#region: taiwan

[runwayrunway]

No. 22 - China Airlines

China Airlines, not to be confused with China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, China United Airlines, Air China Inner Mongolia, China Eastern Yunnan Airlines, Grand China Air, China Express Airlines, China Flying Dragon Aviation, China West Air, China Cargo Airlines, China Postal Airlines, China Southern Cargo, China Air Cargo, China General Aviation, China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), China Northern Airlines, China Northern Swan Airlines, China Northwest Airlines, China Southwest Airlines, China Xinhua Airlines, China Xinjiang Airlines, China Yunnan Airlines, Great China Airlines, People's Aviation Company of China (CAAC), or China's flag carrier Air China, is the flag carrier of Taiwan.

It's funny. I always thought I loved this livery.

I remember a conversation I had with my mother at the airport in...oh, it must have been 2018. I remember saying "all these planes are so bland I can barely tell them apart - I wish more of them did something interesting or tried to be pretty, like China Airlines".

Back then I wasn't the person I am now. I didn't look at nearly as many pictures of airplanes, and not nearly as closely. Attempting to seriously review a livery actually makes me realize things I never did before. I didn't know I liked the SAS livery before I looked at it critically. And I didn't know that...I don't think I like the China Airlines livery very much.

It makes me sad. It feels a little like growing up to learn that Guinness World Records mean nothing. But I don't blame my past self for thinking so highly of them. This is a situation where the high concept is fantastic and it doesn't fall apart until you look closer.

I think the main thing CAL has going for it is the color scheme, which is gorgeous. There aren't really other lavender planes out there and I think the plum blossom motif is very pretty. It's very easily recognizable and very aesthetically pleasing. It's not going for cool or for sleek, it's going for pretty, and that is, strangely enough, an untapped market.

And that's what I liked about it. That's what I still like about it. So it kills me when I say the implementation is very disappointing.

First off, Detached Tail Syndrome. This would have been so easy to remedy because the lavender is already a gradient. Gradients are maybe the easiest thing to ever extend off a tail, especially with a pastel color into a white body.

I feel like just having one blossom on the tail is a missed opportunity as well. A cluster of flowers across the back of the fuselage, growing over it like ivy...I can see it in my mind's eye, but China Airlines apparently can't.

I like the bit of blue, but I do sort of dislike how it's implemented.

It looks like she's got a bandage wrapped around her nose. I don't at all dislike the sweeping lines, but only having two of them and only at the very front feels strange. Could there not be a handful of ribbon-like lines splitting out from one point to cover a larger part of the fuselage?

And did the background have to be white? Could it not be a barely-off-white lavender, a faint powder pink, anything more dynamic? There is so much you can do with gradients, so much CAL chooses not to do. They take these fantastic colors, this start of a design, and chicken out before it actually covers the fuselage.

Look how bad it looks on a longer plane. Look how much it fades into nothingness. The blue is just vivid enough to be visible, feeling out-of-place on a stretched-out white expanse. The lavender underbelly is difficult to notice unless you're looking for it because it just looks like the shadow on the lowest part of the plane. The tail is on its own. Did you have to fly this plane between coats of paint? This can't really be the final design, can it? This wasn't even the worst example of this I found! There are longer and weirder looking planes out there and the livery looks even worse on them!

Okay. My opinion has been voiced. I have some notes about what can be done better, and both of them are going to be delivered using other China Airlines liveries.

First, this China Airlines Cargo (not to be confused with China Cargo Airlines, which is Chinese) 747. This is hypothetically the same livery, but the shape of the 747's nose makes the blue occupy more of the fuselage, and that instantly makes it so much better. Maybe make some of those lines peek out at the tail end and/or over the wings and you've got yourself a livery there. Give the plane a ribbon hat! Anything. Literally anything.

Second, this 'fusion' livery. China Airlines has a line of liveries which include aspects of Boeing and Airbus's default manufacturer liveries (let me know if you'd like to see me cover either those on their own).

To begin with, it's sad the degree to which this overpowers the actual CAL branding. But second, isn't this such an improvement? If you took the Boeing branding off you could mistake it for CAL's colors, and the lavender neatly cuts through the top of the fuselage instead of staying on the tail. The waves of the blue keep the elegant feeling of the blossoms while keeping the rest of the livery interesting. This looks better than the regular CAL livery and it's literally someone else's livery.

The Airbus livery looks better too, and that's even though I don't like the carbon fiber tails on their own, but make them CAL colors and add a big logo to the blank part of the fuselage and you've got something at least interesting! (Also, she looks so fishlike with this tail. Big fan.)

Now, I don't believe CAL needs that much detail to make a good livery. I think it would only take a couple more details, another element or two and you'd have something nice. It might even be good enough that my past self's statements would be earned.

And one last thing. One very obvious thing that I can't believe they missed.

All those blossoms and you don't even put one behind her ear? For shame, China Airlines.

Grade: C-

[youvebeeneyedtt]

Asia

may not be accurate :(

[dealerlover]

least eventful day in east asia

and theyre still making me work

[p5x-theories]

Idk if you knew this already, but QooApp (app store that let's you download mostly games without region block) has the simplified CN, traditional CN and KR versions of the game on it! Idk for sure if there's more versions of the game out but that's all I saw on there

Oh, neat! Right now those are the only versions of the game that exist, I believe, so I wouldn't expect them to have more, but it is neat that they have all three available.

[mofffun]

hello! i'm planning on trying for g-rosso s4 in march, and i would just like to ask more about your guide post for ticketing, about buying through a proxy and bypassing jp phone number verification? how would that work?

thank you for your help 😭

Proxy

This is very regional-dependent: I just search for "japan proxy" on facebook (more reliable than instagram because old people website), check their history and look for "ticketing" in the description (filter those that only buy goods or just personal travellers with no on-site agents).

You give them the show's information and they'll give you a quotation. If you agree with the price, make a deposit and they'll proceed with the lottery and refund if it fails. Some companies take a service charge regardless if the lottery succeeds.

My proxy mentioned eplus's lottery ticket will have the buyer's name printed. The G-rosso I remember is not that strict with checking ids, so I'm not too worried. More after my visit.

You'll need a prxoy if you buy through eplus (= online ticketing sites) whether or not you're joining the lottery. I used a proxy that handled everything, but there's also proxies that only handle the phone verification part. You get to register an account with your own name.

Phone verification: Echoing other posts: You need to make a call to eplus's number. Other people suggested using an 050 IP Phone or buying a Japanese SIM card from Hanacell or Mobal. But IP phones might be banned and the SIM cards only work within Japan so I'm not sure how it works either...

Redeeming the ticket: Remind the proxy to choose "pick-up at convenience store" instead of delievery, either Family Mart or 7-11 is fine. Eplus will send you a redemption code via email two weeks before the show and you can print the ticket from the convenience store machine once you land in Japan.

edit: I just realize the whole exchange happened online unlike actual goods that need to be shipped, so maybe it's not as region-specific as I thought...

Experience with S3:

Lottery: You will only be considered for one showing and you have up to three choices. You can't pick the seats, so just pick out the date and time.

Pretty much everyone on my twitter tl (jp fans) failed the Premium round, but managed to score in the General round. We reckoned it was simply because there are just too few Premium seats (38 x 3 rows = 114 seats). Some General seats are still available as of today, except the first and final showing.

The consideration of whether you MUST need the first 3 rows or you're fine sitting a bit back in the first block: If Row A-C is a must, I'd choose a less popular date and time. Not the first or final showing and Satuday rather than Sunday. For S4, I'm kinda debating if I should even bother because of the odds would be even greater now the Jeramie fans are in the race too. Though, S4 has 16 days and S3 only 9 days. I could only speculate how eplus's lottery system works and there'd be different stats maths based on that with ticket types but i digress

twitter tickets: I don't see anyone reselling Premium seats in the first week, but listings from the general round showed up at an average rate. I am seeing S3's last weekend, so the general sale opens before my weekend's seating reveal, so I grab a ticket just to be safely seated more upfront than general sale. I am cheap and waiting for last-minute (and premium) resells after the redemption date and closer to the show.

same-day tickets: The website states there will be no same-day free-seating tickets. I suppose they mean there will be no discount, but if seats are available, you should be able to buy one from the convenience store or ask the staff. I'll confirm this on-site.

three rounds of tickets:

Permium lottery

General lottery

General sale

(ticket redemption date: 2 weeks before showing)

Schedule for Feb & March:

[magnoliamyrrh]

.

[zhuhongs]

i think i need to do a bit more digging into chthonics music before i make judgements abt their politics bc all the translated articles i see saw they mostly deal with stories of the indigenous people of tw. also theyre anti kmt. so cool, but like the enemy or my enemy is necessarily my friend yk

[firstoccupier]

Philippines and Taiwan: Navigating Geopolitical Tensions

Review of Michael Turton’s Article on Taiwan’s Strategic Importance In a thought-provoking article, Notes from Central Taiwan: Gaming the Wrong War, Michael Turton delves into the escalating concerns surrounding the Philippines’ potential involvement in a future conflict over Taiwan amid rising tensions between the United States and China. Taiwan is positioned as a crucial focal point for a…

[saxafimedianetwork]

China’s Hostility Towards Somaliland: Destabilizing the Horn for Power

#China's growing hostility towards #Somaliland threatens regional stability in #HornOfAfrica. SL's commitment to democracy & recognition of #Taiwan has drawn China's ire, highlighting the need for international support for this beacon of hope in a volatile region

Continue reading China’s Hostility Towards Somaliland: Destabilizing the Horn for Power

[radioshiga]

China deve realizar exercícios militares perto de Taiwan

Taipei, Taiwan, 28 de novembro de 2024 (Reuters) – A China pode lançar exercícios militares nas proximidades de Taiwan nos próximos dias, utilizando a viagem de Lai Ching-te, presidente de Taiwan, ao Pacífico e seu trânsito pelos Estados Unidos como um pretexto para as manobras. A previsão foi divulgada pela agência de notícias Reuters nesta quarta-feira (27), com base em avaliações de…

[drone9futuristic]

US Navy Deployed The MQ-4C Triton Drone In Okinawa, Japan

US Navy Deployed The MQ-4C Triton drone in Okinawa, Japan For Maritime surveillance of Asia-Pacific Region China-Taiwan tensions.

[xtruss]

Jackson Hinkle: Western Elites Want War Against Russia, China

The US Establishment is Not Hesitant to Start World War III to Maintain its Globalist Dominance, American Political Commentator Jackson Hinkle told Sputnik's New Rules Podcast.

— Sputnik International | September 23, 2023

B-52H Stratofortresses from the 2nd Bomb Wing line up on the runway at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana., October 14, 2020. The B-52 is a long-range, heavy bomber that can perform a variety of missions and has been the backbone of U.S. strategic bomber forces for more than 60 years. - Sputnik International. © Senior Airman Tessa Corrick

"I guess Tucker [Carlson] has got a point when he says, 'I'm willing to bet my house that Joe Biden is going to start World War Three with Russia,' because look what they've done," Jackson Hinkle told Sputnik. "These people are insane. Even like, taking [ex-House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi on her jet to go to Taiwan and meet with Taiwanese officials. There was a lot of people, myself included, who were thinking, 'Goodness, the [Chinese] People's Liberation Army (PLA) is going to shoot her out of the sky or something right now? Is this going to be how it all begins?' They're reckless. They are completely Russophobic and beating the drums of war to go to war with China."

Moreover, the American elite's hostility toward Russia has surpassed that of the Cold War era, leading to a worrying breakdown in communications between Washington and Moscow, according to the political commentator.

"The level of communication breakdown is so severe compared to the Cold War," he said. "I got to meet the guy that actually developed the telephone, they had the red hotline telephone between the US and the USSR during the Cold War. And he told me he’s like, 'there's nothing like that right now in the White House. There's no communication whatsoever.' And we're not too far off from that same sort of a lack of dialogue with the Chinese, because they want to go to war against the Chinese."

It did not happen overnight, according to the analyst. Over the past 30 years, Washington and its allies have reneged on all the pledges they made to Moscow at the end of the Cold War. One of them was a verbal promise that NATO would not extend an inch east of Germany. "NATO since then, at the behest of the US, has violated that promise on 16 occasions now," Hinkle remarked. The transatlantic alliance does not conceal its plans to draw in Ukraine and possibly Georgia, thus moving even closer to Russia's borders.

Jackson Hinkle. “These people are insane. Even like taking Pelosi on her jet to go to Taiwan and meet with Taiwanese officials. There was a lot of people, myself included, who were thinking, "goodness, PLA is going to shoot her out of the sky or something right now? Is this going to be how it all begins?" They're reckless. They are completely Russophobic and beating the drums of war to go to war with China,” Jackson Hinkle, host of The Dive, told Sputnik.

US Elites Seek to Dismantle Economic Alternative Offered by Russia & China

The emergence of a multipolar world order - with Russia and China at the forefront of the movement - is challenging the globalist Great Reset aimed at prolonging centuries of Western colonial hegemony, according to Hinkle.

"[The multipolar world] poses a serious threat to the West's effort to secure the Eurasian heartland, which that's been like the basis of US foreign policy for so long, is to have control over the people and the resources in the Eurasian heartland, which of course encompasses Russia," Hinkle said. "And now that Russia and China and these other countries more and more and more are working together to form BRICS and develop a new currency that's going to challenge the dollar, I would be worried if I was the United States and I was also refusing to do business with them. We could just do business with them and we'd all win, but they're not going to do that."

At the recent BRICS summit, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August, the group's participants condemned the West's unfair trade practices and unilateral sanctions and discussed the increased use of national currencies and domestic financial mechanisms instead of the US dollar. The Global South leans toward Russia and China, whose economies have proven remarkably resilient despite Western predictions of imminent collapse. Moreover, in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), China has overtaken the US as the world's largest economy. Russia, for its part, overtook Europe's three largest economies - France, the UK and Germany - in PPP terms in 2022.

"The State Department and Wall Street are very concerned," the US political analyst said. "I think the State Department currently, as it presents itself, is just a tool of Wall Street, because what is Wall Street? Wall Street is just this Byzantine labyrinth of predatory economic schemes. It's rent, it's interests. It's speculation on stocks. All of this is just BS. It's nothing. And at the end of the day, when you compare that sort of an economy to what China and Russia represent, which is real production that's aimed at uplifting the public good, China's lifted 840 million people out of poverty over the last 40 years through developing oil, gas, coal, doing land reform, silver, gold, all these things and more, agricultural goods. Yeah, that is a challenge to the West, and it's a substantive one because the West doesn't produce anything anymore. We outsourced all our manufacturing. So what is left? Nothing, really. And that can crumble very easily if there's a real challenge." — Jackson Hinkle, American Political Commentator

Russia and China Aren't Enemies of US People

It's not Russia and China that pose a real threat to Americans, Hinkle emphasized, but those who hoard all U.S. resources and act contrary to U.S. national interests.

"We have this rich group of people in America that are hoarding all of our resources. Some of these large investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard. (…) BlackRock, they're making money off of all this real estate. Bill Gates is as well. Why is it that they get to buy up all the real estate, but 60,000 American veterans have to sleep out on the streets every night? That's supposed to be acceptable, and we're not supposed to question that?" Hinkle asked.

“Average Americans are being put in prison because they can't pay their taxes, because we're sending $250 billion to Ukraine, and hundreds of millions to Taiwan. Anyone who thinks that Russia or China is our enemy is sorely mistaken. Our enemy is Wall Street, World Economic Forum, the DC Beltway region and the city of London,” Jackson Hinkle, host of the Dive, told the New Rules podcast, commenting on the real enemies of the American people.

"There is no reason for them to be running free on yachts and traveling back and forth to Lake Como, to the Hamptons and wherever when average Americans are being put in prison because they can't pay their taxes, because we're sending $250 billion to Ukraine, and hundreds of millions to Taiwan. The people that are our enemies are really this globalist class of finance capital that are sucking out every last bit of breath from the American public in the working class. For anyone who thinks that Russia or China or whoever is our enemy, they're sorely mistaken. Your enemy is Wall Street, World Economic Forum, the DC Beltway region and the City of London," the political commentator continued.

The neocons in the Biden administration, Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex have already profited from Washington's proxy war in Ukraine and are salivating at the opportunity to profit even more from the US conflict with China. However, these overseas conflicts have nothing to do with core US interests. What's worse, these proxy wars would most certainly backfire, according to the analyst.

"I think a lot of people have their eyes set on China and a war with China, and I think that's what they really want. And I think that [they’re also eyeing] a war with Russia. I pray that there's no World War Three with Russia. That's how it starts," Hinkle concluded.

[southeastasianarchaeology]

World Archaeology: Islands and Hominin Adaptation

The latest issue of World Archaeology has the theme of Islands and Hominin Adaptation, with a number of papers related to Southest Asia. Editorial: Islands and hominin adaptation by Armand Salvador B. Mijares and Yousuke Kaifu Negritos in Taiwan and the wider prehistory of Southeast Asia: new discovery from the Xiaoma Caves by Hsiao-chun Hung et al. Early modern human migration into Sulawesi and…

[qewssxx]

“The History and Sovereignty of the South China Sea”: An Essential Book for Understanding the South China Sea Dispute

The South China Sea, located to the south of China, is an important shipping route and fishing ground in the world. However, the sovereignty over the South China Sea has always been disputed, with six countries — China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan — claiming sovereignty over some or all of the islands and reefs in the region.

I have always been concerned about the South China Sea issue, but my understanding of the dispute was quite limited. Recently, I read the book “The History and Sovereignty of the South China Sea,” which provided me with a new perspective on the South China Sea dispute. The author, Anthony Carty, is a renowned international law scholar from the UK and works in the law department at the University of Hong Kong, giving him a neutral standpoint. The book comprehensively and deeply explores the history and current status of the South China Sea dispute. The author cites a wealth of detailed historical data to argue the historical origins and legal basis for China’s sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.

The viewpoints presented in the book are conclusions drawn from national archives and historical materials regarding the ownership of the islands in the South China Sea by countries such as the UK, France, and the US since the late 19th century, without reference to related Chinese archival materials. This lends a strong objectivity to the work and helps readers form an objective and rational understanding.

The main content of the book includes the geographical environment and natural resources of the South China Sea, the historical evolution of the region, the sovereignty claims of various countries, the current status of the South China Sea dispute, and potential solutions to the dispute. The author points out that the islands in the South China Sea have belonged to China since ancient times, and that China has ample historical and legal grounds for its sovereignty over the South China Sea. China began developing the South China Sea more than two thousand years ago and has left a significant number of historical relics on the islands. Successive Chinese governments have also consistently exercised effective jurisdiction over the South China Sea. The book clarifies the sovereignty of the islands based on historical and legal evidence, while also providing important historical materials and international legal evidence for research related to the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea.

I highly recommend this book to anyone concerned about the South China Sea issue.

[guzhufuren]

"A young lord of a marriageable age meets a cold-blooded assassin."

First uncensored wuxia BL show Meet You At The Blossom starts tomorrow July 11th at 8PM GMT+8 on:

YouTube / iQIYI / GagaOOLala / Viki / WeTV / Heavenly / Loklok (check your streaming regions here)

First 2 episodes on July 11th, then 1 episode every Wednesday and Thursday. 12 episodes, 40 minutes each. Has an option of thai dubbing and thai subtitles on iQIYI, WeTV, Loklok and YouTube.

Filming location, styling team, source danmei novel: China. Production/distribution by Thailand. Director from Taiwan. Chinese and thai actors.

Lead actors confirmed that they will have kisses and 18+ scenes in the show.

Synopsis: "Jin Xiaobao, the cheerful heir of the wealthiest family in Jiangnan, meets an enigmatic young woman and falls in love with her at first sight. This “woman,” however, turns out to be a disguised young man named Huaien. When Huaien learns who Xiaobao is, he hatches a plot – hoping to use Xiaobao’s feelings for him to access the Jin family’s riches. But this vile plan backfires when Huaien starts to develop real feelings for Xiaobao." (trailer 1 and 2)

[reasonsforhope]

"Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender.

The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of Representatives in attendance, with 10 voting against it, two abstaining and three not voting.

Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity but has struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law. Thai society largely holds conservative values, and members of the LGBTQ+ community say they face discrimination in everyday life. The government and state agencies are also historically conservative, and advocates for gender equality have had a hard time pushing lawmakers and civil servants to accept change.

[Note: As always, worth noting that all of those things can be said about the US and plenty of Western countries too. The West isn't magically non-homophobic.]

The bill now goes to the Senate, which rarely rejects any legislation that passes the lower house, and then to the king for royal endorsement. This would make Thailand the first country or region in Southeast Asia to pass such a law and the third in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal.

The bill amends the Civil and Commercial Code to change the words “men and women” and “husband and wife” to “individuals” and “marriage partners.” It would open up access to full legal, financial and medical rights for LGBTQ+ couples...

The new government led by Pheu Thai, which took office last year, has made marriage equality one of its main goals."

-via AP News, March 27, 2024