THE ANSWER IS 12
TAI12 #234 Freedom at Last...Welcome to the Show...
5/1/11I've been getting out and hitting the road. The past couple of weekends. Last semester, I spent a total of three nights away from my apartment, and I didn't spend too many more away in the spring semester last year. I can't remember a month where a mere three nights wasn't a slow month. I wandered around Gwangju two weekends ago and Dongducheon last weekend. Gwangju wasn't too exciting, although I did find a couple of large traditional markets and a lot of street food. I had some so-so Indian food in Dongducheon and drank a lot as rain fell on the small town's collection of Filipina juciy bars, restaurants, phone stores, and pawn shops. It feels good to be on the road again.
5/3/11
I have lived in Asia for more than nine years. I bought my first bamboo plant today. I also finally found a 75cm yoga ball this afternoon. My old chair's back had broken long ago, so I figured that as long as I can't lean back, I might as well be able to sit on a bouncy ball while I don't do it. The long winter came to an end at long last this week. I bought lettuce and spinach seeds today and got them into my window garden. The next time I eat dead animal at a restaurant, I'm going to pocket some hot pepper seeds.
By the Numbers...
126 : Number of schools that shut down in Gyeonggi Province on 4/7/11 due to local fears that our first rain since Japan's nuclear meltdown would contain radiation. 1 : The maximum number of arms people would Maine could have if they wanted to legally carry a switchblade if the state passes a new law under consideration. Federal laws allow one-armed people to carry a switchblade on federal property as long as the blade is three-inches or shorter. The blade-length rule would be the same in Maine.
135 : Value, in US dollars, of coupons for single-shot shotguns in local sporting goods stores being given to first-time satellite TV subscribers to Dish Network at RadioShacks in western Montana and southwestern Idaho. Sign me up!
31 : Percentage of foreigners in Korea who named tteokbokki as their favorite food in Korea in a recent survey of 455.
29 : Percentage of foreigners in Korea who named chicken on a stick as their favorite food in Korea.
20 : Percentage of foreigners in Korea who named soondae as their favorite food in Korea.
137 : Number of Korean primary and secondary students who committed suicide in 2008.
202 : Number of Korean primary and secondary students who committed suicide in 2009.
146 : Number of Korean primary and secondary students who committed suicide in 2010.
420,000 : Number of people whose personal information was stolen recently by hackers from Hyundai Capital, 23 percent of the company's total clients.
450,000 : Number of cell phone subscribers in North Korea as of late 2010 after only having cellular service for two years.
230,400,000 : Number of $2 bills printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 2006.
494 : Number of Koreans, per 100,000, who died from alcohol-related diseases in 1983.
2,023 : Number of Koreans, per 100,000, who died from alcohol-related diseases in 1992.
5,047 : Number of Koreans, per 100,000, who died from alcohol-related diseases in 2004.
4,417 : Number of Koreans, per 100,000, who died from alcohol-related diseases in 2009.
70 : Number of North Korean female defectors forced into prostitution in Qingdao, China between February 2007 and November 2009 by a male North Korean defector and four unnamed others. The men confined the women in cells.
30 : Profit, in millions of KRW, the five craptactular pimps profited off of the 70 women over the course of 34 months made by taking 20 percent of the 100,000KRW pay the girls received for hooking in bars.
400,000 : Amount, in KRW, extorted by the same five pimps from a runaway victim.
10 : Number of years the personal information of Korean sex offenders who served more than three years in prison will be posted on the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's “online sex offender alter system” website at http://www.sexoffender.go.kr/
5 : Number of years the personal information of Korean sex offenders who served less than three years in prison will be posted online.
2 : Number of years the personal information of Korean sex offenders who pay fines and serve no prison time will be posted online. The information will include physical descriptions and information about their criminal records.
2.42 : Number, in millions, of Koreans registered as disabled as of June 2009.
95 : Percentage of disabled Koreans who are listed as disabled as the result of disease or accident.
240 : Number, in millions, of 911 calls received annually in the U.S., less than half come from landlines.
75 : Amount, in millions of U.S. dollars, of homeless-veteran benefits slashed from the latest round of budget cuts by Congress.
7.4 : Amount, in millions of U.S. dollars, of guaranteed funds left in the budget for the U.S. Army's sponsorship of NASCAR.
20 : Amount, in millions of U.S. dollars, of guaranteed funds left in the budget for the National Guard's sponsorship of NASCAR. I am horrified that our government cares more about hillbilly racing than it does the people who have sacrificed so much for our country.
3.48 : Number, in millions, of animals slaughtered in Korea since November to contain the nation's worst-ever foot-and-mouth epidemic.
2.6 : Cost, in billions of U.S. dollars, from last November to March of Korea's foot-in-mouth epidemic.
11 : Number of aircraft carriers the U.S. has; no other country has more than one.
48 : Number of submarines the U.S. has.
952 : Number of admirals and generals in the U.S. military.
17 : Number of intelligence agencies in the U.S.
1,500 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita on its military in 1998.
2,700 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita on its military in 2008.
500 : Average amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita by America's NATO allies.
60 : Percentage of Korean high school students who recently said they don't believe that the government's efforts to improve English education has improved their English proficiency.
100 : Percentage of me who agrees with 60 percent of Korean high school students.
1,500 : Number of balloons carrying propaganda in South Korea annually.
250 : Number, in millions, of propaganda leaflets sent up by balloons to North Korea so far.
3 : Number of speakers of the world's most endangered language, Dusner, an Indonesian tribal language.
130 : Estimated number of languages in the world spoken by less than ten people.
6,000 : Estimated number of languages in use in the world today.
50 : Percentage of those languages expected to be extinct by the end of the century.
24 : Amount, in billions of KRW, the Seoul Metropolitan Government expects to spend to replace traditional crosswalk lights showing a male figure with lights displaying a man and woman together to somehow help women's rights in an incomprehensible way. Way to flush your money down the crapper in the name of political correctness, Seoul!
30.21 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Canadia, according to a recent Newsweek article reported in The Chosunilbo.
31.84 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in England.
43.41 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Taiwan.
44.67 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in America.
44.94 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Czechoslovakia.
53.17 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Brazil.
98.70 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Australia.
114.70 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Finland.
156.75 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Japan.
526.76 : Amount, in U.S. dollars, spent per capita in 2006 on porn in Korea, the highest amount in the world.
1,800 : Number of Korean children waiting to be adopted.
Finally a Volunteering Opportunity I Can Get Behind,
Or on Top of,
Or on the Bottom of...
4/4/11Or on Top of,
Or on the Bottom of...
Korea doesn't have a great record concerning the care of its disabled citizens. While conditions have improved in recent years, the nation still has a long way to go. Some families continue to hide their disabled relatives from the public. Some still abandon disabled children. The Korea Times recently reported on the sexual discrimination against and lack of sexual experiences of the disabled here. The 2005 documentary, Pink Palace, follows a cerebral palsy sufferer, Choi Dong-soo, as he unsuccessfully attempts to screw a hooker in the red-light district of Cheongnyangni. The 48-year-old virgin was told by one whore that he could "buy nothing no matter how much you would pay." In a country with so much prostitution, I find it hard to believe that so many hookers would favor their prejudices over money.
Enter the "sex volunteers." Sex volunteers are healthy people who volunteer to bang disabled people. Korea didn't invent the service. Japan and the Netherlands have had the service for some time. Detractors call it "pro bono prostitution." I'm all for this. When people have an itch, they need to scratch it. I would be more than happy to help them out. It would make for an interesting Eagle Scout project! Where was this when I was choosing my project? I could have gotten a lot more volunteers for this than I did to help me install smoke alarms.
My Body, a Dry County...
4/12/11Today marks my 31st day of zero alcohol consumption. What has it done for me? Not much. I haven't lost or gained any weight. I saw no change in my insomnia (except for two nights in a row of the worst sleep I've had in years). I didn't spend as much money as I probably would have otherwise. I didn't Hash any less; I made it to at least one trail every weekend except for last week. Now comes the debate as to what I should do next. I didn't really miss it, although it did detract a bit from the circles and ensured that I wouldn't go to any on-afters. The only time I really thought about it was after getting some bad news last week.
4/13/11
Day 32: At some point in the past, I had envisioned myself getting well tanked tonight. Not all of my visions portend moments in realities. I wonder how long I will keep this up. I don't really feel any pull one way or the other as far as continuing or staying dry is concerned.
4/25/11
I was about five hours shy of completing my 35th dry day when I decided to drink my special Jinro House Wind/Soju concoction while playing poker with some coworkers and an old worker returned for the evening. My five weeks didn't really change anything. I stayed in more than I usually do. That's about it. I'm sure it probably was good for my body, but it didn't really do much for me otherwise. It was an interesting experiment. I think I need a shot.
Mentally Challenged Designs...
4/13/11It opened late, but it opened. My glorious company built a new complex/building at the tail end of campus. It took a year-and-a-half to cut into the land and pour all of the concrete. As I understand it, the government funded the project to give us the Yongin KNU Mentally Challenged School. It couldn't have a more appropriate name. The building itself looks mentally challenged. It has a slew of mismatched fall colors. They used two distinctly different stains to color wood paneling slapped onto parts of the building's exterior. Some of the plain steel walls remind me of videos I've seen in videos about North Korea. It has odd angles in odd places. The new road in front of the building drops in a fantastic, roller coaster-worthy way that all but guarantees that numerous special needs students will be sent tumbling down. All in all, it's a crap factory from a rejected Doctor Seuss book.
Quote of the Week...
4/14/11
"I don't know the difference between a hippie and a hipster, but it's fun to watch either one of them get beat up." - Norm MacDonald - The Sports Show with Norm MacDonald S1E1
Stereotypes come from somewhere. Apparently the people who scribble for The Korea Herald haven't heard the one about Asians and math. The Herald ran an article about the population make up of Seoul. It said that 10.5 million people live in Seoul (not including the metropolitan area). Men compose 49.5 percent of the city's population. Women are only 50.3 percent of the population. That means that 0.2 percent of the people in Seoul are neither men nor women. What are these 21,000 creatures? Hermaphrodites?
Korea has been on the attack for years now. And just what is the nation attacking? Street vendors. Years ago, Seoul cleared hundreds of them off of the streets of Dongdaemun to make room for the Cheonggyecheon River restoration project. The government gave them the Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium to set up what became a fairly successful flea market in response to their protests. The government rescinded that when it razed the nation's first modern sports stadium (built in 1926) a few years ago to make way for the Dongdaemun Design Park & Plaza. This time, the vendors weren't offered a new spot to sell their wares.
Two years ago, Seoul moved 730 street vendors from six streets in the Jongno area to eight locations to their dismay. One traditional candy salesman says only 30 of them are able to make ends meet at their new locations. The "yeot" (taffy) vendor claims that his daily sales plummeted from 70-80,000 KRW to 10,000 KRW.
Seoul is doing it again. This time vendors are being removed from nearby Insadong. If you don't know Seoul, Insadong is its traditional shopping area for tourists. It has streets of art stores, traditional tea houses, restaurants with traditional food, and tons of cheap tourist trinkets. It also has 76 street vendor stalls lining the streets hawking old currency, traditional street foods and more tourist junk. The city is going to relocate them to an out of the way area and charge them one million KRW annually to legalize their businesses. The vendors fear that the remote locations will have the same effect on their sales as seen with the Jongno vendors.
The government wants to clear the streets of Insadong to allow for more pedestrian traffic. Store owners in the area will be happy to see the vendors leave. Store rentals run between five and six million KRW monthly. Street vendors set up in front of these stores and pay nothing. The problem is that it would be difficult to argue that the vendors actually detract from the stores' sales. I don't like this at all. There has to be some way to find a compromise that allows the street vendors to stay where they are and let the government collect some revenue from them. The street vendors are a major part of the draw of Insadong, and it would be a shame for the city to lose yet another of its tourist draws.
You have to respect Korea's pimps and prostitutes. They just can't or won't understand what "illegal" means. They have taken to the streets many times over the years to protest the fact that they are actively and openly practicing an illegal profession. This picture comes from their latest protest way down south in Yeongdeungpo.
I love The Korea Times. Their editing abilities are only beat in incompetence by The Korea Herald's. These photos accompanied the following headline:
"I don't know the difference between a hippie and a hipster, but it's fun to watch either one of them get beat up." - Norm MacDonald - The Sports Show with Norm MacDonald S1E1
So Much for Stereotypes...
4/14/11Stereotypes come from somewhere. Apparently the people who scribble for The Korea Herald haven't heard the one about Asians and math. The Herald ran an article about the population make up of Seoul. It said that 10.5 million people live in Seoul (not including the metropolitan area). Men compose 49.5 percent of the city's population. Women are only 50.3 percent of the population. That means that 0.2 percent of the people in Seoul are neither men nor women. What are these 21,000 creatures? Hermaphrodites?
Bad Move...
2/23/10Korea has been on the attack for years now. And just what is the nation attacking? Street vendors. Years ago, Seoul cleared hundreds of them off of the streets of Dongdaemun to make room for the Cheonggyecheon River restoration project. The government gave them the Dongdaemun Baseball Stadium to set up what became a fairly successful flea market in response to their protests. The government rescinded that when it razed the nation's first modern sports stadium (built in 1926) a few years ago to make way for the Dongdaemun Design Park & Plaza. This time, the vendors weren't offered a new spot to sell their wares.
Two years ago, Seoul moved 730 street vendors from six streets in the Jongno area to eight locations to their dismay. One traditional candy salesman says only 30 of them are able to make ends meet at their new locations. The "yeot" (taffy) vendor claims that his daily sales plummeted from 70-80,000 KRW to 10,000 KRW.
Seoul is doing it again. This time vendors are being removed from nearby Insadong. If you don't know Seoul, Insadong is its traditional shopping area for tourists. It has streets of art stores, traditional tea houses, restaurants with traditional food, and tons of cheap tourist trinkets. It also has 76 street vendor stalls lining the streets hawking old currency, traditional street foods and more tourist junk. The city is going to relocate them to an out of the way area and charge them one million KRW annually to legalize their businesses. The vendors fear that the remote locations will have the same effect on their sales as seen with the Jongno vendors.
The government wants to clear the streets of Insadong to allow for more pedestrian traffic. Store owners in the area will be happy to see the vendors leave. Store rentals run between five and six million KRW monthly. Street vendors set up in front of these stores and pay nothing. The problem is that it would be difficult to argue that the vendors actually detract from the stores' sales. I don't like this at all. There has to be some way to find a compromise that allows the street vendors to stay where they are and let the government collect some revenue from them. The street vendors are a major part of the draw of Insadong, and it would be a shame for the city to lose yet another of its tourist draws.
Picture of the Week...
4/22/11
You have to respect Korea's pimps and prostitutes. They just can't or won't understand what "illegal" means. They have taken to the streets many times over the years to protest the fact that they are actively and openly practicing an illegal profession. This picture comes from their latest protest way down south in Yeongdeungpo.
Picture of the Week Pt. II...
4/25/11I love The Korea Times. Their editing abilities are only beat in incompetence by The Korea Herald's. These photos accompanied the following headline:
