Taiwan has had lighthouses from as early as 1868, meaning they have been around for 149 years. There are, in all, 36 lighthouses around the island, each with their own unique architectural style, having been built over a period including the Qing dynasty, Japanese colonial rule, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) era.
On Mar. 1 the Maritime and Port Bureau established the first lighthouse culture museum in Keelung. The museum will initially display 60 different kinds of lighting equipment, among them the incandescent mantle lamp invented in 1904. When lit, this lamp emits powerful rays, and it would have been the best light source available to lighthouses 100 years ago. A range of different lamps, from incandescent lights and wick oil lamps to carbide lamps, were developed and evolved over the years, and each one of them, marked and mottled, speak of a bygone era.
Lin Chung-fa, who has been a lighthouse keeper in Keelung for over a decade, has previously served on over 10 lighthouses, including on the Pengjia Islet, Cape Fuguei, Sandiaoling and in Hualien. He says that you can enjoy wonderful views as you work, and seeing Taiwan from offshore gives you a feeling difficult to put into words. In his free time he was able to go diving and fishing and to go bird watching and, he says, even with today’s GPS systems, lighthouses still have the ability to make you feel safe and secure.
Photo: CNA
照片:中央社
(CNA, translated by Paul Cooper)
台灣的燈塔建設最早從西元一八六八年起,至今已有一百四十九年歷史,全台總計有三十六座燈塔,建造歷經清代、日治及國民政府時期,建築風格各異。
航港局三月一日在基隆成立首座「燈塔文物館」,初期將展出六十盞各式燈具,其中,一九○四年發明的白熾紗罩燈,點燃後可發出強烈光芒,在百年前可說是燈塔的最佳光源。白熱燈、燈蕊油燈、乙炔燈等各式燈具,隨著不同年代發展演進,每個帶有斑駁的痕跡燈塔器物,都述說著一段陳年往事。
擔任基隆燈塔員已有十年資歷的林忠發先前曾待過彭佳嶼、富貴角、三貂嶺、花蓮等超過十處燈塔。他說,工作還能欣賞美麗景致,從外島看台灣,有種說不出的美感,閒暇時還能潛水、釣魚、賞候鳥,儘管現在已有衛星定位系統,但燈塔仍有穩定人心作用。
(中央社)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
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