Wednesday, June 4, 2025

A scary news on 64: two Chinese try to destroy Poaceae crops in US

Everybody can figure out what the terrible Chinese are trying to do by bringing fugus, which is terrible to Poaceae crops, to the United States.

Chinese couple charged with smuggling a biological pathogen into the US
"A Chinese researcher in Michigan and her boyfriend have been charged with smuggling a biological pathogen that “can cause devastating diseases in crops” into the United States, according to federal charging documents unsealed Tuesday."

Two Chinese nationals accused of smuggling "dangerous biological pathogen" into Michigan 
(https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/2-chinese-nationals-smuggling-dangerous-biological-pathogen-university-of-michigan-lab/)
"Officials said the "noxious fungus causes 'head blight,' a disease of wheat, barley, maize, and rice, and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. Fusarium graminearum's toxins cause vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects in humans and livestock."

Chinese nationals accused of smuggling 'dangerous biological pathogen' into US"The fungus called Fusarium graminearum can cause a disease in wheat, barley, maize and rice that can wipe out crops and lead to vomiting and liver damage if it gets into food."

可怕的中國人,攜帶對禾本科作物是可怕的fugus到美國是要幹什麼,用腳趾頭就可以想得出來。

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Monday, June 2, 2025

Rachel Carson and the Silent Spring

I like her, Rachel Carson. Her book "Silent Spring" has inspired me in my early years.
Rachel was born on May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, United States.

我喜歡她,Rachel Carson,寂靜的春天(Silent Spring)是我的啟蒙書之一。

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1179951254145994&set=a.272389531568842

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Do not blame everything on Taipower

When I was a kid, my family always kept candles at home for emergencies. This was basic common sense in Taiwan. After flashlights became popular, we kept flashlights at home.Power outages caused by natural disasters, man-made disasters, and electric shocks from animals are common sense. There is nothing to be surprised about. Power outages will occur when the wires short-circuit and trip, when the current is too large and the fuse burns out, when trees fall and crush the wires, and when lightning strikes the transformer box. There are too many situations that can cause power outages. If the power is normal when any above situation happens, that's the time we have to worry about it.
I remember that the network of a former company was intermittent for a while. The network was optical fiber, and the quality was quite poor. My colleagues thought it was a problem with the Chunghwa Telecom and kept asking them to repair it. It was not until we moved to a new office and removed all the network cables. We found that the network cables running from the ceiling were bitten by rats and were broken in several places. No wonder the signal was so poor. At this time, everyone realized that they had wrongly blamed Chunghwa Telecom. Fortunately, the rats only bit the network line. If they had bitten the electric wires, wouldn't it have caused a power outage or even a fire? Can we blame the Taipower and the lack of nuclear power plants for this?

小時候在家裡常備蠟燭以備不時之需,這是生活的基本常識,等手電筒普及後就是常備手電筒了。
因天災人禍動物觸電造成停電,這根本就是常識,有什麼好大驚小怪的。電線短路跳電就會停電,電流過大保險絲燒掉也會停電,樹木倒塌壓倒電線會停電,閃電打到變電箱會停電,造成停電的原因太多了,這時候如果不停電才是要擔心的事情。
記得某前公司的網路有一段時間一直斷斷續續很糟糕,明明是光纖卻品質這麼差,同事都以為是中華電信的問題,一直找他們來維修。直到搬辦公室前,將所有網路線拆下,才發現從天花板走線的網路線被老鼠咬的很淒慘,好幾處都要斷不斷的,難怪訊號很差。
這時候大家才知道當初是錯怪中華電信了。還好只是咬網路線,如果是咬電線,那不就會造成停電甚至火燒,難道這也要怪台電及沒有核電廠嗎?

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Sunday, June 1, 2025

Climate-smart rice Jaspe in Chile

Jaspe, a new rice variety developed in Chile, can thrive in dry and cold environments, maintain yields in drought conditions, and reduce CH4 emissions. I want to know if it can also maintain good growth in dry and hot environments, or continue to produce abundant yields in variable dry and wet environments. The reason that I am thinking about this is that these two conditions are occurring quite frequently in Taiwan. As for the description of its yield, Jaspe produces 30 ears of rice. I would like to know if the number and weight of grains per ear of rice are the same as the ordinary rice it is compared with. If so, it really has 10 times the yield as it claims.

智利培育出來的新品種水稻 "氣候智慧型水稻" Jaspe,能在乾燥、寒冷的環境裡生長旺盛,在乾旱情況下維持產量,同時達到減排。不知道是否也能在乾旱炎熱的環境裡維持良好的生長,或是在多變的乾濕環境下繼續產量豐富。
至於其產量的描述,Jaspe產出30株稻穗,不知每株稻穗的穀粒數及重量是否和其拿來比較的一般稻米一樣多,如果是,那就真的如其所說有10倍產量了。
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250429-less-thirsty-rice-offers-hope-in-drought-stricken-chile

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