Free-Return

!<http://www.scischina.org/images/static/emerald_map.jpg！ OK, I admit it, the cab got lost between Puxi and the Emerald (路博园 lu bo yuan) . It has to have the worst directions in the world because it is so confusing. Here are the Map. The basics to know are that it is in kangqiao and it is on the outer ring road and hunan gong lu 湖南公路

Here are directions from the Emerald to various locations, so you can reverse them to get there:

Lujiazui 30 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Jin Xiu Road --> Hua Mu Road --> Yang Gao Road --> Century Avenue --> Lujiazui
Pudong Airport 20 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Outer Ring Road --> Pudong Airport
Hongqiao Airport 30 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Outer Ring Road --> Xu Pu Bridge --> Outer Ring Road --> Hongqiao Airport
Bund
(Wai Tan) 25 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Long Yang Road --> Nanpu Bridge --> Zhong Shan Dong Yi Road --> Bund
Huaihai Road
(Puxi Tai Ping Yang Dept. Store 2) 35 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Long Yang Road --> Nanpu Bridge --> S-N Viaduct Road --> Huai Hai Road
Xujiahui
(Puxi Tai Ping Yang Dept. Store 1) 45 minutes Hu Nan Road --> Long Yang Road --> Nanpu Bridge --> In Cir. Way Viaduct --> Cao Xi Road --> Xujiahui

Map and Directions

From Puxi: (浦西）
Take the Lupu or Xupu Bridge. （卢普或许普大桥）
Follow the signs to the Pudong Airport. （开道浦东机场）
Take the Hunan Rd. exit. （开到湖南公路 出口）
Turn right on Hunan Road. Turn right on Xiuyan Rd. （小拐修沿路）
The school is on the corner of Hunan Rd. and Xiuyan Rd.

SCIS - Pudong
800 Xiuyan Road
Kangqiao, Pudong
Shanghai, China 201315
86-21-5812-9888 (FAX: 86-21-5812-9000)

Posted by Rich at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well, I've switched to Canon for my digital camera and now have a passel of Canon lenses (wahoo!), but if you are on Nikon, then there are some great options now that the Nikon D80 has shipped. Pricegrabber has the D80 for $900 or so dollars, but the big news is that there is an amazing lense, the AFS Nkkor 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 VR G ED DX that is pretty much everything you could want. Yes, it is $700, but Ken Rockwell and Bjorn just love the thing. It isn't super fast, but it covers just about every range you'll ever need from wide angle of 18mm to 200mm (with a 1.5 lense factor, that's up to 350mm equivalent). Ken's review is amazingly detailed.

That isn't the perfect lense as its a little slow and it does have strong barrel at 18mm, then pin cushions higher up. Image quality is good wide open and gets worse as you telephoto. It is very sharp at F/4-F5.6 at 18-24mm and requires F/11 at higher. The vibration reduction gives you good images down to 1/10 sec at 200MM and 1/5 at 18mm.

If you really want high quality but bulky pro lense, then the AFS Nikkor 28-70 F/2.8 ED IF is the one to get. It is expensive heavy and bulky but optical quality is amazing.

Posted by Rich at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Bolton nomination is dead and Rumsfeld is gone. Merry Christmas and welcome to a new era of international relations. Wooohoo! BTW, it is incredibly honorable that outgoing Senator Chafee, who lost his seat in Rhode Island won't use his last few months to slide this one through which he could have.

He blocked Bolton initially, so Bush had to recess appoint him and could have, since he's a lameduck, just slid it through. Apparently, Bush expected a payback from Chafee after he campaigned hard for him (which ironically is one of the reasons that this extremely moderate Republican senator actually lost).

Posted by Rich at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wel the election is over that the biggest winner IMHO was common sense. I'm absolutely amazed that after billiions of dollars of marketing and spin, the center of the US figured out what was going on.

Of course, the left and right haven't changed. 9 out of 10 democrats voted democratic and 9 out of 10 republicans still believe firmly in Bush, the war and that we are just not working hard enough to prevail. but, the great center figured a few things out. Some of us have been worried (me among them) that we were headed for a 1984 Orwellian democracy where yes meant no and no meant yes and freedom meant imprisionment.

While I'm sure historians will write lots and lots in the future about these last six years, for me it has been truly remarkable to see the free flow of information actually work. In the end, it wasn't the legislature nor the judiciary that stood in the way of the "executive presidency" but the 4th estate, the free press and most importantly, the Internet had a huge impact.

In the end, US politics IMHO will again end in a muddle and that is just fine with me. As for what to do with Iraq and so forth, the die is cast, just taking over a country doesn't work. It didn't with Vietnam and it certainly doesn't in Iraq (or Afghanistan) for that matter. I only hope that not too many more servicemen and women will die (and be maimed) before they are back home.

Posted by Rich at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

2006 General Election Endorsements

Things are so complicated this year, you really do need a cribsheet in Seattle.

Posted by Rich at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)