Vietnamese Science

(PICTURE: Dr. Huyen giving a lecture on science)

There should be a television show hosted by Bill Cosby called, "The Vietnamese Say The Darndest Things." A day doesn't go by that a Vietnamese person doesn't make a claim that is, well, not exactly based on science and facts.

One of the many benefits of dating a local is I'm privy to some serious information -- that's seriously hilarious information. About a month ago Huyen said something absurd to me: "Oh, do not eat so many bean sprouts." At the time I was putting bean sprouts into my bun cha. I naturally asked why I shouldn't eat bean sprouts and Huyen informed me that, "Bean sprouts are bad for men."
"They're just bad for men," I asked.
"Yes, they are bad for your [points at my mid section]."
"Is that based on science?" She just told me it was.
I then said, "You know America has been to space? I'll take my American science over your Vietnamese folk lore." This is when Huyen told me that a Vietnamese man had been to space too (he traveled with the Russians). I countered with, "Well, we've been on the moon!"

Anyway, since that day whenever Huyen makes a strange remark and I give her a look she immediately says, "It's science."

Some scientific things I learned recently:

Dr. Huyen: "You have white hairs because of your blood. It's science."

Dr. Huyen: "Eating salt is the best way for women to have boys. It's science."

Dr. Huyen: "Married couples must have a lot of sex to get rid of bad genes. It's science."

Dr. Huyen: "Drinking this (a strange white powder she brought over made from some fruit) will get rid of your pimples. It's science."

Dr. Huyen: "If your breath smells like garlic breath against a wall and it will smell better. Girls must do this 5 times, boys 7 times."

The truth is I was never good at science. But come on!

Plagiarism

A few times since I've started teaching I've had to give a talk about plagiarism. Apparently it's not frowned upon here to copy and paste someone else's work and pretend it's your own. A couple clear signs to me that someone has plagiarized are:

1. The use of words that I have to look up to understand.

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2. An error free paragraph on "what I did last summer?" by a student who up until this very moment hasn't comprehended the difference between "went" and "go."

3. The actual website address accidentally copied into the text.

In my teenager class this week I had a new plagiarism detection siren go off -- two girls handed in the same exact essay about the Jonas Brothers (apparently they are some teen rock band). It wasn't that one girl copied the other girls paper, they both copied wikipedia. They literally had 95% of the same article from the website.

Today, before I handed back the papers, I gave my class a lecture about plagiarism which went basically like this: "If you study abroad and your parents pay tuition -- let's say $40,000 -- and you plagiarize, you will be thrown out of school and your parents will lose their money." This got all of the students attention. As you can imagine $40,000 is a lot of money here.

At the end of class I handed back everyone's essays. I handed the two plagiarizing girls their essays last and said, "Look I know you copied this but what I'm most upset about is that you lied to me when I asked you if you copied this on Thursday (NOTE: When they handed me the paper I immediately knew they hadn't written it and asked them straight up, "Did you write this?" They both said yes.)." One of the girls looked at me and said, "I didn't copy this. My brother did it." So the question is, which is worse: having your sibling do your homework for you OR turning in material you plagiarized yourself?

Happy Birthday, Dad! (In Vietnam)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I've got the greatest Dad in the world. I was going to get you a great birthday present this year, Dad, but then Zev went ahead and had Lilah a week before your birthday. How the hell do I compete with that? You don't...so I just made a video for you. I love you!

Ben

P.S. I know you're going to surprise me and show up at my Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Singapore this weekend, right?

P.S.S. My Dad's birthday is the 28th. This is posting during Vietnamese time...so yes, I'm the first to wish my Dad a happy birthday.

Hayden Update

I've received a lot of emails asking how Hayden is doing. The last 24 hours have been full of ups and downs. Last night there was a huge down when things took a turn for the worse and looked pretty bleak. However, tonight, there appears to be some good news:

Wild animals, maggots attack Australian lost in Laos

Hayden Adcock ... close to death when found.

An Australian man who survived a harrowing 11 days missing in the jungle in Laos had terrible injuries inflicted by wild animals and an infestation of maggots, his mother says.

Hayden Adcock, 40, is recovering in a Thai hospital following his ordeal, with medical staff saying his condition has improved slightly since yesterday.

Hayden suffered multiple health problems after he went missing on a short walk to a waterfall in a national park in the Khammouane province of Laos on July 31.

A helicopter search found him on August 10 and he was airlifted to hospital in Bangkok.

His mother, Lynne Sturrock, who is with her son, said Hayden was badly injured when he was rescued.

"He came upon a beautiful escarpment of coloured rocks, something he hadn't seen before and went over to have a look, maybe strayed off the track a bit, and some huge lizards came out," she told the Nine Network today.

The lizards chased him, and he was injured when he fell from the escarpment, becoming prey to local wildlife, she said.

"Wild animals had attacked him and he was covered in wounds," she said.

"... Flies had bitten him. He ended up with maggots in his wounds, which is a good thing, people are saying, but they ended up laying eggs in the good layers of the skin as well."

His 78-year-old father Stan Adcock, who lives at Yandina on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, said medicos administered an injection last night to stop Hayden's internal bleeding, and it appeared to be working.

Michael Morton, an Australian doctor working at the hospital where Hayden was being treated, emailed Mr Adcock to say he had seen his son this morning and he was "conscious, alert and responding well".

"He has several medical problems all interacting with each other and has a long way to go," Dr Morton wrote.

"Both he and Lynne are very happy with the care he is receiving and the Australian embassy has been very supportive."

Mr Adcock said he was encouraged by the overnight development after bleeding in Hayden's stomach had caused him to take a turn for the worse on Sunday night.

"It's better news today because it's been a couple of terrible days," Mr Adcock said today.

"I'd almost given up hope for him."

If the injection did its job, surgeons at the Bangkok hospital would not have to operate.

This was something they had been reluctant to do, given his significant weight loss, multiple health problems and weakened condition.

KEEP SENDING HAYDEN GOOD THOUGHTS!

Community Combs

(PICTURE: A community comb at karaoke)

One thing that always makes me giggle is when I go into a bathroom and there is a comb sitting on the sink. These combs are community combs -- they're for whoever wants to use them.

What makes me giggle even more is when I see someone using them.

That said, my hair has never looked so straight.
...but my scalp has been itching a lot.

Lilah Meets Uncle Ben

It's almost like I'm home...

Man, we both look so young!

I just went through my photos and found the closest picture of Zev that matches up with Lilah. Don't they look alike?

Hayden Update II

This is good news:

Aussie lost in Laos jungle 'improving'

August 22, 2008 - 4:34PM

An Australian man who was lost in a Laotian jungle for 11 days without food is having his body re-built "one organ at a time", his father said today.

Queensland-based Stan Adcock said he was hopeful his 40-year-old son Hayden would make a full recovery after being rescued from a remote jungle location in central Laos and evacuated to Thailand.

"He's still in a critical conditon of course, he's not out of the woods yet, but they're working on it and they feel there will be a total recovery - well they're hoping so," Mr Adcock said.

"I'm hoping that means not only will he survive but they'll have all of his bodily functions restored, he won't be in a wheelchair or anything."

Hayden Adcock, who was born in Victoria and grew up on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, went missing after setting out on a short walk to a waterfall in a national park in Khammouane province on July 31.

The Australian embassy in Vientiane was notified he was missing on August 8 and two staff immediately travelled to the area to help coordinate search efforts.

However, heavy rain and flooding hampered efforts on the ground and it was not until a helicopter search was conducted two days later that he was found and evacuated to Bangkok.

Mr Adcock said his Hong Kong-based nephew arrived in Thailand yesterday and held the telephone to Hayden's ear so he could talk.

"They'd just taken the tube out of his throat and he's still got an oxygen mask on and they put the phone to his ear and he was able to try and talk to me," he said.

"I couldn't understand a word he said of course because the tube in the voice box had upset his throat but that was the most thrilling piece of news we'd had."

Mr Adcock said it was still early days for his son but the family was feeling positive.

"I'm thrilled that Hayden has got such a fighting spirit and that gives me a lot of confidence," he said.

"If he'd dropped his bundle or something like that that would have been hard to bear."

Hayden Adcock's mother will arrive in Bangkok tomorrow, Mr Adcock said.

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I also found a news story on him: http://video.yahoo.com/watch/3349231/9393172

You know he's going to end up selling his story rights for millions. I hope he lets me write his screenplay.