Gambling

I love this cartoon:

I am vehemently opposed to gambling. As a mathematician, I know from the Central Limit Theorem of Probability: "The more you gamble, the more you will lose." This is because anyone who offers a gambling opportunity("the house") knows the odds are in their favor. Those fantastic establishments built in the desert of Las Vegas are built on the loses of losers and nothing else. There maybe "streaks" that defy the Central Limit Theorem but the limit behavior is clear. To think that you can win against the house is sign of a weak mind.

In Taiwan, gambling on games of chance is legal. For example, pull boards at the night markets. You pay a fee to pull a piece a paper to see if you are a winner. At the end of the day do you think "the house" is a loser?

This is like the Catholic Church's version of bingo. God helps those that lose to the church. A real loser is assured a place in Heaven for doing the Lord's work.

But in Taiwan, with unmonitored Internet access, gambling is just a click away. In a culture where money is #1, lots of people are caught up in the quest for the "big score". That this is a losing position should be part of any education.

But, for me, the most insidious efforts, are those of governments that legalize gambling. I think legislators that are unwilling to raise taxes are willing to declare gambling a "sin" and all sin taxes are defensible. I guess, if being stupid is a sin then gambling really is a sin. If the sin only effected the sinner I would have no problem, but we all know that the gambling of the "sinners" effects their children, their relatives, their friends, ... But for politicians, dividing the electorate is part of the game.

Gambling is legal in Taiwan with government sponsored lotteries and sports betting on baseball games, ...

Gambling on baseball games in Taiwan has lead to several prosecutions where baseball players have been paid to throw games by Taiwanese gangsters. Gambling effects are pernicious.

But in Taiwan, wagering on games of skill is NOT legal. So playing MahJhong, Poker(and variants) and XiangQi(Chinese Chess) for money is NOT legal. To gamble legally you have to be as stupid as your fellow players. All sinners must be equally stupid.

But I must admit. I do like the excitement of winning. In the March-April receipt lottery I won 200NT (~6-7US$).

I also like gambling when I go into a Taiwanese restaurant and order from the Chinese menu. Some dishes have names that are archaic or flowery so it's a gamble what happens. Sometimes, I close my eyes and just point, luckily I not a picky eater.

Sewers

One of my 16 greatgreatgreat grandfathers, Michael Von Essen, came from Bavaria to the United States in 1852. With such a distinguished name, I speculate that he was a second, third ... son, and in those days the opportunities for such a son was as a soldier or a priest as the inheritance all went to the first son.

In China/Taiwan the inheritance is better in that the wealth is divided among the sons, with the oldest given an extra portion and generally in charge of family affairs. Of course, the daughters get nothing because they have married into other families. This seems to be the default position if the father doesn't make arrangements before death. Asians in general, I think don't like to talk about death so this custom is often the case. But I also think nowadays Asian families value daughters more than in the past. But if there is one thing certain in this world it is: WE ALL WILL DIE. So not making plans is the height of idiocy. I welcome readers to add their own thoughts.

Anyway, a helpful U.S. immigration official helped Michael VonEssen become Michael Ess and ever since everyone in America that has Ess as a last name has Michael VonEssen as an ancestor. One of a kind. I, Michael Arthur Ess, was named after my Irish Grandfather, Michael McMahon and my German Grandfather, Arthur Ess).


Joseph Ess, one of Michael VonEssen's sons, started a foundry in Chaska Minnesota. The continuing story of Ess Brothers and Sons Inc is found at:

 
http://www.essbrothers.com/new_page_2.htm

One of the major products of the Ess foundry has been manhole covers.

My father's father was Arthur Ess, a younger brother of Edmund Ess, one of the 6 generation of owners of the foundry. I speculate that Arthur Ess, being a younger son was not going to be an owner of the Ess foundry because the foundry stayed in the hands of the oldest son following the old German tradition. Gruss Gott for that, who wants to grow up in a hick town like Chaska anyway?

I use to go out to Chaska for Ess family reunions, I remember meeting Edmund as the first person I ever saw who actually wore suspenders. I went to the Ess foundry once as a kid, I never saw so much rust in one place. Rust is actually a pretty color.

The story of the confrontation between the EPA and the Ess foundry at the Ess foundry website is definitely onesided. I'm sure that the rest of Chaska was cheering when the Ess foundry moved out of downtown Chaska.

If there is one technology that hasn't changed much in more that 100 years, it has to be manhole covers. I would guess that in every country in the world they look the same. Here's what they look like in Tainan.

But there are some structures still left from Japanese time, like these sewer culverts. Japanese construction often uses an arch whereas Chinese construction uses a lentil.

Wu Lun Che

I have never been happy with my pictures of a San Lun Che(3 wheel vehicle) because I only had pictures of them driving past me. I have less than 2 week left in Taiwan and I had given up on getting good pictures. But then as a gift from the gods, I came across this machine on the way from school.

Wow, he was stopped at a fire hydrant filling up the water tank in the bed. So while he filled up with a heavy load, I could shoot pictures.

Sure enough a big car/truck engine with his seat on the engine hood. Children, can we all say: VIBRATIONS! And look at the heavy duty springs for the front suspension.

I've always wanted a close look at the front wheel because what kind of brake can stop such a behemoth! Look at the close up, no brake at all! And with a with a full tank of water, I think he doesn't stop for red lights.

All the braking power is in the back! Here's the rear view.

So actually this one is not even a San Lun Che(3 wheeled vehicle), but a Wu lun Che(5 wheeled vehicle)!

This was one of the luckiest days on Tainan. I talked with the driver for awhile and you could tell he was proud to own a one of a kind vehicle. I got to use the phrase: "wu er du yi".

Fun Stuff

My modus operandi of doing blog topics is:

1.think of a good subject
2.create a computer folder for photos
3.accumulate about 5 photos
4.write the blog entry and publish

I have less that 2 weeks left in this time in Taiwan but I want to clean up the partial folders, so here is a bunch of just random stuff.

In the Kaohsiung subway system, this picture is used as place holder for some real money making advertisement. It looked familiar so I studied it for awhile, it is Cinder Island in the Crater Lake in southern Oregon. I've been there, but I didn't expect to see it in Taiwan.

This is the year of the rabbit by the Chinese Zodiac Calendar. So at the beginning of the year lots of rabbits were sold, some of the rabbits were sold as "mimi tuzi", that is miniature rabbits. Now, with half the year over many of these "mimi tuzi" have turned out to be just baby rabbits that have now grown big. They eat a lot and smell, what to do?

Here at the "Tooth Fairy Dental", I a little worried that they be too inclined extract the tooth rather than try to save it.

But that's OK because right around the block they have another dental clinic.

This is an old style cooling mechanism from before air conditioning. Basically hot air from inside the building is blown through dripping water and back inside. It's the same principle as electric power generators cooling towers.

Although I have air conditioning in my dormitory room, I haven't used it yet. I'm trying to last until the end of the semester with only electric fans.

This is a nice picture of an aquarium that I wanted to use in the feng shui blog but the aquarium was down at that time.

My Chinese teacher really got a kick out of learning that this plant's name is "mother-in-law's tongue",
婆婆的嘴頭.

In a previous post

http://tainanchineseclass.blogspot.com/2010/01/shiny-stuff.html

I waxed on ad nausea um about the word "shining", but in at least one case I was completely off base. In the sign below "Shining" is just the romanization of the first two Chinese characters in Wade-Giles romanization. The word "Shining" has nothing to to with the English word shining or shiny.

Thanks go out to all the readers who pointed out this mistake.

Garbage Collection

I am now on the second floor of the dormitory on the North side of the building so I have a better view than before. Now I look out of the garbage collection area.
Here is the view from the top of the dormitory, the sixth floor.

There are 6 recycling bins and 6 garbage bins that are filled everyday. The janitor, a Mr Du, sorts the garbage everyday. He goes through each garbage/recycling bin and separate out any paper and plastic for recycling. The only items that actually are garbage are those that are composable. I think that anything that was processed before does NOT get to the landfill.

Every garbage area in Tainan is the same. There is an army of recyclers that salvage anything of value from the garbage. On the streets you see them like this.

This valuable stuff, is locked up against thieves who might steal the recyclables.

I see these recyclers at their job and they seem some of the happiest people in Tainan.

The recycling watch words are: "Reduce, reduce, repair, and recycle", Taiwan is way ahead in this game. There are no Goodwill/Salvation Army, the garbage is processed by experts. If there is anything of value, it isn't wasted.

But even at a national level recycling is a goal. This building at the Taibei International Floral Expo is entirely built from recycled bottles.

Motorcycles in Tainan - One more time

Concerning my series on "Motorcycles in Tainan", I have some more info and pictures:

A   50cc scooter costs about $1000US
A 150cc scooter costs about $2000US


You'd think on a small island like Taiwan, theft wouldn't be a problem because whoever bought the stolen scooter would be found out. But as was explained to me the stolen scooter will quickly be "chopped" in to resellable pieces and parts. There is one pitiful story of one of the Chinese teachers who bought a new scooter on payments, the scooter was stolen and she still has to make the payments. My own Chinese teacher doesn't want to upgrade to a newer scooter because it just becomes a target for thieves.

Here's another picture of a moving San Lun Che.

With a canopy roof!

Such a small engine, no fatties allowed!

Here's an impractical BMW motorcycle next to a motorscooter, there is definitely a size difference.

Here's a better picture of the first scooter I ever owned.

In a recent newsletter for the Tainan Foreign Assistance Newsletter they has some interesting numbers:

There are 1.4 motorcycles/scooter in Tainan, that is 1.2 motorscooter/cycles for every adult in Tainan. And over .5 million motorcycles/scooters are over 15 years old!

In an effort to get the polluting old 2-strokes of the road, the City of Tainan is offering 1000NT for each 10 year old 2 stroke, 1500NT for each 15 year old, and so on up to 3500NT. It looks like the days of the old 2 strokes are coming to an end.

Kaohsiung Electronics

DIY is big in Taiwan, it stands for Do It Yourself. For women this means making your own jewelry, knitting, sewing, ... For guys it means building your own computer, electronics, framing pictures, ...

For me, I've had a chance to self learn some electronics here in Taiwan, there are lots of electronics stores selling electronic tools, kits and components. (You can never have too many tools.)

I used to think the Guan Hua district in Taipei was just the best place in the world for electronic stuff, but Kaohsiung has an even better place, Jianguo Road and Ming Chang Road. For me in Tainan,  this is a great improvement.

As you can see from the map, Tainan(T'ai-nan) is much closer to Kao-hsiung than Taipei. The bus ride to Taipei is about 4.5 hours and 350 NT whereas to go to Kaohsiung is less than 1 hour and at most 106 NT.

Arriving in Kaohsiung, there are great maps in the subway system telling you where you are, but Jianguo Road is right next to the train station.

Jianguo Road has tons of computer and camera stores.
On one street you can do comparison shopping.

At the far Eastern edge of Jianguo Road there is the SunFair store with 5 or 6 floors of all the computer equipment that you might every want.

A little cheesecake always helps.

For me, the interesting road is parallel to Jianguo, one block to the North, Ming Chang road. This road have the electronic components and tools. There are at least 5 stores like this one.

For the hobbyist these places are like Heaven.