The Korea Times

Man asks co-worker to find someone to kill 'you're black'

Stephen Perry, 27, asked his co-worker, Adrian Howard, to find a hitman because Howard was black. He said, “I know ya’ll know people.” and offered Howard $15,000. Perry is now under arrest for plotting a contact hit on his estranged wife, Allison Mayer.He was arrested in late December and is scheduled to stand trial in June. Perry’s arrest got heated attention because of his racial remarks rather than the murder plotting. Howard worked with Perry at a Valvoline Instant Oil Change in suburban Indianapolis. Perry and his wife were reportedly in the midst of a heated divorce battle. “You hurt my dog, the deal is off,” Perry allegedly said to his wife.

Feb 4, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Man asks co-worker to find someone to kill 'you're black'

Tech & Science

ET Discovery Could Happen Within 10 Years: World Economic Forum

“ET discovery could happen within 10 years” was among the agenda at the World Economic Forum, or WEF, in Davos, Switzerland recently. ET, or extra-terrestrial, along with economic and political issues, did make its way on that list."The possible social consequences of contact with alien life" is one issue that Earth may soon face, according to Nature, the international science journal. It all happened, thanks to NASA's Kepler spacecraft. NASA launched the “Kepler mission” to identify Earth-sized planets. Operating for only three years, it has found thousands of candidates, including one the size of Earth, according to the WEF report. Technology developed rapidly. “It was only in 1995 that scientists first found evidence that other stars also have planets orbiting them. Now, thousands of 'exoplanets' revolving around distant stars have been detected.” The report also stated, "Given the pace of space exploration, it is increasingly conceivable that we may discover the alien life or other planets. In 10 years, we may have evidence that Earth is not un

Feb 4, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

ET Discovery Could Happen Within 10 Years: World Economic Forum

Tech & Science

Egyptian mummy's story will be unwrapped by CT scan

Egyptian mummy’s story will be unwrapped by the modern technology. The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond partnered this week with a medical imaging center.A CT scan on Tjeby, its 4,000-year-old mummy, will be completed. More information about the mummy will help the researchers better understand the early history of the mummification process. A 3-D digital model will be presented and even the face of the mummy will be reconstructed.Little is known about Tjeby. What museum officials do know is that he dates between 2150 and 2030 B.C., and that Tjeby was 25 to 40 years old when he died. More biographical information is to be gathered such as Tjeby's specific age, diet and cause of death. They also will look at the materials used to mummify the body and the amount of soft tissue that has survived.They will also determine whether organs had been removed.Researchers say invasive or damaging procedures are needless thanks to the modern technology. Main portion of his body was wrapped separately from the limbs and other parts of the body were a bit 'jumbled.', said the doctors

Feb 4, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Egyptian mummy's story will be unwrapped by CT scan

South Korea

Success comes only after failure

Challenge can make or break people. Parents are well aware that only survivors flourish. Worried, wanting the best for their children, risk-averse parents try too hard. They choose to raise their children in captivity. Getting insulated from harm’s way somehow lessens the damage to the precious baby is their hope. The myth gets broken when they realize their children are helpless without them. Prof. Tanya Byron raised the fundamental question about the current education system and how children are taught to avoid risk. Her interview was published in the latest issue of Sec Ed magazine. Many young people are suffering from Anxiety Disorder, and the numbers are increasing, said Prof. Byron who has been a clinical psychologist for 23 years. Feeling lack of emotional resilience and feeling afraid of failure are the symptoms of the Anxiety Disorder, said Prof. Byron. She was concerned that these overprotected children were breaking down even though they were very bright. Young people are increasingly unable to deal with challenges, in her opinion. Paranoid culture that aims to prote

Feb 3, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Lifestyle

"It's a dream come true."

A super model kissing a nerd is drawing people’s attention online. The lucky guy was Jesse Heiman. He is an actor famously known as a nerd character. The most gorgeous supermodel, Bar Refaeli, kisses him in a Go Daddy Super Bowl advertisement. It earned widespread attention.“This is very life-changing. I'm looking forward to whatever comes next", said the actor in an interview with the Huffingtonpost. Go Daddy's ad, “Perfect Match," will air in the first quarter of Sunday's game. The intention behind the ad was to illustrate how the domain name register is smart and sexy. "We needed, 'Oh my God. Is she really kissing him?” said Greg DiNoto, chief creative officer of the ad agency Deutsch NY. They got exactly that. Go Daddy allegedly showed Super Bowl broadcaster, CBS, a few versions that were a little spicy for a national audience. The final cut was among the moderate intensity, one of the executives said. But even the approved spot shocked viewers and critics when it was posted Friday on YouTube.USA Today called it "gross, disturbing." But whatever people say

Feb 3, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Divorce leads to children's poor school performance

No longer is divorce an issue only between spouses. Children _ from seven-year-olds or older _ get more distracted by the consequences of it. Children from divorced parents suffer a drop in performance at school, a U.K. government-sponsored study revealed. Children with such background exhibited poor behavior and test results, researchers found. Frequent punishment at home didn’t help them to perform well in school and this is this can have serious consequences as the children grow older.Younger children, however, may not be as affected, researchers said. They don’t know what divorce means yet.But there’s a silver lining. Extra help from school can save those children at risk. Teachers can make up for what children have lacked at home. Mentoring them to realize their potential is the key, said the researchers.Still, parenting skills are the most crucial factors in shaping children’s life, they said in their study. After all, comfort coming from their parents keeps a child emotionally secure. That is the core factor for children’s concentration on st

Feb 3, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Divorce leads to children's poor school performance

Tech & Science

Toxo causes brain-manipulating suicidal disease

What happens to a fearless mouse facing a cat? Death.The mouse must be crazy to be that casual in front of the potential killer which is 20 times bigger than it is. Something must be off. In this case, it really is. The parasite, Toxo, is the answer.It manipulated the mouse’s brain into feeling what-are-you-going-to-do kind of suicidal attitude. A Czech evolutionary biologist Jaroslav Flegr found this out a few years ago. Since then, it became infamous among scientists. The shocking survival mechanism was the reason. The mouse jumped from one cat to another by infecting rats. The infection got rid of the crucial responses for survival. All that was left of it was death by complacency. Flegr discovered infected humans also exhibited the same behaviors. They knew it was Toxo, but they couldn’t figure out how. The mystery was solved two months ago. It was found out by Antonion Barragan and his fellow researchers at the Center for Infectious Medicine at Karolinska Institute in Sweden.The key was white blood cell. To travel to the brain, Toxo hijacked them. The very cells desi

Feb 1, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Toxo causes brain-manipulating suicidal disease

Lifestyle

Bottled water more dangerous than tap water

Expensive though it may be, bottled water has never been more off the shelves. Tap water, however, isn’t really on people’s list of something to drink. Many think somehow tap water is infected, whereas ready-made bottled water is safe. However, a new research in England suggests the opposite. The pricey bottled water goes through far less stringent testing than tap water, the scientists found out. They are only required a monthly testing. Tap water contains disinfecting chlorine. It stops the spread of harmful bacterial infections.Bottled water, however, contains no such ingredients. Once opened, it goes bad immediately, so it must be consumed within days. "Water coming from U.K. taps is the most stringently tested in the world," said Prof. Paul Younger of Glasgow University, according to The Telegraph."People think there must be something wrong with tap water because it is so cheap and plentiful. But from a safety and price perspective, tap water is better for you," Younger explained. Perrier had to recall millions of bottles worldwide in 1990. Benzene was foun

Jan 31, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Bottled water more dangerous than tap water

Tech & Science

Why men should stay clear of pacus

Men should never let the pacu fish come anywhere near them, or they might find themselves with their testicles chewed off. In Papua New Guinea, pacu's jaws are infamous for biting off “the nuts,” even those that are human. Their brawny jaws are suited for the crushing and tearing off parts of the human body, especially the testicles, interestingly enough.Papuan locals don't call the pacu fish "testicle” cutters for nothing. Pacu usually weighs 60 pounds (27kg). It is the bigger version of the well-known smaller piranha. The total number of testicles forcibly claimed by pacu is unclear, but according to The Telegraph, the testicle hunters are responsible for at least two cases of death-by-castration. Pacu is actually widely referred to as "vegetarian piranhas" because they also play the role of they help disperse the seeds of trees and the fruits of which they typically eat.

Jan 30, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Tech & Science

What not to eat to get taller

Healthy food doesn’t necessarily help children get taller. Some food stimulates sex hormones in children’s body. As a result, they might reach puberty earlier than they should. Nutritionally complete food cuts short the possibility of getting taller. Every daily necessary ingredient is in them, carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Adults might benefit from them, but not so the children.Eggs, beans, and sea shells are to be avoided. “For example, an egg is in itself already an organism. It has every ingredient necessary for an organism to fully develop, sex hormones included,” said health scientist Park Seung-man. He added a few tips, “Fat gets saturated more easily than protein, so eat more meat without fat. Vegetable is also good. Skim milk is better than whole milk. Balanced diet is key to reaching the height you want.”

Jan 30, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Lee Kyung-min

Read more

Man asks co-worker to find someone to kill 'you're black'

ET Discovery Could Happen Within 10 Years: World Economic Forum

Egyptian mummy's story will be unwrapped by CT scan

Success comes only after failure

"It's a dream come true."

Divorce leads to children's poor school performance

Toxo causes brain-manipulating suicidal disease

Bottled water more dangerous than tap water

Why men should stay clear of pacus

What not to eat to get taller

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