Jason Whong: Renaissance Man-in-Training

If your car feels like it needs replacement, maybe it just needs service. I haven’t been happy with my care for a while; it was noisy and had lousy traction. I knew its front tires were nearly bald and I knew there was something wrong with the catalytic converter. It was also very loud.

I think the reason it was so loud was because there was a hole in the exhaust system. The reason I think this is because on Saturday, the entire exhaust pipe broke off, making it sound like an airplane. Prior to that, I just thought that old cars were supposed to get louder.

So, after sinking about $400 into new tires, alignment, a new catalytic converter and oxygen sensor (which was broken), I now have a cart that is quieter than it’s been in years. I have no doubts that it will pass the state inspection in May.

Technorati Tags: automotive

I just read a decent Washington Post article about how younger Korean Americans see the Virginia Tech tragedy as the action of a single mentally ill person, while older Korean Americans tend to fixate on how it was the action of a Korean American.

It seems that that the only ones blaming Koreans are Koreans. The Korean government tried to send a delegation to apologize, but America said it wasn’t necessary, since the country doesn’t view it as an international incident.

Shame is a big deal in Korea. It’s become less of a big deal in America in the past century. I think in some cases, it would be better if Americans had a little more shame now and then, but only for things for which they are personally responsible. Call it a melding of Korean and American ideals, but really it’s just the conservative side of me. (I have a liberal side, too.)

Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech, Korea

Someone going by the name of Luke Sherwood has been trying to insult me through comments left on this blog. Because I moderate comments, none of his (or her) posts will show up here.

I’ve often wondered what possesses people to leave hateful messages to others. Especially on their own blogs. It just seems like a total waste of time. The poster did not notice that his comments were being held in moderation, and left three comments insulting me, my wife, and soccer balls. Whatever.

I noticed something about this article posted at Washingtonpost.com abouthow the police struggled to enter Norris Hall.
The headline was:
Police Describe Struggle to Enter Hall at Va. Tech

The subheadline was:
With Doors Chained, Access Took 5 Minutes

Often, the subhead fills in the blanks or supports the headline. But I think this subhead actually trumps the headline.

Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech

Yesterday I shot some high school lacrosse with a Canon 200mm f/1.8L lens. For those who do not know, the lens is the fastest 200mm lens ever made, enabling a quick shutter speed under almost any lighting condition. That’s because an aperture of 1.8 allows a lot of light in. It also allows for a very shallow depth of field, which makes sports photo subjects leap out of their backgrounds, almost.

I also shot a few minutes with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L. I was able to get some decent stuff with the 70-200, but it is not always as sharp as the stuff I shoot with the 200mm 1.8. This lens has two numbers on it to indicate its range of focal lengths: 70 millimeters all the way out, to 200 millimeters all the way in. The other lens has only one number because it is stuck at 200 millimeters. But few people who use this lens complain about it.

The “L” at the end of each lens name designates that it is a professional or “luxury” lens. That means it’s a bit more rugged and probably produces better images than the cheaper stuff.

See if you can tell which of the five shots in the gallery were shot with which lens. (It should be pretty clear based on the clues I have provided in this post.)

I noticed that a few of my posts have become reference material for people all over the globe. Because of this, I’ve made some changes to layout in order to accomodate ads from Google AdSense.

You may notice a few changes in the coming days as I decide what should go where.

Today I covered a fire. It was not something I had planned to do; indeed, I had switched my schedule to 1 to 9 p.m. so that I could be home in time to pack and do other things in preparation for my vacation this weekend (which Erin has written about a few times, I am sure.)

Anyway, I got to the fire, where I saw Andrea, who works with our broadcast partner WENY. She was telling me how easy it was to find the place because of all the smoke. Unfortunately, that was all we could see. There was no indication that there was a house behind all the smoke. I knew it was going to make for a lousy photo. But that was where she and one other person were standing, as the road ahead was blocked.

Fortunately for me, there were no signs posted against trespassing, and the hill to the right of the road looked unimproved. So I dashed up the hill, jumping over small streams, and maneuvered to a place where I could look down on the house. I had actually maneuvered to a decent shooting position, without endangering myself or others. And in advance of all the other media.

I still could not see the house, but I saw firefighters. Eventually the smoke changed color and I could see the house, or what was left of it. That’s how I got those images.

I don’t know whose house this was, or if anyone was injured (but I saw no ambulances nearby). I hope the affected people were safe and that they were insured. The place did not look salvageable when I left, and fire trucks were still coming.

JoongAng Daily reports on a phenomenon in Korea: Koreans are searching online for people with the same name as killer Cho Seung-Hui and leaving harrassing messages. They are outraged at the killings, and want to take it out by leaving these messages.

Yonhap News Agency made a mistake in rendering Cho Seung-Hui into Korean. (I’m guessing they went with 조승휘 instead of 조승희). Now all these other people with the same name as the mistake were being inundated with angry traffic on their blogs.

It’s an interesting and unexpected development. It’s just interesting that Yonhap would get this wrong… They are Korean and should know to look at the Hangul before writing the Hangul, as their source was English.

Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech

The Asian American Journalists Association recently sent an advisory cautioning editors against mentioning that Cho Seung-Hui is Korean or an immigrant, saying that it has nothing to do with the massacre.

When I was a student, I was a member of AAJA. It was because a newswriter at WJLA told me to join because “we Asians need to stick together because of our disadvantages.” It almost made sense to me then: culturally speaking, I did not have generations of American experience on my father’s side. Because of this, I might have more ease with American culture than an immigrant, but not as much ease as a person who had many generations of experience on both sides of their family. But I’m digressing. I am not currently a member of AAJA, mostly because I don’t prefer categorization by race.

Here’s the crux of what AAJA is talking about:

We understand the need to research the background of Seung-Hui Cho (first name is pronounced “sung hee”) and to provide details about him as a nation struggles to make sense of the horrific incident.

But we are disturbed by some media outlets’ prominent mention that the suspect is an immigrant from South Korea when such a revelation provides no insight or relevance to the story.

That’s right, editors: the AAJA says please don’t mention he is Korean, but please pronounce his Korean name correclty, and please know the order that Korean names appear in.

So here begins my open letter to the AAJA:

This atrocity in Virginia is the top story in Korea. If anything, its newsworthiness in Korea is worth several stories in American media.

While I agree that race, ethnicity, nationality, et. al. had nothing to do with the incident, I don’t think it’s out of line to mention that Cho is an immigrant for the following reasons:

• If Cho had naturalized, AP would call him Seung-Hui Cho instead of Cho Seung-Hui. Explaining that he is South Korean makes it clear to readers why they use his family name first. (Either that, or AP screwed up and is keeping last name first order for consistency.)
• Knowing how old he was when he came to America provides clues to what challenges he may have faced, coming to a new country and making new friends at such a young age.
• Because he has committed such a heinous crime, it is not unusual to report every detail, relevant or not. Why do we know Lee Oswald’s middle name? Is it unfair to people with a middle name of Harvey to refer to Oswald by his full name?
• Would the AAJA object to reporting on Cho’s nationality if Cho had been naturalized Canadian or British? Or what if Cho were born in Australia? What if he were white and from France? Would the AAJA object if we called him French?
• Did the AAJA object when American media reports mentioned that Osama Bin Laden is Saudi?
• Would AAJA members find it rude or offensive to postal workers to use the term “going postal” in everyday speech?
• Because the crime involved the legal purchase of firearms, isn’t it important to note that Cho was a “resident alien”?

I don’t think it is out of line to mention that Cho was Korean, a “resident alien”. There are too many dimensions to the story that make it relevant.

Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech

Today I spoke at Career Day at Diven Elementary School. Fifth grade students piled into the room and sat on the floor as I told them about my job and about what I did.

Kids say the darnedest things. One of them asked me about the advantages of my job (which was on the sheet they had to fill out.) I told them that when I covered a sporting event in Albany, the newspaper paid for my hotel room; I paid nothing to get into the games; I didn’t have to wait in any lines; I stood on the sideline instead of sitting way up in the stands; and I could go to a lounge and get free food any time I wanted.

One of them asked “If you have kids and you can’t find a babysitter, can you take them with you for the free food?”

At the end of the second session, a bunch of the kids asked me when they could start working at the paper. (Most of the people at the paper think this is hilarious.)