I am thinking of comparing the prices of grocery products at Safeway to those of the Edmonton Farmer's Market.. and on this saturday. I will post up the full-report on Sunday.
This should be interesting.
Late addition:
June 14 2011
Add earth's store to the list; take photos--analyze organic, inorganic, local vs. non-local foods.
(prof's rec)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
English adviser to get rid of climate change from the school curriculum
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jun/12/climate-change-curriculum-government-adviser
So, Tim Oates, the head of the government review, argues that the climate change issue should be taken off the school curriculum to make science more relevant. This is concerning in two dimensions.
First, Oates believes that the climate change issue is not something "empirical" as to be treated as a serious subject. This demonstrates the precarious position of the issue in the public discourse. Anyone who is well-read in the subject of climate change should know that the rate in which the globe is warming is unprecedented, and therefore concerning. Basically, Oates considers climate change as something that may or may not be happening, which is rather disturbing, considering the job description of his position.
Second, Oates does not realize that education, especially for teens, will not be effective unless they can relate it to the real life--that is, experiential learning. Surely memorizing of formulas and theories provide a fundamental basis for a pupil to understand the mysterious workings of the world, but s/he will not keep the knowledge unless s/he can relate it to the real life. Climate change is an excellent case study for students to learn how the ozone layer works, and how the human activities affect the world. By returning "to the core," Oates is attempting to drag the children back to inefficient and therefore boring methods of learning.
I am not too familiar with (well, ignorant of) the way the British government system works, so I do not know how much authority Oates can wield (hopefully not much). But this is a very concerning incident that demonstrates the precarious position of climate change as a social issue. I just thought of the guy who told Michael Reynolds not to mention the phrase "global warming" in the New Mexico House of Representatives in the movie "The Garbage Warrior."
So, Tim Oates, the head of the government review, argues that the climate change issue should be taken off the school curriculum to make science more relevant. This is concerning in two dimensions.
First, Oates believes that the climate change issue is not something "empirical" as to be treated as a serious subject. This demonstrates the precarious position of the issue in the public discourse. Anyone who is well-read in the subject of climate change should know that the rate in which the globe is warming is unprecedented, and therefore concerning. Basically, Oates considers climate change as something that may or may not be happening, which is rather disturbing, considering the job description of his position.
Second, Oates does not realize that education, especially for teens, will not be effective unless they can relate it to the real life--that is, experiential learning. Surely memorizing of formulas and theories provide a fundamental basis for a pupil to understand the mysterious workings of the world, but s/he will not keep the knowledge unless s/he can relate it to the real life. Climate change is an excellent case study for students to learn how the ozone layer works, and how the human activities affect the world. By returning "to the core," Oates is attempting to drag the children back to inefficient and therefore boring methods of learning.
I am not too familiar with (well, ignorant of) the way the British government system works, so I do not know how much authority Oates can wield (hopefully not much). But this is a very concerning incident that demonstrates the precarious position of climate change as a social issue. I just thought of the guy who told Michael Reynolds not to mention the phrase "global warming" in the New Mexico House of Representatives in the movie "The Garbage Warrior."
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
sudden freedom-panic attack
it is scary to get used to something.
after months of non-stop academic labour, it feels weird to finally be free from its yoke.
it feels as if I had let an object of love-hate relationship let go after years of toil.
now I'm sitting in my room, listening to good music and reading about the cat massacre in eighteenth century France.
it is not as wonderful as I hoped that it would be.
...
existentialist crisis looming o'er there.
after months of non-stop academic labour, it feels weird to finally be free from its yoke.
it feels as if I had let an object of love-hate relationship let go after years of toil.
now I'm sitting in my room, listening to good music and reading about the cat massacre in eighteenth century France.
it is not as wonderful as I hoped that it would be.
...
existentialist crisis looming o'er there.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Science Po-LSE dual degree
Awesome 2 year-long Masters Programme in International Affairs.
One year in London
One year in Paris
Best universities in Europe.
Want.
One year in London
One year in Paris
Best universities in Europe.
Want.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Motorola's Targets Apple in its Super Bowl Ad
One can't get this wrong; the ad suggests the Big-Brother-esque domination of Apple in the IT market. Motorola is challenging Apple in the advertisement of its new product, Xoom.Interestingly, this is supposed to be a parody of Apple's 1984 commercial that challenged IBM's monopoly of the computer market.
Well, this ad demonstrates the semi-absolute monopoly of Apple products in the market. The first video clip is supposed to be an unfinished one-so I guess we'll see how it looks like on Sunday during the Super Bowl.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Jason Mraz-Freedom Song (Life Is Good)
Lyrics
I picture something, it's beautiful
It's full of life, and it is all blue
I've seen the sunset on the beach, yeah
It makes me feel calm
When I'm calm, I feel good
And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings makes me feel good
And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings
Come on along
I know you really wanna feel our song
We've got some life to bring
We've got some joy in this thing
(x2)
I see birds fly across the sky
And everyone's heart flies together
Food is frying and people smiling
Like there is no other way to feel good
And when I feel good, I sing
And the joy it brings makes me feel good
Cos when I feel good, I sing
Of the joy it brings
Come on along
I know you really wanna feel our song
We've got some life to bring
We've got some joy in this thing
(x2)
It brings me freedom
Got to get you some of that freedom
It's a freedom
Singing freedom
You deserve your freedom
It's a smile you can feel in your heart beat
Get you (7x) that freedom
Friday, January 28, 2011
지식인의 서재: 시골의사 박경철
지식인의 서재
허. 간만에 머리가 멍해지는 글을 읽었다.
"송구스러운 말씀이지만, 솔직히 ‘나는 시간이 없어, 바빠.’ 라고 말씀하시는 분 중에서 자신이 목표하는 곳에, 꿈꾸는 곳에 가 있는 분을 뵌 적이 없습니다.
우리는 항상 바쁜 것 같은 착각을 하죠. 똑딱똑딱 흘러가는 시계 시간에 익숙해져 있죠. 하지만 시계 시간 중에 충실했던 시간만 모아보면 하루에 얼마가 안 될지도 몰라요."
진심 정곡을 찌르는 구절이다..
허. 간만에 머리가 멍해지는 글을 읽었다.
"송구스러운 말씀이지만, 솔직히 ‘나는 시간이 없어, 바빠.’ 라고 말씀하시는 분 중에서 자신이 목표하는 곳에, 꿈꾸는 곳에 가 있는 분을 뵌 적이 없습니다.
우리는 항상 바쁜 것 같은 착각을 하죠. 똑딱똑딱 흘러가는 시계 시간에 익숙해져 있죠. 하지만 시계 시간 중에 충실했던 시간만 모아보면 하루에 얼마가 안 될지도 몰라요."
진심 정곡을 찌르는 구절이다..
South Korean teenager turns out to be the culprit of the Korean Cyber war
Alright, I have written about the "cyber warfare" between South-North Koreas, which involved the DDoS attack on Korean counterpart of 4chan, DCinside, and the hacking of North Korean propaganda machine, Uriminzokkiri. If you are interested about the previous stories, you can read my previous posts detailing on these events here.
But to make things easier, I will summarize what happened: a dude in DCinside posted a poem that apparently praised Kim Jong-Il, which hilariously turned out to be an anagram that explicitly dissed him and his son, Kim Jong-Un. Then, people at DCinside got excited about this--especially those hanging out in a page called Yeonpyeong Gallery (a page dedicated to provoking NK after shelling of the island). So, just because they could, they decided to launch a DDoS attack on Uriminzokkiri. However, Uriminzokkiri retaliated, which ended up with enraged hackers of DCinside hacking not only the Uriminzokkiri website, but also its twitter and youtube accounts.
But it turns out that the one who launched the DDoS attack on DCinside was in fact was a 19 years-old (probably 17 or 18, as Koreans add one more year) high school student, who is likely to be one of those DCin's. Here goes the translation of the original article published by Kyunghyang Daily.
"The DDoS attack which triggered the Korean Cyber warfare turned out to be a 'one man show' of a teenager who wanted to draw attention to himself. The officials of the Police Department of Cyber Terror Response Centre announced on 28th that they had booked male teenager with the last name Moon without detention.
According to the police, Mr. Moon is accused of spreading a malaware disguised as a video file titled 'shortcut to celebrity (translator's comment: this is supposed to look like a porn video)' on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' so that 255 infected zombie PC's would automatically launch DDoS attacks on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' on January 6th. Mr. Moon hacked another high school student's ID to upload this file.
Due to the DDoS attacks on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery,' there was difficulties in access between 9:11 PM to 9:40 PM on the same day. According to the results of the investigation, Mr. Moon also attacked 'Afreeca TV,' which is a internet broadcasting website, between 11:10 PM to 11:40 PM.
The cyber warfare between North and South Korea ensued when Mr. Moon's DDoS attack was mistakenly labeled as a North Korean act. On the next day, the users of the 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' hacked 'Uriminzokkiri,' a propaganda machine aimed at South Korea, and the twitter and youtbe accounts of the North Korean government as a retaliation.
Some internet users also blamed the massive scale DDoS attack which took place on July 7th 2008. The Police and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had been investigating about this incident, also assuming this to be a North Korean deed. Mr. Moon said during the police investigation that he "had no political motives. [I] just wanted to draw attention."
*Original Article in Korean (Source: Kyunghyang Daily) click here.
But to make things easier, I will summarize what happened: a dude in DCinside posted a poem that apparently praised Kim Jong-Il, which hilariously turned out to be an anagram that explicitly dissed him and his son, Kim Jong-Un. Then, people at DCinside got excited about this--especially those hanging out in a page called Yeonpyeong Gallery (a page dedicated to provoking NK after shelling of the island). So, just because they could, they decided to launch a DDoS attack on Uriminzokkiri. However, Uriminzokkiri retaliated, which ended up with enraged hackers of DCinside hacking not only the Uriminzokkiri website, but also its twitter and youtube accounts.
But it turns out that the one who launched the DDoS attack on DCinside was in fact was a 19 years-old (probably 17 or 18, as Koreans add one more year) high school student, who is likely to be one of those DCin's. Here goes the translation of the original article published by Kyunghyang Daily.
"The DDoS attack which triggered the Korean Cyber warfare turned out to be a 'one man show' of a teenager who wanted to draw attention to himself. The officials of the Police Department of Cyber Terror Response Centre announced on 28th that they had booked male teenager with the last name Moon without detention.
According to the police, Mr. Moon is accused of spreading a malaware disguised as a video file titled 'shortcut to celebrity (translator's comment: this is supposed to look like a porn video)' on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' so that 255 infected zombie PC's would automatically launch DDoS attacks on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' on January 6th. Mr. Moon hacked another high school student's ID to upload this file.
Due to the DDoS attacks on 'Yeonpyeong Gallery,' there was difficulties in access between 9:11 PM to 9:40 PM on the same day. According to the results of the investigation, Mr. Moon also attacked 'Afreeca TV,' which is a internet broadcasting website, between 11:10 PM to 11:40 PM.
The cyber warfare between North and South Korea ensued when Mr. Moon's DDoS attack was mistakenly labeled as a North Korean act. On the next day, the users of the 'Yeonpyeong Gallery' hacked 'Uriminzokkiri,' a propaganda machine aimed at South Korea, and the twitter and youtbe accounts of the North Korean government as a retaliation.
Some internet users also blamed the massive scale DDoS attack which took place on July 7th 2008. The Police and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had been investigating about this incident, also assuming this to be a North Korean deed. Mr. Moon said during the police investigation that he "had no political motives. [I] just wanted to draw attention."
*Original Article in Korean (Source: Kyunghyang Daily) click here.
North Korea in dire need for food supply
Original Article in Korean (source: Yonhap News)->연합뉴스 : 바른언론 빠른뉴스
According to Yonhap news, North Korea is in dire need for food supply. It has already asked for aid to China, the U.S., and South Korean private organizations. Due to the toughened UN sanctions, NK has been suffering a severe economic crisis. Lee Ho-Nam, a North Korean official who met with the representatives of a South Korean private humanitarian organization, said that they are "in a really difficult situation, as to force [them] to cede Wee-Hwa-Do and Hwang-Gum-Pyung to China."South Korean and the American governments, however, agree in that provision of aid to North Korea could undermine the internal changes that have been taking place within the Hermit State. Officially, South Korean government will not provide aid unless the aid distribution process becomes more transparent.
According to Yonhap news, North Korea is in dire need for food supply. It has already asked for aid to China, the U.S., and South Korean private organizations. Due to the toughened UN sanctions, NK has been suffering a severe economic crisis. Lee Ho-Nam, a North Korean official who met with the representatives of a South Korean private humanitarian organization, said that they are "in a really difficult situation, as to force [them] to cede Wee-Hwa-Do and Hwang-Gum-Pyung to China."South Korean and the American governments, however, agree in that provision of aid to North Korea could undermine the internal changes that have been taking place within the Hermit State. Officially, South Korean government will not provide aid unless the aid distribution process becomes more transparent.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Korean "Cyber War" Part III - Uriminzokkiri responds
Uriminzokkiri, the North Korean online propaganda machine, explicitly mentioned the recent hacking of their website in its opinions section. The author of this article, Kim Sung-Ho, explicitly mentioned DCinside Comedy Gallery as the culprit of this incident (actually, many Korean newspapers have mistakenly referred to Comedy Gallery, known as CoGall, as the base of the hackers, but in fact it was the Yeonpyeong Gallery). Kim warned the hackers of the “grave consequences,” and urged the South Korean authorities to “severely punish those involved in this incident.” Below is the complete translation of the original article.
*Original article in Korean is available here.
A base provocationt to stall our webpage’s influence
Between the night of the 8th to the morning of the 9th, “Uriminzokkiri” webpage has been temporarily closed due to the hacking of the illegal intruders. The said illegal intruders perpetrated the laws by posted pieces of writing that insults our systems and dignity and deleted our stored information. Prior to this event, these illegal intruders have launched a DDoS attack on “Uriminzokkiri” webpage in late December. Such perpetration against “Uriminzokkiri” website is a base, rash act of the heinous members for anti-reunification to stall the influence of “Uriminzokkiri,” and it is an unforgivable defiance and provocation to our website.
The members of Comedy Gallery in DCinside, a South Korean webpage, have claimed to be responsible, and manipulates the opinions to make it seem as if they “responded” to our DDoS attack on their website.
“Uriminzokkiri” is an internet media of the Republic that works to advocate the desire and inclination for the People’s reconciliation, unity, and reunification, and does not intrude or hack other websites, nor does it indulge in such childish plays.
What will we achieve by hacking with extreme-rightist, rash people in websites that people do not even know whether it exists or not. Their excuse is nothing but an attempt to justify their illegal intrusion. The problem is that this incident has been a deliberated provocation by the hostile subjects whose marrows are filled with the hatred towards our Republic and controlled by the extreme-rightist influence.
As known previously, the pro-American conservative party have blocked “Uriminzokkiri” and labeled it as “pro-North website” to stall our influence, and have threatened many people in the South against connecting to our website, making it a violation of “National Security laws.” However, the number of those outside and inside the fatherland who visit our website is increasing exponentially every day.
Nonetheless, the extreme-rightist conservative influence, who are filled with a rooted hostility and repulsion towards us have lured some rash subjects who would even jump into the water for few pennies to perform illegal hacking on our website to prevent our voice for justice from reaching out to the people inside and outside the fatherland.
International hacking is illegal and outlawed in every country and governments, and South Korea is not an exception. Even according to the South Korean current law, if one damages others politically and economically on the web through hacking, one must pay for the crime and receive severe punishments.
Again, this incident proves that the South Korean extreme-rightist conservative subjects are criminals who intrude international internet web without hesitation to perform illegal hacking acts.
During the last few years, the South Korean authorities have made unfounded accusations to us every time they suffered a cyber attack in order to mislead both domestic and international media. This incident shows that those cyber attacks have occurred within South Korea as well.
Although the rash subjects who counter the currents of the era of information try to stall the influence of “Uriminzokkiri,” they cannot stop our communications that are meant to achieve the People’s reconciliation, unity, and reunification.
Those who have performed the hacking should deeply consider the severe consequences that await them, and act rashly no more.
The South Korean authorities should thoroughly investigate this illegal, even anarchical hacking incident, and severely punish those involved in it.
All the People should not tolerate the rashness of the extreme-rightist conservative subjects who have performed illegal, even anarchical deeds on internet with the criminal goal of preventing the achievement of reconciliation and unity, and inspire wars between brothers.
Kim Sung-Ho
Korean "Cyber War" Part II - Uriminzokkiri gets hacked
In my last post, I wrote about the cryptographic poem that was posted on "Uriminzokkiri," a North Korean propaganda website by the DCinside (a South Korean website equivalent to 4chan) user. (View the post here).
After the poem incident, the Yeonpyong page (a DCinside page designed to 'provoke' North Korean regime) users decided to launch an attack to Uriminzokkiri, to which the North Korean authorities have responded with a DDoS attack. The infuriated DCin's (DC users) decided to hack the website itself.
- The hacked main page of Uriminzokkiri (Source: Yonhap News)
The page above is the hacked main page of Uriminzokkiri. The cartoon mocks the humiliating dependence of the North Korean regime on the China, and the title of the links to other pages such as "the three rulers of Baikdu (the holy mountain of the Korean people)" or "the road to benevolent ruling" were changed into "the three thieves of Baikdu" and "the road to exploitation of the people." Also, fake news headlines such as "War-freak Kim Jong-Il surrenders," "Coup-d'etat in Pyonyang!" or "Kim Jong-Il convicted of war crimes by the ICC." As of now (January 8th 2:40 pm), Uriminzokkiri is under construction.
- Uriminzokkiri "under construction" (www.uriminzokkiri.com)
But the DC "keyboard warriors (Korean expression for, um, geeks)" did not stop there; they even hacked the Twitter and YouTube accounts of Uriminzokkiri.
- Uriminzokkiri Twitter (http://twitter.com/uriminzok)
The last four tweets of Uriminzokkiri clearly shows the denouncement of the North Korean regime. The tweets say: "Let's dethrone the enemy of the people Kim Jong-Il and his son Kim Jong-Un to make a new world!," "Chosun people's army! Let's aim our rifles towards Kim Jong-Il who has wasted $1.4 billion dollars to develop nuclear bombs and missiles!," "Let's kill senile Kim Jong-Il and the heinous piglet Kim Jong-Un to be happy and eat meat soup and rice like the people of the south!," and "Let's kill Kim Jong-Il who is having a lecherous party in his luxurious vacation home while 3 million people are freezing and starving to death." The tweets are still online here.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znceTt2cAF0]
The youtube account of Uriminzokkiri was hacked as well. The hacker(s) posted a video that makes mockery of the Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un who enjoy luxurious lives despite the sufferings of the North Korean people. A transcript of the video is available on its original post in youtube.
Korean "Cyber War" Part I - South Korean ‘disses’ Kim Jong-Il in North Korean Propaganda Website
“Kim Jong-Il crazy bastard! Kim Jong-Un son of a bitch!”
Believe it or not, this was posted on the North Korean propaganda website–during a day!
According to Yonhap News, the poem was posted on the opinions section of the website, in which the contents must be approved by the North Korean authorities beforehad. The author of the poem hid the message cryptographically, so that the first letters of each line would eventually read “김정일 (Kim Jong-Il),” “미친놈 (Crazy Bastard),” “김정은 (Kim Jong-Un),” “개새끼 (son of a bitch).” The poem was taken off within a day, but about three hundred people have read it already. Several officers at the bureau of censorship have been called to Pyongyang, likely face punishments. (The original article is available here: Yonhap News).
This is what is available on the media; no English article has been published thus far. Some background info might make this incident a tad more interesting.
In Korea, there is a website called “DCinside (abbreviated DC),” which is probably equivalent to “4chan” in the U.S. or “2ch” in Japan. People at DCinside are, for some weird reason, politically inclined towards right–perhaps even xenophobic and fascist in some occasions. For example, after the bombing of Yeonpyong Island, a page called “Yeonpyong Island-Provoking North Korea” was created in response–for the purpose of, um, ‘dissing’ North Korea. The poem was written and posted by a DCin (a person who does DC) from this page.
Someone posted a thread on November 23rd, asking, “Can we attack Uriminzokkiri? It should be fun,” and someone else, with the nickname ㅁㄴㅇㄹ (which does not have any meaning whatsoever) replied “I think there is a censorship process. I posted a cryptography and I think it will pass.” Since this issue was publicized in media, the comment of ㅁㄴㅇㄹ has been receiving the spotlight, and many consider him to be the author of the poem.
Since then, the DCin’s of the Yeonpyong page have been devising another ways of making it to the news–such as taking down the whole Uriminzokkiri website, or hacking the front page to put on a porn video with photoshopped head of Kim Jong-Il. Although this may be a small incident, it shows the capability of an individual to undermine the propaganda–especially that of North Korea, of the Hermit Kingdom. Also, dozens of officials have been arrested, and they are likely to face some serious charges, such as forced labour or imprisonment, inviting us to think whether internet has given too much power even to those who may not use it responsibly. Food for thought.
Believe it or not, this was posted on the North Korean propaganda website–during a day!
According to Yonhap News, the poem was posted on the opinions section of the website, in which the contents must be approved by the North Korean authorities beforehad. The author of the poem hid the message cryptographically, so that the first letters of each line would eventually read “김정일 (Kim Jong-Il),” “미친놈 (Crazy Bastard),” “김정은 (Kim Jong-Un),” “개새끼 (son of a bitch).” The poem was taken off within a day, but about three hundred people have read it already. Several officers at the bureau of censorship have been called to Pyongyang, likely face punishments. (The original article is available here: Yonhap News).
This is what is available on the media; no English article has been published thus far. Some background info might make this incident a tad more interesting.
In Korea, there is a website called “DCinside (abbreviated DC),” which is probably equivalent to “4chan” in the U.S. or “2ch” in Japan. People at DCinside are, for some weird reason, politically inclined towards right–perhaps even xenophobic and fascist in some occasions. For example, after the bombing of Yeonpyong Island, a page called “Yeonpyong Island-Provoking North Korea” was created in response–for the purpose of, um, ‘dissing’ North Korea. The poem was written and posted by a DCin (a person who does DC) from this page.
Someone posted a thread on November 23rd, asking, “Can we attack Uriminzokkiri? It should be fun,” and someone else, with the nickname ㅁㄴㅇㄹ (which does not have any meaning whatsoever) replied “I think there is a censorship process. I posted a cryptography and I think it will pass.” Since this issue was publicized in media, the comment of ㅁㄴㅇㄹ has been receiving the spotlight, and many consider him to be the author of the poem.
Since then, the DCin’s of the Yeonpyong page have been devising another ways of making it to the news–such as taking down the whole Uriminzokkiri website, or hacking the front page to put on a porn video with photoshopped head of Kim Jong-Il. Although this may be a small incident, it shows the capability of an individual to undermine the propaganda–especially that of North Korea, of the Hermit Kingdom. Also, dozens of officials have been arrested, and they are likely to face some serious charges, such as forced labour or imprisonment, inviting us to think whether internet has given too much power even to those who may not use it responsibly. Food for thought.
11/01/08-Edmonton Transit schedules just a text message away
Edmonton Transit schedules just a text message away.
I have been waiting for this for a while. Previously, if one wanted to find out the bus schedule at the bus station, the only way of doing it was to call the Edmonton Transit System (ETS) Buslink, which took about 2-3 minutes in average (and cellphone minutes as well!).
Now, ETS is offering a much more efficient system, which is to text either the bus station number or the bus station and the route number to 31100. From my own experience, I found this service to be really efficient; the text with the schedule came back instantly.
ETS finally did something worth praise. Yay.
I have been waiting for this for a while. Previously, if one wanted to find out the bus schedule at the bus station, the only way of doing it was to call the Edmonton Transit System (ETS) Buslink, which took about 2-3 minutes in average (and cellphone minutes as well!).
Now, ETS is offering a much more efficient system, which is to text either the bus station number or the bus station and the route number to 31100. From my own experience, I found this service to be really efficient; the text with the schedule came back instantly.
ETS finally did something worth praise. Yay.
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