Today's Document
Cosmic Funnies

tannertan36
ojovivo

KIROKAZE
Claire Keane

Kaledo Art
Monterey Bay Aquarium

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
i don't do bad sauce passes

❣ Chile in a Photography ❣
Xuebing Du
d e v o n

pixel skylines
dirt enthusiast
NASA

if i look back, i am lost
AnasAbdin
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@vvversed

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SLANG 대박~ awesome! Swag! 멘붕~mental breakdown (comes from 멘탈붕괴) 심쿵~sound of a settling heart. When something is cute 헐~ wow. (sarcastically) 훈훈하다~heart warming 훈남/훈녀~a heart warming guy (rather than good looking) 미남/미녀~a physically attractive guy 엄친아~mother’s friend’s son (abr. of 엄마의 친구의 아들) 행쇼~”peace” or be happy (“peace” as in “peace out” or bye. Comes from 행복하십쇼) 갑 vs 을~superior versus subordinate 알바~part time job (comes from 아르바이트) 광광당하다~to be pwned 연관광~pwnage (lol pwned and pwnage still exist?) 개소리~ nonsense (literally: dog noise) 게거품 물다~ to be extremely angry (literally: foaming at the mouth like a crab) 까다~ to criticize
Ahhh. (°_°) so many slang words~ obviously there’s more, but let’s move on to texting.
TEXTING ㅇㅋ~ okay ㄱㄷ~ wait. (from 기다려주세요) ㅇㅇ~Informal yes (from 응) ㅎㅎ/ㅋㅋ/푸하하하~ laugh/laugh/evil laugh respectively ㄴ/ㄴㄴ~ no ㅎㅇ~ hi (from 하이) ㅇㄷ~ where? (From 어디?) ㅃ/ㅃㅃ/ㅃㅇ/ㅂㅂ/ㅂㅇetc.~ bye ㄱㅊ~ it’s okay (괜찮아) ㅈㅅ~ sorry (죄송해) ㅉㅉ~ tsk tsk ㅊㅋ~ congratulations (축하해) ㄱㅅ~ thank you (감사해) ㄷㄷ~ shivering noise ㄷㅊ~ shut up (닥쳐) ㅅㄱ~ “peace” (kind of similar to 행쇼 except more of a goodbye than a be happy) (수고해라/수고)
EMOTICONS ㅠㅠ/ㅜㅜ~ crying ^^/^-^ ~ smiling eyes ㅡㅡ ~ wth straight face. Like -_- orz/OTZ/OTL~ a dude kneeling over (I’ve known this for a very long time and I STILL read it as “orz” “O-T-Z” and “O-T-L” ㅎㅎ) ㅗ~ I hope you don’t encounter this. Can you guys guess what it is? ㅋㅋㅋ (hint: it looks like something)
I hope this helped you guys understand any native texters that are texting you these weird things that you can’t understand. I suppose it is like an American texting a person learning English “lol wats up brah. U doin gud? Lolz k me 2” ㅎㅎ Anyway~ if someone texts you some weird thing that doesn’t translate on the translator or dictionary, chances are, it’s probably slang. Just ask that person to write it out as a full word, or give you the meaning in English. If not, it’s probably online!
행쇼! ☆*:.。. o(≧▽≦)o .。.:*☆
~특별한 짱보라
Review of “The Admiral: Roaring Currents”
2/5- Just say no.
I was truly disappointed with the movie. And the reason is the same as why “Rise of an Empire” was so inferior to its original; it just lacked any human element.
As I’ve written before, the greatest attribute to Admiral Yi is that he chose to honor the throne despite being betrayed, tortured and demoted by his liege. When the the court ran away to the arms of Ming China, he stood between the Japanese and his people. When armies scattered to the wind, the civilians rallied around him to fend off legions of samurai.
All this is lost in the feature for some random spy and his mute wife. This was okay for the trailer but holy crap does it fall short. All we learn of Yi’s exemplary character is from the 10 seconds of text at the beginning of the film.
The battle scenes themselves were fine. It had some interesting subtleties but a foreign viewer would probably need to watch it twice to understand what’s going on with subtitles. The whole thing is muddled by weird angles and it would have been better to explain the nuances from the Japanese side as well.
300 was fun because it was about a man who rebelled against the corrupt clergy and senate. He wanted to defend his family from a horde of elephants, alchemists, barbarians and immortals. We actually got to see what that family was like. Rise of an Empire and The Admiral makes no effort to make the conflict at all challenging to overcome nor do they really give a relatable reason for them to be fighting in the first place.
Could Samsung Afford It?
No, not at the time.
On January 4th of 2014, Samsung Electronics shares reached an all-time-high of ~$1,584. By Q3. But leading up to the announcement of the disbanding, Samsung Electronics had lost nearly a third of its value (~$1,078 on October 3rd) with the announcement that the operating profits missed projections and fell to a 3-year-low. This, apparently, prompted the restructuring of Samsung’s E-Sports management with the command moving from Electronics to Cheil Worldwide, the conglomerate’s advertising wing. You will recognize the Cheil from “Cheil Jedang” or CJ, another spin-off of the proud Samsung Grocery Chain.
Korea is not as fully invested into e-sports as one might think. What one sees elsewhere as “infrastructure” is only the means of legitimizing the industry against a torrent of overwhelming opposition. Thus, it would have been nigh impossible for anyone to scrape together the courage to tell the Board (A.K.A. the mighty and regal House of Lee) that they should divert funds into gaming while the Mobile Division was burning; the result was the fate of Blue and White being determined by the advertising subsidiary who never wanted the responsibility in the first place.
Of course, the Cabal/KeSPA had started the discussions about turning Champions into a League much earlier. The one-team policy was not the effect but the goal of the move as it would cut down costs for each corporation. The whole concept of sister-teams was initiated unilaterally by CJ and they were relieved to be able to pull back on their investments.
Brand Awareness
Though it may seem counter-intuitive, the objective of a marketing campaign is not to portray strength or a positive image. The opposite may be necessary, depending on how one wants to position their firm. Take No-Name brands for instance.
Priority 1A is exposure. When you start out, this means that you let your prospective clients know that you actually exist. Your single skew and the company would be synonymous anyway.
Once you are established though, you can leverage your scale to save on the advertising costs- only sparing sporadic efforts with product launches. Samsung is prolific enough that the team's success and a marginal increase in its following are insignificant to the bottom line. This is especially so now that they have locked their position in Riot history as "World Champions." Think Taipei Assassins.
One of Many
When arguing for how much Samsung should spend, it's also important to remember that they are the sole sponsors of numerous teams unlike, say, TSM. And by teams, I mean those that compete in Starcraft, Volleyball, Basketball and most other sports. In Korea, you cheer for the Kia Tigers instead of the Detroit Tigers.
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that Samsung has interests outside of electronics. Korea is the largest producer of commercial vessels. However, no amount of crushing is gonna help them sell ships to the e-sports audience.
Even in the electronics department, a lot of what they sell is B2B rather than consumer products. Apple's spec superiority was, in large parts, thanks to Samsung working behind the scenes in providing the components. The storied partnership had become frayed with Jobs starting the Apple v. Samsung patent war (funnily enough, the judge for the US trials was of Korean descent) and has since been mended with Cook's tenure.
Conclusion
I was rather surprised to see that the Reddit community was even more upset than the domestic fans. I, for one, am glad that the players are getting paid what they deserve. What I am irked by is the delayed introduction of the fresh blood. Hopefully, the coaches will get their shit together come summer and put up a better showing.

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“(Left) We’re friends going to the same university. It’s been three years since we became friends.” “What is your friend’s best quality?” “(Right) Tell him how great I am.” “(Left) She’s pretty.” “What part of her is the prettiest?” “(RIght) You better say something nice.” “(Left) Her hair isn’t bad.”
“(왼쪽) 대학친구인데 친해진지 이제 3년 됐어요.” “친구의 가장 좋은 점이 뭐에요?” “(오른쪽) 잘 말해라.” “(왼쪽) 예쁘죠.” “어디가 제일 예뻐요?” “(오른쪽) 말 잘해라.” “(왼쪽) 머리카락이 참 예쁜 것 같아요.”
This video actually made me realize the significance of holding the arrow in the draw hand and which side the arrow goes. Growing up in Korea, I took it for granted that the arrow goes on the right side rather than the left like the Hollywood movies apparently do it. I also realized that competitive archers actually shoot from the left like he says.
I do think he's a little hard on quivers as his demonstration is with one made out of wood. I've been fine with a rented leather quiver, trekking in the forest. Though I do usually hold a few arrows in my left (not the right hand like he does). Logistically it would have been impossible to actually fight in the field with only the arrows in your hand.
Anyway, here's a look at how Korean TV portrays historical archery and perhaps a way around the speed problem that you haven't seen before. This has left an impression as much as the draw hand thing. Now if you are thinking it's a stretch for a blind guy to be shooting that well, here's a blind (albeit not sightless, I believe) Olympian from Korea.
Final sunset of 2014.
Janghwa-ri, Ganghwado, Incheon.

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Winter at Bomun Pavilion, Gyeongju (Source)
Steamed crabs, crab ramyun 강원도 속초시 동명동 Sokcho, South Korea
I can’t find anyone who understands me, even within the mirror.
A Brief Glance at Machi vs. AHQ (LMS)
TL;DR- Though the superior composition of Machi and the favorable match-up of Liss vs. Rumble helped them gain a lead, they looked to be warding as a formality rather than trying to take initiative. Had they been proactive about putting pressure on multiple objectives (Dragon is love and Dragon is life!) as to keep AHQ on their heels, they wouldn't have lost 3 consecutive Dragons and a Baron.
1) AHQ wastes no time using their warding to their advantage. They make a show of placing the trinket ward right by the toad/Gromp as to make the Machi bot lane pass on the EXP bonus. Perhaps, this missed opportunity would have helped them close the ensuing CS gap which is all the more dire considering that Ali is using Relics. I don't see why there would be a 20 CS deficit for a Lucian/Janna lane which is among the most coveted of pairs, known for their fast-pushes.
2) J4's instinct to camp Top is understandable in the short-run but the champion is much more effective in getting the bottom lane ahead which is better for the late game. Honestly though, Liss should have no problem manhandling Rumble on her own. It's kind of ridiculous that she'd be going even with him in CS and it would have probably been smarter for her to be ganking rather than requesting ganks.
3) On the bright side, Aching on LB makes a great play in the mid lane. He shows a great presence of mind when he makes a predictive flash and ignites Fizz, seeing J4 approach. Then in his death, he baits Lee into the waiting arms of Liss to get them really ahead.
4) I don't see what the point of the 4 deep wards were. With the bottom lane losing pretty hard, it would have been difficult to really keep this area cordoned off, let alone trying to force Dragon. I'd have spent the wards in the north letting Liss split or position for a gank to bully Rumble further.
5) Additionally, Fizz is pretty dependent on his ult CD and has been taking it in regular intervals. His attempts at Blue should leave an opening for Dragon. The way they kind of hesitate and let the Dragon heal seems to point towards their not keeping track of when the Blue would re-spawn. It would have been a simple task of seeing Fizz come back to lane with Blue (3) and timing for 5:00. Apparently not having done so, I thought Machi would be prone to getting Dragons stolen in future. I honestly don't understand the reasoning behind having Lucian try and fend off the bot lane alone when he should have been beating on Dragon.
6) Liss does a good job pressing the TP advantage upon Rumble. She forces him to come top and then ganks Corki so that the bottom tower can fall, having seen 3 people roaming around their Top. Now, what is my problem with it? I'd have gone earlier so that they wouldn't have to sacrifice Red and the top turret. I'd have J4 ward the tri- or the bush behind the turret so that Liss takes the tower and the whole team has time to clear Top for a Blue contest before Dragon. There's always the chance you can make a pick in the jg but there's also the fact that the 3K lead and the 1st stack could be leveraged into multiple towers during the lull.
7) They give up the initiative and get cocky so they miss the ward in the pit and get the Dragon stolen.
8) Their neglect of the Top lane costs them again when they try to kill Rumble. AHQ gets some free picks and gets a 2nd Dragon stack. The duos will constantly have to posture for Dragon leaving decimated Rumble to stray in Top alone. Machi should have pushed this issue earlier with more vision: preferably before he gets Zhonyas.
9) By now, I suppose Machi had lost all will as they had been wandering aimlessly for a while. Note the difference in the number of wards whilst Machi still has the gold lead.
10) Can you say "Baron Throw?" Just because there are no wards in the pit does not mean the hundred others strewn across the field won't let AHQ know that Baron is going down.
The funny thing is that the early reviews of the movie were pretty lukewarm, not just from critics but from regular test audiences. Now after this controversy, people are hailing it as the greatest comedy of our generation. It’s also caused a resurgence of those stupid NORTH KOREA BEST KOREA memes. That’s just annoying, though. What makes me angry is that by mocking North Korea, the mockers are reinforcing the DPRK’s state propaganda. If you think the North Korean government is stupid or you see them as toothless cartoon villains, then you’ve already been indoctrinated by it. Hook, line, and sinker. Without getting too much into my personal life, I have close ties with people deeply involved in North Korea. I’ve befriended DPRK defectors and people who have dedicated their lives to dismantling the Kim regime. North Korea is the only Orwellian police state in the world and it has been that way for almost 70 years. Other nations have tried to maintain a government like the DPRK’s in the modern world and failed. The USSR broke apart. Fascist Italy fell. Nazi Germany fell. Gaddafi was ousted and killed. Yet the DPRK endures. People don’t rebel, other countries don’t invade them, and they still receive concessions from the international community even as they continue developing their nuclear program. Stupid governments can’t keep 24.9 million people drinking the Kool Aid and force exponentially more powerful countries into bargaining positions. A large part of why North Korea endures is because they’ve carefully engineered how they want to appear to the West. Horrific things are happening there right now. Some of my friends have been sent to juvenile concentration camps where kids were beaten and raped by the guards. Camps where kids had their feet cut off for attempting to escape. Friends who saw a fresh corpse on the street every day they walked home from school, left to starve to death on the sidewalk because of the Great Famine. Friends who were forced to eat bark to survive, friends who witnessed cannibalism. There is so much information out there about how horrible and dangerous North Korea is but the international community doesn’t receive pressure from their constituents to do anything about it because everyone views North Korea as a joke. That is a very intentional, calculated move by the DPRK government. They are fully aware of how ridiculous and empty their threats sound. Those statements are nothing but propaganda fed to the West. B.R. Myers is one of the world’s foremost scholars of North Korea and he pointed out that North Korea is not very socialist or communist. In fact, if you read the North Korean constitution, you won’t find a single mention of socialism or communism. But they are very Confucian, and a lot of what they talk about in their constitution is aligned with Confucian principles. That also goes for their foreign policy. It’s straight out of the Art of War. To quote Sun Tzu: "If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected." And that’s exactly what North Korea does. They know they can’t possibly withstand a military invasion from a first world power, but at the same time, they can’t risk a policy of close contact because it would compromise the internal propaganda they minister to their citizens. So they make ridiculous threats they can’t possibly carry out. They get angry about comedy movies. They play the role of the tiny man with a huge chip on his shoulder, and the international community responds accordingly. The unspeakable atrocities North Korea is committing against its citizens is overshadowed by the global public perceiving North Korea as a cartoon villain. And when North Korea does do something legitimately dangerous like missile tests in Japanese waters or firing upon submarines, it is without warning, provocation, grandstanding, or boasting. Nothing came of the RKS Cheonan attack because there was no hard evidence that linked it back to the DPRK. Do you think an inept government can pull that off? This is how they control their public image. It’s how they make it clear they are not to be fucked with when they want to be taken seriously, but when they need to relieve international pressure off themselves, they start talking like Darth Vader, and the laughs and mocking that follow work to North Korea’s benefit. Did you know they’re also heavily involved in organized crime? You probably haven’t and you’ll never hear North Korea boasting about it, even though their criminal enterprises are a legitimate threat that causes actual damage overseas. They want to divert people’s attention away from things like Room 39 so they make wild threats they cannot possibly carry out and the international media eats it up. Room 39 is a multibillion dollar criminal enterprise but we have little information about it. People struggle to accept that the DPRK can run operations like this because of the misguided belief that the DPRK is run by boneheads. Look at what the response has been like for their threats about The Interview. The DPRK knows damn well they can’t bomb any American movie theaters. But they used their grand, puffed up threats as propaganda. And it isn’t the first time they’ve indoctrinated the West with idle threats. What’s the response to North Korean news on any popular media website? North Korea Best Korea! ROR! You are now banned from r/pyongyang! Any discussions about the concentration camps or human rights abuses are completely drowned out by stupid memes, stupid memes which exist because North Korea presented itself as an evil empire out of a sci-fi book and the West ate it up. North Korea is already associated with vapid memes in the eyes of young westerners. Now it’ll be associated with a slightly above average comedy movie and hammy threats, playing right into the belief that North Korea like a real-life version of Mordor or the Galactic Empire. When you hear about the Galactic Empire killing trillions of people in Star Wars, you don’t feel anything because it’s exaggerated fiction. On a subconscious level, it’s easy to feel ambivalent towards millions of people being tortured, raped, and starved on a daily basis when you view the oppressing power in the same level of ridiculousness as Darth Vader. But Kim Jong Un is not Emperor Palpatine. The Workers’ Party are not Sith Lords. They are completely sane, flesh-and-blood men and women no different from me or you who torture and imprison regular people. Real people. People who are fathers, daughters, uncles, friends. Imagine if your family lived in a country where one misstep you make could land you and your children in the gulag. If you have daughters, you can expect them to be gang raped by guards. You can expect them to have forced abortions for carrying mixed children. If you have a relative that has special needs, expect them to be executed for polluting the gene pool. When you step back and start deprogramming yourself from the media conditioning that North Korea has been feeding you, it’s not so easy to be so flippant about North Korea, is it? Suddenly it becomes as disturbing as joking about the deaths of Eric Garner and Tamir Rice, or creating memes out of the two NYPD officers who were murdered in cold blood simply for being in uniform. Picture that on a scale magnified by millions and perpetuated every single day. So the fact that the world is congratulating itself for being so witty and edgy for mocking North Korea is what made me angry this week. I’ve seen more outrage against North Korea for bullying Sony into pulling this movie than I have when the UN released its report on North Korean concentration camps. If the world was able to see North Korea soberly as the most brutal dictatorship in the world, it wouldn’t be such a pain in the ass convincing people to get involved. That’s harder to do now that everyone is lapping up the DPRK’s Kool Aid without realizing. Why is this the issue Reddit wants to have protests over? The real way to stick it to North Korea would be to start organizing mass donations to nonprofits dedicated to ending it, making their human rights abuses viral, and starting an online movement that pressure world leaders into breaking the Kim regime. That would actually scare the shit out of the DPRK. TLDR The Interview is out and millions are spending cash on watching it.
Sony & “The Interview” — what’s your take? (via wofur)

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The Interview
Honestly, this is more about the blog post I've read rather than about the movie. If you've watched the trailer, you are done. There's really no need to look for more in the actual movie.
Jezebeler brought up an interesting perspective on NK in response to the movie. He's said that NK puts up a ridiculous facade to draw our attention away from the suffering they cause on their own people and this is how they have kept up their power so long while regimes of the likes of Ghaddafi are falling. People enjoying themselves at NK's expense are apparently helping them.
First, I think he is making the mistake of painting NK as the last bastion for oligarchs and Orwellian practices. Egypt is still being ruled by the military caste. Syria and the Al-Assad Dynasty has not fallen yet. Russia still has a mean streak with the KGB being broken up into many factions, including the FSB and criminal gangs. Thailand has a coup d'etat once every so often. The Maldives tried and failed to institute democracy. The royals of Saudi Arabia are not so popular as they flaunt their religious grip. The Ayatollahs (a clerical rank in Islam) keep their religious militias at the ready to censor a lot of material. Koreans have our je-buhl (chabeol) families who get to bend the rules and control more than is due in a proper democracy. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list as I have not even touched on continents like Africa. Even Americans are not actually immune to Orwellian tactics from their government and foreign intelligence services.
It is indeed getting rarer for a family to pass on the leadership of a state but it is wrong to argue NK as unique in this instance. If colorful and unrealistic rhetoric was a shield and smokescreen, NK will not be able to claim it a brainchild of their own design as Ahmadinejad and countless other despots have set precedents. As many of these have fallen over the years, I do not deem it to be a genius double feint; it would be pretty counterproductive to their domestic propaganda efforts should they use the same material to make the West giggle.
Second, I think the post plays down the cost of the West taking out NK. It's written as if it would be a breeze once people just realize what's going on. The U.S. tried that and it was called the Korean War. Though China and Russia have opened their arms to capitalism, they are very wary of American influence growing on the Korean peninsula up to the borders of China. With Taiwan and other interests around the Yellow Sea on the line, larger Korean, Japanese and Western stakes will threaten its dominance in the region.
The nation itself is no push-over either. The terrain alone would make NK something of Afghanistan Lite. They maintain a much larger army (the largest in terms of military/paramilitary personnel) with a more sophisticated arsenal which includes nuclear devices and intercontinental ballistics capabilities. Most importantly though, there really isn't much to fight over. The cost outweighs any benefit that might come of a military campaign.
I don't know what he's talking about when he claims there are no physical links to NK in the case of ROKS Cheonan torpedoing. It's like saying we aren't sure who pulled off the cyber attack on Sony. There are connections to be made and obviously they are circumstantial... when is it not? I've also gotten fairly sick of people quoting Sun Tzu to make their opinions appear more erudite. While the Art of War is a good read, it's supposed to be the fundamentals. Again, their ability to get away with the provocations speaks to the simulated casualty calculations rather than humor.
In my opinion, it is not their image that's keeping us from overthrowing NK. It's the practical challenges. Though they can't be as caricatured as a lot of people in the West think of them, I do believe they would have to be indoctrinated to varying degrees in the belief the Kim family is something of a Yeon Dynasty (Yeon Gae-So-Moon usurped his king to take a firmer stance against Tang China. While he was successful himself, his sons would cause civil strife and the eldest would finish off the last of the Korean defenses) reincarnate. While the thought is truly intriguing, I don't think the Confucian and fascistic mind-set would ever allow them to be self-deprecating.
Only 6 days more to go before the "holidays" are over. This picture captures what has been my vantage for a week and a half lol. We seriously drink too much.