A recent study in Hong Kong showed that vegetables imported from China had ridiculous amounts of pesticides, deadly amounts, in fact. I wonder how stringently the vegetable imports are checked when coming into Korea? And, I wonder about pesticide levels on Korean-grown foodstuffs. Anyone know? Because I for one know that horribly deadly pesticides are widely available here… stuff that’s banned in North America, for example. Via Simon World
Month: April 2006
New Orleans Shantytowns?
Economist Tyler Cowen posted on his own blog a link to his own piece in Slate where he suggests the key to rebuilding New Orleans is to recognize that the land in the city is still valuable, just less so than before, and to legalize shantytowns. I’m with the commenter who thought this must be his own economist version of Swift’s A Modest Proposal. I mean, yes, reggae and great Brazilian music may have come from slums and shantys, but then, a lot of great music has come from non-shantys. The notion that it’s a perfect place for Caribbean and …
I’d pay to see this, I think…
Gorehound Canned Film presents ‘WORST CASE SCENARIO’ via Shaved Ape Chronicles (who would also pay)
Where To Download Movie Trailers
After spending some time looking for a useful video clip with a nerd depicted in it, which was long enough to have students pick out ten physical, verbal, gestural, or other traits that marked a character as a nerd, and realizing this was frankly impossible within the DVDs I have in my own collection, I realized that the perfect medium would be a movie trailer for a film about a nerd. After searching in vain for a long time for a place where I could actually download the trailer files themselves (it’s better not to be dependent on streaming media …
Going Over To Gmail
I’m switching to Gmail. After some hesitation, I noticed a few things that are advantageous about Gmail’s service: POP3 and mail forwarding are available Gmail blocks spam A LOT more effectively than my webhost’s spamblocker… instead of 90% junk mail, I get 90% email. The interface in Gmail is very intelligent in terms of tracking “conversations” and allows me to handle previously difficult-to-read email correspondence on mailing lists very easy — something that is importance since I’ve decided to resubscribe to the Culture SF emailing list. There’s a ridiculous amount of storage available, and it doesn’t infringe on the webspace …
Adam’s Worried. As Am I.
Adam at A Violently Executed Blog admits he’s worried and that all that bluster about Iran might not just be bluster. It scares me, too. I mean, if they invade Iran, they’ll need troops. Can’t take them from Iraq. Where will they get them? No, no, please don’t say Korea. Because on the other side of the DMZ, Evil Mr. Kim is just waiting to swoop down and slaughter all of what he’d certainly see as pampered, soft, weak couch potatoes here in the South.
Synaxes of Eclexys
Katolik Shinja asked me for my ideas on the Syanxis meme: We are then able to assemble, as it were, our own personal synaxis (gathering together) of saints. What are yours, and why? He went on to specify four synaxes: saints, literary, musical, and philosophical. Though I’ve answered similar questions as part of the Friday 5, I went ahead and answered anyway. Here are my synaxes, which include individuals both alive and dead: Saintly: Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Murray Gell-Mann, and of course Galileo. Plus a translator for old Galileo. Let’s face it, these guys are the saints …
eclexys » Tunes (with me in ‘em)
Seeing that Dabang Band CDs seem to be all sold out, and seeing that as far as I know, we have no outstanding legal responsibilities to Cavare (the label for the Product CD, who’s never disclosed how many CDs sold or how much money was made, or any other contractual stuff since the contracts were signed and disappeared) I’ve gone ahead and updated this site’s “Tunes (with me in ‘em)” subpage to include all tracks from the first two Dabang Band CDs. I’m going to confirm with the other band members and then if they’re okay with it, release it …
Wondering what it’s like to be a minority
If you are, go read this post over at I Have Seoul. [The blogger is, I think, from Saskatchewan just like I am, by the way!] It’s not always like this for me in Korea, but it’s like this just enough to develop a bad attitude, if you don’t watch yourself. I notice it at least once every time I go sit down on the subway. I’m starting not to care anymore, but, you know, you still notice, and still sort-of care. And don’t forget, white people have it relatively good as far as minorities in Korea. But I still …
Why not indeed?
Katolik Shinja asks why the Church doesn’t just go ahead and excommunicate all Pro-Abortionists from its ranks like it did with Segregationists. Here’s my thinking: My suspicion is that the population of the North American and European Church — or pretty much the Church in any developed country — would diminish to a small portion of its current size. I suspect that’s why this would never happen. Of course, that, and the fact that Segregationism was a social practice, thus more easily detected and repudiated; abortion, as a medical procedure, is performed in isolation, and is not so easily detectable. …