Surplus money at the end of a grant's life sent me on a long trip
I understand geodesic distances. I know that Shanghai and Chicago are on opposite sides of the northern hemisphere. I know that a flight plan that travels along few latitude values would hit major resistance from the jet stream. The conclusion is obvious, but I was still stunned when I looked out the window and saw us doing a fly-by of Santa's workshop.
China is always game for a hilarious miss-translation. The museum describing the historical figure dying from heartbreak finally kicking the bucket with a terminal case of "hypochondria" made me smile. But I found the translation of what should have been "session chair" as "Chairman" the most interesting.
The drivers in China are reckless to the point that it seems a good law that Americans must pass a local driver's test before they may drive in the country. What I did not expect was that they could be both so reckless and so polite. It was quite common for a driver to honk his horn as he passed to say 'hey! I'm here. Please don't cut me off.' And guess what? They don't get cut off. I usually associate a culture of reckless driving with a tangle of cars going 100 mph, all trying to beat each other. This is not the case, everyone is very respectful. Just sometimes people like to pass on the right on the highway people who were already in the right-hand lane.
China is always game for a hilarious miss-translation. The museum describing the historical figure dying from heartbreak finally kicking the bucket with a terminal case of "hypochondria" made me smile. But I found the translation of what should have been "session chair" as "Chairman" the most interesting.
The drivers in China are reckless to the point that it seems a good law that Americans must pass a local driver's test before they may drive in the country. What I did not expect was that they could be both so reckless and so polite. It was quite common for a driver to honk his horn as he passed to say 'hey! I'm here. Please don't cut me off.' And guess what? They don't get cut off. I usually associate a culture of reckless driving with a tangle of cars going 100 mph, all trying to beat each other. This is not the case, everyone is very respectful. Just sometimes people like to pass on the right on the highway people who were already in the right-hand lane.