Court: No right to shout "douchebag" in a crowded blog - Ars Technica

Court: No right to shout "douchebag" in a crowded blog - Ars Technica

I see the school officials side of this. This speech does tend to impede on the educational process. However, if we allow schools to suppress students, even at a distance (and off of school machines), this is not a slippery slope, it is an outright violation of our citizens' first amendment rights.

I think of this as I think of all laws. People reach, stretch, and expand the purview of the law (or it's exceptions) until it ceases to resemble the original intent. I believe in the exception regarding the disruption of the educational process. However, this doesn't mean that we should be using it as a group control mechanism. This shouldn't be something that we hold over students saying if we don't like what you say (no matter where you say it) you will be punished.

Schools are soon to be subverted in ways that we haven't seen in over a hundred years. If we allow non-educational spaces to be used for suppressing free speech, learners in any educational setting won't be safe to speak freely anywhere, anytime.

Dad impersonating son in exam arrested - CNN.com

Dad impersonating son in exam arrested - CNN.com

I suppose our comrades in education on the other side of the sea of J....East Sea aren't much different. I hope this guy was one baby-face papa. Do you think that he got his hair colored before going? :)

Do it the old-fashioned way, pay someone. It works wonders. Wonder how easy/difficult that is in Korea? Could you make a good living off of it for a few years? I know that this is still quite popular, and relatively easy to do, in the states for things like the SAT. However, the cost involved might just be better served to re-furnish the President's office.

The Citizen: Skorea police propose decriminalising secret dancing lessons

The Citizen: Skorea police propose decriminalising secret dancing lessons: "“The revised Minor Offences Law will forbid the act of harassing a person with persistent phone calls, emails or letters, even if the victim is not physically threatened or has not been assaulted by the stalker,” a police official told Yonhap news agency."

This is pretty fantastic. This means that harassment is finally going to be illegal. This can address a lot of issues that foreigners have with nasty neighbors and even bosses/ex-bosses.

Now, of course, there is still the issue of getting police to enforce the law. So, in the end, you're still screwed.

Why do so Many Korean Children Wear Glasses? « The Grand Narrative

Why do so Many Korean Children Wear Glasses? « The Grand Narrative

Cool look at this issue. I've asked this question to many of my classes in the past. I always chalked it up to the fact that Americans are more likely to wear contacts.

I wonder what people notice who live in rural areas. They certainly have more exposure to the sun. I've seen kids in these areas with a strange tint that might be called a sun tan :)

Of course, these areas might also have less intake of dairy products, thus vitamin D.

Anyway, read both the Grand Narrative's take and the original if you're interested.

End of Year Post

Christmas

I have to admit that the holiday season really depressed me this year. Starting at Thanksgiving, I think that it was knowing that I wouldn’t be home (Chicago) for Christmas this year. However, the depression peaked around Thanksgiving and then diminished through December. This corresponded with the ramping up of my Christmas spirit.

For those of you who don’t know, I am crazy about Christmas. I play Christmas music from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. I decorate (as best I can). I take special interest in gifts, holiday cooking, and holiday parties. Most of all this year, I wanted to provide all this for my son.

I don’t think I did a great job of it, but I tried. Here is what we did for Christmas this year.

Holiday movies

Much to the chagrin of my wife, I spent quite a bit of time introducing my son to Christmas cartoons. We watched Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, a couple of Charlie Brown Christmas specials (and he watch the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving over and over and over again). I tried to get him to watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation and the Christmas Story, but he wasn’t up for either of those.

Food

We did a few food projects this season, some he really did help with and others he didn’t (some I didn’t even really do). We did cookies a couple times. He always loves helping with this. He gets covered in flour, so we add a little extra to compensate.

I made egg nog for the first time this year to great success. It was a cooked egg nog (I don’t mind raw, but I’d hate to poison anyone else). For those of you in the States, you take this for granted during the holidays, but egg nog is certainly not available here in Seoul. I made one of the easier recipes that I saw. It consisted of a cooking portion similar to making custard and a lot of blending. It was a really simple and tasty recipe. It probably would have been better if I had nutmeg (really missed that) and bourbon (or other liquor). I could have gotten the latter, but I was rather sick during Christmas and tried not to add too much alcohol to my diet J

Lastly, I didn’t feel like cooking this year, because of all the running around I would have to do to gather ingredients, so we decided to hit one of the Christmas dinners around town. We decided to go to Suji’s for Christmas dinner. I’ve heard Suji’s recommended numerous times over the last couple years and this seemed to be a good opportunity to check them out. It was my first time at Suji’s and I liked it for the most part. We were warmly greeted at the door; they had really good service, which is unheard of in Korea; and the atmosphere was nice.

Suji’s had a Christmas dinner buffet for W55,000, though they only charged us W50,000. Let me first say that the food they served was very good. They had a great medium-rare roast beef with horseradish sauce and juicy turkey with cranberry sauce. They had passable mashed potatoes with really good turkey gravy and good beef gravy. They had green beans, which is amazing. I love and miss green beans and I was so happy to have them here. On the bad side, they mixed them with corn (why not separate the two?). The “brownie” for dessert was really good; however, it was certainly not a traditional brownie as the hostess earnestly professed. Brownies are at least slightly cake-y, depending on the recipe that use. This was more like many of the “death by chocolate” desserts that I’ve had at restaurants over the years. It was like a very thick mousse.

Now for the negatives…The “stuffing” was really just cubed French bread that may have been cooked in the turkey or just sautéed with the turkey gravy. Moon hated it, not because it tasted bad, but because it was so far from the traditional stuffing that she was expecting. I thought that it tasted great, but I have to admit that it was half-assed. Moon also hated the mashed potatoes and, while I thought they were ok, I agreed that they really lacked cream and could have used more butter (now we’re being picky). The spread was lacking to say the least. For W50,000 (think $50+ depending on exchange rate) you’d think that they would have some more, at least the basics. How can you have the above items an NO bread? They offered to sell us some, though. For 50,000 you’d better give me some %$#@ bread! The buffet was tiny. How about some more choices? They only had 6 food items on the buffet (not including sauces) and 1 of them I can’t even remember what it was because it was gone and never refilled by the time I took a picture. That is the biggest problem that I had with the buffet, it ran out fast and they never refilled. I understand that we were there late, we had the 8:30PM sitting, but THEY scheduled it and they should have assured that they buffet remained stocked. The great service that I referred to above dried up about the time the food did. It seemed that they were afraid to engage at that point.

I could forgive them breadth, if they only had depth. The food that they had was really good, but I can’t forgive them for running out.

Next year (if we don’t go to the States) I’ll spend about the same amount (maybe a little more) and do the dinner right. Christmas is no time to take the lazy way out. I’ll cook up a storm and have leftovers for a week.

Christmas Events

Thanks to video conferencing, we were able to connect with family in the States for our many family Christmas parties. We joined the Craig Christmas for about an hour, with people cueing to say hi and Merry Christmas; my family joined us on Christmas morning to watch us open presents and to open the presents that we had sent them; we joined them on their Christmas morning to watch the same; and we joined the Dickinson Christmas (Mom’s side) for a short time as they miraculously regained power just in time to hook up. While nothing replaces being there, these were great substitutes.

Back to Christmas morning. Sammy woke up to Christmas surprise. Santa had not only loaded the living room with presents under the tree and in Sammy’s stocking, but he also rearranged the furniture and boxed up most of Sammy’s old toys and put them in storage (Santa’s great in that way). A well-rested dad, who didn’t have to do any of this work, brewed a big pot of coffee and cooked a big breakfast casserole (not his greatest) to get him through the morning.

Sammy particularly loved a car set that he got (track with battery-powered cars) and a doctor set that he used to give examinations to everyone, including his new Curious George doll. Moon and I really enjoyed this Christmas, as it was the first in which Sammy could really enjoy it himself. While the concept of Christmas and even that of Santa haven’t really gotten through, he is old enough now to participate fully. I really look forward to next year when he may be better able to learn a Christmas song or two.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, sleeping, and playing. Truly a wonderful Christmas.

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for making this a great holiday season (not that it’s totally over yet). Thanks to my family in the states, both immediate and extended. Working with us to set up the video feed and working around our schedules really helped to make this Christmas better. Of course, this probably means the most to me, but I know that both Moon and Sammy enjoyed it as well. Thanks to Moon’s family for taking on that family role here in Korea. And, of course, thanks to Moon for putting up with my moodiness and insane holiday requests throughout the season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you out there from the Craigs in Korea!

South Korea detains financial prophet of doom

South Korea detains financial prophet of doom

The real story here isn't so much the arrest of a blogger, it is sustained campaign against free speech conducted by the Korean government against both journalists and the people.

So, what are they going to charge this guy with, predictions?! Next thing you know they are going to be searching for this elusive Nostradamus character. You know he's been at the center of predictions for a long time, maybe it's time he was arrested too.

As far as I know, this guy wasn't spreading false rumors. He was doing economic analyzes and reporting on his findings. So, if the government doesn't like my research will I be arrested? You know language testing is a very contentious issue in Korea, I might upset the wrong people with my findings (if I ever have any).

These moves by the government concern me more than a slumping economy, corruption, or even ineptness in public policy. This further signals a war on the truth, as long as they don't like the truth. This has been going on for a long time, but the brashness of the government in going after those who have broken no laws is simply out of control.

Korean War - HD-SN-99-03144

Korean War - HD-SN-99-03144
Originally uploaded by US Army Korea - IMCOM

This collection is really amazing. The US military has put up part of their collection of Korean War-related pictures. There is so much here to be amazed with: US homecomings, fighting shots, and plenty of Korean people and places.

This shot really got my attention because this girl really resembles my wife.

Seoul Eats: How to buy meat in Korea.

Seoul Eats: How to buy meat in Korea.

Have to add this to my favorites. I never know exactly what I'm getting when I go beyond the kalbi/bulgogi order at the butcher. Nice to have it described so well.

Brain Science Podcast

Brain Science Podcast

This is a fantastic podcast that will change the ways in which you think about many issues including: physiology, learning, cognition, language, and much more.

In addition to podcasts, there are discussions, transcripts (for some episodes), and blog postings. I can't say enough good about this podcast. It has really renewed my interested not only in brain science, but in getting back to my (applied)linguistics roots and refreshing, as well as building, my knowledge-base in that area.

The only negative is that you'll have to find about an hour when you doing nothing else. This is not the sort of material that you can multitask with (also discussed in one episode).

Korea Herald is a mal-site?

Imagine my surprise when I visited the Korean Herald recently and saw this message in Firefox.


I thought, "No. Must have gone to the wrong site." So, I went to Google and was welcomed with this message.

Notice the, "This site may harm your computer" message.

So, it's official. Not only does the Korea Herald have terrible reporting, thus harmful to readers' minds, but harmful for your computer too.

Really, I wonder what did this? Probably some of that ActiveX crap they are always trying to load.

Just in Case

I reserved this URL just in case I ever want to move from my own server to Blogger's. Not likely, but possible.
You can find Seoul Daddy at http://blog.danielcraig.com

Adams 50 skips grades, lets kids be pacesetters

I am one of those who believe that this is the future of education.  It won't be an easy transition and I have more than a little respect for the skeptic who says that it's like putting a new program on an old computer.  However, this is going to be a long movement from one-size-fits-all to more customized learning experiences.  

This is not to say that you can send (young) learners out to find their own way.  That has been tried and tried again with less than optimistic results.

This move will have significant push-back in the US, not when promoting young learners, but rather when retaining older learners.  The pressure for age-based promotion could ruin this approach.  When you taint performance-based promotion the whole system falls apart.

Obama Moves to Counter China in Space With Pentagon-NASA Link

This is no small move, though at this point it's all speculation.  One has to seen that this will lead to a much more closed organization with less collaboration than what currently occurs.  You may say that the Pentagon collaborates more than I would expect and that NASA less than I would think.  However, even the competitive nature of the arrangement signals this division.