Well How About That?

I saw this front page article on the demise of piracy in the Taipei Times on Sunday while I was getting my haircut. There should have been a warning about getting your haircut while reading the article, because when I got to the quote from Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the US Trade Representative's office in Washington, I nearly fell out of my chair and now have a very odd racing stripe that goes from behind one ear diagonally up around the back of my head up to the ...uhh...the place where there's less hair to cut. Here's the quote in it's glory:

“Taiwan was a haven for pirates. Today, it has strengthened its enforcement, strengthened its laws and demonstrated a commitment to becoming a haven for innovation and creativity,"

I can't wait to tell my students this after the holiday! This is just what we've all been waiting for! Goodbye rote memorization, hello critical thinking.

True enough, Taiwan used to be a place where you could buy movies on DVD while they were still playing in the theater. Movies which often featured the heads of audience members coming in late or standing up to take a phone call on the other side of the theater. You could buy them from seemingly unmanned stalls at the nightmarket. Haven't seen that in at least four years. I haven't been to the nightmarket in four years, either.

Enough is enough. All this talk of piracy and intellectual property  has made me hungry for a nice schmitschmorrent.