Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Democracy or noise pollution?

Video of a Taiwanese political worker riding his scooter around with candidate flag and boom box blaring. Warm-hearted democracy at work or noise pollution or both?

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Taiwan's stray dog problem

台湾 = 世界性科技 + 第三世界的环境 ---> 野狗问题

Taiwan is a leader in the world economy producing some of the best and most innovative hardware. However, the social infrastructure in Taiwan is sometimes shockingly lacking. For example, I have been working in and visitin
g Taiwan since 1991. In those 15 years, nothing has been done to address the problem of stray dogs. Throughout the tightly backed island, one sees stray dogs -- some healthy -- some mangy and diseased -- walking around, disturbing traffic and generally being a public health problem. One would think that an island could easily address a stray dog problem given its confined space. I feel Taiwan's stray dog problem (and their excrement) speaks volumes about how "free" Taiwan is in terms of having very poor enforcement of law -- good for business but bad for society?