Blogging from Tampa

Posts have been light because I'm in Tampa for Super Computing this week. Kelly is back in Colorado.

Wit and wisdom(?) of Donald Rumsfeld

"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Makes my brain hurt. More can be found here.

Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead.

One down, two to go!

Vote!

Vote today for the party that nauseates you less.

Denver Blizzard

Early this morning we got another winter storm. The worst of it is hitting south of Denver and in the mountains. Here near Boulder we've gotten about 4 inches. The worst hit are seeing around a foot. The snow is wet heavy goop and the ground is warm so the streets are starting to flood.

The rest of the week is expected to be warm, so there should be little evidence of the storm by the weekend.

Korea (Part 7) Seoul Airport

Airport looks like a space ship.

The interior is not unlike SFO's international terminal.


The duty free shop.

Korea (Part 6) City of Seoul

City of Seoul from the top of the 63 building looking north.

Bridge over the Hangang river at night.

Many restaurants have very fresh fish on the menu.

This women street vender started by pounding a root with a large wooden mallet, before boiling the paste. Other women rolled the paste into bars.


Fire hydrant on the street.

Koreans love to socialize late into the night.

Beautiful wrapping of a purchase.

Construction safety poster.

Starbucks Korea.


Downtown shopping district.

Subway.

Safety station in the Seoul subway.

Korea (Part 5) Changdeokgung Palace & Secret Garden

Next we visited the East Palace called Changdeokgung, translated as the Palace of Prospering Virtue.

The roof line of the palaces have interesting details. This spout looks like a Crane, which is a royal symbol.

In Korea the winters can be very cold. To make up for this, the buildings are heated by heating the floors. This shows the chimney for the under floor furnace.

The Juhamnu Royal archive or library was built in 1776.

To enter the library, one must pass through the gate. The center gate was only for the king. The two side gates are for the military and the administrators. Notice that they are too short to pass through without stooping. So many things in the palace architecture were designed to remind people of their place.

Korea (Part 4) Jogye-sa Buddhist Temple

Typically Buddhist temples are located in the mountains as they are considered places of power. Therefore it is unusual that there is a temple located within the city limits of Seoul.

This temple bell is just a few years old. It replaces the original bell, which is too fragile to use, and which is now housed within the main temple.

This is the main Buddha statue. If you look closely you can see the offering of bottle water and cookies on the bench in front of him. All proceeds go to supporting the Monks that maintain the temple.

This gray pine tree (Pinus bungeana Zucc) is around 500 years old and is designated a national monument. As the tree ages, the bark peels away and the trunk turns a grayish white color.

Korea (Part 3) Gyeongbokgung Palace

Seoul has numerous cultural sites within the city. Many of them were destroyed by two Japanese occupations in 1590's and 1910, and shelling during the Korean war. Since the 1950's the government has been slowly rebuilding the lost structures.

I got the chance to visit two of the palace sites. The first is Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is the first royal palace built in Seoul.

To get to the palace, it is necessary to pass through three gates. This is the second gate, which now acts as the park entrance.

Inside of this gate is a collection of statues. These mythological creatures were intended to force the King's bureaucrats and administrators into telling the truth. Something in critical need today.

The palace throne room is decorated in bright colors, signifying royalty.

The bright designs extend to the palace exterior, again signifying royalty.