Bushman’s Picks, February 3, 2008

Here’s what I’ve been reading since last week folks:

• One of the most interesting articles I’ve ever seen on The View From Taiwan ^[1] is about The King of Formosa ^[2]. Fascinating! Taiwan had a Hungarian king. I did not know that!

• Blogger Andres ^[3] wrote about his sister’s wedding ^[4], which is a good article, but my favorite is his recent photographs of Olivia ^[5]. But, if you really want to see something astounding, take a look at this video ^[6], where you can see that 2 month old Olivia is actually trying to communicate with her mother, Karen. Incredible.

• I would like to emphasize the importance of an RSS feed – every site should have one. I keep track of about 100 different feeds from various sites and I just don’t have time to visit each site individually using a web browser. So, admittedly I’m missing some great content that needs to be mentioned. Sponge Bear ^[7] comes immediately to mind. Kaminoge writes excellent articles and I always learn something new about Taiwan when I read them. The only problem is that I don’t have time to visit his site directly very often. I strongly recommend his site where you will find a wealth of informative material with a very high posting frequency. The January 15th article that talks about stinky tofu is priceless (unfortunately I cannot link directly to that article).

• For those of you wondering where the heck Prince Roy has been recently, now you know ^[8]. Roy I just want to say that after all that slobbering over China, you ended up redeeming yourself in the last paragraph. It’s OK to admit that Taiwan is better! Welcome back PR!

• Brunty is living a hard life up in Isaan country, Thailand. He just had to make do with what he had in order to celebrate Australia Day ^[9]. It looks like tough going with all that beer and grilled food. I’m concerned about the nutritional value of “marinated pork spare ribs, grilled fish stuffed with herbs, marinated chicken, prawns, fillet steak, deep fried chicken plus a range of Thai food as well.” I know, and as horrible as it sounds, he had to use a plastic trash pail to hold all the beer on ice, instead of using a proper cooler. Brunty, you have our sympathies on having to rough it like that. We hope things improve for you soon, my friend.

• ^[10] I’ve ridden it quite a few times. I never paid any attention to it. David Reid pointed out correctly that it is indeed a train system. It never occurred to me to blog on it, but David thankfully wrote about the Taoyuan Airport Skytrain ^[11]. Short, but sweet, with photos of course. The shot to the right is one that I took at Japan’s Kansai International Airport ^[12] in Osaka a few years back. Kansai has one of those automated trains too. David’s article is worth reading especially if (like me) you like trains of all kinds.

• This week, Todd goes shopping for Chinese New Year ^[13], and also explains what the new Nikon D60 ^[14] is all about (my advice: D300). Todd also went to Chih-Shan Prehistoric Site ^[15], the kind of place that Bushman loves to visit! Todd kindly gives us the Wikipedia and D. of Cultural Affairs links so you can understand why this site is significant.

• Speaking of Nikon, I just knew that I should have finished that article about why I prefer Nikon DSLRs that I’ve had on the back burner for some time. Now Carrie has gone over to the dark side and bought a Canon ^[16]. Oh well, I’m still going to do a review of the Sigma lens, and I’ll throw in a few plugs for the Nikon system, hehe. Carrie, we’re all waiting to see what you do with the new Canon. Congratulations!

• Yes, David, you are right: “Socialized” medicine is not evil! ^[17] I agree completely! US Citizens should be so lucky and able to actually afford the medical care that we take for granted in Taiwan. We walk around Taiwan with a card that gives us access to full medical and dental coverage at the facility of our choice. The card has a chip that contains our medical history so it can speak for us even if we can’t. But hey, the US has Real ID coming soon! That should make everyone feel secure, shouldn’t it? Personally I’d rather carry the Taiwan National Health Care ^[18] card than some whack-job ID card of zero value.

• Users of the WordPress platform will like this List of WordPress tutorials ^[19]. Also, the Other Side of Permalinks ^[20] is a worthwhile read to help you figure out the strategy and tactics of people-friendly URLs in WordPress.

• Craig’s been covering the CIHL Taipei Cup International Hockey Tournament ^[21] this week. He’s got a ton of great action shots. I don’t know how you do it man.

• Check out this funny sign ^[22] spotted on IslaFormosa.

• Owshang wrote an article that I can only describe as “love & hate.” I love reading about the stupid things people do that I hate. His CMIL is back, and she’s being either frugal or just plain cheap ^[23]. You decide!

• Fili talks about what everyone is feeling: how can Taiwan be so cold when it’s just 15 ~ 20c ^[24]? People who grew up above the 45th parallel call Taiwan “friggin cold, eh?.” I have been feeling the cold lately too. HC and I are thinking of moving down south!

• If you like temples, then this article at Shan Ding Lu is for you. Check out how the local temple serves many purposes ^[25] in the community. Well written, with lots of photographs I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I wish our local temple was as much fun!

• Poagao is in Tokyo this week ^[26]. I’ve been to Kyoto/Osaka before but never outside of Narita airport in Tokyo. So I’m reading these articles with great interest.

• Recently, I got tapped to moderate another flickr.com photo group. I think it’s a really funny group and I welcome all to participate. Welcome to Caption This! ^[27]

• Deceased: This week, Margaret Truman ^[28], daughter of US President Harry Truman, passed away on January 29, 2008.

• Events: Hui-chen and I have put together another party ^[29]! This time it’s at the Blue Sky Thai and Vietnamese restaurant in Taipei. The date is February 16, 2006 . We’ve booked the entire room so it will be closed to the public and only those who are attending our party will be permitted inside. Contact me if you would like to attend!