Random writing
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Library scene
Wish me luck.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
RIP Steve Jobs
Sadly as I am, I cant stop wondering about the future generation and couldnt guess what innovations are waiting to change the world... Before Jobs, we used to talk about Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg later... This modern world won't be the same without Microsoft, iPhone and Facebook....
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Trio of new Kindle readers
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20112742-94/amazon-unveils-trio-of-kindle-e-ink-readers/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30686_3-20112800-266/amazon-unveils-kindle-touch-and-kindle-fire-tablet/
Monday, September 26, 2011
Humans and the significant other
My aunt was the girl next door of my grandparents when she dated and later married my uncle. There was nothing special about her in my memory, she was beautiful, but somehow quite impersonal - never did she reacted her personality strongly enough that I can recall. She kept a neutral side for most of the time, except when she tried to raise and control her children. Married to my uncle, she enjoyed an easy life... until they found out that she had a heart problem several years ago.
I wasn't close to my aunt, therefore despite of shock and sorrow, I wasn't too depressed receiving the news from my mom on the way to class. My heart ached when I thought of my two cousins: one 15, and the other only 6 years old - she would be too young to feel the loss...
Later in the evening, I came back home, called my uncle and listened to him cry. It's not the first time I listened to man crying, but again I could bear it. Suffering the loss of the significant other, the man suddenly become desperate, sentimental and fragile with his fear of loneliness. I remained silent until he finished, told him to take care of himself and his daughters, listened to him promise me, and promise to call back to check on him, then hang up back to my mixed feelings and thoughts.
Fear of being lonely might be the most fear of human beings. Fear of being lonely, isolated, fear of being left out...
When my grandpa passed away on the second day I arrived college campus, I cried worrying about my grandma being by herself. She had a maid taken care of, therefore she doesn't have to do anything - in fact we would be even more worried if she has to take care of herself. Everyday she sits in a quite empty room, turning on and off the TV and radio, sometimes make phone calls to all friends who are still alive, and other relatives, just to kill some lonely hours. Like that, everyday, walking in and out her room -
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
How do you cite a Kindle book?
I wonder if the "location" works?
Journal from History of London through Architecture class - 8 sessions (part 2)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Journal from History of London through Architecture class - 8 sessions
LONDON BRIDGE STATION
London Bridge station was the first station in London and also one of the oldest railway stations in the world. The original station was built with a wooden trussed pitched roof, 56 ft by 212 ft (17m by 65m), shortly after opening. In 1838, the station was enlarged by the London and Croydon Railway. It was widened again y the Greenwich Railway from 1840-1842. After that the Britain’s railway industry observed the merger of London and Greenwich Railway as a threat to the new joint committee of the Croydon, Brighton and South Eastern companies. Competition was under high pressure – later in 1847, the Croydon and Brighton companies merged with others to form the London Brighton and South Coast Railway. The station was then an adjoin station between two companies. An Act of Parliament of 1862 gave the LB&SCR power to enlarge the station further. This had a single-span trussed-arch roof measuring 88 ft by 655 ft (27m by 200m) and was designed by J.
•Location: Bermondsey and Tooley Street, south of the river Thames
GUYS' HOSPITAL
The hospital was founded by Thomas Guy in 1722 to treat the “incurables”. Later, supported by the government, the hospital was granted the south-side of St. Thomas’ Street. The hospital was expanded over the centuries.. These original parts of the hospital are now administrative and social accommodation – Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
34 storey Guys’ Tower was added in 1974 (143 metres high, designed by Watkins Gray) – this is the tallest hospital building in the world – 143 metres high. The latest building added is Thomas Guy House in 1995, known as Phillip Harris House before. There are currently 8,000 staff working in Guy’s hospital and St. Thomas’ hospital. The Guy’s Dental Hospital is also the largest dental hospital in Europe.
THE SHARD BUILDING
The Shard Building/The Shard/Shard of Glass, previously known as London Bridge Tower, located in Southward London, expected to be finished in 2012, will be the UK’s and Europe’s tallest building.
Renzo Piano, the architect of the building, is an Italian architect, best known for creating Paris’s Pompidou Centre of Modern Art with Richard Rogers.
Piano considers the slender, spire-like form of the tower a positive addition to the London skyline and believes that its presence will be far more delicate than opponents of the scheme allege. He proposes a sophisticated use of glazing, with expressive facades of angled panes intended to reflect light and the changing patterns of the sky, so that the form of the building will change according to the weather and seasons.
GEORGE'S INN
George’s Inn was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London that destroyed most of medieval Southwark. It is London’s only remaining working example of the inn type, predecessor of both the model and the theatre (northern side missing). The interiors (more of 18th century) stile provide a plausible impression of an inn’s hospitality; generations of brewers’ improvements have been accomplished discreetly.
•Location: 71 Borough High Street
HOPS EXCHANGE
The Hops was introduced to England from Netherlands and are still used in the brewing industry. In the 19th century, raw materials for beer were brought to the market to trade, brew and sell. A glass roof allowed business on the trading floor of the Great Hall to be conducted under natural light. After the fire in 1920, two storeys were removed and the exchanges become offices.