When it rains it pours...

Or freezing drizzles at least.
Yes, folks, the good lord thought it fitting that we here in the mid west be gifted with rain/freezing rain today.
Last time a branch nearly fell on my head. This time, I'll probably nearly break my neck.
Fun!

Gotta love the weather...Part III (Thanks for the photos, Tori)

Power came back on during the middle of dinner last night. The entire dining hall erupted in cheers for all of five seconds.
This is the first ice storm I've seen, so I went outside yesterday afternoon to see what the campus looked like. Lots of fun, if you ignore the fact that a falling branch would have hit me on the head had I not shuffled out of the way like an old man on a walker. We had a good laugh about it afterwards.


It really was beautiful, though. Every thing was covered in a thick coat of ice, the wind was a-blowin', and branches were falling off of trees like Britney Spears from grace (slowly, inevitably, and spectacularly).


Oddly enough, I wish we could have more weather like this, dangerous though it may be. There's nothing like a bit of frozen fun to keep you on your toes.

Gotta love the weather...Part Deux

Power is now out. All we have are emergency lights and I'm currently writing this on my laptop with a rapidly draining battery.
I hope the lines are fixed soon. The heating is down and the interiors are starting to cold.

Gotta love the weather...

We've got freezing rain here in Grinnell, today. Everything is covered in a lovely coat of ice. The trip to the dining hall was an especially fun experience. The branches falling off of trees just added to the excitement.

Wish I had my camera with me, but it's back in Korea. It truly is a beautiful sight.

Dangerous, but beautiful.

Korea 2 Togo 1

Went to COEX yesterday to meet a couple of friends I haven't seen in a while. To say that we've changed would be an understatement. It was a shock to see how much they've grown older and mellowed since the last time I saw them.
Sometimes I think I'm beginning to mellow out a bit as well, but the jury's still out on that.
So, we went to see the opening Group G match on a big screen that MBC had set up across the street from COEX. That is, after realizing that the big screen we had planted our big butts in front of wouldn't be playing the game and the ensuing mad dash across a busy street to end up in a spot where half the screen was obscured by a tree. Thank God for Brownian motion and half time. My friend and I finally got a great view, just in time to see Lee Chun Soo land his free kick into the net.
Man, oh man. I'd forgotten just how exiting it is to see any event with a big crowd. There was never a dull moment. All the cheering, screaming, people spraying beer, second-hand smoke, the idiot in the tree, the guy dressed up as the villain from the "Scream" movies for some reason, and of course the women dressed in skimpily tailored "Reds Go Together" t-shirts.
Pictures to come...

God, I've got to take better care of this thing

It's been God knows how long since I've last posted, but I found something that was such a once in a lifetime thing that I'm back.
Page three of today's Korea Herald has two articles about North Korea. One about the Norks barring 200 journalists from entering Gaesong, the other about the Norks asking the South if they could come over and watch the World Cup with us.
Cancelling of family reunions, cancelling of the peace train test, and now this. I've got a young cousin who's more cooperative than the boufant haired ruler up above the 38th parallel.

Key figure in Hyundai Motor scandal flees

From the Korea Herald:

The finance director who played a key part in raising slush funds at an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. has fled the country. His absence is hindering the investigation of a lobbying scandal involving the nation's largest automaker, the prosecution said yesterday.

You have to start wondering: if this guy's presence is so important, why didn't the government include him in the travel ban it slapped on some of the executives involved in the scandal? Or if he was included: are Korean prosecutors familiar with the concept of confiscating suspects' passports?
One would think that the government would wish to avoid any slip-ups when investigating such a high profile case. But to be fair, the government is run by humans who are prone to make human mistakes. However, humans also usually try to learn from their mistakes and try not to repeat them in the future. The Korean government, on the other hand, obviously has not learned a single thing from past mistakes, since in 2002,

an investigation into illegal political funding by Samsung came unstuck following the sudden departure overseas of one of its employees.

I was laughing and crying after reading this article.
Then a little suspicious. Could someone in the government secretly be on Hyundai's payroll?
I wouldn't be too surprised if it turned out to be true.

A bit late, but allow me to present: The evolution of the World's Ugliest Car

Only a doped-up, drunken, and blind idiot would have approved of the design of this POS and expected it to sell


Many of you probably know by now that the Rodius has been labled the "Ugliest Car in the World" and people's comments have been anything but kind.
However, SsangYong executives don't seem to have learned their lesson yet, if their decision to carry on the Rodius's design to the Actyon is any indication.
Actyon the "Korean Harakiri" (if I'm reading it right, any Russian speakers want to help me out here?)

All welcome...except Canadians

Canada bashing is nothing new in the world. The poor country has been the butt of so many jokes that the number of jokes probably outnumber the number of facts about Canada now. But this was something that I really didn't expect to be reading in the morning paper:
Today's Korea Herald's Life & Community section had a story about how World Class has banned all Canadians from joining its organization.
Kind of odd, since World Class's mission is to promote cultural understanding and bring together the people of the world.
According to the Herald, Bernard Carleton, the group's organizer, further elaborated on World Class's anti-Canadianism in this manner:

The thing is, CANADIANS ARE SCUM [caps lifted directly from the paper]! They are self-loving, welfare supporting, over taxing, work ethic hating scum!!! They are not welcome in our group.

How nice it is to see that civilization has advanced to the point where we can be hypocritical while promoting the break down of prejudices that might lead to the end of hypocrisy. Perhaps Mr. Carleton has been in Korea for too long and has been touched by the inexplicable Korean hatred for those who do not share their own world views.
But, there is a chance for people to change Mr. Carleton's mind. Iff you who wish to join in the fun and promote international understanding, feel free to e-mail him at cbicsmd@yahoo.com (from The Korea Herald)

Now I'll never get my work done

I found this while looking around MSNBC and spent the next hour enthralled. Check it out.
WARNING: Highly addictive; Do not attempt if you're at work!
Falling Sand

If this was a steak, I'd eat it

In my mind, Glen McCoy stands out among political cartoonists as he is unabashedly conservative in his cartoons. Most political cartoonists that I've seen tend to lean towards the left or lampoon everbody indiscriminately.
I don't usually find Mr. McCoy's cartoons especially funny, but this one just made me laugh.

KAIST deans resign en masse

According to the Korea Herald, 20 deans at KAIST resigned in protest of the possible extension of Robert Laughlin's contract as school's president.
Don't know what good quitting will do, since they lose their ability to have a voice in the going-ons at KAIST, but that's their decision.
But those deans are not alone in their dislike of Laughlin

Nearly 90 percent of faculty member want his resignation, according to a survey conducted among 278 of a total 409 professors.

But this isn't exactly old news. Laughlin has been butting horns with the faculty over reform measures since he took his post in 2004.
The conflict has become a he-said-they-said squabble, with the faculty saying that the reform measures are "nonsense and unfair," and Laughlin saying that "the leadership crisis he is faced with is the fault of anti-reformists."
Although I'm not sure what to make of most of Laughlin's proposed reforms (expanding the curriculum into the fields of law and medicine, expanding KAIST's undergraduate program...), I would like to see his proposed system of performance reviews for professors come into effect. The faculty is carping about how this new system involves nothing but a short ten to fifteen minute interview, and how a person's competence cannot be fully realized in that time.
But I say that if the professors who are protesting Laughlin's proposed system truly are competent, they would have nothing to fear. After all, with his constantly stated pedigree:

[Laughlin] won the NobelPrize in Physics in 1998 and taught at Stanford University for more than 10 years before coming to Korea.

Laughlin probably has a pretty good idea as to what sort of person makes a good professor.

First Post

After mulling the idea in my head for the past few weeks, I have finally decided to start a new blog to replace my seldom used xanga account. Nothing much to say for now. Hope those of you who have read this far will continue to read the inane thoughts that flow out of me.
Bye for now