"No Flavour" dried tomatoes

"No Flavour" dried tomatoes
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

We went to a wholesale sweets and snacks warehouse the other day to get some Christmas treats for Kelly's students. I spotted some dried cherry tomatoes and snapped them up. They were very good actually. I think quite a bit of sugar had been added but they were otherwise extremely tasty and chewy. The label made me smile - "no flavour". That's being over-the-top modest !

OMEN street art

OMEN street art
Originally uploaded by Naruwan I've blogged about street art by OMEN before. An obvious talent. It makes a change from those stencil graffiti which you used to see all over the place in Taichung. Don't get me wrong, some of those stencils are great but OMEN really does it for me. The one above is one he did outside the art museum. Great stuff OMEN. Keep 'em coming.

Out and about on my bike

back door
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

The cool weather has been great for getting out in the morning, either jogging or riding my bike. One route I like to take runs from the end of Hsing-Da Road through Dong Fong Park (there's a 228 Memorial there) and connects to a nice bike trail which eventually leads to and runs parallel to the railway line. It's nice to get out and explore some of the nooks and crannies of south Taichung without nearly dying of heatstroke. You see some interesting things on the way like this back door. Just had to get a shot of it, even though as you can see from the top third of the photo my camera is on its last legs.

Metropolitan Park

long shadows
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

Met up with two old friends who I haven't seen for ages yesterday afternoon at Metropolitan Park. Had a great time. It was funny how Taiwan only feels like summertime in England when it's winter here . Lots of people there. Pick any random block of grass and you'd have at least one frisbee, a toddler, a pooch and a kite if you count the airspace above it! But there was plenty of space to go around so a good time was had by all. Our six kids (collectively!) certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.

Check out the length of these shadows. That's me and Jason not long before the sun set. I reckon those shadows are about 50 metres long. The long downward slope enhances the effect.

This baseball bat should win me a few votes

This baseball bat should win me a few votes
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

Am I the only person who thinks this looks ever so slightly intimidating? I mean he's carrying a baseball bat and he's obviously not on his way to play baseball. Politicians don't generally go around carrying baseball bats while they're on the campaign trail. Subliminal advertising at its finest.

Traditional Chinese Medicine and cancer

My mum sent me this news story about a traditional Chinese medicine called Aristolochia fangchi which has been banned in the UK since 1999 because it can cause kidney failure and cancer of the urinary system. Nice stuff. (By the way, it seems to be spelt wrong in the Yahoo article. More info from Wikipedia here.) There is also the danger that this herb may be used as a substitute for other herbs. The Aussie government has a fact sheet listing the herbs which are most likely to contain Aristolochia used mistakenly - or accidentally-on-purpose - as a substitute.

It made me wonder whether this ancient herb is still available here in Taiwan. Unlikely, but the very fact that you can get TCM on the National Health Service, it's not inconceivable. Afterall, in Taiwan we effectively have state-sponsored snake-oil (figuratively and quite literally - snake oil is available as a Chinese medicine here) provided to the masses alongside so-called Western medicine. I say "so-called" because what that really means is "evidence-based" medicine.

And while I'm ranting why don't we just do away with coy words like complementary/alternative and conventional medicine, and Chinese and Western medicine, and say instead what skeptical minds are thinking anyway, namely: "medicine that works" and "medicine that doesn't work"? I'm of the view that we should only be taking and paying taxes for medicine that works and not be taking medicine and paying taxes for that which hasn't been proven to work, but hey that's just me talking crazy again. Yes, I know some Chinese medicine works - that's when we should stop calling it Chinese medicine and call it simply medicine. You see my point? OK, back to Aristolochia: wouldn't that be a mind-bender - a known carcinogen prescribed by TCM doctors on the National Health System? I just hope it isn't so.

My great idea

You know what 7-Eleven should do? They should team up with a local supermarket and let customers order groceries and stuff online or directly from a catalogue in the store itself. Customers would then pick up their things at the 7-Eleven nearest their house the following day. This would not be for families to do all their weekly shopping. It would be for people who need an occasional bag full of groceries and other things that aren't currently available at the 7-Eleven but don't have the time to make a special trip to a large supermarket. It would be a great time-saver and, as we all know, in Taiwan life is all about convenience. So is this a great idea or what?

KFC game

Spot the KLC bucket in there as well! Classic! I'm glad I tried out the Flock browser. It's pretty damn cool;  just drag and drop and bob's your uncle.

Blogged with Flock

Taiwan bird photography: John&Fish

I absolutely love birds. Lucky me then to have wound up in Taiwan which is home to a very high number of endemic species and boasts the second-highest bird species density in the world. Naturally, I'm also a big fan of bird photography, especially of Taiwan birds. The mountains are crawling with bird photographers at the weekend. It's a wonder the birds can get on with the business of being a bird with all those photographers tramping about in their back yards!



John&Fish are a brother and sister bird photography duo. I would say they are the best Taiwan bird photographers on Flickr. Many of their photos get dozens of comments and Flickr group "awards", and they have a heap of testimonials too.



Check out them out for yourself and be utterly amazed.

Jason's Sports Day

 

Go! Go! Go! Yesterday was Sports Day at Jason's school. It was hot and sunny, the music was blaring and all the mums and dads were there with their cameras and camcorders. Here Jason is just behind his classmate and sprint rival Ah-fu at the half-way point of the 60-metre race. Well, I am happy and proud to report that Jason manaaged to pull ahead and win the race despite a gormless parent who wandered onto the track in front of Jason!

3-D Maze Sphere

I've been playing with this a lot over the past week. A friend of ours bought one each for their kids and kindly got an extra one which they thought Jason might like. Well, he does like it - a lot - and so does his Dad! It's tricky enough to get you hooked but not so frustratingly difficult that you want to hurl it against a wall and jump up and down on the pieces (not that I've ever done that, I hasten to add!)




It's a really ingenious toy and intriguing just figuring out how someone might have gone about designing and making it. You can buy this and other edutainment-type puzzle games/toys at shops inside the Taichung Science Museum.

"How To Teach Stupid Students" WTF?

My eldest son brought this home from elementary school last week. He'd pulled it out of the scrap paper box in his classroom. The literal translation of the title is: How To Teach Stupid Students. My first reaction was "What the hell..?" but when I read the points below I soon realized it's meant ironically; in other words, tips on how not to teach, or "If you want your students to be stupid just follow these teaching tips". I presume this was handed out to teachers for training purposes or perhaps a zealous parent had printed it and given it to the teacher. No idea.

The list makes some obvious points from the School of Duh, but I suppose even good teachers need to be reminded of the basics every once in a while.

Let's run down the list. This is a quick, rough translation so don't get all picky on me, k?

1. Only use one, unchanging style of teaching.
2. Only teach what's in the text book.
3. Require students to provide the standard answers to questions.
4. Don't permit students to ask questions.
5. Encourage passive listening.
6. Make students obey absolutely.
7. Frequently nag, seldom praise students.
8. Constantly scold, and disrespect students.
9. Focus on homework and grades.
10. Do not permit any mistakes.
11. Reach the conclusion quickly.
12. Ask pointless questions.
    

Anything that you might want to add to that list?

Chinese-language Taiwan blog: "Teacher Kuo"

All right , not technically a blog as promised, but the personal website of Kuo Chang-Chung ( 郭長成 ) a teacher at Chiayi Commercial Senior High School. I stumbled across this site quite by chance. Lucky find!

What it is:

A huge collection of photos taken by Teacher Kuo of trips he has taken with his students around Taiwan going back to 1998, as well as pictures of steam trains, plants, animals, temples and much more besides.

Click around and you'll turn up a lot of pictures of his students doing mundane things like sitting at computer terminals or being presented with awards and such like, BUT, and it's a big BUT, you'll also find plenty of interest, such as pictures of watermelon eating contests, people shelling snails complete with newspaper article about someone who got intestinal worms from eating under-cooked snails, a military air show at a base in Chiayi, a burning methane pond, and as mentioned above steam trains. Kuo is quite a steam train enthusiast in fact. Plenty more shots in the 四、我愛火車 section here. There's also a truly excellent collection of photos of animals and plants which just on its own would make for an impressive website.

Read his lengthy biographical details here. I love series of photos that show kids growing up from toddlers to young adults. Funny thing is, Kuo starts rather on the, er, tubby side and gets progressively trimmer as the years go by. Good for him!

I'll finish up with one of a superb series of shots of baby Malayan night herons (?).

Preparations for temple's 60th anniversary - gonna be a big one

Pootling along in south Taichung yesterday I spotted this impressive, puppet-festooned plywood structure tucked away on a plot of wasteland and pulled over to take a snapshot. A banner indicated that a temple is going to be celebrating its 60th anniversary but unfortunately I couldn't see anything saying when it will be held. If I have time I'll pop back over there and see if I can find out. It looks like it's going to be a big do so I'd like to get a few shots of the proceedings if possible.

If you'd like to check it out for yourself there's a map link below. To get there from the intersection of Wu Chuan South Rd. (五權南路 ) and Chien Chung Rd. ( 建成路 ) , go east along Chien Chung ( 建成路 ) about a 100 metres or so till you hit Hsin Hwa St. ( 信華街 ) then turn left. You should see it on your left as you head north before you reach Fu Hsing Rd. ( 復興路 ) Don't rely on my pinyin: it's doubtless not exactly the same as that on the street signs! Here's the area on Google Maps. Link

"Selling Fragrant Farts" 賣香屁

賣香屁 "selling fragrant flatus"
Originally uploaded by Naruwan

Robert over at The Only Redhead in Taiwan has an interesting post about his experience learning Chinese using children's books. I can certainly attest that children's books are an excellent way to learn Chinese. Comic books are also a great resource if all those folk tales get a bit too much - I recommend The Crayon Kid and Doraemon to start you off.

The story about an elephant taking a dump reminds me of a picture book I borrowed recently from the local library for my son which was entitled "Selling Fragrant Farts". Seriously. I was so charmboozled I took some pictures of the cover and some of the lavishly illustrated pictures inside and posted them on Flickr.

A browse through the titles of kids books in almost any library or book store in Taiwan will tell you that Taiwanese picture book writers are not afraid to play to kids' fascination with pee and poo. Selling Fragrant Farts is actually not a bad little story all in all. If I were a Mandarin teacher I'd have that on the list of required reading for sure!


Update: Mark points out in the comments that he has come across the same story by a different publisher. Here's his post: 賣香屁

Podcast addiction (part 2)

Here ya go. More podcasts that I recommend. Again, if you have any recommendations of your own, feel free to leave a comment.

Various topics
University Channel Podcast Plenty to choose from. Recorded lectures, lecture series and speeches mainly on politics and social issues. There was a great one (3-part) a while back on the philosophy and science of consciousness.
Radio 1 Documentary BBC Radio 1 - as the show title suggests.
Thinking Allowed (BBC Radio 4) - topical discussion on pretty much everything under the sun.
RU Sirius Show - a great show; explores cyberculture and counterculture.
Steve Wright in the Afternoon (BBC Radio 2) - Steve Wright has gone a bit bland for me but he does have some entertaining guests on his show from time to time.
Start the Week(BBC) - discussion with guests who are "movers and shakers" in realms of politics, history, science and the arts.
Radio Taiwan International - frankly it's a bit boring overall, but it can be pretty interesting in brief spurts. I hope it can survive the recent budget cut and evolve into something I would really look forward to downloading.
Point of Inquiry - this podcast is really excellent. Interviews with high calibre guests such as Stephen Pinker, Richard Dawkins et al. about their recent books or on topics with a "science 'n' society" theme.
Slate Magazine Daily - Slate is an amazing online magazine and this is a daily offering of an audio version of a noteworthy article.
Savage Love Podcast - what could be more fun than listening to complete strangers talk to a gay agony uncle about their unusual sexual relationship problems?
Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast - takes a look at the recent doings of the "RSC". It would be cool if they could visit Taiwan. I believe they're going to do some TV comedy improv shows soon.
Radio 4 Choice (BBC Radio 4) - weekly documentary selected from elsewhere in the BBC radio stable: science, arts, you name it.
The Treatment (KCRW) - interviews with screenwriters, directors and other creative talents in Hollywood.
The Business (KCRW) - an inside look at the business side of the entertainment industry. Maybe sounds dull but is actually pretty interesting. There was a good one recently about complexities involved in product placement in TV shows, for example.
In Our Time (BBC Radio 4) - one of very few podcasts which I listen to each and every time. Melvyn Bragg discusses history topics (mostly) with three guest professors.
Front Row Highlights (BBC Radio 4) - for a fix of recent happenings in the worlds of arts and drama.
Fly With Me - a behind the scenes look at life as an airline pilot. He's not done anything for quite a while now, but there's still the archive for new listeners.
Daily Mayo - best bits from Simon Mayo's daily afternoon show. It usually features an interview with a guest.
Book Panel with Simon Mayo (BBC Radio 5) - two authors are invited in to hear their book being reviewed by two other guests and a call-in listener. I have a long lit of books I want to read based on this show!
Best of Today (BBC Radio 4) - I love the Today programme, which explores current affairs. Hard to believe the show has been going for fifty years.

Music
Getting a Leg Up - Taichung's very own Mark Forman ) puts together a great "mix tape" of eclectic music.
3hive- nice audioblog of quality alternative music with occasional podsafe podcasts.
PRI's The World: Global Hit - an occasional listen for me. Features a world music artist or particular song.
Aurgasm - not a podcast, but a cracking good eclectic audioblog that I heartily recommend, podsafe I think.

Podcast Novels
Scott Sigler's Earthcore . I am still working my way through this. It certainly keeps you listening. When I eventually finish it I'll move on to J.C Hutchins' 7th Son . After that I have Philip Pullman's audiobook trilogy His Dark Materials to work my way through.

Favourite Chinese-language Taiwanese blogs

In the past few months I've been browsing the odd Chinese-language blog, and I've found it's been a refreshing change from reading blogs by Taiwan expats. Oh, before I go on, could someone please blog about Darlie toothpaste just one more time, because that's a topic that I think hasn't quite been covered enough lately.
Don't get me wrong: I read a lot of Taiwan expat blogs, mostly via my trusty Google Reader, and I enjoy them a lot for the most part, but it is nice to leave The Bubble sometimes and read blogs which aren't simply variations on the theme of "Isn't Taiwan a funny little country?" (Whew! Nice to get that off my chest!)

When I first started exploring Taiwanese blogs it was hard to know where to start because there are just so many of 'em. I needed some recommendations to start the ball rolling. My wife reads quite a few blogs so I just asked her which are her favourites.

The blog she most often checks out is Coco Chang 画生活. Coco is a Taiwanese gal married to an American. She blogged about her life in Taiwan and what it's like being married to a "laowai". It was pretty funny and her little illustrations were quite charming in their own way. Her blog developed quite a following and she even published a book based on her blog.

About a year ago they decided to up and move back to the States. Her blog has been revamped several times (I guess she has a lot of spare time!) and the latest rendition is tricked out with all kinds of ever-so-slightly-annoying IE-only gizmos so Firefox users be warned!

It's interesting reading about their life over there from her perspective, but maybe she does overdo it with the 'cute kid' videos sometimes. All in all, it's a fun read. Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

I hope to post one or two recommended Chinese-language Taiwanese blogs each week. If you have a personal fave, do leave a comment and let me know.

Podcast addiction (part 1)

I love podcasts. Can't get enough of them. I liked podcasts before the term was even invented, literally. Many moons ago in the pre-podcast era, online radio was really taking off but you had to listen via streaming. What I wanted was an interesting talk radio show that you could download as an mp3 file and listen to on a CD in the car or on a mp3 player. Lucky for me I found April Winchell who was putting recent shows on her site in Real and WinMedia files.

Early podcasts by and large were crap but the number and quality of podcasts increased enormously in just a few years so we're at the point now where there are more quality podcasts than you could possibly listen to.

Check out the following list of podcasts that l listen to on a semi-regular basis depending on what takes my fancy that week. There are way too many for one post so I'll post the second part of the list later this week. Part 2 will include various other topics such as arts-and-society-type podcasts I enjoy as well as music podcasts and podcast novels. I love discovering new gems so if you have a favourite podcast not listed here do let me know.

Humour
April Winchell(KCRW) - I love April Winchell. She has a quick wit. She deserves to be more famous than she is.
Russell Brand(BBC Radio 2) - Russell Brand is an egotistical pervert but inexplicably that translates into bizarre humour, although he can definitely make you cringe. One of the most popular podcasts in the UK.
Keith and the Girl (I recommend starting with their Beginnings section) - Hard to say what the appeal is here. A comedian and his girlfriend talk crap and somehow it makes for great listening.
Harry Shearer's Le Show (KCRW) - A bit long and sometimes slow-going. My fave parts are the sketches, especially the Dick Cheney ones, and the songs are good too.
Jonathan Ross (BBC Radio 2)
Chris Evans Drive Time The Best Bits (BBC Radio 2)
Best of Chris Moyles (BBC Radio 1) - Ross, Evans and Moyles are not comedians but they can be pretty funny. I'd say the Moyles show is the funniest of the three.

Science and Technology
CBC Radio Quirks and Quarks - solid science show broken into segments which can be downloaded separately.
Berkeley Groks Science Show - interesting interviews with scientists and science writers.
Discovery Channel Features - an occasional listen depending on the topic.
SETI Science and Skepticism Very nicely put together podcast. Seth Shostak is a great host, funny and clever but never irritatingly so!
New Scientist Podcast nice podcasts but the frequency of output seems to be dropping off in recent months.
NOVA Science Now - NPR podcasts seldom disappoint. I particularly like this one.
NPR Health & Science - NPR do loads and loads of podcasts and the ones I've listened to all seem to be very well put together.
Pods and blogs - not bad. I throw these short podcasts in for variety more than anything.
The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe - one of my favourite podcasts. These guys really know their stuff yet the tone of the show is light-hearted and often pretty funny in parts.
You and Yours - Health (BBC Radio 5) - covers some interesting science-related topics.
Science and the City - highly recommended. I download a high percentage of their shows. Check out their archive.
Science Talk (Scientific American) - different flavour to New Scientist: hard to choose between them because it depends on the topics being discussed.
Shrink Rap Radio (Psychology/ Psychiatry) - has some fascinating guests, authors and experts in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.
Skepticality - I prefer Skeptics guide to the universe above but this is still an enjoyable show.

Stay tuned for part 2 later this week.

My camera showing its age

In the past month my camera has developed a purple horizon as you can see in this picture of Chung Hsing University students practicing jumping rope for Sports Day. I suppose it's the sensor reaching the end of its natural life. I've had my trusty Canon IXUS since Feb. 2004, almost four years, and it has served me very well. I'm assuming it's a problem with the sensor chip thingy. Any idea what it would cost to fix? I'm almost afraid to ask at a camera shop! Part of me is pleased that it seems to be on its last legs because now I'll be "forced" to buy a new one, perhaps a prosumer ultrazoom like the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18 or the Canon PowerShot S5 IS . Might treat myself to one this Christmas....

Calling Teacher Gerald: yes, it probably is your heart

Browsing some Taiwan blogs the other day I came across a post by Teacher Gerald, a 51-year-old American expat who lives in Taichung. He describes waking up with pain deep inside the chest which worsened as the day wore on and later on he had shortness of breath. Unfortunately, after some googling he makes the mistake of thinking that the absence of other common symptoms such as pain in the jaw, arm and neck etc. means that it's not his heart that's the problem.
Uh-oh. Any severe pain in the chest, especially one that feels deep inside, needs to be checked out by a cardiologist. Considering he may very well have a life-threatening condition, I find it odd that he seems so set against seeing a doctor. I guess he has his reasons.

As you can imagine I was quite disturbed by what I read so I left a comment urging him to see a heart doctor ASAP. It would be awful to hear that he died of a heart attack and be left thinking that I had the opportunity to try to persuade him to seek immediate help but didn't because I couldn't be bothered (or some other excuse).

I have asked other Taichung bloggers to leave a comment encouraging him to get help before it's too late but so far no one has taken up my suggestion. If anyone reading this feels completely indifferent about Gerald just think how you would respond if Teacher G was a relative or friend of yours. Now get over to his blog and suggest that he might like to get his buns over to the cardiology dept. of China Medical University Hospital pronto.

UPDATE: I left a comment on a heart health blog called Heart Cipher about Gerald and the next day I noticed that "Anonymous" had left a long comment on Gerald's blog pointing out that Gerald "[o]bviously was having a heart attack". He also makes the excellent point that the result of a heart attack may not be death but permanent incapacitation.

Fast forward two years

For one reason or another I've decided to bring this blog back out of the deep-freeze. I've been commenting a lot on Taiwan blogs in recent months and posting random stuff on my twitter blog and I've been feeling the primal urge to blog again. Now that Lucas is older (nearly two and a half) it's a little easier to find the time and energy for other things. I probably won't be posting so many family pics anymore as I'm still a little paranoid about stalkers and weirdos on the net. Then again I may just get over that once I get this show on the road again. Well, it's time for this born again blogger to sign out and do something productive. bfn!