Sparrows 'learn song by twitter'
Young sparrows are attracted to group birdsongYoung sparrows learn to sing by listening to other birds' conversation, a study of their behaviour suggests.
University of Washington researchers say the sparrows tended to ignore solo bird song, choosing instead to eavesdrop on pairs.
The scientists broadcast different types of song via loudspeakers and found the young sparrows tended to fly towards adult male twitter.
The Proceedings of the Royal Society journal is publishing the findings.
The US research team used radio equipment to tag 11 male baby sparrows, which had not yet begun to sing, in Seattle.
The birds were exposed to five minutes of pre-recorded song, either from pairs of song sparrows, a sparrow and a tit or a pair of tits.
The research leader, Christopher Templeton, said he focused on male birds because female sparrows generally do not sing.
He said: "We measured how close the juveniles came to the speakers, how long it took for them to approach and their overall movements.
"They generally moved closer, faster and farther when they heard recordings of two adult male sparrows interacting than when they heard recordings of a solo sparrow singing," he explained.
Safety in numbers
He said: "They seem to be learning how to sing and interact by eavesdropping on interactions."
Dr Templeton said learning shared songs was important for young birds in the flock.
He said: "Having shared song is the basis of song sparrow communications. By listening to two birds, the juvenile can also learn how the songs are used, something he can't learn by listening to a single bird."
Dr Templeton said the reason for gravitating towards group song could be because there was safety in numbers.
He said: "The young bird could do this by directly interacting with a mature adult bird, but that is risky because he might be chased away or beaten up."
2009年10月21日 星期三
Sparrows 'learn song by twitter' - 麻雀亂叫也是有學問的。
appleseed, 蘋果核:[10.5]字典+語音=貼身英文小老師 - 蘋果核這篇真的很好用，挖出來。
[10.5]字典+語音=貼身英文小老師
Apple對相對來說小眾的繁體中文使用者市場時常忽略某些支援，像是內建非常好用的【字典】（Dictionary.app）就是一個例子，10.5 之後的字典可以讓使用者自行加入與它格式相符的字庫，所以我們不用看Apple的臉色就能把【英翻中】、【中翻英】字庫放進字典裡！^___^y要製作繁體中文的字庫我們需要 DictUnifier 這個轉換小程式（下載），目前 DictUnifier 只支援 Stardict 星際譯王的免費字庫檔（tarbal 格式），所以只要到 Stardict 找你合用的字庫，例如：牛津現代英漢雙解詞典、21世紀雙語科技詞典或是我愛用的懶蟲簡明英漢詞典... 就能轉成Dictionary的囉！ 
DictUnifier的轉換畫面，選好下載回來的tar.bz2格式檔後按【convert】就搞定了！（圖片來自 http://blog.jjgod.org/） 轉換完成之後【字典】中應該會出現我們自製的字庫（如果沒有出現可以自己把 .dictionary檔案夾放到 /資源庫/Dictionaries裡）
到字典的偏好設定中啟用或是停用已經存在的字庫，拖曳列表中的字庫順序可以改變顯示字典的排序
輸入你要找的單字就能幫你在啟用的字典中尋找囉！
再來我們可以為字典設定快速鍵，如果在以cocoa寫成的程式中像是 Safari、Mail、文字編輯器....等查單字，只要將滑鼠移到單字上然後按一下快速鍵就會顯示翻譯囉！
字典的快速鍵是在【系統偏好設定】→【滑鼠與鍵盤】→【鍵盤快速鍵】中
我自己愛用的快速鍵是【Option+D】
另外我比較偏好懶蟲簡明版面比較簡單的顯示方式，所以把它挪到第一順位，這樣的好處是使用快速鍵查單字時不用再捲動頁面就看得到翻譯，另外在Spotlight中的【定義】也可以看得到中文
目前到這邊的設定對於一般的字典使用應該就已經足夠
但是10.5還有一個更先進的發音朗讀技術--Alex
Alex的發聲技術我覺得非常的優秀，把他當做字典的發聲器很實用哩！ 在【系統偏好設定】→【語音】項目中的【文字到語音】中勾選【當按下按鍵朗讀所選的文字】
然後指定一組快速鍵給它，我建議這組快速鍵最好是和字典的快速鍵互相搭配，我是使用【Option+Ctrl+D】
設定完成後只要將游標移到想聽發音的單字上面，雙擊滑鼠左鍵選擇單字然後搭配朗讀的快速鍵就OK囉！
其實Alex的能耐不只單字發音，要他幫你朗讀整篇英文文章也難不倒他哩！以合成發音來說，Alex的表現算是在水準之上吧！
最後關於學習英文單字的部份Quicksilver也可以來插一腳，這個部份就留到下次有機會繼續補完囉！^^
2009年10月20日 星期二
2009年10月19日 星期一
Environmental quality - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Environmental quality
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, searchEnvironmental quality is a set of properties and characteristics of the environment, either generalized or local, as they impinge on human beings and other organisms.
Environmental quality is a general term which can refer to varied characteristics that relate to the natural environment as well as the built environment, such as air and water purity or pollution, noise and the potential effects which such characteristics may have on physical and mental health caused by human activities.[1]
In the USA the term is applied with a body of federal and state standards and regulations that are monitored by regulatory agencies. All states in the U.S. have some form of a department or commission[2] that is responsible for a variety of activities such as monitoring quality, responding to citizen complaints, and enforcing environmental regulations. The agency with the lead implementation responsibility for most major federal environmental laws (e.g. Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act) is the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Other federal agencies with significant oversight roles include the Council on Environmental Quality, Department of the Interior and the Army Corps of Engineers.
In the UK environment has been the primary responsibility of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Predecessor bodies were merged in 2001 to create this department with a broader remit to link rural activities to the natural environment. Some responsibilities are devolved to the Scottish Government and the National Assembly for Wales, while delivery of environmental initiatives often use partners, including: British Waterways, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, and Natural England. DEFRA also has a remit to oversee impacts of activities within the built environment and the United Kingdom Climate Change Programme.
[edit] References
[edit] See also
BADONGO － 我太慢知道了嗎？
Installation Instructions
Step 1 - Click here to download the Badongo Buddy Installer. By default, the file is downloaded to your desktop. Step 2 - Once the Badongo File has download the the disk image will normally mount auto automatically. ( If not, navigate to the download location and double-click on the .dmg file to mount it.) Step 3 - To install Badongo Buddy on your machine simply drag the icon into the Applications folder. Step 4 - You can now run Badongo Buddy by navigating to your applications folder and double clicking the icon.
2009年10月18日 星期日
不是人為破壞 你的車被隕石砸中了-真像JOJO的劇情呀
不是人為破壞 你的車被隕石砸中了
更新日期:2009/10/17 08:01（中央社記者張若霆多倫多16日專電）加拿大新聞社報導，安大略省西南部一戶人家停車道停放的卡車，9月25日晚，被天外飛來隕石砸中，穿透了卡車的擋風玻璃。
車主賈金斯基（Tony Garchinski）表示，當時他們以為有人惡意破壞，用石頭砸破他停在車道上的卡車擋風玻璃。他於是將石頭收藏好當證物，準備找到破壞者打官司。
上周，西安大略大學研究人員呼籲住在西南安省格林斯比（Grimsby）地區的民眾，注意自家附近有無發現不尋常石頭。因為研究人員正在尋找9月25日夜晚，落在這個地區的隕石。
賈金斯金聽到這項呼籲後，便與西安大略大學研究人員聯絡。研究人員前來查看後，鑑定砸破賈金斯基車窗的石頭，就是隕石。
賈金斯基表示，他沒想到，這塊天外飛來、已有46億年歷史的石頭，竟會落在他家車窗上。