This week’s F5 comes from the diabolical, karate-warped mind of Acolyte Of the Way of the Open Hand, aka Marvin of Austin: What does it really mean to be a citizen of the world? How do you understand the concept, and who are the five people who best exemplify your understanding(s)? They can be living or dead, fictional or non-fictional. Oh my. Marvin’s really outdone himself this time: even he himself had trouble answering this question. Of course, the whole challenge to this is that first little question, which I would rephrase simply as, “What is a world citizen?” That …
Author: gordsellar
Blogaholic Quiz
Blogaholic Quiz Results (taken at Wannabegirl.org) in: Are You A Blogaholic? Results Your Score: 80 / 100 YOUR SCORE 80.0% 80.0 points out of 100 AVG SCORE 42.9% 42.9 points out of 100 12272 people have taken this silly test so far. 456 people have scored higher than you. 11717 people have scored lower than you. 99 people made the same grade as you. What does this mean? * 80 points is in the 51 through 80 precentYou are a dedicated weblogger. You post frequently because you enjoy weblogging a lot, yet you still manage to have a …
Newsmap
Here’s a cool gizmo that Budaechigae posted about recently: a Newsmap app online that builds maps of the most-focused-on news items that have passed through the Google aggregator. This, it seems to me, is how we will be looking at the news everyday in twenty years, though by then I’m sure we’ll be able to weigh it by keyword references, topics, poltical slant, journos we like, and so on. That’s gonna be a fascinating time.
KTX Problems?
The new Korean KTX bullet train (which was launched on April 1st) seems to be having problems. A guy died of complications seemingly related to an epileptic seizure brought on while on the train—possibly, though nobody can say for sure—brought on by the fact his chair was facing the wrong direction, back towards where he’d come from. (Chairs in standard Korean trains alternate, forward and backward, and the human body apparently can’t handle as many G-forces going backwards, meaning the chair arrangement was, maybe, not such a good idea): as an article in the Korea Times claims, Police are investigating whether …
I Learned All I Ever Needed To Know Reading The Lord Of The Rings
The things some people learn reading Lord of the Rings amazes me. For example, I learned a lot about politics in “naive” localities like Hobbiton—and I do wish they’d included that long epilogue in the film, though I knew they wouldn’t—and the tale of Frodo leaving the world he knew on his quest comforted me, as I read it on the plane over the first time I came to Korea. But what others come up with surprises me even more! For example, someone’s presented an article where, rather convincingly, you can see the book as a dating manual. Ah, book …
welcome to korea, where english is different…
Lime quipped that the other weekend and realized I hadn’t yet posted it. She was commenting on the information sign near a temple, which in Korean was said to have been reconstructed in 1857, while in English it was rebuilt in 1875. “The English is different!” she said, and I extended it to, “Welcome to Korea, where the Englishie is different.” Yes, I think us clever. Shut up. Not including travel mishaps (like almost going to PalBokDong instead of my home in JungHwaSanDong), it takes me 40 minutes to get from work to JeonBukDae Old Front Gate; it takes half …
Bikes, Sour Cream, and My Favorite Fruit
I had a great night last night, but I’m not going to post about that. Some things just don’t need to be posted about, and anyway it’s probably only interesting to me and one other person. But I will say that lime is my new favorite fruit. However, what may be of interest is that I got a huge schwack of sour cream last night, at the OK Bakery. I’m thinking of having a Mexican food party sometime at my house. Does anyone think this is a good idea? They have tortilla shells at the OK too, and I think …
The Other Foreigners
I’m never going to say my working conditions here are perfect, and I have little faith in the legal system to defend me on the grounds of my contract here in Korea… but you know, I have a hell of a hard time complaining when little reminders of how the other foreigners in Korea live. By the other foreigners, I mean the migrant workers who are outside of the English-teaching niche. Many of them live in Korea illegally, go unpaid, suffer all kinds of abuses from their “employers”, and are persecuted by the law. (The same legal authorities who refuse …
Upon This Bouncy Ball I Sit, And…
I ask you, have you ever tried to put on a sock with one hand? Because I just did. Sitting on the ball, I need one hand holding something like the desk in front of me to prevent myself falling off. And let me tell you, putting on a sock with one hand is freaking hard. But I’ve never seen a one-armed man go sockless. Makes me think of Socrates: Be kind to everyone you meet, for we are all fighting a harder battle. Man, I need to get to the office.
Once Again, eclexys Presents A New Poll
The last poll is now closed, with a total of 13 votes. 38% of people, given a choice of ten plot templates, chose as their favorite the following: “Boy (or Girl) struggles with the dilemmas of being human and can offer us no solutions but is damned interesting.” Second place, with 23% of the votes, went to: “Boy (or Girl) meets alien. Alien eats Boy.” To see the full results, click here. Please don’t forget to vote in the new poll, which is in the usual place, in the right sidebar. I think this one’s a fun one, and it’s …