SOCIETY
Net blamed for eye fatigue
With more people going online, more than 70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey have complained of eye fatigue, according to government statistics released yesterday. The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission also found that 50.5 percent of respondents think their handwriting ability has worsened, while 26 percent think their social ability has declined. The survey found that the number of people using mobile devices to go online has risen steadily, increasing to 77.3 percent last year from 41.9 percent in 2009. It is estimated that 73 percent of the population went online last year, or 15.1 million, up by 320,000 from the previous year, with most of the growth among the 30 to 49 age group.
ENTERTAINMENT
US star visits temples
Norman Reedus, an actor in the popular US zombie TV series The Walking Dead, visited temples in Taipei on Monday and received blessings for the year to come. The actor, in Taiwan to promote the latest episodes of the drama series, took time to visit the Taoist Chingfu Temple and Hsingtien Temple. “I got blessed for 2013, for a good year, so I’m super excited about that,” Reedus said. “They gave me a little pouch to take with me that I’ll keep in my pocket.” The actor also lit a lantern of illumination to pray for a bright future and took part in a “recalling the frightened soul” ceremony at the temples, Fox International Channels Taiwan said. The actor was scheduled to leave for Japan yesterday.
SOCIETY
Workers shun gatherings
Fifty-one percent of office workers would prefer not to attend family gatherings during the Lunar New Year holiday as they do not like being bombarded with personal questions, according to an online survey released by 360d job bank yesterday. Questions about relationships, jobs and salaries were especially unpopular, the survey showed. Meanwhile, 49 percent said they do not like attending family functions because they are not close to their relatives. The Lunar New Year holiday is a chance for family members to reconnect, but raising private or sensitive issues could cause awkward situations, the 360d job bank said. The survey collected 1,017 valid responses from Jan. 5 to Jan. 15 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
CROSS-STRAIT TIES
Chunghwa stays mum
The nation’s largest telecommunications company, Chunghwa Telecom Co, declined yesterday to comment on a Chinese news report that it plans to build a cloud computing center in southern China in partnership with a Chinese telecoms firm. According to the China News Service report, Chunghwa Telecom and China Telecom Co have agreed to set up a cloud data processing facility in Pingtan to accommodate 4U rackmount servers. Asked about the report at a Taipei forum, Chunghwa Telecom chairman Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) declined to confirm it, but expressed concerns over information security. Minister without Portfolio Simon Chang (張善政), who was also at the forum on Taipei’s cloud industry, said the government knows little about the reported project. According to the news report, the investment project is expected to attract investment of 30 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) from related industries in China and create 11,700 jobs.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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