Daily Links, July 20, 2009

My son and I on the Houfeng Bike Path, which meets the Dongfeng Bike Path not far from this point. We're between the small towns of Houli and Shihgang in eastern Taichung county. The two paths were built after the government ripped up some spur lines to the area. After the rails were removed, the paths were paved in. Lovely, easy riding under shade on level lanes, and this section here cross the bridge and then enters a 3.6 km tunnel. Cool. So who's riding on the blogs this week?

• Neil Wade on the Taipei Photowalk, Craig Ferguson with more lovely snaps from same.
• Arthur Dent on can the Uighur leader visit Taiwan?
• Way cool: How Asia Communicates from Tom Crampton
• J. Michael on Tokyo's White Paper.
• Biking in Taiwan on his new bike computer.
• Wild East with great piece on human history and Taiwan.
• The Dignified Rant worries about our military cutbacks.
• Taiwan Identity compares the language situation here to elsewhere.
• Kaminoge visits the Shinto shrine in Linnei.
• Danshui History Blog on the tablet awarded to the Goddess Matsu for her support against the French.
  

MEDIA: In article on aborigines losing their identity, Reuters asserts that Taiwan is 98% ethnic Chinese. Does one laugh or cry at this stuff? Tusks seized in Taiwan in 2006 provide important clues to the ivory trade. Freddy Lim of Chthonic interviewed on the Free Tibet concert. This article in Time on how Taiwan must reboot its economy made my head explode. President Ma busted for using canned videos when he promised weekly broadcasts. Army investigates obscene video of public oral sex. Taiwan calls on China to reduce its military threat. First all the Establishment writers in the US call for it, now MAC. Are we seeing something orchestrated here? CSIS on the first China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue the 27th-28th. It's not as easy as you think to internationalize the Yuan, says Asia Sentinel. Taipei mayor vows to stem the exodus of people from Taipei. With China money pushing up property prices and I-lan now 30 minutes away through the tunnel? Don't bet on it. Ominous rumblings: Kinmen county magistrate suggests legalizing Chinese labor as pilot program for Taiwan itself; Executive Yuan says no. This time, but it's only a matter of time... Fascinating tale: Poland has basically opened up programs for Taiwanese to get medical degrees. The government decided to recognize the degrees if the docs passed their license exams in Taiwan. Many local docs are protesting.

EVENTS: Darren Melrose with the photo club revival, this Saturday, the 25th

I have mentioned this to some, and I hope it is ok that I send this message to everyone. Next Saturday, there is a cosplay event at NTU and I was thinking of having the photo club meet there. After shooting some costumed folks, I thought we could head over to the Taiwan Beer gardens for some good food, drinkable beer and great conversation. I am thinking that we could meet at around 2:30 or 3:00 for the photos and go from there.

Cosplay is typically a really fun event and a great opportunity to get some good photos. Here are some examples from the last time I went to a Cosplay event.

I am sorry I haven’t been able to arrange things for the past few months, but family called. I am hoping this will be a chance to regain the momentum of the club, as well as quite a bit of fun.

Let me know who is in, so I can make arrangements to ensure there is space enough at the restaurant/beer gardens. By all means, please feel free to send this to anyone who you might feel is interested.

Hope to see you Saturday

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