That which passes, passes like clouds

The war in Gaza was already over in January. Trump let it reopen and expand. A ceasefire is good—but it should have happened much earlier.

Live feed of National Day speech of Taiwan president Lai for 10/10 www.youtube.com/live/Sz0R-v5...

I speculate that Taiwan’s PX Mart chain—全聯福利中心—must be named after the PXs (post exchanges) on US army/air force bases in Taiwan during the Cold War. (Relatedly, Universities in Taiwan in the 90s used to have discount stores 福利社 that were basically PXs with subsidized foods, stationary, etc)

It appears there is a big rock music concert thing going on at the park (文心森林公園) in Taichung next weekend, Oct 11-12.

He’s so bubbly about $415 million in US tax dollars being used to subsidize commercial space stations to replace the ISS. Fuck corporate NASA, we need to subsidize healthcare instead.

Only applies to Taiwan-made bicycles…So Giant treats Vietnamese workers in Taiwan worse than it treats Vietnamese workers in Vietnam?!#latecapitalism #捷安特

TIL the correct usage of the word “stoush” in the context of China’s geopolitical bullying of Taiwan.

Texas A&M firing a lecturer, removing a department chair & dean, & launching an "audit" of all its courses on a concocted pretext signals the start of a full-blown McCarthy Red Scare, only this time with the full backing of the White House, Homeland Security, ICE, DOJ, DOE, & much of the media

You’ve spent to much time browsing at PXmart when you know half the lyrics to their Ghost Month song… by DJ Didilong, “大家在拜拜”

slightly diminish a book: Journey the West Triangle Economic Zone

My piece from monday on the prospects of getting out in case of war or blockade. www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...

Joe Sacco is publishing “The War on Gaza,” a series of graphic commentary and reflections, on TCJ.com--read the first column here: ow.ly/3l7k50Qv1Cs

A federal judge in Boston said she found it "difficult to conclude anything other than that [the Trump administration] used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities, and did so in a way that runs afoul of [federal law]."

An intriguing review of a USAF MP’s “confessional” memoir of his days stationed at CCK air base in Taichung during the early 1970s: www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, presided over a military parade in Beijing on Wednesday featuring fighter jets, missiles and marching troops as he issued a defiant warning to rivals not to challenge his country’s sovereignty. Read more: nyti.ms/4naYIQL

Taichung autobilians. Ordinarily there would be a third car blocking the pedestrian walkway but this was taken on a weekend. If it were a Starbucks instead of 7-11 there would be a Bentley or a Benz SUV parked in the intersection with its blinkers on and nobody inside.

Zero day first two eps Episode 1: youtu.be/LvojlUFJoEI?... (click on closed caption for English) Episode 2: youtu.be/hnTy2Uq9pNM?...

KMT puts out a South Park-style ad attacking the DPP ahead of the second round of recalls and nuclear referendum udn.com/news/story/1...

“Have you prepared your emergency disaster bag?” Carrefour is worried about me.

You’d think this would lead to a wide scale rethinking of higher education in Taiwan, perhaps even some major systemic changes. I have yet to see anything of the kind, and don’t really expect to.😔

Among young homebuyers under 40 in Taiwan, those with annual salaries between NT$60K & NT$1.2M are the largest group, and spend 40% to 80% of their salaries on mortgage. Those earning below NT$60K are second largest & spend over 75% of their salaries. 1/2 www.cna.com.tw/postwrite/ch...

Instead of liberalizing immigration laws, let’s throw more cash at local parents!..If this is their approach then why not, instead, offer home loan subsidies? Or build more public housing? Most folks cannot afford to buy a home, which is considered essential for starting a family here. #房奴

“the suggestion that Johnson received a large fee for the speech…which covered – among other things – Peloton, ChatGPT, Din Tai Fung and, of course, Scottish whisky.” thediplomat.com/2025/08/bori...

Speculation about possible typhoon holiday is already rampant… www.ettvamerica.com/News/Article...

~ Hope the PLA agrees, but still stockpiling dry goods and toilet paper.

Never judge a book by its cover!

Since it’s Edward Yang day (or is it?) #楊德昌 archive.org/embed/taipei...

Fushan Botanical Garden sits so deep within the hills of Yilan that it’s actually in New Taipei’s Wulai District. The site has been open to the public since 1993, its 1097.9 hectares, there are gentle trails and plenty of beautiful natural scenery. tinyurl.com/wbkd4act

Chinese ICE Detainee Dies by Suicide at Pennsylvania Detention Center theintercept.com/2025/08/07/i...

China is increasingly banning all govt employees, even low-level employees like kindergarten teachers, from all travel abroad, even confiscating their passports. Meanwhile, Chinese who have studied abroad are increasingly banned from applying for govt jobs.

Interesting video but contrary to what the narrator says, Taiwan is not tiny and no military planes from PR China were flying overhead Taipei at the time of the video (or ever) youtu.be/7iZJmzffB7w?...

A US anti-Communism espionage thriller called "The 11th Commandment" directed by Herbert Hoffman was filmed on #Kinmen (Quemoy) and #Taiwan proper (Formosa) in 1961. Taglines include "A Struggle For a Woman's Soul"; "ENSLAVED!"; "Truth about Communism!"; "Learn what the Reds really mean by 'peace'".

On Aug. 6, 1945, the world changed forever. The U.S, in the middle of World War II, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb on another Japanese city — Nagasaki. Japan, an Axis power, surrendered soon after, ending the war. 🧵

"Demonstration Against Genocide in Gaza Outside of the Israeli Representative Office in Taipei" by PS

France, UK, Canada, Portugal, Australia, Andorra, Australia, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Malta, and Slovenia will recognize or formally back Palestine as a state at the UN this September. #3E #FreePalestine

The word "dude" is often associated with the '80s and '90s. But its origin is rooted much, much farther back in American history and it took a long and winding road to reach the coast of California.

Interesting—海嘯 is the common Mandarin term for tsunami, lit. a “sea howl”; but this word 嘯 xiao4 is a sound I have trouble imagining (because tigers, birds, wind, and humans’ whistling can be 嘯).

interviews with alan moore, grant morrison, joe strummer, kim gordon, richard bishop, iggy pop, rick veitch, joanna newsom, dolly parton, brian eno, sparks, sun o))) etc your future reading is sorted

Good read, plus you gotta love their pixel art

Perhaps they’ve taken the wrong lesson from this superb Ron Rosenbaum piece on lessons from the Munich Post lareviewofbooks.org/article/norm...

"Nut Brother" is one of the most successful artist-activists in navigating China's authoritarian political system. But his luck may have finally run out.

I first wrote about Curtis Yarvin eight or nine years ago. I was dismayed, but reassured when I looked at his recent output for this piece to find he hadn't changed much in the intervening years. What has changed is his function as an intellectual. www.thebulwark.com/p/curtis-yar...

The Chinese sport of national shaming::sigh::Imagine, she got expelled, doxed, and vilified online by a hundred million incel trolls for sleeping with one foreigner—a Ukrainian…Now, imagine the Chinese guy married to a Ukrainian girl. National hero! www.nytimes.com/2025/07/14/w...

As a Taiwan homeowner, let me try to tell you how depressing it is to find Cheap Houses Japan instagram guy www.instagram.com/cheaphousesj...

Japan dreams of matcha world dominance revealed

Doomsday Fascism is real, but I bet many on the left just think of it as an interesting idea for a science fiction novel, like Musk does. Neither Ayn Rand nor Kim S Robinson’s Red Mars though, just these tech bro psychotic Christian-Zionist lunatics www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...

The first chapter of Yasuomi Umetsu's new "Virgin Punk" project delivers old-school action and animation in a cyberpunk future.

NTNU International Taiwan Studies Centre Podcast: Settler Colonialism, Comparative Literature and the Need to Speak up, with Professor Shih Shu-mei audioboom.com/posts/874156...