Links because Catan

Friday did the 149 - 212-1 - 151-1 -162A, once again enjoying the massive switchback descent into Meishan. That descent is a rare treat. Don't miss it.

Gosh, I'd sure like to say I was working or otherwise doing something productive, but I've just learned Settlers of Catan... so I'm not getting anything done.
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Daily Links:

• Match fixing in Taiwan baseball
• Number of white collar expats in Taiwan stagnant for a decade
• Hegemonic warfare watch: Pillsbury in Foreign Policy: Are US and China preparing for war? The answer is yes, and the issue is not PLA being a "black box" but Chinese expansionism. Nice to see people catching up to where this blog has been for years now. 
• Taiwan Explorer on Facebook: Photo of Ko Wen-je on subway goes viral. No one can believe what a simple, humble man he is. The more Ko works, the more I like him. 
• Police arrest aboriginal hunters engaged in legal hunting activities.
• Bloomberg's account of the issues surrounding Ma's New's Years speech calling for "reconciliation". LOL. Taipei Times report. FocusTw with the transcript
• A fascinating post from a couple of years ago on Muslim identity in Taiwan.
• The Diplomat with a post on the strategic outcomes of an aircraft carrier clash in the Taiwan Strait. Claims the Liaoning has changed the strategic equation. The author thinks the US carriers went through the Taiwan Strait in '96 crisis (they didn't) and thinks US policy is that Taiwan is part of China. The author thinks that the US and Chinese carriers will somehow face each other in the Taiwan Strait. Don't think so... 
• Prosecutors in Tainan, elsewhere, file to annul local elections because of corruption.
• Asinine, authoritarian, anti-democracy "free speech zones" now invading Taiwan. J Michael on them at Thinking Taiwan

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