Kim's family

Being uninterested in North Korea ruled by Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Un, 

I never bother myself to look into news about the country labeled as rogue, arcane, insane, cruel....

According to multiple sources of South Korean news articles, 

the Kim's family has smuggled super extravagant luxury goods through its ambassadors staying in

socialist countries. 

The Kim Sr. is known as collector of anything that fulfills his fantasy. 

His obsession with speed results in importing racing horses from Russia, each horse costs  more than

$ 100,000. When Kim's father founded the country, a myth was propagated: Kim Il Sung came down from 

the heaven on a holy white horse. The horse photo, Orlov Trotter, is one of the real horses imported from Russia. 

North Korea smuggled, not imported US made jet skis to meet Kim's expectation. North Korea is constrained by United Nations sanctions from exporting or importing luxury goods.

Sea Doo Jet Skis  are banned to be sold to the country


 since they are US goods. 

But Kim grabbed them in his hands by squeezing his 


subordinates living abroad so 

North Korean diplomats' chief tasks are to supply his list 


of luxury goods regardless of 

rarity. Of course, US products are obtained in other 


communist countries and then shipped to North Korea.

According to the South Korean agencies, Kim has spent 


$1.04 billion to purchase 

such luxuries for his family and henchmen over the last 


three years, including 

numerous wine ($1,000 per bottle), whiskey ($2000), 


boats ($ 1million), Mercedes ($ 100,000), even pet shampoo.

One important fact that Kim has to smuggle such goods 


is that he uses such luxuries to give his subordinates in 


return for allegiance.

That's why the country has not been toppled yet in the 


waves of Arab Spring. 

     

TV, the greatness

Once a media consumer starts to view television shows as a subject of study to analyze and criticize, he would lose his appetite for the simple TV pleasure: watch, laugh, and relax. In a similar way, as an old Asian saying goes, “When your enjoyment turned into a business to feed yourself, your life will turn out to be a miserable stage of coma.” This is where I am stuck at present. As an ex and current-TV addict, I used to and still have a dream of spending the rest of my life watching TV in my cozy recliner, giving my best compliment to a remote control that completes my TV life. I regarded the remote as the most brilliant device supporting my couch potato life style.

However, my dream was not stretched into my reality, which forced me to do something for my career. For most people in the world, there are four inevitable human being stages we have to go through: birth, school, work, and death. I ended up majoring in journalism for my bachelor’s degree, which has led me to still study, although I had not seen myself studying this much long. Thus nothing could explain my current life about why I can't embody my dream. 

Anyway, ranging from court/police drama, sports, food and travel, sitcom, music, comedy, reality shows to news channels, I developed and specialized my skill of flipping channels, picturing myself winning a world contest of the longest TV watcher with no sleep. 

Unfortunately, my specialization failed to last longer than I wished as I have to get a life. Dude.... 

Brain dormancy

What would you do when your brain was not working as you need? It appears that my brain – although I am not sure of its entity – has been on a strike.

From the beginning of this quarter, something has been nagging my brain or my mind, so I was determined to hunt it down.

What has been eating me up? Why I feel like being drawn by intangible or psychological niceties of my own every piece of body parts? Even, why am I having such non-pragmatic curiosities?

The entity something bugging me could be…: no clue.

Having said that life should be great and profitable because you already made a big profit by the time you were born: being born naked, but got free clothes right away. What a business you made.

Anyway, going back to my original quest of brain dormancy, scientists have been evaluating and measuring brain performance with such dimensions: IQ and EQ.

Getting old, I am aware of two phenomena going around my brain and heart: lowering IQ and plummeting EQ. Nobody can go against time. Hence I understand the natural symptoms of brain blackout, heavily stimulated by my binge habit until a couple years ago. But the EQ weakness seems to be derived from strenuous news of tragedies, which would numb my heart for people in desperate circumstances.

However, I have found one book,

Brainworks: The Mind-bending Science of How You See, What You Think, and Who You Are

, written by Dr. Mike Sweeney of journalism at Ohio University.

This book will be a vehicle for stopping my brain power loss. My book review will be followed soon.   

Italy, the luxurious but...

According to a bunch of financial newspapers, the credit rating company S&P downgraded on Friday Italy’s credit rating from A+ to A with a looming outlook in which the country will have difficulty escaping weak economic growth. In other words, the government’s fragile financial surroundings, as Europe’s second-biggest debtor, could lead to a spillover effect of inviting credit collapse of other EU nations.

How, What, and Why has this country been placed in such a pitiable situation?

There is no doubt that Italy has built its great national image. Economically speaking, it is ranked the world’s eighth-largest nominal GDP, tenth highest GDP, and one of the top five highest government budgets in the world. Even politically, the country is a member of G8 and one of the lead countries of Eurozone.

Culturally, Italy is the home of the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites with the Coliseum, the Pisa Tower, and invaluable arts of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, and Raphael. In addition, without mentioning Italian luxury brands, the country’s global brand power would not be explainable: Versace, Gucci, Armani, Prada, Fendi, Pagani, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and so on.

Known for a high standard of living, romantic culture, and fluent technologies of modern industries, Italy and its allies would have never predicted this much hardship. There should be a lot of niceties of the current turmoil, but politics should be the first to be blamed, especially the head honcho of the nation: Silvio Berlusconi, 74, Italy’s third richest man with the estimated fortune of $9 billion. Wiretapped by an unidentified agency, Berlusconi told a convicted cocaine dealer that he had sex with eight women in one night and he is “only prime minister in his spare time.”

My great sympathy to people in Italy. 

Cushy feelings of 1,000 women?

Probably, the luckiest or the weirdest guy in the world just spoke out, “Hey, lady, let me grab your boobs.” And 1,000 ladies in Russia let him “paw” their pairs. The reason they allowed was neither for sympathy toward a 40-year-old virgin boy nor for medical research on breast cancer patients. It was for the cold-blooded or revered leader of the country: Vladimir Putin, the former President and current Prime Minister.

Sam Nickles, identified as a comedian and entertainer, posted a video on YouTube, saying that he touched 1,000 women’s boobs in a week. He had thousand-different cushy feelings during the period between 70 and 300 women a day. What was his ruse to attract these ladies into such a bizarre event?

Nickles convinced young and attractive looking Russian ladies by saying, “ Vladimir Putin is always busy with important state affairs and, moreover, he is married. He does not have time for trifles. But he is a man too. And he cannot afford to touch the potential voters. But Sam Nickel can! Sam Nickel has plenty of time. Sam decided to touch women voters first, and then to shake hands with Putin with the same hand. See for yourself how it was.” In short, your proud and cozy sexual aurora/halo emitted from your two bulge parts of the body will be positively transferred to Mr. Putin through my hands, so Ladies, show Mr. Putin your passion for his next plan to come back as President of Russia in 2012.

And 1,000 Russian ladies did it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW65nI3Zs-8

According to the Russian Constitution, President can maintain the position only two-terms in a row (each term with four years), but he or she can be back after one-term absence.

Mr. Putin after his popular two-term presidency designated the current president Dmitry Medvedev as his successor, who has been regarded as Putin’s puppet. It seems obvious that Putin will have no problem of taking his old job back although there is an unidentified rumor that Medvedev wants one more term.

The year 2012, Russia, China, and America are going to have new or re-elected presidents. Interesting international political events are coming up.   

injustice

In contrasting terms, justice and injustice seem inseparable. However, an interpretation of justice as the opposite of injustice builds a separable relationship because justice acquires a positive connotation by distributing valuable social necessities such as common goods, benefits, and opportunities. And a wide range of theories supports the positive function of justice: for example, libertarians see justice as a vehicle for liberty, communitarians places it as a pivotal provider for common goods, and socialists find it inevitable in terms of upholding social equality. 

On the other hand, injustice carries a negative implication that incites individuals or citizens who are angry at social systems to make a titanic effort that can eradicate problems in the present. Although injustice is widely understood as something that needs to be rectified for a better society, notions of injustice based on political theory have been less likely to attract scholars’ attention than those of justice. In fact, numerous theorists who pay little attention to injustice regard it as a mere subset of justice.

So why has the society of the United State been numb with injustice?

Big corporations like GE paid no federal taxes, not even single penny in 2010, because the CEO was a good friend of the president according to accusations from Republicans' favorable media. But the real story is that the bulk of those profits GE made, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit. Isn't this injustice? More devastating phenomenon was very few politicians yell at the ruse. Why?   They are beneficiaries of big corporations' generous donation. What makes me even feel confused is President Obama's speech given in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 13, 2011. He said bigger companies of America should pay higher taxes. What a lip service.    

 If the United States has this kind of corporation ruling system, which country can possibly fix such a loophole? In short, it seems that justice hasn't been served yet and/or injustice has been served still.      

What do we know?

Our lives and well-being depend heavily on our own belief and knowledge, but partially or rarely on other people. You may say you don’t agree because you are open-minded and respect other people more than anything. Really?

Frank Luntz, self-claimed all mighty communicator, says, “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.” For example W. Bush, one of the greatest or worst leaders in the world history depending on where you live, especially either Waco Texas or Athens Ohio, was known as “the African elephant” having the biggest ears among all self-breathing species, meaning that Bush paid seriously focused attention to his cabinet members’ suggestions without falling on deaf ears, but his ears were only open to few members who told him what he wanted to listen to.

His ears, although you might want to trash my opinion, resulted in sinking the majority of innocent and sweet U.S. citizens into the mire of economic hardships. We often hear that it is better to think before we act. Of course, it does not mean that the incumbent president is doing excellent job. What I am trying to say here is that Americans gotta do something to prevent this country from going south not only to save themselves but also to establish other global citizens’ better lives. As you know, when the USA sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. If this country fails to come back as the dominant super power, China or even India will gladly sneezes for it.

It’s been 10 years since 9/11. Leaders of this country can learn from the tragedy and I hope all families of the victims can now rest well.  

Blog, Why?

For the first time, this dreamer who wish to stay as a computer dummy took his first step to learn about blogging, although it sounds a bit pathetic and too late.


Still having a hard time understanding why people want to use this kind of things that would make our life ever miserable and overwhelmingly complicated, I ended up giving way to the flow of the dominant trend of social media. Of course, had I not taken this class, I would have never ever done such a head-aching task with my own volition.


But it's my original sin being born and being alive in the 21st century, in which Bill Gates, Steven Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg are being respected as human life developer.


Nothing is permanent or certain.


When I was a little boy, my parents spent a quite chunk of money enrolling me at a computer academy camp, where I learned how to use DOS program. Only privileged kids, then, afforded such things.
Unfortunately, DOS became history, being replaced by Window program in no time. That was the moment I realized, "Don't ever learn about new things or buy things about computer as today's computer products become tomorrow's junk."


Steven Jobs once said -- believe or not -- people don't know what they need, so we introduce things to them. Sure, he is a winner now. But I bet we could have been way happier in the age of just plain cell-phone and desktop computer.


--- As irony would have it, now I have to sign up for Twitter account. Aren't we seriously losing our own life control? This Classic music will tell. 




photos are from Picasa.com