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The enormous steel ball you see in the photos (and the incredible video below) is the world’s largest ‘tuned mass damper’ and sits near the top of the world’s largest completed skyscraper on earth, taipei 101 in taiwan. the idea behind a tuned mass damper is quite simple: as a building sways (resulting from high winds, earthquakes etc), its tuned mass damper, essentially a finely tuned and ridiculously heavy pendulum, will move in opposition to the structure’s oscillations and minimise any movement. if that makes no sense, watch the crude gif below. due to both the immense size of taipei...

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The United States may post Marines at its unofficial embassy in Taiwan - a small but symbolically significant change in its delicate political relationship with the self-ruled island. A State Department advertisement in the English-language Taipei Times newspaper called for contractors to construct quarters for Marine security guards at a new U.S. compound in the capital, Taipei. Since the U.S. switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, there have been no marine guards at its Taipei facility - the American Institute in Taiwan - in keeping with its deliberately low political profile. It is customary...

TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - This Taipei restaurant might consider it a compliment to be called an outhouse as the Modern Toilet diner is one of chain of themed eateries appealing to largely young clientele with a toilet humor. All 100 seats in the crowded diner are made from toilet bowls, not chairs. Sink faucets and gender-coded "WC" signs appear throughout the three-storey facility, one of 12 in an island-wide chain of eateries with a toilet theme. Customers eat from mini plastic toilet bowls. They wipe their hands and mouths using toilet rolls hung above their tables, which may be glass-topped...

Taipei (dpa) _ An earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale jolted northeast Taiwan on Saturday night, but there was no immediate report of damages or casualties. The quake struck at 23:51 pm local time (1651 GMT), with its epicentre 185 kilometres east of Suao on the northeastern tip of Taiwan, 181 kilometres under the sea, the Seismological Observation Centre said. The centre initially reported the magnitude of the quake as 6.5 on the Richter scale, but later corrected it to 7. Although classified as a major earthquake Saturday's tremor did not appear to have caused major damages, because...

TAIPEI: An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale rattled Taiwan on Tuesday and shook buildings in the capital, the Central Weather Bureau said. The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 9.16 am (0116 GMT) was about 63 km east of Hualien on the east coast, at a depth of about 12 km, the bureau said. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin. One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, it killed more...

The government is pushing for the establishment of a regular high-level communication and dialogue mechanism with the US and Japan, Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday. Yu added that the establishment of this mechanism "has not yet matured." Taiwan and Japan have had close exchanges, but a common communication platform between Taiwan, the US and Japan is lacking, he said. Second phase Yu also touched on the government's promotion of "second phase" constitutional reform, as well as positive developments in Taiwan-US relations. He pointed out that China's military expansion, its enactment on March 14 of the "Anti-Secession" Law targeting...

Man Finds Missing Dentures -- In His Throat POSTED: 7:49 am EDT August 1, 2005 UPDATED: 11:23 pm EDT August 1, 2005 TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A Taiwanese man is breathing easier after a surgeon removed a missing set of dentures from one of his bronchial tubes -- three years after he lost them in a fall. Surgeon Chen Chun-lei said the unidentified man visited his clinic several days ago complaining of shortness of breath and a high fever. The man had no idea the missing denture was the culprit, causing a mild case of pneumonia. "He had looked for the...

Taipei 101 (link for photos - http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=100765 ) Location Street 8, Sung-Chih Road District Xinyi [Hsinyi]* City Taipei Country Taiwan Technical Data Height (tip) * Height (struct.) 509 m 1,671 ft Height (roof) * Height (main roof) * Height (top floor) * Height (obs. floor) * Height (obs. deck) * Floors (OG) 101 Floors (UG) * Floor overview * Construction start * Construction end 2004 GFA * UFA * Height Floor-to-ceiling * Elevators * Escalators * Parking places * Building in General Type of construction high-rise building Structural materials * Facade systems * Facade materials * Facade colors * Main...

ALARM - the president of Taiwan will send his representative in Peijing TAIPEI - the president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-bian, stated Sunday that it was going to send to the next week its special representative for discussions with the Chinese leaders in Peijing, a decision which constitutes a first on behalf of a leader taïwanais.

BEIJING, Apr. 3 -- Taipei's popular mayor Ma Ying-jeou announced his bid for the leadership of Nationalist Party on Sunday. Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou cheers the audience as he formally announces his bid for the leadership of Nationalist Party on Sunday. Ma Ying-jeou was cheered by about 3,000 supporters as he promised to reform the 109-year-old Nationalist Party. The opposition hopes the handsome, articulate and savvy Ma will pump new life into the Nationalists. "We need to stabilize relations with the Chinese Mainland because they affect our economy, our foreign and domestic policies," the 54-year-old Ma told supporters.

China is attempting to justify its inevitable invasion of Taiwan with some legal maneuvering – an anti-secession law. The free world's response to this grotesque violation of human rights and militaristic, imperialistic threat should be to recognize Taiwan once and for all as an independent, free and sovereign nation-state. But don't hold your breath. Washington doesn't want any more crises on its plate. The Bush administration has its hands full with the war on Islamo-fascist terrorists. It doesn't want any trouble with China right now. Washington would prefer to live in the world of make-believe and wishful-thinking – pretending that...

TAIPEI : Taiwan has opened the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, after six years of construction and hailed the 508-meter (1,676 feet) skyscraper for already resisting several powerful earthquakes. "Taipei 101 has been through the challenges of the September 21 and March 31 quakes," said President Chen Shui-bian at the opening ceremony. "The glory and success of Taipei didn't belong to one single mayor but all of the citizens," he added. Chen oversaw the start of Taiwan's largest engineering project when he was mayor of Taipei in 1998. Taiwan's worst tremor, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, struck in September...

In the middle of fighting the global war on terror, America has forgotten about their "strategic competitor" to the East. The Chinese have noticed.THE POST-9/11 WORLD has been a mixed bag for the Chinese. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the deployment of forces to Central Asia renewed fears of American encirclement and upset a decade of careful diplomacy. Beijing's efforts to negotiate security and stability along its continental border--a prelude to greater activity in maritime Asia--seemed all for naught. But then came the invasion and, more significantly, the occupation, of Iraq. The U.S. military, which had seemed entirely invincible,...

Last Updated: Thursday, 16 December, 2004, 14:59 GMT Fast lifts rise into record books Reach for the skies: The Taiwan 101 tower Two high-speed lifts at the world's tallest building have been officially recognised as the planet's fastest. The lifts take only 30 seconds to whisk passengers to the top of the 508m tall TFC 101 Tower in Taipei, Taiwan. The Guinness Book of Records has declared the 17m per second speed of the two lifts the swiftest on Earth. The lifts also have a pressure control system to stop passengers' ears popping as they ascend and descend at high...

Samsung to build tallest building The tower is set to change Dubai's skyline South Korea's Samsung Corporation has won the contract to build the world's tallest building, the Burj Tower in Dubai. Samsung won the $306m(£160m) deal, after an 11-month bid process. The concrete and steel tower will be part of an $8bn(£4.2bn) 500-acre project in the United Arab Emirates. Workers have already started to clear the ground for the 800-metre high, 160-floor skyscraper and it should be completed by November 2008. Construction work on the Burj tower will begin in January, and when completed it will be taller...

Protest in Taipei against US arms deal Purchase will trigger weapons race with China and force cuts in welfare, demonstrators claim TAIPEI THOUSANDS of protesters marched through Taiwan's capital yesterday, urging the government to scrap a massive US weapons package that they said would trigger an arms race with China and squeeze social welfare. Holding banners reading 'Our money, your war', 'Want peace, no war', protesters ranging from veterans to unemployed workers and children joined the march to the Presidential Office. Organisers had expected more than 10,000 people to take part in the rally, but police estimated a turnout of...

TAIPEI - Proposed Chinese legislation that would give a mandate for the reunification of Taiwan with the mainland would provide a legal basis for an attack on the island, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has said. Mr Chen, speaking for the first time on the mainland's proposal to adopt a reunification law, said he was very concerned about it. 'China is undertaking a legal battle. If Taiwan does not follow, it will undertake a military battle,' he was quoted by the United Daily News as saying during a visit to the southern county of Tainan late on Thursday. 'The reunification law...

BEIJING (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney started a three-day visit to China Tuesday aimed at keeping a lid on tension between China and Taiwan and jump-starting talks to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions. In his first closed-door meeting after arriving from Tokyo, Cheney reassured Chinese leaders that the United States did not support Taiwan independence and would oppose unilateral steps by either side, according to China's official Xinhua news agency. But Washington is increasingly concerned by China's build-up of ballistic missiles capable of striking Taiwan, and Cheney was expected to raise the issue when talks resume on Wednesday. China,...

Does the Free Republic of China have the right to tell a bully to back off? Taiwan's government is planning a referendum to demand that communist China stop aiming missiles at the island. This seemingly reasonable desire is being criticized -- by China, of course -- as "provocative." You'd think aiming the missiles is somewhat provocative. But this didn't stop President Bush from chiming in with China. Bush has rebuked the Taiwanese government for its proposed referendum, citing "comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the...

The bone in Beijing's throat Posted: December 22, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc. During the early Cold War, Nikita Khrushchev referred to West Berlin, the free city of 2 million surrounded by the Red Army and East Germany, as "a bone in our throat." That bone helped kill the Soviet Empire. Now, the bone in Beijing's throat is Taiwan. Though the island was ruled by the mainland for only four years of the 20th century, Beijing claims Taiwan as a lost province. Before 1945, Taiwan was a colony of Japan, which had seized it in the...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on TaipeiTimes http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2003/11/18/2003076277 Tang disputes Shaheen's talk on subs NATIONAL DEFENSE: The defense minister said that the government would press ahead with plans to buy eight submarines, even though the AIT chairperson said they were `silly' By Brian Hsu and Ko Shu-ling STAFF REPORTERS Tuesday, Nov 18, 2003,Page 1 Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (“’—j–¾) yesterday said he would complain to American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairperson Therese Shaheen if he could verify that she really described Taiwan's plan to buy submarines as "silly." "We do not know for sure whether Shaheen said, as reported by newspapers,...

While President Bush reiterated his vow to defend Taiwan if attacked, one of his party's leaders was slamming the U.S. "one China" policy that supports Beijing's claim on the island nation. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay criticized the policy in a speech, calling it a "diplomatic contrivance" that has been elevated to the status of "doctrine" by some officials over the years. In yesterday's edition, the Taipei Times said DeLay, a Texas Republican, did not level his criticism at the Bush administration, but rather the U.S. policy of historically deferring to Beijing instead of Taipei. In remarks to the American...

As has happened before, the Taiwanese contestent for the Miss Universe pageant is not being allowed to be called Miss Taiwan. At the demand of the Chinese communists she had her name changed to Miss Chinese Taipei. Szu Yu Chen, competing in Miss Universe (news - web sites) as Miss Chinese Taipei, wipes away a tear as she tells journalists she wants to be known as Miss Taiwan, in Panama City, May 23, 2003. Panama is hosting the 2003 Miss Universe pagent, which has a television audience of 600 million viewers from 176 countries, on June 3. REUTERS/Alberto Lowe

GENEVA (AP)--Taiwan failed Monday in its seventh bid for a toehold in the World Health Organization, despite intense lobbying by the island's authorities, who said a link with the U.N. health agency would help them battle the SARS virus. The World Health Assembly, the top decision-making body of the 191-nation WHO, decided not to include the Taiwan issue on the agenda of its annual meeting in Geneva. With support from the United States, Taiwan had applied for observer status at WHO as a ``health entity'' instead of a country. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, who also is health minister, called...

Published on TaipeiTimeshttp://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2003/05/12/205657 Expert hits out at prevention flawsEPIDEMIC LOOPHOLES: The director of the WHO's communicable diseases department warned that facilities must learn to communicate with each otherCNA Monday, May 12, 2003,Page 3 A man quarantined in the Huachang Public Housing Complex in Taipei's Wanhua District chats to reporters from his veranda yesterday. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES Poor coordination among SARS-fighting agencies and a lack of sufficient knowledge about the new disease in the initial stage of the outbreak are the major reasons for the deterioration in the SARS situation in Taiwan, said a World Health Organization (WHO)...

A man killed himself and an elderly man passed away from lung failure yesterday at a stringently isolated Taipei hospital that is home to over 1,000 quarantined due to a SARS outbreak. Disease control experts worried that Taipei Municipal Ho Ping Hospital, which was sealed off Thursday, could become a hotbed of the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome virus as movement restrictions have been imposed on the quarantined so far. The man, 48, committed suicide yesterday afternoon as he thought his wife had been infected by SARS, officials said. The man and his wife were inside the hospital taking care...

About 40 of the Ho Ping staff, furious at their being quarantined inside the hospital over the massive SARS outbreak there, skirted a police cordon to stage a protest in front of the hospital yesterday. "Wrong policy," read one banner unfurled the nurses and other workers protesting the government's decision to seal off the hospital Thursday after seven of the Ho Ping staff were suspected of having SARS. They asked the policy-makers to come stay with them in the hospital. "We don't want to contract SARS. Many of us want to jump (to death) off the hospital building, or we...

Hi to all. Despite SARS, despite warnings from friends, colleagues, and some Freepers, we traveled to Beijing last week by way of Hong Kong. I'm pleased to report that we are back in Taiwan, that we had a wonderful time in Beijing, and that we are all healthy!

I am currently in Taipei, where my sister-in-law is a nurse at Hoping Municipal Hospital. This is the place where 7 SARS cases were discovered three days ago. Yesterday afternoon, after earlier claiming that the hospital would remain open and that the situation was under control, Taipei officials suddenly quarantined the entire hospital forbidding any staff, patients, or even visitors from leaving. News reports showed people shouting and throwing messages from windows demanding to be set free. One man shouted, "I have no symptoms, I haven't been around anyone with symptoms, I have children coming home from school soon. Who...

War is never a good thing because it causes extreme privation and damages material and spiritual civilization. Yet there are times when war is unavoidable. The Iraq problem didn't develop overnight but has dragged on since 1991 because Iraq has frequently violated UN resolutions and has secretly developed weapons of mass destruction. Every time a problem arises, the UN depends on the US to act as a "global policeman" before Iraq will begin to toe the line (sic). But Iraq always reverts to its former behavior. This time they were cooperating with UN weapons inspectors only because they had been...

Taiwan revises map to exclude Mongolia as its territory Taipei, Oct 3 (dpa) Taiwan's Interior Ministry has revised the official map to formally exclude Outer Mongolia as part of the island's territory, ending the decades-old dispute over the sovereignty claim of Ulan Bator. Under Taiwan's map, Outer Mongolia, which became independent in 1921, remains a part of China, of which, Taiwan still nominally claims sovereignty. ''It has come to the time for us to recognize the fact that Mongolia is an independent country, and we are just being practical in redrawing the map,'' said Interior Minister Yu Chen-hsien, referring to...

Thursday, August 8th, 2002 w w w . t a i p e i t i m e s . c o m A  M e m b e r  o f   t h e  L i b e r t y  T i m e s  G r o u p 36,609,005 v i s i t s Editorial: Focus on economics, not wordplay President Chen Shui-bian's (³¯¤ô«ó) "one country on each side" statement has stirred up a commotion both at home and abroad. Li Weiyi (§õºû¤@), spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, departed from Beijing previous line of intimidation in his response,...

TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China, in the throes of a leadership reshuffle, kept silent Sunday on a bold call for independence by Taiwan's president, while another island official played down the significance of the remarks. In some of his strongest comments since taking office, Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian said Saturday that Taiwan and the mainland were really separate countries and that he backed a referendum on formal independence. Contacted Sunday, China's Foreign Ministry declined to respond specifically to Chen's remarks, referring questions on those to the government's Taiwan Affairs Office, but reiterated Beijing's long-standing "one-China" policy. "There is only one China,...

Coast Guard members salute the body of a China Airlines crash victim at Penghu's Makung Airport yesterday. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES Theories abound to explain causeSEARCHING FOR ANSWERS: One source says a Chinese missile strike cannot be ruled out, while another points to similarities to the crash of TWA Flight 800 in the US By Chiu Yu-tzu and Patrick KearnsSTAFF REPORTERS A Chinese missile or fuel-tank explosion similar to what brought down TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York in 1996 were among the theories put forth by aviation experts and other sources yesterday to explain...

TAIPEI, April 17 (AFP) - Taiwan's top China envoy, Koo Chen-fu, on Wednesday renewed an invitation to his mainland counterpart to visit the island now that the two were members of the World Trade Organization. Koo, chairman of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), also urged Beijing to reopen top-level dialogue with Taiwan "to create new opportunities for positive interaction." "I would like to re-extend my invitation to Mr. Wang Daohan, chairman of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), for a visit to Taiwan at his earlist convenience so he can get to know the island and its...