As a former immigrant, I revere America’s car culture. Automobile, to me, means freedom — to go where one wishes, rather than to be limited by the rail tracks or bus routes that the government determines. This freedom of mobility might increase in China as more Chinese buys cars, including foreign cars. This is […]
Namdaemun (the Southern Great Gate), which was perhaps the most renowned historical landmark in Seoul, suffered arson.
A little bit about the perpetrator:
Chae Jong-gi, a former fortuneteller who was angry about the amount of compensation the government had paid him for the loss of his house to a development project, showed up at Namdaemun.
He wore […]
Wishing all of you a happy New Year 2008! May this be the one that Kim Jong-il doesn’t make it past. A reading suggestion; Dave Barry’s year in review (h/t Bodhi).
Hoping you’re all having a Merry Christmas, no matter where you are. It’s a good time to take stock, appreciate the things we have, and plan to help those who are in need.
Reading a lot? Travel? Sending radios into North Korea on balloons? No, building a desk with hutches for two. Like other projects in the past (especially building a 30’x80’ pole barn that needed 21 post holes jack-hammered 3′ deep into sandstone), I’ve no desire to repeat this one any time soon, although I am […]
I recently ran across the Wordsmith.org Anagram Server. Enter words or phrases up to 29 characters and a large list of anagrams is generated, which is where “Errant Hook” comes from – it’s an anagram of “North Korea.” I thought that was particularly fitting due to the word “errant,” and because it sounds […]
WaPo lumps Ayaan Hirsi Ali along with Camille Paglia and Michael Moore (!!!) as being one of “idiosyncratic, opinionated, talented, flawed, impossible… iconoclasts, troublemakers, provocateurs, opportunists, polemicists.”
What???!!!
Let’s review who Ayaan Hirsi Ali is:
She scripted an 11-minute film about the Koran and domestic abuse of women that resulted in the throat-slitting assassination of its director, […]
If you’ve every wanted to quantify or examine your political preferences and personality, there are a few online tests that do this in a general way.
Kevin Kim recently blogged about the Political Compass test, which scores for left/right and authoritarian/libertarian. Somewhat surprisingly, I scored very centrist (economic left/right: 1.38, social libertarian/authoritarian: 0.46):
For personality, there […]
With everything else going on this month, we’ve been late in putting this out there, but perhaps it can help you when you’re back at Borders on the 26th looking to trade in that book of cute kitten pictures that your Aunt Marge got you for some inexplicable reason.
Movies
North Korea: A Day In The […]
For a visual of where you’ve been in the world, check out the World66 site (via Expat Jane). It will also calculate the percentage of the world’s nations you’ve visited. My stats are 37 countries (not counting stepping across the line at Panmunjom, and probably a dozen airports in transit), which is 16 percent […]
Via the Times: "The exhibition features 400 hand-painted posters dating from the peak of the Dear Leader Kim Sung Il's power in the 1950s to the present regime led by his son, Kim Jong Il." The article has only one image, but has several interesting propaganda quotes.
- #Young Korean Herrenvolk engaging in their version of Agoge, at least according to the New York Times. The two Korean schools mentioned in the article are similar to Exeter or Andover in the United States in someways (they are private academies that serve children of affluent parents). But my guess is that the studious atmosphere and intense regimen compare more to the likes of Stuyvesant (my alma mater) in NYC or T.J. in Virginia (both highly selective, but publicly-funded high schools).
- #North Korea claims that on 25 April 1932 the Korean People’s Army (KPA, 조선인민군/ Chosŏn inmin'gun) was formed. However, the more likely accurate date is 08 February 1948. It is celebrated as “Military Foundation Day” in Kimland.
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