Thursday, July 5, 2007

The Wide World of Whaaa? (vol. 2)

Here are more curious news items from distant lands:

Netizens in Uproar Over Online Dog Meat Seller – Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)

“Controversy has arisen over an online dog meat retailer. According to the city of Sungnam on Tuesday, written protests and appeals have been flooding the city’s Internet message board since the online meat shop opened in April. Dozens of posts to the city’s message board demand to know why authorities are turning a blind eye to the illegal sale of dog meat and urge the city to shut down the site.

“The retailer, which is based in Sungnam’s Moran Market, home to Korea’s largest market for edible dog meat, sells ‘premium’ and ‘standard’ dog meat on the Internet. It features photos of the meat as well as cooking ideas and suggestions for spices and vegetables that go well with dog.

“ ‘I opened the site after two years of preparation because I figured a lot people want to cook dog meat at home,’ said Ko Se-hoon, the 25-year-old operator of e-bosin.com. The online dog meat market was virtually untapped, he added.”

(07/04/07) Complete article

Kyeyo man falls off flying plane, dies – Daily Monitor (Uganda)

“A Ugandan man who wished to seek fortune abroad instead fell out of the sky to his death in Entebbe on Sunday. The tragedy is a sign of the desperation that makes people from poor countries take great risks to escape their world in search for greener pastures.

“The unidentified young man, estimated to be 24 years was ironically dressed in a white Uganda ‘lotto’ T-shirt, a brand of the lottery game of chances.

“He hid in the undercarriage of a cargo plane that was incidentally air bound to Zambia. At approximately 1 pm as the plane took off, the man fell out of the cold night sky down to the fence next to the airport runway.”

(07/05/07) Complete article

Public unaware what constitutes binge drinking – Irish News

“The alcohol industry says a survey it commissioned has found that many Irish people are unaware of what constitutes binge drinking. The official definition is five alcoholic units for women and seven for men. This equates to two-and-a-half pints of beer for women and three-and-a-half for men.

“However, the survey for the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland found that 27% of Irish adults assume it means consuming more than 10 alcoholic drinks in one session. Another 27% think it means consuming between seven and nine drinks....”

(07/05/07) Complete article

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Irish people do not binge drink, UBM. They simply forget to come up for air. Now that we have that straightened out, I also wish to say that they do not order dog meat on the internet or anywhere else for that matter.
Too busy drinking.
Dog meat, especially the premium stuff, is almost always puppy meat.
The Asian girlfriends have assured me.
About the flying Ugandan : he must have been with the Irish before boarding.
For the record, I believe the Russians are the biggest imbibers, with the US, Germany and PR close behind.
I have a friend who is half Puerto Rican and half Russian. He should be entering drinking contests at the professional level. Maybe Yancey can look into that kind of charity event.
What does a Puerto Rican Russian look like? Oddly, he looks Irish.
Even when sober.

Undercover Black Man said...

Actually RC, Ireland came out on top in a survey of European nations for binge-drinking earlier this year. (The story's here.)

"Just over one third of Irish respondents to the latest Eurobarometer survey on the issue say they usually consume five or more drinks in one session.

"This is way ahead of Finland with 27%, Britain with 24% and Denmark with 23%."

I can't imagine Germany's not in the Top 4, but there you go.

Elsewhere, just 2% of Italians and Greeks and 4% of Portuguese nationals say they binge drink.

Anonymous said...

UBM, we are on the same page. The Russians are not considered Europeans as far as I know. But I will find the drinkie info soon and send it on to you. They publish this stuff regularly in PR in El Nuevo Dia {endi.com} so I will look it up.
Usually a Bacardi ad is nearby.
I believe that along with the great national pride Puerto Ricans have for their beauty queens and boxers, salsa singers and NASA engineers, they are VERY proud to be up there with the blessed Irish in the drinkie club. By the way, my son is an Irish Puerto Rican {there are really very many, especially from Hell's Kitchen} and his wife told me last week that he could drink anyone under the table and would not be even tipsy.
But of course, my dear.

Anonymous said...

I've never tried dog meat, so I'm completely open to the possibility that it might be delicious. Don't get me wrong; I love dogs. But I don't think they've ever done anything to make them inherently less deserving of being eaten than any other animal. If someone put a plate of dog right in front of me at the dinner table, I'd probably give it a shot. People who just arbitrarily say that it must be disgusting just lack open minds.

Undercover Black Man said...

I'm kinda curious myself, Andrew. Supposedly, it's a potency-enhancer as well... or there's some kind of medicinal aspect.

Anonymous said...

I think the problem many people have with eating dogs is that dogs are pets and most people don't eat their pets (except my great-grandmother, who ate my uncle's pet chicken and my mom's pet rabbit--the lesson being, never ask your Nana to pet-sit).

UBM, if you need your potency enhanced, you can always get a little blue pill at the doc's (as long as he's not named Morpheus) :-)