Tea is a drink. The art lies in how people prepare it and drink it. Unfortunately, the art of tea has been distorted.

The biggest tormenter is the invention of bagged tea. Western people, unable to fully appreciate the oriental culture, drink the tea like eating fast foods. You dip an ugly paper bag into the hot water and, bingo, without actually seeing the tea leaves, the smell of tea fills in the room, the water turns into brown or red, and the tea is done. You never know what is inside that bag. It is said that cheap tea bags may contain really low grade tea leaves and even dregs. The smell of tea and jasmine might be flavored, i.e., made by artificially additives. But people still drink it, enjoy it, and feel being invigorated by it.

Bagged tea is now a multi-billion business. Commercialized anything is a sure way to destroy its inherent art. On the other hand, the tea ceremony has been claimed to replay the old art of tea drinking. Thus, the tea ceremony in modern tea houses becomes popular in China recently. However, the tea ceremony also twists the art of tea in some subtle ways .

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Since his pontification, Pope Benedict XVI is diligently recasting his image from a rigorous traditional theologian to a flexible priest. During past few days, the Pope has expressed his regrets four times about a quotation in a talk he gave at the University of Regensburg on September 12.

The once obscure quotation from a 14th century text is now read by a lot of people, religious or not. It says:

Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.

To fully understand why the Pope quoted this paragraph, a responsible commentator must read the Pope’s original speech. This quotation is taken from a dialogue between a 14th century Byzantine emperor and his Persian guest. There the emperor made a point that violence is not what God likes. The Pope apparently shared this idea with him.

Things always go wrong when people take quotations out of context. Why did the Pope quote this paragraph but not others? There are numerous quotations which can illustrate the same point. Furthermore, when the Pope quoted this paragraph, did he endorse the view that Mohammed spread faith by violence?

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TASSC, the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, is a defunct organization claiming to promote “sound” science. It sided with the tobacco industry and once played an important role in the tobacco war.

It all started in the earlier 1990s, when Phillip Morris Company (the PM Company, the maker of Marlboro cigarette) was in a battle against the EPA ruling on the environmental tobacco smoke (ETS the passive smoking).

The PM Company had long been contemplating to found third party organizations which could defense the tobacco industry. For example, through a public relation company, the PM Company founded the “National Smoker’s Alliance”(NSA) whose goal was to advocate the freedom and rights of smoking. The PM Company paid millions of dollars to NSA for newspaper ads, telemarketing, and other national activities.

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Medicare part D—the prescription drug coverage plan of Medicare has been on show for several months, and the enrollment deadline, May 15, has been passed. More than 31 million beneficiaries have enrolled in one of their local plans or government standard plan, though more than 8 million people are still left behind.

Given the pessimistic prediction mostly by democrats that many beneficiaries will have trouble in enrolling in the drug program, the above news is great. The new drug plan is, by and large, rolling on.

So in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine, the administrator of Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) presented an optimistic report to cheer the American public[ref 1]. The figures, numbers, and phrases are as encouraging as one can get. However, in the same issue, state-women Louise M. Slaughter (D-NY) reviewed the struggles during the unforgetable drug bill fight, and harshly criticized the republicans in abusing the legislation process[ref 2].

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打假要专业，对类似于魏于全的研究更需要一定得专业知识来判定其中是否造假。要做家庭作业。

对于魏的学术造假（如果确实有的话），首先要读懂他的文章。我看打假可以从以下几方面入手：

１）魏的理论是否确实合理可行，是否有前人的实验和观察来支持他的假说。按照司教授的说法，魏的理论有问题。但是由于魏这么多相关文章都能发表在相当级别的杂志上，他的理论可能是有一定道理。

但是，一个可行的理论并不表示该理论在实验上可行。一个反例就是在韩国干细胞造假中，其理论也是可行的。但是实验上并不可行。

有网友指出，一个错误的理论不说明人在造假。但是在这里，我们的前提是魏有可能造假，如果他的实验是基于不可行的理论和假说，那么他的所谓支持其假说的结果更有可能是错误的，即可能造假。

也有网友指出理论的争论会把造假问题引入到所谓学术争论的歧途。毕竟理论的错误不能证明结果造假。

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This picture is taken from the Jan 27 Science Magazine. The woman is not sexy in the most fashionable way, and not a beauty by the traditional standard. But she has melancholy eyes, a distinctive trait once I liked.

The window to the heart is our eyes. Does the blue in her eyes tell us that her mood is not optimal, or is it merely a sign crying for love?

In the Jan 27 issue of the Science Magazine, its News Focus reported the problem of suicide in China. It is well known that China has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. The suicide is as prevalent in the rural areas as in the urban areas, affects equally men and women, and those with high and low education. Nevertheless, the Science news report noticed a discrepancy. The high suicide rate was not matched by a high depression rate. Thus, it concluded that in China, many suicides were due to impulsive behavior rather than the endpoints of depression.

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When R. A. Fisher put down the phrase “p=0.05, or 1 in 20” in his famous book, Statistical Methods for Research Workers, very likely with a cup of tea besides his elbow, he might not realize that this p value has become so magic that it is as influential as the e in mathematics and engineer.

However, Fisher himself didn’t stick to that number. To him, p value sort of measures the evidence against a hypothesis. For example the usual p value for type 1 error is used to against the null hypothesis. He was very liberal in interpreting the p values. He sometimes treated p=0.08 as significant and sometimes he did not. On the other hand, Pearson and Neyman thought that we should use a fixed cutpoint for statistical tests, probably for the sake of simplicity.

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北风正紧雪犹烧，
五心烦热读楞严。
痴人穷命究佛理，
菩提树下精行仙。

世人凡提楞严经，皆云佛经第一, 集佛经之大成。据称楞严是最后一部译出，但在未法时代却要第一个消亡。

昔日粱任公撰文认为楞严是伪经。其理由是楞严经文笔流畅，文中释儒道混杂。我初读后也有此感。但是此经真假其实无妨。正如某佛寺所表态，佛典无真假，义理在就行。

佛教的衰退其实和佛教本身有很大关系。佛教典籍太多，内容枯燥无味。很多理论太哲学化，研究人的心（思维），容易陷入空泛的纯理讨论。我自己阅读时就发现网上流行的版本句读错误太多，机械地四词一停顿，结果造成很多的文理不通。包括各种大师注册的，社科院宗教所白话也是如此，因此可能原版的句读就是这样。如果不执一种客观的研究态度去读，很难想象那些和尚能读得明白。

这是我边读边用现代标点校勘的楞严经第一二卷。

反观圣经，自从ＫＩＮＧ ＪＡMES 出了平民圣经后，现在人手一本，只要会读书的人都可以读。里面的故事也通俗易懂。再加上基督教的亲民化，每周读聚会读书，不兴旺才怪呢。

佛教有教义，但没有很好的传播方式，没有主动结合到人民中去，而且佛教宣传抛弃世上的一切贪欲，这很多人做不到。这就是她失败的地方。

但是，现代人不需要宗教。

《科学》２００６年３月１７日 ( English version)

新闻聚焦－－研究基金：

中国豪赌大科学

对一些幸运的研究领域，政府的一个新的科研规划就是他们中的大奖。

北京：中国人民解放军贺福初少将已经处于战备状态。作为北京蛋白质研究中心的所长和中国军事医学科学院副院长，贺用军事术语来描述他的主要目的：“发达国家通过激烈竞争来控制蛋白质研究的战争高地”。贺现在将获得足够的战略资金来资助其研究中心的蛋白组学研究。这项研究也是中国新的１５年科技发展规划的大赢家。

这个期待已久的科技规划（《国家中长期科学和技术发展规划纲要》）终于在上个月下达到科学家的手里。这一系列前进的命令将定下中国未来几年科学发展的基调。它详列了１６个主要工程项目，其中包括大型飞机设计，月球探险，和药物开发。该规划也突出了４个主要基础研究项目：蛋白质研究，量子物理，纳米技术，及发育和生殖科学。虽然规划中没有写明，但中国政府官员上月宣布，包括工业界在内的所有研发费用将从２００５年的２３６０亿元（３００亿美元）上升到２０２０年的９０００亿元（１１３０亿美元）。基础研究所占总研发费用的比例将于１５年内从２００４年的６％增加到１５％。

（图１：准备起飞：中国研发费用的很大一块将流入几个受宠项目）

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Today’s New York Time runs a report on Shanghainese women selling their virginities to Chinese billionaires. It is a fascinating old story. I’ve knew that for years.

For a woman, selling her virginity is a privilege. Geishas, high class courtesans, and also street prostitutes sell their first times for high prices. In old time, a virgin can claim more dowries than a non-virgin do. It’s a tradition in both oriental and western societies.

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