William Martindale

Screenshot from Wikipedia. It reads: Face/Off is a 1997 American science fiction action thriller film[b] directed by John Woo, from a screenplay by Mike Werb and Michael Colleary. It stars John Travolta as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as a terrorist, who undergo an experimental surgery to swap their faces and identities. The film co-stars Joan Allen, Gina Gershon, and Alessandro Nivola in his film debut, and features Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes, Harve Presnell, Colm Feore, CCH Pounder, and Thomas Jane in supporting roles.

I don't know anything about the plot of this movie but based on the first paragraph on Wikipedia I'm imagining that John Travolta and Nicolas Cage are Kermit and Constantine from Muppets Most Wanted

idk if this is your experience, but I've found that it's hard for Taiwanese people, particularly emigrants, to discuss the White Terror, even when they lived through it. Understandable given the trauma of the era and how far away it seems, but it makes it easier for bad actors to lie about it now.

If America still had the rule of law, this would be the easiest prosecution ever, but we all know absolutely nothing will happen.

Was going to write a counterargument about how the Trump admin has treated white South Africans and suggest that Ukrainians have been Orientalized by war-related discourse through existing tropes about Slavs. But I realized my argument was more about the admin than the people, who don't care at all

Did Elon Musk name this military operation

I want an apology from everyone who told me Trump was the one who would keep America out of war

Taiwan and the Politics of ‘Murder of the Century’ A new film attempts to rewrite one of the most infamous murders of Taiwan’s martial era in a way that aligns with China’s interests.

Excellent piece
thediplomat.com/2026/02/taiw...

February 28 incident - Wikipedia

It is now February 28 in Taiwan—one of the most significant dates in modern Taiwanese history.

First and foremost, 228 is associated with the February 28 Massacre in 1947. Contrary to a common myth, it's not just one date, just one incident, or even just in Taiwan.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Februar...

too bad OpenAI hasn't released the chats anywhere as far as I can tell, I would be really interested in reading them. also makes me wonder how other major American LLMs are dealing with this kind of thing. if Chinese officials are using ChatGPT, surely they're using Claude, Gemini, etc. as well

How to Use Banned US Models in China Markets in Everything: Taobao Edition

really surprising to me that an official would use ChatGPT for this considering it's probably the most strictly banned American LLM in China

Screenshot from the OpenAI report. It reads: This activity also targeted dissidents abroad. According to the user, on one occasion, Chinese operators disguised themselves as US immigration officials to warn a dissident - unnamed, but apparently based in the United States - that their public statements had broken the law.

A lot of this report consists of things we already knew Chinese security officials did, but this part is really noteworthy: the US's authoritarian turn is enabling bad actors to threaten Chinese dissidents in the US

OpenAI's report here: cdn.openai.com/pdf/df438d70...

A Chinese official’s use of ChatGPT accidentally revealed a global intimidation operation | CNN Politics A sprawling Chinese influence operation — accidentally revealed by a Chinese law enforcement official’s use of ChatGPT — focused on intimidating Chinese dissidents abroad, including by impersonating U...

so it's not just US officials who are using ChatGPT to do their thinking for them

It bothers me how nobody seems to understand that this, trans people getting booted out of the military without their contractually obligated benefits, etc. is ultimately about if the promises of the government are worth a goddamn thing as long as the Republican Party exists.

A picture of paper armor on a mannequin

It's for making paper armor

Students that have a red or a blue color wash over them mingle around a campus plaza.

Most Conservative Students Don’t Feel Persecuted on Campus

A new survey of college students contradicts Republican rhetoric that campus culture is hostile to right-wing views. https://bit.ly/4styRX5

#AcademicSky #HigherEd #EDUSky

The AOC Munich story becoming a thing was obviously inorganic but the truth of the information environment behind it is even worse than I realized

I'm actually a bit surprised by this. My understanding was that there were privacy issues involved with declassifying these documents? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Taiwan's Martial Law-era archives fully declassified - Focus Taiwan Taiwan's top intelligence agency said Monday that it has completely declassified tens of thousands of political archives it possessed from the Martial Law period and transferred them to the National A...

Vital step in Taiwan's long journey of truth and reconciliation. Authoritarianism and historical trauma continue to shape politics, culture, identities and inter-generational relations in Taiwan very directly.
focustaiwan.tw/politics/202...

I think I can manage that

fruit and cream sandwiches are pretty common everywhere in East Asia, aren't they? not really my kind of thing but I understand why people like them, especially with how sweet milk bread can be

I actually have no idea what these are because I didn't plant them originally but they look tasty and no fruits in their genus are poisonous so I'm excited to try them when they're ripe

a picture of some fruit forming on a blackberry plant or possibly another fruit from the genus Rubus (I can't tell them apart)

everyone look at the blackberries (?) growing in my garden

What I love most about this building is that they put the building museum in it. the most building building ever built

This is just a vibe but I feel like party switching in Taiwan is a lot more common than it is in many other democracies. The 2024 KMT presidential candidate was a DPP guy originally, and Tsai Ing-wen used to be in the KMT!

Locations of new homes built in Switzerland in 2018

Country-wide effects of new housing supply: Evidence from moving chains, by Lukas Hauck and Frederic Kluser

Another new paper on housebuilding and vacancy chains, this time with data on every Swiss resident & housing unit! An interesting context given Switzerland's high immigration, very large rented sector and strong tenancy rent controls... frederickluser.github.io/files/Moving...

My brain at first was like "wow that's some crazy perspective in the video" and then I looked again and realized it's just a really big pot??? mind is struggling to comprehend what it just saw

Victor Berger, Meyer London, Santiago Iglesias, etc. shaking with rage at the implication that no revolutionary socialist has ever been elected to congress

Maybe they could try not screwing personnel out of their bonuses for one thing!