Will you travel to North Korea?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/reclusive-north-korea-opens-door-a-crack/2011/11/10/gIQAXj7ePN_story.html

The above is an article about North Korea opening its door for the rest of the world from the
Washington Post.

North Korea is like amystery place for most of us because we don't really see them. They are living a separate world from us. However, North Korea now is opening its door to us to
get a sneak peak. Will to travel to North Korea? Without phones and just sightseeing,
no contact with ordinary people in North Korea. Do you still want to travel there?

I find one thing that is really interested me is that in the article, one of the tourist commented
that North Korea is so backward. But in North Korea, there are BMW cars. I
think that create a conflict. If the country is so backward then how are the BMWs come from? Another thing is that besides the 3 channels that North Korean people have. North Korea starting using Facebook, Twitter which are from the west. Of course it is under control. But is it that mean North Korea becoming more and more open to the rest of the world?

What do you thinkvabout traveling in North Korea? What do you think the meaning of opening its door to the rest of the world? North Korea used to be very quite about anything, are all the actions are hints that they will become not so quite?

The untrue advertisements

   Everyday, no matter where you look, you are constantly bombarded by advertisements, some as obvious and large as a billboard, others as discreet as a logo on a shirt. There have been many memorable advertisements over the years, yet only a small portion has become a part of our cultural history, and even a smaller fraction has changed history. On January 22, 1984, during Super Bowl XVIII, Apple Computers introduced a mysterious TV ad. An odd aspect of this commercial is that Apple does not even feature the Macintosh, the exact product it is trying to sell. So the question is, how did Apple manage to not only garner loads of attention towards its product, but also to get people to buy the Macintosh? The answer is through a strong emotional appeal, used almost unethically, to persuade the consumer to buy a product by linking it to a current, extremely dramatic historical event.
   An appeal to pathos is a very effective method to persuade consumers, but it becomes unethical when the ad is no longer simply making promises it cant keep. These promises include false beliefs that the product can do something that it really cannot (like Old Spice commercials making men more masculine and desirable). The advertisers become unethical when they begin linking products to tragic events and, in essence, piggy-backing on the emotional reaction to those events. We already know that companies lie to us, but how can they take the loss of lives in vain? And what do you think about these ads?

What's the Key to Unlock the Lockout?

As you all have probably seen in the news lately, the NBA is in bad shape right now. There is a lockout and the players are fighting for more money, while the owners are denying them the money. This has forced some players to go overseas and play for teams in Europe and Asia. The players want more than 50 percent of basketball related income, but the owners are unwilling to give them over 50 percent because that would put the players in a higher position of power than the owners. Most recently, the owners offered the players an ultimatum and if they did not take it, they would not get more than 47 percent anytime in the future. The led to the players voluntarily dissolving their union and now they are filing an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA. Things are going downhill fast and if a solution is not found, the entire NBA season could be in jeopardy, leaving fans with only college basketball to fill the void.

So what do you guys think? Do the players have the right to more money? Or are the owners right in denying them the money? Who is being more stubborn? After all, without the players, there is no NBA. Also, are there any easier solutions that you see on this matter?

Are There Any Legit College Football Programs Left?

This past winter Ohio State had a huge shake up. A group of our football players were accused of receiving improper benefits which resulted in Terrelle Pryor leaving and going to the NFL, the other players served their suspensions (except for Posey who is suspended until next week), and Jim Tressel resigned from his head coaching position.

Then over the summer the University of Miami football scandal broke out. Former Miami booster Nevin Sharpio, who is now serving 20 years in prison for running a $930 million Ponzi scheme, paid for parties for football players and hired prostitutes and strippers to have sex with numerous players. Now the University of Miami is facing some of the most severe sanctions that the NCAA can impose on a school's football program.

And now just in the last week the scandal at Penn State broke out. Supposedly the former Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky had sexually abused multiple boys that he brought to visit Penn State through his charity work. This resulted in Sandusky being arrested, the President of the University was fired and arrested, and the Board of Trustees fired Joe Paterno after his 46 years as the head football coach at Penn State.

So what I'm wondering is if any school is running a completely legit football program. All schools want to have the best football team because it generates so much money for the university. And to be the best you have to have the best players, so that's where improper recruiting benefits come in. What do you think about these scandals? Did Joe Paterno do enough by only reporting the allegations to the Athletic Director at Penn State, or did he deserve to get fired?

Johnny English Reborn

The Johnny English Reborn has released for one month, but I had no time to watch this movie until last weekend. I think, so far, it is the funniest movie in this year. This movie is the sequel for Johnny English, and after 8 years, the agent comes back and gives us more surprise.

In the movie, Johnny English need to stop a group of international assassins before they kill the Chinese premier and cause global chaos. During his working, he made lots of accidents and funny stories, but he can change the bad situation. One of the funniest part is he learned martial arts and concentration in Tibet. Sometimes he was the only one among the all student who did totally opposite to others. And sometimes he knew he can’t beat the others, so he used his “smart” to win. Anyway I strongly suggest you guys to watch this movie if you haven’t. It is a good choice for you to relax after the heavy work in school.

So I really what to know what you guys’ thinking about this movie and do you have any other funny movie to suggest us to watch when we wants to relax?

Here is the Trailer of Johnny English Reborn：

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f63sQ5XzBjk

Safe Drinking Water for Everybody

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/michael_pritchard_invents_a_water_filter.html

This link brings to a video recorded a little more than 2 years ago about a man who invented a way for people to have easy access to safe drinking water. The man invented this water bottle that is capable with just a couple pumps to completely sterilize water. I had never heard of such a discovery before I casually ran through this video on the website of TED, an organization that holds conferences all around the world where the newest inventions in every scientific field are presented by their inventors. I thought, and still do, that it is crazy how such an important discovery has not really been discussed about at worldwide scale, since it does successfully tackle one of the biggest issues our world has been dealing with since the start of  humanity. The video is about ten minutes long and he explains thoroughly about everything of how his invention works and how it could easily provide safe drinking water for all of the people on the world in a cheap efficient way. I was honestly pretty shocked to see that a solution has been found but that still two years later, the issue is still something millions of people suffer on. I would like to hear what you guys think about this and especially why you think wealthy nations who every year give billions and billions to humanitarian services do not use that money to provide people in poor nations with these bottles that are extremely efficient. What do you think should be done? Why do you think people have not publicized this major discovery and invention?

Tattoo Madness

There are a lot of confident people in this world, but none more confident than Chris Brown. He is a Texas resident that has a lot of spirit for his favorite NFL football team, the Houston Texans. He recently went to a local tattoo parlor and got a fresh new tattoo on his forearm. A tattoo that most would deem highly optimistic. It was to commemorate the Super Bowl victory that has yet to (and probably won't) happen.

Brown's fresh ink is quite optimistic. It even includes a specific Super Bowl title that he expects the Texans to win. However, the Texans are currently 5-3 and have never made it to the NFL playoffs, or even won a postseason game. He even went so far as to have the tattoo artist shade in the background behind the roman numerals so he couldn't go back and change it in the future.

I personally think that this man is completely crazy. I don't ever plan on getting a tattoo and would definitely never get something like this. So this leads me to wonder, do any of you have tattoos? Do you plan on getting a tattoo? Where? Of what? Do you think it's worth having it for the rest of your life? Do you think it's only worth getting a tattoo if it's something meaningful? Do you think this guy is absolutely crazy or do you think it's kind of cool?!