Kim Dong-kwan when he was in the military. Over a month ago the Joongang Ilbo printed an article about a former paratrooper who took part in the Kwangju Uprising. A court has ordered a veterans’ office to grant “National Meritorious Person� status to a 51-year-old man who has suffered from sch...

In an unusually personal letter, Benedict XVI admits mistakes in the handling of a Holocaust-denying bishop....

Britney Spears' wardrobe assistant will likely get a stern talking-to after the pop tartlet's Tampa show, in which a performance of "I'm A Slave 4 U" resulted in her complaining about her "pussy hanging out" during the post-song wardrobe change. Of course, this being Britney and the current era bein...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just released a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) in the matter of “Implementation of the Child Safe Viewing Act; Examination of Parental Control Technologies for Video or Audio Programming.” (MB Docket No. 09-26)  This NOI was required by S. 602, t...

I was packing, in preparation for a move to Tucson in April, and I found a poem I wrote thirty years ago, during my Beatnik phase. I thought I'd reprint it here, bad punctuation intact. It makes me smile to think how unselfconscious I was with regard to anything I wrote at that time. And it bring...

Cardinal Kim Sou-hwan's funeral is now past, but one of the interesting things about his passing is this: The posthumous cornea donation by Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan has inspired many Koreans to sign up as organ donors. Dr. Joo Choun-ki of Kangnam St. Mary’s Hospital, who performed the procedu...

Here is a humdinger of a bit of gossip actual confirmed news: Liz Smith, octogenarian gossip queen of New York, has been dropped as a New York Post columnist. Sad, but expected. Col Allan cited the economy when he told her he wouldn't be renewing her contract: "Like so many other newspapers around t...

Almost three years ago, I wrote a post showing how Dohwa-dong, near Mapo, had changed over the years. For those who have studied Seoul's history, it is best known for being the location of the Mapo Apartments, Korea's first apartment complex. Quite some time ago I received an email from Julia Welch,...

Clara was born in 1915 and grew up in Chicago during the Great Depression. Now she's on YouTube teaching a new generation how to make the simple, inexpensive food that her family used to eat during those hard times. Clara is so awesome! Great Depression Cooking with Clara [via BuzzFeed]...

The Los Angeles Police Department is launching an investigation into who leaked a photo of Rihanna taken after her domestic-violence incident with Chris Brown. (Which we are not posting because it can be found pretty easily, and it's quite horrifying on multiple levels, although that fact no doubt c...