When I first started meditating I was sub-consciously at least in search of some form of personal and perhaps even spiritual enlightenment.

Having practiced it for a couple of years now I haven’t made any progress in that direction at all, but have instead found it very useful simply for cleaning out the gunk that collects in my mind during the course of the day and when I am sleeping at night. This not only enables me to better channel my thoughts but also helps fuel my creativity.

I’m forty-six today: not exactly a portentous occasion like a fortieth or fiftieth birthday but important enough in its own way to get me thinking about what I’ve seen and learned during the past year.

Probably the most important event that happened to me during was breaking my foot stepping into a pothole in the streets of Bangalore (though it would have made for a much better story if it had been trodden on by a wandering elephant or cow).

If solemnity is the major feature of the interior of the Dacheng (Great Success) Hall in the Taipei Confucius Temple, then harmony is the overriding characteristic of the surrounding courtyard.

With their rich blend of colors, flowing roofs, and perfect proportions, the pavilions around the hall complement the main building flawlessly and invite serious contemplation as you sit there admiring the scene.

There’s a wonderful sense of solemnity about the interior of the Dacheng (Great Success) Hall in the Taipei Confucius Temple with its rich red and golden hues, airy ceiling, and collection of ancient musical instruments.

In the middle of the building is a black wooden altar above which is the Tablet of Confucius. Hanging over that is a black tablet on which former President Chiang Kai-shek wrote “Education for All” in gold.

The venerable sage is probably turning in his grave at the thought of his name being used for a humble café even if it is located in a Confucius Temple.

Naturally, the café naturally offers its own brand of Confucius Coffee - though I am not sure of the meaning the “ALL  PASS” message in the logo. Perhaps they should have gone for a tag line like “drink in the wisdom.”

Here’s a picture of the VIA AMOS-5000 chassis kit for Em-ITX form factor boards such as the VIA EITX-3000 that we announced earlier today.

Designed for the fast and easy assembly of a variety of fanless, robust IPC designs, the chassis offers a wide variety of I/O configurations in a small for factor through expansive dual I/O coastlines. It’s also designed to withstand a wide temperature range of -20^oc to 55^oc, capable of sustaining a g-force of up to 50 – making it ideal for even the harshest of operating conditions.

Actually, I did come across the makings of a potential augmented reality app at the Taipei Confucius Temple when I visited an interesting mini-exhibition explaining the history and workings of the millennia-old rituals that are used to honor the sage.

The highlight was this interactive multimedia console pictured above, which features the images and names of the ancient musical instruments used during the ceremonies. To hear what one sounds like, all you have to do is touch the relevant image and hey presto it plays a short tune.

Earlier today we announced the new VIA Nano 3000 Series, our fastest and most power efficient processors yet.

Targeted at the thin and light notebook and all-in-one desktop PC segments, VIA Nano 3000 Series processors are available at speeds of between 1GHz and 2GHz and come with a number of new features including support for the SSE4 multimedia instruction set and VIA VT virtualization technology.  

I’m not quite sure what it is about temples, but they certainly have the habit of bringing out the inner nerd in me.

As I was walking around the Taipei Confucius Temple on Saturday, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering how much better the experience would be if I had an augmented reality app running on my BlackBerry telling me exactly what I was looking at. That way, for example, I would have been able to identify the figures pictured in this article that I saw under the eave of the roof of the Dacheng (Great Success) Hall and learn more about their history and significance.