Can anyone - outside of the US - provide a different perspective on DPRK?

[christian]

And I would love to mount a lance on the bike.

Tom Weisel tried this. Did not end well. Stick to blunderbuss.

[Britishbane]

This is where we would have a good, spirited debate about whether the best bike to escape an apocalypse is one with fenders and a rack, or a traditional stage race bike- if the situation wasn't so damned scary.

Living just down river from Washington D.C. I have thought about this more than a few times. Clearly the roads would be a mess getting out of town (nothing unusual there). I think the best route would be via the Potomac. I don't have a boat though. Next best option is to load up the bike and head south on the GW Parkway/Mt Vernon Trail.

[cody.wms]

Living just down river from Washington D.C. I have thought about this more than a few times. Clearly the roads would be a mess getting out of town (nothing unusual there). I think the best route would be via the Potomac. I don't have a boat though. Next best option is to load up the bike and head south on the GW Parkway/Mt Vernon Trail.

I've also thought about this quite a bit. Just another reason I'd rather not live in DC long term...

[sine]

Living just down river from Washington D.C. I have thought about this more than a few times. Clearly the roads would be a mess getting out of town (nothing unusual there). I think the best route would be via the Potomac. I don't have a boat though. Next best option is to load up the bike and head south on the GW Parkway/Mt Vernon Trail.

u too.........after 9/11 my wife and I made plans.........me riding into town on one of our tandems with a change of clothes. Be tricky heading back out because by that time everyone will be walking on every road/trail/field/woods/....for the first 5 miles or so.

[Britishbane]

I've also thought about this quite a bit. Just another reason I'd rather not live in DC long term...

Add it to the growing list...

[Christian Fox]

China won't let anything happen. Every superpower needs an ally/puppet that everyone in the region hates. Regional instability provides useful distractions. US has Israel, China has North Korea.

[cody.wms]

semi on topic: Kim Jong-Un With Very Bulbous Lips and 1 Small Eye

[robin3mj]

Add it to the growing list...

We have a friend who does military research at Brookings and at one point concerned us enough to put together a small emergency kit and set a plan in case anything ever happened. Hadn't quite thought about us all leaving town via bike, but if ever separated the goal was to rendezvous in Harrisonburg.

[christian]

Without a Klepper folding kayak, you might as well slap a "Zombie Food" sticker on your bike.

[Germany_chris]

We have a friend who does military research at Brookings and at one point concerned us enough to put together a small emergency kit and set a plan in case anything ever happened. Hadn't quite thought about us all leaving town via bike, but if ever separated the goal was to rendezvous in Harrisonburg.

It's generally alway a good idea to have an a emergency kit and an escape plan even if you don't live in a major metropolitan are i.e. target

[jitahs]

not to generalize, but i have never met a korean who didn't sound slightly bored and not really worried.....actual conversation i had with a friend who's mom just had a stroke this week. "gie-sup, your mom's in the hospital i'm so sorry to hear that." him: "uh. yeah." anything i can do. "uh, yeah." what "do you have patch kits at your bike shop?" yeah. "uh, ok. bye." this was a phone call to him. i've known this dood for 30 years. there could be a zombie apocolypse going on and i think the collective korean response would be, "uh".

On the Korean psyche: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/ma...nted=1&_r=0&hp

[jerk]

On the Korean psyche: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/ma...nted=1&_r=0&hp

that was one of the most gut wrenching things i have ever read. thank you.

[jitahs]

that was one of the most gut wrenching things i have ever read. thank you.

De nada.

Happened a few miles from where I now type.

[jerk]

De nada.

Happened a few miles from where I now type.

jesus. that is EXACTLY the korean sentiment i was attempting to convey. i do love their country, their history, their food, their plasma thighs, and their pop-music. the only thing i disagree with, is that i find koreans to be about the most fucking adaptable people in the world. they can live anywhere- are acutely aware and interested in other cultures. again- this is a terrible generalization but whereas other northeast asian immigrant groups either don't give a flying fuck about the host culture(s) or are so alien from it that they can not even seem to process- koreans rule at getting in to it- establishing their niche and becoming "americans" (whatever the fuck that means) really quickly. part of their existential trauma, i think stems from a history of having to do that for different colonial masters- and a nostalgia for a "koreanness" that's they know in their gut becomes inevitiably lost. they're among the most "american" of immigrant groups i think because of this sense of homelessness.....they all somehow think they've given up on their essence and the folks that stayed back in korea do berate them for it. the north/south relationship has some parrallels here too i think.

[jitahs]

jesus. that is EXACTLY the korean sentiment i was attempting to convey. i do love their country, their history, their food, their plasma thighs, and their pop-music. the only thing i disagree with, is that i find koreans to be about the most fucking adaptable people in the world. they can live anywhere- are acutely aware and interested in other cultures. again- this is a terrible generalization but whereas other northeast asian immigrant groups either don't give a flying fuck about the host culture(s) or are so alien from it that they can not even seem to process- koreans rule at getting in to it- establishing their niche and becoming "americans" (whatever the fuck that means) really quickly. part of their existential trauma, i think stems from a history of having to do that for different colonial masters- and a nostalgia for a "koreanness" that's they know in their gut becomes inevitiably lost. they're among the most "american" of immigrant groups i think because of this sense of homelessness.....they all somehow think they've given up on their essence and the folks that stayed back in korea do berate them for it. the north/south relationship has some parrallels here too i think.

The author, Jay Caspian Kang, is one of those integrationist Korean Americans and hints at, but doesn't exactly explain, the insularity of the Korean church members. The article was more focused on a common dolorousness. That and the stupid New York-based media over-covering the Newton massacre and fomenting the gun debate, which was a worthy outcome but the point is the Oikos thing got no coverage. Some locally, but nationally zip. And would continue to get no coverage but for a Korean American journalist covering a subject close to him. Such is life.

As for comparing other Asian cultures to Koreans -- I think your perspective is an entirely NE US one; it's certainly something I can see when I'm out there (kinda a vsalon worldview vs. everyone else thing). Out here on the Pacific Rim, particularly the Bay Area, the influence of Asian (and African American) cultures is so pervasive it is getting very difficult to tell one race from another, especially in the youths.

[Britishbane]

We have a friend who does military research at Brookings and at one point concerned us enough to put together a small emergency kit and set a plan in case anything ever happened. Hadn't quite thought about us all leaving town via bike, but if ever separated the goal was to rendezvous in Harrisonburg.

Harrisonburg, no shit? That's where my wife and I (family too) talked about rendezvousing too! We're alumni of JMU.

[lukasz]

The author, Jay Caspian Kang, is one of those integrationist Korean Americans and hints at, but doesn't exactly explain, the insularity of the Korean church members. The article was more focused on a common dolorousness. That and the stupid New York-based media over-covering the Newton massacre and fomenting the gun debate, which was a worthy outcome but the point is the Oikos thing got no coverage. Some locally, but nationally zip. And would continue to get no coverage but for a Korean American journalist covering a subject close to him. Such is life.

As for comparing other Asian cultures to Koreans -- I think your perspective is an entirely NE US one; it's certainly something I can see when I'm out there (kinda a vsalon worldview vs. everyone else thing). Out here on the Pacific Rim, particularly the Bay Area, the influence of Asian (and African American) cultures is so pervasive it is getting very difficult to tell one race from another, especially in the youths.

It isn't because the media is New York based. It is because on the one hand you have a tragedy in an affluent white suburb. On the other hand you have a tragedy in an insular immigrant community. You're right about the northeast though. I can't speak for New England but the sentiment that New York is an island off the coast of Europe is pretty accurate.

[jitahs]

It isn't because the media is New York based. It is because on the one hand you have a tragedy in an affluent white suburb. On the other hand you have a tragedy in an insular immigrant community."

Yes, yes I know all about affluenza, but do not mistake the proximity of NYC to Newton as not bearing any weight vis-à-vis budgetary constraints.

That, and the racial leitmotif, are what drive the coverage.

We don't seem to be communicating well these days; answers are rarely, "all of this, none of that."

BTW of course I'm right about nyc, been going there for 45 years.

[robin3mj]

Harrisonburg, no shit? That's where my wife and I (family too) talked about rendezvousing too! We're alumni of JMU.

ditto ('99)

Could go for a burger from Dave's/Gus's right now.

[lukasz]

It isn't because the media is New York based. It is because on the one hand you have a tragedy in an affluent white suburb. On the other hand you have a tragedy in an insular immigrant community."

Yes, yes I know all about affluenza, but do not mistake the proximity of NYC to Newton as not bearing any weight vis-à-vis budgetary constraints.

That, and the racial leitmotif, are what drive the coverage.

We don't seem to be communicating well these days; answers are rarely, "all of this, none of that."

BTW of course I'm right about nyc, been going there for 45 years.

get me out of here