Let’s make it extra specially unique. Instead of GMT-8, it should be GMT-8:53. That way even the timezone in Taiwan will be decoupled from the rest of the world. Very fitting.
Actually it’s GMT+8, though I don’t doubt some on Forumosa would prefer GMT-8 since that would put us on USA time. Or GMT-8:53 - that will prove Taiwan is a real country.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]
Changing the time zone would make a lot of sense. Sunrise is 5-6 am
For most of the year![/quote]
Maybe Taiwan should consider Daylight Savings Time? Under the current GMT+8, sunrise/sunset on the shortest day of the year in Taipei is 6:35am / 5:09pm, so if we move to Japan’s time zone that would be 7:35am / 6:09 pm, which might not please everybody.
I’m actually not opposed to making a change, but if it’s a real issue, then I’d suggest putting it to a referendum. The purpose should be to do what is most convenient for people, not to find a creative new way to say “fuck you” to China.
[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]
Change our time zone? That’s a new one on me. A quick look at a world time map shows that we are fine in the time zone we currently have - we are the same time as the Philippines and Western Australia, which are directly south of us. Furthermore, by coincidence today is the autumn equinox, THE perfect date for checking if we are in the “right” time zone. So I just checked now…for today, Taipei sunrise is at 5:43 AM and sunset is 5:47 PM. The ideal “correct time zone” means you want as close as possible for sunrise to be at 6:00 AM and sunset at 6:00 PM during the equinox. If we switched to Korea’s time zone, today we’d have sunrise at 6:43 AM and sunset at 6:47 PM, which is further from the ideal. Not that it makes a huge difference in the scheme of things, but it seems obvious to me that switching the time zones just to be different from China is rather petty and childish…then again, it’s just the sort of thing that the DPP would do.
Maybe we should go off the metric system too for the same reason - use pounds, feet, inches and degrees Fahrenheit, to be like America. Well, good news - Taiwan’s household electric appliances use 110 volts AC and China uses 220 volts - we really outfoxed them there (unfortunately, you have to give the KMT credit for that one). To be different from China, maybe Tsai should change the law so that we drive on the left side of the road instead of the right (admittedly, many Taiwanese already do that, so they’d hardly notice the change).[/quote]
Changing the time zone is an entirely political idea. Geographically, GMT+8 is on point, however, China is known for having only one time zone, if we change our time zone to +9, it’d send a strong message that we are different from China.
It’s easier to change time zone. Let’s face it, you get used to the new one after a few days, it’s just one hour, there wouldn’t be a jet lag.
Metric system is just plain stupid(even though I do like feet and inches), and changing the driving side is a pain in the ass.
And having a sunrise and sunset at around 7 doesn’t seem too bad to me, definitely way better than the long, long nights in winters which countries like Canada have.
GMT+8:30 doesn’t seem bad either, the idea was inspired by North Korea anyways. 
I didn’t say we have to accept some, just pretend like we would love to take a few. I bet those Syrians have never heard of Taiwan and would prefer to stay in Germany and Sweden, where people get all huggy and emotional in train stations as if they were some sort of war heroes.
Besides, why is that insane? A bunch of European countries which are way poorer than Taiwan are forced to take some because of EU’s refugees distribution system(ie Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, some or all of these countries are still receiving aids from the EU); some have skyrocket level of unemployment rate and are arguably as corrupt as Taiwan are, if not worse, but are still willing to take some(ie Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece). If they can do that, why can’t we accept a few?
And geography is not a problem. Australia is way more remote but they have always been accepting refugees from around the world. Obviously the only problem is culture, but aren’t you people the ones who always complain about how provincial and isolated Taiwan is? It could very well be a first step.
Taiwan already uses the same calendar as North Korea (where it is the Juche year 104), so why not the same time zone?
But I wish the world would just use one single time zone, and get everybody used to the fact that depending on where you are, sunrise and sunset might be at any time of the clock. Of course we’d still need some way of demarcating days.
Ractopamine itself cannot be sold in Taiwan, but American beef contaminated with ractopamine can be imported thanks to Ma’s groveling to AIT and Amcham (the latter basically runs AIT). I could have been more specific when I said “ban ractopamine,” but I’m sure by now everyone here knows the score.[/quote]
So what?!
I’ll take the ractopamine any day because US beef is absolutely delicious.
And what difference does it make at the end of the day. The poison in the air and food locally is a thousand times worse. Do you know that Taiwanese still pour boiling hot soup into plastic bags after all these decades and with everything we know now about chemicals in plastics and danger to health, they still do it. Such an easy fix to such a reckless practice (e.g. companies can drop off large pots, containers etc to the 5 or 6 restaurants locally that they order from every day).[/quote]
I really don’t know what the big balloo is about. When I was in Taiwan, beef was clearly labeled with its origin. New Zealand beef is grassy, fyi. Allow all beef into the country and label it’s point of origin and let the consumers decide what they want to eat.
China has Taiwan beat on that, isn’t the whole country of China on ONE TIME ZONE? Stoopid and yet true?
What’s stupid is Daylight Savings. At least you have consistency with one time zone.
Do you have any idea how utterly clueless about Taiwan that makes you sound? This is a country where the majority of rice noodles brands have no rice in their noodles. Where Taiwan Tea comes from Vietnam. Where cooking oil comes from cattle feed and old shoe leather.
Yes,I am sure the beef you saw was labelled. And yes I am sure those labels mentioned countries. But that’s about all you can conclude.
For one thing "go South policy? " the name has to change "going South " is generally considered , in America anyways, as heading for a bad end. LIke , “this project is going south” .
Officially it’s “Southbound” and Tsai’s been using Southbound in her speech. I don’t know if OP deliberately chose “Go South” to ridicule it. But 南進 has no negative connotation in Taiwan.
Do you have any idea how utterly clueless about Taiwan that makes you sound? This is a country where the majority of rice noodles brands have no rice in their noodles. Where Taiwan Tea comes from Vietnam. Where cooking oil comes from cattle feed and old shoe leather.
Yes,I am sure the beef you saw was labelled. And yes I am sure those labels mentioned countries. But that’s about all you can conclude.[/quote]
You just described the USA. It’s how they market “organic” food here, you’re able to know where it’s coming from and what exactly is in it. Like, you know, organic beef which presumably would be without ractopamine (or any other drug or additive). It’s grassy tasting; American cows are fed corn days before slaughter to make their meat bland. Let the consumer decide.
Do you have any idea how utterly clueless about Taiwan that makes you sound? This is a country where the majority of rice noodles brands have no rice in their noodles. Where Taiwan Tea comes from Vietnam. Where cooking oil comes from cattle feed and old shoe leather.
Yes,I am sure the beef you saw was labelled. And yes I am sure those labels mentioned countries. But that’s about all you can conclude.[/quote]
You just described the USA. It’s how they market “organic” food here, you’re able to know where it’s coming from and what exactly is in it. Like, you know, organic beef which presumably would be without ractopamine (or any other drug or additive). It’s grassy tasting; American cows are fed corn days before slaughter to make their meat bland. Let the consumer decide.[/quote]
The government has a roll is banning harmful additives and not just letting the consumer decide. Well, okay, that is only the common opinion of the developed world. I know Americans have different ideas because they all think their ability to detect fraud is on par with billion dollar industries’ ability to disguise it.
I agree with you that the government’s main purpose should be protecting its people, and sometimes that includes protecting them from themselves. But I’m not convinced Ractopamine is harmful. Obviously, if you injected it or fed it straight to human beings there would be problems… but what we’re talking about is people eating the meat of Ractopamine-fed animals. Before we debate whether or not it should be allowed into the country, we should determine verifiably if it’s detrimental to human health. But that’s sadly not how most conversations on this topic go.
And then there are all the poisons that every food growing country in the world uses to keep bugs from eating all of our fruits and vegetables. Taiwan just bought 2+ billions of corn and soybeans from Illinois and Iowa.
Pesticides are not always poisons. Many are pretty benign. As many are now arguing, they are also generally uneccessary. The agricultural industry is near evil across the world in its casual neglect of best practices and the consequences of its activities on human health and the environment.
I agree with you that the government’s main purpose should be protecting its people, and sometimes that includes protecting them from themselves. But I’m not convinced Ractopamine is harmful. Obviously, if you injected it or fed it straight to human beings there would be problems… but what we’re talking about is people eating the meat of Ractopamine-fed animals. Before we debate whether or not it should be allowed into the country, we should determine verifiably if it’s detrimental to human health. But that’s sadly not how most conversations on this topic go.[/quote]
Look, other countries and regions have determined it is harmful or in the case of EU food safety inspectors that the data does not support claims it is safe for human health. When you add to this the fact that the FDA approved it only based on the manufacturer’s research and that in practise there have been more complaints of its affects on pigs than any other drug then the onus is on you to show why I should believe it is not unsafe.
You seem to believe when it comes to additives that we can ever be 100% certain of their safety. We can’t. Even water is toxic at higher levels.
But with ractopamine the preponderance of evidence is in favor of the conclusion this since it waa bot ever tested properly, and that it is known to make pigs unable to walk, we shouldn’t be using it.
I am under the impression that there is a difference between consuming it directly and consuming an animal that was fed it… but I can’t find any scientific studies except one on the effects of indirect ingestion.
Residue is often found on pork meat so people are directly ingesting it. In any case, if you want to eat an animal that was crippled by a leanness enhancing drug I won’t stop you but I will question your judgement.
Seriously, I have read enough to convince me that this is not safe based on the level our information currently stands. I don’t think it is a proper response in cases like this to say we need more evidence. The drug is on the market and is being used. if we don’t have the evidence it is safe then it needs to be pulled. If it isn’t pulled then consumers should avoid it.
I agree we need more studies to determine the exact nature of is affects on humans. But I disagree this means that in the meantime we should agree to have racto-pork available on the market on let the consumer decide.
Fair enough. I definitely support more studies, regardless.
Why exactly? Do we need lean pork for national security? What is the benefit anyone but agrobusiness derives from this?
It’s not healthier, it’s simply about getting a leaner taste and look with minimum expense to the industry. No matter what, it’s an unethical practise as it treats pigs as a commodity that can be exploited and abused to no end if it means more profit, greater efficiency, or whatever it is that motivates the karmically-cursed beancounters in these businesses.