Layout of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

Fig.3 British Airways Concorde

Fig.4 USS 577 Growler

Fig. 5 Lockheed A-12(SR-71 Blackbird)

Fig. 6 Grumman F-14 Tomcat

OK, let’s come back to the visit to the museum. After purchased the ticket, I went to the hanger deck, where I can see the interior structure of the aircraft carrier. Also, the history of the aircraft carrier and stuff related to the vessel, such as the Aurora 7 Capsule Replica could be seen on hanger deck. I did not pay much attention there, within half an hour I turned to the flight deck via the stairs. Several guns with different calibers could be seen on the way.

When I was standing on the flight deck, a special feeling came into my mind. Once upon a time, I had a dream about the aircraft carrier. China should have her own aircraft, which could help the People’s Liberation Army Navy to protect the maritime rights and interests, especially on East China Sea and South China Sea. A rumor said that a USSR/Ukraine made aircraft Varyag anchored in Dalian, China under reconstruction for military use. It seems to be unpredictable that how soon it could join the navy. I am proud of being the first standing on a real aircraft carrier among our group of military fans. It is regretable that the AC is not belong to China.

I am not going to introduce the aircrafts on the flight deck, because you can find more details about the exhibits on the wikipedia. A picture of Tomcat once was under a huge glass plate on my desk when I was in high school. The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon loaned from the National Museum of the United States Air Force. is one of the most popular fighter in the contemporary world. I am familiar with the Mig fighters from Poland and China. From childhood, I had the models of a series of Mig fighters at home. It is a pity that there was no F-15 Eagle, or F/A-18 Hornet on the deck. As for F-22 Raptor, the most advanced fighter in the world, I did not even have a wish to see it there. I heard that there was an F-22 air show around NYC before. Maybe I could wait for the next to catch the steal fighter with my new camera.

Fig. 7 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon

I feel so lucky that I can see  the Royal Naval HMS Daring (D32) near the museum. After the visit I did research about the warship. The lead ship of the Type 45 or ‘D’ Class of air defence destroyer was declared officially in service at the end of July in 2010, since it was lauched  in 2006. The new destroyer visited US for a joint exercise with US aircraft carrier USS Enterprise(CVN-65)¹. Unfortunately, on Nov. 10th, only two days after it went back to UK from US², it has been forced to go into the dock with engine problems³.

Fig. 8 United Kingdom Royal Naval HMS Daring(D32)

References:

1. UK Navy’s HMS Daring conducts joint exercise with US aircraft carrier.

2.Daring Destroyer Returns From US Exercise.

3. Daring’s engines fail.

The increases of private cars also push up the oil price. According to International Energy Agency outlook, the oil peak will not reach until 2035, and drives the oil price over $200 per barrel by 2035, equivalent to $113 in 2009 real dollars⁹. The demand by China is projected to account for 39% of rising energy demand and 57% of rising oil demand⁹. Kevin Clarke said that China does not have to take any lessons from America on consumption because the planet could not support the 1.3 billion people have the same standard living level as current Americans have¹⁰.The attitude is so negative that I could not agree with at all. We could not wait the day after tomorrow coming without any efforts. The alternative energy resources could solve the problem? I am highly doubting it. In fact I have some advices on how to deal with such a situation.

1. Developing the public transportation with alternative energy resources.
2. Limiting the private cars, especially with fossil fuel.
3. Increasing the consumption tax on oil and gas.
4. Lowering the gap between conventional and alternative energy prices.
5. Improving the technology and energy efficiency
6. Reducing the energy consumption.

References:

1. Beijing traffic jams only growing.
2. Beijing roads choked by 140 traffic jams in a day.
3. Traffic Jams In Beijing Reach New Records Of Congestion.
4. Beijing: World’s Biggest Parking Lot.
5. China Traffic Jam Could Last Weeks.
6. Beijing, Fighting Traffic, Considers Car Limits.
7. Chunyun.
8. Beiijng strives to solve traffic problems.
9. International Energy Agency says ‘peak oil’ has hit. Crisis averted?
10. Take the next exit: Avoid an economic traffic jam.