中國第一艘航空母艦

       最近中國繼美國、俄羅斯、法國、英國、印度、巴西、阿根廷、西班牙、意大利及泰國之後擁有航空母艦。

 
       這艘命名為京「遼寧艦」雖然是中國第一艘航空母艦，但意義重大。它肯定是中國建造未來新式常規及核能推動的航母作藍本，亦是一艘科研及供訓練海空軍的戰艦。

以下是一些關於遼寧號一些資料：

       這艘「遼寧」號的航空母艦其實在上世紀80年代初開始在烏克蘭黑海造船廠開工建造，最初的名字為「瓦良格」號。從1992年1月份開始，由於缺乏足夠的資金，「瓦良格」號便一直處於停工狀態。到1994年，俄羅斯最終決定放棄參與該艦的建造工作。

　　2000年，尚未完工（當時僅完成全部工作量的76%）的「瓦良格」號被烏克蘭以2000萬美元的「廢鋼價」出售給了中國澳門的一家公司。當時該公司宣稱將把這艘半成品航母改裝成一座海上賭場，但在其運抵中國後，中方卻開始著手修復並對「瓦良格」號進行了改裝。

　　在中國方面獨立進行的改裝過程中，在購買「瓦良格」號時獲得的設計圖紙發揮了重要的作用。

　　中國軍方此前曾多次表示，「瓦良格」號將被用作航母訓練平台，以便中國海軍熟悉使用此類裝備的戰術和技術，同時，為中國今後建造國產航空母艦積累經驗。

　　據中方消息人士透露，按照最初的計劃，中國首艘國產航母將採用常規動力，排水量在5—6萬噸，預計將在2015年完工。而中國的首艘核動力航母將在2020年下水。

　　中國的航母計劃已推進了20餘年。為掌握航母建造技術，中國曾從國外購買過多艘退役航母，包括澳大利亞的「墨爾本」號、前蘇聯的「明斯克」號、「基輔」號和「瓦良格」號等。

　　根據中國海軍的第一階段航母建造計劃，將在2015-2016年左右建造兩艘常規動力航母，並在2020年前組建兩支航母艦隊。在第二階段，中國將建造兩艘排水量達6.5萬噸的核動力航母。

　　未來，中國海軍將組建四支航母艦隊，分別部署在中國南海和東海水域。我相信中國海軍未來有一番新景象。

Endeavour was brought to Los Angeles

From TV news on September 22, (September 21, US), I learned that the space shuttle, Endeavour (奮進號) was carried by a jumbo 747 to Los Angeles International Airport and it will soon be brought to California Science Centre for display. It was an amazing flight around the city, which attracted a lot of citizens to watch it fly across the sky.

Here is an extract from Wikipedia:

Endeavour completed its final mission with a landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 06:34 UTC on June 1, 2011. Over its flight career, Endeavour flew 122,853,151 miles and spent 299 days in space. While flying Endeavour's last mission, the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-20 departed from the ISS and paused at a distance of 200 meters. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took a series of photographs and videos of the ISS with Endeavour docked. This was the second time a Shuttle had been photographed while docked and the first time since 1996. Commander Mark Kelly was the last astronaut off Endeavour after the landing, and the crew stayed on the landing strip long enough to sign autographs and pose for pictures. With commander Mark Kelly and pilot Gregory Johnson at the controls, Endeavour's touchdown was the 25th time a shuttle performed a night landing.

One final mission, STS-135, was added to the schedule in January 2011, and Atlantis flew for the last time in July 2011.

NASA offered the three remaining orbiters for museum donation once they are withdrawn from service. After more than twenty organizations submitted proposals to NASA for the display of an orbiter, NASA announced that Enterprise (企業號) will go to New York's Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, Discovery (發現號) will go the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum, Atlantis (亞特蘭蒂斯號) will remain in the Visitor Complex at Kennedy Space Center, and Endeavour (奮進號) will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. It was finally delivered to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on September 21 2012. Soon, it will be moved along the streets of Los Angeles (La Tijera, Manchester, Crenshaw, and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards) to its final destination at the California Science Center.

Wooden-block Man

Elly is now able to assemble blocks as freely as she likes. Here is an example.

It is great news that she feels satisfied every time when the blocks do not fall. That involves her careful way in “building and balancing” blocks. Sometimes, failures may occur and they are really good experiences to this little girl, aged three, because she understands quite well that she may not be successful each time she wants to do something.

To me, her wooden blocks together (in the photo) seem like a “Man” wearing shorts and standing on two legs. The “Man” looks strong and solid and can stand up straight. After she has finished the assembling game, she is pleased and allows me to take photographs of her “master-piece”.

Feathery Palettes

Besides making clever speeches, Parrots show their beautiful feathers like palettes. The colours match so well to please our eyes. Peacocks also display their fan-like feathers when they feel pleased. I remember that in a Japanese Garden in Australia, the peacock did not show off his feathers in my camera's screen.






Even small birds can bear bright-coloured feathers which added much fun to trees that they land on.










Flamingos when they come together redden their favourable lakes or breeding grounds . Water ducks, in their beautiful feathers, fly and duck down to catch fish or small amphibians, worms or small molluscs at their feeding grounds.

Passion Fruit

Yesterday afternoon when visited a friend of mine, I marvelled for some time at the lovely passion fruits that were hanging down the wooden vine support. The fruits appeared to be very round with smooth dotted skins.

Passion flowers are native to Brazil, Paraguay and northern Argentina provinces. Its common names include passion fruit (UK and US), and passionfruit (Australia and New Zealand), and purple granadilla (South Africa). Please note that the flower of the passion fruit is the national flower of Paraguay.

It is cultivated commercially in warmer, frost-free areas for its fruit and is widely grown in India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Peru, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, California, Florida, Haiti, Hawaii, Argentina, Australia, East Africa, Mexico, Israel, Costa Rica, Venezuela, South Africa and Portugal.

The passion fruit is round to oval, either yellow or dark purple at maturity, with a soft to firm, juicy interior filled with numerous seeds. The fruit is both eaten and juiced; passion fruit juice is often added to other fruit juices to enhance the aroma. (See the drink my friend served us at the bottom right of the top photo. It is passion fruit flesh plus cream soda)

The two types of passion fruit have clearly differing exterior appearances. The bright yellow variety of passion fruit, which is also known as the Golden Passion Fruit, can grow up to the size of a grapefruit. It has a smooth, glossy, light and airy rind, and has been used as a rootstock for the Purple Passion Fruit in Australia. The dark purple passion fruit is smaller than a lemon, though it is less acidic than the yellow passion fruit, and has richer aroma and flavour.

Some people wonder at the parts of the passion flower and the tendrils. They say:
(1)The three stigmas reflect the three nails in Jesus's hands and feet.
(2) The threads of the passion flower resemble the Crown of Thorns.
(3) The vine's tendrils are likened to the whips.
(4) The ten petals and sepals regarded to resemble the Apostles (excluding Judas and Peter).
(5) The purple petals representing the purple robe used to mock Jesus' claim to kingship (Mt. 27:28)

Abbreviations on a KMB bus

Today at Choi Hung, on the walls of a pink bus I found abbreviations of a Question Mark and a Colon and nothing else. Soon I understood what it meant.

What does it mean to you?

Seckel pears

Recently I bought several pears which appeared green with a blush of red across it. "W" supermarket calls them as 紅胭脂啤梨. After surfing the Internet, I find their name as Seckel pears.

According to a source of information, good-quality Seckel pears will be small or even bite-sized with no bruises and only a few minor scuff marks. The coloring will be green with dark-red blush or nearly all red. Pears are ripe when they take on a yellow hue and yield to gentle pressure at the stem end.

From my experience, when the pears has turned from red-green to red-yellow, they have ripen already. The pear which I cut open was a bit over-ripe. The texture at the time I eat it has become that of a potato. There are a few root-like things inside. I wonder if the pear has entered the stage of rottening. To find out if those unripe Seckel pears appear in the same condition, I cut and taste them. Well, their qualities equalize with those ripe Anjou pears I ate before.

I learn a lesson that I do not have to wait for such Seckel pears to ripe (red-yellow). Just eat them as I wish. Never let them rotten!

Since Seckel pears are available August through January, there will be a lot of time for my exploring their taste when the supply is still abundant

The virtues of Seckel pears are Low-fat, Sodium-free, Source of fiber, a source of vitamin C and Cholesterol-free.

It is interesting to know that pears can be kept to ripe at room temperature in a sealed plastic bag with a couple of ripe bananas. When the pears are ripe, they can be refrigerated until one is ready to eat them.

Another fact is that pears are cousins of apples. The American varieties come from Europe, where they migrated from central Asia. Early colonists brought the first trees to America where they thrived until blights became severe. Most pears are now grown west of the Rockies where diseases are less of a problem