Y and I wish everyone the best on 2011! See you Stateside soon.
Notes from Taiwan, Happy New Year from Taiwan!
December 31, 2010
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
Notes from Taiwan, Dior and Stanford University Advertisement in Taiwan’s Liberty Times
December 30, 2010
Sorry about the image above being upside down, but I wanted to put this out as quickly as possible. According this advertisement in Taiwan’s Liberty Times, Dior sponsors researchers at Stanford University for their work on skin cells. Have you seen advertisements like this that trumpet university research to legitimate cosmetics claims in the States?
Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: advertising, cosmetics, dior, stanford | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis
Notes from Taiwan, Food, Business, and Taipei
December 30, 2010Today’s notes from Taiwan concerns food, business, and Taipei.
First, food is obviously an important part of any society, but food in Taiwan is so much more than just eating. It is enjoying, savouring, and experimenting. Instead of having a meal of a main dish and some sides, our meals have several dishes. There doesn’t seem to be any side dishes. The vegetables are on the same level as meats. Tofu holds it own as well. Fruits are celebrated and in many more tastes, textures, and colors than anything you will find back in the States. Rice is integral to most meals and it generally comes in a plain white variety. However, Ma and Ba mix their own rice concoction with purple rice, couscous, and oatmeal–it is very hearty, but also uniquely yummy. I have also been drinking the best green tea that I have ever had. Ba calls me the “Tea King,” because I drink so much of it.
Today, Ma and Ba took Y and I to a Hakka restaurant down the street from their house. We had at least seven dishes on the lazy susan that we shared: roasted pigs feet, pepper beef, fried shrimp covered in mayo and sugar sprinkles, clam soup, boiled chicken, stirfried tofu (the softest that I have ever had that was stirfried), and stirfried vegetables. After dinner, we had a cold tofu dessert and we picked up some pastries for later.
The thing that I like about business here in Taiwan is that there are few corporate conglomerate department stores. Everywhere you go whether in Jhongli or Taipei small businesses rule the roost. Here, there is still a sense of entrepreneurship. A person can run a small business that specializes in a single thing or theme and make a living from it. I am impressed about how every street seems to be lined with businesses that cater to every need imaginable without there needing to be soul-sucking places like Wal-Mart or Target. I believe that there is a greater sense of dignity for people who own, manage, and work at many of these businesses that serve the same needs that the mega-department stores attempt to do in the United States.
Counterposed to the small retail businesses are the large manufacturing companies in the industry and science parks around Taipei. Within smartly designed, immaculate looking structures, much of the cutting edge electronics and industrial work is being done. The number of businesses in these parks is awe inspiring.
Today was my first visit to Taipei. Y and I took the TRA train line into the city for her optometrist appointment this morning. Afterwards, we stopped by the Nova electronics marketplace (one building, but many many different stalls owned by different people who offer different kinds of electronics goods) and the toy shops: Hot Dog Toyz and Paradise. I am amazed at how many people there are in Taipei, especially on the trains and subways.
Unlike in Jhongli where I haven’t seen any other Caucasians, I saw several in Taipei. They were young and old, male and female. I wonder what brought them here, and where they are from originally. They all seemed much surer of their surroundings than I am, so I also wonder what makes them stay. Y and I have talked about the possibilities of jobs–Taiwan, the United States, and elsewhere. It will come down to where we can find work, but I can say that I am increasingly interested in Taiwan and what it has to offer.
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
OED Word of the Day: Cyberspace
December 30, 2010Today’s Oxford English Dictionary word of the day is “cyberspace”:
The space of virtual reality; the notional environment within which electronic communication (esp. via the Internet) occurs.
The full entry is available online here. William Gibson coined the term, but it goes back two years earlier than Neuromancer (1984), the text many folks think about in reference to the term, to a story he published in Omni magazine.
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
Slicing Brains to Map Connectome in the New York Times
December 28, 2010Ashlee Vance has an interesting piece on brain mapping through the physical thin slicing of brains in the New York Times here. It was in this article that I first read about the “connectome,” or the individual wiring of our brain:
“You are born with your genes, and they don’t change afterward,” said H. Sebastian Seung, a professor of computational neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is working on the computer side of connectomics. “The connectome is a product of your genes and your experiences. It’s where nature meets nurture.” (par. 5)
The connectome reminds me of Greg Egan’s Diaspora or Greg Bear’s Blood Music as biological humans are converted into citizens in the former or a part of the cooperative noosphere in the latter. The brain has to be taken apart in order to recreate the individual’s memories and ways of thinking as a disembodied intelligence.
What does a life of science fiction thinking, writing, and discourse do to one’s connectome?
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
Notes from Taiwan, Taiwanese Newspaper Report on Tron: Legacy’s Strong Opening Here
December 28, 2010The Taiwanese Newspaper Liberty Times (Dec 28, 2010) has this to say about the theatrical debut of Tron: Legacy in Taiwan:
Science fiction film Tron: Legacy is number 1 at the box office for the Christmas period. Last weekend at Taipei, Tron: Legacy accounted for TWD$ 17, 680,000 and TWD$ 35,000,000 for all of Taiwan. The audience was mostly male and many technology enthusiasts asked each other to make a “pilgrimage” to the film.
I have already made two pilgrimages to see Tron: Legacy (Y and I saw it in IMAX 3D, and Bert and I saw in Brunswick in Disney 3D), and I hope to trek to some of the large technology stores in Taipei later this week. We shall see what kinds of goodies I can find there that I cannot find back in the States.
As I’m writing this, scooters zip past the front window front of Y’s parents house like blurs of light–Tron light cycles made ubiqutious in the physical world.
Don’t forget to catch my positive review of Tron: Legacy in the next issue of SFRA Review.
Leave a Comment » | Science Fiction | Tagged: libertytimes, Review, taiwan, tron, tronlegacy | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis
Notes from Taiwan, and Blog Post 700
December 27, 2010For my 700th post on dynamicsubspace.net, I wanted to include my initial notes on Y’s and my trip to visit my in-laws in Taiwan.
We flew Continental from Jacksonville to Houston to Narita, Japan to Taipei, Taiwan. I particularly enjoyed the flight to Narita, even though I was very tired at the end, because we flew on a Boeing 777 Dreamliner. We got back row seats (only 2 wide) and it was comfortable and relatively quiet–at least compared to the uncomfortable short leg room and noisy 747 between Narita and Taipei operated by United. I liked the individual on-demand video system on the 777. I got to watch The Crimson Rivers with Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, and I watched part of the second Nodame Cantabile movie with Y. Also, I was pleasantly surpised by the quality of the food on our flights. We had beef with rice, chicken enchiladas, and a delicious egg breakfast. There was also a midflight desert of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.
I have been eating very well at Y’s parents’ house. Ma and Ba make excellent food, and they are determined to make us gain weight. I have had the most excellent tofu, fish, and chicken as well as tasty vegetables and fruits that we cannot find back in the States.
Y’s parents’ house is located in a very nice part of Jongli outside of Taipei. We There are bakeries, department stores, a huge library, and 24 hour convenient stores everywhere. There are people everywhere and so many scooters. I wish that I could take a scooter around the city even though I would have to be very careful with how aggressive drivers here can be. I made a point of asking Y to show me around a 7-11 store around the corner. It is so fascinating! Good food, many conveniences at much more reasonable prices, no dust on the goods, and video games for sale in the store (World of Warcraft Cataclysm is only about $2.50 here–I will have to find out what the subscription rate is). Also, you can order digital photos and pay your bills from the store.
Since my iPad died shortly after we arrived to Taiwan, I used Ba’s computer to rewrite my review of Tron: Legacy for the SFRA Review (my verdict: go see it before it leaves theaters despite some of its gendered stereotyped misgivings found in much cyberpunk). In exchange, I wanted to super charge their older Acer Dual Core Pentium based computer. It also gave me an opportunity to work in a Traditional Chinese based install of Windows XP. After completing a draft of my review last night, I did these things to their computer and I am amazed what a difference a little tuning did:
- uninstalled outdated Norton AV
- installed Microsoft Security Essentials
- ran scan–all okay
- updated Windows XP several times–lots of security updates
- uninstalled proprietary Acer software (except drivers)
- uninstalled all versions of Flash Player
- installed Firefox
- installed latest Flash Player
- installed latest nVidia driver
- moved all Desktop files to My Documents
- moved all Desktop shortcuts to Quick Launch Bar
- installed optional Windows XP updates including .Net Framework 4 Client
- made Desktop icons large
- disabled ADSL connection, configured through wireless Netgear router that Y and I brought with us to use with our iPads
- installed Internet Explorer 8
- installed AUSLogics Disk Defrag
- defragmented primary partition last night and rebooted this morning
After dinner last night, Y and I took a stroll around the neighborhood and through the park. We also picked up some slippers for me to wear in the house.
This morning I finished editing my review of Tron: Legacy and emailed the final copy to Ritch Calvin. Now, I am typing these notes of our visit on my blog.
I am looking forward to the rest of today. We are visiting a university that has a connection with Kent State University through its TESOL program for Ba’s work. I will have my camera with me, and I will post many pictures when we get back to Ohio.
2 Comments | Personal | Tagged: food, inlaws, taipei, taiwan, travel, visit | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis
Notes from Taiwan, Dead iPad, Comic Zeal Freeze Led to Forced Restore Mode
December 27, 2010I can safely say that I am beyond pissed about my iPad. I spent the better part of an international flight typing up my notes on TRON: Legacy for a review in the SFRA Review, and today, I used my iPad for browsing and comic reading before it froze. No worries, I thought. I powered it off, and attempted to reboot it. Unfortunately, the iPad went into restore mode, and I was greeted by the iTunes plug-in screen. I watched YouTube videos and read lots of posts, but I could not find anything that disputed what I feared: everything on my iPad was lost and I would have to restore iOS.
I wouldn’t be so mad about this situation if:
- Typing on Apple’s Pages and formatting all of those italics didn’t take so long.
- I didn’t have to restore all of the apps that I had bought and wanted to use from the App Store.
- I wouldn’t lose the media that I purchased from the App Store on the iPad after my last backup (TRON: Legacy soundtrack and the novel Atmospheric Disturbances).
- I didn’t want to show my in-laws pictures that I had saved on my iPad.
- My bookmarks weren’t obliterated.
- My comic books weren’t erased.
- My videos weren’t de-rezzed.
Y and I brought our iPads on this trip thinking that it would reduce how much stuff we had to keep up with. Y’s iPad didn’t transfer all of her photos, and now mine has just deep-sixed itself.
Y’s father was kind enough to let me install iTunes on his Windows XP enabled Acer machine so that I could perform a restore. The iPad seems to be working now, but it is wiped clean besides the default Apple software. I will grab some apps that I have already bought, but I cannot restore all of the media when my computer is half-way around the world.
I’m not entirely sure who I should be mad regarding this technology failure. Certainly, I could have brought my computer with me, but that defeats the purpose of a general computing device like an iPad. Apple’s hardware and software let me down by letting what I perceive to be an app’s problem to take down the entire device’s operating system, apps, and data. Is ComicZeal really at fault here? I haven’t had a chance to investigate other folks’ experiences with that software.
This is my experience, and I wanted to get it off my chest before I attempt to rewrite my review from my notes. Be warned and be careful with your iPad.
Coincidentally, my iPad locked up while I was using ComicZeal. I wonder if other folks have had similar issues with that software or other apps that have brought down the whole system on an iPad running iOS 4.2.
3 Comments | Personal, Technology | Tagged: apple, comiczeal, fail, freeze, ipad, lockup | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis
Happy Christmas to All!
December 25, 2010
George Lucas attempted to show audiences that his character Darth Vader was not as evil as he may have appeared in the original Star Wars trilogy of movies. Instead, Vader was motivated by a tremendous fear of loss. Certainly, Padme Amidala replacing his mother, first by separation and later by her death, created an unhealthy attachment on the part of young Anakin Skywalker towards the child queen. One could assuredly write a psychoanalytic analysis on this trauma. However, the reason that I bring this is up is that Anakin’s/Darth Vader’s fear of loss derives from his love, perhaps obsessively adolescent love, for Padme. I believe that Anakin’s/Darth Vader’s love for Padme demonstrates that even the cyborg Vader maintained enough human affection that he could return as Anakin with the greatest gift: self-sacrifice.
Y and I wish everyone a very happy Christmas!
2 Comments | Personal, Science Fiction | Tagged: anakinskywalker, darthvader, georgelucas, happychristmas, starwars | Permalink
Posted by Jason W Ellis
Please Tip Your Barista
December 24, 2010It is the holiday season and many of us are enjoying coffee with our wifi while on the road or visiting family. It is customary to give a tip of your change or a little extra to your barista when you get a draught of coffee. However, I have noticed that travelers are tipping far less often than I would have suspected that they would at Starbucks. Tips are an important bonus for underpaid baristas who are already financially hurt by the increasing corporatization of their work place.
I would like to remind everyone to consider tipping their barista, if not always, at least at this time of year when they are hard at work providing warm drinks when they may prefer to spend that time with their friends and family.
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Posted by Jason W Ellis
