Ruminations in Korea

Two spooky things for Halloween:

This first spooky item is a poem that my old scoutmaster, Vince Saunders, used to recite on long camping trips high up in the Rocky Mountains. Click on the picture and give it a listen.

The second item is a little frightening as well. Sexy Singer Eum Jeong Hwa is surrounded by a group of scantily clad males. However, none of them are touching her… But they sure seem to be touching each other…Particularly the guy in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Kul Wahad!!!

Late yesterday afternoon, I was released from my 5-week prison. I checked out of the hospital, went home and promptly fell asleep on my own soft, warm bed.

I have quite a few things to say about my hospital stay, my continuing recovery, and the continuing recovery of my bike. I will post on these and other topics as time allows.

Right now, I am just happy to be out of the hospital and crutching along.

Yesterday over at The Marmot’s Hold, guest writer Dram_man announced that the Korean Won is in freefall as a result of North Korea’s “nuclear test”. In his article titled, “Get To That Bank!“, He urged people to “Get your savings pulled out now before things get really bad. “

In my reply to his article, I questioned whether there was actually a nuclear detonation at all:

There is still no confirmation that there was actually a nuclear test and not just a coincidental earthquake or the detonation of conventional bombs.

Well…. it seems that I may have been proven correct.

According to the Associated Press, there are serious doubts that there was a nuclear test and there is much suspicion that it was the detonation of conventional bombs.

[France’s Atomic Energy Commission] estimated the North Korean blast at around 1 kiloton or less _ equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT. For a nuclear device, that would be so weak that the French defense minister suggested that “there could have been a failure” with the North Korean reported test.

South Korea’s geological institute estimated the blast to be half of what the French estimated.

According to a Washington Times article, U.S. intelligence agencies say, based on preliminary indications, that North Korea did not produce its first nuclear blast. Also, seismic readings show that the conventional high explosives used to create a chain reaction in a plutonium-based device went off, but that the blast’s readings were shy of a typical nuclear detonation. The article will also reportedly state that the underground explosion, which Pyongyang dubbed a historic nuclear test, is thought to have been the equivalent of several hundred tons of TNT, far short of the several thousand tons of TNT, or kilotons, that are signs of a nuclear blast.