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Showing posts from January, 2010

Things I love about Korea!

Okay, so readers of Lonely Planet say that Seoul is a lousy city. The New York Times says it is a great city to visit. How do you choose sides when two idiots disagree? How can you tell who is telling the truth when two liars tell different stories? * * * I was on the subway the other day when I began writing a list of things I love about Korea. This is not a final list, by the way. * The tax rate is 3.3%. That's right. 3.3%. Not 33.3%. * Even better, I won't have to go through the April 15 IRS game. The government here just TAKES the money. They don't force to also send in forms by a certain date. * Every company working with Western employees seems to have a manager who will show up when called on a Friday night to help you when your heating system stops working. On the other hand, he is also likely to get you stranded on the highway when his van runs out of gas. (Yes, both things happened recently.) * The seats on subway line 4 are heated. The next time my heating system

Random stuff from the Korea Times

U.S. Black Activists Launch Attack on Cuba According to the L.A. Times, published in today's Korea Times: Before Obama, "no human rights groups, which largely come from the left, wanted to be seen as lackeys for George W. Bush," said Christopher Sabatini , senior director of policy for the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Cornel West, Ruby Dee, Melvin Van Peebles and the others who signed the statement should condemn Sabatini for saying such a thing! 1) This is a teachable moment: Say what you think is right, regardless of who agrees or disagrees with you. 2) Will the statement will do any good? I doubt it. Is it late? Certainly. If it will do any good then it may have been even more powerful years ago. 3) Not that I paid attention to them before, but if it is true that they didn't want to be Bush's lackeys, then everything those black activists said about Cuba before 2008 should be disregarded. 4) To paraphrase Golda Meir: They hated Bush more than th

Foreign Food + People

A few days ago one of my coworkers mentioned that we were all going to an Indian restaurant on Friday night. Obviously, I wasn't present when this was discussed and the final decision was made. I didn't fuss about it because they said we'd sing after dinner... * * * I have eaten all types of food. In particular, I love Chinese and Korean food. I have eaten Korean and Chinese food so many times that I no long consider them to be “foreign" food. I think they should be among the food groups…bread, meat, vegetables, Chinese food, Korean food. So most food is not foreign to me. Food is food. I don’t care which country it was first eaten. Either I enjoy it or I don’t. But there is one exception: Indian food. It is still foreign to me. Foreign, as in, from now on I am going to eat a snack before going to eat Indian food. Foreign, as in, I may eat at a different restaurant and meet up with friends and coworkers later. Foreign, as in, next time I will just drink water as others