Installing Windows 7

So I downloaded Windows 7 from Microsofts website (I couldn't be doing with going to a shop and buying it) and tried installing it yesterday.  It didn't work, because I was using a bootable USB DVD drive, instead of a SATA one.

I believe that it is theoretically possible to use a USB drive, as the problem was a driver one.  Initially I couldn't even see the drive, but with some internet searching I found some drivers, put them onto a USB memory stick and attached that to my computer.  After some dabbling and discovering, I managed to isolate the driver (a USB 2 generic driver, believe it or not) and the DVD drive was found.

What boggles my mind is this:  I pre-loaded the Windows 7 installer using the same DVD drive it later could not find.  Way to go, asinine windows programmers.

Anyway, after finding the drivers for the drive, Windows kicked up a big, heaving bunch of driver related issues, and I could go no further.

I then decided to purchase a second DVD drive, this time internal SATA.  I'm looking at the Windows installer now, and it hasn't kicked up any errors yet.  Here's to hoping.

So basically heed this:  If you are installing Windows (or Ubuntu for that matter) it is far simpler to use an internal SATA drive.

Many might say, 'why didn't you have one in the first place?'  The reason:  Purely aesthetic.  I don't want an ugly-ass drive poking out the front of my beautiful new, perfectly rounded and formed, chinese built case.  Every sucka has a DVD drive, only pro's don't.

Amazing Fact of the Day

An article published one year ago on the BBC website states that:

"Just two years ago, only 5% of Chinese internet users knew that the government censored the internet," Mr Mao says.

(He's some activist plotting the usage of firewall circumventing  software in china.)

At first I thought it was a communication error; he actually meant to say that only 5% of people know how to get round censoring.  It turns out that's not the case.  The figure seems suspect, but the point stands.  How can someone be so stupid as to think that the warning signs saying 'the content you are accessing does not adhere to law and therefore cannot be viewed' (a rough translation) is a normal internet message to receive.  What's more, law is subject to the country you live in, so even if you are an alien who has never seen a computer or the internet before, you know this message is based on the country in which you now reside.

Seriously dumb.

It's become better in recent times; some 35% (a different website, a newer report) now know that they're not seeing the real thing.

I think people are also failing to see the non-political reason behind the firewalls existence.  There are more people using the internet over there than anywhere else in the world.  They are using cloned services of everything we have in the West, the difference being that none of the revenues are heading to american multi-nationals.  They stay within china, and help ensure amazing growth by letting none of the profits leak outside of the country.  Couple this with the (literally tens of millions of) migrant workers who tend fields and build machines outside of china, who are a constant source of money flowing back into china (via web services accessible outside of china, but with operations squarely inside china) and you have a lucrative source of foreign investment, without the need to pay foreign taxes or have foreign headquarters.  If a UK company relied on expats to make money in this way, they would get nowhere as the incumbent group in question is tiny.  The chinese seem to perform every task in largesse, however - leading their internet machine to be worth billions, and it will continue to grow at the exponential rate their economy has been.


Wild prediction time - 2011 will be the year the chinese economy stumbles.

2012 will be the year the chinese economy falls flat on its face.  Lots of bloodshed will follow.

It's Not Working!

The computer sees everything, all the hardware is fine.

Whenever I try and install windows it coughs up a 'CD/DVD driver needed' error, and tells me to point it to a driver (that I don't have).

Ubuntu coughs up a CD error too.  I can only assume it's because I'm booting from a USB drive and not an internal sata drive.  I will take twenty pounds to the nearest computer shop tomorrow, and give him my money.  If that does not solve the problem, I will cry as I am out of ideas.

I have tried booting from USB pen drives, CD drives, Ubuntu and Windows.  I've tried running Ubuntu Live CD user sessions, and they invariably crap out with errors saying 'a valid file system could not be found,' (or something to that effect.)

Frustration: population 1.

It's Working!

It boots, it sees 16 gigs of RAM, it sets the RAM to the correct frequencies and latencies, it detects the hard disk (500 gigs for 28 pounds) and nothing exploded!

I need to get a bigger USB pen drive so I can put Ubuntu on it, then it will be ready to use!

I usually keep a pen drive around storing the Ubuntu Netbook Remix (whichever is the latest version) but the full-blown 64 bit desktop variant requires a 2gig drive.  Mine's only 1 gig.  A quick trip down to the store tomorrow should rectify that shortfall, and I'll be ready to rumble.

I might also see if they have any USB DVD drives, so I can keep a backup copy of all my linux flavours in case of emergencies.  (I currently run netbook remix, 32 bit desktop and tomorrow, 64 bit as well.

Before you ask, no, I don't have a DVD drive in my PC.  No I'm not getting one.  Because it makes the front of the case look ugly, and everything will be digital distrobution in five years anyway.  All my games are bought on steam, and all the office apps I will need are part of Ubuntu.

The pendrive and dvd drive will eat into my contingency budget, and bring this build to a grand total (everything included) of 1,250 pounds.  I hastily calculated that this build would have cost me 1,600 in England.  Each major component is at least 50 pounds dearer, most things end up being way pricier.

I get paid on Monday.  Phew!

Ready to Rumble

SO here is the system, up and running.  I don't know what errors it's kicking up, because I don't have a screen, mouse or keyboard with me right now.  It passes POST with no errors, which is a good start.

There should be several things you notice immediately.

The comedy wiring system I've implemented would be my first port of call.

To explain the comedy wiring, first you need to follow me through the installation process.

I put the CPU and heatsink on with nerves and jitters.  The upshot was that I didn't do it properly.  For those using the stock cooler on an i7 2600K, you have to be quite brutal when pushing the corner pins into position.  Of course, brutal in my language might be something else in yours, so please don't sue me when you break it.  On my first attempt I didn't push them down hard enough, and the cooler came off in my hand.  Luckily, I suspected the cooler wasn't on properly, and gave it a test before turning the system upright.  (Disaster averted, phew.)

The second near-calamity came when I was placing the monstrous graphics card into the system.  Having mounted the board and screwed it into position with CPU and cooler attached, I gingerly placed the monster into the case.  It just about fit, but wouldn't sit low enough into the case for it to seat in the PCI slot. I took out the motherboard, added the spacers (onto another group of spacers, thinking it required extra height) and found the whole board raised too high.

After pondering the reason for these difficulties, I realised that the board is a double-width card, which means I had to take the placeholders out of the slot adjacent to the card.  (See above for the placeholders, there are three in this picture.)

Having installed the PSU earlier, I decided to place all the components before wiring everything up.  The time came to do just that, and the modular AX 750 (from Corsair, a brand I associate with memory products) proved to be both detrimental and helpful in this regard.

I hooked up the motherboard, graphics card and HDD without incident.  I turned it on, and nothing happened.

It turns out that the 12 pin (is it 12?  I didn't check) motherboard connector has 2 corresponding connectors on the PSU side.  Both of these have to be plugged in for it to power up, it appears.  This makes sense, as the two connectors are eight pins and four pins respectively, (or eight pins and six, I forget) which matches the total number going into the motherboard.  Without knowing anything about electronicals, I would imagine that it makes sense for a dozen pins to connect directly to another dozen, especially considering there is no magic box between the two ends, just a straight wire.

This does leave me with something of a dilemna however.  The graphics card utlises both an eight and six pin connector, and I've read that you should use separate lines to deliver both of these.  The problem is, there aren't enough connectors to deliver two lines to the graphics card, so it's essentially being fed two separate sources of power by the same line.  Not good.  I wonder whether this will have any impact on stability when I'm benchmarking it.  Furmark anyone?

So we come to why it's a multicar-pileup-on-spaghetti-junction kind of wiring affair.  Well, I had to disconnect and reconnect everything so many time that it just ended up like this.  I will (probably) put all the wires into the unused drive bays at some point.

All that remains is to boot it with peripherals and see if it runs.  If it does, I'll be relieved more than anything.

OHMYGODTHERAMITFINALLYGOTHERE

SO the RAM turned up, not five minutes ago.  I've been chilling, on account of my having no money left after I bought a steroid abusing computer.

Is that?  Is that really?  Why yes, I think that is 16gigs of unbuffered non-ecc ram, running at CL 7-8-7-24.  Not the tightest timings, but at DDR3 1600 they'll serve my purposes.  In fact, one stick of this stuff would probably have served my purposes.

The case is from a company called BitFenix (probably chinese) and it's the 'survivor,' model.  Check here for my initial impressions.

To backtrack a little, this is the open case with a pre-installation wiring solution.  It's actually pretty solid.  I only had to move two wires around, the big fan at the top (to the mobo fan 1 pin, which is at the top of this board, not the bottom) and the sound ports for the top of the PC.

The graphics card is MASSIVE.  I mean that quite literally, as it's both heavy and big.  My case is no shrinking violet, yet it only fits in by the slimmest of margins.  It takes up two PCI slots, and let me emphasise this again, it weighs a ton.

I envisage this case being moved around a lot, so everything is as secure as I can make it.

A Series of Challenges

SO all the computer parts have turned up, bar the RAM.  This wasn't unexpected, on account of the RAM being sources from a different person.  The other challenge, it seems, is finding a screwdriver.

Since people started inventing things, people have been able to invent illogical things.  This case, for example, looks great.  It's screwdriver less, insofar as you don't need any screwdrivers to undo the bolts holding the sides on.  However, you DO need a screwdriver to undo the corners, that mesh over the side-covers.  This means, it's not actually screw less.

The screw has a handy grip around the outside, so you don't need a screwdriver.

The corners of the case, however, are covered by this corner piece, which is decidedly screwdriver only.  It's also annoying that this corner seems to be falling apart, and I've only had it five minutes.  

 I think it looks great (that's why I chose it) and it's a simple, clean design.  It's got a massive low-RPM fan on top and space inside for the kitchen sink.

Aesthetics: 8/10; Build quality 5/10

Hey There, Big Spender

SO I've been talking about purchasing a new PC for a while, holding off until I returned to England, or moved elsewhere.  The reason for the delay was my ineptitude in product searching and internet usage.

Everyone told me to look in Korea, because surely everything would be cheaper there.  I did look, and I honestly came up short.  Everything I found (cameras, PC parts, even power supplies and heavy duty converters) turned out to be an almost perfect match in price to the UK counterparts.

Then, yesterday, Amanda showed me a website.  My eyes were opened to the possibilities of cheap Korean goods.  I feverishly gad about the internet looking for the cheapest components I could source, comparing them to their UK brethren.  I sourced a similar PC to the one I submitted on my blog a few months ago and, to my amazement, found it to be no less than six hundred pounds cheaper here than in England.

I went about sourcing modern components, and have found an £1800 PC for, wait for this to blow your goddamned minds, £1,100.  Everything is top spec bar one omission, an SSD.

Let me explain this omission:

I have witnessed the performance increase, and usability increase obtained through utilising an SSD.  The whole computer becomes more responsive, and, frankly, more pleasant to use.  In picking top notch parts however, I have also opted for a motherboard that has a 6gb/s hard disk interface, and USB 3.  No current SSD's can saturate a 6gb/s line, or even fill up half the bandwidth.

I've read a number of reviews regarding the new sandforce controller, and the new Vertex 3 SSD, which is a native 6gb/s part.  This will enter the enterprise sector shortly, if it hasn't already; and desktop parts will become available in the next few months.  Therefore, I will buy a 2TB drive, use it as my main for now, and swap it into pure storage when I get the new SSD.  Of course, this also has the added benefit of me being able to build up my reserves of cash once more.  While not a full months pay, this computer isn't far off, and I need a substantial amount to relocate for my next job, wherever that may take me.

Another fact that blew my mind, was that it's cheaper to source parts from a brick and mortar shop, than on the internet.  I know my track record with internet surveillance isn't particularly strong (see above), but I searched for a number of hours last night, finding the best prices I could.  I marched into the shop, with the thought of saying 'beat this, if you dare,' and the clerk simply smiled, phoned up some people (back of a lorry, anyone?) and came back with universally cheaper prices.  I couldn't source the RAM from him (he insisted it doesn't exist, we shall see) but this is included in my budget anyway.

On a side-note, I gave him a 500,000 won deposit for him to acquire the parts by tomorrow at 5pm.  What are the odds of him never turning up, and my 500,000 won going walkies?  I think they're pretty high, actually.  Somewhere in the region of 25%.

At least I didn't give him the full amount, eh.

Specs and pictures incoming, when the final thing is built.

On a side-note:  This picture made me laugh.  

Robots

As I'm hopefully heading away from this frightful country, and towards that which own(s) (ed) it, I thought I would check out the latest robotics.  Robots and Japan are synonymous after all.

It turns out there's been no real advancement in robotics, beyond what seemed to have been achieved by 2005/06.  I would imagine it's in part due to the perceived devastation of the financial crisis (life goes on, let's be honest).

For once the BBC article sums it up nicely.  People don't want a weird looking semi-human looking thing helping them.  (Check out the picture of the man in a suit holding the woman, who would want that thing helping them?)

The alternative is what I would have expected to be the natural evolution of robotics anyway; building robots for every day purposes, and integrating as many functions into them as possible.  Just like  a mobile phone.  Some time down the line (let's not get into wild date predictions) this hybrid toaster/nail clipper/hair cutter will sprout something resembling arms, and upon reaching mark V will grow fingers.  Surely it would make more sense to build a machine from the core purpose, adding extra features, than try to build a fully realised robot and have it attempt to fit a purpose at a later date.

That's just how I always imagined it would be.  (I think the Japanese watched too many robot films, like I robot)


In reply to the comment left on my previous page: all those things have happened to me.  Whether I provoked the people who did them in a way unbeknownst to me (I've lived 20+ years with only a couple of those bad things happening to me, prior to living here) or not, they happened.  Should I judge this country on fairy tales and fluffy dream-like examples of what might have been, or what I have experienced?  I understand that the corollary of optimism is ignorance, but after a year of drudgery, I can no longer see the fabled Korea set forth in TV dramas and movies.

Breaking Point

Korea is within inches of breaking me.  I've had enough, and I really cannot fathom spending any more of my life here.  I've been angry, sad, annoyed, perturbed and disturbed, frustrated and despondent; now I'm just desperate.

Every time I go to Seoul (a trip I'm obliged to do often) I end up hating Korea a little bit more.  It's become bad enough that it requires physical effort to will myself out of the door, head to the bus stop and begin the five or six hour journey.

This time, I reached Gohyun (the town on my island from which the bus runs) to find I had forgotten my credit card.

A long, laborious trip back home (it takes an hour each way) and I found myself searching my belongings to find my card.  (It was under my bed; how it got there god only knows.)  Card in hand, I exited, found the bus and travelled another hour to Gohyun.  By this time, I had sacrificed three hours of my life sitting next to, in front of and behind Koreans who would as soon spit on me as say hello.  This fantastic and vibrant countries' people, epitomised by the  man who stood shouting at me for (presumably) being white, for a full five minutes at the bus stop, can all rot in a cesspit.  I've met five nice Koreans, four of whom have lived abroad or are only half Korean.

Think about that statistic.  For a Korean to be nice they must live abroad.  Not just for a year in a terrible Korean-run boarding school, but for many years, even decades.

Now guess how many Koreans have done that - I would probably require only a few more digits than I own to figure  that one out.

So an entire country of horrible, snivelling, grotty, filthy, ignorant, spastic, morose, incompetent, racist, scum are diluted by a tiny minority.  Shouldn't I be talking about that the other way around?  Shouldn't I be saying the minority spoil it for the majority, like in England?

That aside, if I have to make the trip to Seoul one more time, I feel I will snap.  Whether it's the bus going the wrong way, the trip taking around 10 hours, being shouted at for being foreign the whole trip, being kicked and prodded, being spat at, sneezed on, coughed on, laughed at or tripped up, it's never pleasant.  Let alone when the person I'm visiting gives me the wrong directions (as has happened not once, not twice, but thrice) and I end up face down in a ditch full of shit-water.  I give up.  No longer can I take it.  No more.  I'm only going to the airport to get away from this shit-hole.

On a side-note, how comes it's morally objectionable if Japan hunts whales, but it's okay if the Scandinavians hunt whales?

1984

Having just read 1984, with one of its' catchphrases being, 'ignorance is strength,' it's amazing how pertinent all his writing is now.  Animal farm and 1984 both resonate, primarily because everyone you end up talking to always refers to others.  The chinese, old Stalin and communist Russia, Cuba; all ripe for comparison.  No one ever thinks it applies to us.

It does.

Take a trivial example in the BBC.  Japanese whalers have been foiled for a few days.  Victory for us against them.  A chinese magician performs this act by feeding a group of fish magnets.  Automatically, with no prompting and indeed contrary information, half of the people commenting on the video assume it's Japanese people.  Well they are cruel and westerners aren't you know.  (This example is imperfect, as it's chinese dubbed, with Wapanese speakers, despite a chinese 'magician,' being credited: the point still stands.)

This immediate and contradictory nonsense has a name in 1984, it's called 'doublethink,' and is the mode of thinking two contradictory things and knowing they're both right.  (More specifically in 1984, it's knowing that the party line is right - I feel it's more appropriate to maintain that both are correct.  Absolute denial of the truth will come some years down the line, when Coca-Cola completely dictates our thoughts)  In this example, humanity is needlessly cruel, epitomised by the Japanese.  The Japanese and us are human, yet we are either not cruel, or not as cruel as they are.  As logical fallacies go, this is a minor one; next time your king/president/prime minister preaches about equality for the masses while wielding absolute power (and make no mistakes, if the government want you gone, you will disappear - how many months can the police detain you without cause based on 'terror laws,' nowadays?) you might care to examine how many truths you hold in your head.

Right now, looking at this stupid magician and his fish, and the morose comments, I'm holding a dozen irreconcilable thoughts about the nature of people, and they're mingling quite harmlessly.

Hong Kong

So I'm desperately trying to get flights to Hong Kong for an unexpected week we're having off in school.

The downside is cost, 450 quid for a return flight.  Is it worth paying this much for only a week?  Thoughts welcome.

On an unrelated side-note, my Nami Island bumper edition is finally completed.  Found here, it is a chronicled adventure to a picturesque island in Korea.

Some Snow, A Lot of Snow

There was a relatively heavy snowfall this afternoon.  It continued for a number of hours, causing the school to shutdown halfway through operations.

Of course, as we were already there, we gained no respite; nose to the grindstone and all that.

For an idea of how much snow fell, check out this not very informative and extremely sensationalist report from the BBC.  Ignore the text, look at the picture.  We've had about two-thirds of that.

If we can't go into school tomorrow, then we would have to make up for it by working on Friday (originally planned as a half day) so I'm hoping that it will stop.

On the other hand, if it carries on this way, we might get all week off which would be cool.  Literally.

Having just ventured out (at eight O'clock) I can say with 95% certainty that there will be no school tomorrow.  It's not snowing, but I've just done a swiss cheese job on my hands from falling over on the ice.  The middle of the road is like a third-rate ice-skating rink, and the less well trodden paths are glacial standard ice.  If school does go ahead tomorrow, there will be more car crashes than I dare imagine.

The Nami Island Bumper Edition

So I start this particular bumper edition with the note that Nami island is probably one of the top two nicest places in Korea.

The other, Jeju island, I've not been to.

I am told with genuine passion, that it is really nice however.

Interestingly, the photographs are all mixed up.

This will be interesting because you have to guess what this is, and I'm not going to tell you.

Amanda was my accomplice once again, and we rented a tandem bike on the second day on the island.

It was a dog to ride, but this made it all the more fun.  Especially when she took the helm, as fear induced hysterics could be heard echoing around the island.

It was fear that made me laugh.

This is like the one above, only slightly more  is showing.

There are wires.

This should be a clue for anyone trying to figure out what it is.

We met a couple of Taiwanese girls whom Amanda struck up conversation with.

We met them in the shop on the island; then again on the boat on the way back; then again waiting for a taxi.

These three (being chinese and superstitious) took it as a sign of fate, and ended up spending the whole day together.

They really were a lot of fun, and were amazed by UNO, which I managed to blag using our school book budget.  I said something about colours and numbers, but I can't really  remember.

So this is plainly another part of the metallic contraption above.

Wires are involved.  By looking at the photographs we can see that is massively (needlessly) complicated, and therefore bound to carry something heavy and/or important.

These are traditional Korean dancers, wearing the traditional Korean head thing that spins around.

It's rather difficult to capture movement in a still photograph, but I attempted to do just that in some later pictures.

They were rather good, I must say.

No videos this time I'm afraid, the camera I was using isn't able to capture footage.

More of the mysterious contraption.

The massive and unwieldy theme continues, with this huge suspended pylon.

This is at the top of the huge contraption.

The observant among you will notice the wires running down behind us.

Surely you've figured out what it is by now?

At the top of the massive unwieldy contraption, we had some time to kill, so started taking artsy looking photographs.

At this point, we've jumped back in time to riding around the island on the dog-of-a-bike.

I used fill-in flash (I think that's what it's called) to ensure the subject was lit well enough.

Fancy, technical photography stuff eh!

I'm a sucker for repeating patterns, and jumping back in time even further, we see a pattern adorning the wall of our hotel foyer.

This is real wood.  (At first I thought it was wallpaper, with a bizarre pattern.)

Ok, to explain this one I must let the cat out of the bag.

The giant metal doodads were all parts of a giant zip-line.

It started at 80 metres in height on the mainland (hence why we  were waiting at the top) and travels 940 metres onto the island.

This is a picture taken from above, looking down on one of the ferries you normally cross to the island with.  I didn't notice at first, but most eyes are looking directly at the camera.  Creepy.

This is the companion photograph to the earlier one, showing a sliver of the hell-bike.

It really  was terrible to ride.

This guy was preparing some glass for an exhibition.  He didn't look very good while I was peering in through the window taking pictures, but when we went inside things were completely different.  He has made some fantastic stuff.

This is while I was dangling on the island side, passing onto the landing.

These people were saying hello as I casually rolled past in my little hanging seat/harness.

The island had plenty of old things to take pictures of, and it really seems to be a great place to take photographs.  There were dozens of extremely rich people, toting cameras that made me feel somewhat envious.

They were all carrying tripods too, which makes me think I missed a trick somewhere along the line.

It took about twenty minutes to get onto the zip line, so I took this picture of shoes.

There may be feet inside them, I can't remember.

The island was full of places to sit down and enjoy the calm.

It's especially peaceful at night, after the last ferry leaves.  This is when there are the fewest people on the island, and it becomes extremely quiet.  There's not much alive on it besides trees, so you don't really hear any animal noises either.

Unfortunately it was cloudy when we went, so I couldn't see any stars.  It would have been extremely nice to see the sky without the pollution and light pollution you normally find in the cities.

Even though it hasn't snowed in a couple of weeks it's cold enough that the snow doesn't seem to leave.

The rivers surface was frozen at least a few inches thick, about halfway across.  You could easily walk at least ten metres onto it, but any more and you might find an impromptu arctic survival lesson being enacted.

This is a pictures quite near the start of the line.  Nothing is in focus, but I like the feeling of height it gives.  It really was extremely high.

This is one of the pictures with movement I attempted to capture.  You can see the cicular motion of the head spinny thingy, and this is pretty much what they did for the entire dance.

Couple this with some fancy footwork and loud drums, and you have a winning formula for interesting cultural happenings.

This place was dappled with snow, and it was quite fun to ride through it, hoping not to fall off.

Having said this place is one of the nicest in Korea, it's because of the artwork and various installations around the place, not necessarily the scenic beauty.  It is quite nice, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing beyond what you would find anywhere in England.

The place is lit up at night.  It took a while to find a suitable position to take photographs from, on account of me being one of the poor folk without a tripod.

More crazed dancing, with more head spinning.

This is the top of the great big tower, where two very friendly locals strapped us into the zip-line.

That's four nice Koreans I've met since I've been here.

That number is growing exponentially!

An alternative view from the top of the tower, showing the snow and the extraordinary height.

It's great to see the local views from.

This is the first half of the boat from before.  Notice how all these people are also looking upwards.

The noise from this thing is quite incredible, and having been underneath someone being launched, it feels as if most of the energy is directed downwards.  I imagine this is either a deliberate ploy to grab attention, or a nice side-effect of the design.

This guy is the glass maker from before.  He looks like a homeless man, but he's very good with the glass.

I can't figure out whether he's trying not to smile, or whether he's trying not to laugh at me asking for a photo.  It is kind of ridiculous in hindsight, but a nice picture nonetheless.

I bought something from him too, so he couldn't refuse my photo request!

This is one of the Tawainese (see:chinese) girls we met on the way back from the island.

She called me smelly (despite not emitting any odours, I can assure you!) and proceeded to make fun of me for the hour-long train ride on the way back home.

She was nice; her only flaw being a liking for Korea.  This is a mistake and, frankly, a character flaw.

I generally dislike anyone who likes Korea.

Rewind:  This is the path leading up to the hotel at night.  It was quite a nice walk, meandering around the island and slipping over on the ice.

Another quick fast forward, and this is the view from the top of the eighty metre tower.

As you can see, there is a ton of pollution in Korea at all times.  This effectively limits the view you can see, which is probably a shame in this circumstance.  Anywhere else in Korea, being able to see only a short distance is a boon, as there is nothing but debris to see anyway.

On a side-note, I learned recently that Koreans used to be able to drink the tap water, but years of excessive pollution have rendered the water incapable of sustaining life.  This is how Asians, and more specifically Asians of chinese descent decide to treat the world; not even caring about human life.  At least they build things really fast.

Hey mister jazz man, play us a song.  He was quite good, (not exceptional) but his speakers were devastatingly loud.  My ears were ringing for five minutes after passing his stand; much to the chagrin of my accomplice, as "WHAT?" was the answer to everything she said.

This is the starting station for the ride.  You can just see the island off in the distance.  It's obscured not by distance, but pollution.

The contraptions you sit in were surprisingly comfortable.  I say surprising because the other attractions and themed rides I've been on in Korea are four sizes too small, and tend to be ball experiences.

This is the accompaniment that supports the manic drumming of the other head bangers.

He doesn't bob around much, and there's certainly no head banging on his part.  I would imagine that hampers the flute playing somewhat.

At a guess, I imagine this is some hippy art installation.  I can't remember why I took this picture.

Another attempt at an artsy photograph.  I don't think it worked particularly well though.

The picture I took directly after this one ranks as one of my favourites in Korea.  This was the setup shot, where I figured there was potential somewhere.

This is that same Taiwanese (see:chinese) girl.  The other was particularly shy, and was taking pictures of everything.  Seriously, a communist spy inside a western nuclear facility would not take as many photographs as these guys were.  It was almost as if they'd heard about the Japanese penchant for excessive photographic habits, and were trying to outdo them.

And this is my favourite of the island photographs, and one of the top takes in Korea.  I'm sure lots of people don't like the black block at the top, and I'm sure it's not fully focused; the white light is a giant 'blown highlight.'  There are a million problems with it, but I think it's awesome.

This is a wide-angle version of the harness contraption.  How do you say 'over engineering,' in Korean?  It's actually not surprising, as an american company came up with the concept, and we all know how they like to over-develop their products.  (see:this)

The island had a number of particularly nice snow themed installations dotted around.  They were all reasonably interactive, and most lit up at night.

This was one of the more impressive features.

Without a tripod it take forever to find an angle that is both interesting and viable, as resting on beams, poles and posts becomes your only option.

I tried using the head of the living bipod following me around, but she couldn't stand still for long enough.

This place is so experimental, they don't even follow language conventions.

These girls were completely snap-happy.

They loved to take pictures of absolutely everything.

Ironically I had to persuade them to hold the cameras up for a shot of them actually taking pictures.  About fifty percent of their time was spent taking pictures of mundane objects, yet I couldn't take a picture of them while doing so.

I maintain that they are actually employed by the People's Security Service.

Then again, stealing state secrets from Korea is like stealing advanced aeronautics and space faring technology from North Korea.  You can work out how they're similar.

This ice flow is continually topped up with a spray coming from a gentle misting machine.  It looks like it's been built up over time, and is quite magnificent.

This is the whole apparatus we slid down on.

It's deceptively complicated.

Another ice sculpture at night.

A number of photography websites say, essentially, avoid working at night.

I think it gives a really nice effect.  It's difficult for sure, but it's an underused tool that is ripe for exploitation.  Especially given the insane ISO ratings of most modern digital cameras.  Even taken with a little noise, these pictures come out fantastically.  Even better if you can leave the camera open for a while (with no movement in the picture) the results are fantastic.

The splashdown zone.  It's a really gentle landing.

I was moving very slowly, but the layout of the springs ensures all the momentum is absorbed at a gradual pace.

This is the view from a quarter of  the way down the zip-line.  I don't know why cameras can't capture a vista as human eyes see it; the island was nowhere near this obscured.

It was, however, ruddy cold on occasion - a sentiment neatly captured by this picture.

I don't know whether you'll like this picture, being the internet and all, but I certainly do.  It's pretty much the view I see all the time as she runs off and does whatever she wants.

Natsukashi ne!

This is a completely bizarre close-up of the harness.  The reason it's bizarre?  If you can't see the demented hell-swing torture device style of the thing, (at least while devoid of setting and surroundings) hanging high up in the sky, then you probably don't get half the stuff I've written on my blog thus far, and probably won't from this point onwards.  I suggest you continue foraging in the murky abyss that is the internet until you happen upon something more to your tastes.

If you do see the resemblance to a crazy medieval torture device, sans smiles, then continue.

This is the braking system as demonstrated inside the building.  Having tested a few of the spring systems (they all seem to be closed systems, independent of the next or last) they seemed rather flimsy.  To get around this, they strung dozens, if not hundreds together to create an extremely soft, cushioned landing.

This row of trees marked the focal point for a famous drama filmed upon the island.

It's the primary reason why so many visit this island, and unbeknownst to me (at the time) was the reason my accomplice came to know of the place.

It's also the reason why so many foreign visitors accumulate on these shores.

(The drama that is, not this set of trees.)

And here is the disembarkation point.  Looking something akin to a Hindu god, Amanda sits waiting to be let off.  The process for heavies such as myself is simple; stand up, unharness, off you go.

For lighties like Amanda however, it requires the strain of a substitute heavy (the third and fourth arms of Vishnu, A.K.A the member of staff who is almost the exact opposite number of those who work for Top Events GB, now with an insane ropes course!)

This is the backup safety device.  If it all goes seriously pear-shaped, the loop is attached to the wire directly, which is attached to this braking system.  Should something fail further up the line that causes it to drop, the rubber pad (see the small square, top left of the picture) will fling upwards, instantly braking (if, as I suspect, somewhat slowly) the unfortunate Seoul (sic) attached to the line.  Clever?  Yes.  Overcomplicated to an unnecessary degree; absolutely.

This final picture is of the landing area looking towards the anchors that hold the other end of the line in place.  All things considered, it is a magnificent piece of  engineering, especially considering the rigors of a country whose daily temperature goes from 35+ in the Summer, to -10 in the Winter.  Those measurements are in Celsius by the way.