One of the great things about living out here in Taiwan has been the chance to be exposed not only to Mandarin Chinese, the official language, but also ‘Tai-yu’ or Taiwanese, the dialect spoken across the island most prominently in Southern Taiwan.
The language, derived from the Fujianese dialect of Chinese, is somewhat politicized–Mandarin Chinese (or […]

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aYXDjEpjf4

Anyone who was paying attention to the hot stove league this winter knows that the Giants, architects of possibly the worst trade of all time (Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, and Boof Bonser to the Twins in exchange for A.J. Pierzynksi!!), almost did it to themselves again by shipping superstar pitcher in the waiting Tim Lincecum […]

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This is a pretty amazing story printed last week in the New York Times about Laotians, hired by the CIA before and during the Vietnam war, who still live in hiding in the jungles of Laos. According to the story these people are still periodically hunted by the Laotian Communist government.
In a small hillside clearing […]

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Following a season during which he won the Pacific League MVP and the Sawamura Award, 21-year-old Yu Darvish was given a 128 million yen ($1,120,939 USD) pay increase, making him the youngest player to reach the 200 million yen ($1,751,467 USD) plateau. Darvish just completed his third year in NPB.

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I’m not sure if she purposfully did this for cameras at the post-awards show or what, but this skirt was pretty short to begin with.
This is Han Hyo-ju, a fairly well-regarded actress who was in a movie called Ad-Lib Night, which I haven’t seen but want to. She won an award for it at a […]

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