El Niño & La Niña

So Long, El Niño; Hello, La Niña

Voice of America | Smita Nordwall | June 09, 2016 7:44 PM
http://www.voanews.com/content/el-nino-weather-la-nina/3369674.html

The monstrous El Nino weather pattern dubbed "Godzilla" by NASA (the U.S. space agency) is dead, scientists declared Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the El Nino has ended, 15 months after its birth in March 2015.

"There's nothing left,'' NOAA Climate Prediction Center deputy director Mike Halpert said. "Stick a fork in it, it's done.''

The weather pattern, defined by warmer-than-average Pacific Ocean water, was one of the three strongest El Ninos on record, along with 1997-1998 and 1982-83. It has been linked to crop damage, fires and flash floods over the past year.

In the U.S., it delivered much-needed rain and snow to California, but failed to end the parched state's four-year drought.

The cyclical weather phenomenon triggered droughts in parts of Africa, India and Southeast Asia, and contributed to the heating up of the planet. Earth has had 12 straight record hot months and is likely to have its second straight record hot year.

The El Nino cycles occur every two or three years on average, and before we see the next one, we must contend with La Nina, the cooler opposite of El Nino, to take place in the Northern Hemisphere later this year.

NOAA forecasts a 50 percent chance of La Nina by the end of the hemisphere's summer, and a 75 percent chance by the end of the fall.

La Nina generally brings more hurricanes to the Atlantic, drier-than-normal conditions in the U.S. Southwest, and wetter conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

It often brings lots of rain to parts of Australia and Southeast Asia, and cooler temperatures in parts of Africa, Asia, South America and Canada.

                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~

El Niño Returns

Voice of America | Steve Baragona | April 10, 2014 8:17 PM

http://www.voanews.com/content/el-niño-returns/1890988.html

The climate phenomenon known as El Niño looks to be on its way back, forecasters say, raising the odds of droughts in some places and floods in others.

There are early signs that this could develop into the biggest one on record.

But experts say they cannot know for sure yet, and local impacts are even harder to predict.

Global impacts

El Niño occurs every few years, when tropical waters off the Pacific coast of South America turn warmer than normal. Warm air rises off those waters and changes the path of the major wind currents that blow around the planet.

It can weaken monsoons in South and Southeast Asia.  Rainy seasons in southern Africa can turn dry. Meanwhile, east Africa and South America can get soaked.

The latest official forecasts give about two-thirds odds that El Niño will develop by the end of the year.

Under the surface

But what has really attracted attention is the huge body of warm water building up below the surface of the tropical Pacific.

Meteorologists say there is more energy stored up underwater now than at this point in 1997, just before the strongest El Niño on record developed.

The 1997-98 El Niño led to catastrophic floods in Peru, forest fires in Indonesia and Malaysia and record-high global temperatures.

If those warm waters in the eastern Pacific make their way to the surface and stay there, it could mean a major El Niño event, weather havoc worldwide and possibly new high-temperature records.

No guarantee

However, “just having a lot of warm water below the surface now is not enough to guarantee that we’re going to have a strong El Niño,” notes Tony Barnston, chief forecaster Tony Barnston at Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society.

The warm water could dissipate. It could come to the surface but not linger. Barnston says El Niño is notoriously difficult to predict at this time of year.

Plus, the atmosphere has been in a cooler cycle for the past several years, which many say does not favor a strong El Niño.

And, finally, a note of caution from Gary Eilerts,  who manages the Famine Early Warning System Network for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Eilerts was in Africa for the 1997-98 El Niño.

“We said this is going to be a big one,” he said. “This could be the mother of all impacts on food insecurity in southern Africa.”

The rains came late, but when they came, “we had almost a normal season,” Eilerts added. “And that was in the face of the largest El Niño ever recorded.”

Future predictions

Forecasters should have a better picture of what El Niño has in store by August.

What the more distant future holds in a changing climate is even less clear.

“El Niño goes back hundreds of thousands of years, so clearly, El Niño is not related to climate change,” said Mike Halpert, head of the Climate Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “Now, the question is, does climate change have an impact? And that’s still an open question.”

False Flag Operations

5 Confirmed False Flag Operations and How to Spot Them in the Future

http://www.infowars.com/5-confirmed-false-flag-operations-and-how-to-spot-them-in-the-future/

Sebastian Swift | Anti-Media - July 14, 2015

The story of the false flag phenomenon is one that is still being written ...

The concept of the “false flag” operation has become almost prohibitively stigmatized in recent years because of the 9/11 “truther” movement and the emotional fallout from the tragedies at Sandy Hook, Aurora, Boston and others. In spite of being labeled “conspiracy theories”, real, verifiable false flag events have taken place in the past. Such examples serve to dismantle the notion that false flags are meritless conspiracy theories and can help destigmatize the concept itself, providing the diagnostic lens needed to identify false flags when they arise.

Author Richard Dolan made a presentation at the 2015 Contact in the Desert conference about what he calls the “false flag era”. According to Dolan, because false flag operations require control over the global media narrative and the ability to intimidate other countries into not speaking out against “inside jobs”, only a few countries have the means and motives to pull them off.

The false flag phenomenon is distinctively modern and used as an ideological weapon to control populations with the fear of a manufactured enemy. They are used in ostensibly democratic systems where people believe they have inalienable rights. Such democratic systems—primarily the United States, Israel, and Great Britain—must shock people into sociopolitical and geopolitical consent and, as such, require sophisticated modern propaganda systems and advanced covert operations teams with highly proficient skills.

                                        ~~~~~~~

  

Operation Gladio

Operation Gladio was a post-World War II program established by the CIA, NATO, and possibly Britain’s M16 to fight communism in Europe by whatever means necessary. The two-decade operation used CIA-created “stay behind” networks as part of a “Strategy of Tension” that unleashed a multitude of terrorist attacks from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. The attacks were blamed on Marxists and other left-wing political opponents in order to discredit communism. The operation involved multiple bombings that killed hundreds of innocent people, including children. The most notable attack was the August 2, 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station, which killed 85 people.

How do we know about Operation Gladio in spite of its incredibly clandestine nature? There are two principle sources. One, the investigations of Italian judge Felice Casson, whose presentation was so compelling it forced Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti to confirm Gladio’s existence. The second source is testimony from an actual Gladio operative, Vincenzo Vinciguerra, who is serving a life sentence for murder. In a 1990 interview with the Guardian, Vincenzo stated that Gladio was designed to psychologically coerce the Italian public to rely on the state for security.

Operation Ajax

In 1953, the CIA launched Operation Ajax in order to overthrow Iran’s democratically elected leader, Mohammed Mosaddiq, and replace him with the Shah, a ruthless dictator. The United States sought to depose Iran’s nationalized Anglo-Persian oil company and install 5 U.S. oil companies to take over the nation’s oil fields. In order to do so, they staged a false flag operation that utilized propaganda and complex political maneuvers in order to create public revolt that eventually led to the United States and Britain’s M16 military intelligence re-installing the Shah in order to throttle Iran’s oil supplies and transform the nation into a puppet regime of the United States government.

Most information relevant to this CIA-sponsored coup is declassified now and available in the CIA archives.

The CIA described itself Operation Ajax:

“The world has paid a heavy price for the lack of democracy in most of the Middle East.  Operation Ajax taught tyrants and aspiring tyrants that the world’s most powerful governments were willing to tolerate limitless oppression as long as oppressive regimes were friendly to the West and to Western oil companies. That helped tilt the political balance in a vast region away from freedom and toward dictatorship.”

The Lavon Affair

In 1954, a year after Operation Ajax, Israel launched its own false flag operation. Code-named Operation Susannah, the Lavon Affair featured the covert operation of Israeli agents who planted bombs in several Egyptian, American, and British-owned cinemas, libraries and educational centers, including a United States diplomatic facility, framing eight Egyptian Muslims as the perpetrators.

One of the bombs detonated prematurely, which caused one of the bombers to be captured.

A public trial exposed the Israeli spy ring and the covert operation. The operatives were convicted and two of them executed. Israeli Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon was forced to step down because of the scandal. However, the more far-reaching consequences of the Lavon Affair demonstrate once again how governments use false flags to achieve certain objectives that might not have been possible otherwise. In this case, according to a Stanford published paper, the operation triggered a chain reaction of game-changing events:

“A retaliatory military incursion by Israel into Gaza that killed 39 Egyptians; a subsequent Egyptian–Soviet arms deal that angered American and British leaders, who then withdrew previously pledged support for the building of the Aswan Dam; the announced nationalization of the Suez Canal by Nasser in retaliation for the withdrawn support; and the subsequent failed invasion of Egypt by Israel, France, and Britain in an attempt to topple Nasser. In the wake of that failed invasion, France expanded and accelerated its ongoing nuclear cooperation with Israel, which eventually enabled the Jewish state to build nuclear weapons.”

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO was a series of clandestine, illegal FBI projects that infiltrated domestic political organizations to discredit and smear them. This included critics of the Vietnam War, civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, and a wide variety of activists and journalists.

The acts committed against them included psychological warfare, slander using forged documents and false reports in the media, harassment, wrongful imprisonment and, according to some, intimidation and possibly violence and assassination.

A U.S. Congressional committee documented the false flag component of the campaign, describing how the FBI had hired provocateurs from the 1950s through the 1970s to commit criminal and violent acts and falsely blame them on political activists. The campaign worked extremely effectively at disrupting the progressive momentum of the era.

Despite being formally discontinued, new permutations of COINTELPRO have persisted and include present-day efforts to undermine activists, whistleblowers and protests. In fact, a 2012 article published by The Guardian described the FBI’s crackdown on the Occupy movement as a “totally integrated corporate-state repression of dissent”.

Gulf of Tonkin

The Gulf of Tonkin incident, a major escalator of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, never actually occurred. The government essentially staged—or at the very least, utilized a patently false report—in order to manufacture a geopolitical narrative with a ready-made enemy, the North Vietnamese.

The original incident—also sometimes referred to as the U.S.S. Maddox Incident(s)—involved the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox supposedly engaging three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats as part of an intelligence patrol. The Maddox fired almost 300 shells.

President Lyndon B. Johnson promptly drafted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which became his administration’s legal justification for military involvement in Vietnam. The problem is the event never happened—and Johnson had no reason to believe it had.

In 2005, a declassified internal National Security Agency study revealed that there were no North Vietnamese naval vessels present during the incident. So what was the Maddox firing at? In 1965, President Johnson commented, “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there.”

The NSA’s own historian, Robert J. Hanyok, wrote a report stating that the agency had deliberately distorted intelligence reports in 1964. He concluded that

“The parallels between the faulty intelligence on Tonkin Gulf and the manipulated intelligence used to justify the Iraq War make it all the more worthwhile to re-examine the events of August 1964.”

                                        ~~~~~~~

The Warning Signs of a False Flag Operation:

~ There is an immediate comprehensive narrative, including a convenient culprit. Law enforcement, government agencies, and the mainstream media immediately proffer a narrative that completely explains the event and encourages citizens to tie their intellectual understanding of the tragedy to the emotions they experience. In his lecture at Contact in the Desert, Richard Dolan noted that a distinguishing characteristic of a false flag operation is that the official narrative IS NOT questioned by the media. There are often legislative, ideological and sociopolitical power plays waiting in the wings, which the government can immediately implement. The most striking example of this is the Patriot Act, which was written well before 9/11 but seemed to correlate entirely with the events that had transpired.

~ The official narrative has obvious domestic and geopolitical advantages for the governing body. The Bush administration used 9/11 to usher in the War on Terror, which has served as a lynchpin for countless civil liberty infringements by the national security state, including ubiquitous domestic surveillance and indefinite detention. It also directly paved the way for an invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq—countries that had nothing to do with the attacks—allowing our government and defense contractors to control the natural gas pipelines and oil fields. This bears a striking resemblance to Operation Ajax.

~ The narrative behind the attack serves to leverage emotions like fear, as well as patriotism, in order to manufacture consent around a previously controversial issue. For example, many of the recent domestic terror attacks, including the Aurora shooting, have exacerbated and reinforced advocacy of gun control legislation. More importantly, these attacks divide populations and invite the government and militarized local police forces to have the authority to declare martial law at will, locking down entire neighborhoods. We saw this after the Boston marathon bombing, the most striking example of this nation’s post 9/11 police state mentality.

~ Military training drills and police drills occur on the day of and very near the attack itself, causing confusion to obscure eye witness testimony and allowing orchestrators to plant both patsies, disinformation and backup operatives. This is no small point. An incredible percentage of major domestic or international terror attacks have involved simultaneous “training drills”. This list includes, but is not limited to, the infamous NORAD drills of 9/11, the 7/7 London Bombings, the 2011 Norway shooting, the Aurora shooting, Sandy Hook, and the Boston Marathon. Though none of the aforementioned events can be confirmed or denied without a doubt, they bear a striking resemblance to previous false flag attacks and should be looked at with an investigative eye.

                                        ~~~~~~~

The bigger false flags that occurred in the last two decades undoubtedly utilized unimaginable amounts of money and resources. It will take time and many contributions by intrepid researchers and whistleblowers to prove them.

The cases made for and against 9/11 being a false flag “inside job” are voluminous and highly controversial. The narrative is so convoluted with disinformation that despite all of the technology and online resources at our disposal, it is highly unlikely we will know for sure how many layers of shadow and black op agencies were used—if, in fact, they were. What we do know is that shortly before the events of 9/11, then-Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld announced that $2.3 trillion dollars was missing from the Pentagon’s budget. Unfortunately, too much evidence has been destroyed or manipulated to reach a conclusive verdict as to whether it was a full blown false flag or an extreme case of state opportunism.

                                        ~~~~~~~

Remember, the story of the false flag phenomenon is one that is still being written. Our analysis of it must breach the most powerful information control filters the world has ever seen. As technology and social enlightenment make the crimes of the world’s national governments transparent, we will see shocking new chapters added to this history that will shatter mainstream perceptions of reality.

                                        ~~~~~~~

Further Reading:

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/false-flags-to-be-used-to-justify-a-massive-ground-invasion-of-syria

Coding + Writing + Public Speaking !!!

想在科技業成功？ 微軟前工程師: 我們要學會寫作
The News Lens 關鍵評論網  |  2016/03/24

http://www.thenewslens.com/post/232062/

Read More:  

1. A programmer's work is more than just coding

http://www.businessinsider.my/ex-microsoft-engineer-advice-success-2015-10/

(中文: http://technews.tw/2015/10/14/engineer-who-is-good-at-writing/)

2. Why is writing well so important

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20150915-the-biggest-writing-mistakes-new-graduates-make

(中文: http://www.bbc.com/ukchina/trad/vert_cap/2015/09/150918_vert_cap_the-biggest-writing-mistakes-new-graduates-make)

微軟前工程師Mike Borozdin認為要在科技界立足，不能只有寫程式技巧。

「我會建議人們做一件事，就是學會寫作。」

《Business Insider》報導， Borozdin曾在微軟的工程部DocuSign擔任高級主管3年。Borozdin表示，對於很多工程師來說，站出來公開演講有一定難度，所以他們需要知道如何表達自己。Borozdin認為學習如何寫好文章，這是真正有用。寫作會幫助他們更清楚地向經理、老闆和潛在客戶解釋他們的工作，也更容易因此得到適當的回報。

Borozdin在DocuSign工作之前，曾自信地向上級交待他的工作，但出乎意料的是，他們並沒有真正承認他的貢獻。「我當時想：『這是我的主意，怎麼他們居然看不到呢？』」Borozdin認為這是一個溝通問題，如果能夠令自己的思路更加清晰、重點更加突出，那完全可以避免這種情況。

寫英文文檔可能不比Java或Objective C少

Borozdin在DocuSign的時候，寫了很多受歡迎的軟件，而想受眾更好的利用它。所以他寫了比程式碼長10倍的文件來說明及回答了大量的問題。這個是一個十分簡單的程序，但是他認為許多人都忽略了。

不過，Borozdin不是要工程師放下手上的工作，全心全意去當作家、小說家。他認為只需要準確、清晰、平實的表達想法就足夠了，「你不需要忘記你的硬核技術身分⋯⋯只需再往上加一點軟性的表達技能。」而這些可以用非常簡單的方式來練習，例如寫一個部落格或多寫電子郵件。

然而，忽略寫作重要性的問題不只存在工程師。BBC報導，2015屆的美國畢業生非常缺乏寫作技能，人力資源管理學會的研究指出，從畢業生的個人簡歷、求職信到工作報告和業務陳述可以看出，他們的書面交流技能十分欠缺。

有職業是不需要寫作的嗎？

大部份的公司均是以清晰、直接的交流為重，並將其作為工作質量的重要指標。即如會計領域，雖然是以數字為主，但也必須具備解釋數字的能力。美國普華永道國際會計事務所（Pricewaterhouse Coopers）招聘主管Rod Adams表示，會計師不需要良好寫作能力的認知是一種誤解，他們都需要用具備真實性的內容清楚地進行交流。

除此之外，劇院行業對寫作都有一定的要求。紐約市新勝利劇院學徒項目經理Lindsey Buller Maliekel表示，表達清楚的寫作對舞台上的演出也是不可或缺的。她認為好演員必須要能在不同的背景當中，將信息生動地呈獻給觀眾，而表達清楚的寫作正是這項技能的要求。

美國埃森哲諮詢公司人才與組織部總經理Katherine LaVelle認為，為了培養出一批更具競爭力、更有能力的員工，公司應該在學習和發展事業上加大投資，尤其要針對寫作等基本能力開展培訓。她認為這樣可以吸引並留住高級人才，還能確保員工獲得職場所需的相關技能，從而更具競爭優勢。

The Armless Cricketer - Amir Hussain Lone

Who Made It To A State Para-Cricket Team

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av3tHPn6VoI

Some stories are great examples of how people can overcome huge odds and achieve their dreams.

Amir lost his arms when he was just 8 years old but that has not prevented him from following his ambition. He wanted to become a cricketer, and he has overcome every adversity to reach his target.

Now, at the age of 26, Amir is the captain of the Jammu and Kashmir state para-cricket team. It is a reward for all the hard work and effort he has put in and for all those who stood by him. This man fought against convention to get to where he is and he is certainly someone to look up to for those facing obstacles in their path.

The lesson is - if you want something badly, hard work is all it takes.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3471102/Howzat-possible-Indian-man-cricket-star-losing-arms-accident-child-bats.html

美国总统如何选 关键问题一次看懂

美国总统如何选 关键问题一次看懂

【大纪元2016年02月01日讯】

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/16/2/1/n4630248.htm

今年是美国总统大选年，民主与共和两党总统参选人正铆足全力冲刺两党初选，依照制度，美国总统初选到正式提名约6个月。

据中央社报导，美国总统初选制度设计复杂，各州规定不一，但行之有年，2月1日从爱阿华州开跑的民主与共和两党初选，是有意角逐白宫大位参选人第一个考验。

一、什么是初选制度：

民主共和两党初选各州制度不同，分为“个人投票”，由党员与支持者径行不记名投票，票多者胜；以及“基层党团会议”（Caucus），党员与支持者闭门讨论决定候选人，但形式上仍为出席者投票制。

2月1日爱阿华州揭开2016美国总统大选初选序幕，民主与共和两党参选人将首次接受各自党内支持者检验，爱阿华州采用的就是“基层党团会议”（Caucus）投票制；2月9日新罕布什尔州初选，则是由各政党选民直接投票。

至于谁可投票，美国各州规定不一，有的规定须具党员身份，有的为党员与支持者，有的规定宽松，民众愿意投票就可参与。

二、如何决定谁可自初选中胜出？

美国总统初选2月1日由爱阿华州起跑，从初选到全国代表大会正式提名，时间漫长，可达4个多月，依各州选举人票数累积，决定候选人，多数参选人因支持度落后中途退出。

三、初选胜负指标州在哪里？

今年的关键初选地区为2月1日的爱阿华州与9日的新罕布什尔州，具全美指标性，一直到3月1日的“超级星期二”，15州同时举行初选或党团会议，届时谁将代表民主与共和两党竞选总统，可望大势底定。

不过，如果超级星期二后局势仍未明朗，初选之争将继续奋战到3月15日，届时伊利诺伊、佛罗里达、俄亥俄、北卡罗来纳与密歇根等票数较多的州开出后，应可可决定候选人。

四、正式提名总统候选人

两党在党代表大会中正式提名候选人，获提名者发表接受感言。共和党将于7月18至21日在俄亥俄州克里夫兰召开全国代表大会，宣布提名代表共和党参选美国第45位总统人选，民主党则于7月25至28日在宾州费城举行全国代表大会，宣布民主党提名人选。

五、如何选出第45位白宫新主人

美国第58届总统选举投票日预定于今年11月8日登场，但美国总统并非如一般民主国家以直选方式产生，而是采取选举人团制度。

根据美国宪法，先按照各州议会规定的方式，选出多名“选举人”，他们再组成“选举人团”，然后按照总统大选开票后选民的投票结果，选出总统与副总统当选人。

美国选举人团制度在绝大部分州是“赢者全拿”，在一州票数最高的候选人，即使只比对手多一票，也可囊括该州所有的选举人票，这意味总统候选人即使获得全国绝对多数选民支持，但却未必能够拿到足够让他当选总统的选举人票数。

最有名的案例就是美国2000年总统大选，当时的民主党候选人高尔在全国比共和党的布什多赢了50万票，并且掌握266张选举人票，但布什在有25张选举人票的佛罗里达州，以极些微的差距一举拿下该州关键的选举人票，反而赢得了总统宝座。

六、2016总统参选人谁最有胜算？

共和党从参选爆炸，到历经党内辩论与民调筛选后，语不惊人死不休的地产大亨川普（Donald Trump）在党内一路领先，CNN/ORC在1月21日到24日最新民调显示，川普已经取得40%共和党人支持，两倍于第二名的联邦参议员克鲁兹（Ted Cruz）的18%，民调第三名为卢比欧（Marco Rubio），支持率为10%。

共和党其他知名的参选人尚有新泽西州长克里斯蒂（Chris Christie）、前佛罗里达州长杰布布什（Jeb Bush）以及神经外科医师卡森（Ben Carson）和惠普前执行长费奥莉娜（Carly Fiorina）。

民主党选情则较为单纯，前国务卿希拉里（Hillary Clinton）声势一直居于领先，但高举自由派大旗的联邦参议员桑德斯（Bernie Sanders），近来声势看涨，最新民调显示，两人在爱阿华州的支持率势均力敌，甚至桑德斯在爱阿华州有领先希拉里的趋势。

民主与共和两党都还有民调极低或名不见经传的参选者。

美國總統選好久，怎麼還在提名階段？  一分鐘搞懂初選制度

The News Lens【關鍵評論 2016/03/01】

http://www.thenewslens.com/post/291154/

美國總統大選已經開跑好久了，但民主、共和兩大黨，依然還沒正式提名候選人，因為光是黨內初選就要耗時將近半年！到底美國人怎麼決定總統候選人？花一分鐘來了解吧！

美國總統黨內初選怎麼進行？

美國採取「間接選舉制」。以2016年為例，民主黨和共和黨從2月開始到6月這段期間，會在美國50州加上關島、波多黎各等屬地，先後舉行地方初選，讓選民投給喜歡的參選人。等到7月份，各地黨代表參加兩黨的全國黨代表大會時，再按照初選結果投給參選人。獲得最多黨代表支持的參選人，就能獲得正式提名，代表黨角逐白宮大位。

初選方式分幾種？

美國總統黨內初選方式又分為初選（Primary）與黨團會議（Caucus），而每個州要使用哪種初選形式，由州黨部決定。初選規定各地不一，分為開放式（不分黨派）與封閉式（僅准黨員參加）和各種混合制度，但簡單來說，選民以不記名投票方式，投票給心儀的總統候選人。

黨團會議則是以社區劃分出很多會議地點，例如：學校、圖書館，或社區中心，民眾到這些集會地點按照程序開會、發表講話，並且投票，每一個參與民眾最後都要在紙上寫下他們支持的候選人名字。黨團會議和初選不一樣的地方是程序複雜，參與者投入的時間也比較長。

黨代表與超級黨代表差別在哪？

黨代表除了各州初選的一般黨代表以外，還有一種稱為「超級黨代表」（Superdelegate），他們兩者的差別在於，一般黨代表必須按照當地初選結果在全代會上推舉候選人，但超級黨代表卻不受限，可依據個人意志支持任何參選人。有趣的是，有些超級黨代表會事先公布自己的支持對象，藉此帶動輿論與選情。

超級星期二為什麼這麼重要？

今年的超級星期二落在3月1日，全美有14個州和領地將在這天舉行初選和黨團會議。民主和共和兩大黨，各有大約四分之一的黨代表動向會在這一天底定，堪稱是提名之爭的關鍵戰役，也使整場大選選情更加明朗。

完美的理論：一整個世紀的天才與廣義相對論之戰

100年前的驚人創見︰完美的理論

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/252147/

三分鐘看懂「重力波」！愛因斯坦最古怪、最狂野的推測得到證實

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/283484/

百年相對論預言成真！讓科學家都嗨翻的重力波是什麼？為何這麼重要？

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/283637/

黑洞：愛因斯坦的頑抗與霍金的豪賭

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/282658/

重力波：愛因斯坦的最後預言（上）

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/283252/

重力波：愛因斯坦的最後預言（中）

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/283486/

重力波：愛因斯坦的最後預言（下）-- 從何而來的伽瑪射線暴？

http://hk.thenewslens.com/post/283800/

“I Have a Dream” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

马丁‧路德‧金最常被引用的十大名言

今天是一月的第三个星期一，也是美国联邦法定假日“马丁‧路德‧金纪念日”

（Martin Luther King Day），纪念民权运动领袖马丁‧路德‧金牧师。

他的生日是1月15日。

金牧师是美国民权运动中主张非暴力抗议种族歧视的主要领袖，1968年遇刺身亡。他生前的许多至理名言，至今仍为人颂传。

在社群网络盛行的今天，推特网站特别整理引用金牧师名言的逾百万条推文，并列出前十条引用最多的名言。

1. 做对的事，任何时机都是好时机。

    The time is always right to do what is right.

2. 黑暗不能驱除黑暗，只有光明可以做到；

    仇恨不能驱除仇恨，只有爱可以做到。

    Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that.

    Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

3. 任何地方的不公义都威胁其它地方的公义。

    Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

4. 当我们对重要的事选择沉默时，就是人生终结的开始。

    Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

5. 我决定坚守爱心，因为仇恨是无法承受的负担。

    I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

6. 即使看不到长阶通向何方，信念是迈出的第一步。

    Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

7. 宽恕不是偶然为之的行为，而是不变的态度。

    Forgiveness is not an occasional act, it is a constant ATTITUDE!

8. 人生中最为持久、也最为迫切的问题是：“你为他人做了什么？”

    Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ 

9. 世界上最危险的事是，真诚的无知以及勤奋的愚庸。

    I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.

10. 我们必须接受有限的失望，但绝不失去无限的希望。

    We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

You may also enjoy reading more about him here:

http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/16/1/15/n4616841.htm