Pretty soon the MRE’s may need to change their name from Meals Ready to Eat to Meals In a Bar (MIB):

Soldiers of the future may be eating bacon and egg breakfasts via tiny food bars, due to a new process that shrinks meals to a fraction of their normal size.

Think sous vide, but for tactical quiches that may end up in your next Meal, Ready to Eat.

One dish begins with bacon, egg, cheese and heavy cream. The ingredients are inserted into a vacuum microwave dryer for 80 minutes of shrinkage and then squeezed by a machine. The result: a bar that’s smaller than a Snicker’s candy bar but with twice as many calories — and much more nutrition.

“A complete meal in a bar, that’s my goal,” said Tom Yang, senior food technologist at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Ruling party lawmaker Ahn Min-seok doesnt want people to sing #SouthKorean National Anthem, saying it was composed by someone in the "pro-Japan roster dictionary" made by Minjok Institute, which focuses on anti-Japan accusations.https://t.co/EAfC12Q60S

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) August 8, 2019

It is being reported that President Moon’s trial balloon specialist, Moon Chung-in who has spoke about ending the US-ROK alliance and has advocated for helping North Korea evade sanctions may be picked to be the next ambassador to the United States:

Conservatives squawked Thursday about the possibility that President Moon Jae-in will send special adviser Moon Chung-in to Washington as Korea’s ambassador. 

“How can you possibly send a destroyer of the Korea-U.S. alliance to be ambassador to the United States?” Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said Thursday during a meeting of the party leadership.

Hwang was reacting to media reports saying that the president’s special adviser for foreign affairs and national security would be named to replace current U.S. Ambassador Cho Yoon-je. 

“This is the worst example of the president’s arrogance and high-handedness,” Hwang said. “[Moon Chung-in] even argued that the Korea-U.S. alliance must end. What will he do if he is appointed ambassador? We can never agree to such an appointment. The people won’t accept it either.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the best to think of Moon Chung-in is as the anti-John Bolton of South Korea.

Great job by these U.S. Marines who immediately helped this Japanese man impaled with a spear gun:

Two Iwakuni-based Marines were lauded Tuesday for aiding a Japanese man who was injured while spear fishing near the air station on July 27.

Cpls. Jose Castrobaez and Raekwon Johnson — C-130J engine mechanics from Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 152 — were flying drones on the bank of the Nishiki River near the Kintaikyo Bridge when a friend of the injured man asked the Marines for help, the pair told Stars and Stripes on July 31.

“We met these guys who were having their own barbecue,” Castrobaez said. “They invited me to go swimming with them. I believe they were practicing how to spear fish, and the next thing you know I was doing my own thing and they told me, ‘Hey our buddy needs help.’”

Castrobaez walked over to investigate and saw a spear sticking out of the man’s torso.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Like I have always said, the Kim regime was just using the joint US-ROK exercise as an excuse to test their new short range ballistic missile:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his will to restart negotiations on its nuclear program with the United States “as soon as” the joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington is over.

The North Korean leader also pledged to stop missile launches when the combined exercise ends, according to the president.

“In a letter to me sent by Kim Jong Un, he stated, very nicely, that he would like to meet and start negotiations as soon as the joint U.S./South Korea joint exercise are over,” Trump said on Twitter. 

On Friday, the president told reporters that he had received another “very beautiful” letter from Kim the previous day, in which the leader expressed his displeasure with the allied exercises.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it appears that talks will restart and probably center on what a “freeze deal” will look like because the Trump administration seems to have realized that Kim Jong-un will not denuclearize.

The ROK Minister of Unification, Kim Yeon-Chul, & distinguished guests visited the Joint Security Area, hosted by UNC Deputy Commander, Vice Admiral Stuart Mayer. The visit included additional stops in the DMZ & a tour of the Paju Peace Trail which officially opens today. pic.twitter.com/uUlxV5BWuA

— United Nations Command (@UN_Command) August 9, 2019

The only thing I find surprising about this article is that the U.S. State Department did not anticipate China resorting to so called “thuggish” behavior:

After weeks of escalating warnings alleging a covert U.S. role behind the protests in Hong Kong, the tone in Communist Party-backed media outlets is turning darkly acrimonious, with publications attacking a U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong and releasing her personal information. 

The pro-Beijing newspaper Ta Kung Pao on Thursday published a photo of opposition activists meeting in a hotel with Julie Eadeh, a political section chief at the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong, along with details of Eadeh’s State Department career and the names of her husband and teenage children.

The report, which was recirculated by Chinese state media, emerged as Beijing doubled down on a familiar strategy of framing the nine-week-long protests as a U.S. intelligence plot to spark a “color revolution” to destabilize China.

The publication of information about the diplomat drew a furious response from the State Department, which accused China of “thuggish” behavior. U.S. diplomats around the world often meet with opposition figures and groups, occasionally drawing rebukes from governments.

The unusual pinpoint attack on the diplomat in Hong Kong underscores China’s growing frustration over the protests and their anti-Beijing message.

Washington Post

You can read more at the link, but it was utterly predictable that China would turn to nationalism and blame foreigners for the unrest in Hong Kong. The U.S. diplomat meeting with protesters was just the optics they needed to “prove” their invented narrative.

I just don’t understand how someone could win a major volleyball match to qualify for the Olympics and the first thing to come to mind is to make the slant eye gesture?:

The South Korean national volleyball federation said Wednesday it will lodge a complaint against a Russian women’s team coach for his racist gesture following a recent match.

Russia defeated South Korea 3-2 (21-25, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-11) in the final Group E match of the FIVB Women’s Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament at DS Yantarny in Kaliningrad, Russia, on Sunday (local time). With that victory, Russia earned direct qualification for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In post-match celebration, Sergio Busato, an Italian-born assistant coach for Russia, was photographed making the slant-eye, racist gesture.

Russian website Sport 24 carried a photo of Busato with his two index fingers on his eyes. The accompanying blurb simply said the coach “did not hide his positive emotions” and showed a gesture depicting narrow eyes, with no mention of the gesture’s implications.

FIFA bans this and other discriminatory gestures under its disciplinary code and once sanctioned Colombian midfielder Edwin Cardona, who resorted to the act in a friendly against South Korea in November 2017. But FIVB, the international volleyball federation, isn’t known to have specific rules against racist or discriminatory acts.The South Korean national volleyball federation said Wednesday it will lodge a complaint against a Russian women’s team coach for his racist gesture following a recent match.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.