See you soon on the Moon! say Chinese and German designers and engineers

The Moon
Our team name, “Selene” stems both from Greek mythology and Selene, the wife of the team's founder. We have assembled a talented and enthusiastic group of Chinese and German engineers and technicians who are intent upon winning the Google Lunar X Prize. Our goal is to land a remote-controlled lunar rover on the Moon which must then travel a minimum of 500 meters over the lunar surface, while at the same time, sending high-definition images and video as well as other data back to Earth.

Another purpose of this project is to promote greater co-operation between China and Germany, and to foster the exchange of ideas, a process well underway for many centuries.
We seek to dispel the myth that China's design and engineering prowess is merely the product of reverse engineering, too. There are many young, motivated engineers in both countries who are eager to demonstrate that they can succeed in this mission while contributing innovative high technology inventions and concepts to the broader community of space science and exploration as well as providing support to the ongoing humanitarian efforts to achieve better living conditions here on Earth.
more>>> http://www.seleneteam.com/

An ethnic Han Chinese is responsible for a remarkable Electronic Revolution - Memristor


We are now witnessing the next potential great leap forward in Electronic Computer technology - Memristors.
This is likely to revolutionise computers, robotics and not least, our daily lives.
It's a computer - But not as we know it, Jim.

In 1971, electrical engineering professor Leon Chua an ethnic Han Chinese proposed a theoretical basic electronics component called a memristor.
In 2008, Hewlett Packard brought the memristor out of theory and into the real world. And today, HP announced that they have finally proven that they can build devices that use memristors, instead of the transistors that enable all current computer chips.
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-04/hewlett-packard-unveils-first-ever-memristor

Memristors could also help with a problem that continues to challenge the chip industry, continuing to pack more and more computational power into smaller and smaller spaces.

Currently, chip makers follow a path defined by Moore's Law, which states that the number of transistors it is possible to squeeze in to a chip for a fixed cost doubles every two years.
This is currently achieved by producing transistors with ever smaller feature sizes. Current cutting edge chips have transistors with feature sizes as small as 22 nanometres (22 billionths of a metre).
But this miniaturisation cannot continue forever, experts say.
Memristors offer an alternative path.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8609885.stm

The most advanced transistor technology today is based on minimum feature sizes of 30 to 40 nanometers — by contrast a biological virus is typically about 100 nanometers — and Dr. Williams said that H.P. now has working 3-nanometer memristors that can switch on and off in about a nanosecond, or a billionth of a second.
He said the company could have a competitor to flash memory in three years that would have a capacity of 20 gigabytes a square centimeter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/science/08chips.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memristor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Chua

MARCH OF TIME - CHINA FIGHTS BACK - 1940 British Pathe Newsreel

"Time - The Weekly Newsmagazine presents a new kind of pictorial journalism."
Map of China showing its borders with Soviet Russia. US Government experts in Washington are compiling and collating statistics of lives lost and property destroyed in various countries during World War II to date. Burning buildings in China. Dead woman in rubble. Japanese soldiers. C/U of Japanese military officer or politician not recognised by this cataloguer. Aircraft flying over Chinese temple. Bombs being dropped on China seen from the aircraft which is dropping them. Bomb damage. Chinese children look up to the skies. Chungking. Burning buildings. Plumes of smoke. Boats on the harbour. Wounded man being led along. Small child dead amongst rubble. Lid taken off wooden coffin. Women and children in a food queue. Refugees. Japanese troops drive through street in tanks. Graphic map showing main cities affected by war. Newspaper production. Chinese army manoeuvres. Artillery. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and wife. Kung (?) sisters - wife of Kai-Shek, wife of China's Finance Minister and widow of the founder of the Chinese republic. Kai-Shek and his military leaders and statesmen inspect troops. Chinese soldiers in various manoeuvres and on the march. Cartoon image of Japanese troops surrendering. Japanese army. Civilians running for cover. Anti-Japanese cartoons.
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81581


Click to view the film.




The Expressways of China - Now and in the future


Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complex network of roads. China's first expressway was built in 1988. Until 1993, very few expressways existed. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the Jingshi Expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province 
This expressway now forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway, currently one of the longest expressways nationwide at over 2,000 km.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_China

China Visa Overstay - A Cautionary Tale (2)

We can go tomorrow and sort it out, Don't worry, it'll be OK, she thinks for a moment, then quite calmly says - They might not be open tomorrow, It's Saturday...PART ONE HERE
 http://www.mynanning.net/2010/03/china-visa-overstay-cautionary-tale.html

The bad news - Not only are they closed Saturday but Sunday also.
I used to like weekends, not any more, not after this one.
Here's how it went...It's still Friday night.
It's difficult to explain all of my feelings at this time. I'm not a child, I'm pushing 60 but nonetheless, I'm feeling childishly helpless.
Part of me is embarrassed about my stupidity, part of me is angry at my stupidity, part of me is worried because of my stupidity.
What can we do?...(Notice how suddenly, it's WE)
I'm facing 48 hours of torment as an illegal alien, might be fined and/or banished for life.

After a while of being able to do nothing it's decided we must make sure the PSB office is closed all weekend - I'll phone the police station, my wife say's.
What now! why, which one ?...I'm panicking.
The one that issued your Temporary Residence papers, she once again, calmly states, I have the policewoman's phone number (Don't ask me why she has her phone number) you know, the police woman that registered you.
OK, do it.
Luckily, the policewoman answered and confirmed that the PSB office in Nanning was indeed closed at the weekends.
That's a positive, I'm thinking, at least we know it is closed.
She could not really offer any other real help only to say that, there is nothing the police can do at this time... !!!
What does she mean "at this time", I'm panicking again.
She said, go along first thing Monday and explain.
Explain what? - I'm stupid, careless, a tosser, a twat. OK, I am, I'll do it, anything to sort this out, make it go away.


After that, the weekend was a somewhat subdued time, I decided that Internet research was the order of the day, 'China Visa overstay' was duly entered into Google.

Here's the jist of what came up...500 RMB per day fine up to a top limit of 5000 RMB, then 10 days to exit, and/or deportation, and/or a big RED stamp on the passport 'OVERSTAYER'.
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/happysheep/2/1220359740/tpod.html
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1679532
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1545218
http://www.teachabroadchina.com/chinese-visa-overstay-work-problem/
http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/MDForum-viewtopic-t-44016.phtml
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090223202539AAGLtG1
http://china.eslteachercafe.com/topic47-overstay-your-china-visa-and-go-to-jail-.aspx
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1413422
http://www.networkesl.com/english/web/48_69_84.html
http://www.echinacities.com/main/ExpatCorner/QuestionInfo.aspx?Q=191
http://koreanalyst.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/overstaying-a-visa-in-china/
 
On the plus side, if no big red 'overstayer' stamp then re-entry should not pose too big a problem - I'm still panicking but thinking, if I can get there first thing Monday, that's 4 days, so maybe, with a little understanding only a 2000 RMB fine at worst...


To be continued...