And all in one relatively concise Korea Times article. Sarcastic comments in Italics:

The unveiling of 'Chrome,' Google's new Web browser, is one of the biggest stories to come out of the computer industry in years.
In Korea, the self-proclaimed capital of the digital world, however, the highly anticipated debut of Google’s latest product was met with relative indifference.

Self Proclaimed! Ha!

The beta version of Chrome, revealed Wednesday, certainly had a good share of innovations, such as its impressive quickness in loading pages and the independent functioning of tabs, which allows the browser to run when even one of the tabs crashes.
And it even works offline, making it a serious contender to challenge the dominance of Microsoft and its Internet Explorer browser.
However, all of this doesn’t matter much to Korean Internet users, who are so accustomed to IE, which comes packed and ready on their Window-based computers.
Most Korean Internet sites are reliant on Active -X , a program used to install software components on Web pages to enable particular functions, which can run on IE only.
This means that users of Chrome, or any other non-Microsoft browser like Firefox, would experience trouble logging in to email accounts, be prevented from online transactions like banking and credit-card purchases, and even stopped from downloading officials documents on the country's egovernment site, www.egov.go.kr, which only functions on IE.

Aaaaaaah!

When tested on popular portals such as Naver www.naver.com or Daum www.daum.net, Chrome was quick to load the main pages. However, the log-in security programs on the sties, which are installed through Active - X, didn’t function.

Double Aaaaaah!

The sites of major Korean banks such as Kookmin and Woori didn’t function normally on Chrome either. Accessing the e government site with the Google browser and the user is left with a message declaring 'install control for Macintosh user.'

Fucking typical!

However, Google is not intending to miss out on the Korean market and said it is planning to make Active - X operate on Chrome for a designated number of Korean sties.

Don't Encourage them!

The company is currently making a white list of major Korean sites that would be accessible on Chrome despite their reliance on Active - X, although that would certainly raise some eyebrows among supporters of the open-source movement.

Someone obviously doesn't understand Open Source...indeed, Google says you are more than welcome to tinker with the code. Doing so to make it possible to do my fucking online banking would be a welcome addition to the programme.

'We don’t intend to make Chrome inconvenient to Korean Internet users,' said Lois Kim, head of corporate communications and public affairs at Google Korea.

No! Make it inconvenient, then someone might actually get the point and dump Active - X because users are pissed off!

According to industry estimates, about 95 percent of Korean Internet sites are reliant on Active - X, which puts them in an awkward situation as Microsoft is moving to phase out the program over security concerns.

See - even Microsoft admits Active - X is shit.

As a result, Korean Internet users bite their fingernails whenever Microsoft releases a new product.

Bite their fingernails? Shit! I almost chucked my monitor out the window yesterday!

The release of Windows Vista, Microsoft's latest computer operating system, caused a massive disruption last year when Active - X programs used by online shopping malls and Internet banking sites didn't function properly. It took Microsoft and other companies nearly two months to adjust the problem.

You would have thought that might have been a clue - no?

Another worry is that Microsoft will reduce its support of Active - X in the soon-to-be released IE8, the latest version of its Internet browser.

Again, Microsoft gets half a clue. Shit! No one in Korea even uses IE 7 - they all still use IE 6 for God's sake!

ActiveX controls require full access to the Windows operating system,

which is why they are shit

which represents a serious security risk as malicious Web sites can direct the browser to download files that compromises the user's control of the computer.

Like spastic and ultimately useless "personal firewalls" and "Anti-keyboard logger" programmes from Ahn Labs and Hanabank that make (XP at any rate) into an unstable flying shit pile. (My computer blue screened twice today!?)

Die Active - X Die!

I firmed up my claim to Australian citezenship this afternoon after the silly buggers in Canberra decided to give me an Australian passport!
not too sure it was a smart decision on my part given a certain record breaking loss by the Wallabies to South Africa. And then of course, theres Andrew Symonds' fishing trip.

Fear not, dear reader. I just needed somewhere convenient to put this.

1.Using the list of sound spelling correspondences in Appendix 1 of Teaching Reading and Writing, analyze the relative regularity of these five words – price, number, between, help, access.

Regularity refers to how often there is a correspondence between the spelling and the sound (pronunciation) of a word. English spelling is difficult. Although there are many rules, there are also many irregularities and decision points where competing rules need to be chosen (Nation 2005 : 16)
Overall there are a number of points of regularity in the words price, number, between, help, and access. The final e in price turning the c into /s/, (AC3) is frequent enough so as to be taught as a general rule rather than an exception, likewise the double c in access with the first c being /k/ (AC2) and the second also /s/.
Difficulty arises with the word number and to whether the last ~er in the final position is AV12 /ə/ in the Received pronunciation or CV9 /ɜ:/ in (the rhotic) General American English.

2. Explain how the different spellings of bath and bathe reflect the different pronunciations. In addition note which correspondences in Appendix 1 of Teaching Reading and Writing apply.

The pronunciation of bathe, as distinct from bath, is dependent on the speaker recognizing the influence of the silent ~e. (Sometimes referred to as the “Magic ~e”) on the word. The addition of the silent ~e to bath causes the vowel sound /æ/ (GA) or /ɑː/ (RP) to become /eɪ/.

In terms of teaching the spelling difference there are a number of fairly frequent instances of the “Magic ~e” that could be taught to learners as a general rule. for example hat – hate, fat – fate, rat – rate etc. (Most do not have the “trap – bath” split (Wells 1982 : 100) apparent in the bath / bathe example above which will need to be pointed out to learners as a further distinction).Table 1. below notes the spelling correspondences between bath and bathe as described in appendix 1 of Teaching Reading and Writing. Nation (2005)

Table 1. Spelling correspondences bath Vs. bathe

3.Briefly comment on five different kinds of item in the Limestone text in the set readings booklet that you could draw attention to in intensive reading....

Intensive reading involves the detailed reading of texts with the two goals of understanding the text and learning language features.... Typically the text chosen for intensive reading is one that learners would have difficulty in reading unassisted. (Nation 2004 : 20)Table 1. below looks at five items that could be focused on in the text Limestone in an intensive reading exercise. It describes the reason for the focus, possible strategies for the classroom and the value of the focus in learners' future learning.

1 Nation (2005:23)
2 The last portion of the text (p.19) could be used to set context though requires some preparation. Borrowing limestone samples from geography teaching colleagues and passing them around amongst learners is simple to do and makes the reading immediately relevant, engaging learners in the reading from the very beginning
3 Ibid.

4. Suggest two practical ways you can ensure learners are reading at the appropriate level in an extensive reading scheme, and suggest two ways a teacher can monitor learners' reading without compromising the sixth of the Day and Bamford (2002) principles.

Teachers can ensure that their learners are reading at the appropriate level in a number of
ways.

Firstly it is necessary to know the learner's present vocabulary level. For learners at the elementary, pre- and intermediate levels it is essential that they read graded readers that have been specifically prepared for learners of English (Nation 2001 : 2). This is because extensive reading, according to Hu and Nation (cited in Ibid.), can only occur if 95 – 98% of running words in the text are already familiar to the learner. Teachers should thus choose materials suited to learner's vocabulary. This could be monitored by keeping a “Running Record” of learners' reading, perhaps at each graded reader level. Running Records could be administered prior to moving to a higher level (or moving to a higher level might be dependent on the running record result). In this author's experience running records have been used to motivate learners to improve vocabulary through reading. The second measure of level appropriateness is perhaps more anecdotal, but might be argued as valid by a number of teachers. Teachers, by-in-large, know their students, their students' habits and backgrounds. It would seem quite obvious that if a student is having difficulty with a series of texts at a given level, for whatever reason, then they are not reading at the appropriate level for an extensive reading programme.
A good way to monitor and combat this sort of difficulty would be to make sure learners read a large number of texts at one level before progressing to the next. Nation suggests learners should both read at least one book a week, allowing unknown vocabulary to be repeated before the immediately previous occurrence is forgotten, (2001 : 6) and that learners should have finished at least five texts at a level before moving on, providing a chance for most of the vocabulary introduced at that level to actually occur. (Ibid.)

Bibliography
Day, R., and Borman, J. (2002), Top Ten Principles for Teaching Extensive Reading. Reading in a Foreign Language 14, 2

Murdoch, G., (1986) A More Integrated Approach to the Teaching of Reading. English Teaching
Forum 24, 1 : 9 - 15

Nation, I. S. P., (2001) Planning and Running an Extensive Reading Program. NUCB Journal of
Language, Culture and Communication 3, 1 : 1 - 8

Nation, I. S. P., (2004) Vocabulary Learning and Intensive Reading. EA Journal 21, 2 : 20 - 29

Nation, I. S. P., (2005) Teaching Reading and Writing,

Palmer, D., (1982) Information Transfer for Listening and Reading. English Teaching Forum 20 1 : 29 - 33

Wells, J., (1982) Accents of English, Vol. 1, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Maguiness, J., 1996, Limestone, School Journal pt. 2 no. 3, 1996

Bloggers Michael H. of Metropolitician fame and friend of The Bimbo, Joe McP. from Zen Kimchi and The Seoul Podcast feature in the opening segment of this week's Korea Now (Aug. 27) on Arirang TV. Go. Now. Watch. (Requires registration).

In a related note, and for reasons that will become apparent shortly, go and join The Seoul Podcast MyFace Facebook Group and take The Seoul Podcast survey.
Did I mention The Seoul Podcast!?

One Free Korea has interesting updates on firstly The Spy, and secondly the Communist Prof. Go. Now. Read.

I'm always keen for a bit of international espionage (along with heists). So it was with some interest that I saw the Twitter go mental with reports of a North Korean spy posing as a defector and then sleeping with Army captains to obtain classified information.
Goodtimes!
This is the stuff movies are made of. And ya know...whattaya gonna do. The two Koreas are after all still technically at war, and it's not the first time North Korean spies have been found in the South.
Ho-hum.
It's just that this comes amongst a couple of other things that I have been hearing and reading around the place. The first is something of a backlash over what people have been constantly referring to as "The last decade of left wing (mis)rule" here in South Korea.
Being sufficiently long in the tooth to have experienced at least half of that decade I thought things went reasonably well. Indeed the current financial mess fiscal down-turn has only occurred since the current right wing administration took office. By way of example, five years ago I got close to NZD$1700 for the million Won I sent home. Now I get closer to NZD$1200. (Well at least I would if I sent money home anymore.)
But I'll call a down turn a down turn. Korea, like any country that is an exporter of shit people want will weather the current "crisis" with annual growth around 2% and a weak currency. (Not so good for going on holiday, but super awesome for exporters. See above.)
Yes. Amongst other things I am an armchair economist.
What scared me shitless What I found a bit of a worry earlier this evening was this story from The Korea Times detailing the arrest and questioning of Yonsei University Economics Professor Oh Se Cheol.
And why the arrest? Well you'd be forgiven for thinking he had plagiarised a paper or faked his credentials, but no. Oh was arrested for denouncing capitalism, an offense under the National Security law.
Let me say that another way.
An academic was arrested for saying that they disagreed with a certain academic theory.
Let me say that another way.
The dude was arrested for pretty much doing his job.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Wednesday it had arrested Oh Se-cheol, honorary professor at Yonsei University, and seven other Socialist Workers League of Korea members on Tuesday. The eight are now being questioned in Ogin-dong, central Seoul, over whether they have criticized capitalism and praised socialism as well as other acts considered benefiting the enemy - the North Korea.

No that's not me being a smart ass, The Korea Times called it The North Korea
Hahahahahaha! Too funny!
What's not funny is arresting academics. Even if they are members of some ridiculous Socialist Workers group. (You know who they are if you went to ANY university in the Western World.)
Arresting University professors is not cool.

NOT COOL!

Even more scary, the invocation of South Korea's problematic adolescence

Some are worrying whether these new moves will bring back the 'public security' era when police used excessive force against people under the name of 'keeping the peace' in the authoritarian era of the 1970s and 1980s.

Scary. And adding to my worry it seems that Prof. Oh is something of an ANTI-North Korean academic.

[sic]academia and others are criticizing the police's moves since Oh is well known for denouncing North Korea. Roh Hoe-chan of the minor New Progressive Party said, 'Oh and his groups constantly said the North has been polluted with other ideas in socialism, which all socialists should "refrain from following". Shouldn't the group be defined as anti - North Korean?'

You'd think so. In addition

'Oh criticized capitalism even under the military junta in the 1970s but was never prosecuted for violating the law. I do not understand the government's ethics on the issue,' Prof. Han Sang-hee of Konkuk University said calling for the government's respect on a variety of social ideas.

And I'm thinking if Prof. Oh got away with this kinda shit under Messrs. Park and Chun, then the current administration shouldn't have that much of an issue with it. (cf. reference to security era in the first quote above.)
(Rare) Kudos to The Korea Times for chucking the spy thing into the last paragraph, where it belongs, in the face of this academic being shut down for doing what academic types do.
In actual fact, I put to you this: The nutters had a go at bringing down Lee Myung Bak and didn't win. Perhaps the thinkers - like Profs. Oh and Han, and this lot - might have more success?

You have 5 seconds to comply....
A law enforcement officer displays body armor with reinforced protection for the arm and a gun that shoots out a net for use in catching dogs during a ceremony to highlight laws for keeping pets in Zhengzhou, central China's Henan province, Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007. In the past years, many local authorities in China have ordered mass dog killings to control the spread of rabies, blamed for more than 3,000 deaths last year in China. (AP Photo/EyePress)
(Via The Slug)

Danny Lee, Korean by birth, but definately a New Zealander when it comes to golf. Lee became the youngest player to win The US Amateur Championship yesterday, replacing Tiger Woods in the record books.
And he really wants to be a New Zealander.

Lee had been listed as a Korean in a professional tournament in his native land two years ago but [sic] that was down to the tournament organisers and Lee was upset by it.

The New Zealand Herald has coverage here, including a photo of a very happy Lee with a New Zealand flag, and the Radio New Zealand interview is here. (Mp3 3'10")