Software Developer at The New York Times, Blogger, Drummer, Global Wanderer, and Lifelong Autodidact.
Next to a stand of dragonfruit, durian, guavas, lychee, and mangosteen on the corner of Main Street and 41st Rd, a nondescript door presents itself in a drab, frosted white. Above the door the words “Golden Shopping Mall” appear in a golden sans-serif font, which are the only clues that through the door and down the stairs lie culinary gems of New York City.
On November 24th, Taiwan elections saw a resurgence of KMT (Kuomingtang, 國民黨) backed candidates, after a few years of nearly total control by the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party, 民進黨). The results came as a suprise to many people, even those who already expected this election to be a rebuke to president Tsai Ing-Wen’s (蔡英文) two years in power. On the ballot were the mayors for all cities in Taiwan, thousands of councillors, local representatives, and ten referendum questions.
Ignorance, the quality that we so despise in others, is not something any of us can ever claim to be without, no matter how broad or deep we’ve explored. We’re all ignorant.
Data, while often useful for tracking our personal goals, is often also a double edged sword when third parties use the data in ways that we cannot control. You may have nothing to hide, but that doesn’t mean that companies should be allowed to track your personal data.
Curiously, I asked my cousin a question over lunch in Taipei, wrestling with pieces of my identity as an American-born Taiwanese. “Is it obvious to people that I’m not from here?”
Little was reported in western media a few weeks ago as Lee Ming-Che (李明哲), “pled guilty” in a Chinese trial in which allegations were that he had written articles “intended to subvert the state’s power.”
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