Upcoming Green Events

Date	Venue	Event	Highlight
11 to 13 Nov 2009	The Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA	Greenbuild International Conference and Expo	Al Gore to give keynote speech Watch official video at youtube
24 & 25 Nov 2009	Berlin, Germany	4th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference IRES 2009
21 to 24 Feb 2010	Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne, Austrialia	Green Cities 2010
24 to 26 Feb 2010	Sandton Convention Centre, South Africa	Energy Solutions for Africa Conference & Exhibition
2 to 4 Mar 2010	Earls Court, London, UK	EcoBuild 2010
19 & 20 May 2010	Aberdeen, UK	All-Energy Exhibition & Conference 2010
16 to 18 May 2010	Raleigh Convention Center, Raleigh, NC, USA	National Green Building Conference
15-17 Sep 2010	Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Washington, D.C., USA	A.R.E. Green Expo 2010	Alternative Renewable Energy

2009 Top Table Tennis Player

2009 Top Table Tennis Player
[Ranking from International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) as of Feb 2009]

Female Players

Rank	Player	Style	Born	Nationality
1st	Zhang Yining 张怡宁	Right-handed shakehand grip	05 Oct 1981 Beijing, China	China
2nd	Guo Yue 郭跃	Left-handed shakehand grip	17 Jul 1988 Anshan, Liaoning, China	China
3rd	Li Xiaoxia 李曉霞	Right-handed shakehand grip	16 Jan 1988 Liaoning, China	China
4th	Guo Yan 郭焱	Right-handed	24 Jun 1983 Beijing, China	China
5th	Wang Nan 王楠	Left-handed shakehand grip	23 Oct 1978 Fushun, Liaoning, China	China
6th	Feng Tianwei 冯天薇	Right-handed shakehand grip (Use Stiga Kelvar blade)	31 Aug 1986 Harbin, Heilongjiang, China	Singapore
7th	Li Jiawei 李佳薇	Right-handed shakehand grip (Use Stiga blade)	09 Aug 1981 Beijing, China	Singapore
8th	Wang Yuegu 王越古	Right-handed shakehand grip (Use Nittaku blade)	10 Jun 1980 Anshan, Liaoning, China	Singapore
9th	Kim Kyung-Ah 金璟娥 김경아	Right-handed	25 May 1977 South Korea	South Korea
10th	Tie Yana 帖雅娜	Right-handed	13 May 1979 Henan, China	Hong Kong China

Male Players

Rank	Player	Style	Born	Nationality
1st	Wang Hao 王皓	Right-handed pen holder grip	15 Dec 1983 Changchun, Jilin, China	China
2nd	Ma Lin 马琳	Right-handed pen holder grip	19 Feb 1980 Shenyang, China	China
3rd	Ma Long 马龙	Right-handed	20 Oct 1988 Anshan, Liaoning, China	China
4th	Timo Boll	Left-handed	08 Mar 1981 Erbach im Odenwald, Germany	Germany
5th	Wang Liqin 王励勤	Right-handed shakehand grip	18 Jun 1978 Shanghai, China	China
6th	Vladimir Samsonov	Right-handed	17 Apr 1976 Minsk, Belarus	Belarus
7th	Chen Qi 陈杞	Left-handed, All round player	15 Apr 1984 Nantong, China	China
8th	Hao Shuai 郝帅	Left-handed	01 Oct 1983 Tianjin, China	China
9th	Chuang Chih-Yuan 庄智渊	Right-handed	02 Apr 1981 Taipei, Taiwan	Taiwan China
10th	Joo Se Hyuk 朱世赫	Right-handed	20 Jan 1980 Cheonan, South Korea	South Korea

Extreme Mammals

Largest Mammal (in Sea, in the World, Current, Ever)


An adult Blue Whale

Scientific name: Balaenoptera musculus
Name: Blue Whale
Size: Up to 32.9 metres in length and weighs 172 metric tonnes
Habitat: North Atlantic and North Pacific (other subspecies live in Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean)
Remark: Endangered


Largest Mammal (on Land)


An African Bush Elephant

Scientific name: Loxodonta africana
Name: African Bush Elephant
Size: Up to 7.3 meters in length and 3.5 meters in height. Weighs up to 9,000 kg
Habitat: Eastern, Southern Africa (Forest and glasslands)
Remark: Near Threatened


Largest Mammal (on Land Ever)


Paraceratherium drawn by Charles R. Knight

Scientific name: Paraceratherium
Name: Paraceratherium
Size: Over 8m in length and up to 5.5 m tall at shoulder. Weighs over 10 metric tons to up to 20 metric tons.
Habitat: Many parts of Asia (Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Mongolia, and China) (Subtropical forests and woodlands)
Remark: Extinct. Exist during middle Oligocene to early Miocene, around 20 to 30 million years ago.


Smallest Mammal (by size or skull size)


Bumblebee Bat held by hand

Scientific name: Craseonycteris thonglongyai
Name: Kitti's Hog-nosed Bat or Bumblebee Bat
Size: 29–33 mm in length and 2 grams in mass
Habitat: Limestone caves along rivers, within dry evergreen or deciduous forests in Thailand and Burma
Remark: Group size in cave ranges from 10 to 15 individuals to up to 500. Average around 100.


Smallest Mammal (by weight)


Etruscan Shrew on hand

Scientific name: Suncus etruscus
Name: Etruscan Shrew
Size: 36 mm in length and 1.2–2.7 grams in mass
Habitat: Forests and brush areas between Southern Asia and Southern Europe
Remark: A forager with lifespan of 15 months


Smallest Mammal (in Sea)


A Sea Otter in Morro Bay

Scientific name: Enhydra lutris
Name: Sea Otter
Size: 1.0 to 1.4m in length and weighs 14 to 45 kg
Habitat: Western Pacific Ocean, Alaska and California region
Remark: Endangered


Fastest Mammal (on Land)


A Cheetah

Scientific name: Acinonyx jubatus
Name: Cheetah
Speed: 112-120 km/h for short distance of 460m
Size: 115 to 135 cm in length and weighing 40 to 65 kg
Habitat: Forests and brush areas between Southern Asia and Southern Europe
Remark: Accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h in 3 seconds


Fastest Mammal (in Sea)


Dall's Porpoise

Scientific name: Phocoenoides dalli
Name: Dall's Porpoise
Speed: Up to 55 km/h
Size: 2.3m in length and weighing between 130 and 200 kg.
Habitat: North Pacific Ocean from southern California to southern Japan
Remark: Live for up to 15 years


Slowest Mammal


Brown-throated Sloth (Bradypus variegatus) (a species of three-toed sloth)

Scientific name: Bradypodidae
Name: Three-toed Sloth
Speed: Max speed is 0.54 meters per second, but most time sleeping or little movement
Size: 50 and 60 cm long
Habitat: Tropical rainforests of South and Central America
Remark: Omnivores. They could eat insects, small lizards and carrion, but their diet consists mostly of buds, tender shoots, and leaves, mainly of Cecropia trees

When is Chinese New Year?

A simplified version on the date of Chinese New Year is given as followed

1. Chinese New Year must fall on a new moon. It means the beginning of things.


2. It celebrates the beginning of spring so it must be a new moon close to solar terms Li Chun (立春). Since Li Chun (立春) fall around 4 Feb on Gregorian calendar. Chinese New Year will be the new moon near 4 Feb. Therefore, it ranges half a lunar month before and after 4 Feb. Data shows that it always fall between 21 Jan and 21 Feb.


3. The determination of the date is based on time zone of 120 degree East (China's time zone).

There are other rules but I will not elaborate. More detail explanations can be found at here


Some further notes:

• Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar (considering both Sun and Moon's movement)


• A lunar month is around 29.53 days (therefore sometimes 30 days sometimes 29 days)


• A lunar year consisting of 12 lunar months is around 354.37 days which is around 11 days short of Gregorian calendar. Therefore, there is a leap month around every 3 years.


• Therefore, Chinese New Year is observed to fall around 11 days earlier each year for 2 years and then forward by 19 days on the third year. For example, this year Chinese New Year is on 26 Jan 2009. Taking 11 days away will fall out of 21 Jan 2009 range, so next year it will be around 19 days forward, that is around 14 Feb (which is in fact correct. 14 Feb 2010). So the year after next will be 11 days before, therefore around 3 Feb (which is correct again. 3 Feb 2011). In 2012, it will be 11 days before, therefore around 23 Jan (which is correct again. 23 Jan 2012). It may not always exact, allow 1 day difference as both Chinese calendar and Gregorian calendar require correction (Chinese - Leap month, Gregorian - Leap day).

24 Solar Terms 二十四节气

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar that takes into account the movement of Sun and Moon. In a monthly basis, it follows the Moon's movement strictly while in a year basis, it follows the Sun's movement. That explains the reason for leap month after some time to correct the calendar.

The Chinese uses the Solar Terms (节气), which is a calendar of 24 periods and climate, to govern agricultural arrangements and functions in China. One of the significant similarity of Chinese calendar and Gregorian calendar is that both takes into account the longest (Summer Solstice) and the shortest days (Winter Solstice) of the year as well as two days eah year when the length of the day is equal to that of the night (Spring and Autumn Equinoxes).

During the Shang Dynasty, the Chinese had used only 4 solar terms. The number was increased to 8 during the Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC - 221BC). It was until the Western Han Dynasty (206BC - AD24) that the 24 terms were finally decided upon, which is the same as what it is today.

The 24 Solar Terms (二十四节气)


The date of Solar Terms are better described by the Gregorian Calendar as both follow the Sun's movement. However, there is a range of date for each terms as the Gregorian Calendar is not accurate on a year basis. (It has an error of around 6 hrs per year. That's why there is a leap day correction every 4 years and every 400 years)

Solar Terms	节气	Mth	Dates	Meaning
Beginning of Spring	立春	Feb	03 - 05	Spring begins
Rain Water	雨水	Feb	18 - 20	It begins to rain
Waking of Insects	惊蛰	Mar	05 - 07	Hibernating animals come to sense
Spring Equinox	春分	Mar	20 - 21	Day and night are equally long. Mid Spring
Pure Brightness	清明	Apr	04 - 06	It is warm and bright
Grain Rain	谷雨	Apr	19 - 21	Rainfall is helpful to grain
Beginning of Summer	立夏	May	05 -07	Summer begins
Lesser Fullness of Grain	小满	May	20 - 22	Kernels plump
Grain in Beard	芒种	Jun	05 - 07	Wheat grows ripe
Summer Solstice	夏至	Jun	21 - 22	Longest daytime and shortest night
Lesser Heat	小暑	Jul	06 - 08	Torridity comes
Greater Heat	大署	Jul	22 - 24	Hottest moment of a year
Beginning of Autumn	立秋	Aug	07 - 09	Autumn begins
End of Heat	处暑	Aug	22 -24	Heat hides
White Dew	白露	Sep	07 - 09	Dew curdles
Autumn Equinox	秋分	Sep	22 - 24	Day and night are equally long. Mid Autumn
Cold Dew	寒露	Oct	08 - 09	Dew is very cold
Frost's Descent	霜降	Oct	23 - 24	Frost descends
Beginning of Winter	立冬	Nov	07 - 08	Winter begins
Lesser Snow	小雪	Nov	22 - 23	It begins to snow
Greater Snow	大雪	Dec	06 - 08	It snows heavily
Winter Solstice	冬至	Dec	21 - 23	Shortest daytime and longest night
Lesser Cold	小寒	Jan	05 - 07	It is rather cold
Greater Cold	大寒	Jan	20 - 21	Coldest moment of a year

Two important Solar Terms to the Chinese are the Pure Brightness (清明) and Winter Solstice (冬至) which happen around 5th Apr and 22nd Dec on Gregorian Calendar each year respectively.