Wack things sees no bounds in 2022.
That’s a great business idea. People always know where to go to find you.
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Knife fight outside a Starbucks in Taichung on Christmas Eve.
Here’s a video from inside the Starbucks
And another from outside
Gang or drunk?
Can’t it be both?
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Dispute over a debt from what I read.
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Not sure what’s crazier, the gas explosion or the police officers dealing with a parking violation.
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Some beaches clearly label not to take shells. Never seen anything about drift wood.
How about other stuff that washes up? Do these beach cleanup groups have to get permission anytime they want to clean up the beach from trash?
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That’s all I could find (in english) about illegality of picking driftwood in Taiwan:
The draft stipulates that if after a natural disaster the government and public utilities fail to clean up the driftwood within a month, local residents may collect remaining driftwood. However, the precious wood is still off limits to citizens.
Tree species in the Forestry Bureau’s definition of precious wood include Taiwan yellow falsecypress, Taiwan red falsecypress, Taiwan incense cedar, Formosan michelia, Taiwan zelkova, and stout camphor.
A months after Taifun season seems to be fine? Except some precious trees.
fine of NT$100,000 to NT$1 million and two years in jail on offenders
Seems a bit excessive
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They mention “which can also lead to illegal logging during disaster cleanup”. Must be something along these lines.
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ELI5 why is this ‘precious’?
Would imagine part of the problem is if someone was caught with those types of wood they could simply claim they found it on the beach, or could even purposely log and throw the wood into a nearby river to be carried to the beach for collection.
Collecting a whole van load was bound to draw some attention, guessing it isn’t the first time or the cops would have simply issued a warning.
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So I had a unique experience about ten years back which gave me some insight about the law and the situation at large …I visited a beach in Miaoli in the morning after a big Typhoon hit the island. The whole beach had the scent of camphor and hinoki and covered with washed up trees. It was simply incredible and I was astonished at this natural phenomenon that I never expected to encounter.
I checked the washed up logs and saw that many had already been checked and marked with cuts for collection (which means they had been on the beach really early , possibly before dawn). And I saw a backhoe type vehicle loading up some on a truck . One guy had plunked a 50KG log on his scooter and made off in a hurry.
I debated about grabbing a piece or two but it was already clear that I would be in trouble if caught.
That lumber is officially collected by the county government . There are many cowboys who probably try and get to it first or work with corrupt local officials.
Anyway, one of the unique sights and smells of my life, a fragrant beach covered in millions of dollars of precious wood.
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If it would be free for all, I imagine there would be fierce fights for who gets to take the logs.
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Taiwan really needs to do something about the people who don’t know how to read a pedestrian crossing. It’s absolutely horrifying crossing any road.
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Everything is fine. People can do charity. The government does not have to do anything. The killer will drink and drive again.
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