Beth Quist -- "Grace"

One of the most beautiful pieces of music I have ever heard. Orgasmic! The track's name is "Grace" from the album Silver by Beth Quist.

Solar Flares and Natural Disasters

Days before last years major earthquake that resulted in the terrible tsunami that hit Japan, the sun was unusually active emitting solar flares. While the link between solar flares and earthquakes are still controversial, I am leaning towards believing in this connection.

Currently the sun is acting up again. "The sun belted out the most powerful type of solar flare Monday night, known as an X-class flare," according to the Washington Post. The report added that "the X-class flare was not directed at Earth. But space weather forecasters caution the very active sunspot region - known as AR1598 - responsible for these flares is slowly rotating towards Earth in the coming days."



Current scientific consensus generally only accuse such solar flares with causing beautiful northern lights, interfering with radio signals and at words messing with electronic devices. While yesterday's solar flare report was not aimed at the earth, the current rotations will put us in the path of these active sun spots within the next few days. If there is a connection between solar activity and natural disasters, particularly earthquakes, and if AR1598 stays active during the coming days -- which it probably will, we ought to see an increase in natural disasters, particularly an increase in earthquake activity in the weeks to come.

Nobel Peace Prize -- Shameful

I don't usually use this blog for political comment. I have another platform for that. However, I'm just aghast with the direction the Norwegian Nobel Committee is moving in. It is as if they have completely lost their moral compass. How can they offer the peace prize the European Union? This is the same organization that is run by the international bankers who are basically enslaving Europe, where independence and democracy has practically become non-existence. The real democracy we are seeing in the EU are the millions of people rioting in the streets against the crisis created by the banking oligarchs. And when the people protest they are bludgeoned by riot police. Is this the type of peace the Nobel Peace Prize is given to? Apparently the prize was given to the European Union for its commitment to peace in Europe; clearly a very myopic view of peace, for how dare we forget the powerful EU countries that have been involved in wars over the past decades. Is France and England's involvement with the United States in the ungrounded attacks on Afghanistan so quickly forgotten?

Of course, after the previous rediculous nomination of the Peace Prize to someone that has not yet contributed to any actual peace, what can we expect?! If the Nobel Peace Prize stands for anything of value, it ought to revoke President Obama's Nobel award, for not only has he failed to discontinue the wars he promisted to bring to an end, he has actually increased America's wars -- starting one in Lybia and expanding one into Pakistan.

Clearly the Nobel Peace Prize has become nothing but a sham. Maybe this is what it had been all along, I was just too enammered with the idea to see it before. But after the last two laureattes, even the blind can see that the Norwegian Nobel Committee are merely acting as spin doctors for a global elite.

I'm disgusted!

I promise my next post will be on something of little consequence. Like the concerts I attended this past week.

Such Brave Macho Policemen

I remember when I was in school—probably the early years of high school—we had to give a presentation about the occupation we wanted to pursue one day. I wanted to be a nano-engineer. My best friend at the time, Keith McKenzie, wanted to be a microbiologist. “Small things interest great minds,” he used to say and one doesn’t get much smaller than microbiology and nano-engineering.


But there was a clear pattern I recognized in what the other boys wanted to be, particularly the bullies, delinquents, and the generally scholastically inept boys: they wanted to be policemen. Reading the news, I have to conclude that a noticeable percentage of the type of people that goes into the police force is indeed these types of people—people driven by their lust for power over others, people that want to be in positions of authority in order to continue their bullying.

Image Source

Take these examples from the news: In England police tasered a blind man, in America an 8-month pregnant woman was tasared after using expletives towards a cop, and lets not forget the cop that kicked a pregnant women recently after she complained when her sibling got tasered. Oh, and did you hear about the man that got tasered for having a seizure?! The police commanded him to keep still, but having a seizure attack he was obviously not able to do so, so they just went ahead and electricuted him. The victim (and I'm using the word "victim" deliberately) suffered a heart attack and brain damage from this ordeal. Wow these are such tough strong manly men. They taser blind people, the pregnant, and the sick. They really make me feel safe now! Thank you brave Mr. Policeman for protecting me from those dangerous blind, pregant, and physically ill people! (Pardon my sarcasm, but this is really getting to me.)

Then there are all the police brutality towards protestors around the world (e.g. Greece, Egypt, Kuwait, Kosovo, Indonesia, Multan, and many other places). South Africa, my country of origin, has made the headlines recently over police brutality during a protest by miners that turned violent. (Here is a synopsis of the mining unrest in South Africa; and here is an overview of police brutality in the South African context.)

There is much that can be said about police brutality—there are many contextual factors that should be kept in mind. I'm not saying that police ought not at times opt for a more hands-on, i.e. violent, option. However, I honestly think that one variable that cannot be ignored is that a significant percentage of the people attracted to this career is not in it because they have a profound sense of justice and wish to keep the peace, but rather because they have a power fetish and get off from exerting their authority over others.

Andong -- More Photos from Andong

Some more photos from my Andong-trip this past weekend.

Andong

Ek was die naweek wat verby was bietjie weg op 'n toer na Andong, 'n stad en area in Korea bekend vir baie historiese artefakte en gebruike wat behoudend gebly het vanaf die Joseon Dinastie. Hier is 'n klompie fotos.

Lena Park (feat eAeon) "You Don't Know Me"

A very close friend of mine loves Lena Park, so I bought her latest album "Parallax". I'm personally not a big fan of her genre of music, which is R&B-pop, although the album is generally good. However, there is one track on the album that just jumped out at me -- I loved it from the very first notes. The track is a collaboration with the indie-artist eAeon. Listen to "You Don't Know Me" in the YouTube-video below. I've pasted the lyrics in Korean and a translation below the video.

You Don't Know Me -- 박정현 (feat. 이이언)

내게 말해주지 않는 그 마음속에

그대 다른 누군가를 숨겨 뒀나요

내게 말이 없던 어느 하루의 끝에

그대 일기장엔 누구의 이름을 쓰나요

그댄 날 사랑하지 않아요

You don't know me

내게 아니라고 말해봐요

You just don't know me

그대가 원하는 건 내가 아니죠

You don't know me

내가 틀렸다고 말해봐요

You really don't

내게 보여주지 않는 그 마음속에

처음부터 이별을 키워왔던가요

이유 없이 슬퍼지는 그대 눈빛 뒤에

내 곁에서 누군가를 그리워하나요

그댄 날 사랑하지 않아요

You don't know me

내게 아니라고 말해봐요

You just don't know me

그대가 원하는 건 내가 아니죠

You don't know me

내가 틀렸다고 말해봐요

You really don't

그댄 날 사랑하지 않아요

내게 아니라고 말해봐요

그대가 원하는 건 내가 아니죠

내가 틀렸다고 말해봐요

You don't know me

날 사랑하지 않아요

You don't know me

날 사랑하지 않아요

You Don't Know Me by Lena Park (feat eAeon)

in your heart that you refuse to show me

have you hidden someone else

at the end of the day gone without a word between us

whose name do you write in your diary

you don't love me

you don't know me

tell me that it isn't so

you just don't know me

i'm not the one you want

you don't know me

tell me that I'm wrong

you really don't

in your heart that you didn't show me

were you planning a good bye from the beginning

behind your eyes that become sad without a reason

who do you miss when you're by my side

you don't love me

you don't know me

tell me that it isn't so

you just don't know me

I'm not the one you want

you don't know me

tell me that I'm wrong

you really don't

you don't know me

tell me that it isn't so

I'm not the one you want

tell me that I'm wrong

you don't know me

you don't love me

you don't know me

you don't love me

translated by: strangeseasons.tumblr.com

Blue Bus 202

Blue Busses in Seoul (Image Source)

Today was a public holiday in Korea, so I decided to go on a little adventure. I jumped on Blue Bus 202 that runs close by my house and just see where it goes. I frequently use Blue Bus 202 to the closest two subway stations, but seldom take it beyond that--and even when I do take it further, I've never seen more than a third of its total route.

And what an impressive range it covers! From the eastern outskirts of Seoul all the way to the west side of down town Seoul, passing several of the city's hotspots such as Cheongnyangni, Dongdaemun, Myeongdong, Seoul (Train) Station, the Korean Bank Museum, to mention just a few. And close by several other locations of interest like Insadong, Jong-ro, City Hall, and several universities.

It takes the bus about an hour and a half to an hour and fourty-five minutes or longer, I would guess -- depending on the traffic, to journey one way. My trip today took much longer, of course, as I got off at two stops. One was in Myeongdong to get some footage for my other blog (Korean Minute), and the other stop was in Dongdaemun where I had some Indian food for dinner.

A pleasant way to spend an afternoon-evening.

Read another blogger's guide to using the busses in Seoul here. While the Life-in-Korea website gives a more detailed explanation of the buses and their routes (although the fares are outdated).