Get your game on fellas…
Open Thread # 61
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140 Comments
First?
First!
nice move by russia…
GyopoTim, totally agree. Hu Jintao must be furious….
lol
The Dark Knight is finally in Korea. It can be summed up in one word– awesome. If you downloaded it, go see it. CAMs don’t do it any justice.
Dokdo!
(Let’s the circus begin!)
Where can one buy a rock or a bit of soil from Dokdo?
If Japan ever retakes it… I want a little piece I can call my own…
Is it just me, or was the Korean Olympic team looking to have an average age of about 50 when they entered for the opening ceremonies?
The wife (who worked for the Korean Olympic team) assured me that the athletes aren’t allowed to walk in the ceremony in order to let them rest before the big event…
I think Georgia, at the end of the day, will get punk’d…
SBC gets punk’d…
http://www.thewest.com.au/aaps.....ame=504253
http://www.guardian.co.uk/spor.....le/7704702
#8, maybe they didn’t want the athletes to be attacked with water bottles when they entered the stadium.
I’d like to know why so many Chinese are getting such a hate-on for a country that never invaded them, doesn’t send illegals into their borders, invests heavily in their economy, etc?
#10, SBS deserved that.
# 11,
A lot of Americans wonder about the same thing w/Korea…
nice pics of the opening cermeonies
http://www.boston.com/bigpictu.....emony.html
south korea spotlighted in soldiers magazine
http://lists.army.mil/soldiers.....08full.pdf
#11 Well, there are plenty of non-Asians around that spend a good portion of their time (and hard money) towards the hating. Probably won’t get anywhere asking why, though. What’s more confusing though, are the folk that say they don’t want nothing to do or think with Korea/Koreans but probably spend the most time talking or reading about’em. Such is the illogical power of Han.
Anyway, looks like I gotta cut back on tubu chigae;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/tal.....490202.stm
That’s a shame…I’m guessing tempeh is just as bad with all it’s isoflavones? I think I’ve asked this before too.
I hope they replay the opening ceremonies tonight in the USA.
It looks awesome!
http://printf.wordpress.com/20.....-pictures/
How is it possible that we could not be allowed to see the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games live on ANY of the channels available on Sky Life ? Neither BBC nor CNN nor the Korean channels….or even China’s own international English channel. Did SBS ruin it for all of us? Bloody disgraceful!
How is it possible that we could not be allowed to see the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games live on ANY of the channels available on Sky Life ? Neither BBC nor CNN nor the Korean channels….or even China’s own international English channel. Did SBS ruin it for all of us? Bloody disgraceful!
11, The Politburo of P.R. China has chosen nationalism as the tool of choice in increasing party legitimacy and increase social cohesion. This is similar to how Korean politicians with low rating often decide to bash Japan to increase domestic support.
In order to increase nationalism, sometimes it’s necessary to create an enemy.. and it’s better to have an enemy who pose no real threat to you.
For China, it’s Korea and no longer Japan (China has opted for pro-Japan policy recently).
For US, it’s the terrorists from some backward country.
Hey… what are these chicks in hanboks doing performing at the opening ceremony????
http://en.beijing2008.cn/cerem.....7041.shtml
Chaoxian minority?
Something to ponder over.
“War has broken out between Georgia and South Ossetia. At least 10 Russian troops have been killed and 30 wounded and 2 Russian fighter jets downed. American Marines, a thousand of them, have recently been in Georgia training the Georgian military forces. Several European nations stopped Bush and others from allowing Georgia into NATO. Russia is moving a large military force with armor towards the area. This could get bad, and remember it is just a strategic diversion….but one that could have horrific effects. Link to story “Russia sends forces into Georgia rebel conflict”. FURTHER UPDATE ~ Russian military forces in active combat; now total of four Russian fighter jets reported downed. ADDITIONAL UPDATE ~ Georgia calls for US help; Russian Air Force bombs Georgian air bases. DEBKA, the Israeli strategy and military site, states that Israeli military officers are advising the Georgian armed forces in combat operations and that 1,000 Israelis are in-combat on the side of Georgia at this time.”
http://europebusines.blogspot......-iran.html
@ 22,
Like I said… Georgia is gonna get punk’d.
Giving Russia an excuse to attack is the best thing that could of happened to Putin and his cohorts.
@ 15,
I always thought that comments from ppl about how much soliders would rather be in Iraq than Korea always smelled like BS to me…
BBC:
Isn’t there supposed to be a branch of the military called ‘intelligence’? Did Georgia’s army really NOT KNOW that thousands of Russian soldiers were massing across the border during those ‘days of exchanging heavy fire’? Would they have entered South Ossetia if they did?
At this point I’ll make a wild prediction: it’s not a raid, it’s an annexation. The Russians will stay. (btw - does Ossetia have oil?)
Link, possible gas pipe line and Georgia was trying to get into NATO.
#13: “A lot of Americans wonder about the same thing w/Korea…”
Touche. But I don’t think the two are the same.
The people in Korea who have a hate-on for the United States criticize the U.S. for propping up murderous dictators for several decades (and splitting the country in half). These are not my POVs so don’t shoot the messenger.
“Touche. But I don’t think the two are the same.”
Sorry for the typo. I meant to call you a douche.
#18,
No, it’s typical. You’ll soon learn that Olympic coverage here is mostly limited to events in which South Koreans have a chance of winning medals…and replays of such events…makes the American coverage look complete and unbiased.
#21,
Maybe…or it could be a subtle political statement.
LMB firing the President of KBS (illegally), anyone? anyone? I’m surprised Marmot hasn’t covered it (though I tend to notice it doesn’t cover a lot of stuff that shows LMB in a negative light…)
First a Canadian UFO cult, then a mad scientist, and now this…
http://www.time.com/time/world.....18,00.html
Don’t know about you, but I think Korean scientists might want to lay off the cloning business for a while lest they want to do irreparable damage to this country’s reputation.
#28, South Korean media spotlight on women’s archery and short track does not explain why the opening ceremony would not be shown.
# 30,
It’s because Robert Koehler’s on vacation. He’s got a better ear to the Korean newswires than the guest bloggers.
#30,
If only the guy wasn’t a crony in the first place.
@ 30,
Here’s the article:
Board Votes to Oust KBS President Jung
#32,
It certainly does.
#36. No, it doesn’t. The South Koreans are actually in the opening ceremony, so if it’s not shown, there is some other reason that athletic provincialism.
#32 What do you mean the opening ceremony wasn’t shown? It was on MBC and KBS1 last night, I watched it with my family.
#35 Yes, I’ve read the article, and it would all look completely nice and fair if it weren’t for two facts: a) that the Broadcasting Law (set in place in 2000) states that the Board and the Korean President have the rights to appoint a new president of a broadcasting company, but not the rights to fire him/her and b) the entire Board is behind LMB anyway, everything’s simply going to plan. That is, until Jung Yeon-ju sues for illegality.
“#32 What do you mean the opening ceremony wasn’t shown? It was on MBC and KBS1 last night, I watched it with my family.”
Who are you to let facts get in the way of a good hate-on?
But you’ll see that it was noticeably absent from SBC…
Baedol, unless the article linked by WangKon is inaccurate, the KBS Board of Directors fired the KBS president. If a majority of the Board has the authority to do so, how is such a decision “illegal”?
“But you’ll see that it was noticeably absent from SBC…”
What did the Samoa Broadcasting Corporation do to deserve that? It was all SBS’s fault.
John Edwards recently admitted to having an affair, which he lied about “during his Presidential campaign”.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blot.....amp;page=1
user-81: “The people in Korea who have a hate-on for the United States criticize the U.S. for propping up murderous dictators for several decades (and splitting the country in half). These are not my POVs so don’t shoot the messenger.”
Those aren’t the POVs of the average anti-American Korean either. That’s the guilty American’s assumption of what Korean anti-Americanism must be about. The average candle-lit nitwit’s memory doesn’t go back any further than about the 2002. He/she’s more angry about Ohno than Gwangju.
It’s the POV of a lot of people with a hate-on for the U.S. What did people get angry about before 2002? Girls killed in tank accidents, mad cow, Ohno, Gwangju, etc anger a lot of people due to U.S. hegemony. Some Koreans feel protected by American hegemony, but the haters feel that it’s been not so good for Korea (four decades of dictatorship, for example).
I’m not saying that this POV is fair or that it’s the dominant view. I’m saying that in response to #13 about some Chinese’s hate-on toward Korea being like some Koreans’ hate-on toward America: China does not the same grievances toward Korea that Korea might have toward America. No Chinese can reasonably see their country as a victim of Korean hegemony but maybe a Korean reasonably could.
Ok, just to lower the tone. While watching the procession to circumvent the politburo commentary and fake “one world” love-on-ishness of the thing, my mates and I were trying to rate the countries female athletes. And although channel 7 (the aussie broadcaster) focused only on the tennis player we still saw a decent sample.
I think we generally agreed that Poland had the hottest female athletes. The big let downs were Spain and Slovenia. We couldn’t rate China, US, Russia as they had too many athletes to get a good sample.
Russian and Chinese Imperialism is a sin relative to “American Imperialism”.
US should mediate a cease fire by economic trade incentives.
The Russian involvement in Ossetia is pure Imperialism, and an attempt to hang on to meaningless “yes states”, while the whole of East Europe has said fuck you to the country that glorifies Stalin.
One day, China will break up, too, and they will say fuck you to the country that glorifies Mao.
US involvement in Iraq is truly for good reasons and good reasons alone. Attacking murderers at their home, and establishing democracy, which US Arabs claim “is not for everybody”, but which they enjoy and exercise and benefit from.
I don’t remember an Olympics that had a war going on at the same time.
WJK (#47),
It seems there are a few things we do agree on, but I think the US should do more than just offer trade incentives.
WJK - I don’t know much about all of them but I’m struggling to think of an Olympics® that did NOT have a war on at the time. Can anyone suggest one?
I fell asleep soon after the Greek girls came out on the track, so although my sample size is small, I believe they will do allright.
And if I was so inclined, I would imagine myself lying in a field amongst hundreds of drumming soldiers that the Pet Shop Boys-directed opening ceremony was. I don’t think I’d be able to walk for weeks.
#2,
They invaded Afghanistan on Christmas morning in 1979, so it’s neither a novel idea nor one that is devoid of symbolism.
#37,
Then, explain to me why we see so little of the games.
I searched yesterday to see what coverage would be available on SkyLife. I quote from their site “Golf, extreme sports and many more including 2008 Beijing Olympic Games”. So I was hoping to see live coverage on the HD channel, but it wasn’t to be. I ended up watching some of the ceremony at a sports bar with some of my friends, and right now I’m watching a replay of the opening ceremony using my Slingbox from my Mom’s house in North Carolina.
I hope the SkyLife HD channel does indeed carry some of the Olympic events. Strange they didn’t show the Opening Ceremony, though. You’d think that would be ideal programming for HD.
Does anybody remember a commenter here who was called tlqTorl or something. I’m trying to find a comment he made that was particularly infammatory. Any help would be appreciated.
Tripod, I think you may have misread the question in #18 and my answer. It was about the opening ceremony, not the athletic events. I agree with you that the main network’s athletic provincialism leads to them focusing on events like women’s archery and speed skating (I don’t know about all the other channels’ schedules this year, so I can’t say anything about the minor stations).
FWIW, the ceremony was broadcast in HK with an 8-minute delay, I suppose per orders of the Politburo.
No South Korean could, reasonably, see South Korea as anything except a beneficiary of US “hegemony”,
The Chinese already have one gold medal. Damn!
#56, Sperwer:
“No South Korean could, reasonably, see South Korea as anything except a beneficiary of US “hegemony”,”
I think U.S. hegemony has overall been very good for Korea.
But if my relatives were thrown in jail or executed under Rhee or Park and because of that I did not feel like American hegemony propping dictators up was a good thing, would I be unreasonable?
“The Chinese already have one gold medal. Damn!”
Were you hoping they wouldn’t get any?
Of course, propping up North Korean dictators is fine.
Good point, Alejandro Marivosa. Now that Lee is in power and the spigot will be shut off, Pyongyang will fall in a matter of weeks. I can’t wait!
When I first heard news of the Russian invasion, it reminded me of the beginnings of WWI - small countries drawing their larger allies in, widening the conflict. In an age of nuclear weapons, though, it seems unlikely that the US would commit troops to back the Georgians, even though Iraq is very close to the conflict. So, the question would seem to be whether Georgia can survive, and if the Russians will stop at defending the South Ossetians. If they take Georgia, NATO’s credibility could be undermined, and we could see another arms buildup and more tension on the Russian/NATO border, not a pretty scenario.
I want to watch some olympic coverage on the net on my Mac… Anybody know a good Sopcast kind of program that works on a Mac?
Thanks
I’m currently watching Judo on NBColympics (yay! they’re going to cover almost all events at every juncture!), and it seems that “대~한민국” and “오~코리아” have revived.
I don’t know how to feel about that. I liked it better when, for another Korean player, they were chanting the player’s name.
Didn’t Czech Republic get the first gold with air rifle?
If anybody is still in favor of giving Georgia or Ukraine NATO membership, the current fighting in the former country should be a reminder of why not to expand the organization east. This is Russia’s sphere of influence, and they’re not about to give it up to other parties. Although I was more open to the Baltic countries getting NATO membership, I don’t think it is in the interest of NATO to get dragged into a future conflict over Latvia’s Russian minority, for example.
I actually don’t blame the Russians for not wanting possible NATO bases in the heart of the Caucasus. (The United States would never accepted the Warsaw Pact in Mexico, or as was proven, in Cuba.) It should be clear that the Russians have serious issues with being boxed in, and have a bit of an invasion complex. (Considering the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, Crimean War, allied intervention in the post-revolution civil war, and the carnage of WWII, this shouldn’t be surprising.)
The Georgians, if the reports of Ossetian/Russian casualties - mainly civilian - from their initial shelling and rocket attacks are true, have made a mistake in trying to initiate a military solution for the South Ossetia problem. The Russians are going to retaliate - maybe with a disproportionate degree of brutality - and I don’t know if the Georgians can expect to receive much in the way of help if the Russians are really serious about this. (In terms of drawing a line in the sand, showing they remain a power to be reckoned with, defending Russian citizens, and keeping the oil revenue flowing, I think they are taking this very seriously.)
Another thing: Did the Georgians let the United States know they were going to do this? Or worse, was the Georgian military assisted by American, Israeli, or other advisors (even if it was only logistical) before or during this attack?
I hope not. Helping the Croats take back Krajina from Croatian Serbs with the weakened rump of Yugoslavia unable to help is one thing, but antagonizing Russia is another matter altogether. Putin would be furious. (Probably is regardless of any American or other foreign role in this.)
1000 Israelis are in the fight with Georgia now. 1000 Marines were in Georgia as military advisors and trainers just last month.
#64, I tried NBColympics.com but was told I could not see the live feed because NBC is not permitted to stream outside the U.S. How are you getting around that limitation?
#62,
Oh, yeah. WW1…the war that the US only fought in for…what was it, 6 months? Wilson was trying to play both sides of the fence, tried to sell both to the Brits and the Gerry…he even helped Germans send coded messages on his own secure lines because England had cut German transatlantic underwater lines…until his office got word that the Germans had used those very lines to try to form a secret alliance with Mexico to mount an invasion of Texas.
#58, yeah, because the alternative was worse, and your feelings, while understandable, would still be unREASONable.
…Not that it was the only reason…US was late to enter WW1 because at that point in time it didn’t have a modern armed force. All it had was a lot of men who knew how to fire a rifle and little more. It was simply ready for the logistical problems that it would face in modern warfare. The thousands of immigrants who had fled Europe to escape conscription were not too keen on the being drafted either.
Correction: The US….It was simply not ready….
#71, Are the only two choices U.S. hegemony which props up murderous dictators or takeover by North Korea?
@#69
I am in the U.S. I really should go to sleep, but the Judo tournament is really keeping me up.
that really sucks. Are any of the Korean broadcasting companies doing something similar?
American tourist killed in Beijing!
http://www.nytimes.com/aponlin.....ref=slogin
I wonder if they’ll sweep this under the rug this like they downplayed the terrorist attack that killed 16 the other day.
http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/sto.....s_olympics
#74: You tell me; what were the realistic options at the time?
I too, have been unsuccessful in watching video at NBColympics.com, since the site states they can only stream video to viewers in the US.
Anyone have any ideas on how we can use a proxy server or something, or can access coverage somewhere else?
Call me out of my mind, but there are actually a lot of Olympic events that I want to watch that don’t involve a Korean athlete, and thus will never be aired here.
Gotta like the way KBS, SBS et al. assume that the Korean viewership consists of nothing but frogs in a well who couldn’t possibly want to watch an event that didn’t involve a Korean athlete.
No, pull the plug on the Olympics and show yet another episode of 스타깅. Pricks.
It’s Day 1 of the Olympics, and I’m already going stir crazy. Please, ideas anyone?
#77, I already said I think U.S. hegemony has overall been very good for Korea, so there’s no point to getting in an argument about that. But would it not have been possible to have U.S. hegemony without propping up murderous dictators and the human rights abuses?
“Russians have serious issues with being boxed in, and have a bit of an invasion complex. (Considering the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, Crimean War, this shouldn’t be surprising.”
Crimean War? Although there was a lot of political manoevering, it was Russias invasion of Modavia and Wallachia that started the Crimean War. Perhaps the invasion complex you mean is their habit of invading surrounding countries.
I turned off my cable last month. I get one channel SBS, and it showed the opening ceremony last night and then promptly turned it off. I don’t know what you people are talking about.
I agree that Korea only broadcasts events with Korean participants which is limiting. You know what, I don’t care. I’m not watching and wouldn’t be watching regardless of where I’m at. The way China has handled this thing has completely turned me off to it.
To be honest, I haven’t watched much Olympic coverage since the Munich Games. I pine for the days of amateurs. It’s lost its lustre for me.
I meant to say I saw that it was showing the opening ceremony and then “I” promptly turned it off.
get one channel SBS, and it showed the opening ceremony last night
Yup, SBS was broadcasting the opening ceremonies live along with KBS and MBC. Not only that they were showing some of the sporting events today. Plus the Guardian article says that SBS was planning to broadcast the event via “pool coverage”, so I wouldn’t exactly say SBS was tanked.
Hey… what are these chicks in hanboks doing performing at the opening ceremony????
According to the commentary during the ceremonies, they are supposed to represent the Korean minority in China.
Really hope we don’t have WWIII over some backwater that has been fighting each other since the beginning of the last century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G....._conflict_(1918-1920)
The official Russian version of why they invaded sounds like BS, but the Georgian president sounded evasive when the BBC asked why he didn’t recognize the separatists. Does every damn ethnic group have to have their own country? There will be a pointless war and a bunch of refugees will move to the U.S.
I wasn’t interested in the Olympics either but had to see the fireworks, which were great. Don’t think it was worth evicting dozens of people from their homes around the stadium though.
“Perhaps the invasion complex you mean is their habit of invading surrounding countries.”
Well, Napoleon invaded them, the allies invaded them in 1918, and the German invasion of the Soviet Union likely resulted in at least 20 000 000 dead Soviets, if not more. I’m not going to defend their dividing Poland with the Germans in 1939, nor their actions during the Cold War (Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan definitely qualify as invasions of Soviet aggression) but not appreciating the historical/psychological results of WWII in particular makes understanding Russia an impossibility. The buffer states of the Warsaw Pact were, at least to some extent, based on the experience of that war.
Again, I’m not a big fan of the Russian leadership, past or present. I don’t think they should have been made a member of the “G-8″, they should never have themselves been courted for NATO membership, and while Putin is an autocrat it wasn’t like the place was a flourishing and vibrant democracy during the 90s.
By the way, just saw Saakashvili on CNN calling for a ceasefire. I wish him luck on that, but expect the Russians to get in a few more licks before they consider taking him up on the offer.
“Really hope we don’t have WWIII over some backwater that has been fighting each other since the beginning of the last century”
My earlier point exactly.
Pretty safe assumption. Not that I care - for the most part it is a bunch of fringe sports that nobody cares about for 3 years and 50 some-odd weeks out of 4 years.
Does EVERY alcoholic product in Korea make the male sex organ perform better? I hope this is just a cultural running joke, and not a generally held belief.
I couldn’t get the NBC video feed working either. They ask you for your zip code and to certify you have a cable subscription in your home city (I do, with Comcast). But it somehow must have detected that I was in Seoul, and it wouldn’t play.
Uhh, every broadcasting companies in the world does that because there are about 3300 hours of coverage total, and networks can only offer fraction of the coverage. NBC used to do about half of total, and that’s because it has like 10 channels where it can do the coverage. I’m guessing between MBC, KBS, and SBS, they can barely manage to cover the events with Korean competitors. (I’m assuming that, due to time restraints, they even skipped over some of the events with Korean athletes)
For example, this Olympics would be the first time I get to watch events that are NOT swimming, track, and gymnastic. (Oh, so THAT’s what a handball game actually looks like!)
I dunno about that assessment. When was the last time anyone went out of their way to catch the world championship tournament in gymnastics, tracks, or swimming? I mean, aside from baseball (which apparently won’t be an Olympics event starting at London), basketball, and soccer, an average person would call almost all events in the Olympics a ‘fringe sport that nobody cares about’ (Soccer not included in the list if the population is limited to United States, of course). At the point where Beach Volleyball is getting so much attention from U.S. MSM, I don’t think anyone can rag on K-MSM for obsessing over archery.
#30
“LMB firing the President of KBS (illegally), anyone? anyone? I’m surprised Marmot hasn’t covered it”
I agree. I’m interested in this story.
re: #91
“I’m guessing between MBC, KBS, and SBS, they can barely manage to cover the events with Korean competitors. (I’m assuming that, due to time restraints, they even skipped over some of the events with Korean athletes)”
This argument regarding time restraints would be a little easier to buy if SBS Sports hadn’t shown the Cameroon vs. Korea football match 3 times today, in its entirety. And it was just a preliminary match resulting in a 1-1 tie.
I’m not kidding. 3 times. That I’m aware of. Probably more.
And no, they haven’t skipped over any event involving a Korean athlete that I’m aware of.
Speaking of, Choi Min-Ho may talk with a kind of lisp, but the dude frickin’ kicked ass and took names today on the judo mat.
“Yup, SBS was broadcasting the opening ceremonies live along with KBS and MBC.”
Are you sure that wasn’t a rerun of the video they took of the rehearsal?
@ Chris re #89:
“I couldn’t get the NBC video feed working either. They ask you for your zip code and to certify you have a cable subscription in your home city (I do, with Comcast). But it somehow must have detected that I was in Seoul, and it wouldn’t play.”
When I was in Korea I have tried to watch the shows ABC, NBC, and CBS offer on their websites but none of them worked. They do that on purpose because of broadcast rights sold for those same shows to other countries. For the Olympics, which they don’t own the original rights to, it would be a similar situation.
Comedian Bernie Mac has died:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/obi.....mQz2Ks0NUE
Today’s smile:
“Profound rotational valuation changes in the US dollar index, commodities, equities, and quality debt instruments will occur over the next 19 or so months. Gold is likely to be revalued at less than 250 US dollars. All revaluations will occur in a precise quantum fractal manner. US dollars are being destroyed through consumer, corporate, and financial default at an unknown but increasing rate with rotational devaluation of equities, and now commodities, serving as a precise quantum fractal mirror of the underlying deterministic macroeconomic process which had boundaries defined by supply and demand, debt load and the ability to service that debt load based on jobs. The macroeconomic system taken by its individual and interconnected parts is complex- but the summation of system’s activity and its ongoing condition in terms of money growth or decline is elegantly simple and is defined in likewise elegantly simple quantum valuation fractal patterns - further defined in the context of valuation saturation curves limiting growth and conversely decay and by areas of nonlinear valuation growth and decay leading to those saturation limits. US real estate and valuable US assets are denominated in a vanishing number of surviving dollars. The dollars previous collapse and current growth against other currencies are following simple readily identifiable Lammert quantum fractal patterns. Private sector and non federal jobs are being lost. Unlike federal government related jobs, the private sector economy is dependent on a bottom line profit margin from ongoing and seasonal buying which in turn is dependent on the collective ongoing wealth of consumers and a loaded pipeline of higher cost durable goods. Even after the equilibratiion of residual dollars relative to other currencies and financial assets, the real private economy will take some time to reestablish former US GDP nominal growth which has largely been based on consumer debt expansion - especially in the last decade. In this setting where there may not be time to allow a slow reestablishment of a functioning credit system, nationalization of much of the US private economy is possible.”
Sounds like those bath tub oracle cylons on BSG.
The opening ceremonies in HD. Make sure to load the ‘video helper’ applet first. Links to part 2 and 3 at the bottom of the screen.
http://www.ninjavideo.net/video/9077
#95,
Try downloading Hotspot Shield. It’s a proxy that gives you an American IP address.
For many of the world’s peoples, who view things through the prism of the tribe (or religion), and have not been able to build liberal societies based on impartial rule of law and strong institutions, the answer is yes.
That’s most of the reason why American so-called “racists” fear uncontrolled immigration of “those people” — if migrants arrive faster than our society can assimilate them and make them American (we are pretty good at that, though), we run the risk of having our own South Ossetia-style enclaves and the concomitant risk of war. Western Europe seems to be headed this way if the Muslims cannot be assimilated.
I’m no techie, but isn’t it a tad suspicious that Stranger’s very first M-Hole post invites us to download something?
Well, news of Russians landing on the Georgian coast and of lines of Russian reinforcements headed for Georgia. I think that The US has to do what it can to preserve Georgian sovereignty without triggering WW3, and the best way to do that is to send in loads of supplies to the Georgians, like tanks, anti-air craft missiles, etc, without sending in actual American soldiers.. much like 1989 Afghanistan and Vietnam.
Vietnam mentioned as in the Soviet role in Vietnam, rather than the American one.
Are you sure that wasn’t a rerun of the video they took of the rehearsal?
Well I don’t think the rerun of the video has Hu Jintao declaring the opening of the Olympics plus President and Mrs. Bush waving American flags during the entrance of the US team, among others.
Now for something that doesn’t involve the Olympics or the Georgian-Russian war.
It seems that some Korean women are starting to wear their tops in a way that deliberately shows off the straps of the bra that they are wearing.
Teasing the men, perhaps?
Wonder how long it will be before Korean women start wearing their bottoms in a way that shows off the top of their panties?
I wonder what the expats-in-China reaction has been like to the murder of Tim Maclean on the Greyhound Bus and to the recent murder of the tourist in China. Hmm. I don’t imagine it’d be as ridiculous as Kblogosphere was in response to, well, pretty much anything any Korean anywhere does in the world.
Anyway, Korea has two medals so far: A gold for judo, and a silver for shooting. 아자 아자 화이팅!
Check here for results and stats: http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/index.html
Not to say that immigration is not without its problems, but immigration has nothing to do with places in Europe that have significant separatist/partitionist movements or parties now — Belgium, Spain, and Scotland to pick three — or had such movements — Czechoslovakia, and, of course, Yugoslavia — until recently. All of these examples involve groups living there for centuries.
France, which many like to point out as an example of immigration policy gone wrong, admits less than 150 000 immigrants/year. (Canada, with half the population of France, admits around 250 000/year.) Far less than 10% of France’s population is foreign born, and while many of these new arrivals are Muslim, they are often coming with at least some understanding of French culture and society, and French language skills. Many are poor and marginalized, but relatively few are fundamentalist and radicalized.
A work in progress, and not without problems, but my guess is that most Muslims in France or the UK will assimilate after a generation or two, and those who don’t will be just as likely to leave than to start secessionist movements. Those who do the latter will find the locals less-then-sympathetic, and will likely alienate a great many of their fellow immigrants.
“It seems that some Korean women are starting to wear their tops in a way that deliberately shows off the straps of the bra that they are wearing.”
starting? they’ve been doing that for at least five years
“I wonder what the expats-in-China reaction has been like to the murder of Tim Maclean on the Greyhound Bus and to the recent murder of the tourist in China.”
Probably pretty measured, unlike the reaction might be here were a Korean murdered by a non-Korean.
The most offensive reaction to the murder of Tim Maclean is by the Westboro Baptist Church who are attempting to enter Canada and picket his funeral. (Yes, they are the same inbred lunatics that enjoy protesting outside the funerals of American servicemen and servicewomen, coal miners, or other ordinary Americans with family and friends grieving their passing.)
A little reminder that fanaticism is not the exclusive property of Islamic terrorists, Korean so-called “progressive” demonstrators, and soccer hooligans.
I’ve been informed that Korean girls even wear fake asses in addition to fake tits that come with the bra. Is the fake ass an innovation from Japan, by the way?
As far as I know, we Korean men are not offering them fake dicks, or wearing strap on dildos (something a man with pelvic exenteration or women who have sex with women may use), so I think Korean women should be severely criticized for this practice, and further more discouraged from showing bra straps, if there is actually nothing to look at underneath the shirt.
this is wjk.
@Tripod re #99:
“Try downloading Hotspot Shield. It’s a proxy that gives you an American IP address.”
Gracias. I’ll try that next time I’m out of the country.
Their reaction would be intemperate, sure, but for its own very particular set of reasons. I’d say that at least such reasons wouldn’t be ‘racist.’ Consider, I don’t think Koreans care that some white American kills someone- even a Korean- anywhere outside of Korea, unlike the poindexters here who absolutely care and make sure to express it whenever a Korean murders any non-Korean anywhere.
@globalvillage re #109:
“Probably pretty measured, unlike the reaction might be here were a Korean murdered by a non-Korean.”
Before August of last year, 40 Koreans were murdered overseas. Four of them in the United States. Reaction to which of the 40 are you talking about that wasn’t a “pretty measured” response?
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/.....this-year/
Congrats to “Marine Boy”.
If you missed it…don’t worry. You will be able to see it for the next 4 years.
“Before August of last year, 40 Koreans were murdered overseas. Four of them in the United States. Reaction to which of the 40 are you talking about that wasn’t a “pretty measured” response?”
I was referring mainly to the reaction of many Koreans to the middle school students killed here in 2002. I agree that most Koreans don’t pay all that much attention to deaths of Koreans oversea, but had it been a Korean murdered in China during the Olympics, I imagine more than a few of the k-nutizens would have been on it pretty fast.
Marine Boy swam a great race. I’ve already seen it three times.
I’m watching the archery at the moment, and I’m pretty sure they’re using a theme song from the video game “Dynasty Warriors” as one of their stock music. Weird and kinda funny
starting? they’ve been doing that for at least five years
Transparent bra straps or tops that resemble swimsuit tops don’t count.