Day 4 (9/5) - Google (Part 1)
Some of the Singaporean students at Stanford said that the Singaporean accent and Singlish were very distinctive, and to them it was a very powerful marker of national identity.
Outside our hotel there was a newspaper dispenser offering free copies of the Epoch Times, the Falungong newspaper. Gah.
I'd checked the weather forecast and seeing that it was going to be cooler, wore jeans. Some of the girls said they should look at what I was wearing to know the weather, since they couldn't bother to check it themselves.
There are many named buildings and rooms in Stanford. When they run out of unnamed places, I wonder how they'll raise money.
In the morning we had some talks at the Walter H. Shrenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (APARC). The weather was so good we didn't need the fan, let alone the airconditioner, but just opened the window.
Talk by Jeung-Woo Koo
Apparently Singapore has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. This is a secret, so we only know this because the government tells the WHO.
Unfortunately I was slightly late for the lunch talk on "Explaining Strategies of Manipulation under Electoral Authoritarianism". But there was free food! Unfortunately, it seemed to be all vegetarian; besides some tasty pasta salad, I also picked up a surprisingly tasty half-sandwich with cucumber, lettuce, tomato, guacamole, cheese, some white grass I thought was called alfalfa but isn't. Unfortunately also there was only half a chocolate chip cookie left by the time I came. All of the food, though good, was vegetarian. I was trying to figure out whether this was because: 1) I came late and all the meat had been taken, 2) They were trying to save money, 3) It's a liberal campus (eg 'spudware'). Probably 2) and 3).
When I first discovered Political Science had a statistics module, I was surprised, but this guy did a wonderful regression, quantifying electoral competition and explaining it by looking at variables like Legislative disempowerment, Legislative exclusion and Legislative fraud. Unfortunately most of his models weren't significant, and many of the predicted results were empirically disproven (eg A bigger armed forces didn't result in more electoral manipulation).
Given how environmentally conscious Californians seem to be, I find their fondness for bottled water to be hypocritical. It's not like the tap water tastes *that* bad.
After lunch we went to Google. Unfortunately the bus driver got lost despite (or perhaps because) she was being guided using Expedia via walkie talkie. They should've used Google Maps instead, hurr hurr.
Introduction by Prakash, who showed us around. He used to work for Picasa and got hired when they were bought out. He now works mainly on UI for Google Calendar.
Nice sign
Enraptured by the sign
The solar panels on the premises supply 1 GW of electricity - most of the electricity they use.
Walking to the complex through Charleton Park
They can bring dogs to the office. Wah. Their office is meant to feel like a college campus but I think even some college campuses won't allow that (I bet NUS doesn't).
The 2 circus tents in the distance are an amphitheatre where they hold events, like Google Idol
Bikes with flags employees can pick up and leave behind at various locations - on-site transportation
Building 43, where they work on Gmail and Blogger
The main of the 12 cafeterias offering free food. They also have laundry facilities where they can drop off your finished load at your desk. Some engineers tried to live at work before but they were kicked out for legal reasons.
They used to stock a lot of free junk food, but now only the more healthy food is free, since the staff were getting fat. Now the junk food's all the way on the top floor and you must pay for it - the worse it is for you, the more you pay.
Lounging/conference room
Treadmills in the gym. Those LCDs can show TV programs you can watch as you work out.
One of those unlimited swimming machines - you get in, turn on the water flow and keep swimming as the water rushes past you. This was located on an elevated platform, explaining the weird perspective. Note also the lifeguard (?!).
Beach volleyball. There was one guy who was playing volleyball all day - maybe that was his job.
'The Organic Connection' - where they grow food used in the culinary facilities
T-rex garden
T-rex garden with the pink flamingos (first inserted as a practical joke) more obviously seen now. Note one flamingo in the T-rex's mouth.
T-rex shit
Globe showing global Google searches. The more light, the more searches. They're leading the world, except in Asia where Yahoo's stronger.
The same
SpaceShipOne - winner of the X-prize
Meng's Wall of Fame, with many Singaporean notaries
Doodle 4 Google competition showcase
Microkitchen they have on each floor for them to recharge
Google has a policy of being Burning Man friendly - they try not to schedule stuff during the week of it.
Massage room. Unfortunately a massage isn't free - it's US$15.
Flexible scheduling and a nice workplace, besides raising employee morale, also induce some of them to stay longer and work more - proof that looking one-dimensionally at the bottom line is not always helpful.
They go on a yearly ski trip.
Massage chair and PS2 with the Zeitgeist monitor
Some of their toilets are fully automated in cleaning and the rest have seat warmers.
Ball pit. I don't think anyone jumped in though.
Apparently Macs are very slow and PCs are fast, which is why porting applications to the Mac is a bitch; I saw most people onsite using Thinkpads and some were using Macs.
Honey is not considered vegan because animals are involved in its making. Gah.
A big part of the tour is supposed to be eating at the cafe, but it was closed by the time we got there (because our bus got lost, grr) so we just had smoothies. I had a Strawberry Mojito Colada; they come up with new flavours all the time, so sometimes it's hit and miss. Mine was nice though.
Quotes:
[Me: How heavy are your earrings?] Not as heavy as your hair.