This is your moon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHuRRDshhg

This is your moon as seen by the Japanese Kaguya satellite. It's a little slow, but the "earth-rise" is pretty sweet, so hang in there.

There is so much beauty for us to see with our own eyes, and so many marvels to uplift the mind of all humanity, if only we'd get our society in gear.

This satellite was crashed into the surface of the Moon this week.This is the final pics from a satellite crashing into the moon.

Notice the textures of the surface. How dare authorities say it's too expensive to go back to the moon. It will cost our species far more to stay here.

Mujst Read Articles of the week!!!

What's going on in Korea????? That's the number one question I've been emailed this week. While I'm preparing a nice wrap up for you, well

This is what's going on in Korea!!!!!! Right now!!!!!

HERE HERE HERE HERE! Hooray for Korean Justice! They've ruled that if a woman is beaten by her husband, she's libel for millions of dollars if she was a model or spokesperson.

(HT to Brian in Jeolla Nam-do, this man busts it out old school style!)
WTF!!!!>!@>!>!@>!@>!@>!>!

HERE HERE HERE HERE YAY! Racism in the press. Always good to see.

(HT to Koreabeat, one of the best blogs in / about Korea)

Svine Flux Update!

Some 50 (fifty) American citizens are being held (more or less with their [uninformed] consent), in quarantine in a hotel south of Seoul.

There were in a week long training seminar, about to launch careers as private school (hogwon) teachers, when disaster befell them.

One of their teachers was the Devil himself.

No, just joking, Satan is fine and at home, there's no need to worry about him.

One of these American teachers had contracted AH1N1, aka Dreaded Suckling Pig Flu, somewhere in his or her travels.. Acting with Keystone Cop lightning reflexes, Korean Ministry of health officials rounded up all the Americans from that hotel, and quarantined them in another hotel in a suburb of Seoul. Luckily, they grabbed one right after he'd been riding on the subway. That's just awesome.

And thus began their saga of thermometer probs and crappy meals, which you can read about HERE HERE HERE HERE YAY!


In related news, we have reports of recent British people arriving in Korea having their temperatures taken as they disembark. So if you're coming in and out of Korea this summer, try to keep your cool, or suffer an extra ten days of vacation courtesy Korea health.

Bold New Dirty Deed

THIS is what you can expect from dynamic young nations like Korea, and crazy film directors like Francis Ford Coppola, always out there searching for new ways to, well, get plastered.

Wine in a can. Guuuuuuhhhhhh. If, as Rock-philosopher-Gods AC/DC postulate, dirty deeds are indeed done Dirt Cheap, then surely wine in a can is not only the cheapest, but the dirtiest I've seen, in a long long time.

You can't drink wine from a can. It doesn't matter what you line the can with, if it's not in a glass, then the bouquet will not rise from the liquid and all you're left with is boozy grape juice.

Wine in a box was bad enough, but in a can? Jesus people. Anyways, read the article. Enjoy

Korea! Better than Real!

THIS explains so much of life in Korea.

Big thanks to Brian in Jeolla Nam Do not only for the post, but years of posts.

On a quasi related topic, after years of seeing Pro - Korea slogans like, "Korea Sparkling", "Korea, hub of Asia", and "Bravo your life", I've finally come up with my own:

Korea! Better than Real!

Mike White (R.I.P. little dude), revisted

Mike's mom Stephane continues her battle against the powers that be with absolutely no help from her government.

I'm not going to go into details, but only because it's late, and I'm going to bed, but take note, possible and current travelers, if you are an expat, expect absolutely nothing from your government if you get into ANY trouble.

Unless you are rich.

And I mean Batman rich.

Read here

then here

big thanks to Rokdrop for keeping the files that point the way.

build your own tricorder? Hell Yes!

Yup. Just found an article where Eric Paulos, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, is pushing the boundaries of cell phones.

His ideas include adding sensors to your cell phones to sample air quality and uv exposure, among other things. The first hurdle to overcome with this idea is that cell phones spend most of their time in pockets and bags. Personally, I think the first "sensor" that needs to be created is a simple solar based plug in charger. This would get that phone out into the open, where such sensors can then take the time needed to investigate the users physical environment. The big question they're raising is how is this going to change how people move through the world. I think that once people get used to the idea that they can discover more information regarding the world they move through, they're going to become addicted to it. Knowledge is power, yes, but it's also like a heroin - steroid cocktail, addictive and empowering. Once you have a tool that tells you things, you just won't be able to stop using it.

Think about all the tiny questions you are not allowed to answer in the course of the day: is the air conditioning in this building smelly, or is it just me? How much asbestos did they use in this old building? What exactly is in the air here? Is this place a safe environment for my kids? Why does this water fountain taste strange? If this was cleaned recently, how clean is it really?

I live in Seoul, one of the biggest, dirtiest cities in the world. However, I'm also one seriously curious ape by nature. Even out in the wilderness, a place I don't get to go to very often anymore, I would still like to know what's been going on in that environment since my last visit. Has the water changed? What's this soil composition?

I wholeheartedly support this idea. There will be resistance, absolutely, because there are people who prefer, insist, need to remain willfully ignorant. Dealing with hard facts on ground level environmental conditions is positively going to gross some people out. Imagine how you're going to feel if you are standing on the street watching your cell phone air quality meter when a diesel bus drives by, and for the first time in your life you can see what you've been breathing in every time one of those beasts drove by. How good is the ventilation in your school? Is that fog, or a dust storm?

Yeah, scary, might make you want to stay home, or wear a mask outside, or call up your representative in government and complain. It might make you want to stop driving your SUV down the street. It might make you start thinking seriously about the way we live, and that the faster we change certain things in our lives, the better it's going to be for everyone.

Even better on this idea, is the fact that it's not mainstream yet. Manufacturers are not interested, until the tech has been vetted over a few generations. This is very, very good for you my friends who have had the skill and strength to read this far. Why is this good? Well, once big companies get involved, they're going to select a small group of sensors that THEY think will be the most interesting to people. This selection process will be affected by powerful people who don't want you to be able to access information which may influence your opinion. However, the base tech for this is already out there, and genies are notoriously hard to put back in the bottle.

Yeah, I know, you're thinking, "Crap 'Nails, I don't know nuthin' bout puttin' no technology together." Really? Ever put lego together? Yes? Then you're ready for this. The only difference is that the pieces are more expensive and you might have to use a soldering iron. Your parents and teachers will help you, if you have the cajoles to ask, and the shutzpa to ask a hundred times.

I dare you.

ha!