North Korea Making Nice

 

North Korea did another nice thing yesterday. They released a South Korean worker they had been holding in detention and handed him over to Hyundai Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun. The man was being held at a factory park where South Korean manufacturers have parts made using cheap North Korean labour. As part of the deal, North Korea is also allowing the Mount Kumgang resort to reopen after it had been closed for a year. Last week Bill Clinton and the release of two US journalists, this week a theme park reopening. I’m telling you, there’s something going on in Pyongyang.

Water, Water Nowhere

Nasa has “gravity” satellites up there that can determine how much ground water there is. I know, amazing. Well, it turns out, India is depleting its ground water so quickly that rice farming in parts of the country will become unsustainable and then farmers will have to find alternative crops to grow and then, when all the water is gone, they won’t be able to grow anything and that will be really bad. The satellites doesn’t even check some parts of the world because everyone knows we sucked the water out of the ground long ago and now we’re taping rivers that are taping melting glaciers that have nothing left to tap. There’s a lesson here, but it eludes me.

Buffalo Fans Pay More

Did you know that 1,000 years ago there was something called the Mediaeval Warm Period and that, because it was warmer like it is now, they had a rash of hurricanes like we’re having now (well, okay, not right now, not today). Is this more of ‘What goes around comes around?’ Or is it more like I say when passengers make fun of the Maple Leafs and I take them around the same block more than once: When you’re a Buffalo fan, it costs you.

Greens Can Kill

I see you got lettuce. I hope you wash it when you get home and check to make sure there’s nothing but lettuce there, here’s why. A customer  at a discount supermarket in Germany found stems of a poisonous weed in mixed salad bags that can cause extensive liver damage. The woman who found the poison stems has a specialized knowledge of plants. Because of her, the German ministry responsible for consumer protection says shoppers should be vigilant. Cabbies should be vigilant too so, remember, wash it, check it and put it in a sandwich with some meat. Watch your step. I’ll imagine the tip.