The Wabe → The Roadtrip → The Roadtrip Reports → Year 4 → Roadtrip Report: 16 May 1999

Other Trips | May 16 (part II) →

May 16:
A Day at the Tech (Part I)

Paul had to attend a wedding up in Washington, and on the way back to Southern California, he dropped in to visit Rob in Mountain View. One day was spent visiting the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

Check out The Soft Underbelly of San Jose for more info about the Tech.

This photograph was taken while standing indoors, thanks to the miracle of digital composites and blue-screen technology.

A different kind of "blue screen" technology... the Blue Screen of Death!

The Tech is such an advanced museum, it even has its own satellite communications system. You can bounce TV signals as far away as the other side of the room.

Not everything at the Tech is modern. This ancient Chinese seismometer used pendulums, levers, and metal balls to detect earthquakes and give a general idea from which direction the shockwave came.

It doesn't do anything, but this is one of Rob's favorite exhibits, because it answers a question that puzzled him for years: how do they splice optical fibers together?

Other Trips | May 16 (part II) →

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