Albert Einstein's message to Korea

The image of Albert Einstein is quite commonly used to promote educational products in Korea, a country absolutely insane over getting their kids to spend every minute of the day studying. Naturally, the image of a genius like Einstein is a very positive association that companies would like to make with their (usually pedagogically questionable) products.

What most Koreans fail to realize is that people like Einstein are almost never the results of these kinds of products or an education system which demands excessive study. Here are some quotes of Einstein I stumbled on this morning that I think the whole educational system in Korea (including obsessive parents) should think about:

. . I worked most of the time in the physical laboratory [at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich], fascinated by the direct contact with experience. The hitch in this was, of course, the fact that one had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect [upon me] that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.

It is nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry, especially if the food, handed out under such coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

"Autobiographical Notes," in Albert Einstein:
Philosopher-Scientist, Paul Schilpp, ed. (1951), pp.
17-19 ? 1951 by the Library of Living Philosophers,
Inc.

I was talking about the education system with a Korean friend the other day (yes, despite all evidence to the contrary, the Party Pooper has Korean friends).I said that I was deeply unimpressed with the results here. When one considers how many thousands of extra hours of study Korean kids get in comparison with those in the west, and how so very little knowledge is retained by the time they graduate from a university, it's clearly a monumental waste of time. Considering what Einstein says above, perhaps I was being overly optimistic about the Korean education system.

Dragon Wars

Dragon War is about to come out on OCN. I really can't wait to love hating this movie without feeling like a tool for paying money to see it. I saw Yongary, the previous effort from the same director, and walked out of the theater after 30 minutes. I'm more optimistic about Dragon War, though, and I'm sure I'll make it at least 45 minutes, go watch some soft porn on the J Channel, and then maybe come back to catch the final battle.

To get me in the spirit, I found these youtube reviews. It took a while for me to catch the point of the kid in the video above, but after he repeated every sentence he said a 7th time, I finally got it.



Here's one that is a little less critical (1 out of 5) from a guy who will never have a girlfriend.



These kids loved it. It reminded me that I shouldn't be so harsh on 10-year-old kyopos and their tastes in entertainment. All 10-year-olds are obviously pretty damned retarded.


A homeless-looking guy giving a rave review to what sounds like a Korean interviewer. "Is it funny? Really? Just tell me truth!" I'm thinking this interviewer probably went through quite a few people before he found someone drunk enough to think the movie was good.

Brian over at Markandeya is the only K-blogger I know of who actually seemed to like movie. He also liked the Star Wars Episode movies, as I recall. Brian, your politics and tastes in music very much match my own, but when it comes to movies, you just gotta raise that bar a little.

床 床

An article from Yahoo news: China offers unproven medical treatments

Clinics in China are offering unproven (and almost assuredly bullshit) treatments for a range of incurable diseases. A part of it is the usual Chinese medicine nonsense, but they also involve untested practices such as injections of fetal tissue and stem cells into the brain and spinal cord. Like everything else connected with medicine and health practices that come out of China, despite the fact there is no a shred of evidence of any of these practices being effective, they have no qualms about taking thousands of dollars from desperate patients.

The hospital says its stem cell injections are combined with daily, three-hour
doses of intravenous drugs designed to stimulate production of the patient's own
stem cells. Physical rehabilitation and Chinese medicine are also part of the
plan. A standard two-month course of treatment costs $30,000 to $35,000.

Kaching! So basically they're just cramming everything they can think of into patients hoping something will take, or, more likely, patients can fool themselves into believing their health condition has improved in some way ('placebo-based medicine', one could say). Lot of money to be had in offering hope to the desperate.

Some of those meddling Western doctors have tried to investigate the practices though. Here is what they have found:

Noting the lack of evidence, three Western doctors undertook their own
limited study. It involved seven patients with spinal cord injuries who chose to
get fetal brain tissue injections at one hospital in China. The study reported
"no clinically useful improvements" — even though most patients believed they
were better. Five developed complications such as meningitis.

Cute. Not only did those involved not get any better, the majority developed more health problems. Welcome to the Chinese Century.

Thought of the day

In order to post more often, I've decided to do a daily 10 minute bloggering session. Everyone can find a spare 'just one 10 minutes' a day, right?

So, I hereby start my daily bloggering today.

Judging from my past history on my previous site, this most likely means you can expect about one blog post every 2-3 weeks.

OK, I've got a cozy 8 minutes left (it took me about 45 seconds to decide how to spell 'bloggering'. Damn, now I just second-guessed myself and it cost another 30 seconds. OK, now I just reread that last sentence and I'm wondering if 'second-guessed' is acceptable. I think it is.)

Right. Seven more minutes to go.


I found this picture on Daum today. Apparently after the conclusion of a professional volleyball game this team came back onto the floor with their cheerleaders and did a 'Tell Me' victory dance.

What the hell is wrong with men in Korea who spend time learning this kind of shit?

And who is the guy in the red shirt who seems to really be getting into it? It looks like he's from the opposing (and thus losing) team. Is he so giggidy giggidy gay that he just couldn't restrain himself from joining the opposing team for a dance? If his team just lost, maybe he should spend more time practicing his sport rather than learning little girly dances.

OK then.

2007 Predictions revisited, or, Pooper Pwns Baduk.

Early this year I posted (on my original site) a set of predictions for 2007. Allow me to repost the original, along with some new comments within the text.


Prepare to be shocked and awed at the amazing accuracy of my predictions.


Original post:

The legendary Baduk over at KoreanAmerican blog has graced the K-blogosphere with his predictions for 2007. Baduk was, as some of you may recall, declared a Prophet of Blog by this humble blogger for his revelations concerning Hwang Woo Suck (spelling?) before his deceptions became public.
Being a trained and certified psychic myself, and having an amazing 100% accuracy in my former predictions posted here on this blog, I feel a need to remind the K-blogosphere that I am still the reigning psychic in these here parts. For those who doubt, I will hereby post Baduk's predictions, and then offer the actual events that will happen. Let the people see for themselves whose psychic kung-fu reigns supreme! Baduk's 'predictions' are italicized, my prophecies are in confident bold.



1) Korean real estate bubble will burst. All apartments will depreciate to 50% of present price.
No! The real estate bubble will not burst for another 2 years. It is fueled by collective insanity which will defy all predictions based on logical analysis.


[Score 1 for the Pooper. Though the real estate market has cooled a bit, no bubbles have burst.]


2) President Rho will resign, naming Gohgun as the intrim acting president.


Wrong again. Noh will threaten to resign exactly 26 more times in the next 12 months, but will not actually do it.


[Score another for the Pooper, though I should admit that the number of threats to resign actually ended up totaling 31.]


3) Korea will stop "sunshine policy" and all forms of contact with Kim Jongil's regime.


No. The Sunshine Policy will continue throughout the year. And I'm sorry to say, but even if the conservatives take over the presidency, South Korea will still do what it can to keep Jong-il in business. It's all about the Sae Jong's, people.


[This is starting to turn ugly. No wonder Baduk doesn't come around the K-blogosphere much these days.]


4) The US will go to war with Iran. Korean soldiers will fight side-by-side with American troops to topple Iranian regime.


No and hell no. Although many say the surge in troops is just a pretext for an invasion of Iran, I just can't see Bush being that stupid. An air strike here and there...maybe, followed by a lot of loud but empty threats out of Iran (the only thing short ugly dictators are really good at, it seems). And the idea of Korean troops fighting in Iran or anywhere in the world is just drunk talk. It's a military that's lost its confidence and balls after 10 years of Sunshine Policy.


[Yup. That's the Pooper 4 and Baduk -1--this last prediction was so silly that I just have to give an additional penalty]


5) South Korea and Japan will announce mutual defense treaty aimed at China-NK coalition.


Maybe in 2008, but not while the 386 Generation are driving this crazy train.


[PP 5, Baduk -1]


6) Economic hardship (lost 20 years) will start.


Not really. Korea will somehow manage to stay where they are for a while, before slowly receding in economic power as it just gets too hard to compete with China and their population bust starts to kick in.


[The spanking continues]


7) NK will attack SK in limited scale on sea and near DMZ. Korean people will learn to hate NK to the max. China will be hated as well for helping KJI regime.


More wishful thinking on Baduk's part. Jong-il and the Sunshine Boys will do the opposite, having a second summit in the spring to show Koreans that the engagement/appeasement policy is indeed working (exact costs of the summit to be released later in 2008). North Korea will even PROMISE to dismantle the nuclear program and let in inspectors in select areas. After the elections are over, regardless of who wins, the Norcs will return to form and kick out the inspectors and everything will return to normal by this time next year.


[OK, I was a bit off on the timing of the summit, but the rest still works.]




8) FTA with the US will not pass.


The 20 Sided Die of Destiny concurs. This will be a big factor in the next elections, as the Woori boys will successfully paint themselves as noble patriots who are doing all they can to prevent Korea from being raped by the Imperialists. The U.S. will just wait, hoping that a new administration will come into power in 2008.


[In a way, we're both right, but the agreement really hasn't had to go through Congress yet anyway. PP 7, Baduk's score gets back to zero]


9) American troop withdrawal from Korea will accelerate. Koreans will be scared and many will flee the country. Laws will be passed to block Korean nationals from leaving the country.


Again, the Die concurs on troop withdrawal, though nothing dramatic. The numbers of Koreans fleeing Korea, however, will continue at the same pace as usual.


[There is no way to prove I am wrong on this one. The exact data on troop presence is not available to anyone, not even the military itself. If they do claim that they know, that is just to save face. I stand by the accuracy of this prediction.]


10) Foreign investments will plunge. Stock market and real estate will dive with no bottom. Korea will go down from its peak (2006) as many countries in Asia and South America have done in history. The miracle of Han river will end and Korea will deteriorate into a third world country. All because so-called liberals(=Commies) played the anti-American card and that accelerated the US withdrawal from Korea. Koreans brought this to themselves. No one to blame.


A big no to all of these, at least for 2007. The government here may be incompetent, but they know what lines can't be crossed.


[I could go through the trouble to check the data on this one in regards to foreign investments, but I'm getting a psychic message that is confirming my prediction so that should settle it.]


You're through, Baduk.


All recognize my power!

Korean TV

Sucks.

Listen

Listen.  Understand.  That Party Pooper is out there.
It can't be reasoned with, it can't be bargained with...
it doesn't feel pity or remorse or fear...and it
absolutely will not stop. Ever.

Until you are dead.