This site is dedicated to the blogosphere of the Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, and the proposition that
Study should be “not for the sake of personal gain, but for the sake of Learning (capital “L”)…”
Typical Winter Scene for March 1st, Opening-Ceremony Day, at KMLA
(photo: C. L. Johnson)
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A taste of the Minjok aire … ?
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K-pop, is it becoming problemetic?
Posted by Rachel Seohyun Lee
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The Future of the Pop Culture Industry in Korea?
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Cathedrals
15th Wave International Division, Kim Yerin writes:
My neck stars to ache, but I cannot stop. I am looking up, falling up into the rib vaults of the ambulatory here at St. Sernin’s Cathedral. Just six months earlier, I had seen this image in my art history books, but the Art Through the Ages had not prepared me for this. The precision of each stone, the magnitude of each vault is overwhelming. Looking up at the tip of the dome, I literally fell upwards; I felt as if I was being sucked into the dome. Cathedrals inspire me not only with their sheer magnitudes, but also with the philosophy embedded in them. Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals with their astounding naves, a long hollow hallway with a ceiling so high, encasing a space so large, allow me to feel both solitude and togetherness at the same time. Cathedrals are about craftsmanship, but they’re ultimately about “living beyond life” as Gringoire in the musical Notre Dame de Paris puts it.
The Soul of Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral – photo by Jose Maria Cuellar
No cathedral was built in just one generation- the people who worked on the cathedral knew they would not live to see it finished. Yet so many people within one community, all members in the community, worked tirelessly on them. All these people while building the cathedral transcended their daily lives, forgetting individualism and tying themselves as a part of a larger society. Cathedrals were not one person’s art, they were owned by the community at large. This meme regarding individualism and at the same time, community, is the key idea represented by cathedrals… ContinueMy Favorite Poem – Gitanjali by Tagore
Posted: March 22, 2012 by 15th Wave International Division Han Ryun
My favoirte poem since when I came to KMLA is Nobel Prized awarded poem, Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore. Basically, this poem is one long epic poem composed by 103 sub-parts which are numbered from Gitanjali 1 to Gitanjali 103. As this is an epic poem, Gitanjali should be considered as a whole, my favorite part of this poem is Gitanjali 82. The following is the direct copy of 82nd part of this long poem.
Gitanjali 82
Time is endless in thy hands, my lord. There is non to count thy minutes.
Days and nights pass and ages bloom and fade like flowers. Thou knowest how to wait.
Thy centuries follow each other perfecting a small wild flower.
We have no time to lose, and having no time we must scramble for a chance. We are too poor to be late.
And thus it is that time goes by while I give it to every querulous man who claims it, and thine altar is empty of all offerings to the last.
At the end of the day I hasten in fear lest thy gate be shut; but I find that yet there is time.
I like this poem because, mainly, I can see the beauty of the language. The language that is used in this poem is so subtle and beautiful not in the sense that it depicts beautiful nature or beautiful scenery, but in the sense that the narrative itself is very caring and well-written to convey “literary or linguistic beauty.” Also, I like this poem because it is the fusion of West and East… Continue
I chose this picture to represent Gitanjali because I thought it shows the beauty and the sense of eternity.
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The most impressive poem
First of all, the poet’s name is same as mine. That was why I, who usually don’t usually read any poem, had a chance to encounter this poem…. Continue
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Human Nature “vs” Artificial Intelligence?
* Don’t You Worry, My Pal – AI can Never Overpower Humans
Whether artificial intelligence would eventually overpower human control is becoming a hot issue nowadays, especially when scientific developments occur unpredictably. Of course, just a glance at artificial intelligence may lead us to think that developing such a free-will structure may become out of human control in the future. However, if we investigate a little more about artificial intelligence, it becomes clear that such ideas are immature.
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* Artificial intelligence will be devised sooner or later to match the human intelligence
-the humans are not much of an intricately designed species
-artificial intelligence will be devised sooner or later to match the human intelligence
-with fear, humans will initially try to deny artificial intelligence
-but as time passes on, people will follow more convenient style of life, with the aid of developed artificial intelligence
-cancelling the regulations on the artificial intelligence, humans will face a grim situation that they have created for themselves: the very destruction of humanity by artificial intelligence
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Conclusion: Survival of the Fittest
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The Tree and the Forest (a favorite image)
Posted by: Lee JeWoong | April 17, 2011
This is drawn by Mr. Bae Byung woo in 1986
In the picture, we see the trees and each trees are very different; their height, shape, etc., everything is different. This different looking trees make one beautiful forest. This forest might look very gloomy and dark. However, without other trees and if there is only one tree in the picture, the picture would look more lonely and dark. This is very similar with our community. In the society, everyone is different, we’re different in our personality, appearance, etc. However, we make one society when we gather. This society may look gloomy because we mostly are very busy and have no time to contact with others. Though we still need other people to be the member of the society, to live along with the society. Thus the picture resembles so much with our society.
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Babel Tower – poem about Qur’an Burning Crisis
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Does China give the rest of the world reasons for fear in political, economic, or social terms? Or is the ‘Terror from the East’ merely a myth?
China…?
Lee Jong-Woo writes
脣亡齒寒
(Sun-Mang-Chi-Han) is an old Chinese phrase saying: “Without your lips, your teeth are chill.” It means that, when one intimate component gets demolished, the other component is also in a great peril. This was probably the best phrase to describe the relationship between North Korea and China a few years ago. Nevertheless, the situation is not the same in 2010 at this period of time. In the status quo where Chinese government does not seem to get along with North Korean government, there is no reason for someone to get extremely fearful about the existence of China … Read on
China, Fear?
Choi Jin-Kyong writes
In my opinion, the world should have some fear for China.China is one of the most powerful countries in the world- and it has the ambition to become the ‘only’most powerful country. This is an article about China’s power. These days, China is gaining ‘soft power’, which is the most influencia power…. Read on, find out why
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December 1, 2010 Lee JiSeon writes:
In the picture, the cat is laying his foot on the chest of another cat and trying to save his friend cat. However, he realizes his friend cat is dead, and lies aside the friend. This picture became an issue for a while because of the cat’s true friendship and his love. When I first saw this picture, I felt lots of feelings. These days, so many people are forgetting about what ‘friend’ truly means and how should we act to our friends. Apparently, people seems they have lots of friends, but in the reality, there are only few friends who can spend rest of their life together. to be continued …….
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a writer’s block
by Eom TaeGyung
tried to make a little tune
tonight, under the bright white moon
can’t i make it deep, deep blue
neither be in a sweet, sweet mood
the same tune sings my old guitar
but now i know you’re so far, far
i used to sing for the burning stars
now there’s nothing left but these bitter bars
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HRH(His Royal Highness) Kim Jung Un
<Emic Point of View>
If I were Kim Jung-il, I would never have abandonned my first child, Kim Jung-nam as he did. Let’s assume that I am Kim Jung-il and discuss this successor issue in emic point of view:
Jung-nam was originally my first choice for a successor -no, actually my only choice until 30 years ago. He was my only son back then. I loved him so much that I gave him million dollars’ worth of birthday present each year, and sent him to Geneva, Switzerland to let him study abroad.
But while he was in Geneva, I had my second and second son from a ballerina Yeong-hee Go. Of course my love for Jung-nam was separated : I am only a human being! But then coincidentally, Jung-nam did something which terribly offended me : he said to some wealthy DPRK children that “If I become a successor, I will revolutionize and open up North Korea.”
Can you even imagine how angry I was? I HATE revolution : our family has all the despotic powers in our hands, so why bring in any trouble? I couldn’t believe that Jung-nam said something like that, and felt that I was totally wrong in my decision of making him my successor. So I exiled Jung-nam. That was where I went wrong…. Continue reading →
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News Sites
ABC News African Leadership AcademyAgence France Presse
Aljazeera
All Africa
Arabic News
Arab World News
Asia Times
BBC
Bet.com
Billboard
Black Commentator
Black Electorate Blacklisted News
Black Press USA Bodhisattvas Unlimited
Buzztracker Map Chicago Tribune
CNN.com
Counter Punch Counter PsyOps
Cutting Edge
Dahr Jamail
de Borchgrave
Democracy Now
Discovery Magazine
Drudge Report
Economist
Family Federation
Flickr.com
Foreign Policy/Focus
Global Free Press
Guardian
Haaretz
Huffington Post
Int. Herald Tribune
Independent
Information
– Clearinghouse
Institute for Policy Studies
Intervention
Islamica Magazine
Islam Online iUnificationist Jango / Gospel Jango / Jazz Jango / World Beat Khilafah
Korean Dictionary
Korea Herald
Korea Times Land Destroyer Report
Marumushi Map
Middle East Online
Middle East Times
Mosaic
Muslimedia
National Geographic New Cosmic Spring Newsweek
New Yorker No Spin News
Occupation Watch
Polling Report
Reuters
Segye Times Singularity Hub
Sky Blue Dreams
Spiegel
The Atlantic
The Bible
The Final Call The Hip, The Hop, The Good
The Nation
The Principle
The Qur’an
The Voice
The Writer
Time Magazine
Townhall.com
Truth Out
UN.org
UPI
US News/World Report Washington Post
Washington Times Wayne Madsen Report
Wikipedia
WN Mideast
World & I
World News, Mapped
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Some useful literary tools:
Hyperdictionary/Thesaurus … Good for Poetry
A Korean/English/Korean Dictionary … by dic.impact.pe.kr
Another Korean/English/Korean Dictionary … by kr.dic.yahoo.com
A real D. O. double Gizzle Urban Dictionary … slang and such
zhongwen.com … Dictionary of Chinese Characters
How To Say It In … Language XY or Z? … Kwik Translation
Online Etymology Dictionary… Break it down
WordReference.com … roots
Divine Principle … Detailed Table of Contents
Jango … Radio-Antonio-Vivaldi Plus
Definite and Indefinite Articles … by Purdue U. Writing Lab
Planning and Invention … just don’t know what to write?
Tagmemics… a true bridge for meaningful change
other “Common Errors in English” … Washington State U.
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Quand tu veux construire un bateau, ne commence pas par rassembler du bois, couper des planches et distribuer du travail, mais reveille au sein des hommes le desir de la mer grande et large.
* If you want to build a ship, don’t begin by gathering wood, cutting the boards, and dividing the work; but awaken in the men the desire for the vast and endless sea.” — Antoine de Saint Exupery