How Gulf Spill Estimates Got It So Wrong

If you remember back a few weeks to the outset of the BP oil spill, the official estimate was that 1,000 barrels of oil (42,000 gallons) was leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. While that’s nothing to sneeze at, the total wasn’t catastrophic compared to historic spills like the Exxon Valdez. Then, more than a week after the Deepwater Horizon exploded and sank, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration did their own quick calculation and quintupled the estimate to 5,000 barrels per day.

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Globalization & The Occupation of Wall Street

Please, watch the following video and ask the questions below

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MEfJ7vTV_g

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Mexico ready to launch world’s largest underwater museum

By Katie | National Geographic

January 7, 2011

Four hundred life-sized sculptures have now been submerged off the coast of Cancun in Mexico to create the world’s largest underwater museum in hopes of luring tourists away from the fragile coral reefs and towards something just as unique.

British artist Jason deCaires Taylor was chosen for the project, one that will hopefully reduce the impact of over 500,000 tourists a year visiting the Isla Mujeres National Marine Park in Cancun. The life-sized human sculptures are made out of pH-neutral concrete which attracts algae and other marine life which both changes the look of the sculptures and boosts the local ecosystem at the same time.

The museum is funded by Cancun’s environmental ministry and is free for visitors. Sculptures are accessible by snorkel or dive. Fly British Airways direct from London to Cancun. Other underwater museums include: “Herod’s Harbor” off the coastal city of Caesarea in Israel, the Underwater City of Cleopatra in Alexandria, Shipwreck Train in Florida, and China’s newly opened Baiheliang Underwater Museum.

The Transportation of Natural Gas

The efficient and effective movement of natural gas from producing regions to consumption regions requires an extensive and elaborate transportation system. In many instances, natural gas produced from a particular well will have to travel a great distance to reach its point of use. The transportation system for natural gas consists of a complex network of pipelines, designed to quickly and efficiently transport natural gas from its origin, to areas of high natural gas demand. Transportation of natural gas is closely linked to its storage: should the natural gas being transported not be immediately required, it can be put into storage facilities for when it is needed.

There are three major types of pipelines along the transportation route: the gathering system, the interstate pipeline system, and the distribution system. The gathering system consists of low pressure, small diameter pipelines that transport raw natural gas from the wellhead to the processing plant. Should natural gas from a particular well have high sulfur and carbon dioxide contents (sour gas), a specialized sour gas gathering pipe must be installed. Sour gas is corrosive, thus its transportation from the wellhead to the sweetening plant must be done carefully. Review the treatment and processing of natural gas.

Pipelines can be characterized as interstate or intrastate. Interstate pipelines are similar to in the interstate highway system:  they carry natural gas across state boundaries, in some cases clear across the country. Intrastate pipelines, on the other hand, transport natural gas within a particular state. This section will cover only the fundamentals of interstate natural gas pipelines, however the technical and operational details discussed are essentially the same for intrastate pipelines.

Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines

The interstate natural gas pipeline network transports processed natural gas from processing plants in producing regions to those areas with high natural gas requirements, particularly large, populated urban areas. As can be seen, the pipeline network extends across the entire country.
Interstate pipelines are the ‘highways’ of natural gas transmission. Natural gas that is transported through interstate pipelines travels at high pressure in the pipeline, at pressures anywhere from 200 to 1500 pounds per square inch (psi). This reduces the volume of the natural gas being transported (by up to 600 times), as well as propelling natural gas through the pipeline.

This section will cover the components of the interstate pipeline system, the construction of pipelines, and pipeline inspection and safety.

Pipeline Components

Interstate pipelines consist of a number of components that ensure the efficiency and reliability of a system that delivers such an important energy source year-round, twenty four hours a day, and includes a number of different components.

Transmission Pipes

Transmission pipes can measure anywhere from 6 to 48 inches in diameter, depending on their function. Certain component pipe sections can even consist of small diameter pipe, as small as 0.5 inches in diameter. However, this small diameter pipe is usually used only in gathering and distribution systems. Mainline transmission pipes, the principle pipeline in a given system, are usually between 16 and 48 inches in diameter. Lateral pipelines, which deliver natural gas to or from the mainline, are typically between 6 and 16 inches in diameter. Most major interstate pipelines are between 24 and 36 inches in diameter. The actual pipeline itself, commonly called ‘line pipe’, consists of a strong carbon steel material, engineered to meet standards set by the American Petrolium Institute (API).  In contrast, some distribution pipe is made of highly advanced plastic, because of the need for flexibility, versatility and the ease of replacement.

Transmission pipelines are produced in steel mills, which are sometimes specialized to produce only pipeline. There are two different production techniques, one for small diameter pipes and one for large diameter pipes. For large diameter pipes, from 20 to 42 inches in diameter, the pipes are produced from sheets of metal which are folded into a tube shape, with the ends welded together to form a pipe section. Small diameter pipe, on the other hand, can be produced seamlessly. This involves heating a metal bar to very high temperatures, then punching a hole through the middle of the bar to produce a hollow tube. In either case, the pipe is tested before being shipped from the steel mill, to ensure that it can meet the pressure and strength standards for transporting natural gas.

Line pipe is also covered with a specialized coating to ensure that it does not corrode once placed in the ground. The purpose of the coating is to protect the pipe from moisture, which causes corrosion and rusting. There are a number of different coating techniques. In the past, pipelines were coated with specialized coal tar enamel. Today, pipes are often protected with what is known as a fusion bond epoxy, which gives the pipe a noticeable light blue color. In addition, cathodic protection is often used; which is a technique of running an electric current through the pipe to ward off corrosion and rusting.

Compressor Stations

As mentioned, natural gas is highly pressurized as it travels through an interstate pipeline. To ensure that the natural gas flowing through any one pipeline remains pressurized, compression of this natural gas is required periodically along the pipe. This is accomplished by compressor stations, usually placed at 40 to 100 mile intervals along the pipeline. The natural gas enters the compressor station, where it is compressed by either a turbine, motor, or engine.

Turbine compressors gain their energy by using up a small proportion of the natural gas that they compress. The turbine itself serves to operate a centrifugal compressor, which contains a type of fan that compresses and pumps the natural gas through the pipeline. Some compressor stations are operated by using an electric motor to turn the same type of centrifugal compressor. This type of compression does not require the use of any of the natural gas from the pipe, however it does require a reliable source of electricity nearby. Reciprocating natural gas engines are also used to power some compressor stations. These engines resemble a very large automobile engine, and are powered by natural gas from the pipeline. The combustion of the natural gas powers pistons on the outside of the engine, which serves to compress the natural gas.

In addition to compressing natural gas, compressor stations also usually contain some type of liquid separator, much like the ones used to dehydrate natural gas during its processing. Usually, these separators consist of scrubbers and filters that capture any liquids or other unwanted particles from the natural gas in the pipeline. Although natural gas in pipelines is considered ‘dry’ gas, it is not uncommon for a certain amount of water and hydrocarbons to condense out of the gas stream while in transit. The liquid separators at compressor stations ensure that the natural gas in the pipeline is as pure as possible, and usually filter the gas prior to compression.

Metering Stations

In addition to compressing natural gas to reduce its volume and push it through the pipe, metering stations are placed periodically along interstate natural gas pipelines. These stations allow pipeline companies to monitor the natural gas in their pipes. Essentially, these metering stations measure the flow of gas along the pipeline, and allow pipeline companies to ‘track’ natural gas as it flows along the pipeline. These metering stations employ specialized meters to measure the natural gas as it flows through the pipeline, without impeding its movement.

Valves

Interstate pipelines include a great number of valves along their entire length. These valves work like gateways; they are usually open and allow natural gas to flow freely, or they can be used to stop gas flow along a certain section of pipe. There are many reasons why a pipeline may need to restrict gas flow in certain areas. For example, if a section of pipe requires replacement or maintenance, valves on either end of that section of pipe can be closed to allow engineers and work crews safe access. These large valves can be placed every 5 to 20 miles along the pipeline, and are subject to regulation by safety codes.

Control Stations and SCADA Systems

Natural gas pipeline companies have customers on both ends of the pipeline – the producers and processors that input gas into the pipeline, and the consumers and local gas utilities that take gas out of the pipeline. In order to manage the natural gas that enters the pipeline, and to ensure that all customers receive timely delivery of their portion of this gas, sophisticated control systems are required to monitor the gas as it travels through all sections of what could be a very lengthy pipeline network. To accomplish this task of monitoring and controlling the natural gas that is traveling through the pipeline, centralized gas control stations collect, assimilate, and manage data received from monitoring and compressor stations all along the pipe.

Most of the data that is received by a control station is provided by Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. These systems are essentially sophisticated communications systems that take measurements and collect data along the pipeline (usually in a metering or compressor stations and valves) and transmit it to the centralized control station. Flow rate through the pipeline, operational status, pressure, and temperature readings may all be used to assess the status of the pipeline at any one time. These systems also work in real time, meaning that there is little lag time between the measurements taken along the pipeline and their transmission to the control station.
The data is relayed to a centralized control station, allowing pipeline engineers to know exactly what is happening along the pipeline at all times. This enables quick reactions to equipment malfunctions, leaks, or any other unusual activity along the pipeline. Some SCADA systems also incorporate the ability to remotely operate certain equipment along the pipeline, including compressor stations, allowing engineers in a centralized control center to immediately and easily adjust flow rates in the pipeline.

Pipeline Construction

As natural gas use increases, so does the need to have transportation infrastructure in place to supply the increased demand. This means that pipeline companies are constantly assessing the flow of natural gas across the U.S., and building pipelines to allow transportation of natural gas to those areas that are underserved.

Constructing natural gas pipelines requires a great deal of planning and preparation. In addition to actually building the pipeline, several permitting and regulatory processes must be completed.  In many cases, prior to beginning the permitting and land access processes, natural gas pipeline companies prepare a feasibility analysis to ensure that an acceptable route for the pipeline exists that provides the least impact to the environment and public infrastructure already in place.

Assuming a pipeline company obtains all the required permits and satisfies all of the regulatory requirements, construction of the pipe may begin. Extensive surveying of the intended route is completed, both aerial and land based, to ensure that no surprises pop up during actual assembly of the pipeline.

Installing a pipeline is much like an assembly line process, with sections of the pipeline being completed in stages. First, the path of the pipeline is cleared of all removable impediments, including trees, boulders, brush, and anything else that may prohibit the construction. Once the pipeline’s path has been cleared sufficiently to allow construction equipment to gain access, sections of pipes are laid out along the intended path, a process called ‘stringing’ the pipe. These pipe sections are commonly from 40 to 80 feet long, and are specific to their destination. That is, certain areas have different requirements for coating material and pipe thickness.

Once the pipe is in place, trenches are dug alongside the laid out pipe. These trenches are typically five to six feet deep, as the regulations require the pipe to be at least 30 inches below the surface. In certain areas, however, including road crossings and bodies of water, the pipe is buried even deeper. Once the trenches are dug, the pipe is assembled and contoured. This includes welding the sections of pipe together into one continuous pipeline, and bending it slightly, if needed, to fit the contour of the pipeline’s path. Coating is applied to the ends of the pipes.  The coating applied at a coating mill typically leaves the ends of the pipe clean, so as not to interfere with welding.  Finally, the entire coating of the pipe is inspected to ensure that it is free from defects.

Once the pipe is welded, bent, coated, and inspected it can be lowered into the previously-dug trenches. This is done with specialized construction equipment acting to lift the pipe in a level manner and lower it into the trench. Once lowered into the ground, the trench is filled in carefully, to ensure that the pipe and its coating retain their integrity. The last step in pipeline construction is the hydrostatic test. This consists of running water, at pressures higher than will be needed for natural gas transportation, through the entire length of the pipe. This serves as a test to ensure that the pipeline is strong enough, and absent of any leaks of fissures, before natural gas is pumped through the pipeline.

Laying pipe across streams or rivers can be accomplished in one of two ways. Open cut crossing involves the digging of trenches on the floor of the river to house the pipe. When this is done, the pipe itself is usually fitted with a concrete casing, which both ensures that the pipe stays on the bottom of the river and adds an extra protective coating to prevent any natural gas leaks into the water.  Alternatively, a form of directional drilling may be employed, in which a ‘tunnel’ is drilled under the river through which the pipe may be passed. The same techniques are used for road crossings – either an open trench is excavated across the road and replaced once the pipe is installed, or a tunnel may be drilled underneath the road.

Once the pipeline has been installed and covered, extensive efforts are taken to restore the pipeline’s pathway to its original state, or to mitigate any environmental or other impacts that may have occurred during the construction process. These steps often include replacing topsoil, fences, irrigation canals, and anything else that may have been removed or upset during the construction process.  For more information on natural gas pipeline construction, visit the website of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America.

Pipeline Inspection and Safety

In order to ensure the efficient and safe operation of the extensive network of natural gas pipelines, pipeline companies routinely inspect their pipelines for corrosion and defects. This is done through the use of sophisticated pieces of equipment known as ‘smart pigs.’ Smart pigs are intelligent robotic devices that are propelled down pipelines to evaluate the interior of the pipe. Smart pigs can test pipe thickness, and roundness, check for signs of corrosion, detect minute leaks, and any other defect along the interior of the pipeline that may either impede the flow of gas, or pose a potential safety risk to the operation of the pipeline. Sending a smart pig down a pipeline is fittingly known as ‘pigging’ the pipeline.

In addition to inspection with smart pigs, there are a number of safety precautions and procedures in place to minimize the risk of accidents. In fact, the transportation of natural gas is one of the safest ways of transporting energy, mostly due to the fact that the infrastructure is fixed, and buried underground. According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), pipelines are the safest method of transporting petroleum and natural gas. While there are in excess of 100 deaths per year associated with electric transmission lines, according to the DOT’s Office of Pipeline Safety in 2009, there were 0 deaths associated with transmission pipelines, and 10 deaths associated with distribution systems.

A few of the safety precautions associated with natural gas pipelines include:

• Aerial Patrols – Planes are used to ensure no construction activities are taking place too close to the route of the pipeline, particularly in residential areas. Unauthorized construction and digging is the primary threat to pipeline safety, according to INGAA
• Leak Detection – Natural gas detecting equipment is periodically used by pipeline personnel on the surface to check for leaks. This is especially important in areas where the natural gas is not odorized.
• Pipeline Markers - Signs on the surface above natural gas pipelines indicate the presence of underground pipelines to the public, to reduce the chance of any interference with the pipeline.
• Gas Sampling – Routine sampling of the natural gas in pipelines ensures its quality, and may also indicate corrosion of the interior of the pipeline, or the influx of contaminants.
• Preventative Maintenance – This involves the testing of valves and the removal of surface impediments to pipeline inspection.
• Emergency Response – Pipeline companies have extensive emergency response teams that train for the possibility of a wide range of potential accidents and emergencies.
• The One Call Program – All 50 states have instituted what is known as a ‘one call’ program, which provides excavators, construction crews, and anyone interested in digging into the ground around a pipeline with a single phone number that may be called when any excavation activity is planned. This call alerts the pipeline company, which may flag the area, or even send representatives to monitor the digging.  The national 3-digit number for one call is “811.”

While large interstate natural gas pipelines transport natural gas from the processing regions to the consuming regions and may serve large wholesale users such as industrial or power generation customers directly, it is the distribution system that actually delivers natural gas to most retail customers, including residential natural gas users.

English is a Crazy Language…is it not? You decide!

Let’s Face It. English Is a Crazy Language.

(…a nice-little poem for everyone…certainly “not” black and white! (??))

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well don’t! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard but sounds like bird.
And dead: it’s said like bed, not bead,
For goodness sake don’t call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt).
A moth is not a moth as in mother
Nor both as in bother, nor broth as in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose–
Just look them up–and goose and choose
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go, then thwart and cart,
Come, come! I’ve hardly made a start.
A dreadful Language? Why man alive!
I learned to talk it when I was five.
And yet to write it, the more I tried,
I hadn’t learned it at fifty-five.

Try and match up the rhyming words:

1.

Drinking a cup of water is said to be a good cure for ____.

During the storms last week, many ____ were broken on the trees.

The picanha we had at the churrasco was very____ and difficult to chew.

I am going to the doctor for a ____ checkup.

I am going ____ a very difficult period at the moment.

One of the main symptoms of swine flu is a severe ____.

You need to knead the ____ very well when making bread.

Have you ever seen a snake ______off its skin?

You need to ______the fields before planting crops.

I don’t think I ____to go out tonight, because I have a class at 8:00 in the morning.

_________ is a synonym for misery.

A verruga in English is called a verruca, but is more commonly known as a _________ .

2.

(Use the correct form of the words above in the sentences below.)

What is the correct ____ for morphine?

Many older people like to ____after lunch.

I think fat bellies hanging over skirts looks ____.

I really enjoy the ____ of the job: big office, private secretary, expense account, etc.

A porongo is a type of ____.

Ned Kelly’s final words were: such is life, before they put a _____around his neck and hanged him.

The mirror shattered into a thousand ______.

Many people ____ petrol during the second World War.

The native American woman carried  her ____on her back while working.

If you ever ____your responsibilities at work again you will be fired.

His trousers were so ____ they kept falling down.

Now he wishes he didn’t ____ his belt.

The lion carefully ___________ the antelope herd before pouncing.

3.

Monica Seles always used to ____when she served the tennis ball.

Oh, pooh! I just trod in a dog ____.

Even ____ I have been in Brazil for more than two years I still can’t speak Portuguese.

Border collies are used to _____ sheep in many countries.

Lex Luthor’s plans were always ____by Superman.

Bill Gates is the most successful ____ ever.

4.

(Use the correct form of the words above in the sentences below.)

The child had chocolate ____all over its face.

Because of taxes my _____salary is not so large.

Superman was always doing heroic_____.

The temperature got slightly warmer and the snow turned into ____.

Sabrina asked Daniel to ____the guests while she got ready for their dinner party.

What is the best trap to ____ a rabbit?

I love it when my girlfriend ____my muscles when she gives me a massage.

Adverb Placement… Issues and Arguments They Ponder?

MISPLACED MODIFIER: Some modifiers, especially simple modifiers — “only, just, nearly, barely” — have a bad habit of slipping into the wrong place in a sentence. (In the sentence below, what does it mean to “barely kick” something?)
Confusion:  He barely kicked that ball twenty yards.
Repair Work:  He kicked that ball barely twenty yards.

The issue of the proper placement of “only” has long been argued among grammarians. Many careful writers will insist that “only” be placed immediately before the word or phrase it modifies. Thus “I only gave him three dollars” would be rewritten as “I gave him only three dollars.” Some grammarians, however, have argued that such precision is not really necessary, that there is no danger of misreading “I only gave him three dollars” and that “only” can safely and naturally be placed between the subject and the verb. The argument has been going on for two hundred years.

DANGLING MODIFIER: When we begin a sentence with a modifying word, phrase, or clause, we must make sure the next thing that comes along can, in fact, be modified by that modifier. When a modifier improperly modifies something, it is called a “dangling modifier.” This often happens with beginning participial phrases, making “dangling participles” an all too common phenomenon.

In the sentence below, we can’t have a car changing its own oil.
Confusion:  Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, the car seemed to run better.
Repair Work:  Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, Fred found (that) he could get much better gas mileage.

A participial phrase followed by an Expletive Construction will often be a dangling participle, but the expletive construction is probably not a good idea anyway. This faulty sentence can be remedied by changing the participial phrase into a full-fledged clause with a subject and verb.

Confusion:  Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, there is an easy way to keep your car running smoothly.
Repair Work:  If we change the oil every 3,000 miles, we can keep our car running smoothly.

A participial phrase followed by a Passive Verb is also apt to be a dangler because the real actor of the sentence will be disguised.
Confusion:  Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, the car was kept in excellent condition.
Repair Work:  Changing the oil every 3,000 miles, we kept the car in excellent condition.

An infinitive phrase can also “dangle.” The infinitive phrase below should probably modify the person(s) who set up the exercise program.
Confusion:  To keep the young recruits interested in getting in shape, an exercise program was set up for the summer months.
Repair Work:  To keep the young recruits interested in getting in shape, the coaching staff set up an exercise program for the summer months.

SQUINTING MODIFIER: A third problem in modifier placement is described as a “squinting modifier.” This is an unfortunate result of an adverb’s ability to pop up almost anywhere in a sentence; structurally, the adverb may function fine, but its meaning can be obscure or ambiguous. For instance, in the sentence below, do the students seek advice frequently, or can they frequently improve their grades by seeking advice? You can’t tell from that sentence because the adverb often is “squinting” (you can’t tell which way it’s looking). Let’s try placing the adverb elsewhere.
Confusion:  Students who seek their instructors’ advice often can improve their grades.
Repair Work:  Students who often seek their instructors’ advice can improve their grades.
Repair Work:  Students who seek their instructors’ advice can often improve their grades.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/modifiers.htm

VOCABULARY:
misplaced
dangling
squinting
actor
disguised
full-fledged

CHALLENGES:
1.  The expression “you can’t tell” can mean different things.  Discuss the different meanings this expression/phrase can have in English.

2.  With the help of a professor/teacher, “try your hand” at creating your own sentences using some of the adverbs (or any others) listed in the above article.

3.  Can you guess what “try your hand” might mean?  Have some fun discussing this with your teacher/professor and/or your friends and colleagues.

Day of the Dead in Mexico

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUUAgEWeYeI

By Aracely Hernandez. 1998 (updated 2002) / edited by Jaime Acosta.

El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), a Mexican celebration, is a day to celebrate, remember and prepare special foods in honor of those who have departed. On this day in Mexico, the streets near the cemeteries are filled with decorations of colored paper , flowers, candy calaveras (skeletons and skulls), and parades. It is believed that the spirit of the dead visit their families on  October 31st  and leave on November 2nd.

In order to celebrate, the families make altars and place ofrendas (offerings) of food such as pan de muertos (bread for the dead people) baked in shapes of skulls and figures, candles, incense, yellow marigolds known as cempazuchitl (also spelled zempasuchil) and most importantly a photo of the departed soul is placed on the altar.

It might sound somewhat morbid, but the Mexicans react to death with mourning along with happiness and joy. They look at death with the same fear as any other culture, but there is a difference. They reflect their fear by mocking and living alongside death.

Living alongside death means that Mexicans have to learn to accept it within their lives. Death is apparent in everyday life. It is in art and even in children’s toys. It is not respected as it is in other cultures. Children play “funeral” with toys that are made to represent coffins and undertakers.

Death is laughed at  its face. Many euphemisms are used for death, la calaca (the skeleton), la pelona (the baldy), la flaca (the skinny), and la huesuda (the bony). There are phrases, sayings, and poems that are popular with day of the dead. These sayings are cliches and lose meaning when translated. For example “La muerte es flaca y no puede conmigo” means “Death is skinny or weak and she can’t carry me.” Calaveras (skulls) are decorated with bright colors with the name of the departed inscribed on the head. Children carrying yellow marigolds enjoy the processions to the cemetery. Finally, at the cemetery, music is played and dances are made to honor the spirits. Death is a celebration in Mexico. Death is among them.

Can China control social media revolution?

httpv://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15383756

By Michael Bristow / BBC News, Beijing

Buddhist monks have been performing complicated rituals in its incense-filled halls and courtyards for more than 1,000 years. But the temple is going through a revival that is being driven by a very high-tech tool – the internet. The abbot even has his own microblog. Master Xue Cheng is just one of 200 million people who have their own site on China’s most popular microblogging portal, Weibo, a service run by internet company Sina. It has led to a fundamental change in the way people communicate with each other, giving them the chance to share information and speak out.

Microblogging even has the potential to transform China – and its leaders know it. That is why they are now debating how to control this social revolution.

‘Embrace new things’

Microblog use has exploded in China over the last couple of years. Twitter is blocked but home-grown alternatives are booming. Like Twitter, each message is limited to 140 characters, although users can say so much more with that many Chinese symbols than with English letters. Chinese microblog sites also allow people to attach photographs and documents, increasing the ability to disseminate information.

The range of people who use them is endless: film directors, athletes, television presenters and, of course, ordinary people. Like elsewhere in the world, they use these sites to talk about anything and everything, much of it trivial, some of it less so.

Master Xue Cheng said his microblog shows that “Buddhists have the ability to embrace new things”. His site is updated regularly with news of events at Longquan and sayings related to his Buddhist beliefs. “A person is happy not because he possesses a lot, but because he cares for just a few things,” was one recent posting from the monk.

The instant messages spread on microblogs have also given Chinese activists a new weapon in their fight against the government. Information about protests, petitions and government persecution whizz around cyberspace at lightning speed. The internet is driving a Buddhist revival at Longquan Temple, just outside Beijing

Retired campaigner Wang Lihong realised the value of this new form of communication, using it to gain support for her causes. She helped people with grievances against the government. The authorities dealt with her, sentencing the 56-year-old to nine months in prison at a court in Beijing in September for “stirring up trouble”. But her message is harder to silence. As she was being led away she told her son, Qi Jianxiang, to remember her on the internet.  Her sentence had been blogged even before she left the courtroom.

Perfect Job Candidate………beware

Some people advise that when asked about your weaknesses in a job interview, you should stick to talking about your strengths (e.g. “I’m a perfectionist”). If you’re dealing with an experienced interviewer, this is a Very Bad Idea. It’s not just that your interviewer may be slightly disturbed by your willingness to begin your professional relationship with a blatant attempt at deception. Her key concern is that you might really believe what you’re saying. Skilled judges of people are aware that overconfident individuals can be the worst, most dangerous employees.

Why is a lack of awareness of one’s limitations a mark of poor performance? Compare a schoolyard bully with ten years experience picking on smaller kids, with a black-belt martial artist of the same age, with ten years serious training and several championships to his name. If asked in an interview about the weaknesses of his fighting technique, the bully is likely to respond, “What’s it to you?” The martial artist, in comparison, is able to describe a long list of specific imperfections.  ”When I front kick, sometimes I drop my weight forwards when I’m placing my foot back on the ground, instead of keeping my balance.” “Sometimes I overextend when I punch.” The bully might have these same flaws, but would not be aware of them, or understand why they are important.

Don’t sleep with your smart phone nearby

Editor’s note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose books include “Late Edition: A Love Story” and “When We Get To Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams.”

(CNN) — “I won’t even sleep in the same room with them.”

A fellow named Daniel Sieberg was telling me his hard-and-fast rule for getting through the night.

He takes all of his digital devices — laptops, tablets, cellphones, anything portable that has a screen — to another room before he turns off the light. He has come to terms with the fact that the technological gadgets that have so thoroughly insinuated themselves into our lives can become addictive.

So, when it’s time for slumber, he locks them out. He won’t even let his cellphone charge overnight in the bedroom:

“If it’s there, I would have the temptation to turn it on and check it.”

We have learned to celebrate, even revere, the wireless gadgets we carry around and the inventors who bring them to us; the response to the death of Steve Jobs this month was emblematic of how important our do-it-all phones, our computers, our tablets and related digital devices have become. We say that the technology has changed life as we used to know it.

But how much is too much?

And, more to the point: How many of us have the nagging feeling that we are somehow unable to disconnect — that the electronic devices we own have begun to own us?

There is an instinct to treat the subject whimsically: “Land o’Goshen, Ma, those kids are walking down the street staring at their cellphone screens.” It’s as if any criticism of what the digital age has done to society brands the person raising the questions as backward, afraid of change, irrationally wedded to outmoded ways.

So the addiction question is often one that people silently ask themselves. Shouldn’t we be spending less time checking and rechecking our many screens, large and small, and more time taking part in what used to be regarded as real life? Is there something inherently wrong when people being separated from their phones, computers and tablets makes them feel nervous, irritable, tense — in other words, when they begin to exhibit classic withdrawal symptoms?

For guidance on this, I got in touch with Sieberg, who has given as much thought to the subject as anyone of whom I’m aware. A former CNN correspondent, he is a lecturer, writer and broadcaster on technology issues who, in his own life, became increasingly conscious of the unhealthy hold that digital devices can have. He wrote a book called “The Digital Diet” that argues persuasively that there can come a time in a person’s life when he or she is a good candidate for technology detox.

I asked him if “addiction” is too strong a word to use in relation to devices that seem to hook their users emotionally, but not chemically.

“Unfortunately, the word ‘addiction’ has become overused,” he said, and should not be trivialized. Addictions to illegal drugs, alcohol and prescription medication are grimly somber matters. But, he said, the idea of an addiction to digital devices is genuine and is not something that should be greeted with a sardonic wink.

“One definition of ‘addiction’ is when other people and other activities in your life begin to suffer because of something you know you should cut back on, but don’t,” he said.

Some of his examples are things that many people will instantly recognize:

– The urge to pull out a cellphone even when someone you’re with is in the midst of a conversation with you.

– Texting even while your child is telling you about his or her day at school, and realizing later that you can’t remember the details of what your son or daughter has said to you.

– Having the vague feeling that something hasn’t really happened until you post it to Facebook or Twitter.

– Feeling isolated and anxious if you are offline for an extended period of time.

– Noticing that even when your family is all together in one room at home, each person is gazing at his or her own screen and tapping at a miniature keyboard.

“There are people who, even when they aren’t using their digital devices, find themselves creating status updates or Twitter feeds in their heads while they are experiencing things,” he said. “It’s as if they have lost the ability to live in the moment, and have become conditioned to feeling that they have to instantly share it electronically while it is still going on.”

Sieberg is hardly a guy stuck in some dust-covered, pre-technology past: He has always been among the first to own each new portable device, and he likes the many good things the digital experience can provide. But he realized — when his wife would wake up in the middle of the night to see him, in bed, illuminated by the glow of one screen or another that he had decided to check one more time before he fell back asleep — that something might need remedying.

There is, he said, a feeling common among people who are digitally hooked that, when it’s just them and the real world and no screen, they are somehow cast adrift, cut off: “It’s a sense of, ‘What am I missing?’” But in truth, a strong case can be made that when a person lives too many hours a day in the digital universe, that is when he or she is really missing something — missing the things that are taking place in the flesh-and-blood world.

Sieberg has a phrase for it: You know you’re in trouble when “your footing in technology feels increasingly like quicksand.”

And he has a piece of advice for all of us, regardless of how deep we feel we’re sinking into that digital quicksand:

Like him, we should consider locking all of those devices in another room at night. He promises that it makes a difference:

“You sleep better.”

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/30/opinion/greene-smart-phone-addiction/?hpt=us_t2

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