Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World is a truly excellent book, particularly for an extra-long duty day. When you’re not fatigue-drunk, he’s got an engaging style and wild wit. When you in fact are, the story perfectly matches the sense that nothing is provably real.
Chart: Religiousness vs. everything else.
Out and about in Songtan the other day visiting a friend from college who through pure coincidence is also currently stationed in Korea, we saw a truck open on an anonymous corner near his apartment containing lots of stage gear: lights, reflectors, etc. It generated a moment’s curiosity, as there is no nearby theatre, but [...]
I found this today on digg. I have no idea if it was intentional but I thought it was funny:
I went to Yongsan today for a dental appointment. While stuck in traffic, I came up with a song to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas. I’ll write the last verse; I’m sure you can infer the rest.
As I drove into Yongsan, what did I chance to see?
Twelve driver TVs,
eleven required u-turns,
ten tiny [...]
I read about war. It’s always been an interest; now it also counts as professional development.
I recommend Losing the War by Lee Sandlin to anyone who shares an interest in armed conflict.
I disagree with one aspect of his work: he believes that Japan would have surrendered within weeks even without the use of atomic [...]
It’s a new year again, for my readers in Korea and Japan at least*. (新年あけましておめでとうございます!) For my family and most of my friends, it’ll be another half day or so. In moving here I’ve cheated over twelve hours from both 2009 and the decade it was a part of; I think most people will agree [...]
I like this article, by Joel Johnson of Gizmodo:
I don’t want to die on an airplane. I don’t want to die in my home while eating an organic bagel infested with parasites that lay eggs on my liver. I don’t want to die from starvation or bad water or a thousand other things that I [...]
Avatar: visually very nice. It’s good to see that we’re past the Uncanny Valley. The story wasn’t anything special, but this film should be remembered for its innovations in CGI if for nothing else. I did wonder, though: where did Sigourney Weaver find a Stanford t-shirt sized for a creature ten feet tall?
Speaking of CGI, [...]
New England: where n00b weather gods go to get their training:
“Pst. Dude.” *shake*
“*snerk* Huh? Wha?”
“You slept thru the first month of winter. The Prof is gonna kill you!”
“OMGWTFBBQ! Why did you let me sleep so long?!?”
“I dunno, dude, you just looked peaceful or something. At least I woke you before the Solstice.”
“I gotta make up [...]