The Iceberg

The photo above was taken from the White House website. It’s one of a selection of photos of Dick Cheney that purportedly show the vice president frolicking in the great outdoors. The purpose is to present his friendlier, human side - you know, the side that’s not shooting fellow hunters.

However, a big debate has ensued among Internet users as to what the reflection in Cheney’s sunglasses is. Many feel that it is an image of a naked woman, thus explaining the rarely seen (genuine) smile on Dick’s face. Were it true, we could assume that Cheney is indeed human, but The Iceberg wasn’t satisfied with that conclusion. I had to KNOW what the reflection was. Thus, using modern technology, I blew up the photo one-hundred times its normal size. The result was shocking.

Here it is.

I admit that this is horrible, but DAMN is it funny.

A little background:

Kevin Everett played football for the Buffalo Bills. He suffered a serious spinal cord injury in a game three weeks ago and it looked for awhile as if he might not survive. Since then he has shown miraculous progress and doctors now believe he will one day walk again.

Check out the video.

Some fans “root” for their favorite teams while others, well, they do this.

(Maybe NSFW)

I think this video requires no explanation.

I was riding my scooter to work this morning when I saw an ajumma - the big, strong, works in the market, get out of her way when she’s getting on the subway, type of ajumma - with a tat.  She had her sleeves rolled up and it was on her right shoulder.  Looked pretty cool, I must say.

I guess there are a few people out there who do give a rat’s ass about the Miss Universe pageant (won by Miss Japan - Riyo Mori…Miss Korea was the third runner-up). I woke up this morning and checked out the hits for the blog and was surprised to see that the number of visitors yesterday had jumped by over 2000. The majority of them came here through some variety of a search for Miss Korea - Honey Lee. Today there have been over 3000 more visitors than the daily average, and there’s still time left in the day.

I decided that I would be irresponsible to not use the opportunity that has been bestowed upon me - this temporary spike in traffic - to send a message that needs to be heard out to the world.

Viewers of the Miss Universe pageant - those of you who witnessed the speeches and smiles and evening gowns and bikinis and stumbles and falls - sure, it appeared as if the contestants were bosom buddies and all is well in the world (of beauty queens). But did you know that there has been a long-running feud between Miss Korea and Miss Japan?

The controversy revolves around a special technique involving breast (or “tracts of land” for you Monte Python fans) implants developed by a Western plastic surgeon residing in East Asia. I won’t bore you with the details of the technique, they are not pertinent to the story. What is important is that both Miss Korea and Miss Japan lay claim to being the first to discover the good doctor’s “tracts of land” method. To pay homage to the doc (and themselves) the women decided to give their new “tracts of land” names. Miss Korea called her left one “Dok” and the right one “do”, while Miss Japan refered to her’s as the “Takeshima Tatas”. For awhile, neither made much of the other’s claim of being the first. But then one day they realized the economic benefits and that’s when the “Tastes Great - Less Filling” squabble began. (Wait, that’s another dispute…sorry).

Will the two ever be able to get along? One never knows. Perhaps they will find common ground someday. Why, there have already been signs of agreement between the two women. When asked what they thought of the man who performed their surgeries, Dr. Leopold Liancourt, both answered with a resounding, “(Dr.) Liancourt Rocks!”

My classroom at the high school needed a little spicing up, so I downloaded some photos from the Internet, added some captions, printed them out, and put them up on the walls.  This one is one of my favorites:

Sometimes it pays to be able to speak and understand Korean. In this case, it may have prevented me from being fired (and thrown into jail).

A little background:

I’m currently teaching at a foreign language high school in Anyang, but I also teach three hours a week at the girls’ high school adjacent to our school.

This morning in the girls’ class the theme was clothing and accessories, and I decided to combine it with a lesson on the simple present vs. the present continuous tense. I walked around the class asking the girls various forms of “Do you…?” and “Are you -ing…?” questions in order to point out the difference. For example: Do you wear glasses? Yes, I do. Are you wearing glasses? No, I’m not.

I approached one girl wearing the typical school uniform of jacket, blouse, and skirt and asked her,

“Do you wear pants?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied.

Alright, she seemed to get it. Next question,

“Are you wearing pants?”

“Yes, I am,” she said.

“Hmm,” I thought, “maybe she’s not catching on,” so feigning surprise I inquired again,

“You’re wearing pants?” - hoping she would pick up on the clue.

“Yes, I am,” she said again matter-of-factly. So I switched over to Korean and asked her again if she was wearing pants.

“Ohhhhhh. No, I’m not,” she answered, then, giggling, turned to her classmates and said (in Korean),

“I thought he asked me if I was wearing panties.”

Rare is the occassion when I blush, but I felt the blood rush to my cheeks upon hearing that. I asked her in Korean, “Do you think I would ask you that???” It turned into a good laugh for everyone, but I shudder to imagine the conversations that would have taken place throughout the day had I not clarified myself in Korean. Also, I was surprised by how calmly she provided an answer to the question she thought I was asking. Whew!

Here’s what Jon Stewart has to say.

(Toot o’ the horn to Titanic).

The Hanky has a piece on Dankook University professor Kim An-je, who has kept detailed records of his personal activities since 1948. For example, Mr. Kim has

smoked 21,098 packs of cigarettes
drunk 21,194 bottles of soju and
written 227,423 pages of manuscript papers

Pretty impressive (psychotic?). I can’t even remember how many bottles of soju I had last night.