Tuttle News Wrap

1) I went to a trivia contest in Itaewon (American expat/military area) at 3 Alley Pub. It had a different format than I've seen before: the host asks questions, you write down your answers--all on one sheet. Then at the end of the game, you turn in your answer sheet, and he redistributes them for grading. But you don't have to put GHB on it ...

So there were 50 questions, beginning with 10 visual ones on the back side of the answer sheet. Then there were 10 questions in each of 4 categories. That's it; no wagering points, no final question, no drama.

On the whole, the questions were rather mundane, but I liked one category pretty well: Food and Drink in Song, with answers like Cream, Meatloaf and Cheeseburger in Paradise. I was hoping for Strawberry Alarm Clock, but no such luck.

I had a problem with one question, though--well, the answer, actually. The category was sports, the question described a hack--kicking another player about the shins or ankles--and asked what this was called in the rules. The answer had to be either kicking or tripping, but he said it was hacking. No, I maintained, that's the colloquial term, not the official name of the foul. At least it wasn't two years ago. I'm not going to cite my qualifications in soccer, but they are not inconsiderable.

My teammates badgered me into confronting him about it. Now, as a former trivia host and writer myself, this is something I don't like to do: you will not win. So I just asked him where he had got that information. "I checked on the FIFA website this morning," he assured me. Well, I checked it out that evening, when I got home, downloading the 2008/2009 Laws of the game here: http://www.fifa.com/mm/document/affederation/federation/81/42/36/lotg_en.pdf. A search does not turn up the terms "hack" or "hacking". Look at Law 12, Fouls and Misconduct, beginning on page 35.

That one point cost us the game--or at least a three-way tie for first. Plus, he made fun of our "wrong" answer!

2) The Job Fair lesson I wrote about earlier continued to be a success all week--by Wednesday, the whole school knew about it, and classes generally came in chomping at the bit. Even students who didn't want to get interviewed at first ended up jostling to get back in for another go.

This has emboldened me a little bit--I'm going to try another "station" activity in a few weeks: "Murder in London" a mystery set in late Victorian times, wherein pairs of students acting as detective teams (a la Holmes and Watson) will have to read information, examine evidence, and perhaps interview witnesses. After they visit a station, they have to decide where to go next, like in the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.

3) I'm in my chicken hof enjoying some fried chicken mild-uh and ma-shillin' some maekchu while watching Kia Tigers whip up on the LG Twins. It was 4 -2 Kia at the top of the 8th with one out. Half an hour later, the score is 12 - 2.

4) I only let myself do this after putting in the correct number of visits to the fitness center, where today I did 30.2 km on the machines. I lost 1.2 kg in the last 10 days. Someday, someone will ask me if I've lost some weight recently. I'll say, "Yes, I have--but I found most of it downstairs at the chicken hof."