Sunday, April 22, 2007

Friday, April 13, 2007

Fun with outdoor electrical wiring

Boing Boing had a post on creative, ad hoc (can you say "poor urban planning?") electrical cables in Hanoi, Vietnam. One finds such wacky (and dangerous?) cabling all over Asia -- even Taipei County, Taiwan as these photos I took show.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Driving with lights off - saving gas or bad drivers?

A rant here. Please don't misconstrue this as racism or as anti-Taiwanese or anti-Chinese. I am just concerned for the road safety of all who drive (including me) in this part of the world.

Why do about 1 in 20 drivers in "Greater China" (Taiwan and China) drive with their lights off at night? Saving on petrol (gas) -- is this scientifically valid? Or the bumper-to-bumper traffic congestion makes it seem that lights are unnecessary? Are are these drivers just bad drivers?



Civic Boulevard temple

A temple on Civic Boulevard (市民大道) in Taipei. Near the intersection of FuXing South Road. Close to the Breeze Center shopping mall.














Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Scooters galore

For those new to or visiting Taiwan, beware of the scooters:

Friday, March 23, 2007

Free Wi Fi in the CKS (Taoyuan - Taipei) Airport - Terminal 2

Courtesy of Hsin Tung Yang (新東陽), free Wi Fi in the CKS (Taoyuan - Taipei) Airport - Terminal 2. The sign indicates one should register with the shop -- but the worker there said "Just use it."




Friday, March 2, 2007

Labor for sale graffiti

Throughout Taiwan (and China) graffiti that advertises ad hoc labor can be seen. Only mobile phone numbers are provided.

This photo was taken near Fu-jen Catholic University. Perhaps location-based services one day might service this labor market? A real Blade Runner-esque scenario with rough-and-ready laborers illegally finding dangerous work in the largely unregulated factories of Greater China (to manufacture for the world).