By Robin T. Reid
Smithsonian.com, October 16, 2009
The ancestral memorial service is the central event of Chuseok, Korea's most important holiday. It's a complex affair, and many Koreans are unsure about the principles for setting out the Chuseok ritual table or the procedure for the service and just follow what others do. Here, the Chosun Ilbo explains the correct procedure in easy-to-follow steps. MORE HERE.
Celebrated rock band YB will make their U.S. debut early next year on the Universal label. A documentary of their recent U.S. tour will be aired on PBS as well. "I'm studying English like crazy," lead singer Yoon Do-hyun told the Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday. MORE HERE.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
(10-22) 15:00 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
Physical attacks on people based on their sexual orientation will join the list of federal hate crimes in a major expansion of the civil rights-era law Congress approved Thursday and sent to President Barack Obama.
A priority of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., that had been on the congressional agenda for a decade, the measure expands current law to include crimes based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The measure is named for Matthew Shepard, the gay Wyoming college student murdered 11 years ago. MORE HERE!
With dozens of Japanese bands trying to crack the West over the last 20 years, whoever would have guessed visual-kei would be the first genre to truly succeed? MORE HERE.
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| All dressed up: The members of Versailles (clockwise from top left: Kamijo, Hizaki, Teru and Yuki) say their sense of fashion is just as important as their music. |
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Pity the young Japanese male. For him, it’s shock piled upon shock. No wonder he’s reeling.
The monthly magazine Nikkei Woman (November) lists what career-oriented men have had to contend with over the past 20 years. 1990 brought the bursting of the so-called bubble economy, the beginning of the end of opportunity as we knew it. 1993 saw in the “hiring ice age”—firms hit by the recession froze hiring, condemning all too many college grads to drudgery as part-time “freeters.” One glimmer of light over the next few years was the venture firm Livedoor, fronted by flamboyant celeb-entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, aka Horiemon, symbol of commercial imagination and path-breaking derring-do. His arrest on fraud charges in 2006 doused the flicker of hope he represented. Then in 2008 came the Lehman shock. Japan’s economy didn’t quite die, but doesn’t quite live either. MORE HERE.
By Beth Hale
Last updated at 8:13 AM on 23rd October 2009
It's the perfect answer for anyone in need of a speedy breakfast - a toaster which can also grill a couple of rashers of bacon.
The device, called the Toast N Grill, has a normal toaster-style slot along the top for two slices of bread.
But it also has a mini-oven compartment underneath, in which the user can grill a slice of bacon and then keep it warm while preparing the toast. MORE HERE.
Tefal launches all-new Toast N Bacon device to create the perfect bacon butty in minutes
Atheism ExaminerTrina HoaksIn ‘Never Mind The Bollocks: Women Rewrite Rock’ - Amy Raphael’s 1995 examination of women in rock subcultures - Huggy Bear bassist, Niki Elliott, announced: "True punk rock feminism will never die."
"Of course it won’t!" we all thought, high on the empowerment and political discourses that riot grrrl had brought us dissatisfied, alternative girls. "Revolution Girl Style Now!", Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna screamed at us over and over again. MORE HERE.
A bearded face, with long flowing hair, is plainly visible on the wooden door of the men’s toilet in the Braehead outlet of the Swedish furniture and meatballs giant. MORE HERE.
Last night, I went along to the Intelligence Squared debate on whether "the Catholic Church is a force for good in the world" at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. It was a fairly grand affair, not least because of the impressive venue, and Intelligence Squared had assembled quite a panel to thrash out the issue. Speaking for the motion were Archbishop John Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria and Anne Widdecombe, the Conservative MP and outspoken Catholic convert. Speaking against the motion were Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great, and Stephen Fry, who is well known for his humanist views (in fact, Laurie Taylor interviewed him about this in New Humanist a few years ago). The debate was chaired by the journalist Zeinab Badawi. MORE HERE.
If Andy Schlafly has his way, there will be no socialists or snake handlers in the Bible. No woman caught in adultery. And, definitely, no Stephen Colbert.
Schlafly, founder of Conservapedia.com, wants to save the Scriptures from liberals with his latest venture, the Conservative Bible Project. He says translations like the New International Version have added socialist ideals to the Good Book. But his rewrite of the Bible has drawn criticism from biblical scholars, liberals and conservatives. MORE HERE.
Some believe that listening to heavy metal and soaking in its sometimes faux macabre culture can lead to the devil. It led me instead to a fascination with holy relics. I was perhaps the only teenager in my suburban Los Angeles town who yearned to see bones and other pieces of sanctified stiffs encased in glass. That was what drew me to ask an ancient woman at my Catholic church's administration office what relic was housed in the church's altar—a simple question, I thought. She admitted that not only had she never been asked that question, but she had no idea and called in Father Dennis. He was equally in the dark. MORE HERE.
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:52 PM on 19th October 2009
A Christian zoo decapitated a dead tiger and cut off its paws before it dumped the carcass on farmland and stored the head in a freezer, an investigation has revealed.
The female Bengal tiger called Tira was skinned after she died of natural causes and then buried in a black bin bag at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.
Investigators also discovered she was on loan from the owner of the Great British Circus - one of the last big top shows in Britain to use live tigers in performances. MORE HERE.
Natural causes: Tira the Bengal tiger, who was decapitated after her death
Hiroyuki Sanada
Monday 19th October, 06:43 AM JST
TOKYO —
Actor Hiroyuki Sanada, 49, will be appearing in the 6th and final season of the popular American TV series “Lost.” He will play “Dogen,” an important character that holds the key to the story of the final season, producers said, adding that the part has been especially written for Sanada.
The 6th season will air in the U.S. from early 2010 and be shown on pay TV in Japan next summer.
Photo Accused child witches Jane (left) and Mary (right), standing with other children accused of witchcraft, at the Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network in Eket, Nigeria on Aug. 18, 2009. Jane's mother tried to saw off the top of her skull after a pastor denounced her. Mary, 15, is just beginning to think about boys and how they will look at the scar tissue on her face caused when her mother doused her in caustic soda. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
 Mariam Staford Bandaba is too scared to return to her home village |
One year ago, Mariam Staford Bandaba, an albino woman living in Tanzania, was viciously attacked by a machete-wielding gang who tried to kill her and sell her remains for witchcraft.
She escaped with her life, but only just. MORE HERE.
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| Musician Kazuhiko Kato found hanged at Karuizawa hotel Musician Kazuhiko Kato (file photo taken in October, 2006), founder of the Sadistic Mika Band. |
Last week, the Senate Finance Committee passed an amendment by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) that authorized $50 million dollars for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in the Baucus' health care reform bill.
The good news is that abstinence-only programs are not funded in any other health care bill in the House and Senate, and President Obama has clearly stated that he does not want these sex education programs to be funded.
The bad news is that the Secular Coalition has learned that many Senators on both sides of the aisle are afraid of opposing these failed sex education programs because they don't want to offend their religious and socially conservative constituents. MORE HERE!
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:39 AM on 17th October 2009
An elaborate network of underground tunnels topped by a stone quarry on the Greek island of Crete may be the original site of the ancient Labyrinth – the mythical maze where the half-bull, half-man Minotaur lived.
The site, located near the town of Gortyn in the south of the island, is believed to have as much claim to be the Labyrinth as the Minoan palace at Knossos, 20 miles away.
Knossos, which was excavated a century ago had largely been heralded as the home of the legendary King Minos, who commissioned the Labyrinth to contain the Minotaur, a terrifying hybrid born of a union between his wife and a bull. MORE HERE.
An 1821 illustration of the Labyrinth at Gortyn
Last week, in his first successful piece of legislation, freshman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) persuaded the Senate to approve a measure banning federal contracts with defense companies that use mandatory binding arbitration clauses in employment contracts that prevent sexual assault victims from suing. The measure not only proves once again that elections matter, but it also comes as a major rebuke to none other than former Vice President Dick Cheney. MORE HERE.
Senate passes measure prompted by case of woman prevented from suing over alleged rape by Halliburton/KBR colleagues
Jamie Leigh Jones testifying in Washington in 2007. Photograph: Greg Nash/AP
US defence firms are to be barred from lucrative government contracts if they refuse to allow employees access to the courts, after a woman working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq was prevented from taking legal action over an alleged gang rape by fellow workers. MORE HERE.
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| Korean actor Lee Jun-ki as waiter in TV series "Hero" [MBC] |
| By Roland Buerk BBC News, Tokyo |
It is a problem faced by everyone in the end or by their relatives left behind - finding a place to spend eternity. MORE HERE.
Without God, we will live like animals!
After listening to the debate between Bill O'Reilly and Richard Dawkins, it struck me again that the resistance to evolutionary theory largely stems from the illusion that without God there can be no morality. Some believers feel threatened by evolutionary theory not because the theory is right or wrong -- the evidence doesn't seem to matter much to them -- but because accepting it would mean accepting that we have been created by natural processes including our morality. The final part is what bothers them the most. MORE HERE.
By Beth Hale
Last updated at 7:24 PM on 12th October 2009
She was the pride of Henry VIII's fleet.
After 34 years at sea and three wars, the Mary Rose was regarded by many as invincible.
But on July 19, 1545, as she defended England from a French invasion force, she sank - taking 500 men and a vast treasure trove with her to the seabed.
The ship was painstakingly recovered from the Solent in 1982. Yet only a fraction of her 19,000 artefacts have been displayed - until now. MORE HERE.
A tankard used by sailors to drink their daily ration of gallon of beer (left) and a gold half sovereign dated 1544 and bearing the image of Henry VIII. It represented a month's pay for a sailor at the time
In just five hours, an average farm pig can learn how to interpret an image in the mirror and use it to find hidden food.
Scientists consider the ability to use a mirror a sign of complex cognitive processing and an indication of a certain level of awareness. In addition to humans and some primates, dolphins, elephants, magpies and a famous African grey parrot named Alex have all been known to retrieve objects or remove marks on their body using a mirror. Now it looks like pigs should be added to the list of clever critters that can master a mirror: After spending five hours with a mirror in their pen, seven out of eight pigs could use the reflection to find a hidden bowl of grub. MORE HERE.
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| Japanese actor Takuya Kimura [Chae Ki-won/10Asia] |
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| South Korean actor Lee Byung-hun [Chae Ki-won/10Asia] |
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Christopher Columbus carried ideas that boded ill for Indies natives.The Gallery Collection / Corbis
Professor Ellen van Wolde, a respected Old Testament scholar and author, claims the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew. MORE HERE.
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| Then and now: Yolz in the Sky formed in a music scene created in large part by artists such as Phew. JAMES HADFIELD PHOTO |
Old school: Notable for Koichi Makigami's distinctive, Kabuki-influenced vocal style, Hikashu were, alongside P-Model and The Plastics, one of the defining bands of Japanese new wave and technopop, although from their poppy debut they quickly tacked in a more experimental direction. At Drive to 2010 they are notable for being one of only a handful of artists to perform at all three "Drive to . . . " events. MORE HERE.
It's Aug. 28, 1979, and the audience dutifully files into the old Shinjuku Loft livehouse to take their places, seated on the floor in preparation for another night of quiet musical appreciation. This time, however, something strange starts to happen. People keep coming in, the audience have to shuffle forward, it starts to get tighter, a few people stand up. Soon, for the first time in Japan, a packed crowd of 300 people are standing to watch leading lights of the Japanese punk scene like Friction, Lizard and The Star Club blaze a trail out of the 1970s and into the uncertain world of the new decade. More HERE.
By David Derbyshire
Last updated at 4:33 PM on 08th October 2009
It ushered in the 1960s sexual revolution and gave women control over their own fertility.
But the Pill may also have changed women's taste in men, according to a study.
Scientists say the hormones in the oral contraceptive suppress a woman's interest in masculine men and make boyish men more attractive. Although the change occurs for just a few days each month, it may have been highly influential since use of the Pill began more than 40 years ago. MORE HERE.
Classic men: In the Fifties, more masculine men like Burt Lancaster and Kurt Douglas were considered attractive
This article is bullshit - the pill has nothing to do with it. All the women I know who like pretty & boyish men were 1) never on the pill. 2) on the pill well after they had made up their sexual preferences.
An historian claims to have uncovered the identity of Jack the Ripper by using modern police forensic techniques.
Mei Trow also believes that the notorious Whitechapel murderer was responsible for the deaths of an additional two women.
He has concluded that Robert Mann, a local morgue attendant, was the killer who terrorised east London in 1888 and who was officially credited with dismembering five prostitutes. MORE HERE.
Another suspect: Historian Dr Mei Trow has claimed that Jack the Ripper was mortuary attendant Robert Mann and that he killed seven - not five - women
10/7/09, 2:36 pm EST
David Bowie will join his Lust for Life cohort Iggy Pop as an avatar in the upcoming LEGO Rock Band game, the singer’s official Website writes. An oval-headed, clasp-handed and all-around polygonal version of the Thin White Duke will appear in the game when the player performs Bowie’s “Let’s Dance.” It was previously revealed that a bare-chested, LEGO-ified Pop will sing “The Passenger” in the family-friendly version of the Rock Band franchise, as well as provide tutorials for the amateur rockers playing at home. The Guardian has footage of LEGO Bowie in LRB, and sadly, this is likely the closest we’ll get toward seeing David Bowie performing onstage any time soon. MORE HERE.
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Photo Credit: Andrew McLeod
And Tango Makes Three, the story of male penguins raising an orphaned chick that topped the US banned books list, experiences a huge surge in sales
An image from And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. Photograph: Simon & Schuster Children's Books - MORE HERE!
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:43 PM on 02nd October 2009
She lived at the dawn of a new era, when chimps and people began walking (or climbing) along their own evolutionary trails. This is Ardi - the oldest member of the human family tree we've found so far.
Short, hairy and with long arms, she roamed the forests of Africa 4.4million years ago.
Her discovery, reported in detail for the first time today, sheds light on a crucial period when we were just leaving the trees. Some scientists said she could provide evidence that our ancestors first started walking upright in the pursuit of sex. MORE HERE & HERE!!
Actor Lee Byung-heon is to return to the small screen as a secret agent in the huge-budget drama “Iris” after he gained global recognition through the Hollywood film “G.I.Joe.”
The drama is a spy action thriller dealing with the love and betrayals of South and North Korean secret agents. More HERE!
"The Coast of Utopia" a 10-hour-long trilogy of plays — comprising "Voyage," "Shipwreck" and "Salvage" — was originally written in 2002 by Tom Stoppard for the National Theatre in London. An award-winning English playwright, Stoppard first shot to fame with "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead" in 1966 and was knighted for his accomplishments in 1997. More Here.
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| Russian realism: Hiroshi Abe as Alexander Herzen, "the father of Russian Socialism," hands his book "From the Other Shore" to his son Sasha played by Jun Sakaguchi, in "The Coast of Utopia" by Tom Stoppard. ©MASAHIKO YAKOU |
