Category: Uncategorized

More smooth sailing for team Korea in the World Baseball Classic as the made quick work of China 10-1:

South Korea beat China 10-1 in the World Baseball Classic on Saturday and advanced to the second round of the 16-nation tournament.

Lee Seung-yeop homered twice, drove in five runs and finished with four hits for South Korea, which improved to 2-0 in the inaugural WBC. South Korea shut out Taiwan 2-0 Friday behind pitchers Jae Seo of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chan Ho Park of the San Diego Padres.

“We just try to do our best each time,” South Korea manager Kim In-sik said. “We try to give our opponents a lot to think about and I think we did that today.”

Japan, which beat Taiwan 14-3, also advanced to the next round, to be played in Anaheim, Calif., from March 12-16.

Could you imagine the hype of Japan vs. Korea championship in the WBC here in Korea?

Just when you thought the Hines Ward story had finally died out, Nomad provides this must read post about how Hines Ward is helping people in Korea and his upcoming meeting with President Roh Moo-hyun. I can’t say it any better than Nomad so go check it out.

Things are getting interesting with the Pat Tillman case, as the Army has announced that it will begin an investigation into his death:

A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new investigation has not been formally begun, said it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide.

A second Pentagon official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said no specific soldier is under investigation at this point. He said the CID will conduct an overall death investigation and “let the facts take them where they may.”

The official said that the CID’s probe — the fifth formal investigation into the incident — will focus on the cause of Tillman’s death, not necessarily on whether the previous investigations were done correctly. It is the first criminal probe.

Tillman’s mother, Mary, told the Washington Post Saturday that the criminal investigation should have been launched at the onset. “The military has had every opportunity to do the right thing and they haven’t,” she said. “They knew all along that something was seriously wrong and they just wanted to cover it up.”

With the Army announcing a criminal probe I think it is clear that something really embarrassing to the Army and the Rangers happened in Afghanistan in regards to Pat Tillman’s death. He was reportedly killed by friendly fire during an ambush, but if that was strictly the case then there wouldn’t be a criminal probe. I beginning to think that maybe he was killed by an accidental discharge or people fooling around with their weapons and being negligent. How else could you explain a probe for negligent homicide? This could become very embarrassing for the Rangers once this investigation is complete.

South Korea has gotten off to a strong start in the World Baseball Classic:

Jae-Weong Seo pitched two-hit ball and Chan Ho Park worked three effective innings for a save to lead South Korea past Taiwan 2-0 on Friday in the opener of the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

The 16-nation tournament started at 11:30 a.m. local time and was played before a sparse crowd of 5,193 at Tokyo Dome. Japan was scheduled to play its first game later Friday against China.

Seo started and struck out three in 3 2-3 innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander threw 61 pitches — under tournament rules, starting pitchers are limited to 65 pitches in the first round.

“I felt good starting,” Seo said. “I didn’t worry about the pitch count. I knew we have a lot of good pitchers on our team and as long as I did my job we would be fine.”

Forget about the US ports fiasco, if terrorists want to enter the United States they can just sign up to go to college instead:

“In some ways,” Mr. Rahmatullah told the New York Times. “I’m the luckiest person in the world. I could have ended up in Guantanamo Bay. Instead I ended up at Yale.” One of the courses he has taken is called Terrorism-Past, Present and Future.

Mr. Rahmatullah used to be the spokesman for the Taliban government but is now attending Yale. If this guy could get in, who else has gotten in the US that we don’t know about?

For more about Mr. Rahmatullah’s past, read this PBS interview given by him before 9/11 where he claims there are no terrorists in Afghanistan and Bin Laden is a hero.

Japanese researchers in an effort to find sources of domestic gasoline have invented a process to extract gasoline from cow dung:

Sakae Shibusawa, an agriculture engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, said his team has successfully extracted .042 ounces of gasoline from every 3.5 ounces of cow dung by applying high pressure and heat.

“The new technology will be a boon for livestock breeders” to reduce the burden of disposing of large amounts of waste, Shibusawa said.

Gasoline is not the only thing scientists have been able to extract from cow dung:

In a separate experiment revealing another unusual business potential for cow dung, another group of researchers has successfully extracted an aromatic ingredient of vanilla from cattle dung, said Miki Tsuruta, a Sekisui Chemical Co. spokeswoman. The extracted ingredient, vanillin, can be used as fragrance in shampoo and candles, she said.

Some how I don’t think cow dung shampoo is going to go over to well, but in Japan weirder things have happened.

The International Herald Tribune has an interesting article about the characters that organize and execute the many violent protests in Korea. Here is one of them who I have seen on the news to many times:

In contrast, Hong, 55, is a man with glowing and bloodshot eyes who taunts police officers and says he constantly thinks about what to protest – usually getting ideas from the news.

“The evening news makes my blood boil,” Hong says. “People want a scary, fierce, passionate and spectacular performance.”

Hong is an almost daily nuisance for police – and one with an a keen eye for publicity. He recently mailed clothespins to cabinet ministers telling them to “keep their mouths shut.”

Last summer, he was in front of the Japanese Embassy here during protests against that country’s wartime past.

When he found himself a prime spot before TV cameramen and prepared to slash pictures of Japanese leaders with a knife, a young man jumped in with a kitchen knife and said he wanted to slash open his own belly in protest.

Hong pushed the intruder away and snarled, “You wait for your turn!”

I wonder if that guy ever cut his belly out?

I have to agree with Nomad that this story regarding sexual assaults in Korea is one for the all time WTF department if true.

Let the Koreans keep this trash:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier accused of robbing and assaulting a Uijeongbu taxi driver with four other soldiers Christmas night was taken into South Korean custody Friday, South Korean and Army officials confirmed Monday.

Pvt. Kidrem Cortez Porter, 21, was transferred from confinement at Camp Humphreys to Seoul Correctional Institute pending a not-yet-scheduled trial date, officials from the Uijeongbu Prosecutor’s Office said Monday.

It is just frustrating that idiots like this guy continue to pop up it seems once every two or three months and smear the rest of the GI’s in Korea that are bothering no one and staying out of trouble.

These cops can arrest me anytime and this blogger can blog about me anytime.