Setting Up Something Bigger

We are not going to use this blog anymore. We are going to set up something more functional and more open for our learners where they can freely contribute anytime, and any place.

THUS, WE WILL NO LONGER BE USING THIS SITE AS OUR BLOG.

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 6

Little Kid Dance Moves

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 5

Kitten Ninja

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 3

AFRO NINJA

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!! Part 2

Worst Best Man Ever

CHEER UP DURING MIDTERMS!!!!!

CHEER UP VIDEO: Train Station Musical

Dancing Prison: Nobody

From Koreabeat.com:

And here you thought the Thriller video was a one-off. As the Chosun Ilbo reports, no, no, no. (Link includes video goodness.)

A video of prisoners in The Philippines dancing to the Wondergirls’ “Nobody” is becoming an internet sensation.

Uploaded to the video website Youtube on the 31st of last month, the video shows prisoners in the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center performing the “Nobody” dance.

Five male prisoners in cute Wondergirls outfits begin dancing to the “Nobody” song, and the rows of orange-clad prisoners behind them laugh and start dancing along.

As the video grows in popularity, netizens have been leaving an increasing number of comments. One netizen wrote, “this video of Filipino prisoners dancing to the Wondergirls’ ‘Nobody’ is awesome. It’s funny seeing them dance in the prison yard.”

Known as the “Dancing Prison,” the CPDRC teaches the prisoners to dance to give them physical exercise, and in 2007 released a video of their dance on the internet to bring attention to their rehabilitation program. That year they performed a Michael Jackson dance. The prisoners practice dance some four hours every day

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A Small Drop of Pleasure

Many of us poor students are battered with our parents' almost constant orders for studying. In some extreme cases there are those who are not given even 10 minutes to stretch their legs on the sofa. For these people, there is some very good news: taking a rest really helps you. A team in the University of Melbourne has researched the topic about the relationship between breaks and work management. The research was done by selecting 300 normal employees of several companies. They found out that employees who use the computers for their personal uses during work gets better work done. The stats showed that 70% of those who use the computers for Internet surfing under 20% of their working time had 9% more productivity than those who only worked. The reason was verified as the imperfection of concentration. Mr. Coker, the leader of the research, says 'A human's concentration is limited, and it needs a brief recharging, like taking a short rest after 20minutes of a hard lecture. These company workers usually favor YouTube, eye-shopping through the monitor, reading the online news, etc.

The research team says that companies who program their PCs to block out any entrance to YouTube and such are actually losing millions of dollars in profit. They warn, however, that computer addicts are not included in the result of this research, due to the fact that they will get frustrated when they are restricted of the Internet.

This bit of information may be useful in some situations, but the study's purposes must not be misinterpreted. So, it is my opinion that these kinds of results should be considered seriously in work, but we should never use this research as an excuse to savor some freedom from studying. The most important thing is, however, that scientific experiments are not always accurate. So, our computers might be bugged in a few years, and it certainly is now by our mothers. Society does not accept this thanks to the infinite competition.

L

Teen Talk

An abandoned child found in the hospital bathroom’s mother was found to be a high school student who came to Jeju for a school trip. Ms. Lee (16, high school freshman) is facing charges of abandoning a baby (Criminal Law 272) on the 31st (12:40) in a hospital bathroom. It was found that due her unwanted pregnancy that she was trying to leave the baby in Jeju. Of course, the police found her before she left to Seoul.
Teens are going wild these days. They are throwing chairs in Incheon, getting pregnant in Seoul and for the last stop of the course they leave the baby in Jeju. And hello! Some movies that are made for teens to watch are about all of these things. ‘Speed Scandals’ and ‘See you after School’are movies that are all on these subjects! Our teens are losing their sense of morality every day.

E

It's Electric

Electric cigarettes may seem very odd to people. “What can electric cigarettes do? Real cigarettes need tobacco.” This might be what most people think. However, to me this new invention seems to be a good idea which is very unique and fun. It is an innovative attempt to create something new. It may seem very unrealistic and crazy. It seems to be a good idea because it has many benefits. It doesn’t harm people that are near them because it only produces water vapor instead of smoke. Also, it doesn’t have nicotine. It is not bad for your health. Therefore, it doesn’t harm the smoker, too.

Jasmine

Washing Machine to the Rescue!

On March 8th, celebrating the international Women’s Day, the Vatican Catholic Church chose the washing machine as playing the most pivotal role in liberating women. For example, 7 years ago, when the first speaking washing machine, called “Washy Talky”, was invented in India, the washing machines lifted a heavy burden of chores that were mandatory for women.

Since long ago, women have been considered weak and unable to take care of themselves. They have been thought to be a group of people with almost no power in society compared to much superior men. In the ancient city of Athens, women were not allowed to enter stadiums nor plays. These were strictly forbidden in the city and anybody who disobeyed the law was thrown in jail. In addition, womens' opportunities of getting education were ignored. Because of the prejudiced view that people had for women, numerous women have been working in kitchens and doing chores every single day. Nonetheless, I just feel glad that the women could become liberated from some part of the entire burdensome amount of house chores because of the advent electronic machines. Due to the widespread use of washing machines, nowadays, women have much more free time than ever before.

Esther

Talking for 124 hours straight

In Perpignan, the southern part of the city in France, a man named Luis Colet, a 62 year-old man, established a new world record for speaking for 5 days. 3 judges say that he didn’t sleep and he didn’t eat much while he was talking. They say his stories went along without stopping. Colet spoke about poems and about Dali, who was his favorite poet. He also talked about Catalonia’s cultures and their traditions.
Colet said he wanted to protect and preserve Catalonia’s language and culture so he decided to challenge himself and the speaking record.

While I was reading this news, at first I thought that this man was kind of crazy and that he was a chatterbox. But after I read what he spoke about, I found out that he cared a lot about the Catalonia’s culture. I was really impressed by his efforts, because he cares about other countries’ culture. I wish many people care about their and other countries so that we can become closer to one another.

Hamish

Heels on Wheels

Roller skates allow people to have fun but they hardly look beautiful. Beautiful dresses, on the other hand, make a girl feel pretty. What about if we attach wheels to high heels? One designer chose to do just that. She made high heel roller skates. This seemed to fit quite well. This unique art work was made by Hannah Havana in England.

Heels on wheels… This sounds very unique. If we imagine, heels with wheels don’t seem to match much. However, in this picture, those two items seem to match well. Sometimes, things that don’t seem to match go along together well, like kimchi and sweet potatoes- (trust me on this one). A simple idea led to this. All that person did was combine two very important concepts: fun and beauty. This resulted in the invention of heels on wheels. I realized that everything starts with a small idea.

Jasmine

맞짱 Musical Chair

A video containing an actual fight, otherwise known as ‘majjang’ video, of two high school boys was found in the Internet. Although there were violent scenes that consisted of throwing chairs, this didn’t stop their classmates from filming the video. According to the posting, the fight was between a guy known as ‘new kid killer’ and the new kid. Some netizens criticized viewers that enjoyed this video like it was some kind of K-1 match and the other classmates watched the scene unfold before them like nothing was happening. Several parents were appalled by the students’ cool behavior throughout the fight.

I, personally, am not at all surprised by this video. It was long ago when people started to act like animals. We have treated the disabled like they weren’t even humans in the past; it’s no wonder now that we start trying to kill one another. No wonder why we call it this the animal kingdom.

E

Going Once, Twice... SOLD!

Recently in New York, Mahatma Gandhi’s artifacts (his glasses, sandals, watch), have been auctioned off by their owner, American collector and peace activist James Otis. This act of selling off Gandhi’s possessions was strongly objected by the Indian government, but nonetheless, the government lacked the power to stop the auction. Therefore, instead of making futile attempts to prevent the auction, the Indian government aided Indian businessman to retain Gandhi’s possessions.

Another widely known controversy is the bidding of the rabbit head and a companion piece depicting a rat taken from a Beijing palace in the 19th century. The owner of these artifacts, despite China’s protest, sold the bronze rabbit and the rat in an auction.

Some people justify the act of selling another country’s cultural artworks in auctions, but this act should not be considered justifiable. In fact, nobody owns the world’s cultural artifacts; these artifacts are the greatest possessions we can retain from our ancestors, of giving us a chance to look into the pages of past history and to reflect upon on our past deeds. Thus, it is unacceptable to even think about selling them to individual millionaires. Paintings of Napoleon riding his black stallion, statues of the Greek gods and goddesses that depict beauty; these and numerous other masterpieces or artifacts are admired worldwide, and we should give them back to the countries where they originated from.

Even Korea needs to retain some ancient books that were acquired (or pilfered) by the French army during the Chosun Dynasty when Westerners came to explore the countries in Asia. Unfortunately, the Korean government was able to retain only one book out of 297 books that were stolen by the French soldiers. Each country has its culture and the cultural artifacts that are valuable for the citizens to look in order to better understand their ancestors and what they did in the past. The museums and individuals around the world who collect other countries’ artifacts should return them to their rightful owners: the people of those artifacts’ origin.

Esther

The "Drama" Teacher

On March 25th, a miracle happened. A teacher from England who was on a field trip saved his student by climbing a 300ft cliff without wearing any safety equipment. The teacher was on an island trip, and the telephone network wasn’t connected. Suddenly, he climbed up 91 meters and succeed in saving his student.

When I first saw the news, I couldn’t believe the story. A teacher risking his life to save a student!! It takes a lot of courage to do that. It’s hard to give up your life for your job and the person you love. Although some might think that it is not wise or too risky, I think that the teacher has got an unbelievable amount of trust for himself and love for his students. That is what a real teacher is. Even if the job of teaching and improving students’ level is important, the most important character for a teacher is loving and taking care of their students. That is what counts, not how much you earn, not how much you achieve. Living for the job and giving all that you got for it.

Andy

WBC: What it is + Why we should change it

What it is:
The biggest baseball tournament held by the IBAF and MLB is being played March 5th through March 23rd. It is a tournament that 16 teams play including Korea, Japan, USA and etc. It’s an elimination tournament that allows a single chance for losers. The world’s best baseball players play on the contest. It’s been of huge interest in Korea, recently.

The influence of the World Baseball Classic is positive for many reasons. First, it will spread baseball to the countries that do not play baseball. For the baseball world, it’s important to make the sport famous because it’s not a well known sport except in some countries. Also, the WBC will give people some kind of enjoyment and fun. By watching their country’s games, people will have a sense of thrill. Last, it is going to bring economical profits for companies and broadcasting studios. As a result, the money will circulate, and the economy should move.

Andy

Why we should change it:
The most intriguing event in this tournament is constant battle between Korea and Japan. The two countries had met 4 times in the tournament. However, this constant engagement between the two countries increases the bitterness and anger of the players and the viewers.
‘Why don’t we just have some special Korea versus Japan rounds every year until the one of the nations surrenders?’ writes one angered netizen from Korea. Many other people think the same thing. How come Korea and Japan play so many games against each other? Well, the blame should squarely be placed on the WBC tournament rules.

The WBC uses double elimination rather than sudden death. For example, soccer uses sudden death which drops the teams from the tournament if they lose. On the other hand, WBC requires more games to determine the losers. According to double elimination, the four teams each play with the others to determine the two winners and two losers. Then the winners advance to the next round and the losers in the loser round is eliminated from the tournament. Then, the winner from the loser round and the loser from the winner round compete again and the winner from this game competes with the winner from the winner round for the first and second play off.

The rule was designed by Japan and USA. Is it possible that it is for their benefit to make this rule? Both USA and Japan had reached the semi-finals. According to their rule, they can lose one game but if they win one game, they can go to the finals. WBC is one of the most respected baseball tournaments in the world. However, could it be still respected even though the rules are so faulty and unfair?

Jay

Law-Abiding Society

People often say that the Korean law enforcement is too weak for its citizens. I believe this is the ultimate reason why there are so many Koreans who act against the law; because the consequences are not severe enough. Laws in other countries are strictly enforced, such as the US law, unlike Korea.

If we compare the two different law enforcements of Korea and US, it is obvious that the enforcement of Korea’s law is more lenient than that of the enforcement of US law. There are many people who do not abide by the law, such as people who drive their cars through red lights while also using their cell phones. Unfortunately, this disregard for the law is very rampant in our society because the police and the government do not attempt to enforce the laws. In the States, people will be fined as much as $400 if they go over the speed limit or run red lights. In contrast, Koreans only pay about $50-60 of fines if they disobey the traffic laws. This is why some Koreans are slowly stopping to follow the law instead breaking laws. This is having a profound impact on our society. If we do not obey the law, we will be responsible for a society without necessary rules that one needs to keep.

In order to enforce the law and make the citizens follow the law, the police force needs to be strengthened. Unlike the United States where the police participate well in distributing fines, the Korean police do not work that hard to find out other minor, trivial matters such as jaywalking. If we try to pay attention to small things at first, then the larger crimes will be magnified. Our attention will have a huge, and a positive impact on our society. Our society will be able to become a law-abiding society, where every citizen obeys the law that is made to benefit everybody in our society.

Esther

Mother Orangutan Saves Its Baby from the Lake

Orangutans are known for their fear of water. However, there seems to be an exception when a baby is in trouble. The water of the lakes in Malaysia have risen, and a mother orangutan and its baby couldn’t do anything but to stick to a tree like a koala bear for 7 days. Volunteers couldn’t easily get near them because of the rising water. After a long time of thinking, they threw a rope in the direction of the tree. Then something nobody expected happened. Without any hesitation, the mother put the baby around her neck and jumped into the water. The mother, worried about her baby made sure it was safe by securing the baby with one hand and swam for survival. After a few minutes, the orangutans were able to stand on land.

Seeing this article, I thought to myself, ‘Have mankind finally reached the level of being no more than a monkey?’ I mean, while some animals risk their own lives for their children, some people actually try to kill their own children and then commit suicide?! I guess ‘dog eat dog world’ is slowly evolving into ‘mom eat child’ kind of world.

source: 물 건너 온 뉴스 나우뉴스!
E

Jailbreak ipod

These days, many people use Apple’s ipod and iphones in America. Even though many Koreans hesitate to use Apple products, I love them. Repeat: I LOVE THEM. In addition there has been a major change to 'ipod touch 2G': Jailbreak. his can be seen as the start of the revolution of the ipod industry. A jailbreak is the process which can lead to the downloading of many applications illegally. The jailbreak process itself is completely LEGAL, while the process of putting many paid applications for free are illegal.

Apple themselves claim that the program is harming the company's work. Although are many negative effects for Apple, there are some good effects for us, the consumers. Apple has made the app store into such nonsense. What man would ever buy a product which they can get for free by going to the “dark side”? However, the jailbreak process has brought benefits to Apple, too. Many programmers made "Themes, color, games, applications' that are for the ipod. Apple doesn’t have to develop such things. I guess that the jailbreak process isn't bad for either sides: "Apple" and "customers".

David Lee

Flags of our Father

In MLB’s(Major league that runs WBC) homepage, there was a Korean flag that was drawn the wrong way. On MLB’s internet shopping mall, they are selling World Baseball Classic (WBC) souvenirs related to the countries that participated in the WBC. There are 7 kinds of souvenirs that the WBC is selling. However, when you see see the hats, you can see a strange Korean flag. Also, there is an inaccurately drawn flag on the Korean T-shirt. Korean WBC fans are now very upset. They are saying things like “I hope there will be a quick correction made.” and “They are being very rude for incorrectly drawing the national flag of a country.” Because of WBC’s careless preparation, Korean baseball fans are indignant.

I felt a deep hatred like a dark iceberg rise inside my heart. I was quite mad over the WBC’s rude and careless acts. I felt like the WBC was still neglecting Korea’s baseball skills. Although it is WBC who’s to blame, we need to learn certain things from this. When I was young, I always tried hard to memorize the flag because it made me feel very strange for scolding others when I even didn’t know my country’s national flag. However, many people don’t know how to draw Korea’s flag when we ask them to draw one. Even though I was mad at WBC’s careless acts, I was kind of ashamed by the fact that not everyone in Korea knows our national flag. I felt as if we should change ourselves first. This unfamiliar flag gave me a very awkward feeling. I felt like I was looking at a door without a knob and a telephone without the dial pad. The heart of a thing seemed to be lacking. The WBC making this kind of major careless act should be a valuable lesson to Koreans.

Jasmine

Kidney Anyone?

Some people say that compensation should be provided to those who donate their kidneys, which means that the government should legalize the sales of kidneys. I agree that it has some advantages that will benefit the donors, but let's think about this idea from a different perspective. If compensation is provided, there will be some negative effects for our society. What if the poverty-stricken people try to sell their kidneys just for the purpose of earning money?

Imagine a family that lives in a dilapidated house with a lack of food supplies and the only way to earn money is to donate one of the family members’ body parts. What if he/she is in bad health? Nonetheless, the only option he/she will have will be to sell the kidneys even when his/ her health is deteriorating. I believe that if the government allows the sales of kidneys, people who are extremely poor will not try to work harder, but will just try to take out their organs to sell and obtain a huge amount of money. Thus, the number of people worldwide with health problems will increase until it will becomes very serious for us to handle.

In my opinion, if the government tries to legalize kidney sales, there will be many people who will be willing to donate their parts of the body just for the economic benefits.

Esther

Sunshine Policy Revisited

True, North Korea is a military dictator state, but that doesn't mean that we have to be so closed to each other. Are we going to sacrifice the health of the North Korean population (Rice sent to North Korea has declined to 0 tons) for the sake of so-called 'morality'? Our current administration is doing to North Korea what the U.S is doing to Cuba. I think that our government should be more friendly to North Korea and reduce pressure and send them surplus food.

Peter

KAL 858

In 1987, a Korean Air Lines (KAL) 858 was bombed by Kim Hyun Hee who was a North Korean spy. This horrifying terrorist act took 115 lives. For her part in this awful act, she should be sentenced to death. However, Kim Hyun Hee still lives very well. In fact, she came back to Korea on the 11th of March and even held a press conference. The reason for Kim Hyun Hee’s special pardon is that she never had a choice. The court said that Kim was being used by North Korean Government as a spy. If she disobeyed the orders, she would likely have been killed. However, this seems to me like an excuse.

She was forgiven after only sixteen days when the suit was filed in the Supreme Court. How come they decide so quickly? Back then, Korea was a bloody country where tens of criminals were sent to the gallows. Just because she was used by the North Korean government doesn’t mean she should have been pardoned. I think the major reason for her pardon is that she was beautiful. The Korean government couldn’t believe at first that this astonishingly pretty woman would commit such a crime. Here is the prejudice in beauty. If Kim Hyun Hee was just normal looking women or even ugly, there would have been more of a likelihood of capital punishment.

Let’s say that everything is forgiven. Let’s just believe that she had no other choice and she suffered from committing the despicable crime. Then shouldn’t her first priority be to regret her act and apologize to the bereaved families? However, her excuse for coming to Korea is to meet Daguchi Yacho’s family who taught her Japanese. She never had visual contact with any of the victim’s family in 20 years. She finally had the chance on the eleventh when there was a press conference but she didn’t admit her guilt. One journalist asked that when she was planning to meet with the bereaved families.

Kim said “What the families should understand is that the KAL bombing was completely on North Korean Government’s orders. I’m not planning on any interviews unless the families admit that.”

She should be begging and asking for forgiveness to the bereaved families, but she is giving them a condition for any future meetings with them. The thief turns on the master with a club is the proper proverb for this situation. I personally think if she had any morals, she will be right now visiting everyone who lost their families because of her actions in 1987.

Jay

To the Crazy Ones

Vote Pizza

Most schools are ready to vote for a school president. My school is going to vote next Monday. Some people say that you need money to become a school president, and that is because some parents send their kids to academies that teach how to speak in front of the whole school and sometimes even writes speeches for the kids (for even more money). I didn’t know that such things existed, but I found out there was a lot of them. Also, most students don’t make the posters and signs by themselves with paper; it also needs parents’ money. In my school, students running for school president will need to take good pictures and even fix it using a computer since my friends are planning on voting for the candidate who is more handsome, and we carefully look at their real face when they make speeches. I’m not saying that you should do the same if you’re a student…^^

I think this is a big problem because it will make the gap between kids from poor families and rich families bigger. I think it’s unfair, though I can’t help voting for a candidate who has a good speech, nice posters, and other things. I even heard that someone became a class president by saying that he will buy pizza (maybe it was something else, but it was some kind of food) for the class. Also, I think that almost every candidate would be no different from others if they go to an academy, because they will all have similar speeches, which can hide their individual character.

Some parents should get rid of the thought that money will help their child unconditionally. Money isn’t the most important thing; the most important thing is who the person is. I hope people (including me) will vote fairly though it is hard to ignore the fancy things that we see.

Lauren

NYC Visitor's Center


Staircase in Switzerland


Napkin Holder (for those who are inspired to take notes at any moment)


Staircase in Armani Shop @ NYC


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RHM's "Nobody"

There is some controversy concerning a Cambodia’s singer group singing Korea’s Wondergirls’s song, “Nobody” which is illegal. The group named RHM translated the song to the Khmer language and copied the Wondergirls’s dress and dance. They copied the Wondergirls’s “Tell Me” dance as well as the bullet dance. RHM’s video can somewhat be considered a global issue as the video on youtube was seen by more than 500,000 people. Although this helps the popularity of the Wondergirls, it was still highly illegal because RHM didn’t make a contract with the Wondergirls’s entertainment company, JYP. In this video, Jeong-Hwa Eom’s “Festival” is also included. Korea’s singers are becoming more famous in Southeast Asian countries and many singers there are copying the ‘real’ singers. People are saying things like “This is ridiculous.” and “This is a problem that needs to be confronted in a lawful manner.” The Wondergirls’s entertainment company,JYP, said that they will establish a firm plan to protect their interests and brand.

A familiar melody was repeated in RHM’s music video. However, the language was unfamiliar. It seemed very strange to see unfamiliar people singing “Nobody”. I was quite surprised by the Cambodian version. The translated song was very strange and extremely boorish. When I saw the video, I felt weird and strange like drinking water in a cup that had some milk leftover, or like eating peach with ketchup and mayonnaise. It felt very awkward like seeing a lion dressed in a 44 sized tight dress and dancing. I wondered how the singers in this video lied to everyone in the world and were happy enough to smile. I felt weird and felt bad for the ‘real’ Wondergirls. Although it can be seen in a good way that the Wondergirls gain more recognition, it is still too fake. I hope this kind of illegal activity stops.

Jasmine

100 Million Nintendo DS

On March 11th, 2009, it was found that the 100 millionth Nintendo DS was sold worldwide. Nintendo DS is a portable game machine that provides wireless games on touch screens. 100 million of these have been sold in just 4 years and 3 months. It is a new record for being the product that reached this amount of sales in such a short amount of time. When this product was first released, it drew a lot of attention because of its new features. 100 million means that one out of sixty people on the planet own this item. That's quite a surprising number because it is not a TV nor a PC, and it's not also an 'electronic necessity'.

One might argue that too many game devices being sold is a bad thing. However, in my opinion, it brings positive effects to human beings and their culture and technology. First, as people play this game, they become happier, while getting rid of their stress.

Also, by selling these products, the companies will prosper. As a result, they will be able to produce more technological devices later on. The technology companies are very important these days because technology leads us into the future which won’t be done only by humans. But the most important reason is that this Nintendo DS brought humans creativity and imagination. Before, people couldn’t think of touch-screens or touch pads. This doesn’t only mean gaming products, it includes all of the new innovative ideas. Because of these reasons, the Nintendo DS provides positive effects for humans.

Andy

FAT Barbie

March 9, 2009, was Barbie’s 50th birthday. And for many years a lot of women wanted a body shaped like the Barbie dolls. On March 9, 1959, a toy company named Mattel rolled out Barbie, who went out to become an icon.

But there were a lot of critics of Mattel. People criticized that Barbie is a negative influence on kids. The dominant message being that skinny is a way to be beautiful.

In England, the BBC made conducted research on Barbie. They made a human that is similar to Barbie. But according to their research, if a human looks like the Barbie characters they have a huge head even if they are skinny. To be honest, they look weird.

Not in Korea, but in other countries Barbie characters are extremely popular as well as being extremely expensive. I think that Barbie’s are indeed a negative influence on kids. These days a lot of girls want to be skinny, in fact, too skinny. So I suggest that Mattel make Fat Barbie dolls.

Hamish