New KMT Chair Cheng Li-wen attends memorial event for White Terror victims organized by pro-unification group. The event honored, among many others, convicted and executed CCP spy General Wu Shi, whom the CPP named a Revolutionary Martyr in 1973. www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...

A map of population decline in Taiwan from 1980 to 2020 from an article by Di Hu in the International Journal of Geo-Information. Local populations sometimes peaked in the 1960s, particularly in eastern Taiwan, so that decline is already baked-in by 1980. Not surprised to see Yunlin here!

Mong Tong's Taiwan Mystery II features a montage of unusual architecture and occult phenomena from around the country. It was released along with an art book featuring photos and imagery from many of these sites. The music is also really great; dreamy instrumental psychrock. youtu.be/kwHcZaPLl58?...

If you prefer using interpolated "early-arriving" model tracks for tropical cyclones (last cycle's models interpolated to this cycle, then compared against the official JTWC/NHC forecast made using these guidance), I've replicated this method on my site: polarwx.com/tropical/?st...

Check out @jordynhaime.bsky.social on "Taiwan's Israel Charm Offensive" in the latest issue of her newsletter. "Now let’s turn to what has been absent from Taiwan’s messaging: any acknowledgement of the accusations of starvation and genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government."

Taiwan's plan to set up mission in Estonia hits wall over name @matejsimalcik.bsky.social explains why the dispute over a name reveals much deeper tensions in Europe–Taiwan relations, haunted by 🇨🇳’s retaliation against Lithuania. ⤵️ 1/5 🔗 asia.nikkei.com/politics/int... ✍️ @thomchau.bsky.social

Flashback to 2013 when gonzo Taiwanese news animators covered the Rob Ford crack video scandal. Too bad they stopped producing new content around 2018. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VzL...

German broadcaster DW interviewed the new chair of the KMT, Cheng Li-wen. Cheng says that the 3% of GDP defense budget is excessive, calls Putin a democratically elected leader, and that NATO is to blame for Russia's war against Ukraine. Here are some gems (?) from the interview:

I don't think it really matters that much which orthography one uses, as long as it is used consistently. The big problem in Taiwan is that it is still a mishmash of at least 5 of these systems. But there are some things I wish people did keep in mind:

A few snapshots from my travels today: 1) A recently restored Japanese colonial building suspected to be a former brothel (青雲閣) 2) Entrance to Qingshan Temple, Monga 3) A former 1980s cinema converted into a scooter parking garage 4) A semi-abandoned (yet inaccessible) commercial complex in Zhubei

Spent 393 NT on a GoShare ride this afternoon... should have sprung for the daypass (399 NT)! I snagged the scooter just outside Hsinchu HSR and drove downtown... admittedly with the usual assortment of detours and distractions. Still, it really adds up!

Snapshots from a quick visit to Hawaii Cinema (โรงหนังฮาวาย) in Bangkok. Despite the abandoned appearance it was still operational when I visited in 2018, though it wasn't showing conventional films. From a scan of reviews on Google Maps it might finally be out of business as of 2025. #TheaterHunt

If current forecasts hold, Melissa will be the most powerful hurricane ever to strike Jamaica. Sustained winds at landfall may top 140 mph, along with localized rains of 40"+ and major storm surge. Here's my latest update with @drjeffmasters.bsky.social: yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/10/meli...

Nüwa, the primordial mother in Chinese #mythology, shaped humans from yellow clay: some molded by hand, others flung from her rope. When the sky split after a clash of gods, she rose again, not in fury, but in care. Melting five-colored stones, she sealed the heavens and 1/2

So @hirokoyoda.bsky.social and I went to hell last week. Literally! She wrote all about it here: blog.hirokoyoda.com/p/i-went-to-...

Finally read the paper and it's worth the buzz. mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Taipei marches in support of trans rights tonight 🏳️‍⚧️

According to this report, the parliament, now dominated by KMT & TPP, slashed the Ministry of Agriculture's animal and plant quarantine and epidemic prevention promotional funding by 60% during this year's budget review. Today, first african swine fever outbreak in 20 years was reported in Taichung.

Went to Costco in Taiwan the other night and saw a woman shoveling an entire plate of complimentary onions into a soft drink cup to take home. It was especially odd because the diced onions were also doused in ketchup and mustard. People love free stuff!

Taiwan reports first suspected outbreak of African swine fever focustaiwan.tw/society/2025...

Eye-popping geopolitical analysis essay about how historical shifts pivot on changes in energy production, and how 2025 is one of those pivot points. by sci fi author Charlie Stross, one of my longtime favorites who anticipated today’s reality over the years, but realizes now what he got wrong.

Scrutiny by U.S. Customs and Border Protection made an impact. Giant pledges to put its practices in line with the @ilo.org "Fair Recruitment Initiative". Noteworthy, Taiwan has been excluded from ILO under the pressure of China (which does not absolves Taiwan but certainly does not help).

Eastern Taiwan's ill-fated Taroko Gorge is under evacuation orders due to a landslide barrier lake that formed today (8/17). The debris is 25 meters tall and as you can see in the attached photo of the Swallow's Grotto (via the national parl FB page), water levels were already high this afternoon.

Claude Skills are awesome, maybe a bigger deal than MCP simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/16/...

Taichung from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings on Taiwan Boulevard 🏙️

'2025 Taiwan Pride Controversy Explained: 
LGBTQ+ Community Speaks Out Against Transphobia and Contempt for Sexual Rights" by @yolingwrites.bsky.social

Taiwan is a terminal society, one that is doing far too little to avert the coming demographic collapse. David Chang, founder of Crossroads, brings receipts and makes the case for more serious efforts at internationalization in this Commonwealth Magazine op-ed. english.cw.com.tw/article/arti...

Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):

Just saw One Battle After Another (2025) last night... and while it was certainly entertaining cinema, and extraordinarily well-made, the storyline and politics of the film felt somewhat jarring and yeah, exploitative. This thread provides a critical perspective and some insightful outbound links.

“The Chinese political activists are concentrated in Chiang Mai in Thailand's north, where they hold lectures and publish pamphlets, but they now fear for their oasis.”

'Hares and Autumn Full Moon' - Suzuki Harunobu, Japanese Edo period. #FullMoon #tsukimi #JapaneseArt

Best wishes for a peaceful and happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Went for a spin around Changhua City to knock off a bunch of historic sites from my list and so many of them are in the midst of restoration. Really cool to see the city take its abundant cultural heritage so seriously (only a little sad I couldn't document the original condition of those sites).

The notorious Xinglin General Hospital (杏林綜合醫院) in downtown Tainan recently appeared in a second horror film, Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital, which explains why this old post has become the most popular on my site these months. #urbex #haunted #Taiwan spectralcodex.com/tainan-xingl...

I was Bluesky user #308, and have been a major booster of this platform since the beginning, but I'm starting to think that the skeptics were right. It isn't too late to fix things, but I'm doubtful the team will take this excellent advice from @brunodias.bsky.social to heart:

I'm far less of an AI skeptic than when the year began... but the industry is still an enormous bubble with economics that don't make the slightest sense. What's going through the minds of the tech barons of this new gilded age? "Superintelligence or bust!" pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

In my latest for @thediplomat.com, wrote on the partisan splits in Taiwan visible after the typhoon thediplomat.com/2025/10/afte...

Taiwan officially supports Ukraine and its state-owned enterprises already divested from Russian fossil fuel products... but the private sector in the form of Formosa Plastics Group saw an opportunity... and now Taiwan is the world's top buyer of Russian naphtha. Not a good look. #TaiwanCanHelp

A fantastic photo essay about photographing the vanishing Third Front factories of China.

It really needs to be more international. 90% of what I see here is US politics, even though I follow a ton of people who know and care about other parts of the world.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken.”

Field notes and grainy photos from Changle Theater (昌樂大戲院), an imposing golden age cinema established in suburban Kaohsiung in the early 1960s. It closed in 1987 and has long been abandoned due to a property rights dispute. #TheaterHunt #urbex spectralcodex.com/dashu-changl...

A few snapshots from Chenguang Theater (晨光戲院) in Xincheng, just north of Hualien City. It was established in 1963 and likely catered to the military personnel stationed at nearby airbases. I wasn't able to access the projection room before it was demolished in 2023. spectralcodex.com/xincheng-che...

At least 15 people are known to have been killed by the debris flow and flood from the landslide dam breach that was triggered by typhoon Ragasa. Reports suggest that 15.4 million tonnes of water were released, causing 80 metres of downcutting of the landslide dam. eos.org/thelandslide...

KMT legislator Fu Kun-chi knows the golden rule best: always blame the DPP government and if possible shout at the Premier. Good thing Cho didn’t let this go on quietly.

This excellent website by 東華大學 has a detailed account of yesterday's devastating flood in Guangfu village, Hualien County. (h/t: @kerim.one for sharing)

The Matai'an River landslide dam, which only formed back in July 2025, collapsed during extreme rain brought by Super Typhoon Ragasa. 14 people are reported dead with many more missing and this total is expected to rise. Was enough done to avert this terrible disaster? www.cna.com.tw/news/asoc/20...

Drafting up an entry about the former Beigang Aerodrome (北港飛行場), one of many kamikaze bases in Taiwan, and stumbled upon this piece featuring photos of the ceremonial cups from which young pilots drank sake before their last mission. curation.culture.tw/curation/pub...

GoShare simply doesn't have enough scooters on the streets of Taichung to make it reliable enough that you'll find a ride within reasonable walking distance.

#TaiwanMascots: The mascot of the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan is Tian Tian (地牛天天), a bull who wears a cape and carries an emergency backpack with rations, meds, ID, and water. In Taiwanese lore, quakes are triggered by a subterranean bull. 921 refers to the magnitude-7.3 quake of Sept. 21, 1999.