Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 44m

Commendable work. This campaign is truly a beacon of light and goodness in harrowing times.

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 55m

Taiwan is a terminal society, one that is doing far too little to avert the coming demographic collapse. David Chang, founder of Crossroads, brings receipts and makes the case for more serious efforts at internationalization in this Commonwealth Magazine op-ed. english.cw.com.tw/article/arti...

Rethinking immigration to halt a growing economic security crisis｜Politics & Society｜2023-09-25｜web only

In this op-ed, David Chang tackles Taiwan's imminent demographic challenge, a matter of urgent concern. They delve into the aging population issues in Taiwan, dissecting the factors that underlie this...

english.cw.com.tw

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Reposted by Xander ✺

Levi McLaughlin @levimclaughlin.bsky.social · 20h

Japan, ostensibly one of the least religious countries in the world, had its political order upended by the lay Buddhist organization Soka Gakkai. That is THE story about Friday's epochal shift in Japanese politics (thread follows):

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 2d

Just saw One Battle After Another (2025) last night... and while it was certainly entertaining cinema, and extraordinarily well-made, the storyline and politics of the film felt somewhat jarring and yeah, exploitative. This thread provides a critical perspective and some insightful outbound links.

Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 5d

I hadn’t seen this review from @brookeobie.bsky.social until it was just dropped in the replies but I’m moving it up because I think it’s worth reading how someone who is a Black women critic is responding to this film

Jalee @thehotmamac.bsky.social · 5d

blackgirlwatching.substack.com/p/one-battle...

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

Now these are extraordinarily beautiful! 🥮

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

It's appalling that the best available info is an off-hand remark in a NYT feature nobody seems able to verify. www.snopes.com/news/2025/09...

Breaking down report man killed in Venezuelan 'drug boat' strikes was actually fisherman with 4 children

Neither U.S. nor Venezuelan officials have confirmed the identities of 17 people killed in three U.S. strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels.

www.snopes.com

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Reposted by Xander ✺

Ai-Men Lau 劉羿雯 @aimenlau.bsky.social · 4d

“The Chinese political activists are concentrated in Chiang Mai in Thailand's north, where they hold lectures and publish pamphlets, but they now fear for their oasis.”

China exiles in Thailand lose hope, fearing Beijing's long reach

With tears rolling down his cheeks, detained Chinese political exile Zhou Junyi struggles to make his voice heard over dozens of families visiting Bangkok's main immigration detention centre.Chinese e...

www.yahoo.com

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curious ordinary @curiousordinary.bsky.social · 4d

'Hares and Autumn Full Moon' - Suzuki Harunobu, Japanese Edo period.
#FullMoon #tsukimi #JapaneseArt

Two hares, one brown and one white, sit beside a stream looking up at the moon.

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

By all means, negotiate, but to speak of China's "integrity" in dealmaking feels rather naive since 2019. Tibet, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong offer a preview of an annexed Taiwan, while centuries of resistance against Qing, Japanese, and ROC rule provide a baseline for how civil society might respond.

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

I wonder if anyone's making money renting it out 💰

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Cindy Wan @cindywan.bsky.social · 5d

Best wishes for a peaceful and happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

A festive graphic with the text: “Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋節快樂！”

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

Went for a spin around Changhua City to knock off a bunch of historic sites from my list and so many of them are in the midst of restoration. Really cool to see the city take its abundant cultural heritage so seriously (only a little sad I couldn't document the original condition of those sites).

Japanese colonial era granary currently under reconstruction. It's a rugged old building, half-demolished, with a round rooftop and ventilation on top to keep grain cool. There are tarps and sheet metal fencing in the foreground.

Part of the Changhua Railway Village with the green construction site notice mounted on a red brick wall. The skies are blue and serene with white clouds. Behind the wall is some kind of rugged, dilapidated structure, possibly an old residence.

An old military dependents' village in Changhua City currently under construction. There is a shovel and wheelbarrow in the foreground and the two-storey residences in the background show evidence of being recently resurfaced.

An old Japanese colonial era wooden house allocated to civil servants in Changhua City. Only the top is visible; the body of the building is obscured by red brick walls and a partial sheet metal fence above.

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

Red (adzuki) bean, if I'm not mistaken.

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

The notorious Xinglin General Hospital (杏林綜合醫院) in downtown Tainan recently appeared in a second horror film, Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital, which explains why this old post has become the most popular on my site these months. #urbex #haunted #Taiwan spectralcodex.com/tainan-xingl...

Xinglin General Hospital (杏林綜合醫院) - Spectral Codex

Established in 1975, this hospital shut down in 1993 after a number of scandals, and has been abandoned ever since. Such a prominent ruin in the downtown core has naturally attracted adventure-seekers...

spectralcodex.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 4d

Yesterday the boss of the cafe I visited generously gave me this Taiwanese salted egg yolk pastry (蛋黃酥) divided into two pieces 🥮

A Taiwanese salted egg yolk pastry cut into two pieces and situated on a small white plate on a wooden table top. The background shows the context, a cafe, with chairs and tables and other patrons around.

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Reposted by Xander ✺

Kerim Friedman 傅可恩 @kerim.one · 4d

I was Bluesky user #308, and have been a major booster of this platform since the beginning, but I'm starting to think that the skeptics were right.

It isn't too late to fix things, but I'm doubtful the team will take this excellent advice from @brunodias.bsky.social to heart:

Jay Graber Confuses the Gas and Brake Pedals

As your new Head of Comms I advise you to please stop posting this shit.

azhdarchid.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 6d

I'm far less of an AI skeptic than when the year began... but the industry is still an enormous bubble with economics that don't make the slightest sense. What's going through the minds of the tech barons of this new gilded age? "Superintelligence or bust!" pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 8d

In my latest for @thediplomat.com, wrote on the partisan splits in Taiwan visible after the typhoon

thediplomat.com/2025/10/afte...

After Typhoon Ragasa, Taiwan’s Disaster Response Becomes Fuel for Partisan Divide

Flooding has hit Hualien, the homebase of a prominent KMT legislator.

thediplomat.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 9d

Bad optics from leaky sanctions.

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 9d

"Taiwan" in this story mostly refers to Formosa Plastics Group. Maybe bad news for anyone owning stock, otherwise such a scenario would be a non-issue. bsky.app/profile/spec...

Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

Taiwan officially supports Ukraine and its state-owned enterprises already divested from Russian fossil fuel products... but the private sector in the form of Formosa Plastics Group saw an opportunity... and now Taiwan is the world's top buyer of Russian naphtha. Not a good look. #TaiwanCanHelp

The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 10d

⚡️ Taiwan becomes leading importer of Russian naphtha in early 2025, report says.

The island's monthly imports surged sixfold between 2022 and early 2025, generating $1.7 billion in mineral extraction tax revenues for Russia, according to a joint report by a group of NGOs.

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

Eminently quotable too:

"Architecture is a mirror that reflects the richness and complexity of what has passed."

"Some people see my work and say I’m nostalgic. That always fills me with indignation, so I’ll always correct them: It’s not about nostalgia; it’s about making sure we remember."

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

The Guardian is also running a story on this... and it's the second top story after the US government shutdown on the international edition. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Taiwan now biggest importer of Russian naphtha despite being Ukraine ally

Island imported $1.3bn of crude oil product in first half of 2025 despite joining sanctions against Moscow, report finds

www.theguardian.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

The original report from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) is worth reviewing. The summary contains details much of the reporting on this issue have left out. energyandcleanair.org/publication/...

Dangerous dependence: Taiwan becomes world’s largest importer of Russian naphtha as coal imports persist – Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air

energyandcleanair.org

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

Taiwan officially supports Ukraine and its state-owned enterprises already divested from Russian fossil fuel products... but the private sector in the form of Formosa Plastics Group saw an opportunity... and now Taiwan is the world's top buyer of Russian naphtha. Not a good look. #TaiwanCanHelp

The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · 10d

⚡️ Taiwan becomes leading importer of Russian naphtha in early 2025, report says.

The island's monthly imports surged sixfold between 2022 and early 2025, generating $1.7 billion in mineral extraction tax revenues for Russia, according to a joint report by a group of NGOs.

Taiwan becomes leading importer of Russian naphtha in early 2025, report says

The island's monthly imports surged sixfold between 2022 and early 2025, generating $1.7 billion in mineral extraction tax revenues for Russia, according to a joint report by a group of NGOs.

kyivindependent.com

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Xander ✺ @spectralcodex.com · 10d

A fantastic photo essay about photographing the vanishing Third Front factories of China.

Sixth Tone @sixthtone.bsky.social · 18d

I am a third-generation of the Third Front Movement. There’s a saying that captures the experience of families like ours: “First we devote our youth, then we devote our whole lives — in the end, even the futures of our children and grandchildren are tied to the cause.”

The Factory Workers Who Helped Build a Nation

A photographer strives to protect the memory of China’s Third Front Movement and the families who dedicated their lives to it.

www.sixthtone.com

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