taiwan in its current state is edging real close to the status of fubar. i keep referring to it as "the grand experiment that failed" (though i'll admit to feeling a bit bad about dashing its future before witnessing an actual demise). nevertheless, regardless of how much it sucks right now, the giants who created the monster were genius. idealists and scientists and leaders whose stature in history have morphed beyond mere footnotes into the stuff of legend. in my mind at least.

maybe that's why it actually kind of hurts to lose one of those heroes. whatever one's politics, it's difficult to understate the impact Sun had on the strength of taiwan. agree or disagree, he was out there doing, actually doing, and what he did eventually impacted onto the world stage. that's amazing.