http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/facebook-spies-on-phone-users-text-messages-report-says/story-e6frfku0-1226282017490

I keep finding more and more reasons to not go back to Facebook.

http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bays-peter-sunde-on-the-copyright-mafia-120222/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+Torrentfreak+%2528Torrentfreak%2529

Being the typical “Canadian Hacker” (meaning that we don’t actually do anything but just forward information thar could be interpreted /implies otherwise by virtue of conent) I present a non-standard point of view on ACTA and this concerns me greatly.

http://www.disinfo.com/2012/01/anonymous-reveals-the-arcane-legal-trick-behind-acta/

I don’t know if you have been following the SOPA and ProtectIP debates going on around the Internet about the US bills that are trying to be pushed through the Gov’t. If you are of a ‘content-focused’ nature, this should be a huge interest as it will affect you directly in your business/blog/online dealings.

Here is a pretty good overview of what these entail:

GoDaddy was a huge supporter of SOPA. So much so that there was a ton of backlash from many, many of it customers. When it really started to hit their pocketbook, they made a statement that they no longer support it.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57349913-281/godaddy-bows-to-boycott-now-opposes-sopa-copyright-bill/

Being the cynic that I am, when companies do things like this, they may oppose it but when push comes to shove, they’ll cave without reservation, if the bill gets passed and some company makes its first claim to their new SOPA-powered legal rights. I just don’t trust them any more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectip
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/setting-record-straight-sopa-some-evidence-based-analysis

Directions in a foreign country can be downright frustrating to say the least.  That is until you understand how things are organized.  In North America, everything is done by streets and addresses.  If I say 123 Main St E, it is simple for those from North America to find Main St and then find 123.

In Korea things are not like that.  In order to mail something here, you start in ‘reverse’ order if you will.  To quote Wikipedia:

A typical building in South Korea is described by the administrative divisions in which it lies. If the address is written in Korean, the largest division will be written first, followed by the smaller divisions, and finally the building and the recipient. If the recipient is in a multi-unit building, the floor and apartment or suite number may follow.

It’s a logical breakdown from largest to smallest and makes a lot of sense.

Here is it in a table format:

Since addressing looks so confusing, it is very easy to just say “I’m lost” without looking any further.  Fortunately I don’t give up easy

Even after you have the address, there is the problem of getting there.  That means you need damn good directions.  Because you simply can’t just find a street and walk to the address when you are dealing with a ‘block addressing’ format, you absolutely rely on addressing being given to you by the people living/working in the area you are going to.  In plain words, if you get into a taxi you ask the driver to take you to ‘the McDonalds in Westdale’.  As there is only one McDonalds in Westdale, the driver knows exactly where to take you.  This doesn’t work so well for brand new places.

Let me explain.  Each building in Korea has a name assigned to it(or group of buildings).  Our building is “Ji Young Village”.  Event currently on Google Maps the lot shows a vacant spot as our building is less than a year old.  So when I got here and asked him exactly that, he looked confused.  When he saw the name of the school on the paper I had, he knew where to go exactly(even if he did purposed go at a rather leisurely pace…..native people will generally take advantage of non-natives as they somehow assume you are stupid.  I saw this and mentally chuckled to myself.  I still gave him a tip just to make his day and give him another story to tell his friends).  It is always a good idea to have a local friend write out your address in Korean, makes like much easier

Now, to use the subway system is yet another skill you need to master.  Again, you need more information than where you start and where you begin, at least until you get the hang of things.  So here is my near-foolproof method of using the Seoul Metro Subway.

For each destination you will need the following:

• What line number you are on
• What line number your end stop is on
• What is the last station is in the direction you are going
• What is the next stop in your direction

That seems like a lot of info but it really makes it easy to get around and vital to your ‘sense of direction’ when here.  So here is a simple table layout that would be of great value if you are new and need absolute guidance:

Click to see simple sheet

For example, we wanted to go to Yongsan Electronics Market to get some more memory for my Netbook and see what else is there.  We started at Uijeongbu Station.  Here is what our table would look like.

Click to see our simple one-stop table

That is a very straight forward get on/get off.  It gets to be a lot of fun when you switch lines but as long as you keep it simple as above, you’ll get around just fine.

So lets take a look at our travels last Saturday.  We hit 4 places around Seoul so hold onto your hats!

Click here to see spreadsheet

As you can see, if you want an ultimate control and near full-proof method for getting around, it takes a wee bit of planning.  Of course, once you are used to the area, this tool is no longer needed.  Still, there are people who will rely on something like this for their entire lives.

Also, looking at that some may be thinking that it cost us a fortune on fares.  Far from it.  I think we spent a grand total of around $5 or $7 for the day.