I watched the old movie “55 Days at Peking” starring the National Rifle Association’s dear leader Charlton Heston. The movie is an account the Boxer rebellion in China in 1900, but specifically of the valiant defense of the foreign legations by a divisive group of Great Power diplomats and soldiers from around June 20th, when [...]
I just started reading Lessig’s new book Free Culture, which is generously available for download under the Creative Commons license and I’m already loving it. On page 2 he quotes a Supreme Court ruling on traditional land rights including the sky above the land and how this conflicts with the new age of flight travel. [...]
You pick up the most circulated newspaper in Shanghai on August 15th, 1945, the day of Japan’s surrender. What do you see? Well, the news of the surrender hasn’t made it for the day’s issue. Instead, in the days leading up to the end of the war the newspaper focuses on the Russian advances in [...]
Sometimes Sayaka pats my head and in a patronizing voice says,「いい子いい子」Sometimes I pat her head and tell her she is an「いい子いい子」Today I tried to explain to her that what we essentially have going on here is an echo chamber (in which we each congratulate the other for being a “good little boy/girl”). She said, “No, [...]
One thing I hope to think a lot about in graduate school (assuming I will still have time for personal thinking) is how academic work is published/distributed. As most of my friends know, I’m very interested in and active in the “open” source/access/content movement but I’m far from having sorted out all my thoughts on [...]
I love the smurfs. I always have. My sister and I were raised on Smurf songs and the cartoons. Never, never did I (and I doubt Carleen did either) turn the analytical eye on the holy smurfs. Others have, though. Now, after all these years, do I realize where my deep socialistic instincts find their [...]
My friend Duckling, over at Blackberry Picking has a fantastic idea about creating a history related blog targeting young adolescents, say 10 to 15 years old. I think this will make for a very unique and valuable project. She is nearing the close of her own graduate studies in history. In the fall I begin [...]
There has been a day of full protests here in Taipei. After lunch, Sayaka and I headed downtown to see what was going on. Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall and the surrounding area was pretty empty but a few thousand people were protesting in front of the KMT headquarters and the red presidential building. You can [...]
Things are getting crazy here in Taiwan, much more so than yesterday (the election day). The opposition is out of control with anger and there are protests everywhere, some violence. Sayaka and I are going down town to see how things are in Taipei. This is sooo sad. I’ll be blogging here throughout the next [...]
The Taiwan election is officially over and Chen Shuibian has won another term. I’ll be reading the various newspapers tomorrow at nearby coffee shops (which Taipei has an abundance of). The opposition KMT party has disputed the election, the suspicious facts surrounding the assassination attempt yesterday, hundreds of thousands of invalidated votes, etc. Whether or [...]