The public schools in my area have all been teaching Mandarin and Chinese culture to the kids from Kindergarten and on. I’ve never liked this one bit, for reasons that I’ll post here, and I’m entirely chaffed by the fact that they’ve spent $300,000 on the program with an additional $36,000 this year.

The program comes to an end this year. It’s been going for three. You can read a bit about it from our local newspaper: Computers will enhance Chinese program.

I just posted the following comment to the newspaper’s Comment section on the above linked article. Agree or disagree? Feel free to post either here or at the newspaper’s website.

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I just completed a survey by Universal Studios that asked questions about several of its movie franchises. The questions were very specific, and very revealing, down to who will play the lead and supporting roles for most of the movies.

The movies in question were: Underworld, Wolf Man, Dracula, Land of The Lost, Fast And The Furious, and Back To The Future.

The survey did not reveal who would be starring in Back To The Future, but it did say that Will Ferrell (of all people) would play the lead in The Land of The Lost, Benicio Del Toro (of Sin City) is the lead role for The Wolf Man, and the original cast is back back for The Fast And The Furious. Underworld is about the rise of the Lycans, but you probably already knew that.

I don’t recall who it said would be starring in Dracula, if it did say, but I’m interested in seeing what they do with it.

Not only were there multiple choice questions, but there were also text boxes provided with questions that asked what each movie brought to mind when you thought of the movie. It then asked if there was anything else that came to mind, and this was done for each movie. Additionally, open questions about why one was or was not interested in seeing each movie were also asked.

All in all it was an impressive survey and required a good 20 minutes to finish.

Does this mean that we’ll definitely get a Back To The Future IV? Obviously I can’t say one way or the other, but there’s little other reason to include the movie in the survey. They’re definitely giving it some real serious consideration, if nothing else.

My only hope is that they don’t rely on CGI and mediocre acting to pass the day. Back To The Future is an incredible series with a great sense of humor that deserves a good deal of respect (quite unlike what was done for Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skull…).

Of course, Back To The Future III closed with “THE END” (do you remember the boos? I do!), but that can’t keep a good series down, can it? >)

Later folks.

Technorati Tags: Michael J. Fox, Back To The Future, Delorean, Doc, McFly, Movies, Underworld, Wolf Man, Dracula, Land of The Lost, Fast And The Furious, Universal Studios

Along with changing the theme today I also added a new reading list.

The reading list will let you – my pals and curious visitors – keep up with what I’m reading (not counting college text books, which hardly count as “entertainment” or “relaxing”). You’ll see what I’ve read since adding the reading list, and what’s coming up in the que. You’re also encouraged to submit your own Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Sci-Fi, or Horror recommendations to me. (psst! it’s quick and easy to send me a message via the Contact Page to do that)

As expected the book links will go to Amazon, but it goes to a special Amazon page that does not contain the considerable clutter that is typically found at the Amazon.com website. These pages will focus specifically on the book or my list of books, respectively, and will still include the customer reviews and other book information.

The cost of Twilight Falling was $7.25 after shipping costs. Heck, it’s hard to beat that for such a well reviewed book. This seemed like a good way to get started to me!

Of course, once I’m finished with the book I will write a review for it as soon as I have time. Those reviews will be posted to this blog.

Later folks!

Technorati Tags: books, reading, fantasy

Update: Still a few too many technical problems, but I was impressed with how smoothly Ubuntu runs these days. It’s not that far from being a viable desktop alternative. I certainly miss the incredible customization available on the desktop, that’s for sure… but that’s what I miss the most about it.

Oh, well. I do still hope to get a mac laptop as mentioned below.

It’s time for bed but here’s a quick update.

Good night world.

Technorati Tags: switch, mac, linux, vista, windows, OSX, OS X

I was browsing through my feeds this morning, seeing as I’m sick and didn’t go to class, and I came across a link to an incredibly fascinating article. At first I was very disappointed because it was from the Daily Mail, but a Google search found articles that back up the story. Apparently The Daily Mail’s headline was the most sensationalist part of the article.

Being that I’m a psychology major it should be no surprise that I was absolutely fascinated with this article about Multiple Personality Disorder. Meet My 17 Personalities .. is a well written article that is worth the read. Another online source, The Chicago Mag, has an interview with the psychotherapist who has written a book about the whole experience. The 17 Faces of Karen is the title of that article.

Lastly, a general Google link that brings up a number of additional sources is available. The Google search for Karen Overhill should help those who are after more online sources.

All in all, it’s a crushing tale.

Technorati Tags: multiple personality disorder, MPD, dissociative identity disorder, DID, psychology

I now have my travel itinerarie for my trip to Seoul, South Korea.

It looks like we’ll be departing from Kansas City International Airport, which was a given, and then stopping in Chicago. From Chicago we have a straight flight to Tokyo Japan’s Narita International Airport. From there we’ll take a little ride over to the famous Incheon International Airport.

It’s kind of depressing, you know? I really miss my Japanese friend. I miss her a lot. I wish that the situation would have worked out better. The lay over in Japan, not to mention the two weeks that I’ll be in Seoul, could have been a great opportunity to sit down and actually talk rather than chat, and goodness knows that we have tons of silly things to talk about.

Well crap. I’m just going to get myself seriously depressed if I think about that… so anyway..

We still don’t know specifically what we’ll do on each individual day. The general plan that I have for our visit there is:

• Lectures:
Korean Culture
Korean History
Politics and International Business
• Field Trips (the university stuff):
Samsung Electronics
Kia Automobile Co.
Pohang Steel Co.
Daewoo Shipbuilding
Korean Traditional Pottery Yard (this one actually sounds a bit interesting)
Korean Stock Exchanges
DMZ
• Sightseeing (the good stuff!):
Kyungju
Kyungbok Palace
Jinju and surrounding southern coastal area (go go exercise video, get mah bootay into shape! heh heh)
Songkwang Buddhist Temple
Korean folk Village
Seoul Tower and Han River
Korean War Museum
Lotte World (of course!)

Obviously the business related trips are not particularly interesting for me. However, I am traveling with the International Business majors, so there you have it. I wish that I could meander off and do my own thing during these days but I’ve already been told that this is not an option.

My interests are in the culture and the people. I’ve always enjoyed learning about these sort of things, especially the music and the individual people and what it means to be a part of their culture. I wonder if that makes as much sense on paper as it does in my head?

We’ll be leaving May 18^th and returning on the 31^st.

Later folks.. !

Technorati Tags: Korea, South Korea, Seoul, 한국

Read The Story Here

Carly Fleischmann has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.

Stop reading my drivel and go read that news article. Also watch the video. This is just amazing! What an incredible way to top the night. Just wow. I love seeing this.

Good night! o/

Technorati Tags: autism, psychology, autistic

I finally got the results from my X-Rays. As the subject says, the rib is cracked.

The doctor has issued a note saying that (to paraphrase), I “shouldn’t receive blows to the ribs for two weeks”. Heck, at this point I’m not sure that I even care. Do I want to go back? Do I want to spend lots of money on protective gear simply take part in kumite practice? The answer to that last question is definitely, “No, no I don’t.”

At this point I’m beginning to lose track of the time that I’ve been away because I’ve been away for so long.

On the bright side, it’s not completely broken, it “just” came close to breaking. It’s also healing. There’s not much that can be done about it other than to wait and to protect it while it’s mending. Obviously I won’t be rejoining karate class any time soon!

Later folks.

Technorati Tags: health, injury, injuries, karate, self-defense, martial arts

For those of you who haven’t been keeping up, I’ve missed about four or five karate classes so far.

It’s an interesting situation. The last class that I was in ended with kumite, which is fine. It’s not something that I’m particularly good at, but it helps you learn how to use the stuff that you’re learning, right? What’s most frustrating about it for me is that I can’t wear my glasses because it poses a risk: They could get knocked off, broken, or cause an eye injury if the sparring partner should lose control of their attacks or some other mistake happens.

So it’s rather ironic that I got nailed so hard partially because of the fact that I can’t wear my glasses during a match. Heh. Of course, my sparring partner is definitely to blame as well.
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Frankly I’m amazed.  My passport was delivered today; processed and delivered at the incredible speed of just under one month!  I didn’t even pay for expedited processing, but here it is nonetheless.

This, after all of the warnings I received about how long it would take to obtain the passport.  Everyone was suggesting months, but this is a pleasant surprise.  My parents and I joked that our last names must, “sound very American”, and apparently I’m not on a terrorist watch list yet.  How else would I have received it so quickly?

This shows how far behind the times am I.  The bottom rectangular shape means that the passport is electronic.  Who knew? *grin*  I wonder how that works.  I couldn’t find an RFID, so I’m assuming that the photo page can be read electronically to verify its information.

Don’t mind the finger nail clipper in the top right of the image.  It’s just being helpful by keeping the thing closed.  I may be a little silly, but I’m not crazy enough to go spreading around images of the inside of my passport.   I will say, though, that it’s mighty fancy.

Three more months and I’m in South Korea – WOOT!

Technorati Tags: passport, travel, international travel, South Korea, Korea