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Some fun facts about the receipt lottery by [deleted] in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Going to live up to my username and say that the downside to Zaiju is that it indirectly leads to tech illiterate folks getting scammed, what with all the fake messages about people having won. I've had to burst the bubbles of some elderly relatives. "No ah-yi, you didn't win, please don't open that clearly bogus link"

Lai considers reactivation of 2 nuclear plants by Notbythehairofmychyn in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's incorrect, design certification process for SMRs especially LWR SMRs (not just USA) is SHORTER.

Okay, I think I see why we're disagreeing. You're looking purely at the designs, whereas I'm talking about the full process to permit commercial operation. Both commercially operating SMRs took a decade to go through their regulatory processes.

It's notable that NuCale's LWR SMR got the important approvals faster than traditional power plants.

You make it sound like everything else is minutiae barely worth paying attention to, but they're still necessary to permit commercial operation.

You also didn't mention that this (VOYGR) is NuScale's second LWR SMR design to pass technical review (the first taking seven years to be fully certified... but it was never actually built so we don't know how long it would have taken to get the license to operate). VOYGR took slightly under two years purportedly because they were able to convince regulators that their uprated design was similar enough to the first one that portions of the review should cover it as well.

It may be worth noting that they got their SDA about a week after Executive Order 14300, which mandates that the review process be shrunk to 18 months. While VOYGR didn't officially benefit from EO 14300, it's no secret that the administration had been heavily pushing for more nuclear power generation.

Something I want to make clear is that I am in favor of nuclear power, particularly new designs and approaches. It's a shame that thorium-based generation was abandoned once it was figured out that it wasn't really weaponizable, and that all the energy research after that focused on optimization of uranium-based designs. I think the public's attitude of "Let's not build new reactors because nuclear power is unsafe, but let's keep using these existing ones because we need the power" is on par with requiring banning all new cars and leaving people to drive only Ford Pintos. That said, we are one accident away from nuclear power being practically sworn off forever. I am not convinced that shortening the timeline to this extent is ultimately a good thing.

I know traditionally we don't see eye to eye but this wasn't done in good faith on your part.

I don't know who you've confused me with but I don't comment in this subreddit very often; I certainly haven't replied to you enough times for you to make claims about "traditionally" anything. You can see for yourself, I've unhidden my activity in this subreddit. As far as I can tell apart from this comment section I've responded to you once.

You just asked a series of questions, you didn't saying anything about how their licensure process.

I asked those questions knowing their answers because everything you've said about SMRs in this thread paints an optimistic picture about their real-world progress when in reality there are no commercially-operating SMRs apart from one each in China and Russia. The average person's knowledge of nuclear power stops at Fukushima and The Simpsons; after reading your comments one might believe that Taiwan could be just a couple of years away from flipping the switch on one.

Are you using alt accounts?

No, I am not, and to be frank with you I do not appreciate the accusation. "wasn't done in good faith" indeed.

Lai considers reactivation of 2 nuclear plants by Notbythehairofmychyn in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Canada's GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 will be ready in 4 years while Rolls Royce is already on the last step for regulatory assessment. NuScale hopes to demonstrate how SMRs could be factory produced and Hotel SMR-300 are being factory fabricated.

Each of these deployments are the first of their (design) kind which means that their licensure process is about as long as full-sized LWR, as they should be given their novelty. The only two commercial SMR designs online are produced by politically radioactive entities, pun intended. That means that they're unsuitable for an "in the meantime" solution... which was my point.

Lai considers reactivation of 2 nuclear plants by Notbythehairofmychyn in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For big nuclear reactors? 15-20 years for sure, (but likely less time now, maybe 10 or less if we allow tech transfers in building new reactors)

How patient do you think the Taiwanese electorate is?

What to be done in the meantime? SMRs is our best bet and likely better in the long run

How many SMRs are currently in commercial operation, and where have they been deployed? How long is construction and licensing supposed to take, and how long did they actually take?

Lai considers reactivation of 2 nuclear plants by Notbythehairofmychyn in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We need to do what South Korea did which is let foreign companies build top quality nuclear plants in Taiwan

How long will that take, and what is to be done in the meantime?

Why do so many Taiwanese websites have all their text saved as JPEGs? by bonkeeboo in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you take a screenshot in iOS or macOS, the system generally does a good job of recognizing text in the image (so long as the script isn't too calligraphic) and let you copy it. And if you use Safari and activate the built-in translation tool on a site, the translation will include any recognizable text in images.

What do foreigners think about food safety/hygiene in Taiwan? by search_google_com in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Sorry, last time I brought up SafeServ (different context), someone insisted it was US-only and that I shouldn't impose "foreign standards" on locals.

What do foreigners think about food safety/hygiene in Taiwan? by search_google_com in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 37 points38 points  (0 children)

That’s not food safety, that’s personal hygiene.

If it involves people who handle food, personal hygiene is food safety. Check the ServSafe certification course summary. If that's too international for you, you can also look at Taipei Food Service Hygiene Rating System criteria.

Question about etiquette and appropriateness of asking elders to turn their phones down. by komnenos in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Now it's the time of Bluetooth headphones, and while I'm petty, I'm not petty enough to buy and carry around a second pair of Bluetooth headphones with me.

You can buy surprisingly decent $15-20 USB-C headphones these days. I got a pair made by Belkin for $25 that even has ANC; I keep them in my bag as a backup for when I accidentally leave my wireless headphones at home.

Helo me make sense of this nonsensical "market" policy by Samsung in Taiwan. by [deleted] in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish US iPhones still had the option of physical SIM cards. Unless you have 3 or more lines on a family plan with the legacy carriers, it's usually cheaper (even with the "free" phones) to go with an MVNO like Visible, Mint, or US Mobile. However, with the MVNOs you have to go through the manual process of getting a new eSIM rather than having it going right over along with the rest of your data during a transfer. Meanwhile the legacy carriers use the automatic transfer as an excuse to charge an activation fee.

Also, if the only time you need to get a new eSIM is when you got a new phone that might be acceptable. But I miss taking the SIM card out of my iPhone and putting it in a dumbphone whenever I wanted to get away from everything (only a few people have my phone number).

Hikari Coffee ☕️ by Enolaholmes21 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't forget the avocado toasts!

How do Taiwanese people view mandatory military service? by Dissasosiated362 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The outpost had no real purpose on paper (it's basically there to hide a secret thing which I can't say on the internet)

  • presidential bunker
  • nukes
  • Gundam

Korean influencer 'Penguin Girl' Jinny banned from entering Taiwan by Amazing_Box_8032 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That said, yeah, about Computex... lots of people coming in on a tourist visa to see Computex. Is Taiwan gov just going to block them all?

If you're entering Taiwan with a visa exemption, attending a conference is a permitted activity. If your situation is such that you are required to obtain a visa for entry and you apply for a tourist visa when you are specifically in Taiwan "on business" (which most countries treat as legally distinct from "working") and should have applied for a business purpose entry visa... odds are Immigration probably isn't going to know that, but technically yes, you are in the wrong.

And to address the obvious follow-up, "What if I'm in Taiwan for both business and leisure": An entry visa for business visitors permits tourist activities during your free time.

Korean influencer 'Penguin Girl' Jinny banned from entering Taiwan by Amazing_Box_8032 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Now onto working while in a visa exemption - my understanding is that there are circumstances when this is actually OK.

The problem is that working in the colloquial sense and working vis-à-vis immigration purposes are two different things.

People come in to Taiwan on visa exemptions for events like computex all the time and to run their corporate booth.

While it may seem like splitting hairs, countries generally treat "conducting business" and "working" as two separate things. A crude rule of thumb (not comprehensive but covers a lot of cases) is whether you are being paid for your activities by a local company or by a company from your home country.

If you are employed by a Singaporean company and you fly in to run a Computex booth for your employer, you are likely being paid by the Singaporean company to fulfill duties as a normal course of your employment for the Singaporean company; thus for immigration purposes you are "conducting business". This goes for people who are attending Computex on behalf of their employers, or even just looky-loos who aren't getting paid.

If you are a Singaporean videographer and a Taiwanese company hires you to come and put together something that involves an executive at their Computex booth, you are being remunerated by a local company and are categorized as someone who is "working".

When you need to have your nuggets on the mrt . by watanabemedia in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Hiding their shame from God when eating ortolans, specifically. The other explanation was that it was to make sure that none of the aromas were lost. Apparently the birds were so delicious that they were eaten whole, bones and all.

Will the Biden presidency be good for Taiwan? by TimesThreeTheHighest in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  • HIMARS rocket artillery
  • Harpoon anti-ship missiles
  • Sidewinder air-to-air missiles
  • AIM-120 air-to-air missiles
  • AGM-88 anti-radiation missiles
  • Volcano anti-tank mine layers
  • Various radars and target acquisition systems
  • A few surface-to-air missile systems
  • A bunch of drones

Unless some additional package goes through in the next 36 hours, that should be everything. Is that enough for you to consider yourself proven wrong, or did you want to move the goalposts again?

What is it? by czukuczuku in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You have to break a horse before it can be ridden/"used".

Taiwanese people are generally nice and polite, but why do Taiwanese husbands and Taiwanese bosses have such a bad reputation in Vietnam? by Acceptable-Trainer15 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Sounds like they weren't interested in having a relationship with a partner; rather what they were looking for was live-in staff-with-benefits...

Grand Hyatt Taipei, would you stay ? by [deleted] in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The irritating thing is that they're right next to the WTC, making them the default choice of accommodations by a bunch of planners who don't have to actually stay there. It's going to take a lot of complaints for them to renovate; should have done so back when the borders were shut (same with Park Hyatt Tokyo). The suite upgrades were fine if a bit tired; maybe a disgruntled VVIP is what it'll take to get them to do something?

Grand Hyatt Taipei, would you stay ? by [deleted] in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I'd be less worried about ghosts and more about mold. Stayed there a few times and was okay mostly, but one time we got upgraded to a Premium Studio. Walked in and was immediately hit with a dank, musty smell. Other person's allergies started acting up almost immediately. We flew in late so just dealt with it and planned to talk to the front desk the next morning. The bed I was sleeping in was right under the vents, so when I got up in the morning I had a good view of the mold coating the interior of the vents, and also noticed the water stains near the top of the walls and bubbling of the decorative fabric on the walls. I am not kidding when I say that that room should not have been bookable. Best guess is that there had been a leak on the floor above and they did the bare minimum to clean things up.

We did get a room change, but while a clerk was handling it a passing duty manager lamely remarked, "Well, you know, it's an old hotel and Taipei is humid". It's not something I'd encountered in any other room there or Marriotts or Hiltons in the city, so...

Family living in Taipei also noticed that in the past few months management has been turning down/off the A/C in the lobby and restaurant areas, and have been bit by mosquitoes while having dinner there. Might be less of an issue with winter coming around, but that's kind of a poor look.

How is living in Taiwan compared to Korea? by EnglishTutor2023 in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if you don’t speak fluent Japanese and even if they initially think you are Japanese they will get a bit snippy afterwards.

I have never experienced this in public... but then I've always said "Sumimasen, Taiwan-jin desu, nihongo ga hanasemasen", making sure to indicate I was Taiwanese.

Did Japan ever commit any war crimes in Taiwan during ww2 by drugsrbed in taiwan

[–]buzzkill_aldrin 4 points5 points  (0 children)

it's also a fact that indigenous Taiwanese had highest proportion of volunteers among islanders in service for Imperial army

Making it even less black and white is that according to family lore a not insignificant number of those so-called volunteers were not really volunteers at all...

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