Christmas Dinner with My Adult Students

My Adult Students on the night of barbecued beef!  

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I am sad that my adult students and I are parting ways, unless the director changes his mind. I hope that we can continue to keep in touch. Each person in the class was a pleasure to work with, and I can't say enough good things about them. The meal we shared was in a traditional Korean restaurant where one must sit cross-legged on the floor. Being winter, this floor was heated, so it was quite relaxing! My adult students will be surprised if I say that my flexibility has improved since the first time I had to sit this way here! Enjoy the photographs! I was really disappointed that this great shot I had of Gook Heon, Sue, and Hyun Jung didn't turn out, because my hands shook, making the picture very blurry. But everyone else is there.


Two happy faces! 


Sook tasting a juicy morsel! 


Three wonderful people! 


A fun shot! 


Sun, our Party Coordinator, and Ok Soon 


Another fun shot to be in! 


Young Hye, looking very much the Cheerful Philosopher 

Update: These pictures were taken from Mee Kyoung's minihomepage. Thank you, Mee Kyoung!


Picture by Mee Kyoung


Three Goddesses

More Pictures of My Adult Students!

My dear adult students (you know who you are),

Today will be quite busy, as it's the last day of term, but I'll be putting up the pictures tonight. Please email me your photos so I can put them up, too. Many of mine were very grainy, and a few were blurry.

Take care,
Nathan

Blogging with Blogger

This topic has been long in coming to you. So, what do I think about Blogger, now that I've been blogging with them for several months?

My experience with Blogger can be summed up quickly: great, with a few highly irritating annoyances.

First, the great: For someone, like me, who knows next to no HTML, Blogger is a life-saver. There are other free blogs for those with no HTML expertise, but I like the ease with which the whole process works at Blogger. The online help feature is very helpful (provided you don't want to talk to a human), and I learned enough to get to the point where I'm quite happy with my blog. Finally, I love how one can search for other bloggers with similar interests, occupations, and locations. That's one of the best features of all!

Now, for the irritating annoyances, with a word on two problems that don't exist anymore: Speed is no longer a problem, thankfully. I get less errors publishing my posts than I used to.

However, some things about Blogger really bug me:

Problems with the Profile
It's not easy to get one's picture into one's profile. Also, my astrological sign is listed as Capricorn. That's true, but I don't give a damn about it, as it's not relevant to me or my blog. I should be able to remove it. That absolutely stupid random question, which comes at the end of the profile when one is constructing or editing it, is given pride of place when the viewer reads the profile. Since I don't care to waste my time answering random questions from Blogger.com, a first time reader of my blog might think I don't like real people asking me real questions. I should be able to remove this highly annoying feature! The profile asked for my birthday, and I gave it, yet this does not show up in my profile. What's the point in answering a question that isn't intended to be shown? Even worse, the "interests" feature cuts off the interests without warning in the profile view, although, mysteriously, these remain somehow accessible when someone does a search on a particular interest. The stats in the sidebar are completely out of date. Despite the fact that I recently posted my 100th post, Blogger still says I've written 80. I can't remember the last time that count was updated. Finally, the recent posts, towards the end of the profile, are completely out of date, too.

Other Issues and Problems
Blogger recently made a big deal about the fact that it now keys off the user's web-broswer's language. What this just did was to make the Blogger home page virtually unusable to any expatriate blogging from an international location. There isn't even an English button to click on. Where I live, in South Korea, there are many expatriate English-speaking bloggers in an expatriate population numbering in the thousands. Fortunately, the bloggers have preexisting accounts, so they can sign in quite easily from public terminals. On the other hand, if I were in the shoes of my friend, I'd have to create a blog on someone else's computer, since the sign in process is utterly bewildering to those who don't know Korean. Blogger should take a page from its parent company, Google, and put an English button on the front page.

Blogger's help people have been almost totally unresponsive both times I've contacted them, but then, given my recent problems with RBC Royal Bank's Online division, that's not unexpected. Internet help is too often less than helpful. People give you these BS answers that showed they didn't really read your questions. It just ticks me off: either don't respond at all, or respond thoughtfully. This, of course, may be a function of under-paid employees being overworked; I wouldn't know that sort of thing.

It's unfortunate that the archives cut off after 300 posts, requiring an HTML tweak in the blog template. To its credit, Blogger Help will tell you the tweak, but for someone like me, who anticipates blogging for a long, long time, it's yet another annoyance.

The "next blog" button is silly; I've clicked it a few times, and two of three times it sent me to blogs advertising the stuff you get offered in spam. Cheesy, very cheesy. Thanks to my statcounter, I know that the visitors I get from this random endorsement don't stay around. Either drop it, or make it "smart."

Sometimes when I post, the posting time is off by one hour. I can never predict when this will happen, but it's annoying.

I'd like to run comments on my blog, but I want them to require my approval. The web is just too vulnerable to petty internet vandalism for me to trust the comments feature. In fact, I've promoted my site less than I should have, because I don't want a few idiots wasting my time and resources. Blogger should change its comments feature to allow for vetted posts.

I'd like a song to play in the background of my blog, but there is no mechanism for this. Blogger does address the subject of sound in a band-aid solution that involves calling a telephone number in North America and recording mono sound by telephone. Who needs that? It's a waste.

Overall, I'm happy to be blogging with Blogger, but the longer my profile stays as is, the less happy I am. I hope Blogger works to fix these annoyances quickly, but I won't be counting on it. But then, how can I complain when it's a free service?

UPDATE: I've just received this auto-response from Blogger (I sent them a copy of this post). It's less than inspiring (nobody takes a "wishlist" seriously). However, I am a big fan of the auto-response, as it allows one to know when a query has been received correctly.

Hi there,

Thanks for submitting your Wish List item. We greatly value feedback from
our users and review every submission.

-Blogger Support

Sharia Law in Canada

I have been interested in this issue for some time, as some of you know. Sharia law first went on the books because of our previous, corrupt, and terrible Prime Minister. Granted, the presence of Sharia law in Canada is not a blow (yet) to our criminal justice system, as this body of law, with its quasi-judicial, government-recognized tribunal system has been set up to deal with disputes in family law. However, there are plenty of reasons for alarm.

Now, a GOVERNMENT REPORT whitewashes over 1000 years of misogyny practiced in the name of Islam. I view this as the most pressing issue of our time. I quote a slightly altered version of my post on the Yahoo Message boards, where I responded to one Peta_Wabbit's claim that this is nothing that will violate anyone's rights:

"Sharia is not going to be imposed on anyone who doesn't willingly subscibe to the concept - only Muslims devout enough to believe in the supremacy of their god and religious tenets in matters of FAMILY LAW." (Peta_Wabbit)

Simply wrong. One is a Muslim from birth; one doesn't opt in (unless one converts), and one can't opt out. The penalty for apostasy against Islam, or ceasing to be a Muslim in most Islamic countries, is death. Several months ago, the President of a large Canadian Islamic organization said that those who rejected the Islamic tribunals rulings should be considered "blasphemers and apostates"; in other words, he used the strongest language possible, language used to justify execution. The psychological pressure on women, particularly, to knuckle under this antiquated and misogynistic law is huge. Let's say a husband and a wife go to a tribunal. The husband, of course wins (those overseeing the tribunal still hold the REAL principles of Sharia law dear). The wife can ignore the ruling, and attempt to go into the secular court system. In doing so, all her Muslim acquaintances will be told to consider her "a blasphemer and an apostate." She will have no home, and no friends; she may be harassed. If she is a recent immigrant, she may have no non-Muslim Canadian friends, either, and she will be totally isolated and very vulnerable.

Just when Canada is actively working to end discrimination against gays and lesbians, perhaps only 3 to 4% of Canada's population, in matters of marriage, the Canadian government is selling out the rights and well-being of Muslim women, members of one of Canada's fastest growing religions, to the very real and oppressive patriarchy of an Islamic tribunal system, based on Sharia law. There is no question that many Canadian women who are Muslims will greatly suffer under this warped judicial system which is so much at odds with Canadian values and basic human rights.

It is time to end the practice of allowing religious tribunals to settle matters of family law. Prime Minister Martin, please act at once to remove this odious law, and please actively work against this most recent governmental whitewashing in Ontario of the issues involved. I urge the rest of my Canadian readers to please communicate your concern to your local newspaper, your MP, the PM's office, and to your MPP if you live in Ontario.

The Ol' Roundup!

...And, my thanks to: Mom, JB & Sylvia, Joel, Omid, Monica, Mike, Rob, Brian, Lyle, Geoff, and anyone I may have accidentally omitted, for their emails! It was great to hear from all of you back home!

My Adult Students: A "Field Trip"

It's with sad feelings that this term draws to a close. I will miss most of my students, and all of my adult ones. This has been such a good term. In the adult class, I found that I was becoming attached to my students. They are such nice people, and as you can see, they have such nice faces, too. Next term, I anticipate that the director will rotate the teachers of these elementary teachers, and so I probably will have a new class, unless a miracle occurs. I will miss all of these friends, and I hope that we can stay in touch after the class ends. Enjoy the pictures!


Sook and part of Gook Hyeon! 


Here's most of the class. 


Hyun Jung and Young Sug 


I and three lovely ladies: Sun, Hea Suk, and Ok Soon 


More lovely ladies: Jin Young, Meekyung, and Hyun Jung! 

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOEL AND CARLA!

Just a few days ago, at Canada's Niagra Falls, my good friend Joel...



...proposed to this lovely lady!



The actual moment of the proposal came in the evening, but I don't have a picture of that magical moment--but no matter. I've had the pleasure of meeting Carla in two provinces: once, when she and Joel were in my home province of BC, and a few times when I was visiting back in my favorite Canadian city, Toronto, where Joel is currently working on his Ph.D. A warm "Congratulations" to you both!