This and That

It's been a while since I last posted and all I really have ready is another bikeblog so here are some interesting things I read and heard today.

First, and news only for my mother and others not in Korea, are some articles about Koreans saving their used toilet paper. Okay, they don't save the paper, but they throw them out with the garbage instead of flushing them.

I think modern sewers and plumbing can handle toilet paper but older systems cannot so Koreans were instructed to not flush TP. Yes, that's pretty disgusting. Jeff-in-Korea has more, including comparisons to US sanitation) and GI Korea makes an Iraq connection.

Second, last year there were links to a video showing a teacher beating a middle school student. I can't find any now. Perhaps the teacher should have known that 'Children's biggest fear is having their cell phones taken away'.

What would be the harshest punishment to junior
and senior high school students today? Confiscation
of their cell phones, rendering them helpless to send
SMs to their friends or post their digital school
pictures on the Internet.

Third, while reading the above articles, I was listening to CBC Radio and listened to reports of a Rubella outbreak. The outbreak is currently centered near an highly religious area of Ontario. I think one of the denominations is the Church of Dutch Reform, which is against vaccinations so schools and such have been closed try to stop the spread. If you know about Rubella (I had it a as a child as did most of my friends), the problem is, you can spread Rubella before you are symptomatic- before you are covered with red spots.

From the Toronto Star:
The outbreak started in late April at Rehoboth Christian
School in Norwich, where about 60 per cent of the
elementary and high school pupils haven't been vaccinated.

More than half the school's 561 students have been told
to stay home in an effort to contain the spread of the disease.

Many students in the school belong to a religious
denomination that doesn't officially endorse or
object to vaccinations.

But many members of these and other religious
denominations in this part of the province choose
not to vaccinate their children.

Smitherman said he will stress to community and
religious leaders on Friday the benefits of vaccination.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has also urged Ontarians
to take advantage of free vaccinations to prevent
spread of the disease.

Seven other pregnant women are being tested for
rubella, Sider said in an interview.

Rubella is a mild virus in children and adults,
but poses the greatest risk to pregnant women
because it can infect a fetus in the early stages of
development, causing miscarriages and birth defects.

Sider said the outbreak is not yet under control,
and there are concerns it could spread to parts of
the province where residents have not been vaccinated.