Xander ✺
@spectralcodex.com
Front-end developer (React/TypeScript/Astro), biogeography grad, history and map enthusiast, leftoid/anti-fascist, Wikipedia supporter. Non-American resident of Taichung, Taiwan 🐙
🕸 https://spectralcodex.com
🕸 https://spectralcodex.com
Received the presidential alert a good 15 seconds before the waves hit here in Taichung. Maybe the biggest I've experienced since the 403 quake in 2024!
December 27, 2025 at 3:19 PM
Received the presidential alert a good 15 seconds before the waves hit here in Taichung. Maybe the biggest I've experienced since the 403 quake in 2024!
Reposted by Xander ✺
Din Tai Fung in Times Square is closed today, which seems like a MBA case study in an international company lacking local cultural competence
December 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Din Tai Fung in Times Square is closed today, which seems like a MBA case study in an international company lacking local cultural competence
Reposted by Xander ✺
On Christmas Eve 1968, in Lunar orbit, the Apollo 8 crew took this photo: “Earthrise."
I'll never forget how inspiring the Apollo missions were to my brother and me as kids. They showed us what our country and humanity can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal.
I'll never forget how inspiring the Apollo missions were to my brother and me as kids. They showed us what our country and humanity can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal.
December 24, 2025 at 10:22 PM
On Christmas Eve 1968, in Lunar orbit, the Apollo 8 crew took this photo: “Earthrise."
I'll never forget how inspiring the Apollo missions were to my brother and me as kids. They showed us what our country and humanity can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal.
I'll never forget how inspiring the Apollo missions were to my brother and me as kids. They showed us what our country and humanity can accomplish when we work together toward a common goal.
YouBike users rotate seats 180 degrees to communicate to other users that a bike is dysfunctional. It's essentially a workaround for the docks not having a "fix me" button. www.mirrormedia.mg/story/202512...
YouBike座墊為何被180度反轉？官方揭「通關密語」 一堆人竟騎走了 - 鏡週刊 Mirror Media
由於各縣市陸續建置YouBike租賃站，開始有愈來愈多人騎乘代步，但你可能不一定知道，為什麼有些單車的座墊是180度反轉？YouBike小編近日在社群發文解答，原來這代表車輛可能有問題待維修。貼文引發熱議，不少網友表示，「我都轉回來騎走欸」、「借完發現『落鏈』結果一路嚕回家」；也有網友氣著說，「有人會故意這樣，為了讓自...
www.mirrormedia.mg
December 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
YouBike users rotate seats 180 degrees to communicate to other users that a bike is dysfunctional. It's essentially a workaround for the docks not having a "fix me" button. www.mirrormedia.mg/story/202512...
Reposted by Xander ✺
Yesterday, I took my parents on another of my favourite Taipei day trips (well, near enough, we did it in reverse but all the ingredients were the same).
We started off by taking a train to Shuangxi where we mooched around the old houses, got coffee, green bean cakes and triple peanut shaved ice.
We started off by taking a train to Shuangxi where we mooched around the old houses, got coffee, green bean cakes and triple peanut shaved ice.
December 25, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Yesterday, I took my parents on another of my favourite Taipei day trips (well, near enough, we did it in reverse but all the ingredients were the same).
We started off by taking a train to Shuangxi where we mooched around the old houses, got coffee, green bean cakes and triple peanut shaved ice.
We started off by taking a train to Shuangxi where we mooched around the old houses, got coffee, green bean cakes and triple peanut shaved ice.
Delulu for Labubu: are all these blind box toy shops popping up in my neighborhood just gentrified claw machine parlors and/or money laundering operations?
December 23, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Delulu for Labubu: are all these blind box toy shops popping up in my neighborhood just gentrified claw machine parlors and/or money laundering operations?
Reposted by Xander ✺
One of the cooler churches I’ve checked out in Taiwan. A church shaped like a ship!
Jhangyuan Presbyterian Church in Changbin Township, Taitung
Jhangyuan Presbyterian Church in Changbin Township, Taitung
December 23, 2025 at 1:51 PM
One of the cooler churches I’ve checked out in Taiwan. A church shaped like a ship!
Jhangyuan Presbyterian Church in Changbin Township, Taitung
Jhangyuan Presbyterian Church in Changbin Township, Taitung
Reposted by Xander ✺
Reposted by Xander ✺
This is such a crux of the problem. The AI Denialist echo chamber has built a purity complex around not using the technology
and so is blindsided by the fact that this is one of the fastest growing consumer products in history
I mean the growth of this stuff is truly wild
and so is blindsided by the fact that this is one of the fastest growing consumer products in history
I mean the growth of this stuff is truly wild
Everybody’s talking about this shit in the abstract like some kind of lab experiment! It’s people using an app on their phones. You won’t win them over with ruminations on the nature of accuracy. How are you going to give them better explanations of medical diagnoses from their doctor?
December 19, 2025 at 1:59 AM
This is such a crux of the problem. The AI Denialist echo chamber has built a purity complex around not using the technology
and so is blindsided by the fact that this is one of the fastest growing consumer products in history
I mean the growth of this stuff is truly wild
and so is blindsided by the fact that this is one of the fastest growing consumer products in history
I mean the growth of this stuff is truly wild
Reposted by Xander ✺
The Sage of Nangang speaks! Is Taiwan now having a constitutional crisis?
This: 'On a side note, one of the strangest things about this whole episode is how blasé society seems to be about it.'
frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
This: 'On a side note, one of the strangest things about this whole episode is how blasé society seems to be about it.'
frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
Constitutional crisis
For all the hand-wringing about the controversial recall efforts in early 2025, there was never any question about their legality. The procedures for our recalls were clearly laid out in the electi…
frozengarlic.wordpress.com
December 17, 2025 at 11:28 PM
The Sage of Nangang speaks! Is Taiwan now having a constitutional crisis?
This: 'On a side note, one of the strangest things about this whole episode is how blasé society seems to be about it.'
frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
This: 'On a side note, one of the strangest things about this whole episode is how blasé society seems to be about it.'
frozengarlic.wordpress.com/2025/12/17/c...
Reposted by Xander ✺
So the plan is Don Jr. and Eric Trump corner the market to become the biggest drug cartel in the Western hemisphere.
CIA controls production, the US military kills the competition with Hellfire missiles, CBP controls drug routes into and out of the US, and ICE raids the local distributors?
CIA controls production, the US military kills the competition with Hellfire missiles, CBP controls drug routes into and out of the US, and ICE raids the local distributors?
December 18, 2025 at 2:18 AM
So the plan is Don Jr. and Eric Trump corner the market to become the biggest drug cartel in the Western hemisphere.
CIA controls production, the US military kills the competition with Hellfire missiles, CBP controls drug routes into and out of the US, and ICE raids the local distributors?
CIA controls production, the US military kills the competition with Hellfire missiles, CBP controls drug routes into and out of the US, and ICE raids the local distributors?
Reposted by Xander ✺
This year I make a conscious decision to write more. Writing is how I deal with the world around me. Much of what I wrote is not for sharing, some is though and does not fit my blog. So I created a new place for it. dark.ronacher.eu/2025/12/13/w...
War
I’m grappling with the deterioration of international relations and lust for war.
dark.ronacher.eu
December 14, 2025 at 2:42 PM
This year I make a conscious decision to write more. Writing is how I deal with the world around me. Much of what I wrote is not for sharing, some is though and does not fit my blog. So I created a new place for it. dark.ronacher.eu/2025/12/13/w...
Reposted by Xander ✺
Taiwan’s population fell by nearly 97,000 YoY as of the end of November. November saw just 7,946 births—another record low. With only 98,785 births in the first 11 months, Taiwan will fall far short of the 134,856 births recorded in 2024 (a Dragon Year).
www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/20...
www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/20...
11月新生兒7946人再創新低 老年人口占19.99%逼近超高齡社會 | 政治 | 中央社 CNA
內政部統計，截至今年11月底台灣人口數為2330萬6085人，已連續23個月負成長；此外，11月出生數7946人，是繼今年4月、5月出生數接連創下史上新低後，再度探底。另外，65歲以上人口數已突破465萬人，占總人口比率19.99%，逼近超高齡社會所訂老年人口數20%大關。
www.cna.com.tw
December 10, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Taiwan’s population fell by nearly 97,000 YoY as of the end of November. November saw just 7,946 births—another record low. With only 98,785 births in the first 11 months, Taiwan will fall far short of the 134,856 births recorded in 2024 (a Dragon Year).
www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/20...
www.cna.com.tw/news/aipl/20...
Reposted by Xander ✺
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
December 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Reposted by Xander ✺
Here is the latest tsunami information for the M7.6 earthquake that just struck offshore northern Japan. The warnings are for waves up to 3 m, but the highest waves measured so far are <0.5 m. It is still possible for larger waves to arrive.
1/2
www.jma.go.jp/bosai/map.ht...
⚒️ 🧪
1/2
www.jma.go.jp/bosai/map.ht...
⚒️ 🧪
December 8, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Here is the latest tsunami information for the M7.6 earthquake that just struck offshore northern Japan. The warnings are for waves up to 3 m, but the highest waves measured so far are <0.5 m. It is still possible for larger waves to arrive.
1/2
www.jma.go.jp/bosai/map.ht...
⚒️ 🧪
1/2
www.jma.go.jp/bosai/map.ht...
⚒️ 🧪
Reposted by Xander ✺
Yep. Many of these people would be happy to naturalize. But apparently Taiwan, with a TFR of .9, whose population is falling off a demographic cliff, would rather commit suicide than establish a path to dual citizenship for outsiders.
Migrant workers marched to the Legislative Yuan in Taipei this afternoon, calling for an end to the 12-year time limit to how long they can live in Taiwan. They dressed up as expired meat and bombs with 12-year fuses, arguing that the time limit treats their bodies and labor as disposable.
December 7, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Yep. Many of these people would be happy to naturalize. But apparently Taiwan, with a TFR of .9, whose population is falling off a demographic cliff, would rather commit suicide than establish a path to dual citizenship for outsiders.
Reposted by Xander ✺
I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Pluralistic: The Reverse-Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI (05 Dec 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
December 7, 2025 at 10:21 PM
I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
Reposted by Xander ✺
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
December 7, 2025 at 5:17 PM
TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque:
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
"This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".
Asking Claude for niche answers and it spits my own words back at me 😵💫
November 30, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Asking Claude for niche answers and it spits my own words back at me 😵💫
Searching for ruins in Taiwan on Google Maps, found this instead: very affectionate black doggo! 🐕
November 28, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Searching for ruins in Taiwan on Google Maps, found this instead: very affectionate black doggo! 🐕
Reposted by Xander ✺
Taiwan’s 2025 Civil Defense Handbook marks a shift toward whole-of-society resilience and defending against cognitive warfare.
From “any surrender message is fake” to gaps in shelters & self-reliance, I break it down in my latest piece for the Prospect Foundation.
www.pf.org.tw/en/pfen/33-1...
From “any surrender message is fake” to gaps in shelters & self-reliance, I break it down in my latest piece for the Prospect Foundation.
www.pf.org.tw/en/pfen/33-1...
Taiwan’s 2025 Civil Defense Handbook and the Challenges of Whole-of-Society Resilience
Prospects & Perspectives
www.pf.org.tw
November 28, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Taiwan’s 2025 Civil Defense Handbook marks a shift toward whole-of-society resilience and defending against cognitive warfare.
From “any surrender message is fake” to gaps in shelters & self-reliance, I break it down in my latest piece for the Prospect Foundation.
www.pf.org.tw/en/pfen/33-1...
From “any surrender message is fake” to gaps in shelters & self-reliance, I break it down in my latest piece for the Prospect Foundation.
www.pf.org.tw/en/pfen/33-1...
Documenting another abandoned place around Taipei Basin and suddenly realized it's director Tsai Ming-liang's home! Read the full article for laksa hot takes (in Chinese): artouch.com/art-views/co...
金剛經帶在身上，不然鬼魂不肯跟我們走——與蔡明亮共遊的午茶時光＆秘境之旅 | 典藏ARTouch.com
「與蔡明亮共遊 午茶時光＆秘境之旅」，《家在蘭若寺》電影場景導覽活動，將以散步方式前往。總是讓電影永遠多一種可能導演蔡明亮，在午茶時光中分享了什麼對於食物有什麼關鍵的想法？新作《你的臉》在華山光點電影館上映，希望所有觀者，不要錯過這份溫暖的邀請。
artouch.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Documenting another abandoned place around Taipei Basin and suddenly realized it's director Tsai Ming-liang's home! Read the full article for laksa hot takes (in Chinese): artouch.com/art-views/co...
Reposted by Xander ✺
At the risk of starting the flame war to end all flame wars...
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
November 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
At the risk of starting the flame war to end all flame wars...
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Reposted by Xander ✺
With 42M people, #Jakarta is the world's largest city, according to new UN figures. Former #1, #Tokyo, is 3rd and estimated to decline in population still further in the future. #GlobalCities #WorldCities
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Jakarta overtakes Tokyo as world’s most populous city, according to UN
The rankings were changed after the UN used new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 3:23 AM
With 42M people, #Jakarta is the world's largest city, according to new UN figures. Former #1, #Tokyo, is 3rd and estimated to decline in population still further in the future. #GlobalCities #WorldCities
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Spectral Codex just surpassed 5,000 mapped locations, most of them here in #Taiwan. Historical sites, abandoned places, photo hotspots, and more. Hundreds already include photos and field notes; many others are still simple stubs, awaiting further documentation.
👁️ spectralcodex.com
👁️ spectralcodex.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Spectral Codex just surpassed 5,000 mapped locations, most of them here in #Taiwan. Historical sites, abandoned places, photo hotspots, and more. Hundreds already include photos and field notes; many others are still simple stubs, awaiting further documentation.
👁️ spectralcodex.com
👁️ spectralcodex.com