July 25, 2008, 11:14 pm aristotle  
Why is it all the cool t-shirt designs are in such atrocious colors?
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
May 28, 2008, 5:53 am   
What the hell is wrong with America? Or rather, with a certain vocal segment of Americans? Case in point.
May 19, 2008, 5:33 am   
Salon has an article about the consequences of the warrantless wiretapping program. Interesting read. The more I think about the issues, the more I worry about the path the US has been on. If the government labels you a terrorist or something similar, and claims secret evidence, there is essential nothing you can do about it...
May 7, 2008, 7:59 pm aristotle  
After reading this, it is clear that to preserve America, McCain must not win. The unitary executive is un-American, it runs counter to the Constitution and the framers' intent as I understand it (thanks to my oh-so-useful political science degree).
April 24, 2008, 4:59 am aristotle  
Living in Korea? Use the right trash bags!
April 23, 2008, 10:06 am aristotle  
"Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value." This is a quote from:
a) North Korea
b) Venezuela
c) Canada
April 21, 2008, 9:46 am aristotle  
This made me laugh. I have several of these in my house.
April 15, 2008, 9:26 pm aristotle  
I've often thought of elevators as one of those things in life that functions as not-too-subtle metaphor (just what the metaphor is depends on the observer). In university, in work-study, I would often be tasked with delivering and retrieving A/V equipment from the Business College building, home to a notoriously fickle elevator. It was one of those old ones where you had to pull the metal fence-door closed. Often, in the ten minutes it took to go from the 1st to 2nd floor, the door would jostle loose and the elevator would cease to move. Good times.
After coming to Korea, I was struck by how poorly elevators are coordinated here. In many buildings, there are multiple elevators, but instead of having the buttons control all of them in a systematic fashion, each elevator has its own button. So, naturally, everyone always pushes all of them, bringing every elevator to the floor.
The reason for my elevator memories is this fascinating article from the New Yorker.
April 14, 2008, 12:12 am aristotle  
In Salon today there is a particularly strong book excerpt about Dick Cheney and the fostering of the neo-conservative movement over the past 30-odd years. Worth a read.
March 16, 2008, 9:26 pm aristotle  
Korea Beat, always an interesting site to visit, has translated a very informative article about foreign communities in Seoul. I'm heading over to Mongolia Tower some time this week!
March 6, 2008, 8:03 pm aristotle  
Wow. A venti at Starbucks is a LOT of coffee. Who would have thought? If you need me, I will be running up and down the halls for the next hour and talking really quickly.
March 5, 2008, 4:39 am aristotle  
As I listened to Senator McCain give his victory speech tonight, I could not shake the feeling that I was hearing, not a candidate, but a president. Why did we, as a nation, hate ourselves so much that we would choose Bush over this noble man?
That said, I'll still vote for Hillary or Obama, but still, I don't think the world will end if McCain wins.
March 5, 2008, 3:08 am aristotle  
Gary Gygax failed his saving throw.
March 2, 2008, 8:00 am aristotle  
Newsweek has an article about Chinese food in America. As anyone who's been to China knows, what we eat in an American Chinese restaurant is different - often radically so - than what the Chinese eat. Like the writer featured in the article says, "Authentic Chinese food often involves bones, shells and eyeballs, 'more vegetables, less meat, less oil'." The article's not ground-breaking, but worth a quick glance.
March 2, 2008, 5:54 am aristotle  
February 28, 2008, 10:46 am aristotle  
The long-awaited article about the Seoul Writers group I help coordinate. Better than I expected.
February 28, 2008, 8:17 am aristotle  
In an NPR segment from "All Things Considered" on Wednesday, one American military leader, when asked about Turkey's incursion, said "It has to be short. Turkey must respect Iraq's sovereignty." I nearly laughed out of my chair.
February 25, 2008, 11:43 pm aristotle  
A few weeks ago, I called up my locally Chinese restaurant and ordered mapadububap(Grandma's Tofu Rice), as I do at least a couple of times a week. They always fill the plate past the full mark, so I usually transfer the foodstuff to a large bowl before eating. Then I set the eat dish along with the uneaten soup, kimchi, and radishes (I've told them so many times I don't need them, but that doesn't stop their arrival).
Half an hour later, I get a knock on the door. It's the delivery man. He was raving about something, and after a moment, I finally catch the word 'so-gu-rot'(or whatever), which means spoon. I had left it in my bowl instead of giving it back. Since then, I have apparently been blacklisted. They no longer give me any utensils. Apparently, the Chinese restaurant is not to be trifled with.
February 24, 2008, 12:15 pm aristotle  
*&#%ing Ralph "I gave Bush the Presidency" Nader has announced that he is running again. WTF!? Is he so blindingly obtuse and narcissistic that he cannot see the stakes involved? To do anything to siphon votes away from the moderate/liberal candidate is to actively and overly support the failed, conservative approach that has so thoroughly f'ed our nation. I beg everyone in the US do everything you can to deny him support. We must not suffer another 4 years of failed ideology.
February 24, 2008, 10:15 am aristotle  
The Yangpa is a snarky foreigner-authored send-up of The Onion focused on Korea. Fun stuff.
February 24, 2008, 10:04 am aristotle  
Garfield Minus Garfield. It turns out that the eponymous comic is actually much more profound without the title character. Beam out the cat, and it becomes the story of Jon Arbuckle, a tale of "schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life."
February 24, 2008, 6:19 am aristotle  
I catch the comic strip Opus on Salon.com sometimes. In my younger days, I greatly enjoyed Bloom County, but Opus is just...awful. I want to like it, but every time I read it, I can't help but feel that Berkeley Breathed is not living in this plane of existence.
February 23, 2008, 3:25 am aristotle  
Before the arson, Namdaemun had been used as an ad-hoc homeless shelter. Here's a translation from Korea Beat: Translation
February 20, 2008, 4:05 am aristotle  
Check Check this out. You have to it a few seconds to load, but it's worth the wait.
February 10, 2008, 11:25 pm aristotle  
Xenu be praised! Protests again the Church of Scientology. The ice truck/surveillance van was hilarious. Check it out, just watch out for Thetans.
February 10, 2008, 12:11 pm aristotle  
Alex introduced me to Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. I could say that it is a send-up of Japanese game show/talk show 'culture', but the short clip almost defies description. Watch it.
January 21, 2008, 2:18 am aristotle  
Ran across this today at Marmot's Hole. A new study finds that previously documented cultural differences between Western people and East Asian people occur deep within the brain. Americans in the study had a harder time with making relative judgments, while the Asians had more difficulty forming absolute judgments.
December 30, 2007, 7:29 am aristotle  
A pilot who writes a column for the New York Times has a great diatribe about airport security. Read it.
December 29, 2007, 12:06 pm aristotle  
Justin just sent me this: flowcharts for science and religions. Funny because they're true.
December 29, 2007, 8:17 am aristotle  
Over at the (almost) always wonderful VG Cats, there is a flash video for the ending credit song from the video game Portal. It is well worth a watching.

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