June 10, 2007
Recyclables
I consider myself fairly frugal when it comes to hardware acquisitions, for a tech-whore, anyway. However, you can't really get out of the way of the planned obsolescence, and the old gear do start to pile up. It's even held up upgrade plans as we've kept dad hobbling along on an old Rev. A Smurf G3 PowerMac, slightly augmented with a 900MHz CPU upgrade (ooooh). Really should get him something faster but hate to throw away a (barely) serviceable machine. Apple does offer a recycling program, but only if you buy your new computer directly from the Apple store (i.e. take the sales tax bite). Dell only offers recycling of old Dell junk, which should be enough keep them plenty busy but that doesn't help me any.
So I was excited to see the news that Staples, of all people, is offering $10 recycling of anything electronic to all comers. They even promise not to just dump the junk in China like your typical electronics disposal/recycling shop. Not sure how Staples can make it work for $10 an item, but it certainly raises them up a few notches in my estimation, for what that's worth.
June 06, 2007
Country Inns
Since nobody actually manufactures anything in Taiwan anymore, the government's been encouraging more leisure consumption and service industries to drive the economy. As ugly and polluted as the cities may be, Taiwan has plenty of gorgeous scenery in the streams and mountains just a few hours away.
Now that most people get both days of the weekend off, it becomes feasible to head out into the countryside for a couple of days, staying overnight at a local bed-and-breakfast or a small charming hostel. Not surprisingly, a large number of such domiciles have sprung up in scenic areas to supply the demand. Also not surprisingly, most of them are built illegally in an unplanned swarm, destroying the bucolic scenery that was the original attraction of the place.
庭院前遠眺青山，渾然天成的美景，短短五年，兩百多家民宿雨後春筍林立儘管政府規定海拔1500公尺以上的山坡地不准開發，投資者仍不顧土地超限利用的問題，大興土木，還沒取得合法建照前先斬後奏
Not that having government certification would mean a whole lot anyway. A license most likely just means the appropriate government official was sufficiently gifted to grant the piece of paper.