China Post:
The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) suggested yesterday that people in Taiwan come up with alternative recreational programs if they had mapped out outdoor plans for the weekend.
CWB officials said Typhoon Longwang, the 19th-named storm of the western Pacific typhoon season, has been heading west toward Taiwan from the east, is expected to bring heavy […]
When I was teaching English in Taiwan last year, I used to require my students to beat me in rock, paper, scissors in order to go home when class was over. They’d line up by the door and then challenge me individually — if they lost, it was back to the end of the line. […]
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I took a few poetry classes* with Chinese-American novelist Xuefei Jin when he taught at my college**. (And he even wrote me a gradudate school recommendation letter.) He had yet to become a literary big shot when I met him — a couple years after I graduated, he won the National Book Award and the […]
Here’s a delightful SF Chron article from Michael Wolgelenter about various strains of Western pop music — good and bad — he’s discovered in far-flung corners of the world.
I had a similar cross-cultural sonic experience last year in a town on the rural east coast of Taiwan. I was in a bar and listened in […]
I won’t be posting anything here until after Labor Day. I leave you with these links:
– Things have gone from awful to unbelievably horrible in New Orleans. You can donate to the American Red Cross here.
– Remember the woman who snapped the cameraphone pic of the NY subway perv? Well, he turned himself in. As […]
Why are hurricanes in Asia called typhoons? Got me. Nomenclature aside, a big hurricane typhoon hurri-phoon is about to lash Formosa. BBC:
Schools and other public buildings in several areas of Taiwan, including the capital, were closed on Wednesday in advance of a powerful typhoon.
Typhoon Talim is scheduled to hit the northern, eastern and central parts […]
Taipei Times:
The Coast Guard Administration’s Keelung mobile-investigation team yesterday arrested an international drug smuggling ring based in Neihu (內湖) allegedly led by a Canadian who teaches English in Taiwan, a Central News Agency (CNA) report said.
They were busted with some 600 kg (over 1300 pounds!) of blow. Some photos here.
(Via The Taipei Kid.)
UPDATE: 8/30: […]
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Don’t miss Malcolm Gladwell’s latest New Yorker article, “The Moral-Hazard Myth: The bad idea behind our failed health-care system.”
The subject is a tangled one, and Gladwell does a good job of outlining the economic and philosophical reasons for our health care system’s sorry state. Though I find this passage a bit reductive:
People without health […]
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Reuters:
More than 1,600 Thai workers set fire to their dormitory in southern Taiwan, burnt cars and hurled rocks at police after some were caught drinking by their employers, police said on Monday.
The violence erupted late on Sunday among the workers, hired to help build a mass transit railway project in Kaohsiung, who were apparently […]
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Taipei Times:
A 12-year-old girl dialing a wrong telephone number sent Taiwanese security officials scrambling after the ambassador from Swaziland was threatened with death, officials said yesterday.
Officers in the Shihlin District of the Taipei City Police Department yesterday established after investigations that the matter was the result of a misunderstanding.
It turned out that a 12-year-old […]
As I’ve mentioned before, I collect metro cards from around the world. And I received a nice item in the mail yesterday from Miles B. and Susie: a Boston T card. (I’ve ridden on the T a few times but have always forgotten to snag a card for my collection.) Many thanks, you two. […]
During my time teaching small kids (ages 5-10) in Taiwan, I was continuously searching for ways to entertain them — silly games, jokes, physical comedy routines incorporating juggling, etc. After a month or two, I hit upon a brainstorm: I needed a classroom mascot.
In the teacher’s room one day during a break, I came across […]
If you’re like me (and surely you are), you’ll be happy to learn that Google News has added RSS feeds for its news sections and individual searches.
Personally, the section feeds are worthless to me, because I think the Google News front-page auto-aggregator is worthless. But for news topics I monitor regularly — events from […]
Ben P., my climate scientist ex-roommate currently living in Oz and apparently scanning headlines from Taiwan, sends this along:
Newley: I assume you heard about this while in Taiwan – you better start collecting those metro cards quick – could eventually be a thing of the past.
Actually, Ben, I hadn’t seen that news — and I’m […]
BBC:
At least 16 people have been injured in one of the most powerful typhoons to hit Taiwan in recent years.
Typhoon Haitang, with winds of up to 184 km/h (114 mph), has already dumped nearly a metre of rain in mountainous areas in the north-east of the island.
Talked to my friends Mammoth and Crystal in […]
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