Korea enjoys a rich culture, made up of a mixture of deeply historic elements alongside modern aspects like the blossoming K-pop world. Visitors to Korea can enjoy a variety of cultural and modern experiences unique to this fascinating country. Read on for ten fantastically unique products that can only be found in Korea.
K-Pop and Korean Drama Merchandise
K-pop, or Korean pop music and culture, is taking the world by storm, and is largely responsible for the burgeoning popularity of Korean dramas. Television dramas like Descendants of the Sun have enjoyed worldwide popularity, and Korea knows how to capitalize on the unexpected popularity of its pop culture.
K-pop merchandise can be found almost everywhere in Korea, but the real treasures lie in licensed souvenir shops run by major entertainment agencies.
Socks
While socks are certainly not a uniquely Korean item, the prevalence of sock-buying opportunities and the wide range of colors, designs, and characters available undoubtedly is. And they're not just targeted to children, as wearing socks emblazoned with favorite characters or even political figures is commonplace for modern Korean people too.
In fact, sock buying so common in Korean culture that sock vending machines can be found in popular areas of Seoul.
Cute Trinkets and Phone Cases
Much like the "kawaii" culture in Japan, Koreans love anything tiny and cute. Many cute items can be found throughout Seoul and other parts of Korea, from tiny teddy bears and dolls to intricate miniatures on keychains, and trinkets to attach to bags and cell phones.
As an offshoot of Korea's "cute" culture, the selection of cell phone cases available to purchase is almost unrivaled in Korea. The range of cases in the United States is a tiny proportion of what is available in other parts of the world, so it makes sense to bring home a selection of cell phone cases for yourself and as souvenirs for friends and family.
Beauty Products
BB Cream is one of the hottest beauty items on the market today, and by all accounts its popularity will only continue to rise. With BB Cream being a uniquely Korean invention, it is little wonder why people are exporting it in all its forms around the world.
But the Korean beauty market is so much more than BB Cream, with facial packs being another common and inexpensive item in Korea. In addition, a selection of strange and unusual beauty products can be found, from jaw massagers to double-eyelid tape, and antibacterial hand wipes to facial slimming masks.
Hanbok
Back to the traditional, the hanbok is for Korea what the kimono is for Japan. And just like in Japan, Korean men and women still wear their hanbok with pride during celebrations and social occasions. Visitors to Korea can order a custom-made hanbok, however they don't run cheap and can take up to three weeks to made.
As such, a variety of hanbok dolls and teddy bears are available for sale at various places throughout Korea, which have proven to be popular keepsakes.
Soju
Soju is the Koreans' alcoholic drink of choice, and like much of Korean culture, has become so popular overseas that the most well-known soju brand, Jinro, has been known to outsell other popular liquors in the United States.
A clear liquid like vodka, soju is typically made from rice and is considered to be quite bitter to taste, and not as strong as vodka.
Soju was traditionally made from rice, until rice shortages from the mid-1060s until the turn of the century caused the government to prohibit the use of rice in soju distillation. Creators needed to become inventive, and even today soju can be found with a tapioca, barley, wheat, or sweet potato base. The more expensive brands are once again made from rice, and soju that has been aged ten years in oak barrels carries a premium price.
Traditional Korean Masks
Masks have long featured in Korean culture, in royal courts, battle uniforms, ceremonies, and rituals. Today, traditional Korean masks still play a role in re-enactments of traditional plays and ceremonies, and as good-luck charms.
Korean Tea
Korea has a strong tea culture, with a variety of traditional and newer teas available. Meshil (sweet plum tea) and omija (five taste tea) are traditional variants that are still widely enjoyed today, while jakseolcha, an expensive form of green tea made from only the young buds of the leaves, is a firm favorite.
Hanji
Koreans have been making traditional paper, known as hanji, for thousands of years, and the tradition still endures today. Made from the bark of the mulberry tree hanji was traditionally used to over the windows, doors, and walls in Korean houses, but today is more commonly used for artistic purposes including stationery, paper dolls, and lamps.
Folding Fans
Folding fans have long been a part of Korean culture, with their use being considered essential, even in colder weather. Folding fans are widely available for purchase, and have traditionally been used as props in Korean dances and performances, providing shelter from the elements, and even to hide a person's face from onlookers.
Which of these products would you be most interested in bringing home from a trip to Korea? Are there other quintessentially Korean products that should be included on this list? Have your say in the comments below, and please like and share this article.
References
17 Uniquely Korean Items to Buy in Seoul - http://www.gpsmycity.com/articles/73-17-uniquely-korean-items-to-buy-in-seoul.html
A Guide to Cool “Korean” Things to Buy in Korea - http://grrrltraveler.com/countries/asia/korea/cool-things-to-buy-in-korea/
Top 20 Things To Buy In Seoul To Take Home - https://blog.trazy.com/2016/07/07/top-20-things-to-buy-in-seoul-to-take-home/
Top 13 Korean Souvenirs That Friends Will Love You For - https://www.tripzilla.com/buy-souvenirs-south-korea/19531
10 Best Seoul Souvenirs Worth Your Money - http://www.therealtravelers.com/south-korea/seoul/10-best-seoul-souvenirs-worth-your-money/
Top 10 Items to Buy in Seoul - http://english.visitseoul.net/top10/Top-10-Items-to-Buy-in-Seoul?indexSn=1§ionSn=77
Items to Buy - http://www.lifeinkorea.com/shopping/items.cfm
The following article is by a guest writer Martin Weatherall, an advocate in the harmful effects of electro magnetic radiation (EMR). This article comes from his work detailing sources of EMR from dangerous antennas in the area of Woodstock Ontario. Having being effected by EMR himself Martin put together the following list of cancer causing points.
I was surprised just how many I get exposed to on a daily basis. "Cancer is one of the most popular illnesses at present, why be left out? Why be one of the few that does not develop cancer? Here are a few tips and ideas to ensure that you are also included in the great cancer lottery! RADIATION, RADIATION, RADIATION, it is simple, find a good source of non ionizing radiation, (the so-called 'safe stuff' – not the nuclear) and you have a great chance of getting cancer. You and your family may be lucky enough to develop some of the bonus illnesses, the new designer radiation illnesses, such as: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autism, Fybromyalgia, Severe Allergies, Diabetes, Leukemia and Alzheimer's. You also may suffer old favorites such as Heart Attack, Stroke and Arthritis.
Here are some simple ideas to assist you to get cancer:
1. Use a CELL (mobile) PHONE, use it long and often, the high level of radiation being delivered to your head will provide you with a good chance of brain cancer.
2. Use a CORDLESS PHONE, another good source of radiation to cause brain cancer.
3. Get a DECT CORDLESS PHONE, this baby will not only radiate you when you are talking on it but will radiate your whole house twenty-four hours a day. This is a great way to get your entire family radiated. If you leave it next to your head while you are sleeping, it will be more effective. If you live in an apartment, you can radiate the people in the next unit. This is a real cheap way to do serious harm, no sign up fees, no monthly charges, and no charge for usage, just leave this in the charger; it will do the rest.
4. Attach a WiFi (wireless) system to your computer, it will radiate anyone using the computers in your home and may spread the radiation throughout the entire house. Just leave it turned on and forget about it, ill health should follow.
5. Cook with a MICROWAVE, you do not even have to stand close to the unit, it will cover the entire kitchen and a few other nearby rooms with radiation. You get the added bonus of destroying food nutrition at the same time, another help to cancer.
6. Drive a nice MODERN CAR with lots of gadgets and computerized equipment; drive it long distances for long periods of time. This will ensure that you are well covered in electro magnetic fields, another form of radiation that will harm your body. To make the car even more unhealthy, get a GPS system. If you then use a cell phone in the car, the radiation will bounce all around the interior and radiate you and the other occupants from all different directions. The cell phone will also power up to high power, in order to get transmission out of this 'metal box'.
7. When you sleep, have a CLOCK RADIO, BEDSIDE LIGHTS, TELEPHONE and EXTENSION CORDS near to the bed. This will ensure that you will be receiving a large amount of Electro Magnetic Radiation from the wiring and the appliances. This is a really good way of getting cancer because your body will not be able to recover and rejuvenate itself, as it should during sleep.
8. Use an ELECTRIC BLANKET, keep it turned on and plugged in. This radiates a very high source of Electro Magnetic Radiation through your entire body and should eventually cause some real damage.
9. Visit your MD, your doctor will probably advise you that there is no danger from these devices. You will probably be told that Health Canada and the World Health Organization think these devices are safe and there is more evidence that shows that they are safe than there is evidence, which shows those are causing cancer and very serious harm to health? This will give you a great false sense of security and you can get cancer without even worrying about it.
10. Get WIRELESS GAMES for the kids. This should keep them happy and radiated for many hours. They may even develop A.D.D. and you get the residue radiation.
11. Have a WIRELESS SECURITY SYSTEM. Radiate any burglars and your family.
12. Use a WIRELESS THERMOMETER and all kinds of other wireless devices.
13. Live near a LARGE TRANSMITTING ANTENNA. You will be well received.
14. If you have lots of property, invite cell phone companies to install a CELL PHONE MAST and antennas on your land, you get the house radiated, all your property and the neighbors too! Cancer and you get paid for it. Does it get any better?
15. Live near to HIGH POWER ELECTRICAL TRANSMISSION LINES, they should give you quite a great buzz.
16. Live near to a TRANSFORMER or an ELECTRICAL SUB-STATION, you can be the 'live-wire' of the area.
17. Work in an OFFICE ENVIRONMENT with WiFi, computers, electronic equipment wireless telephones and electrical wiring close to your body.
18. Work with POWER TOOLS such as power saws and electrical welding equipment. They cause very high electro magnetic fields. A new way of getting a 'buzz cut'.
19. Sleep near to a FUSE PANEL, DISTRIBUTION BOX. This is another great source of very high levels of EMFs. You will be empowered!
20. Spend lots of time at your KITCHEN SINK, you will probable get GROUND CURRENT ELECTRICITY. This may enter your house from the power utilities electrical distribution system and come in through the water pipes. It may pass through your body and deliver lots of dangerous high frequency radiation.
21 Get lots of X-RAYS and CT SCANS, this is the real heavy-duty radiation, known to cause serious damage in just seconds. Don't wait for your doctor to suggest x-rays.
There are lots more sources of Electro Magnetic Radiation that can help you to develop cancer. The best way is to combine several of these sources together. It is very easy to do because most modern homes have all or most of these serious pollutants easily available. Remember! - The more radiation the merrier and more chance of cancer!
You can also add to your chances of getting cancer by the old stand-byes, smoking, and air pollution and chemical pollution. Mixed with the radiation they should work great! Of course the opposite is also true! If you want to protect yourself from these dangers, start taking action to avoid exposure and tell others what they should avoid!" Relevant sites: www.powerwatch.org.uk www.electricalpollution.com www.mastsanity.org www.microwavenews.com www.healthharmemr.net
With so much information about the iPhone being generated over the past week here is a run down of the various reviews and information we have been getting about the iPhone.
Reviews Walt Mossberg on the iPhone. One of the first iPhone reviews and goes into quite some detail about the various functions of the phone. This is a good starting place to find out about the iPhone. The New York Times iPhone Review. By David Pogue. Again another good starting place to find out about the iPhone. David Pogue's iPhone review. (video) He really doesn't like AT&T's Edge network. Cnet Australia on the iPhone vs the Nokia N95. Compares thickness, screen size, display surface, Wifi, talk time, internet use, video playback and audio playback time as well as a range of other criteria. The iPhone scorecard from reviews so far. The iPhone seems to be scoring highly so far.
Engadget on comparing the iPhone to the Blackberry. Essential read if you are thinking about an iPhone and are a business user. Wireless Info iPhone review. Says the iPhone is attractive to business users and is revolutionary in some ways but only evolutionary in others. First impressions for Daring Fireball. Splits the review up into the different parts of the phone, not as long as some reviews but has some very good points. Howard Forums on the problems with the iPhone. Points out some useful things that you might expect on other phones but not on the iPhone.
Engadget iPhone review. Detailed review about the various features, comes to the same conclusion as many other reviews though states that productivity with the iPhone could be better. TUAW with real world iPhone experience. Dave Caolo has fallen in love with the iPhone as he puts it. iLounge iPhone review. Ten pages of indepth iPhone information saying the phone is great but the two year contract sucks. TUAW initial thoughts on Mail and SMS. Generally positive about using SMS but as he admits he doesn't send a lot of SMS messages. Pocket-lint iPhone review. Great phone but still with it downsides, they are not convinced on the two year contract.
Hardware TUAW with some iPhone pictures and first impressions. Fixit on dismantling the iPhone. (Someone was going to do it sooner or later) PC World on the iPhone stress test. (Video) Engadget on the iPhone using an 620mhz ARM CPU. Potentially made by Samsung. Business Week on how much the iPhone components cost to make. Discusses some of the possible manufactures of parts and how much they cost. TUAW on the iPhone battery replacement warranty. Apple Insider on the internal components in the iPhone. Parts from Samsung and Intel.
Engadget on the iPhone not looking so cool. Nasty crack in the top of the iPhone from the edge of a table.. AnandTech on dissecting the iPhone. Lots of pictures and detail about what is inside the iPhone. How Stuff Works on how the iPhone works. Good detail of the touch screen system and features.
Rumours Engadget on a 3G iPhone for Europe. On Vodaphone and T-Mobile in the UK.
Apple Insider on how the iPhone could be updated for Leopard. Apple Insider admit they are not sure about this rumour.
Applications Lifehacker on the top 10 iPhone applications. Some useful apps and some not so useful apps. Hackintosh on the iPhone system restore image download. Download straight from Apple. Joe Hewitt on Firebug for the iPhone. Debugging software for the iPhone. 25 Top Web Applications for the iPhone. Includes iPhone Chat, Google Reader, iPhoneDigg and OneTrip Shopping list. iPhone Source. Good website on iPhone applications.
Activation Engadget on the iPhone costs. (All American costs, no European costs available yet). Apple Insider on porting ineligible numbers to the iPhone. TUAW on how to get a contract-free iPhone. More on prepay from TUAW using 999-99-9999 as your social security number.
Interface Apple video on the keyboard interface. Official video from Apple about how to use the on screen touch typing. Think Secret with high resolution iPhone interface screen shots. Some nice pictures of the phone if you have not yet seen what it looks like. Gizmondo on touch typing on the iPhone. (Video) Engadget video on iPhone interface. Available in high definition. The iPhone Root Password. Ged Blog on setting the iPhones wallpaper. Useful if you want to put pictures from web sites onto the wallpaper of your phone.
Humour Stephen Colbert on the iPhone. He doesn't actually have one but has the next best thing, an imaginary one. Punking an Apple Fanboy on iPhone release week. Some people have too much time on their hands, funny though! The Joy of Tech Comic.
Other Gizmondo on what the iPhone doesn't have. Songs as ringtones (seems an obvious thing to have), games, flash, MMS (seems obvious too) and video recording to name a few. BBC on the iPhone making it into stores. Includes a video of Google CEO Eric Schmidt showing off his iPhone. BBC on the iPhone creating a stir at launch. Selling over 500,000 units in its opening weekend. Three accessories that won't work on your iPhone. Won't work as a phone when docked into speakers, no stereo Bluetooth and your headphones may not work. Think there is something missing from this list? Contact me.
After one of my recent rants I used an image of Gordon Ramsay saying 'Done'. I received a number of comments saying how funny it was and how it would make a great Internet meme so I've put together an image generator that lets you create your own Gordon Ramsay sayings!
Once your happy with your image right click it, select save as and change the extension to .png, you can then use it anywhere on the web.
Note: If your reading this through the RSS feed or Facebook you will need to visit the post on ImAFish.
Much love for Terri Ann and her writing text to images with php tutorial which was 99% of the work DONE.
I've been developing web sites using Drupal for over 18 months now, for me the flexibility and modules available for Drupal make it the best and quickest way to develop a website. Here are some of my top tips:
1. If you want to edit the layout of the site maintenance page you can find the CSS file in misc/maintenance.css.
2. After I have installed Drupal I first enable clean URLs then enable the path module. This means I can build basic SEO in from the start. If building a blog or articles based site I like to use the path auto module to automatically specify the URL.
3. When designing a site I like to build it in Dreamweaver first, then I copy the PHP template tags in from another template (often bluemarine). In the past I would customise the garland theme however there was a lot of extra CSS that I would often remove.
4. To create a template for an individual node type create a file in your template directory called node-nodetype.tpl.php where nodetype is the node type. (ie node-story.tpl.php for a story node).
This is really useful for customising individual nodes especially when using CCK and the views module. For instance I recently built a ticket support system for a company, by integrating a view into the company node you could immediately see the open tickets for that company.
//load the view by name
$view = views_get_view('view ticket');
//output the top three items in the view with the node title as an argument
print views_build_view('embed', $view, array($node->nid), false, 3);
The above code is for inserting a view into a node - more in the views documentation.
5. When first developing a theme I change the administrative theme to Garland or Bluemarine so that I can still access all the administration sections in order to enable menus, blocks, CCK and other configuration options.
6. In Drupal 5 a top border is added to tables. If this messes up your theme edit modules/system/system.css and comment out or remove line 18 ( border-top: 1px solid #ccc; ).
7. The TinyMCE module allows you to turn a text area into a WYSIWYG editor giving you formatting options such as bold, italic, underline, text direction, links and images. The module IMCE adds image upload and resizing support to TinyMCE.
8. When upgrading from Drupal 4.7x to 5x I often have problems with IMCE not working with TinyMCE, to revolve this remove the TinyMCE profile and recreate it.
9. If you enable a lot of modules you may get php memory errors, to fix this add:
ini_set('memory_limit', '20M');
to the sites/default/settings.php file. You may also have to do this on the pages that have the errors to.
I usually add it after the other ini_set variables in the settings.php file.
10. When developing I like to have the cache disabled, once the site is ready to launch I will set it to normal mode. The same goes for aggregating and compressing CSS files.
11. When having to create user profiles I use the node profile module along with the CCK (content construction kit) module rather than the profile module included with Drupal as default. CCK gives you a lot more flexibility and there are many more customization options. Also by making a profile a node you can theme it easier (see #4).
12. In Drupal 5 you can specify a default front page from the site information page however an easy way to create different front pages for authenticated and non authenticated users it to use the front page module.