Good ideas II

I keep a folder of photos that just come up as I'm walking the streets of Tainan that seem like good ideas I don't see in the US. Here we have a bus that carries around a tent that can be used to cover itself from the sun. This is better than running the motor to run the AC while the bus is waiting for the passengers to come back.



















Well if solar power is going to work anywhere it has got to be Taiwan. Here is the water heating apparatus on a dorm at NCKU. I heard that in Florida there use to be such water heating methods but it was easier for the landlord to charge for electricity than to maintain such a passive system. Cooperation has to benefit both sides to be something that both sides cooperate on.




















In the 70s, I read a book the "The Zen and Art of Motorcycle Maintence" and I actually belonged to a book discussion club at the UM with Pirsig(the author) about this book. The gist of this book, as remember it, was that even though the driver took his kid on a cross country motorcycle trip, the driver didn't understand that the kid didn't appreciate the trip like he did because the kid's viewpoint as a passenger wasn't the same as the driver. Duh! From behind the driver you don't see what the driver sees! Duh! Duh! Duh! In Taiwan they have figured this out and the kid is up in front! With a bamboo addition:

Or for a more structured solution(double seats):

One of the most annoying thing about living in downtown Bellevue is the leaf blowers that start up at 7AM. I thought maybe the high price of gas might mitigate the leaf blowing but no such luck. Early in the morning in Bellevue the leaf blowers go full blast, sleeping in with the windows open is not an option.

In Tainan they have the same leaf problem but they don't use leaf blowers. Lots of old people are employed to do the same job, they use the old fashion way of brooms. Here is a station of one of the NCKU workers who sweep in the mornings. Exercise for old people and a clean environment, win-win.