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Another week or so, life goes on. I relocated my workspace to a desk with a window, its only been a couple of days but I think the change in scenery is a big morale booster. I got so used to being walled in padded cubicle land its a good change of pace to see some blue sky and sunlight again. I have a nice view of the church on the corner, its funny I’ve walked by it so many times but never really noticed how big it was until a couple of days ago.
In other news, N Korea tests a nuclear bomb in an underground blast, causing a lot of panic and concern in the region. Some of the more irresponsible bloggers are trying to downplay US reports that based on the Richter scale readings in the region it may have been a dud, or a cache of conventional weapons used as a bluff. The same bloggers are the ones to point out the limits of N Korean missile technology, or the inability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead as reasons for the US not to be concerned. I don’t see why anyone should be trying to downplay a threat to peace and stability in an entire region.
Either way, at least the immediate response looks like economic sanctions. Japan was the first to start banning N Korean ships from port, and all imports. Meanwhile the N Korea rhetoric in response is very odd, I guess it goes to show that even your mortal enemies can be trade partners in this globalized economy. Its almost like trade with me or I’ll attack. Or more like give me my UN sanctioned rations or I’ll attack. Lingering over all of this is the 60+ year grudge of Japanese-Korean relations, most recently the Japanese occupation during WWII. I remember reading once that N Korea said that they would nuke Tokyo before Seoul.
I picked up a graphic novel from Kramerbooks about a week ago (before the test) about a western animator working for two months in Pyongyang. Apparently a lot of cartoon animation is being outsourced to N Korea now, and it gives people a glimpse of life in the hermit state. It makes for quick and easy reading which is a good change of pace from the thick case books I’ve been lugging around.
More and more I’m seeing little reminders of my undergraduate experiences, my first formal introduction to the graphic novel medium was in a comparative lit class as a sophomore. It might be the age I’m reaching, or maybe this grueling method by which law is taught, but in many ways I miss the inspriration of certain undergraduate classes. Reading and learning about concepts for the first time that I now dismissed as common sense, being mentally energetic to think about something in depth, and then dig deeper.