These days, mega-skyscrapers have balls. Huge balls, up in their attic spaces, designed to swing back and forth in the opposite direction of the building's sway. These tuned mass dampers, as they're known, prevent the feeling of seasickness by occupants of the upper floors, but their real benefit comes during times of natural disasters, like tornadoes, typhoons and earthquakes.
Such was the case recently with the world's tallest completed building, Taipei 101, which felt aftershocks from the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake that hit China's Sichuan region on May 12 of this year. As it happens, a traveler with a video camera was enjoying a tour of the building and was wandering past the 728-ton stabilizing ball when the aftershocks hit, capturing this amazing video of the damper doing exactly what it was designed to do.
The iconic tower emerged unscathed, and nobody was injured, which both speaks to the amazing advances in architectural technology and the unspeakable devastation that results when builders lack the means--and scruples--to ensure that every building holds up against the forces of nature as well as possible.
Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou won't take office until next Tuesday, but the president-elect has already gotten busy trying to solidify a deal that will allow regular direct flights from the Chinese mainland. Talk of the agreement is creating a buzz on the island nation--er, territory?--as its citizens anticipate a massive influx of new tourists.
Ma has so far only committed to expanding weekend charter flights by this July, but has said he hopes to have regularly scheduled flights by the end of this year.
Taiwan first banned direct flights between China when the mainland came under Communist rule in 1949, largely over sovereignty concerns. Direct charter flights resumed under a 2006 agreement, according to the International Herald Tribune, but have only been allowed during major holidays.
Chasing Racers is back, with a brand new Amazing Race 12 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors, become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.
Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map--with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.
After another non-elimination round, all bets are off as we head into this week's episode. Last time, TK and Rachel gambled and lost to the airlines, coming in three hours behind the other teams. As a penalty, they'll have to complete a Speed Bump task somewhere along the way--as we find out which set of racers will miss out on the season finale.
Will Nick and Don be able to run a more balanced race, or with Gramps weigh them down? Will Christina and Ron stay harmonious and focused, or will Nate and Jennifer push even harder and move in front? And will TK and Rachel be able to make up that three-hour deficit?
While "2/28" doesn't sound quite as familiar as "9/11," in Taiwan it has just as much meaning, symbolizing a February 28, 1947 massacre of Taiwanese by the then-Republic of China. And that's why Taipei's National 228 Memorial Museum--which opened on February 28 ten years ago--was an extremely popular place to visit this week.
While the historical and political value of the 228 is something we won't (and can't) dispute, what interested us especially was the rules for museum visitors. They include:
Please wear proper attire, i.e., no slippers.
Please do not smoke or bring food into the museum (includes chewing gum and betelnut).
Please do not speak loudly or engage in horseplay inside the museum.
Please keep in mind that handling museum articles can damage them, and unduly influence other visitors.
Exactly how touching a museum article (not that we condone this) can unduly influence another visitor is a bit of a mystery. But what we are clear about is that we should bring along with us a betelnut-chewing horse wearing slippers. Politics, history and etiquette lessons, all in one.
Island of Sound is a website run by a former expat English teacher in Taiwan, aimed at documenting the island's rich independent music culture. Webmaster Marty Hodulick left Taiwan in 2005, but his website still stands, still gets the occasional guestbook message, and is certainly still relevant. It's a one-of-a-kind resource in English that covers the venues, festivals, bands and labels of a scene largely unknown outside of Asia. As Marty puts it, Island of Sound aims to deflect attention from "7-11 sellouts" and focus it on the underground.
While browsing through the site, make sure you read up on the history of Nipples, its bassist/singer KK, and her label, White Wabbit Records (and its spin-off store, White Wabbit Orange). KK's a personal girlcrush of ours, and she's done wonders in Taipei and beyond with her efforts. Other articles of note include TRA Music Corporation and Bad Daughter.
In Taiwan, where many parents of today's indie rock stars still consider it bizarre to chase a living playing guitar, rebellion is still real and "the scene" has yet to be completely co-opted. Show some respect and read about it.
Ever needed to get from Taipei to Taiwan's second city, Kaohsiung, in a hurry? Oh, maybe not. Let's try that again. Love bullet trains? Wanna try a new one?? Check out the unsexily named THSR (Taiwan High Speed Rail) which opened earlier this month to a few teething problems. In fact they've been selling tickets for half price all month because of a few glitches--don't worry, mostly with ticketing, and nothing too important like safety.
The THSR wends its way across Taiwan for 345 km, in a rapid 90 minutes--the previous method took four hours. On the way it makes stops in 4 major cities and 77 towns. And the big bonus is that, depending on which press release you read, the THSR apparently also travels through 10 countries in this hour-and-a-half journey. Okay, unfortunately they obviously meant counties, but we are still hanging out for some super transport method that gets us through 7 or 8 nations per hour.
If you reckon you're a bit of a pig, then get ready, because your year is coming. Yep, Chinese New Year is fast approaching and they'll be celebrating in Taiwan with the Taiwan Lantern Festival, bringing in the Year of the Pig with a grunt and a snort.
The big party takes place in Chiayi County from March 4-11 and the central festive lantern will be in the shape of a Taiwanese mountain boar. This giant pig will not only represent the new year on the Chinese calendar but also a spot of advertising: its collar will be made from Chungwa Telecom's newest 3G mobile phone.
But don't worry, it ain't all pigs and tacky marketing. From New Year's Day (February 18) until the end of the lantern festival, fireworks displays will be the order of the day: they promise 23 different shows during New Year celebrations. So hop a flight to Taiwan if you need some piggy celebrations and a lot of big bangs.
Lonely Planet author Joshua Brown is on the road in Taiwan, where he's updating LP's guidebook. We're pleased they're keeping up with that one and not going decades in between refreshes. He's keeping a blog on his own, but recently checked in with Lonely Planet's blog to report on a "fascinating conversation" he had with a prostitute on Lane 32 in Taipei. Fascinating. Conversation. Uh huh.
One of the women, thin, about 30 with dark eyes and a puffy white sweater drawn over her shoulders, looked me up and down, her eyes resting on my copy of the old Lonely Planet guide I was updating.
"What I mean to say," I continued "is that our book is really focused more on introducing westerners to Taiwan's customs and history - parks and museums. Culture, that sort of thing."
The woman in the white sweater spoke up softly. "I have culture."
"I have culture!" Don't we all? It's an instant classic. We are so looking forward to that new guide book.
