Gary > Recent Status Updates

Feast and famine: I like reading about Ali, the protagonist, but the 40 to 50 page asides about the minutiae of Iranian religion is not very interesting to me.

"Dogs in China ate better than doctors in North Korea."

True "bureaucrat-ese" RE: US-PRC-Taiwan relations: "The spokesperson answered, 'Yes, we have to preserve ambiguity in the interest of clarity.'"

"Pay is generally the lowest, and discipline toughest, at factories owned and managed by Taiwanese or mainland Chinese companies. The gigantic Foxconn (run by its founder, Terry Gou of Taiwan) is known for a militaristic organization and approach."

#USMC "'Chatterbox, this is Big John Bravo. We got you Loco Cocoa. How you? Over.' Small smiled at hearing Loco Cocoa for loud and clear. That was new to him. Lemon and Coke last week."

#USMC "Then the explosions shifted to another part of the hill. Hawke calmly took out his tin-can cup and a small chunk of C-4 and started making coffee. He looked up at Mellas, who was watching him intently. 'It's the ever-flowing source of all that's good and the cure of all ills,' Hawke said."

I find it interesting to read about the role that large companies with significant presence in and around Kaohsiung had in Taiwan's economic development, companies like China Steel, China Petroleum, and Formosa Plastics. The establishment of the Kaohsiung port export processing zone, and later, the Nanzih export processing zone to the north were also key.

#USMC "He was standing on top of two seabags, his feet spread apart, holding the sword in front of him. He took a quick slash at the air. 'I'm going to get some now,' he said through clenched teeth."

#USMC "What you need in war is warriors, fighting, not little boys dressed up in soldier suits, administrating."