Hey, it looks like autumn has finally arrived!
Open Thread #68
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by Robert Koehler on September 27, 2008
Hey, it looks like autumn has finally arrived!
Previous post: Chrome Port for Linux
Next post: Blow Them Out of the Water
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
First!!! Again. Yes fall has finally arrived.
Au…tu…mn? What’s that? Here, the four seasons are Summer, Egg-frying Summer, Murderous Summer, and Survivable Summer.
I’ve noticed that the Kyobo bookstore and the kiosks at the streets and subway stations in the downtown Seoul area aren’t carrying the IHT. What gives? Did the IHT and the Joongang-Ilbo had a falling out?
Ahhhhhhhtumn. My favorite season. I hope it’ll be an especially special one for me this year.
Hoping for a fall blumpkin?
I have been having trouble finding the IHT on stands as well. I have heard nothing about it though; just thought it was happenstance.
The harvest this Fall has been wonderful, according to farmers I spoke to. One was bragging about having thirty pumpkins off of just one plant and last night I bought apples as big as the biggest pears one could find.
P.S. I just saw this and it is an amazingly well done parody of Sarah Palin.
1) I called the end of summer on Thursday morning. It was rainy and cool – almost cold – and I hadn’t felt that since April. Fantastic development. We got the hot and humid weather a little later than usual, but it hung on later than normal.
2) I haven’t been able to find the IHT – downtown or at the odd subway station kiosk that I could rely on – for the past couple of weeks. The only decent newspaper to be found here – with the NY Times crossword puzzle, no less – and it looks like it is done. Shit! Maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. The Joongang guys have done an absolutely shit job of promoting it…
Recently, Palin did an interview for CBS with Katie Couric.
Here’s Palin on the importance of Alaska’s proximity to Russia:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoYMbgL3meQ
(OMG! That’d be hillarious if she weren’t running for VP)
Palin on Rick Davis and McCain’s record:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpxMwOghLiY
Katie Couric talks about the experience of interviewing Palin and reviews another response by Palin about the bailout. (Apparently, Palin thinks bailout is about healthcare reform and tax reduction! This bimbo is totally fucking clueless!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npUMUASwaec
Which of the kiddie Christian Republicans over here would like to take a gander at defending that this week?
By the way, Sarah Palin makes Dan Quayle look like an intellectual giant. Were I not married, I’d still like to poke her, but were I an American I’d be ashamed of voting for such an obvious moron.
Why don’t you all pony up for an IHT subscription? Delivered daily (except Sundays) to my door by 6:45a.m.
Speaking of newspapers, ASU decided to spend $75,000 collected from students to get ‘free’ copies of New York Times all over the campus. That is $75,000 spent on something that anyone with ASU student ID can get free online. Idiots…
It has nothing to do with Korea or anything. Just a hot topic where I am.
whitey beat me to it: the IHT is still being delivered to subscribers. Since the IHT’s a fairly pricey daily for this market, it might be that street sales were too slack for some of the local kiosks to continue carrying it. Strange that Kyobo didn’t have it either, though.
I, too, have been pissed about not finding the IHT in news kiosks or bookstores. I may have to get a subscription, I guess…
Also, can anyone tell em why there were fireworks at (looked like) Yongsan base on the 25th at around 8-9 pm?
A reader sent me an email that the IHT “is still available daily at Kyobo in Gwanghwamun and they have increased their supply since it’s been taken off the stands.”
I read the IHT online–all you miss are the real estate ads in the back of the paper. Maybe some of you guys need the paper edition to shop for French chalets
Hey, here’s a scary story: “80% of Processed Korean Food Comes from China”
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200809/200809260004.html
It’s now increasingly clear why the McCain campaign is shielding Palin from the media and treating her with kid gloves. The criticism they take for avoiding the press and limiting access is far preferrable to the national embarrassment that results every time she opens her mouth. They’ve seen her in action, run her through mock press conferences and debates, and have come to the conclusion that she’s better off taking heat for hiding than she is stumbling and bumbling her way into becoming a national laughingstock.
She has the exact same mix of ignorance and arrogance that Bush rode to the top, using her false overconfidence as cover for a blatant lack of knowledge. Like Bush, she displays a brash certitude regardless of whether she’s discussing a topic she’s knowledgeable about (oil and Jesus), or a topic she’s obviously ignorant of (everything else). You can actually see the vacancy sign flashing in her skull when she goes into repeat mode on questions that stump her, or when she mindlessly rattles off the catch-phrases (maverick, reform, freedom, don’t blink) that she does flash-card drills with every night.
The most embarrassing aspect of her limited introduction thus far — regardless of her knowledge or lack thereof — is the reality that her ability as a basic politician is unfathomably poor. There are gaps in the knowledge base of every politician, but the skill that separates the good from the bad is the ability to smoothly and seamlessly either guide the conversation away from those gaps, or answer such questions with enough fluff and misdirection that at least make it sound as if you know what you’re talking about, even when you don’t. Palin though, does not even possess this rudimentary skill. Particularly for someone so stupid, this deficiency is inexcusable.
She’s a disaster of Admiral Stockdale proportions, and it’s only going to get worse. It’s truly incredible that McCain took neither the time nor effort to put her through a couple hours of brain-probing before he selected her, when that surely would have come back with a flat-line result and allowed him to see what is now becoming obvious to anyone with eyes and ears. All he saw was the fundamentalist appeal and the eyes of the Jesus-freaks lighting up with glee at her Pentecostal background of speaking in tongues and condemning pro-choicers to hell.
I personally heard her name come up early this year in the veep talk, and just happened to catch her around the same time in an interview on CNBC she did with Larry Kudlow. That 10 minute interview was enough for me to write her off. She came off as very simple and vacant, without a single complex, interesting, or informative thought in the entire interview. After seeing that small clip, I completely disregarded her as a legitimate candidate, and assumed any serious politician would have done the same.
John McCain had 6 months, armies of advisors, millions of dollars, and hordes of people at his disposal to investigate and vet his vice-presidential candidate…and yet with that amount of time and resources, he couldn’t figure out what I could in 10 minutes of one interview.
The single most important decision of his entire political career, and all he can muster is mind-boggling incompetence.
Yeah,but McCain won the debate. His campaign ad said so — hours before the debate even started:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/mccain_wins_debate.html?f=1
As for Failin’ Palin, when conservative columnists who initially supported her say should bow out, you know McCain’s cynical, pandering VP selection has really backfired: “Palin clearly out of her league”
http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/536459.html
the uh, KrZ, you can’t use my user name.
it’s called socking.
it should be illegal.
this is at least one thing no one should ever do.
you apologize this moment.
@16 – the pen marks for the crossword ruin my monitor
$75000 for the whole student body is immaterial expense. One of your Obama supporting faculty members deemed it important enough that you guys all get read up on New York Times op eds on who to vote for in a span of couple weeks.
this sort of newspaper subscription for the college body is not new. I’ve heard of it being done for LA Times, USA today, etc. But never Wall Street Journal.
of course college students, who probably get “free” songs, games, computer programs, as well as the rare newspaper article on-line, this may seem like money in the trashcan.
I daresay, you guys cost the school more money by downloading all that stuff using the school’s internet bandwith. I’m 99% confident.
but, if you really were actually going to read the paper, walking around, may i suggest
New York Post
New York Newsday
for the ability to read with one hand, with less wind getting in your way, and frankly being more than likely to get a good AM chuckle?
are the Mets going to burn down or what? I hope Milwaukee drops the ball against the Cubs.
I hope the Cubs lose in the first round.
An exchange on the only other blog I read regularly:
Twofish:
The basic problem is that you are looking at the asset part of the equation and not the liability part. Typically what a banks balance sheet looks like is that for every $1000 in assets, it owes about $900 to depositors. So on the one had you have $900 owed to depositors, and then on the other hand you have $900 in loans, $20 in cash, and $80 in securities. They only have enough cash on hand to pay out deposits, and if you have lots of people wanting cash, they sell securities, and if things get really bad, they trade loans with the Fed for cash.
Under normal conditions, most people pay their mortgages, and you don’t have a problem. The trouble is that suppose the loans are not worth $850 instead of $900. You still don’t have a problem because you still have enough worth to pay your depositors. Now suppose all of a sudden your securities are worth $40 instead of $80. You now have barely enough assets to cover what you owe to depositors. If you suddenly have a run on banks that pushes loan values or securities down, you have a big mess.
The way that this can spread to non-financials is this. Suppose you are a car company that wants to buy steel to make cars. You don’t have the cars yet, so you borrow money from the commercial paper market to buy steel. Once you turn the steel into cars, you sell the caars, and repay the loan.
If banks stop making these short term loans, then you can’t buy steel, you can’t make cars, and there are no jobs. Right now people are still sort of lending is still going on because people thhink that there will be a bailout. If there isn’t then banks are going to find they are underwater, and the commercial paper market will just evaporate.
KnotRP
Twofish — so tax payers front the money and GM gets the steel to overbuild yet more automobiles, even though they cannot move what’s on the lots now. Overproduction. Worse yet, overproduction by a substandard builder.
Money isn’t being lent because no knows of a productive enterprise worth dumping money into at this time. Substituting governement malinvestment (or just shotgunning it) backed by taxpayers does not reflate an economy…it causes capital flight.
I said it before, but I’ll say it again:
This country is making a monumental blunder by ignoring the US consumer’s ability to pay (i.e. real wage growth x jobs)….the US consumer’s inability to generate income growth in a global economy *is* the lever moving us to insolvency.
Twofish
I give up.
One of the things about being a Buddhist is that ultimately you find out that some things are totally out of your control. I happen to be of the opinion that if something isn’t done in the next week or so, we are going to be seeing a repeat of the 1930’s, but if people won’t listen, people won’t listen.
http://blogs.cfr.org/setser/2008/09/25/just-how-bad-is-it/#comment-113693
twofish typo: suppose the loans are now worth $850 instead of $900
at least on the New York front, gyopo radio is all out for Obama.
they are inviting liberal Korean university professors as “political experts”, persuading local Koreans to vote blue. Even the radio anchors have a blue state hue to them.
when asked about KOR-US FTA or North Korea, it brings down to this, concerning their defense,
“true, Obama said nothing specific about either subject, but we really think Obama is a really, really smart guy, and thus you can expect Obama to use dialogue with North Korea and be open to trade.”
yes, they are projecting ideas that are most vital to the motherland, based on the fact that “Obama is a really smart guy.” Projecting, when Obama said nothing. Wow, let’s buy Obama a Hanbok !
more relevant to their present needs, gyopos are ignoring the fact that they are the ones who will pay for higher taxes.
so, gyopos, are you full or shit in your heads or what?
1/ KOR-US FTA, McCain will be for it, Obama will kill it. We can only guess that Obama will “transform” after being elected. But, do you really think he’ll screw AFL-CIO-UAW for Korea? Legit and provoking question. By wjk.
2/ North Korea. Dialogue? I admit even Bush has resorted to a Clinton in the end, but ok, let’s keep talking to Nazi-Iran and King Kim. I guess if you talk enough, they’ll feel bad for the US, and start conceding, because they want to be our friends. Brilliant !
3/ Taxes. This is observable by observation alone, but even Kiyosaki has noted that no wellfare state on earth has done it by soley taxing the rich, and leaving the middle class untouched.
4/ False promises of a wellfare state. He couldn’t keep it mathematically before the $700 Billion investment bank bailout, and he can’t keep it mathematically even with cuts in military spending and even with tax hikes. You can credit me, if this prophecy comes true within 8 years.
5/ Pathological lier, position changer–Obama. This is concerning, considering he basically called Clinton as inconsistent for having voted for the Iraq War, and used every chance he could get to use the “I’m black, therefore you are racist line.” Hey, Obama is the one who said he’ll delay tax hikes, and delay troop withdrawals, if the situation calls for it. He’s saying these two policies by Bush were right for the right time. How ironic !
If Hitler had succeeded the Jews wouldn’t be holding a depression to the throats of the US citizens demanding $700 Billion lest they trigger a recession.
Discuss
Paul Newman dead at age 83.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/movies/28newman.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
wjk:
Obama will try to renegotiate it. And he will screw the AFL-CIO-UAW just like Herr Clinton did. Frau Clinton would have done the same.
Tell us again, what line was that? Give a verifiable example. Shouldn’t be hard since he did it “every chance he could get”.
KrZ:
I want to think you’re making fun of the Rhie books but that sounded like it came from a little too close to the heart. What gives, KrZ?
Speaking of wjk and KrZ: on my browser KrZ’s avatar shows up as wjk’s Mets avatar, so I actually thought there was some funny business going on with “KrZ’s” comment.
user-81, do you recall that Obama himself said with his own lips, that the Elephants will say towards November that “Barack is too black.”?
that should do it.
No time to track around Barack.
Do you recall some of Obama’s associates describing Obama’s surge versus Clinton, as “Not since OJ Simpson, has a black man rocked a white female so badly.”?
Do you recall Barack Obama’s reaction to Hillary Clinton when photos were released of Obama in traditional Kenyan Muslim garb, with a white headdress and red sash on the robe? Obama said this was racial smearing.
I ask you to go view a youtube of Rev. Wright’s “sermons”. He makes it clear that this is a black man versus white woman thing in Obama versus Hillary.
You forget that Obama is more left than either Clintons. I wouldn’t bet that Obama will screw the unions for free trade.
One of Obama’s “greatest speeches” was when he made his first defense for Rev. Wright’s first “May God damn America” video. The whole theme of that speech was race.
When Obama won one of the early primaries, and went to the south to campaign, he asserted his campaign victory was not based on race alone, since he won some white votes here and there.
His wife became finally “proud of America” when her husband was leading in the primaries. She wasn’t proud of America prior to?
wjk, the voice of observation.
@ 26. This is either a really lame joke or you are off your cake. Blame the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for our countries finances in runes.
the US media, by the way, is going all out for Obama, too.
Recent headlines are quite steering, to say the least.
A news magazine comes out, with the cover story,
“Palin-ology”. With a photo of Palin and a shotgun over her left shoulder.
Stanford University comes out with a survey, which states that white Democrats are more likely to think black people are responsible for their own troubles and are violent.
Another survey comes out with the conclusion that white Democrats who don’t like Obama may cost Obama the Presidency.
Another survey comes out with the conclusion that what white Americans think isn’t racist, is racist from the point of view of black Americans.
another tries to analyze what factors are keeping McCain above at one point over Obama and even neck and neck with Obama at the polls, despite Obama being given the cushion of discontent of voters with the govt.
not your average survey by Universities, no less, in a non-election year, not involving the first half black/half white Presidential candidate in American politics.
wjk, the voice of observation.
I’m going to start with my thesis: wjk, you’re as blind as you are ignorant.
Background: wjk stated that Barack Obama “used every chance he could get to use the ‘I’m black, therefore you are racist line.’” When I asked him for a verifiable example, he paraphrased stuff that was stuck in his head, with no links or verifiable stuff whatsoever:
No, but you apparently do. Give us the link so I can be sure I know what you’re talking about. I did find this where he joked about the problems of other people making a big deal about his color, saying “That was when I wasn’t black enough. Now I’m too black.”
That is not someone saying, I’m black and you’re racist. That’s someone complaining that other people can’t get their head around someone being half black and half white or being someone who just doesn’t care about race.
No, I don’t. More to the point: Barack Obama didn’t say that, so it doesn’t count as Obama using “every chance he could get” the line you said.
Wjk, that’s about him being smeared as a Muslim, which has nothing to do with him being black. You’re getting your talking points and your scare tactics mixed up: B. Hussein Obama is an Al-Qaeda connected Muslim.
Give me a link with a quote. I’m not going to swim through the Youtube to verify or refute your banter. If you’re right, you should easily find a linked reference to show us.
Really? In 2004, Kerry was “the most liberal man in the Senate” and this year it’s Obama. I’ll bet you anyone a dinner at Outback that whoever the Democrats pick in 2012 will also be “the most liberal man/woman in Washington/wherever”.
user-81, the voice of observation.
I’m not going to trust your interpretation, so give us a link.
How is that saying “I’m black and you’re racist”?
Not when it’s full of racist yahoos like you. Why do so many GOP kyopos think they have to out-bubba the white man?
There’s a lot to be said about wjk and voices.
wjk reads from his talking points:
You think so? How few times has “the US media” brought up McCain and the Keating-5, something with relevance to McCain’s claims today?
Wjk, you don’t have to be so rabid just to prove you’re a good American.
Does anyone have any information about the “Korean Federation for Environmental Movement” other than what I get off the internet?
wjk – Why don’t you start your own blog where you can post your stream of consciousness bad haiku one line comments ad infinitum? I’d be happy to help you get hosting and a domain name. In fact, I think everyone here would be willing to pitch in and help pay for it to be spared you moronic multiple posts. Think about it.
wjkvoiceofreason.com is available.
I’m searching my archive, Elgin. Hang on a bit.
2005 Kia Motors – Board of Directors member Yul Choi is Director General of the KFEM
Hynix 2005 annual report: we established a
Chung-buk Environment Award in
a joint cooperation with the
Chung-buk Federation for Environmental
Movement
Hynix 2008 annual report: We set up a Fair Trade compliance program, and a joint Committee with the Korea Federation for Environmental Movement to verify our compliance with environmental best practices.
Samsung SDI 2005 Sustainability Report: The Cheonan plant won the green entrepreneurship
award from Cheonan/Asan Korea Federation
for Environmental Movement
The Cheonan plant was received the ‘Green entrepreneurship’ award
in the 5th Green Environment Award hosted by Cheonan/Asan
Korea Federation for Environmental Movement.
LG Chem 2006 Environmental Report has a table saying their Ulsan plant won the 1999 “Excellent Green Energy Company Award” from the KFEM
Thank you much “Linkd”.
They seem to be legit but I notice a reference to them as being a “leftist” group. I will assume that this label is bias on the part of the Chosun Ilbo rather than a reflection of the group as a whole.
I did find a disgusting picture of some mad cow protesters that were labeled as members of the KFEM though.
I want McCain and Palin to win because I want to see a few of the rabid liberals and the Palin-bashers in the biased media bust a few blood vessels.
Check out the choice of T-shirts available here;
http://www.baboshirts.com/
checkmate, user-81.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/21/obama-theyre-going-to-try-to-make-you-afraid-of-me/
it’s selective ignorance and dismissal, when you say this is Obama joking.
he’s not.
do you think a person can get away with “joking” about sex, bribes, and (race, if he was a white guy)?
I don’t need to out-chest thump a white guy, I provide more than plenty criticism of white flight.
I’m an independent thinker.
checkmate, user-81.
Checkmate? You recycled the same June 15 comment as before. And him pointing out that his opponents use his race to scare voters (Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Fox using photos that make Obama look darker than he is) is not the same as saying “I’m black and you’re racist.”
This is what you said:
One time is not “every chance he could get” and pointing out how his opponents are exploiting others not being able to get around his biracialness is not saying “I’m black and you’re racist.”
Put down the talking points, wjk.
It’s selective ignorance if you think Obama’s opponents weren’t the ones injecting heavy doses of race and bigotry into this.
If you think Obama’s a Muslim, then you have been taken in by it.
GOP operatives even did it to McCain in 2000, exploiting bigotry about his “illegitimate black child“. McCain’s not even black and he got smeared with anti-black bigotry, but you say an actual black person can’t even talk about the smears?
Did the talking heads tell you to say that or was it in today’s bullet points?
I thought this was interesting;
http://iftheworldcouldvote.com/results
all I’s gotta say is, you got your minds mades up, and I ain’t gonna change yo mind, so, I ain’t arguing with you.
I could tell you the moon is yellow tonight, and you’ll say it’s because of my meds.
To answer your question, Obama is irreligious.
Most Muslims will find him offensive.
No Christian that I know of takes a private vacation on Easter weekend, and claims to have no clue of what his Pastor talks about most of the time, despite being baptized by him, married by him, allowed his children to be baptized by him.
this guy is an eloquent lier, that’s all.
you think with your own head.
allow me to do so with mine.
I don’t need to please anyone.
Like I said, many, many, many times.
Marmot, I think if it is Mins, he doesn’t deserve this kind of abrupt dismissal, considering his contribution of years and unique contributions. He probably got worked up over cm’s ignorant and pessimistic outlook on everything Korean, Mins being a real Korean Korean who actually lives in Korea, pays taxes, etc. He’s no gyopo. Cm is calling for military fascist rule for crying out loud, something he probably never even remotely felt nor witnessed. I think he even consults his wife to translate Korean. But, whatever. You are the king.
Let’s see if the Mets survive and please me tonight.
Great, I hope he is only pretending to be a Christian to garner votes. Finally someone in the White House intelligent enough not to be suckered in by 2000 year old fairy tales.
As a child, I had a nifty collection of illustrated children’s books of Korean fables and fairytales. One book, I recall, was about a humble man with a huge, heavy lump on his face. All the villagers pick on him, especially one. At the end, a magical animal of some sort takes the lump from the man’s face and sticks it onto the most cruel and deserving of the other villagers. Other stories were about underwater kingdoms, and swallows, and other good stuff.
Does anyone know where I can find these stories or books online? The books were published with both English and Hangeul text and were heavily illustrated. I’d like to read them again. I’m old and feeling nostalgic.
Tough day to be a Mets fan, huh.
Does baduk still post here? Under a different name?
“I thought this was interesting;
http://iftheworldcouldvote.com/results”
hahaha, wow. is it also interesting that 20% of iran’s 1770 votes are for mccain?
Or 36.4% of Venezuelans voting for McCain.
I noted Venezuela as well. Fascinating. If only there were more data.
Feeling nostalgic, too.
The Economist did something similar as well.
Well, at least the global consensus is pretty much clear.
@49 Just like last year!
and some Korean Math:
Visa Waivers Koreans + Crackdown on Prostitution in Seoul =
A Happy New Year for the Men in Korea Town, LA
Enjoy Wangkon!
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200809/200809260001.html
@55 These polls make me laugh inside. Why are these non-Americans trying to vote in our election?
I noticed that according to this page USA favors Obama 79/21. At what point might we have to write this “global consensus” off as bullcrap?
this was a hard day.
abcdefg, you honestly can’t remember the exact title?
if you had passable Korean, you could probably find scans of it on naver.
or ask uncle Obama. He probably cares about Korea.
>>At what point might we have to write this “global consensus” off as bullcrap?
At the point where you provide something which contradicts their findings.
>>At the point where you provide something which contradicts their findings.
Read my sentence before the sentence you quoted. I’ll contradict that one for you.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/poll-tracker.htm
or you could look at almost any other major American news outlet and find the same.
Sorry, I thought wjk said that. Didn’t mean to troll you.
I found this to be interesting and unfortunately true enough:
Even my own mother is afraid that if Obama is elected there will be some kink of Darktown ball on the White House grounds. It is sad when people can not think beyond skin color and intellectually grasp the issues are truly important.
Thanks, Ray, for remembering this humble toad.
Yes, I do post here.
Ms. Choi’s suicide really brought home the message that this world is not a Disneyland. It shook me hard.
I don’t know about you, but in a time like this I find solace in the promises written in the Bible. And, I look forward to the next life – eternal life.
I just feel sorry for those who do not know about this great promise. Or, so hardened by this life that no capacity left to trust the great promise for Mankind.
For me, I am contented in believing in Jesus and what he said. Amen.
R. Elgin:
Does anyone have any information about the “Korean Federation for Environmental Movement” other than what I get off the internet?
Corrupt as hell:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/11/117_33806.html
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