Open Thread #45

Holy Hwangsa, Batman!

82 Comments

  1. Gravatar John from Daejeon your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 10:33 am | Permalink

    How long before the shit hits the fan?

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....5222_x.htm

  2. Gravatar John from Daejeon your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    Because these genius family planners have even brought this aspect of their culture with them to the U.S.

    http://www.ndtv.com/convergenc.....46:00%20PM

  3. Posted April 5, 2008 at 10:51 am | Permalink

    “Holy Hwangsa, Batman!”

    Just looked out the window. I guess that explains why I have a splitting headache.

  4. Posted April 5, 2008 at 10:54 am | Permalink

    #1,

    Yeah, it looks like soon we won’t be seeing anymore banners advertising ‘Vietnam Baeksol Kongju’(idiomatic for ‘Vietnamese virgins’).

  5. Gravatar Netizen Kim your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 11:57 am | Permalink

    The best singer ever produced by Canada, nay, the entire world!

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ta0a3DFUU0Y

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=vvY.....re=related

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=-ot.....re=related

  6. Gravatar Netizen Kim your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 11:58 am | Permalink

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=RdwMoKJ6C4g

  7. Posted April 5, 2008 at 12:09 pm | Permalink

    If there are any foodies out there, there’s a great and rather lengthy profile of Korean-American David Chang, founder of NYC’s Momofuku, in a recent issue of The New Yorker, although unfortunately it’s not online:

    http://www.newyorker.com/repor.....acfarquhar

    His favorite words seem to be “fucking” and “dude” but he seems like a cool guy nonetheless.

  8. Gravatar globalvillageidiot your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 12:51 pm | Permalink

    #5,6 - Thanks Netizen. I’ve got a fair amount of Gordon Lightfoot tunes on my iPod and have been a fan since I was a kid. (Never thought of heading over to youtube to check out some clips until you posted those links.) A lot of great songs, and a very unique singer. One of our greatest musical exports, I’d have to say, along with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Band, Leonard Cohen, Oscar Peterson, and although some might not agree, Rush.

  9. Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:10 pm | Permalink

    When I was a child, one of my major preoccupations was how to get more sugar into my diet. My father supervised my breakfast every morning to make sure that I only put one spoonful of sugar onto my cereal. Every Saturday morning I would walk to the corner store with my $1 allowance and purchase 4 chocolate bars. It was first introduction to the ravages of inflation: When they went up to 30 cents I could only buy three; a year later they were 35 cents, and I could only buy two. A bitter lesson, indeed.

    I also hated tomatoes. I remember Dad saying often how he couldn’t understand how a kid who loved ketchup so much could hate tomatoes. But we had a co-conspiracy going, Heinz ketchup and I. There it was on the label: Ingredients: Fresh, ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, sugar. This fact formed a lasting bond of love between me and Heinz ketchup. The kind of bond that modern marketers consider gold in their industry. Brand loyalty that keeps generations coming back to buy your product.

    Now my tastes have changed, of course, and a bottle of ketchup lasts my family a year or two. But the loyalty is gone. I’ve been betrayed by my co-conspirator. No more is sugar to be found, only high-fructose corn syrup and corn syrup. Heinz ketchup is no longer my childhood friend. It has become my adult enemy - a mega-corporation in conspiracy against me and my family. An evil presence in my kitchen that it is now my responsibility to protect myself and my family against, lest its overconsumption begin the embalming process before we are dead.

  10. Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:34 pm | Permalink

    #9: It seems that someone slipped a red pill into your red sauce.

  11. Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:36 pm | Permalink

    Don’t remember if this was ever posted here. A video of a very enthusiastic drummer in a pretty bad trot group: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPWjNX4PBlI

  12. Gravatar Railwaycharm your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:47 pm | Permalink

    #8 don’t forget the Guess Who!

  13. Gravatar bumfromkorea your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:47 pm | Permalink

    I think someone posted it very recently. I never made it past the trot…

  14. Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:52 pm | Permalink

    “although some might not agree, Rush.”

    Well, then, they obviously lack good taste. ;)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78D00dYOBrM

    #9,

    I read somewhere that Japanese coffee importers started making coffee flavored candy before trying to tackle the Japanese tea culture. The kids grew up to become coffee drinking adults. Japanese are now big importers of coffee (and the main reason that Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee is grossly overpriced).

  15. Gravatar McGenghis your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm | Permalink

    Hey Netizen: I set my baskets aside and checked your link. Thanks! Gordon Lightfoot always reminds me of snow, for some reason. The kind that comes in November and makes a soft sound on your jacket.

  16. Gravatar sesame seed your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 5:06 pm | Permalink

    I thought that since there is a number of teachers and taxpayers with opinions on public school I thought you all might like this.

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/roc.....ished.html

    What could happen if a town abolished public schooling and let the free market decide how to educate children.

    Hmmm, let me see, no property taxes to pay for substandard schooling. I pay only if I have children AND I want them to attend school. Also, I have the option to homeschool if I desire and I can pick and choose from different qualities of school. Sounds pretty good to me.

    The only thought that keeps popping in to mind is, “What about the poor kids?” Oh, yeah, that’s right, that’s what charities and private organizations are for.

    The fruits of my labor is not for the government to take so that someone else who doesn’t work as hard or as smart as me can benefit.

  17. Gravatar globalvillageidiot your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 6:13 pm | Permalink

    Railwaycharm, I not only forgot to mention the Guess Who, but failed to include BTO. They’ll be coming for my passport…

  18. Posted April 5, 2008 at 8:31 pm | Permalink

    My showed me this link - two gay guys got filmed making out on line 5

  19. Posted April 5, 2008 at 8:35 pm | Permalink

    that should say my wife….

  20. Gravatar Sonagi your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 8:57 pm | Permalink

    I also hated tomatoes. I remember Dad saying often how he couldn’t understand how a kid who loved ketchup so much could hate tomatoes. But we had a co-conspiracy going, Heinz ketchup and I. There it was on the label: Ingredients: Fresh, ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, sugar…. This fact formed a lasting bond of love between me and Heinz ketchup.

    I am another tomato hater who likes sauces and even sundried tomatoes but not raw or cooked tomatoes. Sundried tomatoes don’t have added sugar although the drying process may make them sweeter. Homemade sauce doesn’t have sugar, either, but it is enhanced with herbs.

    Whether or not sugar is addictive is a disputed idea. Princeton researchers fed sugar water along with a balanced diet to rats and then took out the sugar. The rats behaved like junkies denied their fix.

    http://www.princeton.edu/pr/ne.....hoebel.htm

    The addition of sweeteners to so many processed foods from pizza to bread to chili is one reason why I cook from scratch virtually every meal I eat.

  21. Gravatar Sonagi your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:05 pm | Permalink

    @#6 and #8;

    I’m a fan of Gordon Lightfoot, too. My parents listened to adult contemporary, so I grew up listening to 70s hits like “Carefree Highway,” and “If You Could Read My Mind.” His greatest hits CD is parked next BJ Thomas’.

  22. Gravatar Alejandro Marivosa your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:31 pm | Permalink

    You never have a Korean person’s full attention. You can only share them with their cell-phone.

  23. Gravatar Maharlika your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:34 pm | Permalink

    #14
    “I read somewhere that Japanese coffee importers started making coffee flavored candy before trying to tackle the Japanese tea culture.”

    You did not remember correctly what you’ve read.

    It was Nestle that did it, not “Japanese coffee importers”.

    Clotaire Rapaille wrote about it in his book “The Culture Code”

    http://www.amazon.com/Culture-.....0767920562

  24. Gravatar Maharlika your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:41 pm | Permalink

    Clotaire Rapaille interview here:

    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/.....aille.html

    “What did your work for Nestlé look like?

    It was really to tell them, for example, that the Japanese don’t have a first imprint of coffee. What first imprint they have is tea. And so when you go into this category, in what we call taxonomy, mental taxonomy, it’s like a mental category they have, and you cannot compete with this category. So you have to create the category. And so we started, for example, with a dessert for children with a taste of coffee. We created an imprint of the taste of coffee. And then we acknowledge the Japanese want to do one thing at a time, and the Swiss understood that very well. They start with this kind of a product. They start selling coffee, but through dessert, things that were sweet, get the people accustomed to the taste of coffee, and after that they followed the generations. And when they were teenagers they start selling coffee, and first there was coffee with milk at the beginning, and then they went to coffee, and now they have a big market for coffee in Japan. “

  25. Gravatar SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:55 pm | Permalink

    #23,
    Not really.

    I would guess it was Nestle Japan, not Nestle Korea or Nestle Brazil. As far as I know, coffee isn’t grown in Japan…So, it would have to be imported, thus making Nestle Japan an importer of coffee.

  26. Gravatar SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 9:59 pm | Permalink

    “You did not remember correctly what you’ve read.”

    Big deal. The fine details are not relevant.

    Besides, I would guess it was Nestle Japan, not Nestle Korea or Nestle Brazil, that was selling the sweets. As far as I know, coffee isn’t grown in Japan…So, it would have to be imported, thus making Nestle an importer of coffee in Japan.

  27. Gravatar dokdoforever your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 10:47 pm | Permalink

    Regarding the imbalanced ratio of boy to girl births, I think someone (maybe Sonagi?) posted a few months ago - some data which showed that the Korean ratio was almost back to the natural distribution, after peaking in favor of boys five to ten years ago. The trend was definitely in the right direction. And it had a lot to do with changes to inheritance laws and the end of the male family head system. I’d be interested in knowing what type of inheritance laws/ customs predominate in China, Vietnam, and India. It wouldn’t be surprising if inheritance and other financial factors are behind much of the abortion of female fetuses.

  28. Gravatar Craig your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 11:00 pm | Permalink

    R.E.M has a new album out: Accelerate

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

  29. Gravatar globalvillageidiot your flag
    Posted April 5, 2008 at 11:08 pm | Permalink

    Give “Black Day in July” as listen. Gordon Lightfoot was a lot more than an adult contempory artist.

  30. Gravatar kimchipig your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:12 am | Permalink

    I am also a great Gordon Lightfoot fan but I still absolutely love Joni Mitchell. First, she is an excellent songwriter. She is also an excellent guitar player. I can listen to her do one of her songs over and over and love each different version. She is also not a sell out like Celine the Mutt Dion. Joni is always trying new things and for that I really applaud her because if the world ran out of elevators, Celine would run out of material. Joni never cared about making bags of money (which Lightfoot did).

    Finally, Gordon Lighfoot is a testament on just how much abuse the human body can take and how longevity is. By all rights, he should have been dead years ago. He ran with some pretty unsavoury crowds. Joni has smoked like a train most of her life and it hasn’t affected her voice at all. Just goes to prove it is all in the DNA.

  31. Gravatar gbevers your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:48 am | Permalink

    I think we are wasting a lot of resources on our dead. They should be buried unpreserved in burlap, or something, and a tree planted over them. An epitaph can be craved into the tree years later. My suggestion would be something like, “___________, a beloved father and husband, supports this tree.”

  32. Gravatar gbevers your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:56 am | Permalink

    By the way, my pick for best song of the 20th century is “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBtT9NfWtbE

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg8Db7VNgL0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKvdPsnkPC0

  33. Gravatar Sonagi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 1:39 am | Permalink

    Regarding the imbalanced ratio of boy to girl births, I think someone (maybe Sonagi?) posted a few months ago - some data which showed that the Korean ratio was almost back to the natural distribution, after peaking in favor of boys five to ten years ago.

    Yes, I did. It was a news story I had stumbled across at the time and don’t have the patience to look for it in Googlestack.

    I’d be interested in knowing what type of inheritance laws/ customs predominate in China, Vietnam, and India.

    As far as I know, all three countries have modernized inheritance laws that do not favor sons over daughters. The problem is cultural and economic: sons remain full members of the family while daughters marry out. Even upper class Indian families, who have no economic need for sons, will practice selective abortion to get one. Wealthy or connected Chinese couples get around the one-child policy by having their second child in the US or Canada; a child with a foreign passport doesn’t count against the family.

    The trend was definitely in the right direction. And it had a lot to do with changes to inheritance laws and the end of the male family head system.

    It’s a chicken and egg cause-effect relationship. The government changed the laws to reflect changes in Korean cultural values. Other Korea-China expats and I perceived Chinese society to be less openly sexist than Korean society. Chinese women, to borrow a Korean euphemism for women working outside the home, “went out into society” a long time ago. In China, however, there is a glass ceiling, especially in government, with very few women in top leadership positions, not only at the national level but also provincial and city levels.

    Since Communism professes to value equality, Communist revolutions initially improve the status of women through changes in laws, but old habits and attitudes die hard; Communism’s control of public organizations, the media, and public discourse hinders the real social development and progress that Korea has experienced since the early 1990s. I realize, BTW, that economically speaking, China isn’t really Communist anymore, but the Communist Party still rules in an authoritarian manner consistent with other Communist governments and at least gives lip service to Communist ideology.

    As much as I enjoyed my stay in China, if I had to choose one of the two to immigrate to, my choice would be Korea, hands down.

    Finally, Gordon Lighfoot is a testament on just how much abuse the human body can take and how longevity is. By all rights, he should have been dead years ago. He ran with some pretty unsavoury crowds. Joni has smoked like a train most of her life and it hasn’t affected her voice at all. Just goes to prove it is all in the DNA.

    One swallow does not a summer make, and a few people with excellent DNA do not disprove environmental causes of disease. In fact, heart disease, cancer, and many other illnesses are now thought to be the result of interactions between genes and the environment. A certain gene may express itself one way or another according to what we eat, drink, breathe, absorb, or do with our bodies. Researchers of centenarian studies believe that longevity genes are needed to reach 100+ but most people could reach their 80s with healthy living habits.

  34. Posted April 6, 2008 at 1:42 am | Permalink

    #32: I met Dave Guard (of TKT) a few times when I was 13 or 14 — he was a member of the same yoga/meditation group my father had joined. He was a really cool and no-attitude kind of guy.

    I don’t know about the 1900s, but here’s a good tune from THIS century, ya geezers:

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=GUB1xSAAADk

  35. Gravatar kimchipig your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 1:55 am | Permalink

    Environment has a lot to do with longevity but I really think it boils down to genetics and lifestyle.

    Canada is a pretty clean environment and people generally have long life spans. However, I can tell from my own family that the smokers croak a lot earlier on one side than the other.

    On my father’s side, the smokers and drinkers croak with shocking regularity right around the same age. However, the few that were not excessive in their lifestyles (we are dealing with Irish here) lived long lives. I have one cousin who, unfortunately, expired two years ago from lung cancer, at age 47, definitely smoking related. This poor individual was actually related to me on both sides (yes, I am my own Grandpa) but in my family the bed stuff tends to run down the male line.

    My mother’s side seems indestructible. Lots of wretched excess (not as much as father’s side, however) and not one premature death yet. I have one uncle who at the age of 70 can compete with James Joyce. When he buys the far, it would take a month to put the cremation fire out.

    Same for Gordon Lightfoot. He basically disappeared on huge bender for most of the 80s and ran with that wonderful Kathy Lee Smith. In 2002 he nearly bought it. It was a miracle he survived a coma of two months. Orillia is a pretty clean place but Gord’s lifestyle certainly wasn’t.

    Therefore, it has to be DNA.

  36. Gravatar Sonagi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 2:57 am | Permalink

    Environment has a lot to do with longevity but I really think it boils down to genetics and lifestyle.

    When talking about causes of disease, “environment” doesn’t mean only air and water but also includes food and personal and home care products - anything that comes into contact with our bodies.

    Therefore, it has to be DNA.

    Your family is your family. One should not generalize about all people based on one’s family history. There are some genes that practically doom people to disease, notably the genes that cause hypercholestemia and certain cancers. Likewise, there are a few people with super genes which create T-cells that are highly effective in seeking and destroying cancer or genes that give people high levels of protective HDL. However, most of us have a mix of genes, and most of us can make the best of what we have by making healthy choices.

    If chronic disease were all DNA, then identical twins should have a 100% chance of getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or other genetically influenced diseases, but that’s not true.

    Other than hypercholestemia, certain cancers, and a few rare diseases, if you can provide research-based evidence that DNA alone accounts for most cases of heart disease, cancers, diabetes, and other chronic diseases, I’d be glad to have a read.

  37. Gravatar Acropolis7 your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 5:41 am | Permalink

    Damnit, AZN TV is being taken off air on April 9th. Guess I better get satelite. Comcast sucks.

  38. Gravatar Owoe your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 7:32 am | Permalink

    #1,

    some demographers refer to this as the “bare branches” problem. Here’s two dated links articles it:

    http://www.iht.com/articles/20.....egner.php#

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....larticlepg

    Years ago, I read a RAND study about the security implications of the phenomena, but I don’t have the link.

  39. Gravatar SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 10:14 am | Permalink

    Well, genetics certainly plays a role in many diseases, Sonagi. Sure, many illnesses are multifactorial disorders, but quite a few are single gene and polygenic disorders (some types of heart, liver and kidney diseases, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, type 1 diabetes, sickle-cell anemia, etc). When you add it all up, a lot of people suffer from genetic disorders. Far more than you seem to suggest. We all know someone who one. For example, I have 5 aunts and uncles who are organ recipients thanks to a genetic disorder (autosomal recessive, in case you’re curious).

  40. Gravatar Railwaycharm your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 10:42 am | Permalink

    #17 Yes, I figured since Randy Bachman was in both bands, catch-all. The late, great Jeff Healy should not go on unmentioned.

  41. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 11:10 am | Permalink

    Gaekujangi’s question of the day:

    What’s your favourite marmot comment board rivalry?

    1. Baeksu vs. Carr

    2. Pawi vs. “the expat”

    3. Metropolitician vs. newbies with weak argumentation skills

    For pure entertainment, I have to go with Pawi vs. all comers, but I think Baeksu vs. Carr is more sincere.

    . . . any other nominations?

  42. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    and when met DOES come over here and lay some smack down, it’s always awesome — the “top 50 universities” guy, the cellphone leg photographer post, and the “english teachers shouldn’t have opinions” incident come to mind — I LOVE when met comes out of his cave, club in hand.

  43. Gravatar Zonath your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:35 pm | Permalink

    #40 - I’m just waiting for the wjk vs. baduk match-up, for the quadruple-posted, 700 post thread of pure nuttiness.

  44. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:50 pm | Permalink

    42: mr mao is making a strong case for himself vs. kyopo over on the park jinhee/ss uniform board.

  45. Posted April 6, 2008 at 12:52 pm | Permalink

    Gaekujangi, your new nickname is The Instigator.

  46. Gravatar The Instigator your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 1:12 pm | Permalink

    tee hee.

  47. Gravatar Sonagi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 1:50 pm | Permalink

    #39:

    Huntington’s, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia are purely genetic. Type I diabetes is not. If it were, both identical twins would get it, but that’s not true. The concordance rate for type I diabetes between identical twins is less then 50%. There is a lot of speculation as to the environmental trigger that causes the immune system to attack the beta cells in the pancreas - a viral or bacterial infection or possibly an allergic reaction to food or drink, specifically milk.

    http://www.sciencenews.org/pag.....9/fob2.htm

    I am not denying that purely genetic diseases exist. I am disputing Kimchipig’s assumption that since some smokers and drinkers live long lives that longevity is all in your DNA.

    Vague quantifiers like “quite a few” and “a lot” mean different things to different people in different situations. While purely genetically induced (no environmental trigger) types of heart disease, cancer, and liver disease do exist, they do not comprise even a significant minority of cases:

    http://www.americanheart.org/p.....ifier=4478

    http://www.umm.edu/liver/stats.htm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer

    I had to use Wiki for cancer because it was the only source with a concise description of different cancers and causes.

    We do all know people with genetic diseases. I have four cousins who were afflicted with muscular dystrophy. However, most people we know will not die of cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s, or other genetic disorders. Again, someguy, I think the cause of disagreement between us is the use of vague quantifiers.

  48. Gravatar pawikirogi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 3:59 pm | Permalink

    my homepage always opens to aol which i just opened. imagine my surprise to find that inchon airport is ranked as the best airport in the world. now you may cry, expat.

    here’s the caption:

    Number 1 — Incheon International Airport
    Location: Seoul, South Korea
    Details: Incheon has placed first for the third year in a row, thanks to staffers’ exceptional pride in welcoming travelers. Visitors passing through can book tours of a nearby temple, a nature reserve, pottery factories, the local Chinatown, or the set of a Korean television drama. A one-hour tour costs $5. The airport also boasts a billiards hall and electronic game room, while nearby Sky72 Golf Club welcomes players day and night. The airport also runs nightly excursions to Golden Gate Casino, a foreigners-only gambling oasis two minutes away.
    Up Next: Kuala Lumpur

    lol! i can just see the steam coming out the expat’s ear. lol.

  49. Posted April 6, 2008 at 4:18 pm | Permalink

    #46: Pawi, were you bullied in high school?

    When will the cycle of violence end?

    Inch’on had BETTER be good, considering that I have to pay $50 just to use it (W17,000 passenger service charge, W10,000 depature tax plus W18,000 RT to get there on the Limousine Bus service). Hell, every time I buy a plane ticket here, they tack on an extra W75,000 in taxes and I’ll bet Inch’on is getting more than just the W27,000 listed above.

    Anyway, that survey would have more credibility if they actually got the city it’s in right:

    “Incheon International Airport
    Location: Seoul”

  50. Posted April 6, 2008 at 4:35 pm | Permalink

    #40: “Baeksu vs. Carr is more sincere.”

    Sincere? Are you serious? Carr claimed in all sincerity that Moonie-owned publications The Washington Times and Insight are quality publications, despite the fact that it was Insight that was the first publication to claim that Obama was educated in a “madrassa,” and The Times claimed that Bill Clinton was a KGB agent and Michael Dukakis was mentally ill. From Bad Moon Rising:

    “In 1988 the Washington Times started a rumor that Michael Dukakis was mentally ill, inspiring Reagan to joke, “I’m not going to pick on an invalid.” Wash. Times, “Dukakis kin hints at sessions,” August 4, 1988.

    In 1992, it pushed the story that Clinton might have been an agent of influence for the KGB while traveling as a Rhodes scholar. Wash. Times, “Clinton Can’t Recall Much of Soviet Trip; Unable to Give Details,” Oct. 6, 1992.

    In 2007, its sister publication Insight was the first publication to print that Barack had attended an Islamic Madrassa. “Are the American people ready for an elected president who was educated in a Madrassa…?” Lead from a January 17, 2007 article on Insight Magazine that was cited by CNN. - John Gorenfeld”

    Brendon Carr is the least sincere person on this blog.

  51. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 4:54 pm | Permalink

    49:

    what I meant by most sincere is that when pawi starts digging at the expat, I wouldn’t be THAT surprised to find out it’s just some bored kyopo having some fun by yanking some people’s chains. i wouldn’t be THAT surprised to find out it was all just posturing.

    (btw, pawi: now that I’ve said I suspect you of being a fake, to make up for it, I’ll also say you’re dead right that Inchon is a great airport. put that in your pipe and smoke it.)

    between you and carr, (I’m thinking especially about the thread I saw where you were talking about pimatgol a few weeks ago, when it went on to like, a hundred comments, and you were frustrated at carr’s apparent unwillingness to defend the soon to be disenfranchised restaurant owners etc.,) i’d be much more surprised to find out that one, or both of the two of you were bluffing and posturing for mere kicks. You’re not saying stuff just to provoke carr (though it’s fairly obvious Pawi enjoys being provocative for provocation’s sake alone). That’s what I meant by sincere. The factuality of claims is . . . a whole different kettle of fish.

    meanwhile, where IS brendon? haven’t seen him out here in a while.

  52. Gravatar Chris your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 6:21 pm | Permalink

    Public information notice! For those interested: Who is here http://www.surfthechannel.com/...../S4E1.html also my Numb3rs up http://www.surfthechannel.com/.....S4E13.html Torchwood Torches out http://www.surfthechannel.com/.....2E13.html# And Battlestar is back with a BANG http://www.surfthechannel.com/...../S4E1.html

  53. Gravatar mcnut your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 7:58 pm | Permalink

    is it not ironically funny that Janet Reno whose claim to fame is sending heavily armed Federal agents to apprehend a harmless 6 year old boy and send him back to Cuba is now the headliner lawyer in defending and freeing the terrorist scumbags locked up in guantanimo bay

    you gotta love it

  54. Gravatar mcnut your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 8:28 pm | Permalink

    pawi inchon is a nice airport no argument from me
    but you are still a complete ass

  55. Gravatar Railwaycharm your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 8:43 pm | Permalink

    Pawi, I am proud that Korea won the award, it is a true victory. The Airports in the states should benchmark

  56. Gravatar SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 9:39 pm | Permalink

    Incheon Airport in Seoul? It takes forever to get to Incheon Airport from Seoul. Nice airport, but did they have to place it in such a remote place?

  57. Gravatar r.rac your flag
    Posted April 6, 2008 at 9:45 pm | Permalink

    i cant believe you canadians forgot April Wine? they werent fancy but still pretty good Harder/Faster is a good album. They were the warmup band for the first concert I went to back in the late 1970’s

    also why havent you mentioned “the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald” on the lightfoot playlist, one of the better long songs out there

  58. Gravatar kimchipig your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 2:12 am | Permalink

    Songi, my post were never meant to be taken seriously, they were tongue in cheek.

    Regarding Inchon airport, it is a good facility but too far from downtown.

    April Wine were good Rock ‘n Rollers and are still doing small gigs in these parts. So are Trooper and Headpins.

    But let us not forget the Guess Who, which at one time was the top selling band in the world. Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman both live in Saltspring Island and have actually been known to talk to each other.

    However, the best hammering rock and roll for driving has to be AC/DC. Great musicianship and really clever lyrics. It seems pretty tame today but it sure wasn’t 30 years ago!

  59. Gravatar Notlob your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 9:38 am | Permalink

    I’m sorry, but for three years in a row, I have refused to believe the claim that Incheon is the best airport in the world. It is a good airport, but its failings are pretty obvious.

    1. Too far from Seoul without a high-speed train link. Hong Kong and Shanghai got that right.

    2. Lousy food selection. 10,000 won bibimbap? Subway? Chicago has Wolfgang Puck’s and Pizzeria Unos and plenty more.

    3. Ridiculous immigration lines. Has no one ever heard of an S-line? Infinitely more logical that having everyone line up in single lines (where, if one person in front of you screws up his paperwork (or is dark-skinnned), you are forced to wait a long time).

    3b. Not to mention the 20 lines for Koreans while foreigners get 4 or so. Granted, Incheon has a lot of Korean passengers, but the contrast with most other airports is striking.

    4. Illegal taxis still preying on newbies. Last time I entered via Incheon, I saw some poor guy being told “No buses to Chuncheon” by one taxi jerk.

    Incheon was well down AETRA’s list around 2002-2003, then in 2004 Incheon was suddenly Asia’s #2. In 2005, Incheon was “most improved” and took the overall #1 spot. It retained the #1 ranking in 2006 and 2007. I do not recall anything changing about the Incheon’s quality of service over that period… But since AETRA’s results, methodology and the rest is not public, it is hard to analyze the results.

    All that said, Incheon is still way above average in many ways. Clean, bright, flights seem to be punctual. But there is no way I would label it “the best.”

  60. Gravatar mcnut your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 9:57 am | Permalink

    flights are punctual because they do not handle a lot of daily traffic compared to other airports around the world

  61. Gravatar Whatev your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 10:32 am | Permalink

    #59-4

    Apparently, gangs ruled the taxi stands at Incheon. They started at Kimpo and followed the money when Incheon opened. Some legitimate taxi drivers have filled lawsuits, accusing the gangs of intimidation and assault.

    #60,

    Good point. Do they even have flights that come in at night?

  62. Gravatar bumfromkorea your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 10:52 am | Permalink

    So, I have a question because a friend of mine and I are discussing this and neither of us are sure. I thought “폼” was a loanword from English “form”, and my friend thought it wasn’t, because he thought he saw its usage in an older writings. Is it a loanword or not?

  63. Posted April 7, 2008 at 10:58 am | Permalink

    I second the complaint that Incheon International Airport has lousy food selection — especially once past passenger screening and immigration, you’re done. There is nothing (okay, virtually nothing) to eat in there.

    If Korea had more fat people its airport would have the usual collection of places where you can have a $12 sandwich and $6 Coke.

  64. Gravatar gbnhj your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 12:48 pm | Permalink

    There aren’t but a handful of places to eat past Immigration, but the best place for grub at IIA is there, at Asiana’s business-class lounge: freshly ground coffee drinks, a buffet with Korean- and Western-style fare, and plenty of places to sit in peace and relation. Stateside, I’ve used business lounges in Seattle and San Francisco, and for comfort and style, Asiana’s lounge at IIA is better.

  65. Posted April 7, 2008 at 1:31 pm | Permalink

    Actually, that’s true. The business lounges are better than the empty terminal. I don’t fly Asiana, but usually find myself in the KAL business class lounge (damn my frequent-flyer miles!).

    Still, I am a regular guy, and eschew VIP lounges as a silly indulgence. Why not allow the hoi polloi to eat something, too?

  66. Gravatar user-81 your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 2:13 pm | Permalink

    #60: “flights are punctual because they do not handle a lot of daily traffic compared to other airports around the world”

    Incheon Airstrip™ is the 11th busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic and the 4th busiest in the world in terms of cargo traffic. It’s not a top-30 airport for number of flights, but before Incheon was completed, Kimpo was.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.....er_traffic

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W.....go_traffic

  67. Posted April 7, 2008 at 2:25 pm | Permalink

    Anyone watching John Adams on HBO? I think it’s excellent, although a little truncated.

    It reminds me of Korean saguks.

  68. Gravatar SomeguyinKorea your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 2:43 pm | Permalink

    “There is nothing (okay, virtually nothing) to eat in there.”

    Well, that is if you don’t like snacking on Louis Vuitton handbags, Ferregamo shoes, Japanese cigarettes, and Channel lipstick.

  69. Gravatar Notlob your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 3:00 pm | Permalink

    Regular guys don’t use the term “hoi polloi”. Face it, you are among the cultural elite. You might as well be a pot smoking Canadian homosexual tree-hugger (in fact I suspect that, deep inside, that is what you really are).

  70. Gravatar Notlob your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

    Btw, that post was directed at the hoi-less polloi-less comment #65.

  71. Gravatar gbnhj your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 3:37 pm | Permalink

    Technically, the term ‘hoi polloi’ does not require the addition of the English article ‘the’, as ‘hoi’ means ‘the’ and so adding ‘the’ creates a redundancy. Nevertheless, the term is commonly expressed as ‘the hoi polloi’, and several sources acknowledge its use as acceptable.

    Arguably, Brendon’s grammar choice puts him smack-dab in the ‘regular guy’ group. (Also, arguably, this post puts me out of it.)

  72. Gravatar Railwaycharm your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 7:47 pm | Permalink

    #71. B.C. is laughing all the way to the bank.

  73. Posted April 7, 2008 at 8:52 pm | Permalink

    Brendon Carr — Man of the People!

  74. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 7, 2008 at 9:13 pm | Permalink

    what’s the singular of hoi polloi?

    From one hoi pollus to another (now that we know gbnhj isn’t one).

    69. notlob - problem is, you can bait as much as you like, but we Canadians won’t get upset when you mock our country. We make fun of ourselves better than you ever could, and nobody laughed louder when the Southpark people burst into “Blame Canada”

    Now if you start calling names at KOREANS, you might get somewhere.

    Slur Koreans, and you’d think the world was gonna explode. Slur Canadians, and we snicker and say, “good one, eh?” Might be that I just summed up the difference between pot-smoking tree-huggers and soju-drinking workaholics. . .but what do I know?

    We’d gladly take Brendon in, offer him a Canadian beer (east coast) or a doobie (west coast), and breathe clean air and drink clean water until we’re all relaxed again.

  75. Posted April 8, 2008 at 1:24 am | Permalink

    BTW, if anyone is interested, I was at Kodae today and happened to notice that Gen. Colin “The Patsy” Powell is scheduled to speak there this coming Friday the 11th.

    Given the venue, the possibility of a riot is not unlikely.

  76. Gravatar globalvillageidiot your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 5:19 am | Permalink

    “We’d gladly take Brendon in, offer him a Canadian beer (east coast) or a doobie (west coast), and breathe clean air and drink clean water until we’re all relaxed again.”

    Unless it comes with a guarantee that NCAA basketball won’t be turned off in favor of curling, he’s unlikely to accept the invitation.

  77. Gravatar Zonath your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 5:28 am | Permalink

    problem is, you can bait as much as you like, but we Canadians won’t get upset when you mock our country

    We’d gladly take Brendon in, offer him a Canadian beer

    Eww… By ‘Canadian beer’ I assume you mean some sort of piss-water like Molson or Labatt… Y’all need to learn how to drink real beer. ;)

  78. Gravatar slim your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 6:07 am | Permalink

    How could any proud Canadian forget Bruce Cockburn?

  79. Gravatar gaekujangi your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 6:12 am | Permalink

    OK. We’ll ask the germans and czechs and belgians to show us.

    (though they might want to change the channel from curling to soccer/football)

    Brendon remains invited to what sounds like an excellent opportunity for cross-cultural communication, augmented by great beer and various explanations of the soccer/football rule minutiae.

    (Colin Powell, eh? Why isn’t stuff like that better publicized?)

  80. Gravatar jtb-in-texas your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 6:42 am | Permalink

    Colin Powell a “patsy”? Yeah. Right. You must either be joking or not remember his career (Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, etc.)…

    Meanwhile, I’d like to see some og the supposedly great debaters here take on a spirited discussion of how illegal immigration in Korea is the same or different than illegal immigration in the USA. Gang violence, depressed wages, unemployment among citizens and legal residents, etc…

    If there were any actual “great thinkers” here capable of presenting the subject in a rational, objective fashion, that is… ;-)

  81. Gravatar jtb-in-texas your flag
    Posted April 8, 2008 at 6:43 am | Permalink

    og^H^H of

  82. Posted April 8, 2008 at 10:51 am | Permalink

    Re. #80: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2ZTLmOoPzjs

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