Moral of this story? Don’t provoke the old angry white guy.
WTF?
Reply
The results are in…
…and it looks like I may live.
It’s all right here in this handy bound report. Some of which is even in English!
Bottom line: I’m obese. And I have “fat liver” disease. And other than a “relaxation abnormality” with the heart and some “benign granuloma” in the lungs, I am as right as rain, thank you very much. Well, except for borderline high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. But really, given my lifestyle I count myself amongst the lucky…
So, for the next 100 days my task is to lose 17kgs (or die trying). And I’m taking three new (for me) meds. Xenical, Lipilou and Cozaar.
Let’s rock and roll!
Historical perspective
It has oft been said that those who fail to remember history are destined to repeat it. Or something like that. So, I’ve been thinking of that bromide recently in the context of appeasement and the treatment of terrorism as a crime rather than an act of war. Part of what triggered these thoughts was reading comments from Obama’s national security advisor John Brennan regarding the terrorist threat having nothing to do with Islam. At best, this amounts to pandering, at worst it is willful ignorance. Given that Brennan supports giving enemy combatants access to US criminal courts and Constitutional rights, I’m inclined to believe it is ignorance.
I challenge anyone to cite even one instance in the history of mankind where appeasement has paid any dividend or did more than prolong the inevitable conflict that must ultimately be resolved between two competing and irreconcilable ideologies. And we all saw where the Clinton administration’s treatment of terrorism as a crime led us. So, why are repeating these mistakes now?
I was reading about the first Barbary War and found this factoid fascinating:
In March 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to negotiate with Tripoli’s envoy to London, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman (or Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja). Upon inquiring “concerning the ground of the pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury”, the ambassador replied:
It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every muslim who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also, that the man who was the first to board a vessel had one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemy’s ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such terror into the foe that they cried out for quarter at once.
Sounds pretty damn familiar, doesn’t it? The point is, our enemies don’t want to kill us because of any wrong we have done them. It is not about Israel and the Palestinians. This war has be going on since the 13th century, pretty much like a volcano–sometimes hot and active, sometimes more or less dormant.
Since we’ve been destined to live during an active period, we must once again be prepared to defend Western values like liberty and equality. Is there anyone who sincerely believes those values are compatible with Islam?
How can you run when you know?
Yoja of the week
I am pleased to present to you this week’s Yoja, Ms. Chae Eun Jung:
Ms. Chae is a model, singer and actress. She is the star of “Sexy Mong Returns” (promo here) a Korean “Charlie’s Angels” as I understand it. I discovered her over at Koreaninsider.com which has several additional videos and her bio if you are wanting to learn (and see) more about her.
Sexy Korean woman is the caption for this photo because that is the popular Google search term and I am a whore for traffic. Sue me.
If you are health conscious (like me) and want to learn about good exercise technique, here’s a video of Ms. Chae showing how it’s done.
Bangapsuebneeda!
The Big Ride
So I mentioned in an earlier post that my kids had dubbed my 1966 Pontiac Grand Prix “the big ride”.
Well, speaking of big rides, how about this?
So, you didn’t think all that crap from China just appeared like magic on the shelves of your neighborhood Wal-Mart, did you?
- The crew-size: 13 people on a ship longer than a US aircraft carrier (which
- Has a crew of 5,000).
- Notice that 207′ beam means it cannot fit through the Panama or Suez Canals .
- It is strictly transpacific. Cruise speed: 31 knots.
- The goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on
- a China -to- California run. So this behemoth is hugely competitive when
- Carrying perishable goods.
- The ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and
- Then welded.
- The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11
- Cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously.
Of course, getting the goods across the wide Pacific is only half the battle. To take things the rest of the way, you need this:
That’s not just any train, that’s a 3.5 mile long “megatrain”.
Earlier this year, Union Pacific quietly ran a record-setting “monster” freight train over its Sunset Route, from Dallas to Long Beach, using the 3.5-mile-long behemoth during a one-time test of new distributed-power configurations that may help make long trains even longer. Distributed-power units (DPUs) are extra locomotives that are placed between or behind freight cars on very long trains to help them haul long, heavy loads without derailing.
Can you imagine being stuck at a crossing waiting for that puppy to pass? Hell, you don’t have to imagine it, just check out his video–impressive!
The last word on climate change
It wasn’t so long ago that adherents of Global Warming (blessed be thy name) theory were wishing that skeptics would either “shut the hell up” or die slow and painful deaths from cancer. And now the “true believers” have been shown to be rubes and are being openly mocked.
You gotta love it (watch the video)!
And yeah, Jacob, I’m talking about you!
Mark Steyn
Does commentary get any better than this?
President’s Day
Note the Left turn…
Chicken Little changes his tune
Interesting news on the Global Warming (blessed by thy name) front:
There has been no warming since 1995.
The Earth may have indeed been warmer in the Medieval Warm Period.
Those “admissions” will be seized on by skeptics…
Everyone should perceive flaws! To talk about “sceptics” as the ones who will “seize” upon “evidence” of flaws is unwittingly to make global warming into a matter of religion and not science. It’s not the skeptics who look bad. “Seize” sounds willful, but science should motivate us to grab at evidence. It’s the nonskeptics who look bad. It’s not science to be a true believer who wants to ignore new evidence. It’s not science to support a man who has the job of being a scientist but doesn’t adhere to the methods of science.
It’s a freakin’ house of cards…
UPDATE: High Priest admits Mary no virgin…
Seollal, VD and Presidents
Ah, it’s a trifecta! Lunar New Year, Valentines Day, and Presidents Day all in one jam packed weekend. WooHoo!
So, Seolnal is a three day celebration for Koreans that began yesterday. Many Koreans mark their birth from the Lunar calendar, so they all just got a year older. It’s a funny phenomenon to ask a Korean’s age and hear “32, but 30 American”. Hmm, that makes me 56 now, so can I go ahead and retire?
USFK grants two Korean holidays to its US employees–Chuesok and Seolnal. So, this year the Seolnal holiday coincides with Presidents day. Which means I’m getting screwed out of an extra day off. Ah well.
Anyway, Happy New Year and for all you lovers Happy Valentines Day. Especially for you sassy girls all over the world.
China says Stimulus bill successful…
Just as intended, the much criticized Stimulus bill has in fact created jobs. Unfortunately, not American jobs.
According to the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, nearly $2 billion in money from the American Recovery and Investment Act has been spent on wind power. The goal was to further energy independence while creating American jobs. It has done neither.
Of the money spent, according to the report, nearly 80% has gone to foreign manufacturers of wind turbines.
The only good thing one can say is that at least China is a real place, as opposed to the phantom ZIP codes and congressional districts in which the administration has claimed to have created jobs.
But how does buying wind turbines made in China create energy independence or create jobs?
Last October, on the day the workshop first reported on this story, a consortium of U.S. and Chinese companies announced a deal to build a $1.5 billion wind farm in Texas, using imported Chinese turbines.
The project is expected to create some temporary construction jobs in America. Some 2,000 manufacturing jobs will be created in China. In a message posted on his Facebook page, Secretary Chu wrote that the point of the grant program was “ensuring America leads the world in creating jobs in manufacturing the parts that go into wind farms” and even export components to foreign wind farms. It hasn’t worked out that way.
Of the 1,807 turbines erected on 28 wind farms receiving grants, foreign-owned manufacturers built 1,219, according to the workshop report. The installation of these turbines may have created as many as 6,838 manufacturing jobs overseas.
Seriously, WTF?
Or as they said over at PowerLine: “If the Obama administration were actually trying to damage our economy, it is not clear that it could do a better job.”
Cheers to good health!
My favorite from 2005
Scrolled through my old posts from 2005. It was shocking to see just how crappy the crap I posted truly was. Over the course of 12 months this little ditty about my first haircut in Korea was the best I could come up with…
In the photo essay category I’m going with my commute to work (back when I actually walked). Oddly enough, I was thinner back then.
It was a pretty sorry year blog posting-wise (who knew it would be a continuing trend, eh?). Still, it’s kinda cute how jazzed I got when things were all new and different with my life here in Korea.
ok, that was technically taken in December 2004 in Istanbul. But I posted it in 2005. So sue me.
Stay tuned for the “best” of 2006. As soon as I can stomach reading through them….
Speaking of vocative commas…
I am pleased to report a recent sighting of some extremely Hairy Chasms! That’s right, the Big Hominid himself, Kevin, has started posting again at his old blog BigHominid’s Hairy Chasms. Welcome back! You have been missed!
I guarantee that you will not find e-vocative posts like this one anywhere else on the web. So, go give a shout out to Kevin but mind your P’s and Q’s. Whatever the hell that means…
Have they no shame?
Or do they really think the electorate is this stupid?
Biden: Iraq victory a great Obama achievement.
Sometimes it feels like I’m living in an Orwell novel. The war was won because Bush ignored naysayers like Obama and surged troops to quell an escalating insurgency. And now Obama wants to take credit for Iraq while simultaneously blaming Bush for everything else? Of course, we have seen plenty of evidence that this administration holds the American people in contempt, but c’mon, any sentient being recognizes this ploy for the pure BS that it is.
As Mudville Gazette notes:
There’s an odd thing about this administration claiming credit for victory in Iraq – half the country knows Biden and Obama had nothing to do with it, and the other half will never admit there is a victory to claim. However, since they think we’re all stupid, I guess the White House wants to give it a shot.
I’m sure the President sees plenty of ignorance–every time he looks in the mirror. He’s just too ignorant to recognize it. Which reflects poorly on him, don’t ya think? Ahem.
(photo lifted from The Conservative Mom)
Yoja of the week
This week I’d like to introduce Korean singer/model/actress Yoon Eun-Hye.
Compare and contrast…
Ok, after careful consideration, I like them both…
I have to say though, there is just something about a gal in glasses…
out of glasses is nice too though…
I think she’s a real cutie, don’t you? You can view a large photo gallery of her here. And a website devoted to her with some pretty cool clips showing her in dramatic performances (co-starring with Cass beer).
But I especially enjoyed this video retrospective of her career. It’s fun to watch her grow up. Nicely done…
Stuck, poked, prodded and probed
That pretty much sums up my day as I completed my well-being physical examination at Soonchunhwang Medical Center. The process and procedures seemed to go well although I won’t know the results until next week.
It was certainly the most thorough and comprehensive examination I’ve had that’s for sure. It started with the requisite stool, urine, and blood samples and progressed from there. I brought along an interpreter to help guide me through the process and she snapped up some photos along the way as well. So, let’s blog it, shall we?
So they had me change into these really cool taekwando-type pajamas. Made me feel confident and dignified, unlike those American-style gowns that open at the back…
So, it was eyes and ears to start with…
This procedure where they blow air into your eye went fine, but it took several tries (and some eye-dilation) before the technician could get a proper photograph of my retinas.
And then they had me embark and don headphones in this contraption…
Which turned out to be a time machine! I was whisked back in time and emerged as a 30 year old man once again…
Here is the new young me! Hey, wait a minute. Turns out I was getting my hearing checked not traveling through time. Damn.
Next I had an ultrasound. Turns out I’m carrying twins. No wonder I’m so fat! Actually, all I heard from this is my liver is enlarged and I should curtail my drinking. Yeah, right. As soon as I stop breathing…
This is where I laid on a cot and had a bunch of wires attached to my body. Boring!
Ah, the chest x-ray.
Seeing as how I’m a non-smoker this shouldn’t be a problem. Although those 25 years I did smoke may come into play…
Ah, the traditional “in body exam”. Not nearly as cool as an “out of body experience”, but then having one of those in the hospital may not be too wise as they are liable to haul your body down to the morgue.
So, I’m not exactly sure how this thing works, but I’m guessing it is like a spectrograph that measures the fat content of your body and crap like that. The screen readouts were in Hanguel, but from what I could make out I’m 117 kgs and I should be 75 by skinny Korean standards. It’s not exactly a newsflash that I’m fat people. But I’m working on it! Oh, I had the dental panoramic x-ray here as well.
So, Soonchunhwang Hospital is actually a complex of several buildings. And my next test was in the building across the street. So, they had me put on my “championship” robe and brave the snow and slush outside…
…to get to this building…
…which houses this clinic…
…where I received an echocardigram whatever the hell that is. The technician was cute though…
Next up was this CT scan…
A Walrus-filled doughnut…
Then it was back across the street to the procedure I had been dreading the most…
The only thing I like down my throat is a pretty girl’s tongue so I asked for and received some “feel good” drugs prior to the procedure…
…which I suspected was going to involve me and one of these gurneys…
Here I go.
Whatever that crap was it gave you instant cotton mouth. I’m guessing it also suppresses the gag reflex. Not a pleasant feeling at all.
Waiting for the drugs to kick in…
’cause I don’t even want to think about where that thing is going soon….
Talking about being in a vulnerable position! But fortunately I was now in my happy place….
Blissful post-op sleep. I seem to recall waking up during the procedure feeling like I was choking but my hands were bound and I was helpless. Maybe it was a dream.
Once I was back up and on my feet they had me cross the street again (I know, I know. But this is Korea) to visit Urology department…
And I had a pretty good idea what was coming next…
…and now you do too…
…ok, let’s just get this over with quickly. And call me Angel of the Morning…
And that was that. I’ll see Dr. Yu next Thursday for the results. So, I was in at 0830 and done at 1230. And other than the logistics of crossing the street (twice) wearing pajamas in inclement weather, it was a smooth and efficient operation. Here’s the interesting part–all this testing cost me W750,000 (that’s a tad bit less than $750.) Not bad. Although I did get a discount of about $140 because this is the “slow season”. Can you imagine a U.S. hospital putting medical treatment “on sale”? I’m not sure how they do it, but maybe Obama ought to check it out.
And that’s not all! They gave us two free tickets for lunch at a little Korean soup joint across the street from the hospital.
After fasting I’m plenty hungry…
Lunchee is served!
That is a rice and vegetable soup, and although I found it a little on the bland side…
…it didn’t go to waste (other than my own).
Alright, thus ends my tale of adventure at Soonchunhwang Hospital.
Timelessness and Irony
Well, this clip still rings true today. It is timeless.
What is ironic is that it comes from Little Green Footballs circa 2005.
From a post called “some things don’t change”.
Ha Ha, Charles Johnson. Sadly, yes they do and yes they have.
Thanks for the memories…
Poor Jenn!
After a long (too long!) hiatus, my pal Jenn from I Got 2 Shoes is back with the harrowing tale of her hospital stay. While I am sure the medical treatment in Korea hospitals is first world, the experience itself is well outside the North American norm. As Jenn’s story makes clear, you are basically on your own when it comes to creature comforts. Anyway, it sounds like she is on the road to recovery and is at least free from the confines of the hospital. Get well soon Jenn!
Here’s the link to my Korean hospital experience. Similar, although Jenn’s was much worse.
Coincidentally, I’m going to the hospital tomorrow morning for a complete physical examination. It is good to know I will also be leaving the hospital tomorrow!
Here’s something to Marvel at…
Man, when did the comics become organs of political propaganda?
In issue number 602 of Captain America, a new story line has begun called “Two Americas.” In it the current Captain (there have been a few of them, apparently) is on the trail of a faux Captain America that is mentally deranged and getting chummy with some white supremacist, anti-government, survivalists types going by the name of “the Watchdogs.” While investigating this subversive group, Captain America and his partner The Falcon — a black super hero — have decided to try and infiltrate the secretive organization.
In preparation for the infiltration, Marvel Comics depicts the two super heroes out of costume and observing from a rooftop a street filled with what can only be described as a Tea Party protest. The scene shows crowds of people in city streets carrying signs that say, “stop the socialists,” “tea bag libs before they tea bag you,” and “no to new taxes.” Naturally, the people in these crowds are depicted as being filled with nothing but white folks.
You can go read the rest on your own. But wow.
via PubliusForum