Windows 7 Beta Fish Wallpaper

Windows 7 Beta Fish Wallpaper
December 16, 2009
Taipei, China

Windows 7 Beta Fish Wallpaper

 

This wallpaper is beautiful. That much is obvious.

But why did I say it was clever? Because experience shows that blue may well be the most durable color for a wallpaper. Many other colors become tiresome after a while. Blue on the other hand, seems to hold up in the long term.

Given blue as our first choice, what next? One could of course make the blue wallpaper a blue sky. After all, the name of the operating system is Windows. As one looks out one's window, what does one see? The blue sky, of course.

But another, less obvious, but even more ingenious concept, is to make the blue wallpaper the blue sea. The bright spot is of course the sun. Its rays penetrate the surface of the waves.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Story-of-the-Windows-7-Beta-Fish-101857.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A modified "nightlight" version

 

A laterally inverted version that improves contrast between icons and wallpaper

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier/Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitors

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier/Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitors
Bevin Chu
December 12, 2008

My new budget audiophile hi-fi system, consisting only of extraordinarily high-value components:

-- Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier
-- Cambridge Audio Azur 640C V2 CD Player (back ordered canceled in favor of DAC)
-- Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitors
-- Keces DA-151 USB DAC Digital Analog Converter
-- Tripp Lite LC1200 Line Conditioner
-- Tara Labs Prism 300A Interconnects
-- Onix "Black" Speaker Cables

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier and 640C V2 CD Player Combo

Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier Rear View

Reviews of Cambridge Audio Azur 640A V2 Amplifier
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/product_reviews.php?PID=105&Title=Press+reviews

Reviews of Cambridge Audio Azur 640C V2 CD Player
http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/product_reviews.php?PID=99&Title=Press+reviews


Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitor, Cherry Finish, with Grill On

Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitor, Cherry Finish, with Grill Off


Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitor, Cherry Finish, with Grill Off

Reviews of Paradigm Monitor Series, including Paradigm Atom V.5 Monitor
http://www.paradigm.com/en/paradigm/reviews/review-2-4.paradigm

Keces DA-151 Digital Analog Converter

Reviews of Keces DA-151 USB DAC Digital Analog Converter
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rdgtl&1227724779&read&d2&zzlDrubin&&
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/node/324
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/review-keces-da-151-dac-800-hours-burn-297021/



Tripp Lite LC1200 Line Conditioner


Tara Prism 300a 1m Interconnects


Onix Black 2.5m Speaker Cables

All components and accessories were purchased from the highly knowledgeable people at Music Hi-Fi Co Ltd


http://www.hifi.com.tw/


Update April 10, 2017 

I just added an SVS SB-1000 Subwoofer to my stereo system, turning it into a 2.1 satellite/subwoofer system. It really increases the soundstage and gives it added punch.

https://www.svsound.com/products/sb-1000

Giant CT 102 Urban Commuter Bicycle

Giant CT 102 Urban Commuter Bike
Bevin Chu
May 24, 2008


捷安特 CT 102 城市通勤車 / Giant CT 102 Urban Commuter Bike, 2008 Model

Technical Specifications :
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/zh-TW/bikes/lifestyle/2224/31946/

My new bicycle. I just bought it today. A Plain Jane urban commuter bike. Nothing fancy, but solidly built by Giant, Taiwan's premier bicycle manufacturer. Carbon steel frame. 18 speed Shimano derailleurs. Shimano brakes.

This is not a high performance bike. High performance bikes don't come with full fenders, front brackets for mounting shopping baskets, rear luggage racks, and kick stands.

Price? Under $4000NT. About US$130.

When I was living in LA during the 1980s I had a Pinarello racing bike. Italian import. Double-butted aluminum frame. 10 speed Campagnolo derailleurs. Campagnolo brakes. Sew up tires. Total weight 22 lbs. I could hold it up with one finger on one hand.

Price? US$800 in 1980 dollars. Money well spent. No regrets. It was what I wanted. It was what I got.

But that was then, this is now.

Now all I want is a dependable urban commuter bike. Something to get me to the office for work. Something to get me to the supermarket for a bottle of orange juice. Something that can withstand the punishment dished out by the badly paved roads here on Taiwan.

I went online to get a feeling for what was available at what price. Given my modest requirements, I decided this particular make and model was the one to get.

Could I have afforded a fancier bike?

Of course. But I didn't want a fancier bike. I would be too nervous leaving a fancier bike out on the sidewalk. Anything fancier would be far too likely to get stolen. It simply wouldn't be worth the aggravation.

In fact, I considered getting an even cheaper bike for just that reason.

The "big box" discount stores on Taiwan, such as Carrefours, Geant, and RT Mart, sell no name bikes for under $2000NT. About US$65. I looked them over. Let me tell you, when you go from $4000NT to $2000NT, the quality takes a big hit.

An even more serious problem with these $2000NT no name, discount store bikes, is that the frames are too small. I'm 6'-2" (187cm), and these small framed bikes simply won't allow me to position myself on the seat properly.

So in the end I settled for an entry level name brand bike by Giant.

Some friends suggested a folding bike, something I could take indoors with me so it wouldn't be stolen.

But given the size of the potholes on Taiwan, I really feel more confident riding a bike with large diameter, standard sized wheels, rather than the tiny wheels found on folding bikes.

With the tiny wheels, one gets the queasy feeling the front wheel could drop into a pothole. The bike would then stop dead, and one would go flying over the handlebars.



Giant CT 102 for 2010
Same price, same specs, different paint job

The amazing Golden Ratio

The amazing Golden Ratio
Assem Deif
Al-Ahram Weekly
27 September - 3 October 2007
Issue No. 864
Heritage

Artists reckon that the "Golden Ratio", also called the "Golden Section Phi" and nature's most astonishing number, is the ratio that controls the proportions of all beautiful objects, writes Assem Deif*

Historians trace the Golden Ratio back to Euclid, yet even before him it was governing the dimensions of monuments in ancient Egypt. The most pronounced of these is the Great Pyramid. The Great Pyramid is not the only structure from ancient Egypt that complies with constants like Pi or Phi; the Egyptians used the Golden Ratio in many ways both in the architecture of their temples and in their drawings. So whereas, the discovery of the "golden rule" was generally credited to the Greeks, the findings of such Egyptologists as De Lubicz and Fliders Petrie produced irrefutable proof that the Egyptians had a mathematical understanding of these constants, the ratios, not the symbol, 1000 years earlier.

There was much cross-culture between the Egyptian and Greek civilisations during the Hellenistic era, particularly in Alexandria where Egyptian and Greek scientists studied together at the Mouseion. Among them was Euclid. Historians call him Euclid of Alexandria without precluding the possibility he might have been Egyptian. It was in Alexandria that Euclid wrote The Elements.

Greek scholars were visiting Egypt even before the Mouseion was founded, including Thales, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and Pythagoras, who spent 22 years in Egypt and announced his theory only after leaving. Egyptians were aware of the triangle 3:4:5 which Pythagoras himself called the "Holy Triangle". Eight pyramids from the fourth and fifth dynasties have their inner triangle conforming to these ratios.

See:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/864/heritage.htm


Giza Pyramids


leaf arrangements around a stem and plant branching in a fibonacci formation;


golden spiral


pascal triangle; panel of Khesi-Re

Introduction to Proporzione Divina

Proporzione Divina features commentary on art and music by architect and author Bevin Chu.

Proporzione Divina is Italian for "Divine Proportion." The Divine Proportion is also known as the golden ratio, the golden section (Latin: sectio aurea), golden mean, golden number, divine section (Latin: sectio divina), or golden proportion, and is represented by the Greek letter phi (φ).

The Golden Section

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The golden section is a line segment sectioned into two according to the golden ratio. The total length a+b is to the longer segment a as a is to the shorter segment b.



In mathematics and the arts, two quantities are in the golden ratio if the ratio between the sum of those quantities and the larger one is the same as the ratio between the larger one and the smaller. The golden ratio is approximately 1.6180339887.

φ = (square root of 5 – 1)/2 = approximately 1.6

The Golden Rectangle

Many artists and architects have proportioned their works to approximate the golden ratio—especially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the golden ratio—believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing.



The Fibonacci Series

The irrational numbers of the golden section closely correspond to the whole numbers of the Fibonacci series, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers.

The numbers of the Fibonacci series are:

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610, 987 ... ad infinitum

This makes the Fibonacci series highly useful for architects and designers who wish to make their buildings and designs approximate the golden section, but must as a practical matter use whole number units.

Divine Immanence

The Golden Rectangle shows up in the most unexpected places.

For example, it shows up in the 16:10 aspect ratio of the newest, most advanced LCD monitors, which provide more comfortable viewing than older, now obsolescent LCD monitors with 4:3 aspect ratios.

The newer 16:10 aspect ratio is more ergonomic because it more closely matches the human being's natural field of view, formed by the two overlapping fields of view of two side by side human eyes.



Vesica Piscis: Latin for "bladder of the fish," two circles of the same radius whose centers lie on each others' circumference, aspect ratio of 3:2 corresponds to the fifth and fourth numbers in the Fibonacci series

The older 4:3 aspect ratio, by contrast, is noticeably less ergonomic because it chops off the left and right margins of that natural field of view.



ViewSonic Home Page (Traditional Chinese): "ViewSonic VG2230wm 22 inch multimedia liquid-crystal display, 16:10 golden ratio display ... high resolution golden ratio display 1680x1050"



The 16:10 aspect ratio of the newest LCD monitors reduces to 8:5, the seventh and sixth numbers in the Fibonacci series.

Adrian Smith of SOM discusses the Jinmao Building (美國名建築師論金貿大樓)

Adrian Smith of SOM discusses the Jinmao Building (美國名建築師論金貿大樓)
[文化創意產業]
(2003/12/05)





Interview with Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

Adrian Smith is a consulting design partner with the architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, and is one of the most recognized architects in the world. His work includes several major skyscrapers, including the tallest building in China. In the following conversation with Skyscrapers.com's Director of Communications Tom Finnegan, Mr. Smith discusses his design philosophy, the economics and engineering of tall buildings, and his project history including a new world's tallest building.

Smith: Another project in Chicago called Dearborn Center was designed in 1989. Its structural system had a solid concrete core with only eight super frame columns and eight corner columns around the perimeter so its typical floor was extremely open. Although Dearborn Center didn't get built, it had a strong influence on Jin Mao Tower, designed in 1993. Except for the top, the shape and the floor plates are very similar. One of the main massing attitutes that Jin Mao borrowed from Dearborn Center and AT&T was the way the building wall steps back as it rises to the sky. On AT&T there are steps at the 15th, 30th and 45th floors. On Jin Mao, I tried stepping in 8 floor segments but determined that this was too static. So I tried modulating from larger stepped segments at the bottom of the tower to progressively shorter segments at the top. This approach solved the issue of the tower feeling complete even when the view of the lower levels was blocked by adjacent structures. The side effect of this stepping system is that it resembles the pagoda forms used in ancient China. These were actually the first form of high rise buildings. [emphasis added]

Finnegan: A lot of people have made that comparison, which I suppose comes as no surprise.

Smith: The comparison is direct. It wasn’t meant to look like a pagoda, but it was intended to evoke the memory of pagodas, much the same way I.M. Pei's pyramid at the Louvre is a modern depiction of the ancient pyramids in Egypt.

Editor's Comments:

Sometime during the conceptual or schematic design phase of the Jinmao Building, Adrian Smith apparently apprised himself of the numerological significance of the number eight in Chinese culture. That is probably why a preliminary design scheme featured a stepback every eight floors. A spokesman for C. Y. Lee, architects for the Taipei 101 Building also told reporters that their design team deliberately divided the Taipei 101 Building into eight sections for numerological reasons.

The difference is that the designer of Taipei 101 became enamored with his pet "canted section" feature, to the eventual detriment of the overall design. The designer of Jinmao on the other hand, wisely reconsidered his initial "one setback every eight floors" scheme when it became apparent it just didn't look right.

Ironically Smith was right and Lee was wrong. Smith did what ancient Chinese artisan/architects would have done -- trust one's eye. Lee on the other hand, didn't. The consequence is Jinmao looks right, while Taipei 101 doesn't. Jinmao even feels more authentically Asian than Taipei 101.

Chinese architects should be busy creating a vital and convincing modern, Chinese-inspired, East Asian architectural style. They should be doing it better than Japanese, European, and American architects, but they aren't. That doesn't mean they won't, but at the moment they aren't, and that fact saddens me deeply.

-- Bevin Chu

Explanation: Interview with Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)
Illustration(s): Jinmao Building, Shanghai: Dearborn Center, Chicago
Author(s): Tom Finnegan, Interviewer
Affiliation: Skyscraper.com
Source: http://www.emporis.info/en/nc/iv/as/
Publication Date: November 2003
Original Language: English
Editor: Bevin Chu, Registered Architect

The Pagoda, Prototype for Modern Asian Skyscrapers (寶塔, 現代亞洲摩天大樓的原型)

The Pagoda, Prototype for Modern Asian Skyscrapers (寶塔, 現代亞洲摩天大樓的原型)
[文化創意產業]
(2003/12/01)








The Pagoda, Prototype for Modern Asian Skyscrapers

A previous article explored reasons why the nearly completed Taipei 101 Building is not a well-designed high-rise skyscraper.

This article examines two examples of far superior modern skyscraper designs, inspired by an Asian architectural precedent, the pagoda. Considering that the pagoda is among the oldest forms of high-rise tower in the world, modern high-rise towers based on the pagoda make perfect sense.

Jinmao and Petronas, Modern Pagodas

The Jinmao Building and the Petronas Twin Towers are superior to the Taipei 101 Building. They are superior because they embody the same visual characteristics as the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings: vertical continuity, vertical emphasis, and progressive setbacks. In the Jinmao and Petronas buildings the continuity of the primary building mass is maintained from top to bottom, allowing one to experience the building's full height. Collectively, the building's design elements underscore the building's vertical axis over its horizontal. The floor plans step inward, diminishing in size as the building ascends, giving dramatic emphasis to the building's height.

The traditional pagoda exhibits two of the three previously cited visual characteristics of modern point towers: vertical continuity and progressive setbacks. The traditional pagoda exhibits comparatively little vertical emphasis. Close examination of the traditional pagoda however suggests that a relative lack of vertical emphasis is not necessarily a defect. Vertical continuity and progressive setbacks are enough to ensure a visually convincing design.

Designers of Taipei 101 Flunk Architectural History

Taipei 101's lack of vertical continuity, on the other hand, is a much more serious matter. Taipei 101's tower is broken into sharply segmented "canted sections." These canted sections look like discrete blocks stacked precariously atop one another, ready to topple over any moment.

To make matters worse, the shape has an undesirable pop iconographic connotation. As one coworker noted, Taipei 101 looks remarkably like a vertical stack of Chinese takeout food cartons. Earlier schematic design sketches reveal that Taipei 101's designers became enamoured with this arbitrary shape starting day one and never wavered. They were presumably unaware of this unwelcome iconographic connotation, one that could make Taipei 101's image less appealing.

Traditional pagodas do not resemble separate blocks stacked on top of one another. Traditional pagodas look like monolithic shafts. Cornices or eaves, if any, look like projections from the pagoda's central shaft. Traditional pagodas, unlike Taipei 101, convey a reassuring visual impression of vertical continuity, hence structural integrity. The designers of Taipei 101 apparently, were oblivious to this not so subtle distinction.

Chinese Modern

Those knowledgeable about the sorry state of architecture in modern China may notice the irony. Taipei 101 architect C. Y. Lee is one of the few architects on Taiwan who is making an effort to integrate traditional Chinese architectural motifs into modern architecture. Unfortunately, Lee has never quite figured out how to pull it off. By grafting grotesque and historically inauthentic "Chinese" ornament onto otherwise modern buildings, Lee is truly barking up the wrong tree.

Traditional Chinese architectural themes can be successfully integrated into modern architecture. Japanese modernists have been skillfully integrating Japanese variants of Chinese architectural themes into modern architecture for several decades. So we know it can be done.

The way to integrate traditional Chinese architectural elements into modern Chinese architecture is to draw primarily on traditional Chinese architecture's spatial characteristics, and only secondarily its ornamental motifs. But that is a topic for another essay.

-- Bevin Chu

Explanation: The Pagoda, Prototype for Modern Asian Skyscrapers
Illustration(s): Xinghua Temple Pagoda in Anhui, China; Haibao Pagoda in Ningxia, China; Twin Pagodas at Yongzuo Temple in Shanxi, China; Jinmao Building in Shanghai, China; Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia; Taipei 101 Lacks Vertical Continuity
Author(s): Bevin Chu
Affiliation: CETRA Design Promotion Center
Source:
Publication Date: December 1, 2003
Original Language: English
Editor: Bevin Chu, Registered Architect