China launches own global GPS system to rival US

China launches own global GPS system to rival US
Business & Markets 2012
Written by AFP
Friday, 28 December 2012 16:14

BEIJING (Dec 28): China has launched commercial and public services across the Asia-Pacific region on its domestic satellite navigation network built to rival the US global positioning system (GPS).

The Beidou, or compass, system started providing services to civilians in the region on Thursday and is expected to provide global coverage by 2020, state media reported.

Ran Chengqi, spokesman for the China Satellite Navigation Office said the system's performance was "comparable" to GPS, the China Daily said.

"Signals from Beidou can be received in countries such as Australia," he said.

It is the latest accomplishment in space TECHNOLOGY [] for China, which aims to build a space station by the end of the decade and eventually send a manned mission to the moon.

China sees the multi-billion-dollar programme as a symbol of its rising global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

The Beidou system comprises 16 navigation satellites and four experimental satellites, the paper said. Ran added that the system would ultimately provide global navigation, positioning and timing services.

The start of commercial services comes a year after Beidou began a limited positioning service for China and adjacent areas.China began building the network in 2000 to avoid relying on GPS.

"Having a satellite navigation system is of great strategic significance," the Global Times newspaper, which has links to the Communist Party, said in an editorial.

"China has a large market, where the Beidou system can benefit both the military and civilians," the paper said.

"With increases in profit, the Beidou system will be able to eventually develop into a global navigation satellite system which can compete with GPS."

In a separate report, the paper said satellite navigation was seen as one of China's "strategic emerging industries".

Sun Jiadong, the system's chief engineer, told the 21st century Business Herald newspaper that as Beidou matures it will erode GPS's current 95% market share in China, the Global Times said.

Morris Jones, an independent space analyst based in Sydney, Australia, said that making significant inroads into that dominance anywhere outside China is unlikely.

"GPS is freely available, highly accessed and is well-known and trusted by the world at large," he told AFP. "It has brand recognition and has successfully fought off other challenges."

Morris described any commercial benefits China gains as "icing on the cake" and that the main reason for developing Beidou is to protect its own national security given the possibility US-controlled GPS could be cut off.

"It's that possibility, that they could be denied access to GPS, that inspires other nations to develop their own system that would be free of control by the United States," he said.

China tightens Internet controls, legalises post deletion

China tightens Internet controls, legalises post deletion
Business & Markets 2012
Written by Reuters
Friday, 28 December 2012 17:13

BEIJING, Dec 28 (Reuters) - China unveiled tighter Internet controls on Thursday, legalising the deletion of posts or pages which are deemed to contain "illegal" information and requiring service providers to hand over such information to the authorities for punishment.

The rules signal that the new leadership headed by Communist Party chief Xi Jinping will continue muzzling the often scathing, raucous online chatter in a country where the Internet offers a rare opportunity for debate.

The new regulations, announced by the official Xinhua news agency, also require Internet users to register with their real names when signing up with network providers, though, in reality, this already happens.

Chinese authorities and Internet companies such as Sina Corp have long since closely monitored and censored what people say online, but the government has now put measures such as deleting posts into law.

"Service providers are required to instantly stop the transmission of illegal information once it is spotted and take relevant measures, including removing the information and saving records, before reporting to supervisory authorities," the rules state.

The restrictions follow a series of corruption scandals amongst lower-level officials exposed by Internet users, something the government has said it is trying to encourage.

Chinese Internet users already cope with extensive censorship measures, especially over politically sensitive topics like human rights and elite politics, and popular foreign sites Facebook, Twitter and Google-owned YouTube are blocked.

Earlier this year, the government began forcing users of Sina's wildly successful Weibo microblogging platform to register their real names.

The new rules were quickly condemned by some Weibo users.

"So now they are getting Weibo to help in keeping records and reporting it to authorities. Is this the freedom of expression we are promised in the constitution?" complained one user.

"We should resolutely oppose such a covert means to interfere with Internet freedom," wrote another.
The government says tighter monitoring of the Internet is needed to prevent people making malicious and anonymous accusations online, disseminating pornography and spreading panic with unfounded rumours, pointing out that many other countries already have such rules.

Despite periodic calls for political reform, the party has shown no sign of loosening its grip on power and brooks no dissent to its authority. -- Reuters

迎接“2012黑暗三日”

关注：迎接“2012黑暗三日”

玛雅历法记载2012年12月21日是本次人类文明结束的日子，自此之后，人类将进入与本次文明毫无关系的全新文明，人类将在精神意识上觉醒和转变，从而进入新的文明。并预言在“跨越门槛”时人类将经历三天无光的黑暗日。太阳的“休息”对地球会造成什么影响是无法估计的。

听到“黑暗三日”，有人会说“我要离开工作，最后的时间回家和父母呆着”；有人说“那就买点蜡烛、干粮和水备着”；还有人说“现在一切都好好的，怎么可能突然就暗无天日了呢，不要杞人忧天了”。在这个临近的时间点大家众说纷纭，到底什么是“黑暗三日”，我们真的会迎来“暗日”吗？

科学发现玛雅人研究日月更替规律的精度高于当前最精密天文仪器。其历法终止于2012年12月21日上午11点11分，那天是一年一度的冬至，是北半球距离太阳最远，黑夜最长的日子。据预测，太阳在太阳系的中心，会遮蔽地球与银河系中心的视野，这种现象每两万六千年发生一次。银河系流向地球的能量会被打断，在这个时间点前后地球磁场和人类自身的生存机制都会进入几天混乱的“黑暗期”。

除了马雅人祖先，世界各地土著如祖鲁人、夏威夷祭司、古老萨满都在记载中提到此种可能。中国易经以第63卦「水火既济」来比喻2012，以第64卦「火水未济」来看2012前后的转变。不同文明共同记载着2012年12月21日是两个不同世纪的衔接点，并预测星座会重新调整，宇宙的“基因密码”会出现新的组合排列，地球则重新编排程序，包括人类DNA、生物链、意识形态、价值观等等。地球上的时空能量点，如金字塔和一些神奇建筑会随之显露，与星座一一对应，形成非常壮观美丽的“光织彩虹罩”。

西方科学界近十年来发现，所有行星（包括地球在内）的大气开始出现“庞大能量”输入的现象。有些直接来自能量云，有些则间接从太阳与能量云相遇时所产生的干扰输入。

美国国家大气研究中心发表太阳周期的报告，预测2012年将是太阳黑子活动的高峰。以现在地球上的电力系统及通讯网络密度来看，如果受到强力的太阳磁暴袭击，不仅可能摧毁商业无线通讯，也会让重要的军事系统功能紊乱。《不可能的物理学》作者加来道雄谈到“所有卫星通讯、气象卫星、网络和GPS，在大部分城市会停摆。”

天文学预测2012年是天体运行周期的交接点，地球、太阳系、银河系中心的黑洞连成一线，当三者对齐时，地球磁场将会受到强烈影响，行星对太阳共同产生的重力和电磁力会扭曲和扩大太阳的表面，让太阳大量释放被束缚的辐射能，其威力可能远远超过地球现代人出现以来所经历的任何致命变化。

面对这些讯息，你会怎么想：“黑暗三日到底是什么，真的会发生吗？”“我们会有生命危险吗？”“如果是真的，我现在应该选择做些什么呢？”“常常听到些危言耸听的信息，这些我都不相信”“不管发生什么，我也只能过好每一天的生活”……