Books, books, books!

Ahh, Google has launched the beta version of its Books Search of digitized public domain books. Check it out at books.google.com. If you want the full online book or PDF to download, be sure to search with the "Full view books" option selected. You can search by author, title, date, publisher, ISBN, or even content.

I find it quite amazing.

Printed books, online versions, literary classics, trashy romance novels, mystery whodunits, true-crime biographies, military and war fiction and nonfiction, pop-up picture books ... I love 'em all (as is evident by my jammed bookshelves, one of which recently collapsed from the weight of the books piled on it).

Hmm, I predict my productivity level at work rapidly falling as I read at my desk (and still look like I'm working) classic works by Dickens, Hugo, or perhaps letters written by Jane Austen (text which is now seeing the light of day -- or light of a computer monitor -- instead of rotting away and getting moldy sitting on a dusty library shelf).

What's in a date?

A Korean friend who recently came to the U.S. to study English told me something interesting last night, perhaps a reason why older KADs find that they are actually older or their date of birth is different than what is listed on their birth certificates.

It seems that older people in Korea (but those young enough to have been issued a birth certificate) have birth certificates with dates that are not their actual date of birth, but instead use the date of application for the certificate.

My friend said Korea now uses the actual date of birth for the certificates, but that wasn't the case when she was young -- she's 38. The date on her birth certificate is not her date of birth, and her Korean passport also lists her birth certificate date, which is a few months later than her date of birth. She even knows a woman whose birth certificate date is two years off.

So what about all those KADs who do happen to have a birth certificate from Korea among their limited paperwork and records? Is the information they have completely misleading, inaccurate? What about all those KADs who search for birth families with what they believe to be their date of birth, one of the few bits of information used to help in searching?

Added note: I forgot to mention the use of lunar dates for birthdays in Korea. Another twist to figuring out birthdays for KADs.

What husbands are good for: Reason #1

1. When you forget your house keys and need to get in at the end of the day. Voilà! Extra set of keys.

Old ... getting old

For every new academic year, Beloit College in Wisconsin publishes its Mindset List for incoming freshmen (or should I be more politically correct and say first-year students?) to help educators connect with this new generation.

Read the 2006 list for the class of 2010. (BTW, you know you're getting old when the incoming class is the same year as the title of a futuristic sci-fi movie ... that's the sequel to a futuristic sci-fi movie.)

My favorites:

1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union.


6. There has always been only one Germany.


9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents'.


21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.


24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.


34. They have always known that "In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups."


37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.


39. "So" as in "Sooooo New York," has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else.


40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series. (See accompanying image from actual list.)


43. They are not aware that "flock of seagulls hair" has nothing to do with birds flying into it. (See image.)

The Hyphenator effects change!

Ahh, the Hyphenator rules!

Way back when the Hyphenator was a bride-to-be searching for wedding favors and decorations, she came across a silver bamboo frame on the David's Bridal Web site. The message in the frame caused her to fight against insensitive statements everywhere. OK, well at least against the message in the product image on the Web site. She sent of a scathing e-mail to the company.

The company must have feared the possible repercussions by the Hyphenator and removed the offensive message from its site.

Alas, a new message in the frame can now be found in its place.

No applause, no applause ... pleeeease.

Don't piss off the Hyphenator!

Ramblings of a bored procrastinator

Who needs coffee?
It's lunchtime and I'm sitting at my desk, enjoying a cup of tea. I love jasmine tea and green tea, which is supposed to be good for the skin (need that) and fertility (really don't need that now). So I was delighted to find jasmine green tea at the Trader Joe's by my work. I usually buy green tea my neighborhood Asian market, but perhaps I was dazed by the store's huge selection of teas that I missed seeing it there.

The Great Pumpkin
As I sit here, I'm also running my fingers through my newly shorn hair. My hair used to be very long, down to my lower back, and now it's a little above my shoulders with a bit of a flip, and a little more layered than I wanted it. Oh well. Whenever my hair is medium to short in length, no matter the style, it seems it always turns out pretty much the same. I think it's the texture and straightness of my hair, not to mention the shape of my huge head. OK, so it's not like Charlie Brown proportion but I've always thought I had an overly large head for my fairly petite body (or pocket-sized as my friend Ji-in would say, although I disagree, I mean really have you seen the teeny Asian girls running around San Francisco??). Hats don't really fit or look good on my melon, I looked ridiculous when headbands were in style when I was in high school, and I have problems finding sunglasses that don't leave nice dents in the side of my face. My hubby said my new haircut made me look more "modern," but I think shorter hair just makes me look older.

Leaving on a jet plane
In one week, my hubby and I will be flying across the U.S., across the Atlantic, and landing in Germany for a two-week trip, belated longer honeymoon, and family reunion of sorts (hubby's side). I never thought I'd travel to Germany, but whaddya know. I'm calling it my fairy tales and war tour. We'll be checking out some amazing castles and palaces, as well as some historic sites related to World War II, as we make our way from Berlin to Munich and the Alps to Cologne and Aachen. My hubby just hopes I don't drag him into every damn church and museum in the country like I did in Italy ... and Spain. Hmm, I'm going to have to hide my guidebook that I've filled with Post-it tabs and notes on sites to see.

Ahhh, comfy
Today I'm also enjoying a pair of new shoes (uh, one of four pairs) that I bought online hoping they'd be comfortable for above-mentioned trip. They are indeed comfy and "modern" -- goes well with my new 'do, I guess. I hate having to break in new shoes. My closet and bedroom are littered with barely worn shoes that blistered my feet.

Working for my vacation
Why is it these days when I'm planning to go on vacation, I have to do the work needed while I'm gone ahead of time? What's the point in that -- having to work twice as hard before taking time off?

Trying to wipe the stupid grin off my face
I saw "Blade:Trinity" over the weekend. I had seen the first two movies in the series, but hadn't seen the third one, which I understand didn't do as well as the first two. My hubby and I caught it on cable. We both got our kicks out of it. He enjoyed seeing Jessica Biel (I have to admit she had some lovely arms), and I drooled over Ryan Reynolds. Yes, Van Wilder. I've liked him since "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place." If I had known he was in the movie all buffed, toned, and half naked, I would have paid the $10 to see him on the big screen. I read he may be in a "Nightstalkers" film -- I'm really hoping it works out.

Aaargh, the guilt!
So much to do, so little motivation. I just want to fly, fly, fly! Sigh. I need to get two thank-you notes out for wedding gifts. One we just received last week so the guilt is minimal. The other I've been putting off for months -- it's to my Korean relatives. I need to write a letter and send copies of wedding pictures. I should also send pictures to other relatives and friends, and my mom wants all the digital pictures from the wedding, reception, and our somewhat short first honeymoon. Does she realize how many files that is???

NPR story on transracial adoption

Today on "News & Notes," Ed Gordon tackled the issue of transracial adoption, specifically African-American children being adopted by Caucasian parents.

"Parents Increasingly Adopting Children of Another Race"

Very good piece, so be sure to check out the audio when it becomes available on the NPR site.

Also from today's show ...

"A Personal Story of Transracial Adoption"

And another segment from July ...

"Foreign Adoption of African-American Babies Grows"

And a piece from May on unwed birth mothers during the '40s, '50s and '60s ...

"'The Girls Who Went Away': Birth Mothers' Stories"

'Survivor': Battle of the races

Just announced this morning, the upcoming season of CBS's "Survivor" will take place on the Cook Islands. The twist this season? The teams will be divided by race: Asian, African American, Hispanic, and Caucasian.

The show has been criticized for its lack of ethnic diversity among the contestants. So they've decided to address this issue by recruiting more minorities ... and dividing the teams by race?

"New 'Survivor' A Race Among Races"

This year's cast on the CBS Web site.

I watched this show the first two seasons, but I avoided it later because I always got completely sucked in to watching the show every week. Now with my handy dandy TiVo, I'm sure I'll get sucked back in, just like those damn producers wanted.

If anything, I'll watch to see how the Asians do and also so I can yell at them on television when they do something stupid, like Korean-American Gina did all the time on "America's Next Top Model." (Yes, yes, I admit that I watch that show. Bite me.) I know, very supportive of me.

KAD promotes adoption from Africa

An article from Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City about a Brigham Young University professor and KAD who recently published an article in the journal Social Work stating that "African nations and American parents should consider a radical increase in adoptions of black African orphans."

"Africa orphans need adoption: Crisis makes international action imperative, BYU professor says"

American parents have adopted a growing number of international children over the past decade. The United States issued 7,093 immigrant visas to orphans in 1990. The number rose to 22,728 last year.

Few come from African nations, which are reluctant to allow more.

"They're nervous because of the history of outmigration of their people into Europe and America, because of the former slave trade," Roby said. "They're nervous their children are being sold into domestic servitude or sex trafficking. I understand that. We all need to have empathy for that. But when they learn about the legal safeguards in place for international adoption, they want to consider it."

How about mentioning how adoption has become big business in the U.S.?

I was happy to read that the writer of the article also interviewed Joe Kroll, the executive director from the North American Council on Adoptable Children, which "believes each child should be placed with a family that recognizes preservation of the child's ethnic and cultural heritage as an inherent right."

"The federal government has gone overboard to try and make adoptions appear color blind," he said. "Color blind doesn't work when you're a person of color."

Kroll also worries that international adoptions have become trendy at the expense of older American foster children because of celebrities like Angelina Jolie, who has adopted two children, the most recent from the African nation of Ethiopia — a girl whose mother died of AIDS.

"My concern," Kroll said, "is that the publicity surrounding celebrities like Angelina Jolie is making people move away from the very real needs of the children in the American foster system. There are so many kids who need help."

Free weekends stress out Koreans

The Wall Street Journal today has an article about Koreans dealing with the reduced workweek (five days a week) that companies are changing to -- what to do with their free time, managing more family time (good or bad depending on one's view), and spending more money on leisure activities.

Unfortunately, a subscription is needed for online access. Some excerpts, though ...

SEOUL, South Korea -- Jun In Kyung is one unhappy housewife.

Her husband's employer just started giving him two Saturdays off a month. The 36-year-old wrestling teacher's new schedule, though, means Ms. Jun has to spend more of her time cooking and doing extra housework. Plus, she grumbles, after staying out late with his buddies on Friday nights, her husband sleeps a lot on Saturdays -- cramping their two children's indoor playtime.

"Home is supposed to be women's space and I don't like it when he spends more time in my space," says Ms. Jun, also 36. "It's like an invasion."

I found the following very interesting ...

"To help ease the free-time burden, the Korea Culture & Tourism Policy Institute is making available yeoga kwallisa, or leisure counselors, 'to teach people to seize their time,' says Yoon So Young, a chief researcher at the institute. 'It is something that needs to be learned.'"

I've found my true calling -- a leisure counselor. I would so rock at that job.

Best career for a KAD

Seattle Weekly has featured Tim Holm of Asian Adult Adoptees of Washington (AAAW) for its Best of Seattle 2006 series ...

"Tim Holm: Best Career for an Adopted Kid"

Summer of Hallyu!

The AZN TV network is featuring Korean dramas and movies during August and September with its Summer of Hallyu programming.

Watch for five back-to-back episodes of dramas, including "Winter Sonata" ("겨울 연가"), "My Lovely Sam-soon" ("내 이름은 김삼순"), and "Jewel in the Palace" ("대장금"), on Saturdays and Sundays. And be sure to catch the movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ... and Spring."

So crank up the AC, grab that remote control (or set your TiVo), and stay cool this summer while getting your fill of Korean shows.

For the children

Ah, yes, another example of international adoption working in the best interests of the children, I see.

"Locals unwelcome at Chinese orphanages: Agencies favour overseas adoptions"

"Chinese policies are supposed to favour domestic adoptions. Yet there is strong evidence that foreigners get preferential treatment -- largely because their payments are more lucrative. Despite the national policy, many Chinese orphanages have set up unofficial barriers to discourage Chinese families from adopting their orphans."

"Partly because of the barriers to domestic adoptions, China has a thriving system of private and unofficial adoptions, including an underground system of kidnapping and baby-trafficking. Earlier this year, China admitted that six orphanages in southern China had been purchasing babies since 2002, including the purchase of 78 abducted children last year alone. At least 33 people were punished for their involvement in the schemes. Foreigners and Chinese families were adopting children from the six orphanages, often for hefty fees."

An older article from the Washington Post, long but worth reading 'til the end ...

"Stealing Babies for Adoption: With U.S. Couples Eager to Adopt, Some Infants Are Abducted and Sold in China"

Some quotes:

"The prevalence of the problem has become clearer in recent weeks with the prosecution of a child-trafficking ring in the neighboring province of Hunan. Last November, police arrested 27 members of a ring that since 2002 had abducted or purchased as many as 1,000 children here in Guangdong province and sold them to orphanages in Hunan for $400 to $538.... The orphanages placed most of those children in homes with unwitting foreign families, many of them Americans, in exchange for mandatory contributions of $3,000 per baby -- a sum nearly twice the average annual Chinese income -- according to sources familiar with the prosecution."

"A state agency in Beijing, the China Center of Adoption Affairs, pairs prospective adoptive families with available Chinese children. Foreigners who want to adopt must work through a foreign agency certified by the CCAA. The process entails many fees, the largest paid as parents depart the province in which they adopt: They surrender $3,000 in cash, typically in $100 bills, and usually into the hands of the orphanage director."

"Such is the system absorbing the proceeds from foreign adoptions. Whole industries have sprouted to service the people involved. Travel agencies ferry adopting foreign families to sightseeing spots in Beijing, then on to the provinces handling the adoptions. Playrooms occupy space at five-star hotels in cities that have become hubs for adoptions, their lobbies often packed with foreigners carrying Chinese babies. Around the White Swan hotel in Guangzhou, the city through which every family must pass to receive a U.S. visa for a child, streets are thick with stroller-rental shops and silk baby outfits embossed with traditional Chinese logos. The hotel gives each adopting family a special doll manufactured by Mattel -- "Going Home Barbie," the iconic plastic figure carrying a Chinese baby."

My god, we're talking about babies here -- human beings being abducted, stolen, kidnapped, snatched away from their families and not "abandoned" -- who are being bought and sold like any other commodity for purchase on the market.

I find the final quote by an AP just as sickening: "If we can't bring closure to it, we're just going to have to live with it." (Or, "We're going to hand over our $3,000 cash and get our babies while we can.")

Updated (8/1/06): Not anything new or suprising ...

Found the headline below on the Korea Herald Web site but need to subscribe to access, so here's a link to the article on the Daum site:

"Volunteers brighten orphans' days"

"Fowler, an English teacher from the United States, has been promoting volunteering and adoption of Korean orphans since 1995. One of the biggest problems, he says, is that orphanages do not encourage adoptions as they get more funding with the more children they have."

"If you look through the orphanage system, you will see that much of the money being donated by the banking, business and private communities is being spent on nothing more that the private needs of the founders, owners and their children," he says, adding that less than 40 percent of donated funds are spent directly on the children."

MTV K and adoption

The MTV K Web site has a news segment on Asian-American adoptees with interviews with some adoptees and adoptive parents.

(The folks at MTV K might want to do a little more research -- they said that the first wave of Asian adoptees came in the '80s. WRONG!)

"My goal is world peace"

I'm all for Miss Korea to kick some adhesive-stuck bathing suit butt in the Miss Universe pageant, but except for Jane Pauley's early beauty pageant stint, I really can't picture female TV presenters in the U.S. who want to be the country's "greatest anchorwoman" competing in a beauty pageant.

"SBS Anchor Dons Bikini for Miss Universe Pageant"

The pageant will be on NBC Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Pacific time. (I love the list of telecast judges.)

I gotta say, Miss Korea's national costume beats the crap out of Miss USA's.

Who needs men

In my current foul mood, I was happy to read this article on artificial sperm ...

"First live births from artificial sperm"

KAD in the news

The Star Tribune has an article on stand-up comedian Amy Anderson ...

"Korean adoptee breaks new ground in stand-up comedy"

DMZ

Found this Web site for the Panmunjom Travel Center, which has info about the DMZ and tours. Also has some interesting info (and photos) on the North Korean tunnels.

"Measuring two meters high and 2.1-2.2 meters wide, the arch-shaped tunnel--large enough to move such heavy weapons as tanks, field artillery and armored personnel carriers--is capable of letting pass 30,000 troops moving three to four abreast, or a division strength, per hour. Bored through 3.5 kilometers of bedrock at a depth of 50-160 meters from ground surface, Tunnel Ⅱ intrudes 1.1 kilometers south of the Military Demarcation Line at a point 101 kilometers from Seoul. A spacious troop assembly area was carved out in the tunnel, which has three exits."

Bored through bedrock and large enough to move tanks!

Daniel

Some cheesy copywriting but this ad campaign for Bean Pole International has some lovely photos of Daniel Henney. Click through "Daniel's Story" and just try to ignore Gwyneth and the annoying Flash.

Crash course

A New York Times article on North Korean defectors in the South ...

"North Korean Defectors Take a Crash Course in Coping"

Soon after landing in South Korea, all North Korean defectors come here to the South Korean government's main resettlement center, called Hanawon, or to an annex, for a three-month crash course on life south of the demilitarized zone.

"When they arrive here," said the center's director general, Lee Choong Won, "they realize they've been living like frogs in a well."