From Korea by Simon Winchester:One of the more famous Zen masters in Korea was Hyobong, who was a judge during the Japanese occupation-in fact, the first Korean to be allowed to sit on the Colonial bench. But after having to sentence a man to death, he became suddenly disenchanted with the whole idea of colonial justice, resigned, and became an ( Read more... )

From a biography of writer Edgar Wallace, a salutary tale from 1906:


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A clear example of the potential for misunderstanding [in nuclear conflict] comes from Bruce Blair, President of the Center for Defence Information in Washington. Blair was a launch control officer for US Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. After the Cuban missile crisis, when the US and the USSR came close to nuclear war, the US government ( Read more... )

Public attitudes [about poverty] remain sceptical. An Ipsos MORI focus group in 2007 was presented with evidence of severe deprivation in some of Britain's poorest communities. “They probably don't wear coats because it's fashionable not to,” was one participant's explanation. “People in Cornwall don't need so much money-they can go out and cut ( Read more... )

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Hotdog magazine used to run a splendid throwaway feature: short reviews of shitty B-movies by funny people. Since I lost the actual clipping long ago, I don't know if this was Viz's Chris Donald or Viz's Simon Donald, but either way it was a Viz's Donald.

Blood Surf - available to rent nowA television producer believes he can make a fortune by ( Read more... )

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[In the bar after a workshop on smell attended by scientists and military researchers]:

“So,” I asked, charging my voice with national concern, “what are we going to come up with to match the sniffer sharks the US plans on using to detect submarines?”

“Well, I had a good idea few years ago but couldn't get the funding for it,” [Dr] Ben [Teckler, ( Read more... )