The Alpaca Rug Effect

Extraordinarily sleepy again (I'll probably be nocturnal by the time I get back to the States) but am happy to report (1) that I'm in good hands at National Taiwan University, and (2) today I learned the prehistory of the DemiDec alpaca.

For a long time all I knew was that Esther Tsai, our poetry writer, came to DemiDec already an alpaca aficionada and that one person's fetish soon became the whole company's mascot. For legitimacy's sake, we held a vote; the alpaca handily beat the emu. However, the election was marked by low turnout and many cute pictures of alpacas. If it had been held in a former Soviet country, emu supporters would probably have stormed DemiDec HQ to overturn the results. (At such times, it's handy not to have an actual HQ.)

So when I had coffee this afternoon in Taipei with Chi-En Chien, one of Esther's teammates from Palos Verdes Peninsula, I learned the backstory. Esther came to alpacas during a week in which the entire PV team essentially moved into one team member's house (the two girls commuted, the seven guys slept there.) One day, Esther noticed two poofy rugs on the floor. Intrigued, she asked the Decathlete who lived there, Etai, what they were.

"Alpaca rugs," he said.

What was it Darwin once said? From so humble a beginning...

Anyway, the two students who brought me to the computer cluster have said it's time to return to the guest dorm to greet the rest of the delegation. Off I go... but first, one feature Boston subways should have, that I witnessed (and used) today in Taipei: a light that blinks to let you know on which side the doors are going to open.