After yesterday's post, I might have trouble convincing you this lives up to its name, "The most terrifying video you'll ever see"... but it's also an important video to see and think about, explained really clearly and simply.
Yeah, I posted it at Roboseyo before... back when nobody read me.
In other "save the world" news, I've gotten involved with the KIVA loan thingy, and it's awesome. You can sponsor micro-loans that help people improve their lives in clear, tangible ways, for as little as $25.00USD.
one expat's life in Korea
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Been busy and stuff. More on Community building
first of all, posts are taking longer now that I resize photos to take up less space. Blogger only gives me a finite amount of space for posting pictures.
Second: been busy preparing logic and rhetoric and public speaking curricula for a really cool class who wants to learn about the art of persuasion. It's been interesting reading up on that stuff. It's also interesting how, back in the days of the greeks, logic and rhetoric were considered part of the same field, where now, logic is usually considered the domain of philosophy or sometimes science, and rhetoric would more likely be found on a languages, composition, communications or media course calendar. Plus, logic is generally trusted, but rhetoric has that slight taint of mistrust.
Anyway, it's been interesting reading up on it. Really interesting. Like, "I might want to pursue something like this in a postgraduate way" interesting, but hard packaging that in a way that will get my students to talk about it, rather than in a way that gets ME lecturing about it.
So, until then... saw this really cool video on facebook. Turns out they totally captured Michael Jackson's ghost on camera when Larry King Live sent some cameras to the jackson mansion.
Warning: not for the jittery. Dad, don't watch this. Everybody else: the audio's a bit low on the clip, so it's better if you turn the volume up.
next:
After being a bit disappointed by the level of response I had to the Community posts I seriously spent all month writing, it looks like things are looking up. Chris in SK responded with a great post, and now Ask the Expat has picked up the ball, and has proposed getting the K-bloggers together, to start with, in order to position ourselves to have a larger and more positive impact in the community at large. He also suggested in a comment that some of the long-termers living in various regions take on a more prominent role in getting the expats in their areas involved in community reachouts at a more organized, formalized level, in order to build up some goodwill and positive PR to counteract the negative press (that's right: he's not just starting an exclusive bloggers-only club: there's an endgame here that's more inclusive, if I'm reading correctly, and if that's not part of the plan, if elected as president, I'll push for it). By that same token, I remember hearing (though I can't remember where) that AFEK was working on pulling together an outreach-type event involving AFEK members and their families, and maybe inviting the press. If Mike Y or other AFEK members read this, would you care to share a progress report with the rest of KBlogLand? I for one, would love to hear how your community is developing.
In other community news, ATEK is having presidential elections. I'll write more about that when I have some time, at The Hub of Sparkle. There are currently two candidates for president, unless things have changed since before. I have more to say about that, but I'll save it for the full write-up.
Aaaaaand... some of those resized pictures for you.
Rather than get into hot water by commenting on the way this ad pretty egregiously uses sex to sell... wine, I think... though it might be engine oil... I'll just wait for Gomushin girl to explain why it's better than the other ads that use sex to sell in the comments.
Been taking nice pictures lately.
Around the blue house compound, west of Gyungbok palace:
this was actually the square where Park Chung-hee was assassinated.
Next: you may or may not have seen the Kim Yuna ads at Smoothie King. I don't know how being white ties in with drinking the yuna smoothie, but several people bought one while I waited in line.
In other "be white" news, I needed something for a bit of razor burn I got from shaving too closely one morning before I went to meet Girlfriendoseyo. When I got to her house, I asked Girlfriendoseyo if she had anything for dry or irritated skin, and she couldn't find one bottle of balm or lotion WITHOUT whitener in it.
More nice clouds. This time near samchungdong.
And the last thing I'll share today: I've always loved the way a bright sun filters through layered tree leaves. Always. Well, I was bopping around Ewha Women's University with Girlfriendoseyo, and stopped under some absolutely perfect trees, on what might have been the brightest and hottest day of the summer, and snagged these amazing pictures. The original files are maximum size, and they're amazing, and we're totally blowing them up and framing them to put up and reflect upon, on those days when the busy city and smoggy traffic is just too much to handle.
have a good one, readers.
Second: been busy preparing logic and rhetoric and public speaking curricula for a really cool class who wants to learn about the art of persuasion. It's been interesting reading up on that stuff. It's also interesting how, back in the days of the greeks, logic and rhetoric were considered part of the same field, where now, logic is usually considered the domain of philosophy or sometimes science, and rhetoric would more likely be found on a languages, composition, communications or media course calendar. Plus, logic is generally trusted, but rhetoric has that slight taint of mistrust.
Anyway, it's been interesting reading up on it. Really interesting. Like, "I might want to pursue something like this in a postgraduate way" interesting, but hard packaging that in a way that will get my students to talk about it, rather than in a way that gets ME lecturing about it.
So, until then... saw this really cool video on facebook. Turns out they totally captured Michael Jackson's ghost on camera when Larry King Live sent some cameras to the jackson mansion.
Warning: not for the jittery. Dad, don't watch this. Everybody else: the audio's a bit low on the clip, so it's better if you turn the volume up.
next:
After being a bit disappointed by the level of response I had to the Community posts I seriously spent all month writing, it looks like things are looking up. Chris in SK responded with a great post, and now Ask the Expat has picked up the ball, and has proposed getting the K-bloggers together, to start with, in order to position ourselves to have a larger and more positive impact in the community at large. He also suggested in a comment that some of the long-termers living in various regions take on a more prominent role in getting the expats in their areas involved in community reachouts at a more organized, formalized level, in order to build up some goodwill and positive PR to counteract the negative press (that's right: he's not just starting an exclusive bloggers-only club: there's an endgame here that's more inclusive, if I'm reading correctly, and if that's not part of the plan, if elected as president, I'll push for it). By that same token, I remember hearing (though I can't remember where) that AFEK was working on pulling together an outreach-type event involving AFEK members and their families, and maybe inviting the press. If Mike Y or other AFEK members read this, would you care to share a progress report with the rest of KBlogLand? I for one, would love to hear how your community is developing.
In other community news, ATEK is having presidential elections. I'll write more about that when I have some time, at The Hub of Sparkle. There are currently two candidates for president, unless things have changed since before. I have more to say about that, but I'll save it for the full write-up.
Aaaaaand... some of those resized pictures for you.
Rather than get into hot water by commenting on the way this ad pretty egregiously uses sex to sell... wine, I think... though it might be engine oil... I'll just wait for Gomushin girl to explain why it's better than the other ads that use sex to sell in the comments.
Been taking nice pictures lately.
Around the blue house compound, west of Gyungbok palace:
this was actually the square where Park Chung-hee was assassinated.Next: you may or may not have seen the Kim Yuna ads at Smoothie King. I don't know how being white ties in with drinking the yuna smoothie, but several people bought one while I waited in line.
In other "be white" news, I needed something for a bit of razor burn I got from shaving too closely one morning before I went to meet Girlfriendoseyo. When I got to her house, I asked Girlfriendoseyo if she had anything for dry or irritated skin, and she couldn't find one bottle of balm or lotion WITHOUT whitener in it.
More nice clouds. This time near samchungdong.
And the last thing I'll share today: I've always loved the way a bright sun filters through layered tree leaves. Always. Well, I was bopping around Ewha Women's University with Girlfriendoseyo, and stopped under some absolutely perfect trees, on what might have been the brightest and hottest day of the summer, and snagged these amazing pictures. The original files are maximum size, and they're amazing, and we're totally blowing them up and framing them to put up and reflect upon, on those days when the busy city and smoggy traffic is just too much to handle.
have a good one, readers.
Monday, September 07, 2009
US Healthcare Has Taken Over The World
I got an e-mail from Blogger saying they'll cancel my blog if I don't discuss US Healthcare at least once - apparently this is what blogs are for this year, not unlike last year when I was required to write about New Zealand electing its new pope at least once.
Seriously, though:
The last time the entire world got swept up in the U.S. Media cycle was the Election '08 - it's happened before that as well, and will happen again, I'm sure. But I've got to just say that it was a lot more fun having every world news site monopolized by McCain, Billary, Obama and Giuliani than it is now having BBC talking about whether or not U.S. should socialize health care.
Few reasons for that: with the campaigning thing, it was fun to pick a horse and root for it. Each had strengths and weaknesses, and the polls were changing -- it was fluid and interesting and it was a character-driven narrative. With this healthcare thing, it's issue oriented, and it's super-polarized, and the compelling thing is not a McCain blunder causing a hit in the polls or "Did Hillary play the race card or not?" but it's "How shrill have the republicans gotten this week?" and "How many times was Obama compared to Hitler yesterday?" -- ROK Drop even suggested that the US political landscape is starting to look as shrill and polarized as the Korean one.
When stuff like this happens, I die inside a little. Is this REALLY how people engage relevant issues?
Anyway, my dear blog-friend/friend in real life Tamie has written an interesting blog post asking how Christians in America can quote scripture as they basically assert that they don't think the poor should be helped...when helping the poor has been one of the basic tenets of Christianity, pretty much... all the way until the political party that had co-opted Christianity wanted to oppose socialized health care. You should read what she wrote, if you care about the way religion and politics so often bleed into each other in the US.
For me, I feel like socialized health care is something that every country's going to eventually end up doing, as its infrastructure becomes able to accomodate it. "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" (MLK Jr.) (and also toward societies figuring out how to help their own out). It's more a question of whether US will come up with some form of socialized health care this year, or in 2026, after being made a laughingstock by other, smaller, poorer countries, who HAVE managed to help out the little person (by which I mean the working poor, not the vertically challenged) sooner than they, because some rich people didn't like to share, and the health insurance lobby was too successful protecting their income.
But that's just me, and my political leanings have been made pretty clear by now, so you don't have to believe or agree with what I say... just don't compare me to Hitler.
Seriously, though:
The last time the entire world got swept up in the U.S. Media cycle was the Election '08 - it's happened before that as well, and will happen again, I'm sure. But I've got to just say that it was a lot more fun having every world news site monopolized by McCain, Billary, Obama and Giuliani than it is now having BBC talking about whether or not U.S. should socialize health care.
Few reasons for that: with the campaigning thing, it was fun to pick a horse and root for it. Each had strengths and weaknesses, and the polls were changing -- it was fluid and interesting and it was a character-driven narrative. With this healthcare thing, it's issue oriented, and it's super-polarized, and the compelling thing is not a McCain blunder causing a hit in the polls or "Did Hillary play the race card or not?" but it's "How shrill have the republicans gotten this week?" and "How many times was Obama compared to Hitler yesterday?" -- ROK Drop even suggested that the US political landscape is starting to look as shrill and polarized as the Korean one.
When stuff like this happens, I die inside a little. Is this REALLY how people engage relevant issues?
Anyway, my dear blog-friend/friend in real life Tamie has written an interesting blog post asking how Christians in America can quote scripture as they basically assert that they don't think the poor should be helped...when helping the poor has been one of the basic tenets of Christianity, pretty much... all the way until the political party that had co-opted Christianity wanted to oppose socialized health care. You should read what she wrote, if you care about the way religion and politics so often bleed into each other in the US.
For me, I feel like socialized health care is something that every country's going to eventually end up doing, as its infrastructure becomes able to accomodate it. "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" (MLK Jr.) (and also toward societies figuring out how to help their own out). It's more a question of whether US will come up with some form of socialized health care this year, or in 2026, after being made a laughingstock by other, smaller, poorer countries, who HAVE managed to help out the little person (by which I mean the working poor, not the vertically challenged) sooner than they, because some rich people didn't like to share, and the health insurance lobby was too successful protecting their income.
But that's just me, and my political leanings have been made pretty clear by now, so you don't have to believe or agree with what I say... just don't compare me to Hitler.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Bliss-out of the week: Two Irresistably Happy Songs about Nookie
Dunno why sex would be the subject of so many bliss-out. (actually, on second thought, I do) but two absolute glee-freak-outs that always bring me joy: Art Brut's "Good Weekend," which I've written about before, and now "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" - neither is very sophisticated, either lyrically or musically, the songwriting is pretty by-the-numbers, open chords and major keys, but absolutely joyous vocalists and totally silly lyrics, in both cases.
Ida Maria: I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked reminds me of early No Doubt at its most joyous, except a voice with a little more gut rather than a wobbly shiny thing like Gwen Stefani's -- more Janis Joplin than Laura Branigan. Fun fun fun. As always with bliss-outs, the louder you play it, the more you'll like it.
I kinda blogged myself out with that Music post, so sorry about the light posting this week. Kinda sorry. That music post was a good one, so go read it again before you hold this against me. And if you're still upset, write me a letter and I'll send you a refund for your reading fee.
Ida Maria: I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked reminds me of early No Doubt at its most joyous, except a voice with a little more gut rather than a wobbly shiny thing like Gwen Stefani's -- more Janis Joplin than Laura Branigan. Fun fun fun. As always with bliss-outs, the louder you play it, the more you'll like it.
I kinda blogged myself out with that Music post, so sorry about the light posting this week. Kinda sorry. That music post was a good one, so go read it again before you hold this against me. And if you're still upset, write me a letter and I'll send you a refund for your reading fee.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
To all the people freaking out about swine flu...
others have been talking about this: Brian and Jason, for starters.
Now, I don't teach Kids, and if I did, I might be among you... however, we're also seeing an unprecedented wave of health and contagion awareness spread across Korea right now. Hopefully the sanitary behavior will persist even after the swine flu abates.
Have you noticed these all over the place? I have:
Yep. How to wash your hands.
And remember having your relatives send you these, and guarding them like Gollum?
I bought that one at a GS Mart. (Now sure, the sudden disinfectant binge might well make Korea a petri dish for breeding that new, disinfectant-resistant super-virus... but
And yesterday, between my workplace and my house, there was a little "get your temperature taken/fill out this symptom questionnaire" station set up. I'm fine: just a sore throat from the air conditioners. I've noticed a real upswing in contagion containment awareness, haven't you? (sure, sick people are still going to work, though I almost sent someone home yesterday, but it's getting better, isn't it?)
Other bloggers on Swine Flu: places and words (HT brian) Gangwon notes, The View from Over Here, and according to Korea Beat, an article about hand washing was the most-read Naver article last week.
Meanwhile, I've created a new post label to commemorate the Swine Flu.
Now, I don't teach Kids, and if I did, I might be among you... however, we're also seeing an unprecedented wave of health and contagion awareness spread across Korea right now. Hopefully the sanitary behavior will persist even after the swine flu abates.
Have you noticed these all over the place? I have:
Yep. How to wash your hands.
And remember having your relatives send you these, and guarding them like Gollum?
I bought that one at a GS Mart. (Now sure, the sudden disinfectant binge might well make Korea a petri dish for breeding that new, disinfectant-resistant super-virus... but
And yesterday, between my workplace and my house, there was a little "get your temperature taken/fill out this symptom questionnaire" station set up. I'm fine: just a sore throat from the air conditioners. I've noticed a real upswing in contagion containment awareness, haven't you? (sure, sick people are still going to work, though I almost sent someone home yesterday, but it's getting better, isn't it?)Other bloggers on Swine Flu: places and words (HT brian) Gangwon notes, The View from Over Here, and according to Korea Beat, an article about hand washing was the most-read Naver article last week.
Meanwhile, I've created a new post label to commemorate the Swine Flu.
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