|
If Ma can't get the economy properly back on the rails by 2016, it'll be the DPP's to lose. People are increasingly disappointed in Ma (and by extension the KMT) either for his perceived fecklessness or for the perception that his mouth is wrapped around China's dick so tight no light or hope can escape. Of course, that also depends on whether the DPP run a relatively strong candidate like Tsai Ing-wen or a loving terrible one like Frank Hsieh turned out to be, and you could pretty much flip a coin on that at present.
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 10:28
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 21:27 |
|
|
url posted:Regardless of their respective politics, because of its geography, Taiwan is as significant to the mainland as Cuba was/is to the USA - and for exactly the same reasons. Even if you were able put aside the cross-strait politics, it's still not the same on a strategic level; Russia was sending nuclear missiles to Cuba. Though they hate that we sell advanced weaponry to a "rogue province" and oil/gas will always be tied to national security, China is not facing an existential threat like the US was back then. Apart from the crisis, Cuba was allied with a country that proclaimed "we will bury you" to the US and was nearly as hostile as Iran is to Israel today. China-US relations are downright warm by comparison. url posted:Once the DPP are actually seen as capable of maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with the PRC they'll be elected in a heartbeat. For sure. But how will they ever be seen as such? And if they are, will they still be the DPP in anything but name?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 10:35
|
|
|
USDA Choice posted:Even if you were able put aside the cross-strait politics, it's still not the same on a strategic level; Russia was sending nuclear missiles to Cuba. Though they hate that we sell advanced weaponry to a "rogue province" and oil/gas will always be tied to national security, China is not facing an existential threat like the US was back then. Apart from the crisis, Cuba was allied with a country that proclaimed "we will bury you" to the US and was nearly as hostile as Iran is to Israel today. China-US relations are downright warm by comparison. I'm not sure the PRC don't feel they have an existential crisis on their hands. I'd suggest they feel dubious of the current détente. While they are embracing capitalism and even promise democratic socialism, all the indicators still point to a fermenting discontent at home(largely youth/online) and internationally. At home they can keep pump priming (to placate the populace - at least while the West keeps devaluing) internationally though, that has an expiration date. There's better articles online about the mainland, I'll wing some your way since I'm on my phone, but, the long and the short of my thrust is the US is poking a stick into a hornets nest.(if not a full blown hornets nest - because lol, no navy - then a nest of bitey things for sure. With the handover done, I'd say the US needs to go back toward the strategy of the past few years. I'd say containment is a terrible strategy - though I don't have an alternative beyond hippy ideals. If the DPP don't pick up the next election, they might actually never get the chance again. The ways Ma is tying in the economy to China's its going to be very hard unhitch from. I haven't looked at the details for a while,but the above is the very broad strokes of how I read the situation at my last glance.))
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 12:31
|
|
|
url posted:If the DPP don't pick up the next election, they might actually never get the chance again. The ways Ma is tying in the economy to China's its going to be very hard unhitch from. Doesn't seem to stop Vietnam and the Philippines from sticking to their guns over their Spratly Islands claims... and they aren't faced with an existential crisis. There's a lot more to geopolitics than GDP or trade numbers. Those things factor in, but rely too much on them and you're back to McNamara's fascination with body count as an indicator of success.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 14:18
|
|
|
skysedge posted:There's a lot more to geopolitics than GDP or trade numbers. Those things factor in, but rely too much on them and you're back to McNamara's fascination with body count as an indicator of success. Yeah but we beat both Laos and Cambodia in the Vietnam war!  2 out of 3 baby If anyone hasn't seen Fog of War,
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 16:35
|
|
|
A decent crime thriller involving Taiwan politics -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Greed Hongers just like making movie about gangsters and transporting them into different locations around the world! And quite a few people in the mainland/Hong Kong still believe that Ah Bian got elected by faking his own assassination. God, it has been 5 years already, I saw this really lack luster movie - http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BD%88%E9%81%93_ Bloodnose posted:So that leads to another good question about Taiwan: is it corrupt? I know back in the one-party rule days, it was just as corrupt as the mainland is now (in fact it was almost exactly like the mainland is now in every conceivable way but that's another topic), but I get the sense that it's pretty clean now. Is that right? China's argument about democracy is that it doesn't guarantee an effective government or high level of transparency because Taiwan is the perfect case study  Either politicians in fist fights, or gangsters in government. Worst of all, if you lose the election, you just petition for a recount and sit in the public square for ages like a bunch of sour grapes! A bad stereotype about the KMT/Taiwan, were the associations with drug dealers and the green bamboo association 竹林邦. Since Taiwan had no extradition treaty, it was the place for Hongers to dodge the law and start a new life. Or people who can't hack the local pop industry go to Taiwan, like this guy - but his wife is so pretty  hitension posted:in 1988 Chiang Jr. passed away and faithful technocrat Lee Teng-hui took over. Lee, despite being a KMT member, Wow cool, that just made everything click, that's why things softened up in Taiwan  Just in time with the opening of mainland labour market too!quote:The easiest way for me to think about this is to think of a break up where your ex is still calling you to yell at you all the time and guilt you into post break up sex when you are deciding on a new relationship (elections) Fixed  quote:Basically nobody in Taiwan wants unification, but the people of Taiwan are not so idealistic that they are willing to literally risk a war and probable death by declaring independence. So it's not surprising the KMT won the past couple of elections as Ma was viewed as someone who could bring more stability to Taiwan. And when they see China "demonstrating" the success of Hong Kong, Taiwan just see's the communist interference as a warning to be too united  However, electing the greens means a chance for another missle crisis like 1995 I still remember a few of my Taiwan school mates taunting me about bombing Shanghai Beijing and Hong Kong (man we aint commies!). Weird times.quote:However, there are a few other kinds of issues that come up. As I mentioned a few times, the KMT has generally stronger business ties A failing economy and a Taiwan cut off from the rest of the world is always the boogeyman argument to avoid green. Nowadays Taiwan is pretty entrenched in the mainland economy and a few of the ruling class benefited immensely from Chinese labour. There are a few businessmen in the south who are green fanatics, but last election was won when droves of businessmen flew directly from different Chinese cities to Taiwan to vote. I'm surprised why elections don't allow ballots by mail  quote:Ma Ying-Jeou's approval rate is sitting at 13% for a variety of reasons, many relating to the lousy economy. Was it because of mainly having a corrupt aide spending god knows how much of the public coffers? His initial image of a clean cut marathon runner was a dashing entrance compared to other pot bellied dudes. skysedge posted:Traditional beneficiaries of the KMT welfare state: The KMT still holds a sizable electoral advantage amongst civil servants (including teachers), active duty and retired military, and employees of state run enterprises. The loyalty of said groups tended to be rewarded with comparatively generous job and retirement benefits, although the current KMT government has been in the process of reducing this for fiscal reasons. That's a really really cool informative breakdown. An aunt of mine married a traveling teacher from Taiwan and moved to TaiChung with him to become a Math Teacher. Both are heavy KMT supporters and see that Taiwan benefits from "reigning in" communist China. A lot of people play the blue card because they see it as a charade to survive in international politics and toy with the Americans/Chinese/World Community/economy. Last thing the country needs is another Missle Crisis like last election time. On the otherhand, a friend of mine married into a rich Old money Taiwanese family from the south. She was angry and disturbed when how "anti-Chinese" the family was when they were Pro Taiwan and independent. Like most younger Hongers, she knows more about the terrible show meteor garden and F4 than the period of white terror and bad things. Can someone elaborate more on the atrocities and the affect on the Taiwan psyche? Another random question, can someone tell me more about Lien Chan? Why did the KMT guys so crazy about him? caberham fucked around with this message at 17:44 on May 2, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 17:39
|
|
|
caberham posted:And quite a few people in the mainland/Hong Kong still believe that Ah Bian got elected by faking his own assassination. Oh, and Taiwanese politics is still pretty corrupt. Not mainland-corrupt, but candidates for office will regularly throw red envelopes around to people to quote:Was it because of mainly having a corrupt aide spending god knows how much of the public coffers? His initial image of a clean cut marathon runner was a dashing entrance compared to other pot bellied dudes. quote:Another random question, can someone tell me more about Lien Chan? Why did the KMT guys so crazy about him?
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 18:11
|
|
|
caberham posted:A failing economy and a Taiwan cut off from the rest of the world is always the boogeyman argument to avoid green. Nowadays Taiwan is pretty entrenched in the mainland economy and a few of the ruling class benefited immensely from Chinese labour. There are a few businessmen in the south who are green fanatics, but last election was won when droves of businessmen flew directly from different Chinese cities to Taiwan to vote. I'm surprised why elections don't allow ballots by mail Well, allowing absentee voting from China would be more control to Beijing than even the KMT mainstream could stomach. The idea of allowing absentee ballots from China was proposed by the KMT cabinet about a month ago in the context of the referendum of Nuclear plant 4 (another can of worms), but was later amended after mass public opposition. Remember that a sizable chunk of KMT support comes from voters seeking "stability". Basically Ma's "no unification, no independence, no war". How sincere that policy is is debatable, but apparently it is useful from an electoral standpoint. caberham posted:Was it because of mainly having a corrupt aide spending god knows how much of the public coffers? His initial image of a clean cut marathon runner was a dashing entrance compared to other pot bellied dudes. Well... multiple corrupt aides actually. It doesn't help that most KMT-ers involved in these scandals tend to end up being acquitted, or getting away with what basically amounts to slaps on the wrist. Also, the KMT's close association with big business and trickle down economics doesn't really help its image in the current economy with the wealth gap widening and stagnant wages. If you're interested in a more academic analysis of Taiwan politics, this is a pretty good blog to check out: Frozen Garlic
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 18:21
|
|
|
caberham posted:last election was won when droves of businessmen flew directly from different Chinese cities to Taiwan to vote. I'm surprised why elections don't allow ballots by mail Voting rates among Taiwanese who reside in mainland China were actually pretty low. I have an article that backs this up lying around somewhere. Obviously businesspeople still have political influence anywhere they are. The lack of an absentee voting system is definitely a problem... Korea has absentee voting. e: skysedge posted while I was posting and explained why there is no absentee voting for Taiwanese in China, but how about overseas Taiwanese in general? skysedge posted:A good post, and one that is more fine tuned than mine, especially bringing up some interesting facts like how teachers tend to lean Blue.
|
|
#
?
May 2, 2013 18:29
|
|
|
hitension posted:e: skysedge posted while I was posting and explained why there is no absentee voting for Taiwanese in China, but how about overseas Taiwanese in general? No. Would be interesting to see the breakdown though. Anecdotally, partisan opinions seem to be enhanced by immigrating abroad - at least for the older generation who left during Martial Law. I recall during the last presidential election that there was some debate about which party would benefit more from domestic absentee voting. Two somewhat large groups of people that were mentioned include active duty military (career military vote heavily KMT, draftees more or less representative of the mainstream breakdown), and people from southern Taiwan working in the north (tend to prefer DPP). skysedge fucked around with this message at 01:41 on May 3, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 01:34
|
|
|
TetsuoTW posted:Oh, and Taiwanese politics is still pretty corrupt. Not mainland-corrupt, but candidates for office will regularly throw red envelopes around to people to So that's why on my very first night ever in Taiwan, when I was at a friend's wedding party down south in an area just outside of Tainan, that I met both the area's mayor AND governor. As the only white dude in the party of several hundred, I got to shake both their hands without knowing who they were until later. I was told that they just go to everyone's major parties. If they see the tents pop up on the street (like this one was), they often turn up.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 02:35
|
|
|
skysedge posted:Doesn't seem to stop Vietnam and the Philippines from sticking to their guns over their Spratly Islands claims... and they aren't faced with an existential crisis. I'd guess this actually boils down to China's role in the region and whether its acceptable in a broader sense. For that I'd defer to Martin Jaques - he seems to take a fairly sympathetic but longer term view of the region.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 02:49
|
|
|
url posted:I was actually very hesitant to focus on the trade part, but, I was trying to get away from the phone and concentrate on my evening beer. I'm not sure I was saying that either Vietnam/Phillippines was having an existential crisis - just that China might be. I guess I should clarify my previous point. I meant that Vietnam and the Philippines were sticking to their guns on something that China declared a "core interest", on the same level as Taiwan, Tibet (and now Senkaku/Diaoyutai). China's existential crises tend to occur wherever Beijing finds it convenient to have them.
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 03:17
|
|
|
skysedge posted:I guess I should clarify my previous point. I meant that Vietnam and the Philippines were sticking to their guns on something that China declared a "core interest", on the same level as Taiwan, Tibet (and now Senkaku/Diaoyutai). China's existential crises tend to occur wherever Beijing finds it convenient to have them. Isn't it mostly China trying to pass off internal strife elsewhere? My understanding is that in many ways it's beneficial for China to have Taiwan be independent because whenever people start to realize things are pretty hosed up at home they can just rattle their sabers and blame Taiwan, Japan, whatever. The troubling part being that, in doing this, China is slowly backing itself into a corner. Where if things get bad enough at home (say a certain massive housing bubble were to burst in the next 10 or so years...) China would be forced to actually act on Taiwan and annex it, possibility of war be damned. Though, my feeling is that the response from the rest of the world wouldn't amount too much as no one wants to start WWIII. Am I way off on this?
|
|
#
?
May 3, 2013 04:06
|
|
|
^^^ CKC's ghost would see it as getting a foothold back on the mainland with international support. I dunno, would the US actually honor its treaties with ROC if that happens? Sorry to change subjects, but I was in Kaohsiung for the night and all of the night markets were a terrible bust. Liuhe Night Market was only about a block long, and Nanhua Night Market had turned its signs off and all the shops but one were shuttered by 11PM. If this was a weeknight, I'd have understood, but did something happen to make Saturday nights in Kaohsiung boring? We were going to go to another one a few subway stations away from Formosa Blvd Station, but an announcement came on saying the last train would be through at 12:17 and then everything would shut down. Kind of disappointed.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2013 03:20
|
|
|
Backweb posted:^^^ CKC's ghost would see it as getting a foothold back on the mainland with international support. I dunno, would the US actually honor its treaties with ROC if that happens? There is no treaty. Just the Taiwan Relations Act, which is nebulous enough to be interpreted either way.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2013 18:12
|
|
|
skysedge posted:There is no treaty. Just the Taiwan Relations Act, which is nebulous enough to be interpreted either way.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2013 18:21
|
|
|
That's intentional. It's called "strategic ambiguity". Since the PRC doesn't know whether or not the USA would actually step in on Taiwan's behalf in the event of a war, it can't actually engage Taiwan in a war, even though the PRC would obviously win if it was one on one. I think the other poster is a little bit off base -- when things go wrong at home, Beijing likes to tell the Chinese people to blame Japan or the States, not Taiwan. Japan is a rival/enemy, Taiwan (to people in Beijing) is like a "disobedient child" (I have heard this exact phrasing from many people, which is a little hilarious considering how much more developed Taiwan is...). Also, Japan is obviously an independent country whereas people in China don't really understand how Taiwan is basically an independent country. They are raised with propaganda that says Taiwanese people really want to return to their "motherland" and so on. So to your average Chinese person, blaming Taiwan would make about as much sense as blaming Hainan. There is no way Beijing can see Taiwanese independence as a good thing, because: 1- Legitimacy. The PRC wants to be the sole regime of all China. 2- Slippery slope argument: "What if the Tibetans declare independence next?!" Nevermind that Tibet doesn't have anywhere near the level of independent infrastructure/institutions/what have you and the two situations are totally not comparable... 3- Losing "Face". I never understood this last argument because if you're a bigwig in Beijing shouldn't you feel pretty ashamed already? Sure, Taiwan might not be declaring de jure independence, but in everything but name they are an independent country. Isn't it more shameful to keep up a charade? Honestly it's really hard for me to see a good endgame for Taiwan-USA-China except maybe if China undergoes a democratic transition? Of course, I guess a democratic China wouldn't push Taiwan so hard anyway, so it'd be a moot point. The question "Would the USA actually defend Taiwan if something happens?" (sometimes cynically approached as "Is Taiwan really worth it?") is a really common one in international affairs right now. I would be inclined to say yes, since the other alternative, appeasement, is extremely unpopular ever since well... WWII, but I've seen some depressingly good (hawkish/realistic) arguments as to why Taiwan isn't worth the bother for the USA. Both Taiwan and the Korean peninsula are 2 issues that I can't believe haven't been resolved yet, when compared with the rest of the Cold War. hitension fucked around with this message at 18:41 on May 5, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 5, 2013 18:39
|
|
|
Taiwan still has conscription and mandatory service for all males, right? Is that changing any time soon? What do people think about it?
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 02:42
|
|
|
Bloodnose posted:Taiwan still has conscription and mandatory service for all males, right? Is that changing any time soon? What do people think about it? It's not super unusual. A lot of countries do it. From the guys I've talked to, it's seen as a big boring waste of time, but is also something of a right of passage. However, I don't think anyone else who turns 18 at this point has to do it, and that has been the case for I want to say a year already. So, if you're already 18, chances are you have to do it, but the next crop of graduating boys don't have to anymore.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 03:06
|
|
|
Bloodnose posted:Taiwan still has conscription and mandatory service for all males, right? Is that changing any time soon? What do people think about it? It's actually already changed. They've set the date at 2015 for those born 1994 or after as the year for abolishing 1-year service, though everyone will have still have to go through a 4 month National Guard-type bootcamp to maintain readiness. edit- As far as what people think, like Atlas Hugged said it's a big boring waste of time. I also think there's quiet acknowledgement that at this point it's pretty useless since as we've been discussing above, the only real threat is China and numbers aren't gonna matter against them if it came down to combat. double edit because Atlas Hugged had to go and change his username on us, I'm still not used to it USDA Choice fucked around with this message at 03:15 on May 6, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 03:10
|
|
|
One of the more convincing arguments I've heard for why China leaves Hong Kong largely alone in terms of civil liberties and allowing protesters and Falun Gong to be obnoxious here is that they're making it a model for Taiwan. The idea is that the Communists say "Oh look, we could've taken everything away from Hong Kong, but we didn't. They're all free and stuff! Taiwan, you could have this too, and then we'd be one big happy Zhongguo Minzu!" That's looking less convincing to me because of some of the talk from the top of the Communists about Hong Kong's 2017 Chief Executive election, but what do Taiwanese people (who are informed about this sort of thing) think of Hong Kong and the One Country, Two Systems model?
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 04:16
|
|
|
From my friends' point of view, military service pretty much just "a thing" and does at least provide some random buddy networking through the experience. There's also ways to do alternative military service, one of which is basically interning at a company for a while which can lead to a position anyway.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 04:18
|
|
|
My Chinese tutor is graduating this year and he's in the running for a position to teach Chinese in Panama for his military service. I told my bartender this and he got super, super angry. Edit: I like my new username very much thank you. 
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 04:42
|
|
|
duckfarts posted:From my friends' point of view, military service pretty much just "a thing" and does at least provide some random buddy networking through the experience. There's also ways to do alternative military service, one of which is basically interning at a company for a while which can lead to a position anyway. It depends on what you make of it really. Some kids go right in at age 18. Suddenly they're away from home for the first time, with people yelling at them and demanding that they show some level of personal responsibility. Not everyone responds well to this, especially since its not voluntary (eg., your drill sergeant can't hold the "You volunteered for this yourself" over your head). I was lucky enough (or unfortunate enough, depending on your point of view) to go in after grad school, though still enlisted. With the regular level of efficiency in the personel department for conscripts, I ended up working a grunt level job at a Hawk missile battery in Hualien. Finished my stint last April. Its not the most pleasant thing in the world to be doing, but I wouldn't characterize it as horrible. Again, it depends on your attitude. If you spend your time dodging all responsibility, trying to get away with doing as little as possible, you'll end up having wasted one year with the other guys in your unit hating your guts as a bonus. On the other hand, if you accept it, try to get things done under non-ideal conditions (and some really dumb policies), and try to get along with a bunch of people from disparate backgrounds, you can learn a lot. You don't really stop to think about what it takes to keep one of the densest integrated air defense systems in the world running continuously till you've actually done it (including running triage on the generators all night because the guy who was supposed to handle fuel resupply decided to go on leave instead... long story), handling emergency repairs while on high alert, mobile redeployment exercises, base defense, hacking out trails through the jungle with a machete, endless hours of sentry duty, painting, maintenance, maintenance, maintenance,... Suffice it to say, I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm done.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 06:48
|
|
|
I'm curious about your background. You've posted a couple of times about reclaiming citizenship and from the level of your writing, I'm kind of assuming you're a native English speaker.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 07:28
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:I'm curious about your background. You've posted a couple of times about reclaiming citizenship and from the level of your writing, I'm kind of assuming you're a native English speaker. Yes, I was born in and lived in the US till middle school, then my family moved to Taiwan where I attended normal public schools, since Taipei American School is for families with way more income than mine. Went back to live with relatives in the US during high school, and ended up finishing college and grad school. This actually isn't all that uncommon these days, although I definitely didn't fit the average profile for the sort of person who ended up being deployed to my unit. But if you do what you're supposed to do, and avoid being a dick, you'll generally be able to get along with anyone anywhere.
|
|
#
?
May 6, 2013 07:42
|
|
|
 Poker night tomorrow8:00pm to around 11:30 Zhongshan N Rd. Section 2, Alley 115 No. 15 中山北路二段115巷15號 A place called 川娃子, come and get your beer on. And cards. Only 100-200 to play! You won't lose (or win) a fortune.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 07:51
|
|
|
I'm hoping to go see the nerdiest movie imaginable tomorrow night, but in the (likely) event of there not being any tickets left, I'll be there, ready to lose all moneys.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 08:11
|
|
|
TetsuoTW posted:I'm hoping to go see the nerdiest movie imaginable tomorrow night, but in the (likely) event of there not being any tickets left, I'll be there, ready to lose all moneys. Where is it showing, i like the sound of that. I have a really lovely downloaded copy, and I've been meaning to look into zizek.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 12:43
|
|
|
url posted:Where is it showing, i like the sound of that.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 13:48
|
|
|
USDA Choice posted:
No can come this week. New wednesday night class from 8:00-9:30. Sadness.
|
|
#
?
May 7, 2013 18:26
|
|
|
There will probably be beer consumption this Saturday in Tucheng at the microbrewery there.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 01:47
|
|
|
TetsuoTW posted:This is the sequel apparently. It's at the Weixiu in that new mall in Banqiao, 8pm start. There's also showings at 2:50 on Friday and 2pm on Monday, same place. cool. I'm kinda hoping you can't get tickets. S'been a while since we caught up. Spanish Matlock posted:No can come this week. New wednesday night class from 8:00-9:30. Sadness. Sucks. Atlas Hugged posted:There will probably be beer consumption this Saturday in Tucheng at the microbrewery there. I may be in Tucheng either Saturday evening or Sunday. I'll shout you to confirm 
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 03:08
|
|
|
url posted:I may be in Tucheng either Saturday evening or Sunday. I've said this before, but since you seem able to drive your scooter to Tucheng and I can drive my scooter to Tucheng that means there's a way to drive from my place to your place. We should probably take more advantage of this.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 09:54
|
|
|
Atlas Hugged posted:I've said this before, but since you seem able to drive your scooter to Tucheng and I can drive my scooter to Tucheng that means there's a way to drive from my place to your place. We should probably take more advantage of this. Honestly we should - i forget when you said it though (I will blame whatever beer was happening). I've been keeping a relatively low profile past few months while suffering the 18% pain imposed. I'm hoping I'll be more sociable in the second half of the year.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 10:59
|
|
|
Had a hell of a drive Yesterday. We were in Hualien preparing to drive back to Taoyuan via Taroko or north on Rt 9 only to find out that all roads were closed due to landslides and rain. Returning to Taitung and trekking across the mountains in the fog and rain at midnight to Kaohsiung wasn't the most pleasant of drives. The tour busses barreling down the road at me kept me alert enough. Edit: syntax Backweb fucked around with this message at 19:20 on May 8, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 14:17
|
|
|
Driving on those mountain highways is always pretty crazy
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2013 16:50
|
|
|
I can't find any English website more recent than 2009 with any insights on this. I'm gonna buy a new laptop at Guanghua this weekend, how much should I expect to pay for one with a CD writer and preferably a nice enough processor to play a few games, namely Paradox games and maybe Civ4? Doesn't really need a good GPU, just a fast processorand hopefully at least 4GB RAM. Or, even better, does anyone know about an English-language website with prices? quadrophrenic fucked around with this message at 05:22 on May 10, 2013 |
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 04:57
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 3, 2024 21:27 |
|
|
quadrophrenic posted:I can't find any English website more recent than 2009 with any insights on this. I'm gonna buy a new laptop at Guanghua this weekend, how much should I expect to pay for one with a CD writer and preferably a nice enough processor to play a few games, namely Paradox games and maybe Civ4? Doesn't really need a good GPU, just a fast processorand hopefully at least 4GB RAM. If your only criteria are a CD Writer and playing Civ 4, no wonder you're getting results from 2009. Any flavor of i3/i5 or even a Core 2 Duo or the like, 4GB RAM, either integrated graphics or literally any recentish graphics card should do. Most laptops, at least here in the US, come with CD/DVD-RW by default. As far as Guanghua-specific shopping advice, I can't really help there. Poking around on Newegg you're looking at around $250 for a refurb at the low end up to about $1000 for the 2.5GHz i5s.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2013 05:38
|
|
