Of Bees and Beasts (Called Men) -- 大自然的反撲？

photo: Wikipedia

新聞報導說最近發現台灣很多蜜蜂都不見了，死了。有人說，它們得了蜜蜂的愛滋病，免疫系統出了問題。也有人提出可能跟全球暖化、殺蟲劑或是電磁波有關。美國那邊前陣子也有傳出類似消息，說全美國在六個月內共死了約1/4的蜜蜂。巴西、加拿大、歐洲等地也有出現相同現象。

蜜蜂跟我們人類有什麼關係呢？這關係可大了。沒有幫忙授粉的蜜蜂，我們哪來的蔬菜、水果？全部人工授粉太貴了，價格一定會飆漲的。你能想像沒有蔬菜水果的日子嗎？

嗯，其實我覺得，就像一個月前剛去世的黑色幽默作家Vonnegut生前常說的：「這星球的免疫系統正在想辦法把人類給踢出去。」

他們到底怎麼說？ >>

<< 多讀這些有什麼用，不就是世界末日？

記者：「是蜜蜂發狂嗎？」養蜂人：「老天爺要蜜蜂上天堂，我不認為老天需要蜜蜂。」 (source: TVBS)

"This is the biggest general threat to our food supply," Kevin Hackett, leader of the Department of Agriculture's bee and pollination programme, said. "The question is whether the bees can weather this perfect storm. Do they have the resilience to bounce back? We'll know probably by the end of the summer." (source: The Times)

Concerned by the implications -- one third of the human diet comes from flowering crops, and honeybees are responsible for pollinating about 80 per cent of them -- a House of Representatives subcommittee has held hearings and the office of the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, has been briefed. (source: The Times)

"After the Rape of Nanking, the Holocaust and the gratuitous atomic bombing of Nagasaki, not to mention humankind's poisoning of the air, the waters and the topsoil, your planet's immune system is trying to get rid of you." (source: Vonnegut's made-up "science fiction writer" Kilgore Trout)

Understanding Statistics Through Games

The previous post deals with visualizing world statistics through animated, interactive graphs. This post is about making world statistics more meaningful through educational simulations. Incidentally, the creators of Real Lives are called Educational Simulations. This game helps kids understand how people in other countries live by immersing them in a life sim that is based on available statistics and letting them make difficult life decisions. A free evaluation version is available.

The rest of this post includes a screenshot of the game and a sample "real life," up to age 18, with a few minor life events cut out.

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0 years old
I was born a boy in a village in China's Hubei Province, not far from the city of Yichang. My parents have named me Chiang-hui. My surname is Chu. My mother, Tan-hung, is 22 and my father, Pei, is 25. I have a brother, Hsi-chuen, who is 1.

1 year old
Growth stunted from inadequate protein. My brother Hsi-chuen has suffered an epileptic seizure.

6 years old
Began school.

9 years old
A famine or food shortage has hit China. 517 people have died and 20,000,000 others have been affected. My family and I were not directly affected.

18 years old
I have hookworm. An earthquake has hit my area. Earthquake victim. Graduated from secondary school. Met a new girl I like very much, named Liao Pao-Pao. Rejected by Liao Pao-Pao. Need to look for a job. Began work as a policeman. Moved away from home. Inducted into the military. Failed the college entrance examinations. Not accepted in vocational school.

Related blog entries: The Next 4 Billion?, Visualizing Statistics Through Gapminder

Visualizing Statistics Through Gapminder

Some people are trained or born with the ability to visualize statistical relationships inside their heads. For those who are not so lucky, this tool looks to be a big help. Gapminder is a Swedish foundation that began with an idea to enhance our understanding of world health. In the process, it developed visualization software like the Trendalyzer, which was recently acquired by Google. Go ahead, try it out, or watch this video below to see the Trendalyzer and other Gapminder software like Dollar Street in action.



Update: TED talk by Gapminder co-founder Hans Rosling



Related blog entries: Understanding Statistics Through Games, Visualizing Information With Microsoft DigiDesk, The Next 4 Billion?

The Next 4 Billion?

"Four billion low-income people, a majority of the world’s population, constitute the base of the economic pyramid. New empirical measures of their behavior as consumers and their aggregate purchasing power suggest significant opportunities for market-based approaches to better meet their needs, increase their productivity and incomes, and empower their entry into the formal economy." (Hammond et al, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid, 2007)

"One of the most significant obstacles blocking native economic 'progress' was the ability of the natives to find satisfactions at relatively low and stable consumption levels... Outsiders quickly realised that if tribal peoples could somehow be made to reject the material satisfactions provided by their own cultures and if they could be successfully urged to desire more and more industrial goods, they would become far more willing participants in the cash economy." (Bodley, Victims of Progress, 1982)

Food for thought.