South Korea: Ban Sale of Dog Meat - Legalize Human Abortions

I recently read in the Korean Times that a nationwide ban on the sale of dog meat was gaining momentum, which I took to be a positive step for their country. Although I have no logical or moral reason against the eating of dog meat, I'm like many Westerners who are emotionally squeamish regarding the practice. I feel like my telling someone they can't eat dog meat however, is similar to someone telling me I can't eat beef or pork.

Still, if the Koreans choose to ban the selling of dog meat for food, then I am all for it.

It bothers me, on the other hand to learn that South Korea's Constitutional Court recently ruled the 66-year abortion ban must be lifted. The people of that country are too 'humane' to eat a certain type of animal, but their version of the Supreme Court is fine with the killing of unborn babies.

Former South Koren Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl said "As a dog owner, I am of course opposed to the consumption of dogs." He later called it "a matter of personal choice." Sounds just like American politicians discussing abortion.

Six Barangay Halls

This morning I wanted to indulge in four of my hobbies - bicycling, photography, blogging and posting to Google Maps. With that goal in mind, I decided to ride to six of the barangay halls located within cycling distance from my house. While there, I'd snap a photo.

For those reading this who aren't familiar with some of the ways of Philippines, each city and municipal area is made up of "neighborhood areas" called barangay. For the most part, the barangay will have a barangay hall / health center, although I have been in some barangay so small that a barangay hall is nowhere to be found.
The six barangay hall I rode past today are - 1) Magatas 2) Camanjac 3) Motong 4) Pulantubig 5) Boloc-boloc and 6) Tubtubon. According to Google Maps the distance traveled was 10.5 kilometers.
Magatas
This is my home barangay. Our house is less than 200 meters from the barangay hall and it's impossible to travel from our house without passing the hall. The old brgy. hall has been torn down and a new one is being built. There is a temporary health center just across the road from the hall.

Camanjac
Turning south at the Magatas Brgy. hall, my first destination is Camanjac. It's a 2.1 km ride with a slight upgrade. Of the six Brgy. halls I will visit this morning, three are actually located in Dumaguete - Camanjac, Motong and Pulantubig.

Motong
Heading east at Camanjac, I rode the 2.7 km to Motong. There are two different routes I can take. To me, turning right at Boni Catarata to Motong Rd. seems the most direct route, but according to Google Maps, turning later at Larena Dr. to Motong Rd. is 200 meters shorter. This seems counter intuitive to me so I went the (so called) longer route via Boni Catarata.

Pulantubig
This Brgy. hall is located about 1 kilometer from the hall in Motong.
The name Pulantubig translates to "red water". According to one source, there is a large red rock within the barangay, with water running over it; the rock making the water turn red. Where exactly this is located is unknown to me.

Boloc-boloc
Arriving at this barangay hall, I'm back in Sibulan. A distance of 2.2 km from Pulantubig.

Tubtubon
From Boloc-boloc, the ride is 1 km to the Tubtubon Brgy. hall. After Magatas Brgy. hall, this is the Brgy. hall I most frequently pass while bike riding. From here, I'll ride 1.6 km to my house in Magatas.The ride this morning was quite enjoyable. I can see making this a regular run. 

Bread Run

 

I'm sure the situation is different in Manila or Cebu, but finding good quality sliced bread isn't always easy in our neck of the woods. Of course, finding good whole wheat bread is even more difficult than locating sliced white bread. Our family is partial to whole wheat, and we've found the Gardenia brand to be just what we want. It's reasonably easy to locate the bread in Dumaguete, but here in Sibulan, the only store that sells the Gardenia Whole Wheat is Mercury Drug.

Fortunately, the Mercury Drug is within bike riding distance for me. I'd ridden to the drug store in the past to purchase my blood pressure meds. and to the Gentle Paws pet shop next to the drug store for the occasional dog food run.

 

I decided to head that way this morning for a loaf. The most direct route is 2.8 kilometers (one way). I wanted to do a bit more riding this morning, so I planned to travel back thru Tubtubon - that route is 4.4 kilometers.

 

The whole trip would be 7.2 K - more in line with my usual morning run.

Unfortunately, Mercury Drug had no whole wheat bread in stock this morning. Not to waste the trip, I bought a loaf of the Gardenia sliced white bread; good, but not my first choice.

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie

 

It's been ages since I thought about Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, or anybody else associated with Fleetwood Mac. The only reason they've come to mind today is because of a lede on Drudge Report where it was reported that Buckingham had compared Nicks and his other former band members to the Republicans and Donald Trump. That was just the sort of click bait that would get my attention.

It was in the linked to article from RollingStone that I learned that Buckingham had released an album with Christine McVie in 2017. Of course, I opened Spotify to search for the recording.

The album contains 10 songs, but from listening to it one would think you were listening to 10 slightly different versions of the same song. Fleetwood Mac's music could be repetitive but this album takes repetition to stellar levels. It isn't that the songs are , horrible it's just that there is nothing new with this music. Boring is worse than horrible.

CNN and Biden in Panic Over Texas Abortion Law

 

Joe Biden and CNN in panic mode over the Supreme Court's 5-4 vote leaving a Texas abortion ban in place.

John Roberts has lost control of the Supreme Court
Biden launches federal effort to respond to Texas law as he faces pressure to protect abortion
Congress could protect access to abortion. Here's why that's unlikely to happen.

The August Reading List

For several years, posting a list of the books I've read during the year onto my sorryalltheclevernamesaretaken blog has been an annual event. When I began posting most of my doings to this blog, I posted the annual list for 2020 here as well.

Beginning in January, I began listing the books read on a monthly basis rather than annually.

In April, the list was made up by 15 dystopian novels.

In May, the list was rather small - with four novels by Anthony Trollope (whose novel The Fixed Period was the last dystopian novel of April) and two by Agatha Christie. Those two Christie novels was the beginning of a quest.

The book lists for June and July were made up entirely of novels by Agatha Christie. This list for August will likewise be of only Christie novels.

Counting the two Christie novels read in May, the total number of her novels (and collections) I've read to date is 58. With luck, I should be finished with Agatha Christie by the end of September.

So, here is the list of books I've read in August,

A Murder Is Announced
They Came to Baghdad
Mrs. McGinty's Dead
They Do It With Mirrors
After the Funeral
A Pocket Full of Rye
Destination Unknown
Hickory Dickory Dock
Dead Man's Folly
4:50 From Paddington
Ordeal by Innocence
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Pale Horse
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side