so yesterday was an historical day, not just for me but for the city of Taipei. it was the public opening of the 89th floor observatory at the Taipei 101, or ee-ling--ee building, and i was there. i had thought it would be packed, but apparently the Taiwanese care little for such things, and i'm glad they were so apathetic. we were able to go up about an hour before sunset and check out the huge city, with the aid of a listening tour, and then see the sunset and the city lit up. it was a total 360-degree view, and it was very impressive. the observatory is several floors down from the top, but is still incredibly high. one of its coolest features is the 660 tonne "tuned mass damper" that hangs from 16 steel wires from the 93rd floor down to the 87th, and then rests on eight huge pistons. the hanging area is completely open so you can see the whole contraption, but i wasn't able to discern it absorbing any of the 40 percent of wind or earthquake vibrations it's supposed to. i guess that's a good thing.
in any case, i should have pictures up pretty soon, but the website is worth a quick check, if you're interested: http://www.tfc101.com.tw/english/taipei/belcaney/bel01.htm. in the meantime, a word about the elevators, correcting my previous stats. they have a little monitor inside the elevators to tell you the altitude, velocity, etc. and it actually turned out only to take 37 seconds to reach the top. the acceleration is quite rapid, but you don't really notice until your ears start to pop with the altitude. the top speed was 1010 meters per minute, and i think the height of the 89th floor was about 430 meters up. on the way down they don't take you so fast--our top speed was only 600 meters per minute, so if i had tried, like i do at the hospital sometimes, to jump when it first started decending, i would have been in the air for a little longer than usual, but i certainly wouldn't have been in freefall for more than a split second. sorry to those who had wanted to try that. it ws fun anyway.
in any case, i should have pictures up pretty soon, but the website is worth a quick check, if you're interested: http://www.tfc101.com.tw/english/taipei/belcaney/bel01.htm. in the meantime, a word about the elevators, correcting my previous stats. they have a little monitor inside the elevators to tell you the altitude, velocity, etc. and it actually turned out only to take 37 seconds to reach the top. the acceleration is quite rapid, but you don't really notice until your ears start to pop with the altitude. the top speed was 1010 meters per minute, and i think the height of the 89th floor was about 430 meters up. on the way down they don't take you so fast--our top speed was only 600 meters per minute, so if i had tried, like i do at the hospital sometimes, to jump when it first started decending, i would have been in the air for a little longer than usual, but i certainly wouldn't have been in freefall for more than a split second. sorry to those who had wanted to try that. it ws fun anyway.
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