T.W. Simpson

Silicon Valley's Push Into Transportation Has Been a Miserable Failure The titans of tech brought plenty of disruption to our broken transportation system but delivered little in the way of innovation.

“Elon Musk admitted to his biographer that the reason the Hyperloop was announced—even though he had no intention of pursuing it—was to try to disrupt the California high-speed rail project to get in the way of that actually succeeding.” — @parismarx.com in @gizmodo.com

He’s always been this way.

Everyone knows which country it is

Most coast guard ships understaffed: report - Taipei Times Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

Most of Taiwan‘s coast guard ships understaffed, report says – Taipei Times

On the bright side, at least White House acknowledged Taiwan is a country by slapping 20% tariffs.

Chinese researchers suggest lasers and sabotage to counter Musk’s Starlink satellites Chinese scientists have been developing strategies to counter Elon Musk's Starlink satellites, which they see as a threat.

Beijing’s tendency to view Starlink as tool of U.S. military power v. Tesla's operations in China - Musk will have to choose sides apnews.com/article/spac...

Handwritten note by Nixon prior to 1972 visit to PRC. Says Taiwan status is undetermined.

Why Taiwan's Average Wage Growth is Slower than Minimum Wage Growth - Ketagalan Media Taiwan will be reviewing its minimum wage in the third quarter of this year, but despite annual increases to the monthly minimum wage since 2017, Taiwan’s average wage growth has not been catching up.

In this new article, I look at the data to explain why in spite of the higher minimum wage growth in recent years, Taiwan's average wages are not catching up—Taiwan's businesses have been so used to paying low wages, they want to keep profits for themselves and keep wages low.

tinyurl.com/yc2f9y5m

Nvidia denies 'backdoors' in chips after China raises security concerns Nvidia said on Thursday that its chips do not contain "backdoors," following concerns from China over the security of the company's H20 artificial intelligence chip.

Both the White House and Congress have floated the idea of requiring U.S. chipmakers to incorporate location-verification technology into their chips, but no laws have been passed. www.foxbusiness.com/technology/n...

In our latest for @9dashline.com, with @jgurolhaller.bsky.social we urge coordinated action to link EU’s Global Gateway with #Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy & work with ASEAN as *partners* for enhanced connectivity.

Together they can redefine connectivity as a tool for empowerment and resilience.

Taiwan’s President Is Running Out of Options Lai Ching-te is battling internal strife while navigating an unpredictable trade war with Washington.

How is a vote that only occurred for 25 politicians a national referendum on cross-strait relations again? Only analysts who don’t know anything about Taiwan and therefore interpret everything through the lens of China could come to such a conclusion

A #Kyiv resident helps her dog cope with panic attacks during Russian strikes

During air raid alerts,she covers the dog's ears and plays white noise. This helps the dog stay calmer during explosions.

Russian war terrorizes not only civilians, but also those who cannot say they're scared

📹Vchasno

📹 Han Supremacy is a Han Problem: Cross Community Solidarity A few months ago, I solicited suggestions for topics to unpack. Someone asked about how I understand cross-community solidarity. This is a topic I think about often, practicing reflexivity on my posi...

👏🏼 Han supremacy is a Han problem
As beneficiaries of Han supremacy and settler colonialism, it must be the responsibility of Han people to dismantle Han supremacy and end Sinicization.

If you haven't already, you should be subscribed to my blog ⬇️
konggirlsocialist.ghost.io/han-supremacy/

But is this transformation—the decline of objectivity norms and the rising empire of subjectivity—caused by organic distrust in institutions? Or is that distrust itself the inevitable consequence of the deeper paradigm shift to a flattened and "democratized" digital public discourse at scale?

Institutional voice may still be the safer choice in a selfie-shaped world, but it’s increasingly ineffective as a rhetorical posture. Transparently owned, opinionated speech has taken up the privileged position in global public discourse, availing itself of an unassailable benefit of the doubt.

One of the more interesting shifts in the move from the gated, analog public sphere to today’s mass-to-mass publishing environment is how thoroughly the old axiom—institutional voice is more persuasive—has been dethroned. First-person voice has clearly replaced it as the dominant mode of authority.

Why is it "almost certainly written by ChatGPT"? Doesn't look anything like the voice I read in my chats.

This notion that people can detect ChatGPT—frequently deployed at the sight of the em dash—feels like a case study in the illusory truth phenomenon and everyday confirmation bias.

We either need to enlarge the House so much that this type of hyper-gerrymandering is no longer possible, or we need to eliminate single member districts. Or both. But there is no serious definition of democracy or republic compatible with this level of districting shenanigans.

Taiwan Is on the Cusp of an Energy Revolution As the island phases out nuclear power, can it harness its vast geothermal reserves?

"Taiwan is experiencing an energy crisis.... industry has become more dependent on imports of liquefied natural gas. But that source is not only dirty—it also leaves the island at risk of a blockade and other forms of coercion by China."

MI5’s ‘epic’ China warning is being ignored The case of Chu Ting Tang shows that the government is oddly determined to turn a blind eye to Beijing’s meddling

Explicit harm to pluralism: "The United Front Work Department is a key CCP vehicle whose mission is to achieve control of civil society and suppress anti-communist dissent, originally just in China, but now globally. One of the chief channels through which it operates is... in the Chinese diaspora."

Opinion | Are We Really Willing to Become Dumber?

Some interesting folks here forging the epistemic humility to see that even their own written work does not *belong* to them:

"Almost all the people who wrote their own papers felt they owned their work, whereas fewer of the A.I. users claimed full ownership of their work."

Tim Ream: ‘Shame’ on USMNT critics as Luna goals set up Mexico final The veteran central defender had some strong words for those who have doubted Mauricio Pochettino's team.

USA definitely needs more winning:

"This summer, so far, the U.S. has been winning. Next up will be a final against Mexico. Pochettino will again see a partisan crowd, with Houston’s NRG Stadium likely to be pro-Mexican for the championship match."

Chinese mega-embassy to be approved within weeks Labour’s Angela Rayner is expected to rubberstamp the proposal, but opponents who say it creates a security risk are promising a legal fight

Meanwhile...

Shows just how weak and vulnerable #Trump is to outside influence. Shutdown the cyber opium den already! #TikTok #TACO

US aircraft carrier USS George Washington counters China navy presence USS George Washington is the only U.S. aircraft carrier currently positioned in the western Pacific to help keep China in check.

USS George Washington is nearby.

💯👇 The more frequently—and forcefully—someone denies something (or asserts the absurd), the more suspect it becomes. Repetition signals agenda. Every act of communication, conscious or not, carries intent.

‘Invisible Nation’ Review: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen Fights For Her Country’s Survival in Vanessa Hope’s Compelling Documentary Taiwan’s troubled past and uncertain future come sharply into focus in Vanessa Hope's timely and valuable documentary 'Invisible Nation.'

Glad I got to see the Taiwan première of ‘Invisible Nation.’ As President Tsai Ing-Wen reminds us, democracy is an achievement very much worth protecting. Congratulations to all who brought us this story.

variety.com/2024/film/as...

I know he meant well but... two words: Carrie Lam.

Sign the Petition Keep Politics Out of Taiwan's ISO Naming / 避免政治因素影響台灣的ISO命名

Please sign and share to support Taiwan.

"Sign this petition to defend the integrity of geographic naming conventions and demand that Taiwan's ISO Short name reflect geography, not politics. Let Taiwan be Taiwan, for the sake of global understanding and accuracy."

Heads up y'all, Gavin Newsom is making a primetime speech right now.
x.com/GavinNewsom/...

Your favorite AI chatbot is lying to you all the time Next time you chat with your favorite AI bot, maybe you should do some fact-checking, because you absolutely cannot not trust anything it tells you.

For all the hallucinating, it's extraordinary how well the art, copy and code works. Maybe I'm just imagining how much extra work I'm getting done these days? 🤷
www.zdnet.com/article/your...