Weblog

Monday, 29 June 2009

  • The Chatboard

    Don't miss the chatboard, where I often tuck things too short for a regular entry.  Just a heads-up to my readers.  {the top of the blog...the blue banner...click on "chatboard"}

    I've just found a little French commercial for rubber cement on Ronnie's blog, "As Time Goes By." 

    The pitch is done by an English-speaker, and the voice is very familiar to those who have watched any British TV shows in the last 30 years or so.

Monday, 22 June 2009

Friday, 19 June 2009

Friday, 12 June 2009

  • What we in the south have heard about North Korea

    South Korea has spies in the north, of course.  We know that the pictures the north released and the world has been seeing of Kim Jong -il are "file photos" since last summer.  Actually, the last dated photos were taken shortly after the former South Korean president visited.  At that time, Kim looked sick, with blotches on his face and significantly greyed hair.  Pictures you see now show him looking up to ten years younger.  So, he is definitely sick, probably at death's door. 

     
    Recently, the top leaders were required to swear fealty and loyalty to Kim's youngest son, who is 26 years old.  His mother's brother is the presumed regent who will oversee his further preparation to be the next ruler.  This young man has gone to private schools in Switzerland and is working in a North Korean consulate office in Europe.  He is reported to speak several languages including English.  He has been prepared to rule very much like the English princes.  The old man with the 'bad hair' doesn't want the generals to take over when he kicks the bucket.  This is a reasonable precaution.  He knows that the generals will make a real mess if they try to govern; witness the troubles of Burma/Myanmar. 
     
    The weapons testing is a bluff, trying to keep the rest of the world a little off-balance while the closest people to "Chairman Kim" consolidate their power over the generals.  It's all about assuring the continuation of the dynasty.  The rulers in the North are a real Machiavellian bunch, always trying to connive and undercut one another.  One example: the cover story is that the 'young prince's mother' died of cancer, but there is a persistent rumor that she was poisoned.
     
    The two women reporters were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got snapped up as bargaining chips in the power game.  They may be used to get extra food for next winter or to gain some other concessions.  But you can be sure that they will be used to consolidate the regime's power and to make the generals 'lose face'.  I expect to see them released within the next two years, at the latest.  They aren't going to be abused, because the Kim crowd would 'lose face' if that happened. 
    Well, that's the latest gossip about the North from here.      Hugs, ~ Sil

Sunday, 07 June 2009

sillama1

  • Visit sillama1's Xanga Site
    • Name: sillama1
    • Gender: Female
    • Member Since: 10/9/2007

Weblog Archives

Don't worry - your calendar is here… to see it in action just click "Save" above and refresh the page.

About Me

  • retired teacher, as well as a food co-op worker, wholesale food supplier, medical-educator and counselor. Enjoying life in Asia. <p> <a href="http://www.care2.com/send/categories"> Save the Rainforest! Send an eCard from Care2.com!</a> </p> <p> other websites: </p> <p> http://www.opendiary.com/sillama (most recent, mirror site)</p> <p> http://www.geocities.com/sillama.geo (photos of Corea) (my first website!)</p> <p> http://sillama1.diaryland.com (earlier entries on Korea)</p>

Pulse

  • Bobo is back and brought his girlfriend, Mimi. She's a tiger-striped calico cat with lots of white.  She's slim and petite. Bobo is huge!!
  • Has anyone read the Newsweek article on the Spiritual/Not Religious trend in America?  My fundamentalist relatives will go bat-guano!
  • New pet! Bobo the cat, white with caramel trimming, is visiting. Maybe 2 months. he's big! about 9 kgrams.

Chatboard (9)

  • sillama1
    Interesting article on the campaign to declare a national "Year of The Bible" to improve people's understanding of what the Good Book really says! http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/18/america-s-real-literacy-crisis-it-s-the-bible-stupid/
  • sillama1
    For those of you who don't read Ronnie at "Time goes by" I nabbed this cute commercial http://www.culturepub.fr/videos/rubber-cement-colle-les-nonnes.html
  • sillama1
    http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/04/09/tweeting-cat-door-alerts-the-media/ check this out. The comments below the article are very interesting, too. There are several versions of this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXx4vXFESek This is the ICANHASCHEEZBURGER version, lol.
  • sillama1
    The fundies are going to go bat-guano about that Newsweek article, "Post-Christian America." My Pentecostal relatives are sure that there is a massive conspiracy by the left-wing, Godless pinkos to crush all the 'good Christians.' I keep telling them that they have nothing to worry about if they are
  • mrsgrovine
    THANKS FOR ADDING ME AS A FRIEND.
  • sillama1
    @Desert_Eagle_AE - That's a great way to say it! It's spreading, you know. My daughter just cut her hair short, too. She LOVES how easy it is to style and dry!
  • sillama1
    I got to a gathering of friends this noontime and let go of a slight bit of my frustration about the woman who won't leave me alone. She sends me negative text messages and poison-pen e-mails on a regular basis. I counted the messages one week, there were 125 of them! I just delete, delete, delet
  • Desert_Eagle_AE
    We are the "short hair team". Unrestrained by long hair!
  • sillama1
    We don't do Daylight Savings Time in Korea, although there is political debate about starting it "to get in line with the 'developed countries'." I'm glad that we stay on Standard time all year. I remember how it used to throw me offbalance whenever the time changed, in America. We are on the wes