The TONKA II issue vol I

Built 4 boyhood........

In news (well, news to me) of the shitty, Canadian coastal cities are continuing to flush raw sewage into ocean. Victoria in particular, despite the coming Olympics in 2010, is reportedly proud of this decision. Article here.

The people behind POOP are hoping to get some changes done. Go POOP! I wonder if there's a Halifax branch.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Also, still think global warming is a myth? Read this...

Is Global Warming a Hoax?

Food Time

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs hosted a party for 60 foreigners to choose their favorite Taiwanese dishes and snacks. First the results.

Top 5 snacks
1. Oyster omelet 蚵仔煎
2. Pearl milk tea 珍珠奶茶
3. Crispy salted chicken 鹽酥雞
3. Steamed pork dumplings 小籠湯包
5. Taiwanese meatballs 肉圓
6. Braised pork on rice 滷肉飯
Other LESS favorite choices
Stinky tofu 臭豆腐, Thin oyster noodle 蚵仔麵線, Chicken on rice 雞肉飯, and Shrimp rolls 蝦捲

Top 15 dishes
1. Scrambled egg with dried radish 菜脯蛋
2. Sauteed chicken cubes with dried chili 宮保雞丁
2. Sauteed spring onion beef 蔥爆牛肉
4. Deep-fried mushrooms 酥炸香菇
5. Mud crab with rice cake 紅蟳米糕
6. Steamed grouper 清蒸活石斑
6. Stir-fried Chinese cabbage 炒高麗菜
8. Three-cup chicken 三杯雞
8. Bitter melon with salted egg 鹹蛋苦瓜
10. Roast mullet roe 烤烏魚子
11. Sour and spicy pig intestines 五更腸旺
11. Buddha jumps over the wall 佛跳牆
11. Rice wine chicken 燒酒雞
14. Hakka stir-fry 客家小炒
15. Sesame oil chicken 麻油雞

Looking at the list I realized that there were several dishes that not only have I never tried, I've never heard of. So, I will set out in search of these dishes, eat and document as many as I can stomach and see if the 60 Taipei foreigners have a clue. After all, they are in Taipei.

If you look at the first #2 you will see sauteed chicken cubes with dried chili. That is more commonly known as Kung Pao Chicken ( or Gong Bao, as I use). This is a dish that I have had many times and is quite easy to make. I would like to give you a little variation that a buddy and I came up with several years ago and served it successfully at another friend's restaurant: Gong Bau Popcorn - 宮保爆米花.

Ingredients: oil, dried chiles and popcorn

Method:

• Choose a pot, dutch oven, stock pot or any thing big enough to yield a big batch of popcorn. It needs to be thick so the popcorn won't burn.
• Use oil with a high smoking point such as corn oil. Olive oil won't do. Heat to medium-high and add the dried chiles.
• Stir as they cook. Remove after they turn dark but not completely black. The oil is absorbing the chile oil and heat which will flavor the popcorn. You don't want to add a burnt flavor to it. You can add the chiles back later, but if you leave them in with the popcorn they will char and create a fumes and smoke that will knock you down.
• With the chiles removed, turn up the heat to high and let pot and oil raise their temperatures.
• When the oil starts to lightly smoke, add 1 or 2 kernels, cover and close. Wait for them to pop.
• After the 2 kernels have popped, add popcorn to cover the bottom. A little extra is okay but you don't want 2 or 3 layers of kernels.
• When popping begins, you can shake the pot a little to prevent any burning. You know best about the range you cook on. I use a gas range and find it great for this.
• When the popping slows down to single pops, remove from heat.
• Stir, add the chiles if desired and salt.
• Enjoy.

Football

For most of you who know me, you probably feel that I've been a little bit quiet on the site. Frenchie hasn't been posting images of a great team. There hasn't been any derogatory remarks made towards the Cowboys or even the Giants or any defense made of a team currently only at 3-4. Even though this team is going to roll over the Cowboys this weekend in Dallas, no comments have been posted to this effect. But ladies and gentlemen, I have to tell you that I wake up every Sunday, surfing the channels to watch the play of the best NFL team I have ever witnessed play. My point is, no team in the NFC will stand up to this team making it inevitable that the Pats will win the Superbowl this year. There is not point bolstering about my Eagles. Perhaps my team will end the streak for New England on the 25th of November, on their way to a 10-4 finish but it won't matter. New England is going to clean up this year and when they meet the Eagles in the Superbowl for the second time, it's gonna be messy. The Pats are awesome and I hope everyone gets a chance to watch the Indy vs. New England game this weekend because like they did with Dallas, New England is going to dominate.

My next point is the "Mississippi Miracle" which is the best touchdown play of all time. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, have a look I think there are more latteral passes than i can count. This has been on the highlight reel every night on the sports news and it's so sweeeeeeeeet!



Finally I'll make a couple predictions and I hope to hear what you think about the greatest team ever.
NE 38 INDY 14
Philly 24 Dallas 10 YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSS!

BTW does anybody want to go in and buy the town of Albert on Ebay with me? It's in Texas (John's?) and for a town I'd say the price is right.

P.S. Could someone post that photo of D-wayne and John in dresses for old times sake?

The Grapefruit Gang

BS, EW here....

Last night and early into the weeeeee hours of the morning.
The Grapefruit Gang (AKA Pineapple Gang) assembled for yet another SHRIMPIN adventure. Although attendance was low..... Spirits were high and so were some of the members, I think?

All and all it was a really good time to tag along w/these folks.
Thank goodness for the sympathy shrimp or we would have starved......

Move over Iron Maiden

I was at home Friday night with my mother watching America's Greatest Band. A concept which I hope will go away soon but basically set up like American Idol. Bands come on stage to perform in front of a pannel only to get ripped apart by judges afterwards. Fairly entertaining for the viewer and cold for the performer. Anyways, a band comes on the stage and the judges say
" listen, do you guys remember what you wrote as your interests on the application?"
" Ummm, Iron Maiden I think"
" well it says here your interests are Ninja's, Boobs and explosions"
The kids burst out in laughter

Anyways, check this out

Someone chartered a plane

The name of the city is...

Baseball World Cup

The World Cup begins November 6. Here is the schedule.
Taiwan games are November 6 vs Italy, Nov. 8 vs S. Africa, Nov. 9 vs Japan, Nov. 10 vs Spain, Nov. 11 vs Mexico, Nov. 13 vs Panama, Nov. 18 vs USA. With the exception of the Italy game, which is in Tien Mou, all the games are in Taichung, either at the old stadium or the new Intercontinental Stadium, just off Chung De Rd. Unfortunately, Team Canada is in the other pool and play their games in Tien Mou or Shinchuan. I will be making a trip to cheer to cheer on the red and white. Only preliminary round games are played in Taichung, with the playoffs in Tien Mou and Shinchuan, beginning Nov. 16.

Remembering Ferley

DAMN! What a pair of ugly ducklings.

Remembering Palawan

DAMN! What a fine looking pair of young men.

West Coast Trip Part 3, 4, 5 and 6

My first movie. Enjoy

H K T P h u k e t

Did you know?

• The smallest commercial aircraft flying out of HKT is a ATR with 70 seats.
• Over 66,035 passengers can travel out of HKT every week.
• There are over 210 domestic flights per week from HKT.
• HKTl connects with 16 cities nonstop.

20 carriers and Tiger Airlines is 1 of em.
NOK is still in ther also.......

Got 3 new Chinese 1's 4 next week

See ya then.... low and slow headin for th 4 o seventy seven

B K K S u v a r n a b h u m i

Did you know?

• The largest aircraft flying out of BKK is a 747 with 474 seats.
• There are 275 flights per week flying on small aircraft from BKK.
• There are 666 nonstop flights out of BKK per week that have over 300 seats per aircraft
• There are over 1,133 long haul flights per week from BKK.

A stagering 84 airlines servin this location per month.......
And NOK Air is 1 of em. Wait a go NOK. Truly increadible:)

D M K D o n M u e a n g

Did you know?

The shortest flight out of DMK is 199 miles.

The longest flight from DMK is 482 miles.

The largest aircraft flying out of DMK is a AB3 with 247 seats.

The smallest commercial aircraft flying out of DMK is a 737 with 150 seats.

4 airlines left servin this location...... Come and get it. EW

Birth of a Parrot

Enjoy :)

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What up w/th BS..... just tryin to add some pics.

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This month will see the start of two baseball tournaments in Taiwan - The Asian Baseball Championship (The Asian Cup) and the Baseball World Cup. The former will be held exclusively in Taichung at the old Taichung stadium and the new Intercontinental Stadium from December 1st-3rd (English schedule here, Chinese here). The latter will be hosted at several cities around Taiwan. Taichung games commence on November 2nd and end on the 14th. The finals will only be in the Taipei area. Chinese schedule here. (D-Wayne, can you help out with the English schedule you found yesterday?)

Ticket information - outlets, online purchasing and types -for the Baseball World Cup can be found here (English).

下一項

Final Costco (好事多) post, I hope.

The grand opening for the Taichung Costco is November 11. Hours are 8:30am-9:30pm.

• Memberships purchased by the 8th will still include an extra membership card. So, if you purchase a membership you will get a primary, secondary and a gift membership for $1,200NT (personal) and $1,000NT (business)
• Regardless of when you obtained your Taichung membership card, it will be valid until the end of November 2008. Mine was purchased in August and I will not lose any months because I purchased it before the store opened.
• There will be a free "Western" breakfast for the first 6,000 cardholders. 8:30-10:30am
• They will also give away to the first 20,000 cardholders... 10 eggs. Yes, 10 eggs.
• The temporary office has been moved into the actual Costco building. So, if you want a card, go to 台中市南屯區文心南三路289號 and the office is on the 1st floor.

下一項

"Too much garlic is not enough." Me. A long time ago.

I love garlic. A lot. And now there is some initial research that garlic can be really good for us. Researchers at UAB found that garlic juice injected into human red blood cells prompted them to emit hydrogen sulfide, which causes blood vessels to relax. They also say that after crushing or chopping the garlic, you need to wait at least 15 minutes to allow the reaction that produces this release. Here are two articles discussing the study. The first is more general and the second a bit more specific.

However, do not view this as a coronary panacea. Garlic has no effect on cholesterol and also this:

Eric Block, professor of chemistry at the State University of New York, Albany, has also done extensive work on garlic. He called the paper "provocative" but expressed some concerns.
For example, he said, "the benefits of garlic on cardiovascular disease remain controversial, because they have not been established by the gold standard method of placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical studies," he said.

My mother told me that while she was in Saudi Arabia the Saudis would swallow whole, peeled cloves of garlic to aid their digestion. While my wife was talking to a farmer near Taichung about a natural make-up remover and cleanser, he started talking about garlic. Now we have a bottle of garlic wine in the mail. They might be on to something. Drink up and reek not of booze, but of garlic.

That was my ice cream!

My daughter now makes me google pictures for her amusement. This was found under "donkey." I thought it was cute.

Language 2B Study Menu

Language 2B students: click here to study / download the menu. You must look up any words that you do not understand by yourself.

This is funny......beer?

Stirring the Pot

Crome Relic Live

I missed this but someone has had the good sense to get it up on the internet.

Video of Pimp's last gig with Crome Relic. Pimp now launching solo career in Canada.

A couple other videos from that show here.



Crome Relic soldiers on. Pimpless Relic at a Moon Fest Block Party here. Check out the guy doing curls on the left

Visit North Korea Ad Campaign Kicks Off

alternative caption:
What's good for the goose stepping girls is good for the gander (taking a gander.)

Supermarket Opens

Jason's of TPE 101 fame has finally opened.

It is a little pricey. B2 Chung Yo department store.

An Imperfect Storm

As my wife and I are in the planning stages for our return home to Texas, she tasked me with actually coming up with some plans. I responded that I had already finalized my plan, which was to not make any plans. Not acceptable. So I told her I would brainstorm some ideas and get back to her. Here is my list of Things I Want To Do, transcribed, unedited from my notebook.

• Get in better shape
• Something with chiles, beef or cheese (not soft)
• Improve my Chinese
• Be a Yakult rep.
• Make a table or workbench using mortise and tenon joints
• Buy a Leatherman
• Never have to prepare another resume
• Never teach in public school in the US
• A fusion barbecue and traditional Chinese tea shop
• Mesquite ranch / farm
• Be able to dunk again
• Never own a cell phone
• Have a NBA or college player come to my school in Taichung and give a basketball clinic.
• Wear a Lee Deng-Hui t-shirt to the Beijing Olympics
• Maybe a bubble tea shop place thingee
• Find a third person to play Red Alert 2 with Red A and myself
• Get a henna tattoo that says Henna tattoos suck! ( Actually tried this on vacation in Boracai, but was refused by all )
• Five-toed socks for my family ( This should be on my Christmas gift list but if I didn't write it down, I would forget about it)
• Taco Villa manager

I thought I started strong with a safe standard. Her nod of agreement turned into a facial furrowing of fury after the second one. I explained that my brain does not storm uninterruptedly. There are fluctuations. Sometimes it gusts, drizzles, freezes or just hits a dead calm.

I found out that there definitely are wrong ideas in brainstorming and that doing exactly what you are asked to do can be worse than not doing it at all.

下一項

Coming soon - Schedules and information about the two upcoming baseball tournaments in Taichung. I thought one of the other hibernating contributors might want unlimber their fingers and take a stab at it, but it appears not.

Good Men, Great Men, and My Grandfather

There are many types of people in the world. Some are kind, some are evil, some are just plain bad. My grandfather was a man who fit none of those simplified categories -- he was what we should all strive to be. Most readers know of my affection for the old man, WWII soldier, Ford Motor Company employee, father of two. I won't tell stories of his greatness, but if we could be half the man he was, the world would be a better place.

He died last week down in Houston at my mother's place. I attended the funeral and got to spend a week in beautiful, scenic Houston. At the funeral, his nephew-in-law said something which I thought telling: he had never heard a bad word spoken about my grandfather in any capacity. We should all be so lucky. Lift a glass for Charlie Havis tonight, it's on me (figuratively of course).

Fisherman's Wharf

Hey B's & G's out ther in BL.
EW there, live from San Francisco.....

Or at least that's where me and the wife got stranded by United last month.
Not a bad place to be stuck for the night on United's bill for a Typhoooooon in Taiwan:)

Retirement Planning

"the average retiree spends approximately 43.5 hours watching TV a week -- essentially replacing their former work week."

This explains the existence of Murder She Wrote.

FUTURAMA

FUTURAMA fans!

There's a FUTURAMA movie coming out in November. It's the first of four feature length movies they've made that will be cut up into episodes for a new season next year on Comedy Central. Here's the trailer of BENDER'S BIG SCORE.

Thought Experiment

Imagine you are getting into taxi in Taichung.

The driver has some music playing.

What would be the most surprising song you'd hear?

Please answer in comments.


Example:

If Heaven ain't a lot like Dixie by Hank Williams Jr.


A related anecdote:

In 1992, I got in a taxi in Taichung, where the driver said in New York accented English, "So, what do you think about Clinton?" Turns out he was a NYC taxi driver who had to emigrate back to Taiwan because "he couldn't stand all the rules."

West Coast Trip Part 2 of 6

After driving across the Prairies for 3 days, we went to Waterton National park in Alberta. For those of you who don't know, Waterton borders with Glacier National Park in Montana. Together they are called the Peace Park. This National park is located at the tail end of the Canadian Rockies. Driving from Lethbridge towards the park is quite scenic as naturally you are driving towards the Rockies with nothing but gold prairie fields to the right and left of the car.





As we arrived at the gate, we chatted with the park warden about the best place to camp. He told us naturally the interior of the park is very scenic and that's what we were after. Upon my friend expressing his dear fear of encountering a bear, the warden told us not to worry.

10 minutes later we had encountered our 5th bear. We saw 10 bears in total-8 black bears and 2 Grizzly bears in Waterton park. On our trip we saw a total of 15 bears. Quite an amazing number.




Of course being so close to Montana (5 hours) I met up with a law school buddy of mine. I'll save the details of how late he arrived, but I did manage to convince him to have two drinks.











We got up at a relatively good hour and did a day hike to Bertha Lake. Surprisingly, lawyers seem to have done many of the trails at Waterton. Both on northern and southern sides of the park. This hike was absolutely beautiful with a hike through the ever changing forest, up to the lake. Not an extremely long hike, but beautiful all the same. The first photo is taken from the trail as well.

IJ....... I need my Chinese book and tape

Pls. drop off at wayne-wayne's.......

Sorry for the crappy personal post folks.
But ya know "Sometimes bilingual, always bi crappy".......

EW over and out.

Take Chinese book and tape....... To Fubar......

The Green Fairy

Carrefour is now selling Absinthe. It's the made in Czech kind, which supposedly has the real deal wormwood. NT$ 1300 / bottle, but 70% alcohol. (I think you need to add water to absinthe anyways.)

I can imagine Ponce right now. Its Halloween. Ponce is in a frilly black Victorian suit, the kind an undertaker wears in a Western movie. His monocle is perfectly balanced as he fusses over absinthe at the smoky poker table.

"You see, just enough sugar on the spoon, and then the water. And could you please turn up the Morrissey? Thanks. Aces over Eights. Dead Man's Hand. I win."

UPDATE:

Karl, none of these are quite right, but they also sell monocles.

HOCKEY!!

Hockey season is upon us. Time for hockey drafts. If you are interested in a fun pool, go to yahoo. id # 70400, password is flames. It's free!

Rodin Exhibit Address

Former Taichung Municipal Building, #97 Min Chuan Rd., next to the city government building - 台中市役所(台中市民權路97號、市政府旁)

Dancing Policemen Part 2 or The Reason Why The Streets of Taiwan are Safe

I believe this is the I'm-okay-after-taking-a-hit gesture.

So What Can You Get For 190 Billion?

Years of tuition fees (Texas Tech/ UConn): 9.5 million

High school lunches (Boston) : 95 billion

Months of Health Insurance (Worden, Montana, family of 3) : 190 million

Months of Daycare for 1 child (U.S. average): 310 million

Pounds of B.C. Bud: 54 million (sweet jebus!)

Lamborghini Murcielagos: 595 000

Years in Iraq: 1 - 2

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And on a brighter note, here is a
HOWIGATI

Strong Canadian dollar also hurts marijuana exports

Now, THAT is an Amazing Yahoo News Headline!

So, now it will no longer be BC Bud being smuggled into the US, but Washington Weed heading up north. Ahhhhh, the miracle of free market economics.

I don't know if I am supposed to congratulate Canadians I meet on their "strong" loonie or buy them a sympathy beer, but I am sure those sending money home now realize that a "strong" currency isn't necessarily good news.

It does kill the whole "Canadianer" poker joke, though. Pimp and I were discussing this and decided that the joke now has to be an "Americaner" which is like betting NT$110 instead of 100.

Or I guess it can still be a "Canadianer" but it would be NT$ 90 bet. (Gasp! Why that's a hundred American!)

West Coast Trip Part 1 of 6

This first shot is taken on the stone beach of the largest fresh water lake (by surface area) Lake Superior. We drove for nearly 15 hours to get to the Provincial park. So beautiful up north. One observation on the drive up here. So many A&W's. I might buy some stock.
To get an idea, we are still a days drive around the lake to reach Thunder Bay. The picturesque skyline of granite cliffs and pine trees would soon allow me to forgive the distance.











This photo was taken at Quetico Provincial park. Sunset across the lake. I didn't use any filters for this photo but I was disappointed when i got home to find this was the best pic. The Sunset was unbelievable. Quetico is home to well over 2000 lakes. We put the canoe in here for a while, but due to arrival time, it was only a while.


The next photo was take from the Terry Fox memorial in Thunder bay. I kinda screwed up this post as this photo should come before Quetico. Anyways, this is called the sleeping Giant. Terry Fox for those of you who don't know lost his leg to cancer. He was part of the track team in high school so after the operation pledged to run across Canada raising money for cancer research. He planned to run about 40km/day (most of us know as a marathon) and get this....on one leg. He started in St-Johns Newfoundland and made it as far as Thunder Bay which is over 3000 km. Most say his determination killed him, but he was recently voted as Canada's second most influential person of our time.














Finally, we have the first shot of the prairies. We reached Manitoba in the early morning of day three. When I talked to people around home about the journey they all mocked the prairies. "Oh the Prairies, you'll sleep during that part" but honestly, I found it to be quite therapeutic. A race against the sun to reach our next destination. Nothing standing in our way, two lanes of traffic and the simple beauty of farmland.

Stay tuned for more next week.

Sacred Legacy

Edward S. Curtis' photo exhibition of the North American Indian is in Taiwan and will visit the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung 10/27~11/25.

As part of the Shining Taichung Arts Festival, Mayor Hu has arranged for an exhibition of 100 prints and 32 sculptures by Rodin. This will be the only display in Taiwan. It runs from 9/22 - 12/22 at the former Taichung Municipal Office. And yes, The Thinker will be there along with Monument to Balzac and the Age of Bronze. Not that I'm familiar with the last two, but I plan to see them and raise my snootiness by a good 27%. Couple that with seeing Pavarotti's last full-scale public concert in Taichung and my overall snootiness should be in the high 70s. Almost high enough to qualify for Austin citizenship.

MLB

There once was a time when Red A, J-Hole, Kevlar, Rye and myself would meet at my apartment on Friday afternoons to unwind after a long hard work week of 22 hours. Adult beverages were consumed, bullshitting was expected, and computer baseball was played. Why am I rehashing old times? Because it has come to my attention that Rye thinks I'm competitive because I used to kick his ass at computer baseball, take his money at poker, and break his toes in real football. I call that being better than him, he calls it hyper-competitive nature. Whatever.

Funny thing is, Rye is uber-competitive himself (for a Canuckistani). One day he showed up at my house and challenged me to baseball. Started talking smack and doing some new move with his baserunners. I figured out what he was doing and decided to not allow any baserunners for the rest of the game (I occasionally let him get on base lest he take his toys and go home). Next day I called Kevlar and he told me he was over at Ryan's.

This may seem like an ordinary, innoculous statement. However, anybody who knows the three of us knows that we were basically attached for the better part of two years. If Kevlar was at Stoney's house and I wasn't there, I was at least informed prior to arrival. Something fishy was going on. Next week at baseball Stoney throws some new pitch or something and I realize he has been practicing. Strange, being as I was the one with the game. So I asked if he had been practicing. He became evasive (practicing what?). He became beligerent (Screw You). He became cocky (you're just pissed because I struck you out). Finally I asked: Did you buy a copy of the game? Yes. And have you been playing with yourself (Sandy was still putting out at that point so he knew what I was talking about)? And have you and Kevlar been having covert sessions? Busted. The S.O.B. was so determined to beat me he bought the game, practiced with our best friend, and never said a word. Like a kid who tries to convince his parents that he just found the cookie jar empty.

Rye, you got Sandy, you got two kids with eighteen names, and you got rid of Grace. YOU WIN!

Religous Police in Saudi Arabia

Apparently two chicks in Saudi Arabia pepper sprayed some religious policemen who were hassling them. Now, that's EMPOWERMENT.

Seen in Taiwan

I've been wanting to start this feature which is basically what kind of crazy English language apparel you see when driving around Taiwan. Here are some classic examples:

"Sissy Boy" jacket - the scooter punk has no idea that his jacket identifies him as a "Sissy Boy"

Country Club Fire Department patch on a night market jacket...well, that fire department is literally half a mile from my Mom's house in Sacramento...how did it end up on some jacket in a night market?

Please post more in comments...

Today was not as good as those, but still...."USA Sniper T-shirt" on front with "Don't try to run, you'll just die tired" motto on back. WTF?

Anyways, I expect all of our posters (Jim and Frenchie excepted) can come up with good stuff.

Almost Canada

These pics were not taken in Canada.
Although we were close to Canada. We were not. In Canada....

These are pics of Anchorage, Alaska and surrounding areas.
I was nice just to get away for a weekend and check out the scenery.

PIMP, I'm building 'em up for those Canadian pics....

Take off eh?

Wow, great post Rye. I've been pretty busy since I've returned. I have a number of photos to post, but I'll save them for a day when this site hasn't seen so much action.

I saw Rush on Saturday night. It was expensive, but it made up for the long time I've been in Taiwan. I was honestly going to write about all the songs they played, the reaction of the crowds, the venue etc but then this morning, I log on and see a descriptive posting for THey Might Be Giants. I had to click on one of the links because although I had heard of them, I've never listened to their music. Anyways, a big fat guy was rocking beside me and I was thinking the whole time.....it's good to be back.

I drove across Canada a few weeks ago. I met that TMBG fan at Waterton National park and I'll post some photos. BUt my next point. Great clip. If you are into downloading TV and you are canadian, or have a boner for Canadian TV you should check out Corner Gas. Kevlar, you should star in this show buddy, the humour is abstract. Here's a clip

Nick vs. Relic

One more peek at the Beachcombers.

I think I remember one of my aunts being into Bruno Gerussi.

Classic Nick and Relic confrontation to start an episode.

on a lighter note...

The other night at Fubar we were talking about CBC TV. Sam (Michigan) knew a few, like Hangin'In, Degrassi and Danger Bay.

"Danger Bay, baby! Danger Bay!"

Rundown: single dad marine biologist with two brilliant kids running an aquarium foils anti nature types and has unspoken pg relationship with mother figure helicopter pilot. electric theme song .Here's the opening for Sam.

No one knew The Beachcombers! It was the longest running dramatic series in Canadian TV history! Bruno Gerussi stars as Nick Adonidas, a log salvager paid to collect lost barge logs and Robert Clothier as Relic, his nemesis who will go to any lengths to steal Nick's logs. They hung out at Molly's Reach and that nice Constable John would always help out. Every Sunday night.

Wiki sums up the Beachcombers, but really all you need to see is this video.

Worst POTUS Ever

Here's an article highlighting the fascist tendencies of the Bush regime.

George W Bush and 14 points of fascism.

Not Canada

Well fellas EW here.... or there.

These pics are from my weekend vacation on Joe Pool lake.
Brought to you Live from Arlington, TEXAS.

Hope that's enough key strokes for ya'll.........

TMBG Review

Sometimes I think I am strange and that my mind works on strange levels. In an ongoing quest to be free from all pigeonholes I can be pigeonholed quite easily. Then I attend a concert and everything becomes clear. If I thought I was one piece short of a full pie, this evening's concert assures me that no matter how eccentric I become, in reality I am just another schmuck working on a law degree.

They Might Be Giants are silly. They sing about presidents long dead, they create images of birdhouses in the soul, and even have an entire song of nothing but the names of countries. They cannot sing a lick, yet managed to fill up the University Center ballroom with people from all age brackets. They poke fun at their own idiocy, call up people long since dead in a segment entitled 'necrophonetime,' and let audience members try their hand at accordions.

Some people think authors like Bukowski write in the extreme just to see how far they can push readers, make them feel violated, and then bring them back for more. Others think Tom Waits has made a concerted effort to see how far he can trash his voice and still have people purchase his records. I think They Might Be Giants think of the most off the wall idea, toss it around, and challenge themselves to turn it into something that the adoring masses will purchase. How else can you explain the success of Particle Man? I Palindrome I? Istanbul? I'm not sure what this proves about them (or their audience), but I can assure you they were worth the two sawbucks I laid down to see them.

The show started off with Alphabet of Nations and New York City before a series of tunes off their new album. The Cap'm and The Mesopotamians were the highlights, but to be honest nothing really stood out from that portion of the show. In fact, the interruption of the new song stuff with Birdhouse in Your Soul drew the loudest response of the first half (probably not too surprising). Fingertips is still one of the weirdest tunes I've ever heard, Istanbul still makes people go crazy after however many years, and the close of the show with Doctor Worm had everyone hopping (literally). They encored with Damn Good Times and insisted we form a Congo line before dropping into Particle Man to close the show for good.

Why do I write these words? Because after the amount of positive energy experienced in that room, my ears are still ringing and my eyes are still wide open. A band with no political statement? A band who just wants to play music and be happy? A band that makes people hop? A nice change of pace for a grumpy S.O.B. like myself. I didn't even mind that they skipped Lucky Ball and Chain and Your Racist Friend.

Somewhere in South Taiwan

Turns out the guy wasn't hurt.

Eating less meat could slow climate change, experts say

Or that is what the AP article states. Of course that disturbs me - eating less meat, so let's take look at the article. It's ten paragraphs long. The first restates the title claim that livestock methane production is in part responsible for climate change and the second presents a study by experts printed in The Lancet.

Paragraph three quotes Geri Brewster as saying, "

We are at a significant tipping point. If people knew that they were threatening
the environment by eating more meat, they might think twice before ordering a
burger."

Who is she? She is a nutritionist at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York, who was not connected to the study.

Why does the AP give this non-expert precedence over the one true expert mentioned in the article (paragraphs 5 and 7)? This seems a very careless way to build a news report. Ms. Brewster is given another paragraph to expound. "

As a society, we are over consuming protein. If we ate less red meat, it would
also help stop the obesity epidemic."

First, livestock do produce a lot of methane. But that is usually not the primary or even secondary source of methane in the countries that produce the most.

China, India, the United States, Brazil, Russia, and other Eurasian countries are responsible for almost half of all anthropogenic methane emissions. Methane emission sources vary significantly among countries. For example, the two key sources of methane emissions in China are coal mining and rice production. Russia emits most of its methane from natural gas and oil systems; India’s primary sources are rice and livestock production; and landfills are the largest source of U.S. methane emissions.

In the U.S., enteric fermentation (livestock methane), is third behind landfills and natural gas systems. Again, livestock do produce a large source of methane, but there are methane reduction practices - little used outside of the dairy industry - that address this problem. However, I think priority should be given to the two larger sources.

As for over consuming protein, well, here she is the expert. But is red meat the main culprit? Is too much protein the cause of so much obesity? I don't know but I do know that milk, cheese, chicken, fish, peanut butter, eggs, rice and beans are also common food staples and high in protein. Over consuming protein? Probably. We're fat because of red meat? I'm not too sure about that one.

For Anonymous

From the Saturday Travel section of the Taiwan News: Local bakers have responded to the rise in wheat and flour prices by creating a new style of mantou ( 饅頭 ) - a steamed bun, complete with extra adornment. It did not state where they could be bought, but I'm sure you can find it easily enough, Anonymous. Happy Moon Festival and don't forget to chew well.

Reminds me of John and his Cowboys

Getting funny looks lately?

Police in Kaohsiung have arrested an American for the killing of Taiwanese woman who was a language teacher broker. (Or as the old hands used to say, an English Pimp.)

Zero Low, One High

Dear Friend,

I am Mr. Patrick Jeka an Attorney at law and the personal lawyer to Engineer Dr.Alfred A. XXXXXX a foreigner who owned XXXXXX Oil International here in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, Herein after referred to as my client.

I got your contact at the office of the Chambers of commerce and Tourism in Ouagadougou-Burkina Faso as I was going through some directories.

On the 10th day of August 1999, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along Ouaga - Bobo express way while arriving from a Holiday to Bobo. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives.

Since then, I have made several enquiries to their embassy to locate any of their extended relatives and this has also proved unsuccessful. I am hereby contacting you to assist in repatriating a fund valued at USD$13Million,(Thirteen Million United States Dollars),left behind by my client before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Security and Finance Firm where this huge amount were deposited.

The said Security Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confiscated within the next twenty one official working days. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 5 years now,

I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. On smooth conclusion of this transaction, you will be entitled to 30% of the total sum as gratification, while 10% will be set aside to take care of expenses that may arise during the time of transfer, internal revenue tax and also telephone bills, while 60% will be for me towards any profitable investment in your country.

I guarantee that this transaction will be executed under a legal framework and legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. I am looking forward to hearing from you soonest. You can send your reply to my alternative email address below:

Or Two, Both Ways?

Joe's Bar Anniversary

Joe's Bar, Located at what was known as Two Tigers.

Celebrating Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday!!!

Three evenings of fun at Joe's Bar.

Yes! This week. Draft beer and cocktails
ALL you can drink just 500 nt.

Buy two whisky and get one free!!

I just might make it out for Vinny's B-day on Wednesday.

Consumers could face higher toy prices

This article does not inspire my confidence in the media:

Shoppers have become accustomed to cheap playthings from China because Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other discounters have waged cost-cutting campaigns. Critics say real safeguards were sacrificed to keep prices low.

I have been selling sidewalk chalk for about 12 years now, and the safety regime has not changed much at all. I have never had a customer ask for a better price in return for a lowered safety requirement. In fact, pretty much every customer is completely anal about safety and asks for a test report to make sure they are in compliance with national requirements.

The price for the product has fallen tremendously, but that was mainly due to switching production to China and the rise of many more competitors. The problem now is that unscrupulous factories have been getting test reports done for hand-made samples using the correct paints and then using banned materials for actual production runs. The only way to stop that is to test each batch.

Most of the rising costs come from emergency third-party testing in the U.S. by both makers and sellers as they aim to root out any unsafe products, analysts say.

The cost for testing lead in a toy is NT$ 995 / color for a Taiwan lab. It's not exactly going to break the bank, even if you are testing more often then before. I can't see a 10% hike based on that alone. I suspect the industry thinks this is a great excuse to claw back some margin.

The U.S. Toy Industry Association supports a federal requirement to make safety testing and inspection mandatory and is working with the American National Standards Institute to develop industrywide safety procedures. But during Wednesday's Congressional hearing on toy safety, senators urged even more stringent measures including stepping up fines for selling or failing to report dangerous items.

There already is an industrywide standard for lead - ASTM E1613-04 / E1645-01 - which is 600 ppm. Making safety testing and inspection mandatory for each batch is probably a good idea. If you want to be really safe, make sure the testing is not done in China and the people who choose the random product to test are not being bribed.

One very important thing to remember is that everyone in the industry knows that you cannot use lead paint. All the contracts will mention following safety standards and require test reports. I have had vendors tell me they wouldn't even know where to buy lead paint if they wanted to as it is pretty much black-listed. This is not some case where suppliers are ignorant. It's willful fraud. Personally, I don't know how they sleep at night.

p.s. There are hand-held lead detectors. You'd think the big toy companies would have invested in some of those and used them during their normal QC inspections.

Ghost Month is Over - We can post without fear again

Remember the American lawyer with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis ( XDR-TB) who decided to visit Europe and Canada? Well, this July, while I was back home relaxing, a Taiwanese couple decided to visit their son and extended family in China. The husband has multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and the wife has open TB. They were eventually rounded up and brought back to quarantine in Taiwan.

Where in Taiwan? Well, Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director of the department's Centers for Disease Control stated that he could not divulge the name of the hospital out of respect for the couple's privacy.

However, the Chinese language media had no such qualms. The above link is to the Aug. 1 edition of the English language Taipei Times. The following link shows the search result page for "tuberculosis Hu Dzi Chiang (mayor of Taichung)." All report the location.

And whaddya know? Yam News (Chinese) reports on Aug. 1 that the couple was sent to Taichung Hospital. Mayor Hu and others are upset. They must be pan-green.

下一項

PJ - You need to talk to the people who translate your ads for the Compass. In the Nightlife section of the print version they use 三文魚 instead of 鮭魚 for salmon. I have shown the ad to about 20 adult Taiwanese and only 2 were able to identify it as salmon. They both said they thought it derived from Cantonese. Others thought it was milkfish or the Mandarin pronunciation for the Taiwanese word for a kind of fish that has no discernible (to us, at least) English name. The majority just didn't know.

All 20 were baffled by the "有帶?" phrase that corresponded to your line about all-you-can-peel shrimp. They simply had know idea what was meant.

Oh, by the way, not that it's that important because not many Taiwanese follow the NFL, but instead of your Monday through Thursday NFL action, they have taken the liberty to claim that you will be showing the Atlanta Eagles on those days. Those are fightin' words.

下一項

I hear these guys are going to tour the island.

Chief Justice Visits Missoula

He wore a nice red tie. He had his hair parted. He made a mistake once by not reading the entire text of a rule of Civil Procedure. He compared lawyers to firefighters and discussed at length the Mann Gulch fire. He removed the limitations of past cases, but none of us were prepared for that and therefore stuck to the mundane.

The most interesting response all morning was to a young lady questioning the role of Chief Justice Roberts' heart in making rulings. She wandered if he took into account people's position in the case and how a ruling might affect them. The Chief Justice responded (basically) he couldn't worry about things like that; his job was simply to rule on the law, analytically and steadfastly. I thought this response interesting in our Common Law system (markedly different than the civil codes of Continental Europe). Justice O'Conner was frequently criticized for her working an opinion and interpretation to see justice was done (and thereby creating 'bad law'). I am happy to report there are no worries of the Chief Justice taking that tact.

I only had one interaction with him. I asked him if he was going to drink his coke as he was leaving (I was sitting near the drink table). He said he hadn't thought about, but he guess he might. I informed he needed to decide quickly lest I repo it. Not sure if he got the humor or not.

Anyhow, the Student Question time far exceeded the lecture he brought to the community later in the afternoon. Mostly I think he just wanted to go fishing and therefore came to our humble law school. It will be interesting to see if he shifts to the right or to the left over the next few years, I'm guessing (and hoping) he rediscovers his heart.

Freakin Fritos

Fantasy Google Searches

For example, "Taco Bell Taiwan"

Esquire Willy, have you ever been to one of these Chinese Taco Bell Grandes?

I thought of another fantasy google search that Karl would do: "Dinky Moore"

Thursday Fun Day

On Thursday, September 13th Chief Justice John Roberts will be visiting the University of Montana School of Law. Students have the unique opportunity to question our chief magistrate, so long as the questions have nothing to do with:

1. past cases
2. pending cases
3. cases which may arise in the future.

Do you reckon we can ask him about his love life? Anyhow, if you have any questions which have nothing to do with Justice Roberts' legal philosophy, post them in the comment section and I will do my best to get them answered.

No video recorders, cameras or recording devices are allowed, which means you will have to rely on me to provide accurate reporting. Granted I am not sure pens and pencils will be allowed either. I think I will take up the latest FoxNews mantra: I report (accurately or not), You decide (from a one sentence sound bite).

Hari Merdeka

Royal Guards from the planet Mongo march in Malaysia's Independence Day parade.

rrrrr

Review of Carrefour's enchiladas: Bland lasagna smoothie

FOOTBALL!

Football season is upon us. The 4th annual Soho St. fantasy draft was held yesterday at FuBar. Looked like an easy draft till we got The Heretics online and he asked who the keepers were. I will have a preview in the next couple days, but enough to say that Jeff was the king of the draft, drafting Tiki Barber, then after he was informed that Tiki retired, picked Corey Dillon who was last seen selling life insurance in Lubbock, Texas.

I have set up a pro pick'em on yahoo for all interested. Enough interest and the winner each week gets a free beer. id# 55174, password "fubar". P.I.M.P. is the almighty god of a salary cap league, also on yahoo. id 7458, password "eagles" (blechh)

GUESS WHO?

indeed, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Trey and I went to the airshow at the army base in Shalu a week or so ago. We missed all the good stuff, but saw the Taiwanese equivalent to the Snowbirds fly over a couple times. Of course, all of Taichung saw that throughout the day. We didn't get too close to the aircraft as it was roped off, but Trey was psyched to see the planes. Only one booth that was selling cold drinks on a hot day, amongst the other hawkers, and of course, no trash cans.

Interesting take on the Michael Vick saga. You have to scroll down to "Atlanta Falcons"

Lance Briggs, of the Chicago Bears, crashed his Lamborghini into a concrete abutment last week, panicked, and reported it stolen. Owned up shortly, and was subsequently charged with leaving the scene of an accident and improper lane usage. Improper lane usage? If he hit concrete, he isn't in any lane.

My Taiwan Motto

My motto in Taiwan is "All good things will end" so I am not surprised that espnstar.com's TV schedule is not showing any football scheduled so far this year. It's schedule is phenomenal if you want to watch live Yankee games, repeats of Yankee games, highlights of Yankee games, or figure skating, though.

Well my loss will probably be Fubar's gain. D-wayne, can you let us know your plans for NFL this year? And how much do you charge for a membership card?