Jonas Sees in Color

A great show tonight! Lots of energy, wonderful music and great performance. Too bad it was only an hour. The band are healthy and looking fine - lucky considering the accident they had.

Happy 4th of July!

There is nothing like the "Rhythm and Booms" fireworks display in Madison WI! It is billed as the "largest fireworks display in the Midwest", there are about 15,000 shells fired during the 35 minute show. Yes, those are firecracker hearts in the photography. There were also smiley faces and stars. The weeping willow that turned colors just before burning out was my favorite this year. Anne and I went with Rick and Nicky. Biking down after a lamb BBQ.

A bit of touring...

Ack visited two sites in Taipei region. The first visit is Taipei 101 - the second tallest building in the world (it was the tallest in 2004). Taipei 101 comprises 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. Its eight sections resemble a bamboo structure. It also has the fastest elevators. Anne would not have liked the view, as one would stand next to wall to wall glass at 90 stories; at some point realizing that the building was swaying. To reduce the sway, there is a counter ball on the 87th floor that weights several hundred tons.

The second was to Yangmingshan National Park. It also includes a view Mt Cising which had some sulfur steam vents. There was also a nice flower park and a small waterfall.

Food

Food in Taiwan has been excellent. The photo here is a box lunch we got on the train ride back from sight seeing. All freshly made and for a couple of US dollars. Food is freshly made and there are lots of places to eat - and they have all been good, though sometimes odd.Odd food has been 'stinky tofu', which smell as good as lutefisk, except the smell is not only in the air, but in the food as well; a 'brat' where the bun was made of sticky rice; various kinds of seaweed; eggs hard boiled in tea (giving them the brown color in the photo); fresh mango with shaved ice that was almost as tasty and custard; chicken butt (yes the very end of the chicken - sort of the tail bone - cut off and grilled).

Happy Fathers Day!

Ack spent it along the east coast and East Rift Valley. Seeing sights like Liyu Lake, Chiahnan Forest Na MelunShan Park. Saturday was spent hiking in Taroko National Park.

food!

We have been eating some good foods - including, chicken stomach, jelly fish, wabasi fries, odd purple looking fruit with green seeds, an interesting seaweed, Chinese black mushroom, passe fish. The photo here is from a restaurant view of dinner with faculty from the National Central University. Food with meetings are an important aspect of the visits here.

Taipei

Ack has made it to Taiwan for a visit to universities and a conference. The first full day he was here was "Dragon Boat Festival". Every thing was closed. It occurs on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. It goes back in time to a corrupt government, when poet Chu-Yuan cast himself in the deep waters of river Mi-Lo. Efforts by dragon-headed boasts failed to rescue him. People made leaf-wrapped sticky rice dumplings and hurled them into the river so the fish would eat the rice and not Chu. The day honors him and his integrity. The delicious dumpling above was made by Chian-Yi mom, and in addition to the sticky rice, had some pork, mushroom and peanuts.

Ack also gave his first presentation - a workshop on MODIS and other satellite data, using HYDRA. The remote sensing center was happy to see him: