Comments on: Do You Know the Poison Man?

By: random guy

random guy — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 07:28:38 +0000

Is anyone else still having mosquito problems, even with the temperature drop?
Where’s the mogiman when you need him?

By: virtual wonderer

virtual wonderer — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 19:11:48 +0000

I wish they had mogiman in nyc. Anyone who never exerienced the horror of bed bugs will not understand.

By: Mogi Man Season in Korea at ROK Drop

Mogi Man Season in Korea at ROK Drop — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:28:45 +0000

[...] HT: Marmot’s Hole [...]

By: manbitesdog

manbitesdog — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 06:43:27 +0000

so glad to be out of korea.

as if the korean urban air isnt filthy enough without adding biocides to it.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:37:04 +0000

Penin abo, you have a good idea. The original thread that I wrote about Korea University’s step backwards has disappeared from the Marmot’s Hole, thus I’m not sure just what that means. I should do a follow-up on what is going on now at Korea U. (in particular), just for fun but I suspect that it is more “business as usual” than anything interest.

Regarding the “mogi man”, since around 1997, there has been a move away from centralized control for local Dong offices that operate under the Gu-level office in Seoul. That means the local level of bureaucracy has come to rely upon volunteers at the local level to do certain things. As a result, my part of Kwanack-gu has certain older “adjoshi”s that volunteer their time to run around and fog pesticide, without any real supervision. Once and a while, these same ignoramus will borrow a truck from the local dong office, since they just do not care, and drive around fogging during the day when there are no mosquitoes flying but there are certainly children about, who should not be exposed to any pesticide. Did I mention that the day after they fogged, some people were wearing winter coats?

Though the police again have no jurisdiction to stop this vigilante action (so they say), when I discussed this with some local women, they seem to have more power to stop these people from coming around to fog around their children. Thus, this whole business of public health and safety is a very tenuous affair, subject to the whims of whatever local adjoshi decides is right for everybody, forget the facts, science or social responsibility.

Seoul City Government is not very interested in enforcing some control over this sort of thing either because they just do not want to care since they are quite busy with their own large-scale concerns and it is not like a department store has collapsed either, i.e., it is not a BIG problem and they only handle BIG problems.

By: kpmsprtd

kpmsprtd — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:41:04 +0000

I wish the guy would ride through my neigbhorhood in Rio Linda (Sacramento), Calfiornia. I had a lot of mosquitos in August, September, and October despite aerial spraying of Malathion..

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:40:04 +0000

R Elgin,

1) If you ever have the time or the inclination, I’d like to see you do a follow-up on your Euh Yun-dae/Dasan post. That was very stimulating. It would be interesting to compare it with the facts on the ground as it were.

2) What is the justification for the continued presence of the Mogi Man? Is it necessary, bureaucratic momentum, or what?

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 02:30:00 +0000

If only they could use these Zyklon-B trucks loaded with DDT in Africa*. Instead, Malaria surges and “the friends of the Earth” feel good about themselves. Smug alert.

* My reference is, of course, to the famous White Paper issued by the UN in about 1970. The paper stated that DDT had saved a billion (yes, ten to the ninth) lives.

By: R. Elgin

R. Elgin — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 01:41:02 +0000

It’s just that this is the most stupid sort of thing to do, on a windy, cold, autumn day — not to mention putting this stuff out around kids.

These people are absolutely worthless yet imagine that they are performing a public service!

By: ElCanguro

ElCanguro — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 01:05:56 +0000

abcdefg beat me to it. I was just about to post the exact same link and also add a reference to the ‘Mr. Whippy’ ice cream vans which would trawl through suburban Australia in the 70s and 80s, playing “Greensleeves” and leaving a trail of snot-nosed kids tagging after it, not unlike the Mogi Man here.