[Thanks to UC#1-SU for today’s topic!] That video was really fun! I loved how he started out by dumping out 1000s of grains of rice on the table. What was he thinking??? And using a felt-tipped pen probably was both an advantage (since he might be used to such writing implements) and a disadvantage, because […]
Category: Asia
[Thanks to UC#1-SU for pointing us towards today’s topic!] Rice Writing is a thing…. Rice writing is the art and skill of being able to write small enough to write on a grain of rice. HistoryRice writing originated in ancient Anatolia in Turkey and India. Many rituals and rites use rice as a medium, but […]
Ozoni / Mochi
It all began with a work assignment from board member and Senior Elder UC#3: [UC#3]Much more work to do for WLBOTT: and connections between food and culture/religion [UC#3]And the mochi thing is real: Four women die in Tokyo after choking on ‘mochi’ rice cakes | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis [UC#1-SU]Can […]
UC#3 sent us down a delicious rabbit hole when he suggested we research the dangers of eating Ozoni soup on New Year’s Day in Japan which causes choking deaths from the gelatinous mochi ball. Many of these images were liberated from My Modern Met (more below). Konel Bread More liberation from My Modern Met: Toast […]
Big Eyes
First grade – Montgomery, Alabama, no air conditioning but lots of fans. My parents bought us a set of children’s encyclopedias, and one had a picture of a Tarsier on the front. I remember being a little bit terrified, worried I would turn into one, and a little bit “let’s get one!” Each of the […]
Olga Reporting Live from Pyongyang
I was preparing a BLOTT about reliable, informative news sources that will help you get the big picture on Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine. This is a pretty big task, but as I was digging into Jake Broe, he had such an incredible story that I wanted to focus on this rabbit hole. The background […]
Special:Random – Workers’ Paradise
While doing some WLBOTT Special:Random research, look what randomly came up: Note that there are some glaring omissions, including but not limited to Putin, Stalin, Lenin, etc. The list from the Soviet era is noticeably thin: serial killers were bad PR for the Workers’ Paradise, and there have been movies and documentaries about how the […]
Recently watching the South Korean series The Killing Vote, I found the Korean currency a bit confusing. The won ₩ took quite a ride on the inflation train. The Screwed Up North Korean Won So many screwed up things here: South Korean Coins Commemorative coins celebrate Korea’s long history, sporting events, and the 2014 visit […]
You ever get hung up on a word? It just doesn’t look right. Especially with English – there are no rules when it comes to spelling. So…. the word I got hung up on today is “sake“. As in “Art for Art’s Sake”. Wait a minute – doesn’t that mean “Art for Art’s Japanese Rice […]