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《纯C论坛·电子杂志》2004.11.SP1（总第2期）SP1

Here's the real world
CHINESE basketball fans got to see two real NBA games this weekend. But the NBA
show turned out not to be as expected.
The 1,900-yuan tickets were going for more than 7,000 yuan on the black market,
or about six times the average Beijing or Shanghai family's monthly income.
Organizers reported that both games in Beijing and Shanghai were sold out, but
empty seats could be seen in both stadiums.
Fans had almost no chance to get close to their idols, like Tracy McGrady, Chris
Webber, Mike Bibby, and Yao Ming. Security guards could be seen everywhere.
One Xinhua news agency reporter said he saw two fans waiting at the door of the
post-game press conference at Capital Stadium after Sunday's game being chased
away by a security guard.
"I heard the American guy, say to the fans, 'You guys! Stay where you are!' I
can't believe the NBA was so rude to fans," the reporter said.
McGrady, one of the most popular NBA players, was reported to have rudely
refused autograph requests from teenage fans in Shanghai who waited for him
outside for hours.
"Every NBA game which is not held in the United States is special," Yao Ming
said on Sunday when asked what he thought about pre-season games in China.
"Chinese basketball is not quite ready to have the NBA," Yao told fans on
Saturday in a website interview.
**********
Challenging Microsoft
EVEN as IT engineers at software giant Microsoft are busy correcting flaws in
the Internet Explorer (IE) and fighting hacker attacks from around the world,
they may face another threat.
It's a new Web browser, called Firefox 1.0. It was introduced by upstart Mozilla
Foundation in September and has shown signs that it could threaten Microsoft's
near monopoly of IE.
Firefox's roots go back to development work initiated by browser company
Netscape Communications in 1998. But, those efforts had few results. AOL Time
Warner acquired Netscape in 1999 then started the Mozilla Foundation in July
2003. The idea was to develop a non-profit software project. It got help from a
group of volunteer programmers and developers and was able to develop the new
Firefox browser.
It's not exactly a browser war, but, for the first time in years, consumers have
a free alternative to IE. Firefox was wracking up more than 1 million downloads
in the first week of its release.
"I have a feeling this product has some staying power," says Brian Yurko, a
Firefox fan. "It's useful, it's friendly and it's easy to use."
Safeguards
The free alternative has better protection against annoying pop-up ads. But its
main appeal is that it has suffered few of the security flaws that have plagued
IE in the last few months.
Part of that is because browsers like Firefox are used by such a small
percentage of Web surfers. That means it's not worth hackers' time to look for
flaws in them and try to exploit them.
That could change as Firefox becomes more widely used. But, a Mozilla spokesman
said they were confident that they had good safeguards and "a tighter security
architecture".
Another thing that makes Firefox more convenient is its tabbed pages. These
allow user to keep several websites open at the same time, without having to
open a separate browser window for each one, as they have to do with IE.
The tab makes it quicker to bounce back and forth between Web pages. And it can
be easier to manage than minimizing and restoring different windows with IE.
Keeping up
Six years ago, Microsoft won the browser wars against Netscape  the distant
forefather of Firefox. But that was not because IE was a better browser, but
simply because it was given away with every Windows copy.
That Microsoft win has left browser innovation at a standstill since 1998.
Now, people want to manage increasingly complex online tasks. They're used to
gathering information from many different places at once, and expect tools to
keep up with their work style. Firefox knows this, Microsoft doesn't, say
industry experts.
So, it's not that the browser wars are starting: Revolution is in the air and
nobody knows where it will end.
It won't be easy for Fireforx to win. For starters, Internet Explorer comes with
every copy of Windows. And it has the considerable advantage of being the
browser most Web surfers are familiar with. Microsoft maintains its monopoly in
the Internet browser market: 95 per cent of those who use it use IE.
Cracking into that business will be hard. To make things harder, some websites
designed specifically for Internet Explorer won't display Firefox properly.
**********
Mainland airlines in private sector
CHINA'S first private airline is poised to begin service by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, two others are ready to fly, according to the Civil Aviation
Administration of China (CAAC).
Okay Airways, also known as Aokai Airlines, plans to focus on domestic cargo and
passenger charters.
It will operate a fleet of six leased Boeing 737 aircraft. Currently, it has
more than 30 pilots, some of them foreign.
The airline will be headquartered in Beijing but its fleet will be based at
neighbouring Tianjin's Binhai International Airport.
Okay Airways is in the final stages of an official review, which is expected to
end next month, the Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Sichuan-based United Eagle Airlines hopes to begin service early next
year. And Shanghai-based Air Spring, with registered capital of 100 million
yuan, plans to fly to Europe and the US, according to Xinhua.
Of the three airlines, Okay has the largest amount of capital, at 300 million
yuan. Chinese regulators gave the go-ahead to private airlines this past May.
China's aviation sector has grown rapidly, from 2.3 million passengers in 1978
to 87.6 million last year.
It is expected by some to be the second-largest aviation market after the US in
the next 20 years.
**********
I know you are lying, you're hot
THE clues aren't obvious, but a few individuals can detect some subtle signs
that people give off when they lie.
The vast majority of people don't notice these brief signs of falsehood. But,
psychology professor Maureen O'Sullivan, of the University of California, has
found a few who can detect liars nearly every time.
O'Sullivan tested 13,000 people for this ability, and she "found 31, who we call
wizards, who are usually able to tell whether the person is lying  whether the
lie is about an opinion, about how someone feels, or about a theft."
O'Sullivan discussed her findings last week at the American Medical
Association's 23rd Annual Science Reporters Conference.
She also holds seminars for police officers and others on how to detect lying.
She noted that observing the "wizards" helped researchers direct further study.
When asked if the wizards could be used in real-life situations, she said there
were no formal programmes to use them currently. And, she added that even the
best of them was not 100 per cent accurate.
It's the expression
There are two categories of clues to a lie  thinking clues and emotional ones
 O'Sullivan explained.
"Basic emotions are hard to conceal completely," she said. People may be afraid
of being caught. Or they may be happy that they are fooling another person. So,
some emotion may show across their face.
O'Sullivan calls these "micro-expressions". That's because the facial changes
last for less than a second. The people who are best at catching liars are able
to notice these small changes.
The clues occur because it's harder to lie than to tell the truth, she said. To
lie, people have to make something up. This can lead to hesitations in speech, a
slip of the tongue, or a lack of detail in what they are saying.
Certain types of people known as "superliars" are aware of those problems, she
added, but may try too hard by talking too fast.
"Anxiety by itself is not a sign of deception," she added, "there are other
things you have to look for ... things that are inconsistent with what they're
saying."
Get it right
Look for shrugs, "if someone telling you something very positive shrugs in the
middle," she said. Watch body posture, hand gestures, eyelid movement.
There were about equal numbers of men and women among the 31 wizards, she said.
The thing they have in common is "they are motivated and want to get it right."
O'Sullivan said that FBI and CIA agents were only about average in lie-detecting
ability. But a strong group was the Secret Service agents who guard politicians
and spend a lot of time scanning crowds for nonverbal clues.
She does her research by showing subjects videotapes of people being questioned
in a variety of situations.
Police officers tend to be above average in cases involving crimes. But not so
good in emotional situations.
You're turning red
American researchers have about a century of scientific exploration of lying.
Now, they are exploring lie-detection technology that may banish the current lie
detector machines.
At the University of Houston, Texas, a scientist is trying to uncover lies by
measuring heat levels in the face. In South Carolina, a professor hopes she has
found the key to deception in brain waves. Elsewhere, researchers are looking at
everything from speech patterns to eye movements to brain "fingerprints".
But, success is still far away and no new lie-detection machines appear ready
for use. Skeptics, meanwhile, doubt that any technology will improve much on the
mixed record of the current machines. These are often used in the US to screen
employees and test the truthfulness of criminal suspects.
So, when will a better lie detector show up? Experts predict it might be as soon
as 2010, perhaps using elements of thermal facial scans and brain scans.
**********
Scientists discover sleeping dinosaur
THE first remains of a sleeping dinosaur have been found in China, providing
support for the idea that small dinosaurs were the ancestors of birds.
Xu Xing, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and Mark Norell, of the
American Museum of Natural History in New York, have found a perfectly preserved
new species of dinosaur in China.
"This is the first report of sleeping behaviour in dinosaurs," said Xu. "We've
never had any other information about a dinosaur sleeping."
The discovery was reported in last week's issue of the journal Nature.
It was dubbed Mei Long in Chinese ("soundly sleeping dragon"). It's about 53
centimetres long, or about the size of a large bird. The size lends support to
the theory that the small size of the early dinosaurs was crucial to their
subsequent development of flight.
The fossilized two-legged dinosaur was found curled up with its head under its
forearm. This is a position similar to that of modern birds sleeping.
The posture indicates that this characteristic probably originated in the
ancestors of modern birds, the scientists said.
"It is one of the most complete skeletons I have ever seen. It is perfectly
preserved. We have almost every bone in the skeleton," Xu said. "The body is
arranged in a life-like posture."
The skeleton was found near the city of Beipiao in Liaoning Province. The area
is rich in dinosaur fossils.
Judging from the remarkably preserved state and position of the skeleton, Mei
Long probably died suddenly.
Other dinosaurs have been found with their necks extended backward in a classic
death pose. Mei Long seemed to have been sleeping contentedly when it died.
Xu and Norell are not sure what killed the dinosaur but they said there are
several possibilities. It could have been starved of oxygen, buried under thick
layers of volcanic ash or could have been sleeping in a cave or burrow when the
roof collapsed.
**********
Designer babies
UK scientists are seeking permission to experiment with giving children three
biological parents. The aim of the research is to keep mothers from passing on
genetic diseases to the children. The technique involves implanting a nucleus of
an embryo from the affected mother into an egg taken from a donor. By doing so,
scientists believe the resultant foetus will be free of the destructive genetic
disease. But opponents are saying it represents an unacceptable step towards the
creation of designer babies.
**********
What did you say?
RESEARCHERS believe they have discovered the final link in the physiological
process that enables us to hear. The last link is a molecule in the inner ear
that converts sound waves to nerve impulses used by the brain, a process known
as transduction. The discovery, reported in the October 13 online issue of
Nature, is one of the last pieces of the puzzle of how hearing actually works.
**********
HE had a shock of white hair, woolly moustache and distracted air. Albert
Einstein gave society the perfect image of an eccentric scientist with the weird
theory of relativity. He was lovable and brilliant  but unworldly.
Things are about to change, however. Next year, there will be a global campaign,
initiated by scientists worldwide, to mark Einstein Year. There will be a series
of shows and exhibitions around the world, each of them intended to turn the