online behavior

We're in Taiwan now (at a hot springs resort 😍 in Yangmingshan National Park, outside of Taipei). 

Not really any major culture shocks yet, aside from people being very polite. It's my first time in Taiwan, and I can speak a bit of Mandarin. It's been enough to get by so far. No one has tried to talk to us in English yet despite Harris' white presence 😂

I wanted to share this cute anecdote...we arranged for an airport pickup through our hotel, and our driver Matt pointed out some sights as we drove from TPE to the hotel (~1.5h drive). He asked me how many times we'd been to Taiwan before, and I told him it was our first time. At some point during the ride he pulled over and told us to wait for a bit. I figured he might have been using the bathroom or getting lunch (since he was probably driving/waiting at the airport for awhile), but when he got back he gave Harris and me each a Taiwanese sandwich and said "welcome to Taiwan" 🥹 it was really good btw

It's weird how everyone here looks at me and knows/assumes that I can speak Mandarin. But it feels a lot better than all the people in Nepal asking me where I'm "really" from... The air quality and harmony with nature here are also especially refreshing coming off of our time in Nepal. I'm glad I can use tap water to brush my teeth again. 

Who I Follow On the Internet and Why. My internet interest fall into three categories: Politics, NFL Football, Connection/Spirituality/Consciousness. I imagine lots of people follow to first two in combo and the combo of three might be a little unusual. ;)

Politics: I follow the Bulwark which is a group of Republican insiders who have created a site with podcasts, articles, interviews with people who have broken with their former party lines over Trump’s running for President. They are smart, funny, unflinchingly honest (when Harris or Walz doesn’t perform well or do something not so good, they’re honest about it). They feel like centrists who have lost their party and I love them for it. Want them to start a new party. Largely Democratic sites are too biased…they paint everything on the donkey side with whitewash.

NFL Football…Colin Cowherd is my guy. Again…fearless about saying when a team or a player has lost the plot. He’s smart, honest, has a larger perspective and has no sacred cows. Every week he holds a session called Where Colin was Right and where Colin was Wrong. I was delighted and surprised when he recently did a podcast about politics (out of the blue) and said he’s voting for Harris and why he sees it that way. His reasoning was so down to earth, factual, logical. The amazing part is that he was revealing this to his audience which is a sea of largely right wing NFL football fans. I loved him for it. Fiercely, unabashedly himself and not afraid of losing a part of his market because of his political views (I doubt he lost many…he’s that much better at football analysis than the rest).

Consciousness wise, I like several people, Jordan being at the top. I also follow Hannah Taylor on substack. I find her interesting and sometimes surprising, though I don’t always agree.

And I read stuff from Wall Street Journal, NY Times and random posts that show up because of who I follow. In my estimate, I spend more time online than I think is good. Would be good to look into why I do this, when it isn’t optimal according to me.

Cities and Ambition. I recently reread this Paul Graham essay [ https://www.paulgraham.com/cities.html ]. It’s about what messages individual places send their inhabitants vis-a-vis which ambitions are good. It mentions Berkeley (where I live) as a place that wants people to live comfortably/well, which seems right. So I’m curious: what city do you live in and what does its vibe want you to do?