Wednesday 27 April 2011

Chance of stolen bike recovery: nil



2010-2011
R.I.P.

Honolulu giveth and Honolulu taketh away

As of now, 4 out of the 6 people in my department who bought bikes this year have had them stolen. If anyone moving to Honolulu reads this, get a really really good lock.

Sunday 24 April 2011

Me vs. Google

I've often wondered about the likelihood of my job being made obsolete. Obsolescence was supposed to be unlikely for white collar jobs and academics, then I read something like this and I get worried all over again. I have often reassured myself when confronted with programs like babelfish or Google Translator that machines will never hold a candle to a living person when it comes to acting as a translator. But if voice translation is already within our grasp, how much longer until we will have usable text translation and no need for an interlocutor?

How can you stop yourself from becoming obsolete? Should you even try?

Wednesday 13 April 2011

D.C. bus-under-throwing makes news in Korea

In an indication of just how far I have traveled from D.C., mentally and geographically, I first heard about the D.C. city government getting arrested in protest of the new budget from this site. While of course my first reaction is bitter laughter, I'm sure I'd be feeling nothing but outrage if I was still a resident. It seems like a ridiculously petty and specific move on the part of Republicans to single out Washington for their campaign against social programs.

On a similar note, for any of my non-Korean speaking readers, I found this site that carries translations of articles appearing in Korean newspapers that cover issues in America. While there is no shortage of English-language articles in Korean papers about American issues, these, as they were translated by an American volunteer, present a more critical (and realistic) portrayal of how Koreans see America.

Edit: While I have yet to learn a phrase in Korean that equals the passion of "throw someone under the bus" Koreans do have a surprisingly similar word for "scapegoat" (흎ėƒė–‘-sacrificial sheep)

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Grave concerns for my favorite food

Those who know me well may have learned about my deep romance with breakfast. There is no meal, be it at sunup, lunchtime, or evening, that I like more than a bowl of cereal. I don't really know why something so simple brightens my day, but on more than one occasion my last thought before sleep was "yay, breakfast comes soon!"

To anyone with a similar love of good mornings, this is a good read.