intolerable working conditions...not!

These three photos are all from last September, when I began teaching here at Kyungpook National University. Note the pristine state of my desk, the one with the brown Tim Horton's travel mug on it.



This view from the teacher's lounge is off in the direction of Palgongsan, and takes in the corner of Sankyeokdong where Ella's daycare is located. Our home is just to the left, on campus.




These yellow flowers were photographed at eye level, and were a few feet taller than me. I hope they come back next summer.







And now what you've all been eagerly awaiting, my all-time record nine comments posted to the Globe and Mail in one day!


January 10th


Weren't those safety seals designed so that they could only be removed by Christian Democratic Centrists?
(Iran removes seals on nuclear facilities - I had the first comment!)

some Name from Calgary: I'm sure the Israelis wouldn't be doing something about it ALL by themselves. There must be a world superpower somehwere that would be willing to give them a helping hand in an unprovoked act of agression
(some Name from Calgary wrote: If somethign isn't done by the UN soon, don't be suprised to see the Isrealis do something about it themselves. Note the speed typing errors! Somehwere and somethign. Coincidence or what?)


I don't find this at all reassuring.
(WHO warns bird virus may be on verge of mutating)


And a former Hitler Youth member is now the pope. I wake up in disbelief almost every day now.
(I really can't believe this was accepted. I was referring to this: Mr. al-Boushi, a 47-year-old Syrian-Canadian business manager, was seized at Damascus airport in July of 2002, as he arrived in Syria to visit his dying father -- his first visit there since he emigrated in 1979. Syrian officials charged him with security offences linked to his involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1970s, when he was a teenager, and he was eventually sentenced in a secret trial to at least eight years in prison.)


I guess that's why American beef is still banned here in South Korea, not the e-coli contamination in their processing plants and the bovine spongiform encephalitis in their herds.
(Canadian meat inspections deficient, U.S. report says)


At least Martin has already bucked the trend. You know, Kim Campbell and John Turner, selected by their parties but never elected as leaders. It's kind of nice to be back to the political instability of the seventies and early eighties now, don't you think? Who needs another Mulroney or Chretien landslide? A good portion of humble pie for each and every MP, party affiliation notwithstanding.
(Liberals quietly consider the possibility of defeat)


Regarding the photo accompanying this article, isn't Mr. Harper just about the most perfect Republican stooge you've ever laid eyes upon?


They still leave you happy and docile if you drink enough, don't they?
(Don't sneeze at this: Cough remedies useless. I think I was referring just to the syrups with codeine. Felis Catus from Kitchener, Canada wrote my favourite: It's an established scientific fact that a properly treated and medicated cold can be cured in six or seven days, whereas left to itself it will linger for about a week.)


And here is the doozy that provoked some name calling:

gordon foster from toronto, Canada writes: J Nigh, also from Toronto, states:
the Khadr's were not defending their country from invading enemy soldiers, nor were they protecting their family from invading soldiers ...they were in what is *universally* declared to be a *terrorist* training camp. This was not a civilian compound but a compound dedicated to military training, which makes it a fair target. Perhaps Mr. Nigh can also explain what American soldiers are doing, trained in perhaps similar but most probably more elaborate compounds dedicated to such training, in any of several foreign countries where they are clearly neither defending their country nor protecting their families from invading enemy soldiers. Why is an act of agression against a clearly marked American naval vessel considered an act of terrorism, while various actions such as the siege of Fallujah are considered acts of war? It is the perpetrator not the act, and obviously there is a clear double standard at work here.

(among other things, Morgan Oliviero from Kingston, Canada writes: #2. The distinguishing factor between the attack on the USS Cole and the siege of Fallujah is that the USS Cole was bombed by a group of men who used a civilian vessel filled with explosives. The siege of Fallujah was a military operation in which every reasonable attempt was made to capture rather than kill enemy combatants and avoid killing civilians.)

Isn't that exactly what I stated?

And now the name-calling:

(D R from Toronro, Canada writes: It looks almost as if Gordon Foster is defending Khadrs right to fight the Americans in Afganisthan. The only link for these people fighting the Americans or any other western government is their extremist islamic ideology.Do you find christians going to fight wars on behalf of other christian countries?People like Khadr will sooner or later bring their war to Canada and I wonder then if Gordon Foster will still be defending the rights of people like Khadr.)

Did I mention anything about defending rights? Perhaps I should have said something about free speech.