중앙데일리

Supernatural rice

Rice has long been a staple of mankind. While it varies from one region to another, it is generally known that mankind started to cultivate the grains of rice plants and consume them in about 7,000 B.C. Indians first raised rice plants. Chinese people did not consume the grain for another two millennia. Koreans started to eat rice in about 2,000 B.C., when the grain was imported from China. Rice types are broadly divided into Japanese…

Sept 17,2003
Genes rule

In 1983 in a rural district of the United Kingdom, a 15-year-old girl was found murdered after having been raped. There was no progress in the case during the next three years, until at the same village a second 15-year-old was murdered in the same way. Shortly thereafter, the police arrested a 17-year-old youth and soon announced that he had confessed to the second rape-murder. The police asked Alec Jeffreys, a geneticist, to use the techni…

Sept 15,2003
The use and abuse of cameras

The word “camera” originally referred to a round ceiling or room in Latin. In 15th century Europe, a device called a “camera obscura,” meaning “dark room,” came into widespread use. A camera obscura is essentially a dark chamber with a small hole in one wall. An outside image is projected onto the wall opposite the hole. This was a useful invention for observing solar eclipses or drawing a rough sketch of a landscape. The camera obscur…

Sept 15,2003
Seeking the Medici of Korea

Medici is the marquee name of patrons in the Italian Renaissance. Without the support of the Medici, scientists and artists such as Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo might not have been able to accomplish the achievements that contributed to the history of mankind. The Medici were the most powerful and wealthy family during the Renaissance, but the family insignia is surprisingly simple and humble. The crest shows six b…

Sept 09,2003
The tunnels of the mind

“The digging general” is another name for the Chinese pangolin, a mammal found in southern China and the Himalayas. The ant-eating animal, whose entire body is covered with scales, can dig an approximately seven-meter-long tunnel in an hour. Its nickname comes from its image of nimbly digging soil with its claws. In contrast, how much earth can men dig if they do not use tools ― 1 foot or 3 feet? Those who have experience in digging trench…

Sept 08,2003
Sharp consumers drive quality

“Ramenist.” No English dictionary can give the definition of “Ramenist,” because it is a newly coined word in Japan. Ramen is a popular Japanese noodle soup, and a ramenist, according to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, is one who visits at least 200 ramen restaurants a year to taste different kinds of ramen noodles. Ramenists will not stop at having good or different ramen noodles, but also study each restaurant for its specialty and accumulat…

Sept 07,2003
Plunder and taxes

When wandering bandits plunder a village, they loot it entirely. But the fixture bandits are different. They plunder the village but leave as much of the peoples’ productive capacity intact because they are thinking of the next round of banditry. Some bandit groups of the past gained enough power to seize an area, settle in and prevent other bandits from entering. As a village grows richer, the income of the bandits also increases and t…

Sept 05,2003
Imagine that!

Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try ... Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do ... No religion too ... Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. John Lennon sang, in the peaceful world of “Imagine,” a message of atheism, anarchism and anti-capitalism, the slogans of 1970s activists. “Imagine” is one of the best-known anti-war songs and is beloved in England, the Beatles’ original home. The lyrics were inspired…

Sept 04,2003
Angling and negotiating

The six-nation nuclear talks were held from Aug. 27 to 29 at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing. Only chiefs of state used to be invited to the Diaoyutai, but the prestigious house is now open to ministerial-level officials and business big shots from abroad. The Diaoyutai, or Angling Terrace, became a government guesthouse in 1958, when the 10th anniversary commemoration of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China was …

Sept 03,2003
Chuseok? Bah, humbug!

Ginseng wrapped in paper with a presidential emblem; 1 or 2 million won in cash; anchovies. These are a few of a politician’s favorite things. Or, at least, these are some of the gifts that some politicians received from our presidents during the Chuseok holidays in the past, according to Millennium Democratic Party chairman Chyung Dai-chul. Mr. Chyung was apparently disappointed at the rumors that President Roh Moo-hyun was not giving o…

Sept 02,2003

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