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【王秋燕╱綜合外電報導】比特幣熱門，迷你倉將軍澳科技製造業公司也受惠。美國韋德布希證券公司（Wedbush Securities Inc.）報告指出，台積電（2330）、 超微（AMD）等公司2013年有超過2億美元（60億台幣）的營收來自於生產比特幣挖礦裝置零組件。 挖礦機每台逾60萬 比特幣為以軟體形式存在的虛擬貨幣，透過挖礦過程被生產，即在預設程序中解決複雜的任務才能產生比特幣。 根據Mt.Gox交易所資料，1比特幣兌825美元左右，1年前僅13美元左右，飆漲速度驚人，也吸引更多網路淘金者持續挖礦創造比特幣。倉 彭博報導指出，比特幣挖礦機每台超過2萬美元（60萬台幣）。 韋德布希證券分析師路瑞亞（Gil Luria）以比特幣更受歡迎趨勢來看，挖礦機位還需要更強大功能的晶片，這些晶片大多在台積電、超微以及格羅方德（GlobalFoundries）生產。 除了半導體業者受惠比特幣效益之外，路瑞亞指出，網路拍賣業者電子海灣（ebay）旗下的PayPal、IBM也將受惠。 路瑞亞表示，PayPal今年先允許比特幣作為付款選項之一，和信用卡付款一起，預期這將吸引更多新用戶；IBM是供應驅動比特幣和其他數位貨幣的軟、硬體業者。24小時迷你倉

Ancient inventions that enrichedour ancestors can still inspire us, but they should not be excuses for living in outdated ways.迷你倉 InDecember, the Chinese abacuswas listed as an intangible cultural heritage at the annual UNESCOWorldHeritage Congress.Itwas not big news in China. But it perplexed asmany people as itmade proud: Arewe supposed to keep using the old calculating tool, or shouldwe place it inmuseums? I grewupwith the clicks and clacks of the abacus. Iwas not very good at it, doing a bangup job at addition and subtraction only.My father, an oldschool accountant, could use two abacuses at the same time like a pianist playing a Steinway.And he tried to teachmemultiplication and division on one, but that proved an impossible task for me. Fortunately, the electronic calculator came intomy life at the right time, savingme fromthe embarrassment of using pen and paper to do complex calculations.Iwas not the only one to heave a sigh of relief. Students not excelling in the craft ofmoving the beads along the rodswould have the same feeling.We either relied on the scribblingmethod ormental arithmetic. The abacuswas reserved for the smartypants.As theworld is made upmostly of clumsy people likeme, the calculator and the computer quickly replaced the abacus in the lives ofmost Chinese—probably faster than horse carriages gaveway tomotor cars.When I saw an abacus recently, it was on somebody’s wall as a decoration — to show off the owner’s taste for tradition and sophistication, I guess. He wouldn’t have done it three decades ago. Some people want to set themselves apart by doing things opposite to prevailing fashion, which is not a bad thing because most simply adopt the herd mentality. But that does not mean they truly love those things the public has given up.TheUNESCO recognition, in a sense, highlights the cultural value of the ancient tool. But it does not point to its future direction. Some suggestedwe should start teaching zhusuan (literally, calculationwith the abacus) in elementary schools. I wonder howmany parents and studentswould choose it if itwas an elective course.Culture, in the broad sense, refers toways of doing things. The abacus waswhat people used for calculation inmany parts of theworld. I did not knowthat itwent back to theMesopotamian civilization.Neither did I knowthat the Chinese abacus and the Roman devicewere so similar therewas conjecture about their origins. And I’mpretty certain that evenmy father could not do square root and cube root calculations partly because he had little need for them.I never heardmy father lament the vanishing of his favorite calcuPANG LI / CHINA DAILY Honor the past, live in the present lating tool. Elegant as itwas, there was no chance it could compete with the electronic version. There’s only somuch the abacus can do. For one thing, I cannot imagine manipulating a large spreadsheet on an abacus.Whatever glowit gets from authorities, the abacus is not going to be revived on a large scale or in a seriousmanner. There are reasons it has beenwashed away bymodern gadgets. TheUNlisting acts to alert us to the glory of our ancestors, of whichwe should be rightly proud. Butwe should not be carried away to the point of believing thatwe can still live in old times, say the Song Dynasty (9601279), when the abacus made an appearance on the counter of an apothecary’s store in the famous long scrollAlong the River During the Qingming Festival. The abacus is not the only thing on our heritage list. In the past three decades,many thingswe took for granted gaveway tomodern replacements.When Iwas a kid,we used to sit onwooden benches and nowwe have chairs and sofas. (We had simple chairs then, but sofas did not come in自存倉o ordinary households until the reformand openingup, at least inmy hometown.) For heating our bed,we used to have bottles filledwith hotwater or even bronze containerswith halfburnt charcoal,which could be dangerous if you inadvertently overturned it in your sleep.Nowwe can electronically heat the blankets, or better, heat the entire roomwith various convenient, but expensive, technologies.We used to turn to thermos bottles for hotwater, and now—well,we still do, at least in addition towater coolerswith the heating function…Honestly,when the old stuffwas first gone,we almost had a feeling of good riddance. Itwas onlymuch later thatwe gradually realized the value—aesthetic and cultural, if no longer functional—of the things that used to be part of our lives. Our cultural identity ismade up of many things,most ofwhichwill evolve beyond our control.We used to live in singlestory courtyard homes, but rapid urbanization necessitates higher density. It has become simply impractical for everyone to have oldstyle residences.We used to cook everymeal, but nowwe have all kinds of fast food and cooking has turned into a luxury. Overall, to live like a Chinese of oldwould require considerable wealth. But that’s assuming the lifestyle of the ancient aristocrat. For themajority, life today ismuch improved as comparedwith the old times. Remember, even something as simple as the abacuswas not really available in every Chinese home. Itwasmuch less ubiquitous than the calculator today.Many of the things the ancient Chinesewere enamoredwithwere abolished a century ago, including bound feet and the QingDynasty (16441911) men’s hairdo; others are still tenaciouslywith us but are looking frayed, such as the preference formale heirs. Physical things have an easier time finding their newplaces. They can be housed in museums or collected by individualswho cherish antiques and can afford them.It is intangible heritage that has caused themost headaches. Take local operas, for example. There used to be hundreds of varieties across the country but,with the rise of television, the loss of audiences formost operas has been so devastating they cannot survive. Should the government keep themresuscitated by subsidizing themunconditionally? Mind you, it’s not that their shows are not affordable, but their target audience hasmoved on to other forms of entertainment. Or should the government pick a few varieties stillwith a sizable, but ageing, audience to support? Or should it suppressmodern competition, such as popmusic, to divert audiences to the old forms?The Chinese government has been searching forways to preserve and protectmuch of this intangible heritage. In recent years, it has started to pay basic salaries to descendents of artisans for a few selective grassroots crafts. It encourages themto turn the inheriting of special skills into enterprising efforts that can sustain themselves in themarketplace, especiallywith the aid of the tourismindustry. The way I see it, the situation is similar with the abacus. In a nation of 1.3 billion people, there should be a few remaining masters of the tool, if not as a hobby then as a governmentsponsored academic pursuit. The device itself can be a collector’s item or a curiosity for travelers. But it’s wishful thinking that it reappears on every accountant’s desk. There is a difference between loving something as a confirmation of one’s cultural identity and loving it as a pragmatic instrument for getting things done.Contact thewriter at raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn. Whatever glow it gets from authorities, the abacus is not going to be revived on a large scale or in a serious manner. There are reasons it has been washed away bymodern gadgets.迷你倉出租

中國人行不承認比特幣（BITCOIN）為交易貨幣，self storage但比特幣在PAYPAL等網站上仍可使用，全球仍有許多「礦工」投入挖礦行列。由於專業「挖礦機」需要強大的平行運算功能來進行比特幣挖礦，高階繪圖晶片及專用特殊應用晶片（ASIC）需求強勁，台積電（2330）受惠最大。比特幣的發行不需透過第三方單位，而是由蘊藏比特幣的礦山，每10分鐘主動產生一個區塊，只要完成區塊內數據運算，就可獲得比特幣。由於比特幣每4年的每一區域產量將減少一半，現在每區域只能生產25個比特幣，所以參與運算的「礦工」，就得利用專業「挖礦機」，來進行數據運算並進行所謂的「挖礦」。為了與全球礦工爭逐發行量愈來愈少的比特幣，專業「挖礦機」銷售量直線上升，而且運算能力超強的「挖礦機」售價也愈高，部分專為挖礦設計迷你倉高效能電腦售價甚至高達2萬美元之譜，所以，包括華擎（3515）、映泰（2399）等主機板廠，以及創意（3443）、F-世芯（3661）等IC設計服務業者，均搶進挖礦市場。比特幣挖礦的難度高，需要利用中央處理器（CPU）及繪圖處理器（GPU）進行大量平行運算，因此在要讓挖礦速度更快，新一代的「挖礦機」均將處理器對外的PCIE通道全數開放，採用多片繪圖卡並聯方式，來加快平行運算能力，解決比特幣各區塊的複雜運算數據。也因此，比特幣挖礦熱潮在全球持續延燒，也帶動高階繪圖卡的銷售量，包括輝達（NVIDIA）及超微（AMD）等兩大繪圖晶片廠，2013年第4季的銷售成績優於預期，而承接輝達及超微高階28奈米繪圖晶片代工訂單的台積電，也被法人認為是比特幣挖礦熱潮下的最大受惠者之一。迷你倉將軍澳

臨近春節，迷你倉將軍澳關於年終獎的大討論再次甚囂塵上。可是，理想很豐滿，現實很骨感！因此，哪怕是物價再怎麼瘋長，工資再怎麼不動，身為房奴、車奴和孩奴的上班族們，對於2013年的年終獎卻並不敢寄予厚望，甚至有超過3成的上班族預計今年的年終獎會下跌。調查報告現金是最主流的年終獎此次問卷調查中的689個調查對象，分別來自計算機、互聯網、通信、電子、金融、貿易、制藥、醫療、廣告、媒體、能源、原材料等十大行業。其中，485個受訪者為普通員工，約占總人數的70 .39%；有179位受訪者為企業中層管理人員，占到了調查總人數的2 5 .9 8 %；另有占比3.63%、總人數25人的受訪者為企業高管，這種金字塔形的調查對象組，與企業的人力資源架構基本吻合，也讓此次問卷調查變得更具科學性和代表性。每逢年底，不僅各種奇葩的年終獎層出不窮，頻頻見諸報端的“豪車”、“豪華游”等高端年終獎也十分吸引眼球。不過，調查結果顯示，“年底派發現金獎勵”依然是最為主流的年終獎形式。在689個受訪者之中，有575個上班族所在的單位的年終獎都是現金，僅有不到3%的單位用實物或者購物卡來替代年終獎。超三成受訪者認為今年的年終獎可能不如去年物價持續上漲，年終獎按理也該水漲船高，不過調查結果卻顯示，多數上班族對於2013年的年終獎並不敢期許太高。在受訪者中預計年終獎會上漲的僅有107位，只占到了總人數的15 .85%。與此同時，有多達32.59%的受訪者表示，由於單位效益不好，今年的年終獎數額可能不如去年多。另有27 .11%的受訪者表示，鑒於經濟形勢不好，今年的年終獎能與去年持平就覺得滿足了。除此之外，還有24 .44%的受訪者表示，年終獎的漲跌目前還是一個懸而未決的謎題，直到最後一刻才能知道“到底有沒有”、“到底有多少”。在年終獎的具體數額上，有多達17 .88%的受訪上班族預計，在剛剛過去的這個2013年，自己或許與年終獎無緣；有17 .15%的受訪者預計，2013年自己可以拿到“5000元- 1萬元”的年終獎，在七個選項之中占比最高，達到了29 .22%；有14 .97%的受訪者認為自己所能拿到的年終獎在“10 0 0元以內”；有13 .66%的受訪者預計年終獎在1萬元- 3萬元之間；僅有2 .47%的受訪者預計自己的年終獎在3萬元-5萬元之間；預計自己的年終獎在5萬元以上的受訪者，加起來僅有32位。由此看來，2013年的年終獎主要盤踞在“1000元- 5000元”、“5000元- 1萬元”和“1萬元- 3萬元”這三個區間。對調查者來源和年終獎金額的交叉分析結果顯示，年終獎在1000元以下的受訪者，主要以服務業、貿易、消費、製造業等為主；年終獎在5000元-1萬元之間的，在各行各業分佈得較為平均；預計自己能夠獲得1萬元以上年終獎的主要來自計算機、IT、媒體、金融和醫療行業和教育培訓及專業服務領域。職位與年終獎交叉分析結果則顯示，中層管理人員的年終獎金額大多在1萬元以上，25位受訪高層管理人員的年終獎金額全部在5萬元以上。說明現階段，年終獎的高低除了受行業影響之外，職位級別也是一個決定性因素。年終獎在個人總收入中占比不高，大多會用于過年開銷 雖然每年都會有“某某公司發了20多個月年終獎”的新聞，但調查結果顯示，年終獎在上班族的全年收入占比中總體並不高。將近65%的受訪者表示，年終獎在其個人年收入占比之中小于10%；僅有19 .13%的受訪者表示，年終獎在其年收入占比之中達到了10%- 20%；認為年終獎在其全年收入中占比30%以上的受訪者約占7.03%。從年終獎的支配情況來看，在接受調查的689位受訪者之中，有超過4成的受訪者表示，年終獎主要是用作過年開銷的。除此之外，有23.83%的受訪者表示，會將年終獎拿來儲蓄；另有13.86%的受訪者表示會用年終獎來還貸，僅有不到0.89%的受訪者表示會拿年終獎去旅遊。綜合年終獎在上班族年收入中的占比和支配情況，我們不難看出，年終獎作為一種特殊的獎勵措施，對於改善員工的整體薪酬水平意義不大，其意義更多是象徵性的，代表了企業對員工的尊重和關懷。這個調查結果或許還可以給企業決策層傳遞另一個信號：想讓員工真正地放鬆起來，除了發現金，或許還可以開發一些“旅遊”、“健身券”之類的特別年終獎，在利用年終獎幫助員工解決經濟上的剛性需求時，也能關愛到員工個人的身心健康。近八成受訪者對自己的年終獎不滿意在受訪者中有大約78.06%的人表示對自己的年終獎“不太滿意”，表示對自己的年終獎非常滿意的僅有2.09%，另有19.85%的受訪者表示，對自己的年終獎比較滿意。為什麼年終獎的滿意度會這麼低？進一步的問卷調查顯示，導致年終獎滿意度不高的原因主要有三個：發得太少、發得不公平和發得不及時。在評價單位現行年終獎發放制度時，有多達58.99%的受訪者認為，自己獲得的年終獎太少；另有21 .84%的受訪者認為自己所在單位的年終獎發放有失公平。由此看來，企業想要提升員工對年終獎的滿意度，除了提高年終獎的總預算，還必須建立科學、規範、公正的年終獎評價和發放機制，並確保在年前及時發放。�說年終獎年終獎除了發現金，最好還能送點額外的福利講述人：貓貓，34歲，某門戶網站遊戲研發技術人員聽說廣州某遊戲公司的年終獎是5輛寶馬車，讓姐內心一陣狂喜。同樣是遊戲公司，我所在的部門今年業績不俗，去年的年終獎是拿了年底3薪，今年拿4薪和5薪也不是倉可能。因此，綜合我在公司的表現和部門的業績，今年年終獎拿夠5萬元應該是不成問題的。不過，除了現金，我希望公司還能贈送點額外福利，比如“馬爾代夫七日游”或者“日本動漫之旅”什麼的。所謂的年終獎，就是為了讓我們找個借口犒賞自己。因此，年終獎發了之後，先要犒勞一下全家人，除了“帶領全家的女人去做水療SPA”，還準備犒賞自己到香港淘一件好皮衣，再買一塊手錶送給老公，基本就算是敗光了。把年終獎存起來還車貸房貸講述人：丁燦，35歲，銀行營銷主管之前我在一家外資銀行工作，如今跳槽到了國內銀行，最主要就是奔著豐厚的年終獎去的。據說，我們的年終獎加起來有6萬元左右，節前發一半，節後發一半。除此之外，還有臘腸、有機米等特色年貨作為過年福利。不過，在我們銀行，不同崗位的年終獎是不一樣的。前台人員的年終獎要比營銷人員低很多，通常年終獎都在1萬元-2萬元之間。眼下年終獎還沒發，我和老公已經商議好了年終獎全部存入銀行還貸款，家里一套房、兩台車，每個月的貸款加起來差不多要還1.8萬元，有了這筆年終獎之後，在接下來的半年就可以長舒一口氣了。打工族期盼年終獎，做老闆的發愁年終獎 講述人：老季，41歲，某私企老闆對於打工一族而言，盼的就是年終獎，但是對於我們這些小老闆而言，最怕的就是年終獎。經濟不景氣，企業勉強維持。去年年底，我是咬著牙給公司的十多個兄弟姐妹都發了年終獎。結果大年三十，文員小陳在短信中問我“季總，我自認平時一直兢兢業業，為什麼我比小馬的年終獎還少800元？”我跟她解釋說：“因為小馬經常在珠三角各地出差，比較辛苦，所以年終獎就多給了他800元，希望你體諒一下，現在公司挺困難的。”沒想到，剛一過完年，小陳還是辭職走了。所以，雖然還沒到發年終獎的時候，我已經開始頭大了。過去一年，依然是沒賺什麼錢，但是年終獎如果不發或者發少了，預計一開年我又得重新到人才市場招人了。年終獎怎麼樣，光靠平時賣力是不夠的，還得把米飯班主哄高興了講述人：小歐，28歲，專櫃銷售員早期在工廠打工，年終獎都是百八十元，如今轉行做專櫃銷售，終於迎來了人生最大金額的一次年終獎———一張價值500元的友誼商店購物卡。於是，周末輪休的時候，我就跟同伴去友誼商店購物去了。可是，去了那裡，我終於知道什麼叫“老闆真坑爹”了。500元以下，除了童鞋，幾乎什麼都買不回家。鬥膽在老闆娘面前吐槽了十多分鐘，被逗得樂呵呵的老闆娘爽快地把我的購物卡換成了500大洋。看樣子，年終獎這個東西，光靠上班的時候賣力是不夠的，還得把米飯班主哄高興了。專家解讀年終獎年終獎的發放應該更多樣化受訪專家：李翠玲，武漢大學社會學系博士後從社會學的角度來說，企業給員工派發年終獎與工資有著截然不同的意義。年終獎是對勞動者智力、體力的肯定，它削減了勞動力的商品特性，體現了企業與員工共同投資、共同受益的理念，可以提升企業的聚合力，緩解勞資矛盾。不過，從心理學的角度來說，由於年終獎的發放成為企業定制，這種連續強化刺激會使得員工對年終獎產生“飽厭”現象。換言之，當一種獎勵成為慣例，其激勵的功能就會變得越來越有限。因此，企業應該試著將這種慣例刺激轉化為持久刺激。比如說，將年終獎分散到各個月或者各個季度、各個項目中去發放。心理學研究證實，間歇強化所增加的行為，比連續強化所增加的行為保持得更好、更鞏固，且更不容易消退。因此，與其一窩蜂地集中在過年前發年終獎，不如嘗試間歇發放年終獎的辦法，使年終獎成為刺激員工積極工作的間歇強化物。年終獎的發放形式可以參照國外經驗，變得更加多樣化。比如說，國外一些大企業，會將表現突出的員工家屬請到公司，出席公司的表彰大會，或者在其他公開場合感謝員工家屬對優秀員工的支持，並給家屬發點獎金，小小地“表示”一下。這種看似簡單的獎勵，往往能起到意想不到的激勵效果，因為這種獎勵會讓員工獲得來自企業和家人的雙倍認同，並獲得家屬對其以後工作的加倍支持。外國有沒有年終獎美國 有三四成企業發放年終獎 美國是一個把基本工資作為最主要收入的國家，但美國大概有30%-40%的企業會給員工發放年終獎，有一些規模比較小的公司可能會給員工準備禮物。但是在美國，年終獎最主要還是給中高層以上的員工，普通員工可能也會有一部分人得到年終獎，但數額大多數是年收入的1%-3%，如果到5%就算是比較高的了。企業會給員工一些禮物或者辦一些Party來表示對員工一年工作的感謝。澳大利亞 多數企業只象徵性地送點禮物澳大利亞也有年終獎，但多數企業只是象徵性地送購物卡、送小禮物、送葡萄酒等。不過，澳大利亞的金融和保險公司的高級主管往往可以拿到高額的年終獎、股票分紅或者旅遊支付等。日本 一年分兩次發獎金傳統的日本公司是一年發兩次獎金，一次是在夏天的時候，還有一次就是冬天，也就是年終獎。日本人的獎金是根據工資來定的，如果員工一個月的工資是50萬，那麼半年一次的獎金就是100萬，也就是他一個月工資的2倍-3倍，但會 根據效益進行上下浮動。網絡調查農曆歲末將至，又到了期盼年終獎之時。一邊是持續上漲的CPI，一邊是不景氣的經濟大勢，對於2013年的年終獎，廣大上班族的預期如何？他們會如何評價自己可能獲得的年終獎和企業現行的年終獎制度？對於廣大上班族而言，年終獎究竟意味著什麼，他們又將如何支配這筆年終獎？南方都市報“城市生活研究院”版面特別聯合騰訊·大粵網進行了為期四天的網絡調查。04-05版採寫：南都記者 米春豔04-05版插圖：林軍明24小時迷你倉

So-called black public relations has taken off on the mainland as companies hire online teams to look good by smearing their rivalsWhat’s in a name? A fortune, if you can trash it.mini storagePublic relations in a digital world is increasingly as much about demolishing a brand as about building it, as shown in a recent spat between e-commerce giant Alibaba and social networking major Tencent.The mud-slinging between two of the mainland’s most prominent internet firms has brought into focus the rising phenomenon in the country of what has come to be known as “black PR” – online campaigns run by public relations companies maligning their clients’ rivals.Trouble erupted when Tencent’s PR team complained on the company’s Weibo account that Alibaba’s PR department had planted negative articles in the media to tarnish Tencent’s image.As evidence, Tencent posted screenshots of internal Alibaba e-mails that carried the draft of anti-Tencent stories. The images on Weibo, the mainland’s main microblogging site, show drafts of news articles about the supposed instability of the management team at WeChat – Tencent’s mobile instant messaging product – that were attributed to “an employee who has just left Tencent”.These drafts were apparently sent to various mainland websites and carried by them. Alibaba fired back on Weibo, charging Tencent with running a similar smear campaign against Alibaba.Noticeably, neither of the companies bothered to deny the smear campaigns, testimony to how widespread – and acceptable – the practice of “black PR” has become on the mainland.Li Zhi, chief analyst at Analysys International, said PR firms on the mainland “universally” used “internet tools” to help clients.“From the government down to small companies, everybody is using internet tools,” Li said.She said the unfortunate fallout was the profusion of fake information used to attack rivals, which in turn has spawned an industry based on paying websites to take down unfavourable news.“There are loads of so-called onself storageine PR firms that are involved in this racket,” she said.Wang Shouhe, founder and chief executive of Huayi PR, a Beijing-headquartered firm that focuses on internet tools to promote brands, said “online PR firms” made extensive use of chat rooms, QQ messaging groups and news portals for smear campaigns. “Companies specialising in online PR have mushroomed since 2010,” said Wang, who launched Huayi PR in 2005.He estimates there are about 30,000 companies on the mainland that deliver promotional content online, offering digital advertising and brand-building for clients.“But 80 to 90 per cent of these firms are small-scale, with fewer than 10 people and annual revenue of 2 million yuan [HK$2.5 million] to 3 million yuan,” Wang said.In the past three years, the number of online PR companies has multiplied tenfold, he estimates. “The reason is simple; there’s money in it,” he said. “Online advertising and promotion are new concepts for many clients. They don’t really understand much about the internet, but as online marketing is so cheap, it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot.”But the industry had quickly gained notoriety, Wang said. “Many online PR firms are trying to make a fast buck through unsavoury means,” he said. “The competition is tough. As a result, some of the firms adopt dirty tricks to satisfy clients.”That is why the war of words between Tencent and Alibaba hardly surprises Wang. “This is normal practice, in my view,” he said.The two firms have of late tried to muscle into each other’s turf as the online industry moves towards more mobile platforms.“It shows just how intense the competition is getting,” said Ricky Lai, a research analyst at Guotai Junan International.Wang said he saw no early end to the practice of black PR because the wider social environment would have to improve to stop such unlawful practices.“It would require well-designed laws and regulations, conscientious enterprises and moral citizens,” he said. “China still has a long way to go in those areas.”迷你倉

Source: The Seattle TimesJan.迷你倉 03--Ballard High School's award-winning video production routinely sends graduates to some of the most competitive schools in the country for film and television.Some of those graduates, home for the holidays, spoke to current Ballard High students last week about how the program had prepared them."You're going to be heads and shoulders ahead of everyone else because you can tell a story with shots," said Louis Weissman, who graduated from Ballard High in 2012 and is now at Emerson College in Boston. "Your movies are going to be so much better than other people's when you show them the Ballard touch."What is the "Ballard touch?"In a word, it's storytelling -- using the latest technology to make short films, documentaries, music videos and other productions driven by a compelling visual narrative that doesn't depend on dialogue to convey what's going on."You're never going to see a Ballard movie without story structure," said Isaiah Hoban Halvorsen, a freshman at New York University who received a $186,000 four-year scholarship based in part on the portfolio of work he produced at Ballard."It's going to have a satisfying ending and everything is going to be set up right. So when I got to NYU and the class on story structure, it felt pretty natural."When teacher Matt Lawrence was hired at Ballard High School in 2001, he wanted to create something more comprehensive than the typical courses that focused on television news."A lot of the school-media programs at the time taught news to the exclusion of almost everything else in media production," Lawrence said. "Broadcast journalism is important, but there's a lot of other pieces."Documentaries, for example. Or music videos. Or commercials. Or short films.Lawrence earned his master of science degree in educational television from the University of Wisconsin. He worked on educational films mostly in small production shops where he had to do all the jobs at one time or another, unlike in bigger studios where specialization is more common."As a teacher, that gave me a really good background," Lawrence said. "I understand script development, I understand lighting, I understand audio. I scored productions. I did animation."His eclectic work experience includes a stint on the original writing staff of the satirical newspaper The Onion in the late 1980s."I was there at the time that they were kind of inventing the satire format that they would use," Lawrence said. "It was like this crazy sideline thing that I am doing and at the time I was doing it, I never dreamed that I would be putting it on my resume."He developed a four-year program at Ballard and typically has about 140 students enrolled each year.Some dip their toes in the water for a smini storagemester introduction class, others dive in all the way. He recommends at least three years for students who are serious about filmmaking so they can put together the kinds of portfolios they'll need to enter the industry or a top-tier film school.About a dozen graduates each year pursue a career in film and television, though the basic communications skills students learn using digital technologies will be useful in many professions, Lawrence said.Alex James, for example, graduated last spring from Ballard and he's attending Central Washington University in Ellensburg for its aviation program and a general four-year degree."I'm a seaplane pilot," he said.But he still loves filmmaking and he's looking for ways to combine his aviation and video skills."I'm in a film club and I'm doing a lot of my own productions," James said.Lawrence said that although the film and television industry still has good storytelling, it's become a rare and highly prized commodity."For this generation, it's especially important that we're teaching that because they're coming of age at a time when storytelling has been a weakness in the industry," Lawrence said. "Many of my students don't know how to recognize a story, and they need to learn what a story is before they can become proficient storytellers."Current Ballard students also are making names for themselves with the Ballard touch.Senior Lorenzo Rossi was recently honored for his music video, "Stop Pretending," at the Fresh Film Northwest, a competitive regional festival coordinated by the Northwest Film Center in Portland.The video, based on a song of the same name Rossi wrote for his band, Yellow Peril, depicts a relationship held together by social expectations. It won the Creative Self-Expression Award for "outstanding achievement in cinematic storytelling.""It was really exciting to see how professional we could make things," Rossi said.The National YoungArts Foundation recently awarded senior Lucy Harstrick a Merit Award in Cinematic Arts in recognition of the "exceptional artistic achievement" evident in her work. Her work was selected for honors from more than 11,000 submissions nationwide.She submitted a music video called "Song for Anna" that either shows a couple trying to reunite or on their way to a breakup. The story is told without dialogue and shows two travelers apparently headed in different directions."Some people think they're trying to connect and it didn't work, other people thought, she's leaving him," Lawrence said. "You can watch it either way."John Higgins: 206-464-3145 or jhiggins@seattletimes.com On Twitter @jhigginsSTCopyright: ___ (c)2014 The Seattle Times Visit The Seattle Times at .seattletimes.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesself storage

【本報訊】據《華盛頓郵報》2日消息：美國《華盛頓郵報》2日再度刊發斯諾登的爆料，迷你倉將軍澳披露美國情報機構不惜投入巨資研發量子計算機，意欲攻破全球各類加密技術。《華盛頓郵報》當日援引斯諾登提供的文件稱，代號為「攻克難關」的研發項目由美國國家安全局（NSA）發起，運作經費高達7970萬美元（約6.2億港元），多數工作包給了馬里蘭大學帕克分校（位於華盛頓近郊）的一個實驗室。報道稱，NSA的目標是盡快研發出一台量子計算機，以利用它驚人的運算速度，破解目前全球互聯網常見的各類加密算法，竊取政府、企業、銀行等機構的加密信息。資料顯示，如果把電腦比作一件「樂器」，量子計算機就像是一個「交響樂團」，它可以同時處理不同狀倉，運算速度比電腦高出逾10萬億倍，用時30秒就能解決電腦100億年才能解決的問題。《華盛頓郵報》指，目前NSA的研發項目取得一定進展，但仍處在初級階段，尚未實現重大突破，其研發速度或與歐盟、瑞士等前沿國家的研發速度相當。NSA也擔心自己的加密技術被別國研發的量子計算機攻破。在斯諾登提供的內部文件上，NSA寫道： 「量子技術應用於加密算法將大大影響美國政府保護本國通訊和竊取外國政府通訊的能力。」2011年，軍火巨頭洛克希德．馬丁公司購買了全球第一台商用量子計算機；2012年，谷歌公司和美國太空總署（NASA）聯手買下另一台量子計算機，不過專家普遍相信，要研發出能夠竊密的量子計算機，至少還要十多年時間。24小時迷你倉

去年夏天，存倉一場持續的高溫導致江蘇鹽城、洪澤湖一帶稻種大量減產，大災之下，農戶們圍繞製種保險理賠問題與承保方江蘇紫金財險的爭議達數月之久。從去年9月到12月底，江蘇製種大戶們圍繞雜交稻製種保險賠償額與江蘇紫金財險的交涉長達數月之久。原本屬於惠農政策的農業保險，在長時間的理賠交涉中，最終以農民們的妥協和灰心喪氣達成理賠協議，「惠農」保險無疑變成了「傷農」保險。 商業保險公司不是救助站？ 據內地媒體稱，紫金財險表示「這已做了巨大讓步，商業保險公司不是救助站，盈虧是要自己承擔的。」紫金財險真的有這麼委屈嗎？中國政策性農業保險是代替財政直接補貼、對農業實施合理有效保護的方式，設立的初衷是減少自然災害對農業生產的影響。它的實質是一項惠農政策，並非保險公司的純商業行為。保險公司當然不是救助站，但承保政策性農業保險，在獲取農民與財政雙重保費收益的同時，理應對國家和農民負責。在江蘇雜交稻製種保險保費中，70%由江蘇省財政直接補貼。作為獲取了大量財政直接補貼的國資背景保險公司，何來的委屈，與農戶拖延時間、討價還價，豈非與民爭利？ 按照紫金財險最初提出的計算方式，每畝地的賠償上限不超過200元，與賠儲存上限1000元相比，差距甚大。差距的背後，是龐大的保險金規模。爭議涉及的土地面積達18萬畝，每畝地保費80元，這意味著紫金財險多收了至少上千萬元的保費，恐怕難脫違規套取財政的嫌疑。 概念模糊讓農險有空可鑽 熟悉制定保險條款情況的「體制內」人士坦陳，在最初制定保險政策時並沒有考慮到雜交稻製種的實際情況，沒有明晰「物化成本」的概念。而「物化成本」恰恰是製種保險執行理賠的關鍵。制定條款時沒有對實際情況進行嚴格調查考量、沒有對關鍵概念的明晰界定，就導致了賠償基數不確定、保額過高，讓農業保險有空可鑽，卻無法從法律上真正保障農民的權益。 中共十八屆三中全會將「更好發揮農業保險作用」寫入《決定》；此後的經濟工作會議又高度關注糧食安全問題，政策性農業保險已面臨最佳發展時機，它對促進中國農業發展、保護糧食安全具有重要的意義。但是，在全國各省實施的政策性農業保險中，由於政府具有運作權、保險公司具有「國」字背景，權力尋租與國企侵民的案例層出不窮。「惠農」變味成了「傷農」，違背了國家推行農業保險的良好初衷。對此，唯有建立完善合理的農業保險製度和監管體系，才能真正保障普通民眾的利益，避免國家遭受損失。宋璟迷你倉

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