Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Random stuff

    Just some random pictures today as I’m still trying to get stuff organized and upload all these weird little treats that I’ve discovered throughout Taiwan before the New Year hits. Let’s start off with a dog we discovered in Kaohsiung’s Liuhe Nightmarket. Now, some people might look at this picture and cry “Animal abuse.” Actually,…

  • Nightmarket Treasures – Internet Explorer

    These pictures are kind of old, but I recently dug them out and had to share them. I like nightmarkets quite a bit. It’s always fun to go to different nightmarkets and see the different local specialties and find little treasures being sold. Once, last year, I ran across this gem: Yes, that is an…

  • A different type of drink

    In my time in Taiwan, I’ve had the opportunity to try lots of different foods and beverages. My philosophy has always been “try everything twice.” Simply, I think that if you try something once, whether you like it or not, there might be extenuating circumstances. Maybe you are having an exceptionally good/bad day, maybe the…

  • Incoming pictures

    I’ve finally had some time to go through a lot of old pictures and pick out all of the gems that I’ve been saving for this blog. I’ll try to get through them in the next week or so. For now, here is a CD cover that Mrs. Expat’s father had lying around the house.…

  • Rescued another kitten

    There really is no end to stray cats and dogs in Taiwan. Most I see are perfectly healthy, however, and I am happy to let them live their lives. They seem to be doing OK without me. However, just these past few days, Mrs. Expat and I found out that there were several kittens stranded…

  • Thanksgiving

    Thanksgiving came and went last week with nary a care in Taiwan. After all, most places have had their Christmas decorations up for 3 weeks already. While not by any means a Christian nation, Christmas does, at least, allow children to be entertained and gives everyone an excuse to go shopping. Normally, Mrs. Expat and…

  • World War II History – Gouba Elementary School

    Gouba Elementary School is a small, unassuming institution located in Douliu, Yunlin County. Unknown to many locals, it was the site of one of many Japanese Prisoner of War camps during World War II. The camp was known as Toroku and was a school building at the time. Many of the prisoners were unfit for…

  • Random kindness

    I’ve always been amazed by the random kindness of Taiwanese people. This is something that I did not often come across elsewhere… or, at least, I do not have distinct memories of it (this may be due to not noticing such things in my youth). The other day I was out hiking in the mountains,…

  • Hanyu Pinyin spotted in the wild!

    I happened across a website called Model Mayhem. It didn’t really appear that interesting to me, but just for fun I decided to find out if there were any models listed from Taiwan. To my surprise, the search form has correct Hanyu pinyin with tone marks! It’s great to see someone using correct Hanyu pinyin…

  • Nightmark Engrish

    Snapped this picture of a shirt at a nightmarket. This is a very common form of Engrish – it’s basically just letters mashed on a keyboard to create the illusion of language. I see Taiwanese friends and students wearing these quite regularly.

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