Daily Links, Nov 16th, 2009

I snapped this picture of a couple in a string store winding some of the product, yesterday in Lukang. What's being unwound on the blogs today?

• Mark interviews about a new Flickr tool and some excellent Taiwan pics.
• Dan Bloom's interview of the girl who plans to kiss 100 Frenchmen.
• As Ben points out, the constant iteration of "economics before politics" in the China negotiations is mere political theatre.
• Steve on Puli's paper church.
• Insider trading in the Taiwan stock market. Shocked, I tell you.
• IslaFormosa on the discount airline Air Asia.
• David continues his series on great Taiwan blogs.
• Global Voices on Foreigners and banks in Taiwan.
• J Michael on the passing of a friend of Taiwan, James Lilley. And on "Sorry, they're Chinese."
• Taiwan Matters! on another open letter from the scholars to Ma on the erosion of justice in Taiwan.
• Taiwan Baseball on MLB teams in Taiwan.
• Craig with lovely Photowalk photos.
• Horrible hamburgers in Taiwan.
• Save the Taiwan Dolphins on Dolphins in the Taipei Times, with links
• A discussion of China's new missile aimed at US carriers.
• Taiwan, the alternative China.

MEDIA: Share your thoughts on Obama's visit to Asia via video with the NYTimes. NTU President says Taiwan students are slackers, not like in his day when they had to walk 40 kilometers to school in a typhoon every day, uphill both ways. With the election weeks away, vote buying is off to a rousing start. Taipei has 355 mental patients on the loose. The remainder are safely penned up in the legislature. The Korean model beats the West -- yes, it's true, one crisis proves that western models have failed. Taiwan and China ink the financial pact, can't wait to see how the KMT gave away the house this time. Enough concessions on Taiwan, says Japanese diplomat. Spineless president, spineless citizens, says Peng Ming-min. How to appease China without really trying. Another piece on Japan's approaching fiscal doomsday. John Tkacik argues for a free trade agreement between US and Taiwan, though the idea that the US could have sold 600K cars annually since 2004 in Taiwan is laughable -- in 2006 only 366K units were sold in Taiwan, in total. Philippines politician says RP should expand ties with Taiwan. I just love this headline: "Taiwan's environmental agency to stop illegal dumping" -- why is the EPA involved in illegal dumping? Another one of Peter Harmsen's excellent pieces on Taiwan for AFP, this one on baseball. One of the great things about writing about Taiwan in international publications is that you don't need to get any of your facts right.

MEDIA STUPIDITY: ^&#%^&!@#%!!! BBC, Reuters, AFP, and other news organizations breathlessly report the KMT propaganda on "new questions" in the assassination attempt on Chen, without a word of skepticism or any revisiting of things like the CIB's refutation of absurd claims that the shooting was staged. I tried to think of a witty thing to say here, but in the face of the world media exhibiting a collective IQ of 13, snark shrivels. ADDED: BBC images from the shooting.

RECOVERING: Send warm thoughts my friend Dan Bloom's way, he is getting over a recent heart attack.
_______________________
[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!