Chuseok weekend: jellyfish and allergies

KwandongWife is working (a lot) so we aren't travelling this weekend.

KwandongAlex and I went to the beach on Friday afternoon and had a great time -it's a shame that he is getting comfortable in the water at the end of the season. We swam again on Saturday, spending several hours there.

The strange thing was the beach was full of moon-jellies on Friday, but they were entirely absent on Saturday.Photo from Chemistry and Biology.

On Saturday night, I drank some water and tried to swish it around in my mouth and ended up spilling some on my shirt. Today, Sunday, my face is partially swollen and tight feeling. My left eyelid feels heavy and closes easily. My right eyelid, in contrast feels tight and takes effort to close - it stings much of the time and I sometimes hold the eyelid down with my finger. I don't think I am slurring my words but my lips feel the same way; the left side is heavy and the left side is tight. Oh, don't panic, loyal reader; I have a few allergies and blame them for the swelling and such - I don't think I have had a stroke or anything to affect one side of my face.

I went to the hospital and got two needles - Ketaricin and Dexa - and a few pills, but have noticed no change in my condition.

KwandongAlex was as understanding as a three year old can be and we spent most of the day at home and at a nearby playground.

Church of England apologizes to Charles Darwin

The Daily Mail uses the word ludicrous in the title of its article. The Vatican apologized to Galileo some time ago so it may be ludicrous but not unique. I might use the word ludicrous when describing the actions of religious groups but this is at least a step in the right direction.

Dr Brown writes: ‘People, and institutions, make mistakes and Christian people and Churches are no exception. When a big new idea emerges that changes the way people look at the world, it’s easy to feel that every old idea, every certainty, is under attack and then to do battle against the new insights.

‘The Church made that mistake with Galileo’s astronomy and has since realised its error. Some Church people did it again in the 1860s with Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection.

'So it is important to think again about Darwin’s impact on religious thinking, then and now.’

Dr Brown argues that there is nothing incompatible between the scientific theories adopted by Darwin and Christian teaching.

In using "the Church" to describe the offender with regards to Galileo and Darwin, does the Church of England trace RC history as it's own until they split?

In reading the article, I think the goal of the apology was not to make Mathhew Chapman or the other descendents of Darwin feel better (although the Church would not be displeased with that outcome) but to show opposition to creationist Christians. Possibly after being an upstart youngster, the Anglicans want to be an elder statesmen to the modern anti-science upstarts.

Sokcho Beaches in August

Found this at a hometown friend's site. I think he found it here.

Book Review: "Next" by Michael Crighton

I read a few dozen books a year; it's strange that I feel compelled to review Crichton's work and not many of the others.

I should review more books as they keep this blog in the public eye somewhat. My most popular post, with a steady five or six hits a week is the review I did of Guns, Germs and Steel.

Anyway, I have been a fan of Crichton since Jurassic Park. After that book, I went back and read many of his previous books, although not Andromeda Strain for some reason. I enjoyed them all, although State of Fear least of all.

In my review of State of Fear, I stated that Crichton's book are both adventure stories and careful discussions of current issues in science. Typically, both are interesting but even if you don't care for the lecture, the story is thrilling on its own.

This is not true with Next (I couldn't get a link in Firefox and had to use Explorer to do so). In this book, the issues of owning cell lines and genes is examined. There are two transgenic animals - one is a terrifyingly strong chimp-boy who comes to the rescue with monotonous regularity, and a man whose cells are owned by a Californian University along patent disputes, genetic cures and organ smuggling.

There are probably more situations brought up - there are, in fact, too many. In the middle of the book, in two places, a doctor who sold his sperm to a sperm bank is sued by his genetic daughter because he had a gene that increased te likelihood of addictive behavior. His lawyer advises him to settle and this thread in the story is never revisited.

Elsewhere in the story, the daughter of a main character, sixteen years old, is selling her eggs to a clinic to make money for "breast implants". This vignette ends with the parents being angry.

Yet, elsewhere, a coroner is selling body parts without permission.

These three stories are interesting indeed, but disconnected with the main plot line. Doctors from UCLA saved the life of a cancer patient simultaneously using new research and performing new research. They do save his life but his genes are patented - the university owns them, he does not. He becomes involved in corporate espionage and researchers from the university hunt down his family because they carry genes owned by the university. This story is exciting and well done, but it is somewhat hidden as Crichton tries to show all the other confusing and dangerous aspects of genetic research.

Another target of Crichton's concern is the poor job journalists are doing in explaining and researching the issues. Almost as a running gag, he includes clips form newspapers discussing whether blonds will go extinct through the book.

As a further explanation of why I am posting a review, there are two mentions of the infamous Dr Hwang Woo-seok, the cloning researcher who falsified research. See, the book mentions Korea so it is acceptable grist for this mill.

Terry Fox Run cancelled for 2008 in Korea

From the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea website:

The CCCK has been the organizer of the Terry Fox Run for the past 15 years. While the amount of funds raised for cancer research in Korea and the total number of participants has continuously been growing, organizing the event has become increasingly more difficult. As some of you may know, The Terry Fox Foundation has implemented stricter guidelines on local organizers in recent years. Regulations about sponsorships and commercial exposure combined with requirements for liability insurance are some of the factors that limit our ability to hold the event successfully. Finally, with 300 volunteers and numerous suppliers and partners to manage, the Terry Fox Run is an extremely resource-intensive event for our small organization to hold.

They plan to skip 2008 and run an excellent one in 2009. There is no word on whether the run will take place every other year or if this is a one-time thing.

They have good reasons but I wish they had mentioned this earlier. Internationally, the run will take place next week - did they really wait this long before making their decision?

I know I should be running for personal reasons but preparation for this run was a major motivator for me. I need to find another event now.

Let's look forward to an excellent run next year and if anyone wants to volunteer for it, be sure to contact them.

Crash # 3

Firstly, I'm fine. The car accident happened in an intersection below my window; the third one in a month.

I am not sure how or why these crashes are occurring. They all sound the same and occur in the late evening (this one occurred around 8:40). I am in my apartment and I hear a brief wail of brakes and a solid bump. No one appears badly injured.

I haven't seen the actual impact, only looked out the window a few seconds afterwards. I am unable to figure out what happened. Clearly, one car has broadsided another but was the T-boned car crossing the intersection from the side street or did the driver attempt a wide U-turn across four lanes?

What I can comment on with some authority is the unprofessional-ness of most people afterwards. There are no hazard light flashing on any vehicle although the tow-trucks all have their roof lights on and turning. Happily, there have been no fights or loud arguments, just people working to solve the problem - although in the last two cases, the person stepping out of the, uh, broadsiding car has been on the phone. I hope they have just called for assistance.

Have a look; the two pics are the same image, the second one labelled and a little smaller.


The police drive everywhere with their roof-lights on but turn them off at the scene of an accident?

There are three tow-trucks and a car carrier (I don't know what to call it - the car is driven onto the bed of the truck) in the pic and all have their lights on. However, at the bottom-left of the photo is a tow truck blocking the side street. Only the carrier was used and in leaving, one tow truck ran a redlight with a little toot of its siren.

Accident vehicle #2 is black and has its lights turned off. Even if it has suffered a complete electrical failure (it hasn't; it drove off when the police were through), someone should use a flare or fluorescent marker or something.

Left hand: What is the right hand doing?

There is an interesting pair of articles in the Korea Times. On the 2nd, there is a brief report that the Canal project may be revived (background on the canal here, here, here,...) Two days later, reports of a North Korean dam affecting water flow in the Han River are described.

Boy, there's an angle I hadn't even considered; the canal is clearly a bad idea for financial, environmental and agricultural reasons - but it is also susceptible to sabotage by the Norks?

Chrome

I am a big fan of Firefox and my computer is getting on in years so I am unwilling to download new browser software but Google's new browser seems interesting (I'm also a big fan of Google). I had to chuckle, however, at the self-importance of this headline, "MS Dominance Thwarts Google Browser’s Foray." Korea isn't really the centre of the world, guys.

The article is a little more evenhanded, describing the troubles Chrome has in Korea. The article then goes on to describe upcoming trouble Korean web designers will face; the possible phasing out of Active-X. I don't know much about ActiveX, except that it can be a path for viruses and other problems.

Eco-friendly driving – probably an oxymoron

Sarah Stefanson writes for driversense.com and an article of hers was featured on the homepage for Yahoo Canada on September 1. As it was about driving and the environment, I gave it a read (I click on about one in fifty of the featured articles, I guess).

She does give some good tips for conserving gas while driving but I really see no honest effort to be eco-friendly.

She seems to be missing an important point about how vehicle-use consumes energy, looking at the problem in the most simplistic and car-friendly way possible. That point is, the energy it takes to drive any car anywhere is more than matched by the energy needed to produce that car and probably not far off the energy needed to make and maintain the roads and infrastructure necessary for driving.

One suggestion is too keep the trunk clear and not carry too much extra weight. She should follow that thought through and consider the absurdity of using a one tonne vehicle to transport a ninety kilo person (that’s me, by the way, not her).

When I return to Canada, I will likely have to buy a car. Things are pretty spread out there, unlike my situation in Korea.

To be honest, I will likely even drive frivolously on occasion, so maybe a few of her suggestions have merit. However, her attitude is more irritating than than her supposed eco-friendliness.

“I love my car. I love it on days when I drive past pedestrians walking through rain, sleet and snow. I love it because it lets me sleep in an extra half hour every morning since I don't have to catch a bus.”

What a jerk. Those poor bastards, doing their part to protect the environment or too poor to own a car; I love driving past them and laughing.

My hometown and the GOP convention

Via the Friendly Atheist, I have learned that if you visit the 2008 GOP convention website and try to click on a video, you get a symbol and photo for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic Virtual Learning Centre.

This photo is also from his site, but I went the convention webpage and found the same thing.


Hey, that's where I'm from and its a fair distance from anywhere in the US. I join the Friendly Atheist in wondering what's happening.

Worn out

I so proudly mentioned about ten days back that I had run 100km in a month and that I would attempt 50 km in the next ten days.

Today is the eighth day.

I am going to finish and maybe even beat my goal a little but I sure don't think I'll be finishing in style.

five km a day doesn't seem like that much - and it really isn't. Still, there have been a few missed days and catching up has been tough.

I made 8km the first day and missed the second day due to rain. I made another 8km on the third day and missed the fourth to family commitments. The fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth days have been 9km, 5km, 8km, and 5km respectively with the last three runs progressively slower.

If you were counting, that should be 43 km. I'll finish on Saturday (with two 5km runs between now and then) and pace myself differently in September.

I hope to follow a three day cycle of 8km, 5km and 0km. I will also add some calisthenics and hopefully swimming, although scheduling swimming is a challenge. Mostly though, I will be looking at running faster, not further, for a while. I have managed a best this year of 8km in 41:07 although my most recent 8km was 44:00. I want to run 8km in under 40 minutes by the end of Sept.

Oh, I also hope to do Seoul's Terry Fox Run this fall. In Canada, it is scheduled for Chuseok Sunday (Sept 14) but might have a different date here to avoid Chuseok. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Korea (CCCK) has not set a date yet. I hope they don't throw the whole thing together with a week's notice. Anyway, information should be here ...sometime.

Maybe, just maybe, they have a point

Today, the beaches were again closed to swimming. I went to Sokcho Beach and rode my bike onto the walkway and rode to the far end, Oeongchi Beach. The lifeguards were all at the other end -more than a kilometre away - so I swam with some university students.

The bottom there is rocky, with the bottom ranging from pebbles to rocks larger than my fists. The waves were big enough to bash me into them a few times and I have some blood on my knee and I banged my head somehow. I also had a great time.

I think they should control swimming at that end and open up the Sokcho end, with the soft sand bottom. I would be more comfortable now if I had landed on sand. Still, if I get tossed around, I can see why they want to be cautious.

four days: no swimming allowed

Really, this is a photo of the 'No Swimming' sign, not the girl in the bikini at the bottom of the pic.

In my opinion, the surf has eased a little but swimming is still forbidden at all beaches in Sokcho.

Man, I want to swim in the surf - flat water is boring. I would normally say that people can judge the conditions for themselves and decide if they should swim or not. However, I have pulled several people in tubes to shore after they found themselves unable to return under their own power.
Oh, the flag says, "Su-young Bool-ga" which means 'No swimming'.

Not much fun: Aug 21

I am proud that I managed 8km running today and at around the same time as I did on the track that one in the plus column for today.

However, I went to my favourite swimmin' hole, which normally looks like this:
...but today, looked like this.
I love to play in the surf but not so much when there are giant rocks just under the surface. Did I mention previously that I saw a small school of thumb sized squid here yesterday? Anyway, I was eager to snorkel further and try to find them again but obviously saw it was not going to happen.

In the evening, the little guy wanted to go to the beach (Sokcho Beach, not the above death trap). We hopped in a cab and the driver watched the Olympics while driving us. Interestingly, I had just read this post at Boingboing earlier in the day.


On the cab home, A different sport but the same thing.
Should I have stopped the cab and gotten another one? I figured they would turn the sports off once we started moving.

Brian in Jeollanam-do: White people still exotic, still all look same.

A Brian from the other side of South Korea has a video of a British swimmer in Beijing being mistaken for Michael Phelps. I wonder if he would just stop saying "Phelps", if that would help.

Anyway, I clicked on the 'create a link' button on his post and appear to be writing to my own blog; no idea what the format will look like.

Brian in Jeollanam-do: White people still exotic, still all look same.

The real winners of the wildlife game

Four students were stung during the game. Some of them deserved it - I specifically pointed out the hive and told students not to use the door (they are building the hive on a door). Ten minutes into one game, I see a student run through the door and slam it shut behind him. I kinda hope he was one of the stung.
Actually, the victims took it better than I would have. I am a real wimp regarding bee and wasp stings. In my youth, I stepped on a wasp hive and was stung seven times. I ran to my mother and she patted me on the head comfortingly- two flew out of my hair and stung me. Yeah, bees bother me a little but I have real issues with my mother!

Wildlife game

After teaching about how ecosystems work for three and a half weeks, I have the students role-play an ecosystem in a game whose name I have forgotten. perhaps a reader could help me out.

Anyway, in the game more than half the students are small herbivores (rabbits and squirrels). A few are foxes and a very few are wolves. I play the part of man and if I had more players there might be disease or other natural events.

All the animals need to find 2 "water" and the rabbits and squirrels need to find 2 "Food". Foxes and wolves need to catch rabbits and squirrels, while man does as he pleases.



I would prefer to play in a forest but that can be problematic for scheduling and other reasons. At the school, there was a large area devoted to tennis, volleyball and basketball courts. Each court had a fence and a few doors. There was also a breezeway and other places to hide and maneuver. Below is a picture of the most easily found envelope of 'food'.
A big problem is identifying the foxes and wolves. Well, as a nature enthusiast, I knew that foxes don't like the rain so they would naturally carry umbrellas.
Wolves love a bargain and so, quite reasonably, they carry bags for impromptu purchases.

The games lasted about 30 minutes and were enjoyed by most. Oh, to keep students in the game, the animals carried 6 (rabbits and squirrels), 3 (foxes), or 2 (wolves) "lives". The lives looked like food or water but had "rabbit" or the like typed on them.

Humiliation (2) (and pride)

In the past month, I have ran 103 km. I am excited enough to now attempt 50km in the next ten days. I know that's really not that much, but its more than I have done in any two months in the past fifteen years.

That's the pride part.

In the photo below, you might think my nipples are sticking out a little, but really those are Vaseline stains on my shirt. I mentioned a few years ago that my nipples chaffed and burned during a long run and that Vaseline was a good preventative. I didn't know then that the dang stuff would stain my shirt. I might as well sew on a scarlet letter (not an 'A', though. Well, maybe, but for different reasons) as everyone will see my shame.

Olympics (2)

In the previous post, I mentioned that I had judged debates at the camp. One of the possible topics for debate was, "The Olympics do more harm than good" and the students discussed the pros and cons of the event. As a Canadian, memories of the '76 Olympics in Montreal still rankle. Canada is still paying for the stadium, we were the first host country to fail to win a gold and... well, some other first for a negative thing. I love the idea of the Olympics but I understand that others might not.

When I was of an age to really follow the Olympics, Canada was a swimming powerhouse. To allow myself a bit of namedropping, I met Alex Baumann at a few meets and was briefly courted by his coach, the amazing Dr. Tihanyi. At Camp Chikopi, I met Sandy Goss and Mark Tewksbury, both Olympic medalists. I never met Victor Davis, but idolized him as my best stroke was breaststroke. Baumann, Davis and Tewksbury won gold at the Olympics in the same decade and it is hard to recall that Canada hadn't won a gold in swimming since 1912, when Hodgson dominated distance freestyle in a similar way that Phelps is dominating everything now.

I am happy that Canada has finally managed to pick up a few medals; four in a day. If they keep this up, maybe Canadians won't feel so humiliated.

I am so amazed with Phelps' record of 8 gold. The way I see it, competitors in a relatively new sport can manage to dominate the field. That is, swimming is not quite as venerable a sport as track is, but has a longer history than competitive canoeing and kayaking. One would expect track athletes to be tightly focused on one event only and swimmers on two or three and the canoeing events to be a free-for-all.

Canada has a 41 year old kayaker at the Olympics - I don't think you'll find anyone near his age in track events. It is simply too old to be competitive.

I am impressed but not that surprised that Spitz won seven gold while swimming as a sport was maturing. I am knocked-on-the-floor shocked that someone could beat that record thirty years later.

I have to suspect that my knowledge of swimming is becoming obselete - I watched Bak Tae-hwan's 400m Free several times (it was the only thing on) and many of the swimmers seemed to glide on one arm while they breathed. To me, with my background, that looks like bad technique. If Olympic gold medalists are doing it, I can admit that it is me that is out of touch.

Done

I am typing this while waiting for a coworker to pick me up and drive to Gangneung so the post could end suddenly.

This was my seventh time working the GLPS camp at Minjok Sagwan High School but still I learned a great deal while also teaching a great deal.

Not related to academics, I am proud to announce that I managed to run 89 km in the past month on the track here. I still have a little time to try for 100 km in a single month.

This is the first time I was involved with the debate program. I am not sure if I want to be more involved but it was interesting for a short time. I judged teh group with the lowest level of English. The manager did a great job of introducing debate in a foreign language but the student's low level meant that there wasn't a lot of variety. I listened to three debates yesterday and three today, all on the same two subjects and employing the same six arguments each. I'm a lttle tired.

This has been the rainiest camp ever.

More later.

Don't be LEFT out tomorrow!

Yes, tomorrow is Left Hander's Day. Here is how I am preparing.

Have I gone a little overboard here? Closeup of sign below.


I just looked at my 2007 post for this day and found almost the exact same thing. No Left handed moth, so far.

Olympics (1)

I am interested in the Olympics and some of my heros are Olympians but I've been travelling and had internet connection problems at the camp so I've only been able to see fragments here and there.

I watched the phenomenal opening ceremonies for two hours on Friday night. I felt a wonderful thrill when Canada's huge team entered the stadium- and chuckled at the one woman on the Canadian team with one hand at the side of her face and the other plugging an ear - clearly on a cell phone.

I was less touched to see "Chinese Taipei" and confused to see a "Hong Kong" team - isn't that a part of China in an even less controversial way than Chinese Taipei?

On Sunday afternoon, riding the bus to camp, I saw sports highlights on the TV. I was in the back seat of the bus so I couldn't read the screen or hear anything but I did see Pak Tae-hwan. I hope he did well in the 400 free but have been concerned about his coach hopping.
Added Monday: He won the 400. Congrats to him. I see he trained in Australia, possibly the world's swimming powerhouse.

On the bus, I also saw a bit of diving. Again, I was far from the screen - were they showing the women in the shower? What's up with that?

"PA" office

Now to ruin the joke by explaining it: This is the door to the Program Assistant's Office or PA Office. The Korean word for onion is 'yangpa', which is what the final picture says. There is also a hunk of yangpa on the bottom-right hand side of the sign.

Humiliation

It is so hot and I sweat so much that I actually sweat through the knees of my pants.

"Thrive"

Among other things, for me, camp means running laps.

Competitive swimming gave me a predilection for several things I guess, but two of them were repetition and a clear breakdown of split times in a long bout of exercise. Sure, at camp the roads are quiet and I could be travelling through a variety of backdrops and vistas but then I wouldn't know how long any individual leg of the run should take.

Here is the track I run on, encircling one of the few grass soccer fields in Korea. Sorry for the amateur stitching of photos.
I am on pace for twenty-five km a week and hugely proud of myself.

Near the end of my runs ...wait, at the beginning of my runs, there is nothing to be proud of. As an old man, the first two km are ludicrously stumbling and flailing until my legs stretch out enough to run like a human being. Anyway, at the end of my runs, I have frequently misjudged how much energy I have to spare. This makes the final laps a struggle.

I used to tell myself to hang on. I decided that wouldn't do for this camp. I don't want to struggle to the finish, I want to be tall and strong through the final kilometre. to this end, I now tell myself to thrive. It may seem corny - as I write this, it really seems corny, but if it gets me through a few runs, it is worth it -saying it, that is, maybe it will never be worth it for posting it online.

Anyway, it's 8:40 and I have to get to bed soon to hit the track at 6:00 tomorrow. Time to finish letters to parents.

A surprising source of humor

My friends know how powerful and frequent my sneezes are. I do NOT sneeze on people, but when there is no one in front of me, I don't hold back. I have been known to open a door into another, hopefully empty, room and rattling windows.

I did this at the camp: I stepped away from the white board, opened the door and shook the hallway walls. At the other end of the hall was the camp manager, who was meeting with another teacher.

Our manager does have his very own sense of humour but he very German. He is German, but he also manifests most of the positive stereotypes of the people. When there is work to be done, jokes are an obvious waste of time.

At camp, there is always work to be done.

Well, ten minutes after my sneeze, he was back outside my door, putting up a sign.
He was so proud of it, that he sent other teachers up to check my door.

To borrow an Aussie-ism, good on 'im; he is human after all.

Stung

A coworker was stung last weekend (July 25-ish) by a jellyfish, but I still envy her.

Due to some miscommunication or lack of communication between another coworker and I, I was stuck at camp on the weekend. Me being stuck here, by the way, was entirely my fault. Anyway, while I was here doing not much, my coworkers were swimming at Kyeongpo Beach in Gangneung. The water was murky because of recent rain they did not notice the jellyfish until one was stung.

I do not know if they used vinegar or urine or what to relieve the sting.

Elgin, at the Marmot's Hole, has found that global warming and overfishing are causing larger blooms of jellyfish around the world.

From his post:

...filefish — a natural predator of jellyfish — have been over-fished around Korea to the point where jellyfish have flourished...

and from the New York Times article he links to:

The warmer seas and drier climate caused by global warming work to the jellyfish’s advantage, since nearly all jellyfish breed better and faster in warmer waters, according to Dr. Jennifer Purcell, a jellyfish expert at the Shannon Point Marine Center of Western Washington University.

Okay, now global warming is getting serious. If it interferes with my swimming, its got to be fixed.

My coworker is fine, now.

Fire safety

I am back at camp, starting week three of four.

During the week, we have regular classes (I am teaching ecology) but every Saturday is different. Two days ago, we had survival English. Two of the classes were first aid (Which I taught) and fire safety. I am amused to see fire safety offered as there could be a bit of hypocrisy in it. Those who teach the subject are sincere, but the school management are more interested in climate control and preventing theft and possible misdeeds by students who cannot be tracked.

My classroom is in a corner so there is a door leading to an emergency exit.

Try to open that door. Do you carry an emergency door knob for such occasions?
If you could get through the door, or if you walked to the centre of the building and back through another hallway, you end up at this door, leading out. You can see the effort on my face as I desperately try to turn the knob. Locked.
I went outside and around the building and up the stairs to the other side of the door. No knob and a large sign saying "don't use. Use other door." the smaller sign, above, says, "be aware of heating, keep door closed".

There is another door on my floor that does open. Its on the other side of the building. I guess I am not really upset that the door is locked, more I wonder why did they think they needed it? Is it a legal requirement and after the building passed the local version of the building code, they felt they could lock it?
On the first floor of the building are the main entrance and two smaller entrances. One is padlocked closed and the other, above, is closed with caulking. I suppose a strong or motivated person could push hard enough to rip out the caulking, but still, it is strange. I also suspect that they could manage better climate control by teaching the students to close the main entrance doors after walking through them. Koreans, away from their homes, don't feel a need to close a door after opening it.

A few years ago, I posted a similar story about the school and how the students are locked up at night. Since that time, this big-ass mallet now sits near the main doors - the smaller fire exits are still chained and locked. I guess students could now smash the glass doors out if they need to leave in a hurry.

At camp

Week one with the students is now finished. They are a good enough bunch of kids, although I have some challenges ahead.

Each student must give a five minute speech to the class (fifteen students) and the best two will enter a camp wide competition (twenty four classes but each division is only six classes). The students can write in English more or less well enough and their pronunciation is excellent so that is no problem. The challenge is getting them to speechify.

The main goal of a recent class was to make an exciting or captivating introduction. Students were told to write a maximum of four sentences to also to plan their body language and delivery.

Most students went for the 'more is better' approach and just started putting their long, boring speeches into writing. "My name is *** and I am in class 7. I am going to talk about ****..."

I have worked hard to demonstrate an interesting introduction and a boring one but the students just aren't getting it. I am not sure how to explain it better. I can only hope that one or two students understand and, in giving their speeches, show their classmates how it is done for future reference.

Next week, I must also give a speech to the assembled camp on something in the field of biology (I teach ecology at the camp). In appearance, I am an overweight, middled aged guy but in personality I am a reckless teen with a short attention span so I think I can relate to my audience. I will discuss coral reefs and occasions where I have come into contact with sharks. I plan to avoid a "I'm a cool, macho guy because I have swam with sharks" sort of speech but do hope that angle will help keep the speech interesting. I will post the speech here after I give it.

We've seen a lot of rain here and it has kept me inside but at least it's been cool. I haven't used the fan in my apartment yet but have used the blanket. The next few days look like rain but also 34 Celsius so I expect short thunderstorms and hot days.

The Korean version of this mag would be good for me

Someone named Esplanade posted this entry at Something Awful's contest for reverse magazines.

climate conditioning

The Donga has an article describing how Korea and Japan have policies for temperature regulation in government offices including a set-point for air conditioners, a not-that-cool 28 degrees. This is another article relating energy saving measures to the high price of fuel.

The point is a good one, but Korea could make maintain cool rooms (and warm ones in the winter) while making great energy savings with a ridiculously simple procedure: close the freakin' doors and windows! My head spins when I see an active air conditioner next to an open window or cold classrooms in the winter with every exterior door wide open.

I do think using air conditioners to moderately cool and dry the air is a good idea, too.

Previously at Gangwon Notes.

In which Rick Ruffin and I are in complete agreement

We are both environmentalists, although Mr Ruffin is more enthusiastic and more political than I am. We've had a few differences, more in quantity or degree than in the basic details.

He has an article in the Korea Times (I told you he was more enthusiastic - I confine my opinion to this poorly read blog) about the cost of fuel, the availability of oil and the use of bio-fuels.

It interesting the way coincidences stack up. I am reading The Return of the Omnivore by Pollan and he starts by describing how much energy goes into making corn (oil is the base for the fertilizer, is one example) and the irony of using corn to make a replacement for fuel.

The problem is that, as is the case of cigarettes, the price of fuel is wildly elastic. People are willing to pay enormous amounts to continue driving. From the article:

However, some people, in spite of high prices, still refuse to consume less. South Koreans are a perfect example. While in the United States people are consuming 5 percent less oil than a year ago due to rising fuel costs, in South Korea people are driving just as much as before.

A recent article in The Korea Times showed that bus companies are threatening to curtail their services because of high fuel costs. That's pretty strange.

These high petrol prices should be a boom to public transportation everywhere. Buses should be SRO (standing room only) because of the current high fuel prices.

The article also includes a photo of Pyeongchang government officials cycling to work because they spent all their money on wasted Olympic bids to encourage reducing fuel use -I don't know if Ruffin supplied the photo or the editors did, but it seems apropos.

Ruffin does quote Diamond's Collapse, which sits half-read on my bookshelf, describing a warning sign of cultures on the edge of collapse being food shortages. Diverting food corn to become fuel stock doesn't save fuel (at least the same amount is used in growing it) but does reduce available food for the world.

He also defers to WorldWatch founder Lester Brown on the need to reduce beef consumption as the food and area used to feed cattle could be used to feed 1.4 billion people. Again, based on Pallan's The Omnivores Strike Back, I have changed my eating habits slightly to cut beef almost completely out and get my protein from poultry and vegetable sources. On the same subject, Bizarro's Perraro advocates for vegetarianism with the catchphrase "If you think you're an environmentalist and you're eating meat, think again".

Ruffin finishes by telling President Lee to scrap the canal project. I thought it had been quietly shelved already but perhaps it does need to be formally removed from as an option.

Not so funny

Some people aren't drinking their G & Ts. The Joongang Ilbo has an article about Malaria making a comeback. I've forgotten a great deal of what I was taught about malaria but I recall there are a few different forms and they are described by the length of their cycle. The least deadly, but still exhausting form has a cycle of three or four days. The long cycle gives the victim some time to recover between bouts. The most deadly form, Plasmodium falciparum, has no established cycle and the fever and chills come almost constantly, allowing no time to recover.

In Korea, another deadly form, P vivax, or tertian malaria, can be found.

Tertian malaria is not the deadliest form of the disease, but it is recurring and is the most widespread. This year, 338 people have been afflicted.

After an epidemic in 1970 was stopped, there were fewer than 100 malaria patients by the early 1990s. In 2000, however, there were 4,142. The number briefly decreased to 864 in 2004; in the past two years it has climbed back to 2,000.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have classified 22 cities and districts in Gangwon, Gyeonggi and Incheon as “malaria danger zones,” with 10 out of 1 million people affected annually.

The stats seem funny to me. Is 10 out of a million averaged over ten years? Korea has fifty million people so 500 is 10 out of a million. Frequently the number of cases is greater than that, but more, if the disease is only in the northernmost cities, we are talking about a much smaller total population. They say reporters don't understand stats, but it could be a bad translation.

Wikipedia on malaria.

Light blogging ahead

I'm amazed that I have been posting frequently enough that this post is justified. Well, maybe just barely enough - if somehow you could count this post as content, rather than meta. I'll try to add some content below.

Part of the benefits my university offers is a full medical physical. Its a little strange that I have to travel four hours across the country to get that physical but they did throw in a physical for Kwandongwife as well. I am not sure how we will take care of little guy while we're there, nor what actually is involved -we were informed the process will take three hours.

After the physical, I am off to camp. I have three days of orientation, a weekend at home, then four weeks teaching ecology to middle school students at camp.

I will bring my computer to the camp on Sunday but cannot be sure of access before the weekend.

The Olympics are coming!

The Herald has an article about Korean athletes getting ready for the Olympics. I'm excited and hope they do well. I always chuckle, though, at the sports Koreans do well in. Typically, if you could hurt someone, Koreans are good at that sport.

From the Herald:

Medals are expected to be won in wrestling, archery, taekwondo, judo, swimming, badminton, weightlifting, shooting and gymnastics. Korean athletes have led in these sports since the early 1980s.

[my bolding]

Alright, swimming, weightlifting, badminton and gymnastics may not have the same relevance to violence (although the latter sport is preparation for Gymkata!)

I think Pak Tae-hwan could do very well at the Olympics, but saying that Koreans have led in this sport since the '80s is crazy. He races on August 10.

Malaria Threat in Sokcho

I can find plenty of gin in the supermarkets but no tonic. With this shortage of quinine, I predict an epidemic of malaria by summer's end. If anyone can send tonic water here, you would be supporting a worthy cause.

UPDATED July 13: Crisis averted. E-mart has Tonic Water in stock again. All is right with the world.

By the way, the wikipedia article suggests that quinine may be effective against prions - Mad Cow Disease is caused by a prion so Korean should take careful note.

Letters: I'd complain if I were hung with a gold rope!

Amazon,

Firstly, thank you very much for sending me my order quickly. I am very excited about reading these books.

However, I would like to quote from two portions of an email I received from your company:

Sent: July 2, 2008 11:24:05 PM
...
Shipped via Standard Int'l Shipping (estimated arrival date:
07-August-2008).

Although I am happy to have received my books nearly a month earlier than I expected, the difference in dates is so great that I am a little annoyed. Now, I have to do something with Masuro's stupid charity books; I had to pretend to be grateful for his loan of his books (and I was, with the expectation of having to wait more than a month for my order) and now what do I tell him? What if he asks me about the content of his books?

sincerely,
Kwandongbrian


Masuro,
Honestly, I am enjoying The Omnivore's Revenge. I am likely to use some of the content in my ecology class this summer so it is both interesting and useful. I haven't started the f&SF magazine yet, but you know I am a fan.

Amphibians

This morning, I took the little guy out to catch a few critters. A while ago, I bought a little plastic terrarium at E-Mart (typically for the big-ass bugs they sell) and we took it and my wife's pasta strainer (I had better clean it up well before she comes home!).

I thought it cool that we were able to find tadpoles with almost no legs, frogs with long tails and a tiny but tailless frog - three stages at the same time. I wonder if the eggs hatched at different times or if frogs develop at varying rates.
We then went to a different pool and found salamanders. They were much better swimmers and it took me several tries to catch them. A month ago, they appeared as very streamlined tadpoles with a narrower head and slight protrusions where the legs would be - I couldn't catch them so I don't know if they did have legs at that time.
The little guy studying our catch, dinosaurs in hand.
We released the salamanders where we caught them. Here, KwandongAlex releases the frogs back into their pond.
This pic is my "Loch Ness Monster" pic. Its blurry enough to be anything you want it to be.

Before our little excursion, I coated my son with sunblock. So, no sunburn, but he did have a little trouble while scrambling over rocks. He scraped his knee and shed a little blood. Still, I think it makes him look healthier - all little guys should have bruised knees. If they don't, they are spending too much time indoors.

Pack-the-El-Camino to the rescue!

I haven't been the only Gangwon blogger having an interesting time at the beach. A co-worker has been playing, spending time with family and saving a non-swimmer.

Ye Ole Swimmin' hole

Can an ocean beach be a 'swimming hole'? I've always thought of semi-secret bends of a river as swimming holes. Anyway...

Just north of the lighthouse in Sokcho are a group of submerged and half-submerged boulders that make an excellent diving platform and provide a substrate for a dynamic ecosystem.

As with any good swimming hole, getting there is a challenge - you have to scramble down the breakwater tetrahedrons to reach the narrow beach.

Last year, the beach wasn't nearly so narrow. Here, I have (crappily) photoshopped in the beach as it appeared in 2007.
I am balancing on the two rocks in an area that was half this depth last year. More than a metre of sand has been swept away.
Mussels of the intertidal zone.
A group of conscript soldiers enjoying some time off.


A soldier took the above picture of me as well as this video of me swimming through an under water tunnel that, last year, was also underground.




While swimming, I found many schools of fish, a crab intermittently seen through the jungle of seaweed and a pair of nudibranches ( I think - they were as big as my head, black and dark brown and had a few snail- or slug-like tentacles). I also found a squirtgun and a pair of goggles.

Oh, last year, I found a pair of goggles with the adhesive covers still on the lenses - I guess someone bought them, tried them and could hardly see, didn't realize that the tape should be removed, and threw them away. This story has nothing to do with the swimming hole, I just think it's funny.

Lobster Man!

I've watched quite a few superhero movies lately; Iron Man, The Hulk, Wanted (well, it is based on a comic book - that's superhero-y, isn't it?) and Hancock. Now, I'm ready to assume the role of Lobsterman. I don't need much of a costume, except to hide my bulging belly - okay, a big costume, my skin is bright red and my superpower is, um, ....uh, supersensitive skin? As with the Hulk, my new persona is not one I'd take by choice and it was caused by an overdose of radiation. In contrast to the Hulk, my skin is red regardless of my mood.

Anyway, the little guy and I had a great time at the beach yesterday and today. First, don't worry, I took excellent care of him and kept him with a good layer of sun block (although I forgot Sunday morning - thanks Jeannie for giving us some).

Last year, I tried to rush KwandongAlex into the water and he became very afraid. Even though we have spent time playing in the pool at Seorak Pines this Spring, he is not eager to be carried into deep water and I am letting him take his time. He is having a great time kicking through the surf.


Yesterday, I sat next to a Korean/German family and in-laws. I think they were there Friday evening, too.

Today, Kwandongwife was working so I took KwandongAlex to the beach early for the morning and was lucky enough to find a spot next to an American family. Jeannie, Aaron (?- sorry man, I've forgotten your name) and their daughter are visiting from Seoul. Jeannie made my day by making her first question to me, "Do you have a blog?" Anyway, we chatted and cooled off in the ocean for the morning. I hope they enjoy the rest of their vacation here.

We went home and the little guy went straight to sleep. We got up, I forced some mild curry rice into him (he claimed to not be hungry) and returned to the beach. To my delight, I saw the German family had also returned and sat with them. The father was lobster-red (a companion or rival to me, I now suppose) and I was a little amused, thinking how sore he would be later. They will be at the beach for the next three days -my kind of people; focusing their entire vacation around the beach - and perhaps we will catch up on Tuesday.

If you need super-assistance, set out your lobster light or else summon me with Aloe vera.

Summer is here!

And I may have killed my wife and child. They were tired and went to bed early. I turned the fan on in the room, then, to keep the noise and light out, shut the main door and veranda door - they are in a sealed room with a fan on! And, the fan has no timer!!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a look at my post on fan-death.

More seriously, suddenly we have great heat and humidity. At the end of each sentence here, I am wiping my face with a handkerchief. It may be time to look at air conditioners.

Its been a week or more since I last tried the ocean. It was cool in June. Now, its perfect.

Books

I'm out of fresh reading material and of the books I have that I do reread, I have already done so. I have a new order coming in from Amazon - What the book was out-of-stock or something for a few of my choices - but they won't arrive for a few weeks.

What to do?

I do have some podcasts to catch up on but, while I enjoy them while exercising or commuting, I much prefer books when the option is available. When I have books, I get a backlog of pods to be listened to but when I don't have books, I am searching for new pods halfway through the week. That's where I am now.

Here's what I've read recently (purchase links are to What the Book):

Quantico, by Greg Bear. I chose this book on Tripp's lukewarm endorsement. I normally enjoy Bear's stuff so I thought I'd chance it. I liked it. The story is of a time slightly in our future and about two generations of FBI agents tracking down a domestic terrorist. A major part of the book is the infighting between various federal agencies, while some cool and horrible weapons are used. Purchase.

Finding your inner fish by Neil Shubin. My friend Patrick, who is concerned that there aren't enough transitional fossils, this is the book for you. A non-fiction book on evolution, it describes why we humans are the way we are. It even explains why men get inguinal hernias - of special note to my family. Purchase.

Various books by Neal Stevenson. I actually didn't care for his Baroque Cycle but clearly found something of value there seeing as I have since read Snow Crash (fantastic!), Cryptonomicon (very good), and Zodiac (very good). In the Baroque Cycle, a character would step through a doorway into a seventeenth century street and Stevenson would paint, with marvellously fine detail, what the character was experiencing. There was a remarkable texture to the descriptions. Unfortunately, and this is purely from my recollection, when Errol Flynn-style swashbuckling occurred, and it did quite often, the excitement seemed mired in the details. The future queen of England is being chased down a street and her lover leaps from one horse onto her pursuer's horse - thrilling but only afterwards because I was still processing the details of the street. Purchase (books by Stevenson)

Snow Crash had everything. It is funny and satirical, it smoothly meshed fantasy and science fiction, it had conspiracies, chase scenes and wild sword fights. I borrowed it from a friend and will probably buy it for myself to read again sometime.

Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin. A biography and not my regular sort of reading material at all. I bought it because the guy was interviewed on CNN and thought my wife might be interested in it. She started it but became busy with other stuff. I read it because there was nothing else in the house. It makes me wonder; I think that Jenkins guy was a traitor to defect to North Korea but feel Li made the right decision. I guess that's an example of my prejudices and the propaganda I was exposed to. Purchase.

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler. An attempt to read a classic. Well, I succeeded, so I guess it wasn't an attempt. I don't read a lot of crime fiction and this didn't move me to read more. I hope I will not be shunned for dismissing Chandler like this. Purchase.

The Drawing of the Dark, by Tim Powers. Its a sort of Arthurian retelling set in Vienna in the 16th century. I first read it in high school and have reread it many times. This is one of the few Powers books where the hero ends the tale still retaining all his extremities - I think the hero of Forsake the Sky ends up being a multiple amputee and to lose a few fingers is to get off lightly. He, the hero that is, does take quite a beating, none the less. Purchase.

To help me out, send your used books to KwandongBrian at Kwandong University.

Sellar in Podcastle

I read and enjoy Gord Sellar's blog and am impressed and happy to see an acquaintance get recognition. He is mentioned in this week's Podcastle. Congrats!

Happy Canada Day, I guess

It is indeed Canada Day.

What I'm guessing is how happy you lot are. I am sick with something; every twenty minutes or so, I ache all over, feel hot and sorta feel like throwing up. A few minutes later, I feel okay but tired until the next bout.

I hope everyone else has a happy Canada Day.