It's no bait-and-switch scam: a California company has deployed a crack team of Bluegill fish to guard the US' drinking water from potential terror attacks.
Intelligent Automation Corp says its "IAC 1090 Intelligent Aquatic BioMonitoring System" has already been bought by New York and San Francisco city authorities to monitor water supplies to their populations.
It works by diverting water samples from a river or reservoir through a small aquarium containing eight Bluegill fish which patrol round the clock for potentially lethal water-borne dangers.
The system, developed in partnership with US Army scientists at Fort Detrick in Maryland, is about the size of a large suitcase and can be set up on a table.
The small, brownish-colored Bluegills are not demanding security guards, but IAC vice president Bill Lawler says the fish are well looked after when they are on duty.
"The idea is to keep the fish very happy. They're enclosed in the aquarium with a light on inside and the temperature of the water is controlled so it's always constant," Lawler said by telephone from IAC's headquarters in Poway, California.
"There's no man-made sensor, so I'm told by the Army scientists, that can detect toxicity, which is why the fish are great," he said.
The system's computer can be configured to alert officials remotely of a potentially hazardous chemical in the water supply by phone or e-mail, or even set up to shut off a water supply.
"We've had interest from a number of different places, including from outside the United States," Lawler said.
He said the Bluegills usually serve two-week shifts before being rotated out for a rest.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary