[far-east] south korea and us may soon part company

The US and South Korea have had a long relationship but everything changes. President Roh Moo-hyun's summit with George Bush on Thursday may have changed relations indelibly. There was a distinct atmosphere of distrust and South Korea has new perspectives, for example the irreversible dismantlement of the US-ROK Combined Forces Command. This will effectively allow the South to build an army and for the withdrawal of US troops from Korea. There’s method in the madness.

[invention] if you're ever caught in a flood

Two British designers have come up with an unusual way of escaping a flash flood: a dining table that can quickly be converted to a life raft. The table, entitled Either Oar, has a buoyancy tank and removable legs that convert into paddles. So remember next time you sit down to dinner, remember - next time a flash flood hits, simply take the table outside, unfold, load, take paddles and away you go.

[markets] stocks higher, commodities fall inc. oil

The drop in oil prices is becoming a catalyst, as is other commodities, and giving people confidence to put money into areas that have somewhat been lagging such as technology. A broad retreat in commodities promoted investors to shift money out of oil and raw materials-based companies and into other sectors. This, of course, is the American perspective and it remains to be seen how this will flow through the rest of the world. More here.

[literature] chapter 2 of obsession now posted

The second chapter of Obsession is now posted. To read it, click on the picture either here or in the left sidebar. To either read Chapter 1 or for a synopsis of the trilogy, click on the sidebar once you've reached the page. Alternatively, you can click on the bars under the picture on this page's sidebar .

[usa] dubya is out of his league

Former Navy pilot John McCain, R-Ariz., was captured during the Vietnam War and spent more than five years as a prisoner of war; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is a military law officer in the Air Force Reserve and John Warner, R-Va., has spent years immersed in defense issues and the law, beginning with service in the Navy and Marine Corps during World War II and the Korean War and including two years as the secretary of the Navy. "For me, it's a simple test," Graham said. "If it's a trial, would I be OK with our guys being tried in that way? Because, Graham added, U.S. decisions about handling detainees could "come back to haunt us." Where are Bush’s advisors, such as Cheney, for example?

[next day] people we value

There are people we respect and people we really, really respect. During the hours since yesterday’s family news, the atmosphere need not be described, certainly not in cyberspace. Most of us have had similar and my personal way of working through such things is to work and blog. One other thing was getting me down though - and that was that three or four of the poor souls whose blogs and e-mails I habitually infest and who often come over and visit, were elsewhere. I value all visitors but these gentlemen – I don’t know how to put it really. All I know is that I looked in just before and to see them was a great lift. Isn’t it interesting whom we value and whom we really, really value?