Saturday, February 17, 2007
Monday, February 5, 2007
Piled Higher and Deeper
My years at Stanford are captured in this insightful comic strip by Jorge Cham on graduate student life (housing, advisors, the thesis, etc)... "Piled Higher and Deeper"
Saturday, February 3, 2007
FLOWmarket
When I was in Taipei, I went to the Museum of Tomorrow, which is a new exhibition space near 光華商場 (which has been dismantled and moved to a new building).The main exhibit was FLOWmarket, which consists of plain white packaging of various shapes and sizes, similar to those found in an ordinary supermarket. Each item has a somewhat abstract phrase printed on it, such as "clean air", "collective consciousness", "a feeling of safety", "sustainable innovation", "balance"... By placing these concepts into a commercial package, the piece raises questions of our commercial society --- what can and cannot be bought.
What's interesting is that each of the items is actually for sale too at the exhibit!
Above the exhibit, there is a large banner with a quote from Marshall McLuhan: "There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew."
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Shanghai Maglev Train
Photo album and video
Google video
I put together a short video of the Shanghai Maglev train.
The ride was a little bumpier than I would have thought, and it felt different than a normal track-bound train. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I could almost feel the train bouncing up and down as it whooshed along the magnetic tracks.
The contrast between the super high technology of the train and the misty farmland and crumbling structures (perhaps soon to be rebuilt as new apartment complexes) was striking.
Here is the official Shanghai Maglev promo video (in German):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5648185659206490564
Some more videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weWmTldrOyo (detailed explanation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0I1_5lZ2mU (good background music)
Google video
I put together a short video of the Shanghai Maglev train.
The ride was a little bumpier than I would have thought, and it felt different than a normal track-bound train. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I could almost feel the train bouncing up and down as it whooshed along the magnetic tracks.
The contrast between the super high technology of the train and the misty farmland and crumbling structures (perhaps soon to be rebuilt as new apartment complexes) was striking.
Here is the official Shanghai Maglev promo video (in German):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5648185659206490564
Some more videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weWmTldrOyo (detailed explanation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0I1_5lZ2mU (good background music)
Taiwan High-Speed Rail
http://www.johnfan1.com/Public/2007-01-11_hsr.html
The Taiwan High-Speed Rail (a.k.a. Taiwan “shinkansen”) was finally completed, and I took the train after 1 week of operation. Surprisingly there were tickets available and the tickets (half price right now) were inexpensive -- only NT$500 (about USD $15).
It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to go from Banchiao (near Taipei) to Chiayi, Despite the problems presented in the media, it was a smooth ride and a good experience. Inside, the car felt like a Japanese shinkansen. This will make the south of Taiwan much more accessible for tourists.
As another example of a “last mile” problem, it took almost as long to get to my destination (by bus and taxi) after I arrived at the Chiayi high-speed station, which is a distance away from the city center.
The Taiwan High-Speed Rail (a.k.a. Taiwan “shinkansen”) was finally completed, and I took the train after 1 week of operation. Surprisingly there were tickets available and the tickets (half price right now) were inexpensive -- only NT$500 (about USD $15).
It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to go from Banchiao (near Taipei) to Chiayi, Despite the problems presented in the media, it was a smooth ride and a good experience. Inside, the car felt like a Japanese shinkansen. This will make the south of Taiwan much more accessible for tourists.
As another example of a “last mile” problem, it took almost as long to get to my destination (by bus and taxi) after I arrived at the Chiayi high-speed station, which is a distance away from the city center.
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