The Taipei Department of Environmental Protection was recently called on to remove waste from a sidewalk along a small alley along Dunhua S Rd. When the workers arrived on the scene they unexpectedly found two huge boulders approximately weighing two tonnes each. Receiving quite a shock, they immediately called on several coworkers to help deal with the situation, eventually removing the “largest garbage in history” without a hitch.
According to residents living in the area, the two boulders had occupied that space for as long as 15 or 16 years. A desire to get rid of the boulders had been conveyed in the past, but no one ever resolved the issue. People at the bureau apparently did not know that the big rocks were blocking part of the road. Who on earth put the boulders there in the first place and where did they come from? No one knows. It is assumed that early residents worried about vehicles on the sidewalk making too much noise and put the boulders there to keep them from driving by. Another theory is that the boulders were put there for feng shui purposes — to attract good fortune and drive away evil forces.
Bureau division head Chiu Kuan-hou says that the two ponderous boulders had unequivocally been placed directly on the sidewalk. There was no way the average person could possibly move the boulders, Chiu says, adding that all you could do is walk around them, which means to avoid the boulders you had to walk in the street and face countless perils all around.
Local residents had previously notified the bureau on several occasions about the boulders. Chiu says that was not until several days ago, however, after the police called the bureau to help remove some rocks from a sidewalk, that they went there with brooms and a trolley. They had no idea that the rocks were actually gigantic boulders that could not feasibly be moved by hand. Several of them worked together to fasten the boulders to move them out onto the street and have a bulldozer lift them into a truck. They were then taken to the Shanzhuku Landfill in Nangang District, successfully completing the “rock-moving mission.”
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
台北市環保局日前接獲消息,前往市區敦化南路小巷的人行道清除「廢棄物」,工作人員抵達現場一看,竟是兩顆各約兩噸重的大巨石,嚇了一大跳,趕緊號召數名隊員一起處理,順利清除「史上最大廢棄物」。
據附近住戶說法,這兩顆大巨石盤踞當地已長達十五、六年之久,以往曾反映盼清除,但未獲解決,環保局人員則不知有大石頭擋路之事。至於這石頭究竟是誰放的?從哪裡來?無人知曉,推估可能是早期居民擔憂車輛來往於人行道引發噪音,因此擺放大石頭擋住車流,另有一種說法則是風水考量,可以趨吉避凶。
環保局科長邱寬厚表示,這兩顆有「份量」的大巨石不偏不倚落在人行道上,一般民眾根本無力搬動,路過時,多只能繞道而行,為閃避大巨石而走在車道上險象環生。
邱寬厚說,居民表示曾多次反映,但環保局直到日前才接獲警察局請求協助移除人行道石頭,工作人員照例帶著掃帚與手推車到現場,沒想到竟是如此巨大的石頭,根本無法單純以人力徒手搬運,只好先集合數名人員將石頭五花大綁推移至路面後,再由挖土機吊起放於卡車,載至南港區山豬窟掩埋場,終於完成「移石任務」。
(自由時報記者林惠琴)
South Korea’s famous kimchi is falling victim to climate change, with scientists, farmers and manufacturers saying the quality and quantity of the napa cabbage that is pickled to make the ubiquitous dish is suffering due to rising temperatures. Napa cabbage thrives in cooler climates, and is usually planted in mountainous regions where temperatures during the key growing summer season once rarely rose above 25 degrees Celsius. Studies show that warmer weather brought about by climate change is now threatening these crops, so much so that South Korea might not be able to grow napa cabbage one day due to the intensifying heat. “We
It’s widely recognized that there are far more right-handed people than left-handed people in the world. Being right-handed simply means preferring to use one’s right hand for tasks that involve only one hand, such as writing and eating. But have you ever wondered about the possible reasons behind the global dominance of the right hand over the left? As with many complex biological questions, multiple factors appear to be at play. First, one reason seems to be genetics. __1__ Therefore, the global dominance of right-handedness is something that has been passed down through many generations of humans. Next,
A: What’s even more horrible is that the five suspects who purposely supplied ketamine to actor Matthew Perry were all his “friends.” B: Who exactly are the five suspects? A: They include Matthew’s two doctors, a broker, a drug dealer, and even his live-in assistant. B: Those scumbags should go to jail. A: Yeah, one of the doctors may be sentenced to up to 120 years in prison. A: 更可怕的是,提供男星馬修派瑞「K他命」的5人全是他的「朋友」。 B: 嫌犯是誰啊? A: 其中包括他的2位醫生、1位仲介、1位毒販、甚至他的同居助理! B: 那些人渣真該去坐牢。 A: 對啊,其中1位醫生可能面臨120年徒刑。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Continued from yesterday(延續自昨日) https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang Finally, cultural influence also plays a role in which hand people prefer. Historically, items that require physical manipulation have been designed for right-handed use. For example, tools like scissors and musical instruments are often constructed with right-handers in mind, making it difficult for left-handers to use them. __4__ While these factors offer some explanation, they remain speculative. The precise reasons for the global prevalence of right-handed people continue to be debated. Nevertheless, left-handedness will remain a phenomenon of great curiosity among scientists and researchers for many years to come. 最後,文化影響也在人們偏好哪一隻手上扮演一角。歷史上,需要用到肢體操作的物品都被設計來供右手使用。舉例來說,像是剪刀、樂器等工具常常就是考慮到右撇子而打造的,造成左撇子難以使用這些工具。因此,許多天生就是左撇子的人可能就必須透過學習使用右手來適應。 雖然這些因素都提供了一些解釋,但它們仍是推測而已。全球右撇子如此普及,確切的原因仍持續被爭論著。不過,在未來的許多年裡,左撇子依然會是科學家和研究人員相當好奇的一個現象。 What Did You Learn? (A) Specifically, different areas of