http://poagao.org Absolutely Not Your Monkey Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:03:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Last night after work I was in a Gongguan copy shop printing out a book on photography that I'd downloaded when a young white guy walked in to ask the clerk about some name cards. He noted the cover of the book I was printing and asked, "You a photographer?" "Just ... http://poagao.org/2008/at-night-in-gongguan/ You've probably heard about the Uncanny Valley phenomenon, which describes how people are comfortable with obvious robots and fine with obvious people, but are seriously creeped out by robots who are almost indistinguishable from humans. As I was watching some foreigners interacting with Taiwanese people the other day, I began ... http://poagao.org/2008/the-uncanny-chinese-valley/ Google Maps has been steadily updating its street view. I found one of the places where I grew up on it yesterday: View Larger Map This is our house in Maitland, Florida, where I lived from 1981 more or less up until I came to Taiwan. I went to Maitland Junior High ... http://poagao.org/2008/gillis-court/ I really didn't feel like venturing out into the deluge for the Hoping for Hoping music festival, but we'd been invited, and it had been pleasant in past years. I was sure it wasn't going to do my persistant cough any good, though. Sandman picked me up in front of ... http://poagao.org/2008/hippiefest-08/ My friend Chumble got some free National Symphonic Orchestra tickets, so I went over to CKS Hall last night to attend the first classical music performance I've been to in years. When I asked him what was on the program, Chumble said, "Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms," which sounded nice. We ... http://poagao.org/2008/a-night-at-the-nso/ A while ago, Sandman told me of a fascinating large-scale photograph of Bitan from years ago on display at the Cardinal Tien Hospital in Xindian. "You should see it, " he told me, "and take another one today from the same place." When I did get around to visiting the hospital, ... http://poagao.org/2008/exploring-bitans-past/ It's amazing how fast Prince Roy's tour went, but we had a lot of good times over the past couple of years. Last night I met up with my former classmate as well as Mark and Wayne at the Red House bar on Shida Road for a final night of ... http://poagao.org/2008/1138/ I went to the bank today to see if I could adjust my interest rate on my housing loan, which has gotten a bit unruly lately. I had discussed my case with the woman at the bank, a Ms. Chen, many times on the phone, and she said I should ... http://poagao.org/2008/bank-sinopac/ AmCham's TOPICS magazine has published an article by Steven Crook about English-language bloggers in Taiwan, including interviews with Michael Turton, Greg Talovich, Michael Turton, me, Jason Cox, Scott Sommers, Joanna Rees and Michael Turton. It's an interesting article in that it seems bloggers sound different when they're speaking to a ... http://poagao.org/2008/topics-article-speed-racer/ Prince Roy and I set out for Taichung in the bright, cool morning on Saturday. Driving a car up the on-ramp of a highway on such a morning is inordinately refreshing. PR is a good driver, but the further south we got, the more erratic and senseless the drivers seemed ... http://poagao.org/2008/taichung-trip/