US Embassy - Passport

I just got the monthly mass mailer from the US Embassy in Seoul. I noticed point "5. It is midnight. Do you know where your passport is?" It goes on to talk about replacing lost/stolen passports and finishes with "If you lose more than one passport in 10 years, your replacement passport will be limited to one-year’s validity. So keep those passports secure!"

I knew that people under (I think) age 16 have their passports valid for less than ten years, but I thought age was the only reason for a shorted period of validity.

Last week I stopped by the embassy to apply for a new passport. Mine is hitting the 10 year mark soon so it's better to renew before summer starts. Their photo machine in the lobby is now gone, which is a shame because "passport photos" in Korea and "passport sized photos" in the US are different and my Costco "passport photos" were too small. But I will admit they gave a great map to a photo machine in the stairwell of a district office a block away. Yes, it's in the stairwell next to the elevator. The lady was cleaning it and assisted in the process. I found out she knew just enough English to do her job and my other chattings had to be spoken in Korean.

The last time I was in downtown LA I remember seeing concrete barricades in front of some government building and really felt uncomforted to see those. I did spot some new planters in front of the US Embassy and on closer inspection found them to be the prettiest barricades I've ever seen.