chaorace

It should also be noted that Taiwan is pretty toxic in Chinese politics. The Hong Kong government probably doesn't want to talk to Taiwan because Mainland China wants, quite badly, for Taiwan to not exist.

The best analogy I can think of is "not negotiating with terrorists", though, the metaphor is pretty weak here, since Taiwan's only "crime" is existing. You see, technically speaking, Taiwan considers themselves to be the true seat of the Chinese government. I know that sounds kind of nuts, but their claim does have legitimacy, since Taiwan is the last vestige of China's prior republican government.

Taiwan has been, in the past, officially recognized as the Chinese government. They controlled China's U.N. vote for years. Understandably, China's not enthusiastic about having dealings with what they see as a "pretender" government, since that lends legitimacy to their existence as a sovereign nation.

Too many -- the mortality rate is surprisingly high. It's basically game over if the machine somehow comes to life when your torso is in the way. Did I mention that most repairs and maintenance require crawling inside the machine? There's safety systems in place, but all it takes is once...

Oh, how I long for the days of the bowling shoe. At some point they realized they had much better efficacy with the bumper sticks. I am covered in bruises.

They used to just strap me to a lane and let the cleaning machine take care of the rest -- 007 style

LOTO is the safety system. It's not a bulletproof solution; on most machines you're just locking out the power switch, nothing mechanical. This is an issue because a lot of work happens with tension still in the system, so something as innocent as a dodgy clutch can lead to trouble. Keep in mind that many of these machines will have been in-use for decades, sometimes with long interruptions to the maintenance schedule.

There's also, of course, the issue of workers simply not following procedure. Entry level mechanics are often teenagers who get cut loose after just a few days of training, after all. The machines are also usually very predictable, so they have a way of luring even experienced mechanics into a false sense of security -- lots of old hands have lost fingers trying to pluck a jammed pin out of the turret or suffered an unfortunate slip when standing just a little too close over a running machine.

At least sharp enough to decapitate my enemies