maoman - just an occident waiting to happen

Blogging Taiwanease: 台灣易喜亞來了!

2012-02-03T13:54:00.000+08:00

Blogging Taiwanease: 台灣易喜亞來了!: 大家好! 我有一件小事要請你幫忙… 我在去年9月時推出一個新網站- www.taiwanease.com (感謝大家的支持, 使用人數日日暴增), 我們有「英文論壇」、「分類廣告」、「台灣吃喝玩樂+食衣住行資料庫」(iPhone app 下個月就要推出了)、「活動快訊」、「...

Book Review: Hop on Pop

2011-07-12T08:11:00.002+08:00

Whereas previously I had believed this book to be a work of fiction, I now have reason to believe it is rooted in the personal experience of the author.

I mean, come on! "Hop! Hop! We like to hop. We like to hop on top of Pop!" could only have come from the father of two preschool children.

And the stirring filial imperative, "Stop! You must not hop on Pop!" makes me weep for its plea for early morning peace and quiet. I was like, omigod, I can so totally relate. The author is going insane, and it's because of his kids. The horror. The horror.

This book has so many levels to it - and it is only now that I'm beginning to explore and understand them.

The Little Girl Who Follows Me

2011-06-01T13:16:00.002+08:00

A careful man I want to be;

A little girl, she follows me.

I do not dare to go astray

For fear she'll go the self- same way.

I cannot once escape her eyes,

Whate'er she sees me do, she tries.

Like me she says she's going to be;

The little girl who follows me.

She thinks that I'm so very fine,

Believes in every word of mine.

The base in me she must not see;

The little girl who follows me.

I must remember as I go

Through summer's sun and winter's snow,

I'm building for the years to be;

The little girl who follows me.

Dream Water Floatation Tanks in Taipei

2011-05-20T06:56:00.007+08:00

Earlier this week, I had the cool experience of trying out a floatation tank for the first time at Dream Water, a new company in Dazhi owned by a friend of mine, Mike Zev. What an amazing experience! (No, the girl in the photo doesn't come with the experience - you'd probably have to pay a lot more for that!)

I still remember watching the classic sci-fi horror thriller "Altered States", which dealt with the effects of sensory deprivation and psychoactive drugs. It didn't look relaxing, but I was intrigued even then (I was just thirteen years old when that movie came out!)

Anyway, I'd always thought it would be a cool thing to try, and so when I heard that Mike had imported state-of-the-art flotation tanks, I immediately signed up for a session.

The location is very nice, a quiet, upscale lane in Dazhi, not too far from the Miramar shopping center. If you're not driving, the fastest way there is to take the MRT to the Jiannan Road Station on the Brown Line. If you are driving, there is ample parking in the area. Inside, the feeling is very spa-like. The decor is modern and relaxing, and you feel mellow just stepping in the door. Mike took me on a tour of the place and I was impressed by the attention to detail they took with the renovations.

Then it was time for the float. Mike encouraged me to use the bathroom first - he said nothing ruins a good float like the creeping awareness that one's bladder is the only part of you that isn't relaxed! Good advice.

I then stepped into the shower, rinsed off, and opened the floatation tank. (Actually, it looks more like a "pod" than a tank, I think.) The tank is BIG, and although the water isn't very deep, it's loaded with epsom salt, so that you're always floating - it's physically impossible to sink. There is a light inside that can be easily turned on and off, and the lid is also easy to open, so there was no sense of claustrophobia. Actually, the whole thing was very womb-like. The water is heated to body temperature, and once you get in, there's some soft relaxation music that plays to help get you in the right state of mind. After five minutes, the music stops and the real relaxation begins. I have to confess, it took me about twenty minutes before I could "empty my mind" of thoughts, and just float. I was also experimenting with different float positions to find out what the most relaxing position was. Once I found that position, and I started getting used to the whole novelty of the experience, I pretty much lost track of time. I wasn't asleep, but I wasn't entirely conscious, either. After an hour, the music quietly came back on, and my mind started to return to the day. I pushed open the lid, walked over to the shower stall, and took another shower, this time to get the salt out of my hair.

The rest of the day was fantastic. I felt really rested, and had lots of energy. I also felt relaxed, which is a very rare thing for me - my daily life is pretty stressful, and feeling relaxed is NOT my usual state of being.

So, it was a very positive experience. If you need a little bit of downtime, if your batteries need recharging, or if you just want some peace and quiet, you should definitely check Dream Water out.

Their address is No. 61, Lane 69, Jìngyè 2nd Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei.
中山區敬業二路69巷61號一樓

Their telephone number is (02) 8502-6900

13 Things You Must Do Every Week As A Startup CEO | betashop

2011-04-07T13:03:00.000+08:00

13 Things You Must Do Every Week As A Startup CEO | betashop

Things I learned from the Entrepreneur's Meet yesterday

2011-03-28T10:52:00.002+08:00

Know what the model is and stick to it.
Keep your team motivated, especially in the tough times.
Develop a solid core team; "build the foundation before the house". Usually 4-5 people.
Never stop marketing. Always keep a positive image and energy.
Nurture long term relationships with key supporters. A "no" today might turn into a "yes" next year.
Allow others to pay your tuition.
Limit partners. Don't mix business and family/friends.

These are just a few thoughts I wanted to remember, and writing them down in my blog seemed to be the simplest thing to do.

Where was God?

2011-03-13T17:39:00.003+08:00

I missed this the first time around - the late William Safire published it in the New York Times in the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean:

In the aftermath of a cataclysm, with pictures of parents sobbing over dead infants driven into human consciousness around the globe, faith-shaking questions arise: Where was God? Why does a good and all-powerful deity permit such evil and grief to fall on so many thousands of innocents? What did these people do to deserve such suffering?
After a similar natural disaster wiped out tens of thousands of lives in Lisbon in the 18th century, the philosopher Voltaire wrote "Candide," savagely satirizing optimists who still found comfort and hope in God. After last month's Indian Ocean tsunami, the same anguished questioning is in the minds of millions of religious believers.
Turn to the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible. It was written some 2,500 years ago during what must have been a crisis of faith. The covenant with Abraham - worship the one God, and his people would be protected - didn't seem to be working. The good died young, the wicked prospered; where was the promised justice?
The poet-priest who wrote this book began with a dialogue between God and the Satan, then a kind of prosecuting angel. When God pointed to "my servant Job" as most upright and devout, the Satan suggested Job worshipped God only because he had been given power and riches. On a bet that Job would stay faithful, God let the angel take the good man's possessions, kill his children and afflict him with loathsome boils.
The first point the Book of Job made was that suffering is not evidence of sin. When Job's friends said that he must have done something awful to deserve such misery, the reader knows that is false. Job's suffering was a test of his faith: even as he grew angry with God for being unjust - wishing he could sue him in a court of law - he never abandoned his belief.
And did this righteous Gentile get furious: "Damn the day that I was born!" Forget the so-called "patience of Job"; that legend is blown away by the shockingly irreverent biblical narrative. Job's famous expression of meek acceptance in the 1611 King James Version - "though he slay me, yet will I trust in him" - was a blatant misreading by nervous translators. Modern scholarship offers a much different translation: "He may slay me, I'll not quaver."
The point of Job's gutsy defiance of God's injustice - right there in the Bible - is that it is not blasphemous to challenge the highest authority when it inflicts a moral wrong. (I titled a book on this "The First Dissident.") Indeed, Job's demand that his unseen adversary show up at a trial with a written indictment gets an unexpected reaction: in a thunderous theophany, God appears before the startled man with the longest and most beautifully poetic speech attributed directly to him in Scripture.
Frankly, God's voice "out of the whirlwind" carries a message not all that satisfying to those wondering about moral mismanagement. Virginia Woolf wrote in her journal "I read the Book of Job last night - I don't think God comes well out of it."
The powerful voice demands of puny Man: "Where were you when I laid the Earth's foundations?" Summoning an image of the mythic sea-monster symbolizing Chaos, God asks, "Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook?" The poet-priest's point, I think, is that God is occupied bringing light to darkness, imposing physical order on chaos, and leaves his human creations free to work out moral justice on their own.
Job's moral outrage caused God to appear, thereby demonstrating that the sufferer who believes is never alone. Job abruptly stops complaining, and - in a prosaic happy ending that strikes me as tacked on by other sages so as to get the troublesome book accepted in the Hebrew canon - he is rewarded. (Christianity promises to rectify earthly injustice in an afterlife.)
Job's lessons for today:
(1) Victims of this cataclysm in no way "deserved" a fate inflicted by the Leviathanic force of nature.
(2) Questioning God's inscrutable ways has its exemplar in the Bible and need not undermine faith.
(3) Humanity's obligation to ameliorate injustice on earth is being expressed in a surge of generosity that refutes Voltaire's cynicism.

Japanese Earthquake - Terrifying!

2011-03-11T19:36:00.000+08:00

總理 vs. 首相

2011-03-02T00:31:00.003+08:00

Why is a Canadian Prime Minister a 總理 (zǒnglǐ), but from the UK he's a 首相 (shǒuxiàng). Canada and the UK are quite similar politically - they both have Westminster-style parliamentary systems. So what gives?

Spring has sprung

2011-02-28T10:25:00.003+08:00

So yesterday was the first day of 2011 at the beach (Chinese New Year doesn't count, because we were down south.) The day was warm, bordering on hot, so everyone was out of their house, and although traffic getting out of the city was a bit of a mess, it was nice driving along the coast, enjoying the blue skies, brilliant sunshine, and watching the waves rolling in. By the time we got to the beach, though, some fog had rolled in, and it wasn't until we left that the sun cleared it up. We still had a good time - A & J and their kids met us there, and our kids played in the sand. I threw sticks out into the sea for Gustav to fetch, and the mood was mellow. A & J had bought some food along the way, so we had a bit of a picnic, and we had a nice time talking with A & J.

On the way back home, Vanessa offered to drive to let me nap for a bit, and I said, sure, just wake me up if you're not sure where to go. Well, while I was snoozing, I sort of felt that the car was making too many turns to be on the straight road that we were supposed to be on. I opened my eyes and asked V where we were. "Oh, it's a shortcut!", she said brightly. "The sign said that we can go this way to Taipei." End result? It took us an hour longer than it should have to get back home. Groan. We got back home, changed our clothes quickly and made it over to A & S's place for dinner at 8:00, instead of 7:00. A had cooked a fantastic meal - rack of lamb, roast potatoes, broccoli, wine, cheese, salmon - it was a great dinner! After that, I dropped Vanessa off at a KTV where she was meeting some friends, took the kids home, put them to bed, and slept like a log. All in all, a very nice day!

Anyway, now that beach weather has started, it's time to get back on the bike. I've been pretty sedentary for the last three months, and it shows. I really want to make some improvements in my life this year, and physical fitness will help that. And I want to be less of a dork on a surfboard, although that may not be possible.

David Rakoff's 'Wedding Toast' Poem from This American Life

2011-02-23T10:05:00.007+08:00

I've always wanted to share this poem by David Rakoff with my friends - I think it's brilliant. I heard it first on the "Frenemies" episode of the public radio show broadcast This American Life (#389) broadcast in September 2009. Here Rakoff demonstrates - in rhyme - how to make a wedding toast for people you never wanted to see married in the first place.

Nathan, at one of the outlying tables,
his feet tangled up in the disc jockey's cables,
surveyed the room as unseen as a ghost,
while he mulled over what he might say for his toast.
That the couple had asked him for this benediction,
seemed at odds with them parking him here by the kitchen.

That he'd shown up at all was still a surprise,
and not just to him, it was there in the eyes
of the guests who had seen a mirage and drew near,
and then covered their shock with a 'Nathan, you're here?'
And then silence, they'd nothing to say beyond that.
A few of the braver souls lingered to chat.
They all knew - it was neither a secret nor mystery -
that he and the couple had quite an odd history.
Their bonds were a tangle of friendship and sex,
Josh, his best pal once, and Patty, his ex.

For a while he could barely go out in the city,
without being a punchline, or object of pity.
'Poor Nathan' had virtually become his new name,
And so he showed up just to show he was game,
though his invite was late, a forgotten addendum
for Nate there could be no more clear referendum,
that he need but endure through this evening and then
he would likely not see Josh and Patty again.

Josh's sister was speaking, a princess in peach.
Nathan dug in his pocket to study his speech.
He'd poured over Bartlett's for couplets to filch,
he stayed up till three, still came up with zilch.
Except for instructions he'd underscored twice.
Just two words in length, and those words were: 'Be nice.'

Too often, he thought, our emotions betray us,
and reason departs once we're up on the dais.
He'd witnessed uncomfortable moments
where others had lost their way quickly,
where sisters and brothers had gotten too prickly,
and peppered their babbling
with stories of benders,or lesbian dabbling,
or spot-on impressions of mothers-in-law,
which true, Nathan thought, always garnered guffaws,
But the price seemed too high, with the laughs seldom cloaking
hostility masquerading as joking.

No, he'd swallow his rage and he'd bank all his fire.
He knew that in his case the bar was set higher.
Folks were just waiting for him to erupt,
they'd be hungry for blood even though they had supped.
They'd want tears or some other unsightly reaction,
and Nathan would not give them that satisfaction.
Though Patty a harlot and Josh was a lout,
At least Nathan knew what he'd not talk about.
I won't wish them divorce, that they wither and sicken,
or tonight that they choke on their salmon or chicken.

I won't mention that time when the cottage lost power,
in that storm on the cape and they left for an hour.
And they thought it was just the cleverest ruse,
to pretend it took that long to switch out the fuse.
Or that time Josh advised me with so much insistence,
that I should grant Patty a little more distance,
that the worst I could do was to hamper and crowd her,
that if Patty felt stifled, she'd just take a powder,
that a plant needs its space just as much as its water,
and I shouldn't give Patty that ring that I bought her,
which in retrospect only elicits a 'Gosh,
I hardly deserved a friend like you, Josh'.

No, I won't spill those beans, or make myself foolish,
To satisfy appetites venal and ghoulish.
I will not be the blot on this hellish affair.
And with that Nathan pushed out and rose from his chair.
And just by the tapping of knife against crystal,
All eyes turned his way, like he'd fired off a pistol.

'Hmm, Joshua, Patricia, dear family and friends,
a few words, if you will, before everything ends.
You've promised to honor, to love and obey,
We've quaffed our champagne and been cleansed by sorbet,
All in endorsement of your hers and hisdom,
So now let me add my two cents worth of wisdom.
I was racking my brain, sitting here at this table,
Until I remembered this suitable fable,
That gets at a truth, though it may well distort us.
So here with the Tale of the Scorpion and Tortoise.

The Scorpion was hamstrung, his tail all aquiver.
Just how would he manage to get cross the river?
'Why, the water's so deep' he observed with a sigh,
which pricked at the ears of a tortoise nearby.
'Well, why don't you swim?' asked the slow-moving fellow,
'Unless you're afraid, I mean what are you, yellow?'
'It isn't a matter of fear or of whim', said the scorpion,
'But that I don't know how to swim'
'Ah, forgive me, I didn't mean to be glib when
I said that, I figured you were an amphibian'

'No offense taken' the Scorpion replied,
'But how bout you help me to reach the far side?
You swim like a dream, and you have what I lack,
what say you take me across on your back?'

'I'm really not sure that's the best thing to do',
said the Tortoise,'now that I see that it's you.
You've a less than ideal reputation preceding,
there's talk of your victims all poisoned and bleeding.
You're the Scorpion, and how can I say this, but well,
I just don't feel safe with you riding my shell.'

The Scorpion replied, 'What would killing you prove?
We'd both drown, so tell me, how would that behoove
me, to basically die at my very own hand,
when all I desire is to be on dry land.'

The Tortoise considered the Scorpion's defense.
When he gave it some thought it made perfect sense.
The niggling voice in his mind he ignored,
and he swam to the bank and called out, 'Climb aboard'.
But just a few moments from when they set sail,
the Scorpion lashed out with his venomous tail.
The Tortoise, too late, understood that he'd blundered,
when he felt his flesh stabbed and his carapace sundered.

As he fought for life he said, 'Tell me why
you have done this, for now we will surely both die?'
'I don't know!', cried the Scorpion, 'you never should trust
a creature like me, because poison I must.
I'd claim some remorse or at least some compunction,
but I just can't help it, my form is my function!
You thought I'd behave like my cousin the crab,
but unlike him, it is but my nature to stab.
The Tortoise expired with one final quiver,
and then both of them sank, swallowed up by the river.

The Tortoise was wrong to ignore all his doubts,
because in the end friends, our natures will out.

Nathan paused, cleared his throat, took a sip of his drink,
He needed these extra few seconds to think.
The room had gone frosty, the tension was growing,
folks wondered precisely where Nathan was going.
The prospects of skirting fiasco seemed dim,
but what he said next surprised even him.

'So, what can we learn from their watery ends?
Is there some lesson on how to be friends?
I think what it means is that central to living
a life that is good, is a life that's forgiving.
We're creatures of contact. Regardless of whether
we kiss or we wound,still we must come together.
Though it may spell destruction, we still ask for more,
since it beats staying dry, but so lonely on shore.
So we make ourselves open, while knowing full well
it's essentially saying,'Please, come pierce my shell'

Silence doesn't paint the depth of quiet in that room.
There was no clinking stemwear toasting to the bride & groom.
You could have heard a petal as it landed on the floor.
And in that stillness Nathan turned, and walked right out the door.

Spider-girl, Spider-girl...

2010-11-22T12:27:00.008+08:00

So Trudi has become a big fan of the 1967 Spider-man cartoon series. She's always liked watching YouTube videos (with parental supervision, of course) of sharks, snakes, and spiders, and sometimes clicks on the related videos at the right to see more of the same. Well, after watching some spider videos, she saw the link to the Spider-man theme song cartoon and asked to see more. I downloaded some of the original cartoons for her and she was hooked.

This morning, Vanessa was carrying Izzi into the bedroom for a diaper change, but Trudi ran ahead of her, blocking her from entering.
"Wait, I'm Spider-man!", she said, holding up her hand.
"How long do I have to wait?", asks Vanessa.
"Wait one minute", says Trudi.
Trudi enters the room, dramatically looks left and right and then makes a circular motion with her hand. "Ok, you can come in now - I'm making a web!"

How can you not love kids? Something as mundane as a baby sister's diaper change becomes a big adventure with just a little imagination...

Wang Shijian (王世堅) and Che Guevara (切·格瓦拉)

2010-11-06T13:26:00.002+08:00

Wang Shijian (王世堅) and Che Guevara (切·格瓦拉)
Originally uploaded by Anthony van Dyck

Ok, so it's election time here in Taiwan again, and this DPP candidate has the iconic image of Che and the slogan "G.I. Jian is on the march!"

I'm not sure how much he really knows about Che, or if he really wants to be associated with the guy. He probably just likes the image. I'm sure there are a few politicans who admire Hitler for his moustache as well...

"Some Guy" thinks Canada is a land of shattered dreams!

2010-11-05T13:37:00.000+08:00

"Some Guy" author of "Some Book" was once proud owner of a website called "Some Site". He was quoted and linked all over the Internet, including Forumosa.com, Taiwan's largest, most active, and most relevant English language website. You can find his archived stuff here: "Some Archive"

Why am I posting all this on an all but stagnant blog? Because the wuss is threatening to sue unless I remove his name from the post that quoted him. Apparently Some Guy doesn't have the courage of his convictions - he no longer wants his name associated with the things he wrote. Too bad, Dr. Wuss! You wrote it, you live with it!

8. Discriminatory and Dishonest Immigration System.
Immigration to Canada is based on a point system, obtained with your education, qualifications and job experience. Points are good enough for immigration, but in Canada, they are not good enough to get a job in your field. Amazing, how the credentials that qualify you to come to Canada are the same credentials that don't qualify you for your profession in Canada. The reason is, Canada only wants immigrants to do the labor jobs - pizza delivery, driving taxis, factory work etc.

7. Out Of Control Cost Of Living.
From rent, to utility bills, to shopping, to phone, internet and cable bills, to gas, to car insurance, to eating out, to basically anything you have to pay for or buy, the cost of living in Canada has become astronomical. Recent immigrants are astonished as to how expensive everything is. It is estimated that compared to most countries around the world, the cost of living in Canada is on average five times greater.

6. Health Care Crisis.
Practicing physicians in Canada are in a shortage, 1 in 4 Canadians cannot get a family doctor. Canadian doctors are leaving to move permanently to the United States. Statistics Canada and the Canadian Medical Association both have identified that for every 1 American doctor that moves to Canada, 19 (nineteen) Canadian doctors move to the United States! Doctors in Canada are overworked and underpaid, and there is a cap on their salaries.

5. Very High Taxes.
Yes, you have the GST, the PST, totaling 15%, on practically everything you purchase and many other taxes taken out of our weekly paycheck. You have to pay a whopping amount to the government, out of your hard earned salary, so that the government can turn around and give it to beer drinking, hockey watching welfare bums. Fair? It does not matter, it's Canada.

4. Money Hungry Government.
Canadian Embassies around the world lie to foreigners, painting this picture that Canada is Utopia, because they want them to come to Canada. Why? Because foreigners bring money! So after being deceived, these foreigners come. They must bring with them at least $10,000. Canada has an immigration quota of 250,000 per year. So please do the math, 250,000 multiplied by $10,000 each equals a whopping 2.5 Billion dollars that Canada gains from immigrants every year.

3. No Culture.
Unlike almost every other country in the world, Canada has no culture. Actually American culture is what dominates Canada. When was the last time you had some 'Canadian' food? There are no Canadian traditions and there is no national identity. What does it even mean to call yourself a 'Canadian'. . .nothing really. People living in Canada, still identify themselves with the country they 'originally' came from.

2. Worst Weather.
Yes, Canada has the worst weather conditions of any country in the world. Freezing cold temperatures, snow, ice, hail, winds, storms etc. From the Prairie provinces to the Maritimes, from the Territories to southern Ontario, the weather is so horrific and disgusting that many Canadians leave Canada simply because of this reason alone.

1. No Jobs.
Yes, coast to coast, there are no jobs. Immigrants are highly qualified (MD's, PhD's, Lawyers, Engineers etc.) but they are driving taxi cabs, delivering pizza's or working in factories. Even people with bachelors degrees from Canadian Universities cannot find jobs after graduation. This is the tragedy associated with immigration to Canada. I feel sorry for those immigrants who are stuck in Canada for the rest of their lives. It is indeed a very sad and hopeless future.

Some Guy
Founder - Some website

Please do not believe the fancy websites made by the Government of Canada or by the Canadian immigration laywers. They are not telling you the truth. Do your own research!

Edit: In light of the following letter of contrition, I have edited this post:

Apology and Peace Offering

Dear You,

I would like to call a truce and end all problems starting from this day forward.

I spoke with Some Person of smalldeadanimals.com on the phone today to seek her advice about how to handle this situation. She was very kind to me and suggested I write you a letter to apologize and to explain what has happened to me in a decent and non-threatening way. Also to ask you, what you would need from me to put an end to this issue.

I had written the ‘top 8 reasons not to immigrate’ article back in 2005. It was a big mistake to associate my name with it. Because since then, this article travelled the width and breadth of the internet. A huge lesson I learned from this mistake of mine.

Earlier this year I moved from the U.S. back to Canada. I was in the process of obtaining a new job in Canada and a recruiter who was helping me googled my name and came across this article I had wrote. He suggested that I immediately take it down, because the controversial nature of this article would harm my chances of obtaining a job in Canada.

I did my very best to contact as many people as I could, most of them cooperated and removed the article or at least my name.

Then in August I had a job interview in the U.S. so I went to border to cross and there the customs officer googled my name and found this article. I was questioned about it and later denied entry into the U.S. Also, having a name like Some Guy, also does not help in these times, at a U.S./Canada border.

So after that, I was desperate to have this article removed. But the task was enormous. Just when I thought I could achieve this, bluehost.com temporarily suspended a bloggers website and that began this entire story. Which resulted in numerous links surfacing about me and that article.

I didn’t know what to do, so I contacted several people, like reputation protection companies and two laywers. The lawyers suggested cease and desist letters and also told me what the process would be if I were to move forward. So I followed their advice. But it actually had the opposite effect and made the issue even worse.

So now I am faced with no option. Therefore I am writing to you in peace.

I am just a small person, who is trying to get a job and get my life back on track. If you can find it in your heart to help me, I would dearly appreciate it. This issue has caused me great pain and suffering.

I hereby promise to never interfere with your website and blog. I also would like to send to you, via PayPal, payment for the damages you faced because of having to transfer your website to a new host.

I will from this day forward never demand you to do anything. I am simply putting forth a plea, in which I am begging that you help me.

I thank you very much,

Some Guy

100 years of the ROC. ~yawn~ Now what?

2010-10-10T00:24:00.005+08:00

So it's been 100 years since the Wuchang Uprising, the rebellion that led to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, and paved the way for the Republic of China, which was established a couple of months later.

100 years later, and we've got a financially-successful nation, a healthy democracy, a free press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and a modern, happy, well-adjusted society. And yet, what does it mean to be the R.O.C. in today's world?

China's not going to be joining this republic any time soon, and it is very determined to keep the R.O.C. a pariah nation. Sadly, that's the best-case scenario we have for the future!

What is more obvious is China's unceasing efforts to intimidate and threaten Taiwan. Saying it's a part of China isn't enough - China wants to bring Taiwan under its actual control, and neither the current Taiwan administration nor the rest of the world has the courage to do or say anything about it.

In the past, I never really cared that much - I was an outsider and although I've always loved Taiwan and had opinions about its place in the world, its status didn't directly concern me.

It's a little different now. My children are Taiwanese, as well as being Canadian, and their national identity isn't just an intellectual exercise for me. I don't want them to be citizens of a country that doesn't respect itself enough to stand up for itself, nor do I want them to be citizens of a fascist dicatorship. I just want them to be Taiwanese. I just want Taiwan to be Taiwan.

Taiwan's hope lies with optimistic young people in Taiwan like this, with the passage of time, with the implied support of the United States, and with China's reluctance up to now to actually commit overtly hostile acts of aggression against Taiwan. I fear though, that there aren't enough people in Taiwan who are willing to stand up, that time is running out, that the United States lacks resolve and that China's willingness to get nasty is getting stronger.

One thing is for certain. While Taiwan will always be around in one way or another, as an oppressed minion of China or not, the Republic of China is an anachronism. It doesn't represent Taiwan, it doesn't represent China, certainly nobody recognizes it, and it doesn't stand for anything. I doubt that it will exist in 20 years, never mind another century. In the end, it will be nothing more than a curious artifact of history.

But hey - Happy Birthday, anyway!

Holy Nightflier, Batman!

2010-09-21T00:27:00.002+08:00

So there I was, zipping along the riverside bike path, enjoying being back on my bike after a four day absence, loving the night breeze, when WHAM! A freaking bat flies right into my face! Does it fly off? NO! It gets its freaking wing entangled in my chin strap and flaps around wildly. Five seconds later (an eternity!) it gets loose and flies away, leaving me a little scratched up and completely grossed out.

If that bat infected me with anything other than super powers, I'm going to be severely pissed off!

The Downfall of Downfall

2010-05-18T01:55:00.006+08:00

Sunday March 14

2010-03-14T12:00:00.003+08:00

Hmm, it's been a while since I wrote anything. Oh well. What with Facebook and Forumosa.com, it's not like I'm off the Internet or anything.

Trudi is now 3 years old, and Izzi is 5 months old. Both of them are gorgeous, and fill my life with joy. It's kind of hard to describe the degree to which they make me happy, because I never imagined it before. It's very strange, but in a wonderful way.

The other day we got home from work and Trudi was still up. Isabel was too, of course. She always gets a midnight feed before we put her to bed for the night. Anyway, after a few minutes of family snuggling on our bed, we told Trudi that it was time for her to go to bed and go to sleep. For the first time ever, she wailed, "but Isabel doesn't have to!!!" She was acutely aware of the unfairness of the situation. We told her that it was different - Izzi is a baby, and therefore has a different schedule, but Trudi went to sleep crying bitter tears anyway.

Still, we're lucky. Trudi is a very doting, loving, sister to Izzi. She takes her role very seriously, and is very happy when she can hold Izzi or help take care of Izzi in some way. We haven't seen ANY manifestations of jealousy yet, and while I know they may come, I'm optimistic that it won't be too bad. Frankly, I get more jealousy vibes from Gustav than I do from Trudi.

After a fairly unpleasant winter, the weather this weekend is rather nice. It's sunny-ish, and almost warm. I think we'll go our for a walk around the lake in a bit, and then I know the girls will have a nap. Tonight Vanessa and I are going to the St. John Passion at the National Concert Hall. Helmuth Rilling is conducting, so I'm looking forward to it. We rarely get to concerts nowadays - usually only once or twice a year, because we only really have Sundays available, and most concerts are on Fridays and Saturdays. It would be nice if this could somehow change in the future. Time for another cup of coffee, and some work on Forumosa and Taiwanted. Later, gator.