"proper 'worlds'"

"The virtual worlds hosted by Ultima Online [1997] and its many descendants are not real worlds, but they are worlds that can be experienced in a way that seems much more immersive than clambering through steam tunnels beneath a university.  Ultimately, computers largely resolved the dichotomy between realism and playability -- computers excel at the management of the enormous number of circumstantial modifiers that create a realistic game, but since the burden of calculating those factors falls on on human participant, the playability remains unaffected. . . .  This realistic playability does come at a cost -- a computer cannot improvise or innovate, traits that a human referee can leverage to craft a more engrossing world.  For many players, however, that trade-off is made happily.  In a multiplayer game environment, the computer can also fall back to the position of an intermediary, allowing humans to improvise and innovate with one another as players, which can approximate, and in some cases exceed, the imagination of a dedicated referee.  What makes these virtual environments proper 'worlds' is not so much their scenery as their inhabitants, the community that players join when they enter the game.  Like the real world, it is a place where individuals compete and collaborate as necessary to achieve their goals, and the interpersonal dynamics that this involves, as Chapter Four illustrated, lend a depth to the game that no system can model or simulate."

-- Jon Peterson, Playing at the World

"tucks them in with a duvet"

How is England handling the pandemic?  By growing huge vegetables!  To wit:

"But giant-vegetable-growing is about more than machismo; it requires the disciplined devotion of a medieval monk. 'There’s something therapeutic about it,' says Carre. 'You’re trying to keep the vegetable growing, and push it further, and wondering if you’ve done everything right. It’s like how I imagine nurturing a baby, almost.' Short spends two hours a day with his pumpkins, visiting them in the morning and again at night, when he tucks them in with a duvet, to alleviate any sudden temperature changes that might cause them to split."

I mean, why not?  ("I mean, why not?" has pretty much been my mantra since November 2016.)

Also news to me that summer county fairs along with plant- and livestock-contests are just not a thing in South Korea, according to my adult students.

Enter The G-Man

My World Series inclination is to root for the American League squad, but a few years back I adopted the Dodgers are my B-team.  However, Ryu Hyun-jin has moved on to Toronto, and I'm really intrigued by Tampa Bay's first baseman Choi Ji-man.

He's a total journeyman oddball.  Plays first as a rightie (which implies he's a natural rightie) but has until recently always batted as a leftie.  But now, he's also flirting with switch hitting.  (He's only 29, but that's way late to change an entire plate approach.)

Anyhow, I think I'm rooting for Tampa Bay now and hope Choi (known as "The G-Man") gets off at least one decent bat-flip.

Prosecute The Scooter Looter Freebooters

Last month  I was complaining about waves of rental scooters showing up and basically choking the street corners of Daegu.  Turns out I'm not alone in my distaste for these things:

"The number of complaints relating to the use of electric scooters this year reached 1,951 as of end of July, according to data from the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission. For full-year 2019, the number was 1,927, and in 2018, it was 511.

'We receive at least 10 complaints a day about electric scooters parked on sidewalks or at subway station exits where lots of people pass by,' an employee from Gangdong District Office’s transportation policy department said. 'When we actually visit the location, the electric scooter is no longer there as it has already been taken by another user. It’s really difficult for us to regulate them.'

Operators of scooter-sharing services are making efforts to tackle the backlash. Olulo, operator of Kickgoing, and PUMP, operator of Xing xing, established 24-hour-a-day hotlines for local district offices so that company employees can clear their scooters within two hours of a complaint.  

 Some critics argue that foreign companies have recklessly increased the number of scooters in pursuit of revenue, to the point that it has become nearly impossible for them to respond to problems."

If they are left on public streets or sidewalks, they are literally pieces of trash.  Treat them as such.

Fuck The Yankees, Fuck the Stros

The rabid hellscape of 2020 is the only possible timeline where I become a Tampa Bay Rays fan.

"just like it said in the encyclopedia"

Fried chicken is heaven, Korean friend chicken especially so.  But many Koreans are unaware of the fraught history of Soul Food in America:

"All this explained my discomfort in publicly asserting my affection for fried chicken. But it did not diminish it. I understood why some African American friends of Momofuku restaurateur David Chang refused to be seen eating fried chicken on camera, as he described in an episode dedicated to the southern delicacy on his Netflix series Ugly Delicious. They didn’t want to be perceived as a cliche.

But while the US was trying to unpick the racist issues surrounding fried chicken, the UK’s Conservative government was stoking the flames. The Home Office’s decision to put anti-knife crime messages on fried chicken boxes perpetuated yet more racist stereotypes about knife crime and chicken shop customers.

It all feeds into that same shame. During a recent podcast recording, I was asked what my final supper would be. As I said 'fried chicken', I couldn’t help hearing an imagined, knowing, 'Of course!' in response.

The US comedian Dave Chappelle got it. In one sketch, he mimics white people watching him as he eats some chicken. 'Look at him,' they say in amazement, 'he loves it just like it said in the encyclopedia.'"

Everything is political, even the crispiest and deliciousist of fried poultry.

Minor Thought

2020 is definitely the year we'll all look back and say, wow, thank God for capitalism.

For Your Enjoyment, Bro

Jakob Bro, "Red Hook" live

I've recently discovered this amazing Danish jazz guitarist named Jakob Bro.

I mean, it's 2020 -- I'm just going to roll with it.  The guys with him are all excellent as well.

America, Fuck No

I'm pretty certain I'll be leaving Korea and going home this February at the end of my current contract, for family reasons.

As I eyeball prices on a new car, health and car insurance, an apartment, and US-priced internet and phone, I'm kind of put off by the fact that I'm already losing money.

And I'll need to find a job in the middle of the Trump Virus.  Hell, I'll need to survive  the Trump Virus.

Good times.

"We're rich."

Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) was two weeks ago, but I still enjoyed this essay by Nina Yun on what it means to celebrate abundance in a time of the coronavirus in America:

"On Chuseok, as my mother and I cooked happily and divided all the food into containers (and then Ziploc bags when we ran out of containers), we’d make the same joke. 'We’re rich,' my mother said every time she poured more oil into the pan. 'We’re rich,' I said when I cracked more eggs. 'We’re rich,' we said in unison as we looked at all the food we packed to give away. After months of pandemic living, we still find it hard to enjoy our meals without feeling guilty, especially when faced with an excess of our own making. But this felt like relief, like a long exhale for a breath we didn’t know we were holding. It felt right. Chuseok, too, is a kind of new year for my mother and her emigration from Korea. I think for many Korean Americans, the tenor of Chuseok’s guide to remembrance expands to their or their family’s immigrant experiences. To account for the struggles it takes to make a life here, to account for what it means to survive here, is to remember a kind of body.

Before I left to deliver the food — face mask on the entire time — my mother poured us each a small serving of sujeonggwa [cinnamon fruit punch]. We toasted. After I drank mine, I studied the emptiness of my teacup and felt grateful."

This is, frankly, a horrible time to be alive.  Splurging on food for yourself, family, and your friends seems perfectly logical to me.

King Sejong Was A Pimp

And a happy Hangul Day to you.

The weather here in Daegu is autumn perfection.  Off to take a long walk around the north part of the city.