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Sunday, 25 October 2009

"Modern Strategy" by Colin S. Gray

Best quote in the book--as of page 100..give me a break, I'm still reading it--in a section titled "Just Behavior Pays Best":
"In human affairs, including statecraft and strategy, might is not right, and those who would play the Athenian role of arrogant hegemon in the Melian dialogue can discover that right has a consequential might all its own. However, the might of right is not reliable, which is why the forces of justice are well advised to be heavily armed."
LOL..very nice.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009

You are what the French call "les incompetent"

Many South Koreans ignorant about Korean War: poll
1 hr 3 mins ago
SEOUL (AFP) – About a third of South Korean adults do not know when the Korean War began and almost 15 percent are unaware who started it, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The recent poll of 1,000 people showed 33 percent of all respondents did not know the three-year conflict began in 1950, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said.
In a breakdown of the figures, some 47 percent of those aged 19-29 were unaware of the date while older Koreans were better informed, the ministry said in a statement.
The survey, conducted for the ministry by a private firm, had a margin of error of 3.1 percent.
The war began on June 25, 1950 with a massive North Korean invasion. It left millions of soldiers and civilians dead or injured and perpetuated the division of the peninsula into communist North and capitalist South.
The ministry said 14.6 percent of all respondents either denied the North started the war or were unsure whether it did. Of those aged 19-29, 21 percent said they did not know which side was the aggressor.
A state of war technically continues to the present day since the conflict ended in an armistice, without a subsequent peace treaty.
At a meeting with senior military officers this month, conservative President Lee Myung-Bak said awareness of national security issues lessened during 10 years of liberal governments, which sought rapprochement with the North.

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

If you haven't noticed..
..I have a lot of time on my hands now.
I've realized that my ability to write coherent sentences of more than 12 words in length has rapidly deteriorated..
- mostly due to the fact that I only use MS PowerPoint at work
- writing only in bulletized format, lacking subjects in sentences
- kanNot uz big wOrdz dat oder peeple kanNot unDerstooD. grunt.
- pictures gud. wOrdz is the bad.
Celebrity sighting

I dropped my older brother off at the airport a few hours ago, and I saw a lady there who was wearing a jean shirt, blue jeans, and who was, to put it mildly, morbidly obese.
America the beautiful.
Hawwwttt. I tried not to gawk.
She looked like Violet Beauregard from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". My first celebrity sighting.
Back at home

Everyone came back home for my mom's 60th birthday..it was the first time the entire family was together in 2 years, so it was nice to see everyone. I stepped on the weight scale in my parents' bathroom and found out that I gained 16 lbs (of pure muscle..jk) since I moved to Korea. I've been watching a LOT of MTV lately..trashy American TV is so mind numblingly stupid, yet so entertaining. Anywho, whenever you get the Lee kids together, there are some funny quotes to be had:
Mom: All girls are pathological
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Elliot: Hey, Vanessa, can I have $10?
Vanessa: You always take money and never pay me back
E: That's what happens when you're unemployed
(later on, I caught my brother stealing quarters from my mom's spare change basket as he was saying "gotta hustle")
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(talking about an Indian girl)
Grace: Is she Muslim?
E: She's INDIAN
G: So? There are Indians who are Muslim
E: Yea, they're called Pakistanis
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Dad: You need to go to grad school before I die
Me: Yea, I know..but I can take care of myself. Y'know, you might be like Moses..he didn't get to go to the promised land before he died
D: So you're saying YOU'RE the "promised land"? HAHAHAHA
M: .........yes.
I still don't know why my dad laughed at me