Author: F C

Dropped by the New York City Transit Museum during lunch – it was free today for the centennial. Most of it were the same since the last time I visited. The new exhibit was about the opening celebrations 100 years ago , including the solid silver control handle used on the first ride, and several hefty silver Tiffany mermentos. I picked up some centennial first day covers from the postal workers there. I also like looking at the maps – my childhood house was near the juncture of two overhead lines, so I like trying to find it on old maps.

To top off the ominous potents, tonight there was a total eclipse of the moon. I was looking at it, the ‘hunters moon’, and it had turned dark red. Some of the best viewing was had along Ocean Parkway. Once the moon was dark, the stars came out in a way you don’t get to see any other time. Historically, eclipses and comets mark tramatic events on earth — will it occur again? Like those typhoons, something you have to experience for yourself.

A real assortment today:

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow : It’s a play about a wired agoraphobic adopted asian american trying to find herself and her Chinese birth mother by creating a robot version of herself. OK, that’s pretty wierd, but it won two best new play awards, so there must be something to it. It’s playing at Yale; maybe it’s an excuse to check out New Haven.

Grecian Formula: New York Times reports on Physics World’s poll of the greatest equations of science. Some of the bogus entries included 1+1 = 2 . The real winner was Euler’s Equation:

e ^πi + 1 = 0

I remember my high school calculus teacher used it as a proof of God’s existence: how could so many physical constants be so perfectly interrelated without some sort of plan? I don’t know, but it’s really cool regardless.

Ms. Subways: subway guerrilla theater artist Caroline Sanchez-Bernat wins the Ms. Subways contest, which was revived by the MTA for tomorrow’s centennial of the subway. She beat out Asian college student Elaine Chan and two other contestants. The owner of Ellen’s Stardust Diner was a former Miss Subways; she has posters of all of the other winners, which included Helen Lee from November 1949: “At Columbia she majored in Chinese. Now she’s studying voice — training her mezzo-soprano — hopes for a musical comedy career. Favorite pastime: Interior decorating (modern) — and football games (escorted by Yale beau).” Fascinating.

Taiwan in the news: Colin Powell touches off a firestorm on CNN regarding Taiwanese independence; Taiwanese legislators throw eggs and lunch boxes at each other in food fight; NYU Taiwanese students host “Enchanting Taiwan” exhibit at the student center.

Could Kerry be hoping the Red Sox lose? If the American League Red Sox break the curse, it may seal Kerry’s fate. However, supposedly the Washington Redskins predictor is more accurate — it has been right since 1936. The deciding game is this Sunday vs. the Green Bay Packers – Redskins for Bush, Packers for Kerry. For more deciders, check this column out.

I’ve gotten rid of all of the spam messages that are linked. Now, comments are moderated — they won’t appear immediately until one of us approves them from the Edit menu. What a pain!