Kim Jong-il dead

Kim Jong-il dead

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16239693

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.

Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.

He suffered a stroke in 2008 and was absent from public view for months.

Pyongyang described his son Kim Jong-un as the "great successor" and urged North Koreans to unite behind him.

What does this mean for N. Korea? Any positive changes?

Originally posted by Belfrager:

I just love this post modern leftists, they even joke about what they really lives from...
One thing one must admit, besides having invented meta hypocrisy, they have found the way of living from that...

Really?
(One wonders how that would read in English rather than in Portlish.)

Now a very generally prudent point from Belfrager there Jaybro. Your contradiiction should be interesting?

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Eh?

You and the Portuguese man seem to think non-discrimination is so leftist, so "PC." I'm letting you know that it isn't. It's part of how successful business is done these days. You can't expect to be successful if you turn away 55% of your potential customers or treat them in differently or worse than the white customers like people didn't until the 1960's. Likewise, now you just hire the best person for the job, be they white, black, Hispanic, Asian, straight, gay, or bisexual otherwise your competition will snatch them up and use the minority members talents against you. Discriminate and your sowing the seeds of your own failure. Welcome to the 21st century.

Let me further elobrate. To do so, let me first establish a point of agreement. Microsoft (and other very successful companies) are in business to make money, not to appease some homosexual lobby. Now a slight bit of background. The State of Washington Legislature is set to vote on legalizing same-sex marriage on Wednesday. (expected to pass) The widely successful companies have come out in favor of the proposal, making basically the same arguments I presented to you. Let me get their exact words for you:

"While some of our employees literally grew up around the corner, others have come from every state and almost 150 countries around the world. There simply is no substitute for their diverse backgrounds, perspectives, skills and experiences," says Brad Smith, Microsoft's VP for legal and corporate affairs.

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Now a very generally prudent point from Belfrager there Jaybro. Your contradiiction should be interesting?

Perhaps, but I don't know what it is.

Kindly help me with it.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

You and the Portuguese man seem to think non-discrimination is so leftist, so "PC."

Actually what I'm saying is that discrimination is so leftist, so "PC". They even invented the term "positive discrimination" for justifying it.
The concept hasn't arrived yet to the US, American man? Don't you worry, it will...

I can't speak directly for what's happening in Portogual, but in the US, quotas for each race/ethnic group, etc are actually illegal (ie "positive discrimination). You can't discriminate against minorities, but you can't favor them either. But as I said, it's all just best business practices now. It's just as asinine to hire a gay black man over a more qualified straight white man because of what he is as the reverse. These days it's not about where you come from, it's about what you can do for us now. Only those without merit need fear the meritocracy. (Am I the only that finds it odd that we're talking about that in this thread? It would seem likely to maybe we would talk about this is the bisexual thread, if anyone that thought I meant to discriminate in favor of LGBT people, or whatever.)

Keep being subtley deep Jaybro which is your normal wont. It tends mostly to keep one oput of trouble and confrontationbut there again that can get kind of too routine....

Sanguinemoon, I understood that in your country you had to have some kind of racial quotas in companies?

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Sanguinemoon, I understood that in your country you had to have some kind of racial quotas in companies?

Since the sixties in agreements with unions.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

But as I said, it's all just best business practices now

Today's best business practices means that you have to design and market products and services according racial and social sub groups. This has nothing to do with meritocracy but with marketing analysis. That's the reason why companies needs to hire different racial/social people, because the market segment commands it not because own people's merit.

In other words, if you want to sell, let's say, a financial product aimed to the Portuguese community in Newark you'll have to hire Belfrager not Sanguinemoon

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Since the sixties in agreements with unions.

The 1960's are over, big guy. Unions have been in decline for decades.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Today's best business practices means that you have to design and market products and services according racial and social sub groups.

This much is true. You only need to go to the grocery store to see this. But why do they have an hispanic section (often used by people of all the ethnic), Asian section; I've even seen stores with a British section. But why have those in the first place? Because the market conditions warrant it. If those ethnic groups lack the buying power (merit), do you think stores would waste the shelf space and lose sales because of some PC rubbish? Hell no. But anybody of any ethnic group can work those areas of the store.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

a financial product aimed to the Portuguese community in Newark you'll have to hire Belfrager not Sanguinemoon

Nonsense. When I worked as a Financial Services Adviser for Chase, I successfully marketed my products to Anglos, Mexicans (literal Mexicans, not just Americans of Mexican ancestry, etc. The other day, I went to bakery run by a Mexican family. Guess what? They were able to successfully able sell me a piece of cake, despite differences of ancestry I see where you're coming from, but in most cases, it really doesn't hold up. The Portuguese community in Newark understands interest, etc and Americans of Irish descent understand cake Now, you do need someone with a good attitude to do the work; not somebody that automatically thinks you can't make the other person understand just because they ( or their ancestors) come from a different country or are a different ethnic group.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Today's best business practices means that you have to design and market products and services according racial and social sub groups.

This much is true. You only need to go to the grocery store to see this. But why do they have an hispanic section (often used by people of all the ethnic), Asian section; I've even seen stores with a British section.

Believe it or not, in a grocery store in western New York I ran into a german section. Some of the stuff was actually recognizable

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

But why have those in the first place? Because the market conditions warrant it. If those ethnic groups lack the buying power (merit), do you think stores would waste the shelf space and lose sales because of some PC rubbish? Hell no. But anybody of any ethnic group can work those areas of the store.

Or simple logic. If a bunch of food items are associated with a certain culture which isn't the dominant one, why not put them in a section with that label on it? Makes it easier to find them if you know where to look. Also, I doubt these 'ethnic' sections are really aimed at people from those cultures, most of the stuff there is rather specific.
I'd still have trouble justifying a german section though. Well, maybe in the aisle, but not elsewhere.

Unions were big barons here - once. Membership is millions lower beacuse their teeth were pulled in the 80's and 90's and not before time. Mostly because they were going over the score. Just recently here we had the Transport Union leader who is a right lefty threating to bring rail workers out on strike. And the reason? A senior signalman with over 20 years experience went on a sickie only to turn up in Germany to see a football team from here playing. The railway company demoted him for setting a bad example. It was that kind of thing that made us the sick man of Europe but such stuff has really gone now. Thankfully, as I vote for MP's to run the country not Union bosses. When you see the salaries and perks the Union wallahs get and they don't ose anything when their members strike it is laughable when they criticise others!

Yup, being "sick" to go watch football doesn't fly, (with 20 years experience, he probably could have arranged for some vacation time or whatever. Not smart, even if I was a championship match or something) Sunday is the Superbowl, people "sick" that day are likely to get questioned...

Originally posted by Macallan:

I'd still have trouble justifying a german section though.

It must sell enough, though or I would think they would get rid of it. :shrug: Of course, the British section in Albertson's in Lake Mary also seemed a little odd (the Albertson's here don't have that section)

Originally posted by Macallan:

Believe it or not, in a grocery store in western New York I ran into a german section. Some of the stuff was actually recognizable

Over here, the Delhaize has a Dutch section. It almost exclusively consists of a bunch of Dutch candies and cookies, for most regular food is fairly similar. Even so, things like chocolate sprinkles and speculaas are to be found elsewhere in the store as well, albeit by Belgian and French brands, so that results in a strange divide where not all similar chocolate sprinkles and similar cookies are to be found together. They also sell smoked sausage, but they don't sell kale.

My primary purchases from that section consist of the occasional licorice: Belgian candy sections barely have any.

Originally posted by Macallan:

Or simple logic. If a bunch of food items are associated with a certain culture which isn't the dominant one, why not put them in a section with that label on it? Makes it easier to find them if you know where to look. Also, I doubt these 'ethnic' sections are really aimed at people from those cultures, most of the stuff there is rather specific.

I don't know, the thing I was talking about with the Dutch section also happens to some extent in the Mexican section: there are tortillas (called wraps) around the regular bread section as well. I think the only bread-like product that's completely unique in that regard is naan bread in the Indian section. For the store's own el cheapo tortilla chips you have to go to the chips section, but the expensive brand name tortilla chips are found in the Mexican section.

Originally posted by Frenzie:

For the store's own el cheapo tortilla chips you have to go to the chips section, but the expensive brand name tortilla chips are found in the Mexican section.

Yup. That's how it works in the Walmart Neighborhood market here (a smaller version of Walmart that consists mostly of the grocery section) The Great Value and other less expensive brands of salsa are in the regular section, but the more expensive brands Latino section (including brands that aren't imported.) But that doesn't hold true for everything. With beans the Great Value and Bush's beans (a fairly expensive brand) are in the regular section, but the Mexican brands that are moderately priced are in the Latino section. It seems a point can be made that the ethnic sections sometimes needlessly divide the same type of product throughout the store and thus can confuse the consumer.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

Yup. That's how it works in the Walmart Neighborhood market here (a smaller version of Walmart that consists mostly of the grocery section) The Great Value and other less expensive brands of salsa are in the regular section, but the more expensive brands Latino section (including brands that aren't imported.)

The cheaper store brand of salsa can also be found in the Mexican section here, actually. There's also something called salsa in the chips section, with the dips, but it has only a vague relationship to actual salsa, much like the "guacamole" there has only a few percent avocado. The brand name Mexican food spice mix stuff doesn't have the clearest relationship to real Mexican stuff either: it's different — worse different — than in the States, but at least it's not full of filler. We use Mexican spice mix imported from the States though.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

With beans the Great Value and Bush's beans (a fairly expensive brand) are in the regular section, but the Mexican brands that are moderately priced are in the Latino section.

I was going to say all beans are together in the grocery store around the corner, but then I remembered the Japanese section has some kind of special Japanese dried beans that I've never tried 'cause they're really expensive.

We have an Amercian selection here Sanguinemoon - called Burgerking and McDonald's..........

Erm, I don't recommend either...

Very astute and rightly so. Dunkin Donuts (doughnuts here) didn't seem to catch on so that was one saving grace I suppose?

A plethora of accordions!

Originally posted by jbrothernew37:

A plethora of accordions!

"plethora" seems a bit odd choice, particularly as, unfortunately, that link gave a black video with nothing to be seen.

Should it not be "An Agreement of accordions"?

Originally posted by rjhowie:

We have an Amercian selection here Sanguinemoon - called Burgerking and McDonald's..........

Desperation "food"!

We have a new eatery in town called A Bucket'O Haggis.

Haven't tried it yet, though.

Now that would be just the thing for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

Originally posted by jbrothernew37:

We have a new eatery in town called A Bucket'O Haggis.

Haven't tried it yet, though.

I'm not sure I would recommend that any more than Burger King and Mickie D's.. I would would recommend El Pollo Loco (right now only in Cally, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Illinois though)

Tell me Mickie D's (whatever that is) isn't going to land here too any time soon?

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Mickie D's (whatever that is)

Oh, it's the nickname for McDonald's

Now that's a relief.

Your relief may be short-lived. We can still infect you with White Castle . McDonald's is positively gourmet by comparison. Their hamburgers are called "Sliders", presumably because once you slide them into your mouth, they slide right out the other end..



Note the distinctive grease shine on the upper bun.

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Now that's a relief.

You thought it was an American disease, didn't you?

Jaybro s White Castle's sliders.

There are none in Grand Rapids, sad to say.

Originally posted by rjhowie:

Now that's a relief.

Try this...it ain't haggis, but...

Excellent. They seem to be upto American standards!

McDonald's Restaurants Ltd


10 Westhorn Drive, Glasgow G32 8YX, United Kingdom
+44 141 778 8879 ‎ · mcdonalds.co.uk
2 reviews
"Poor car park tight space car damaged" -

But leave to Vegas to have the most awesome one of all

dysfunkshun ‎ - Mar 10, 2011
This is by FAR the worst mcdonalds ever! I go here frequently, since I live very close by. 9 times out of 10, my order gets screwed up. The people who work here are about as sharp as a bag of marbles. On one occasion, I had to tell the person 3 times I wanted OJ with my breakfast, only to be transferred to someone else to tell them the same thing twice before they figured it out. Another saw the person taking the money wearing a garbage sack for some reason, and my big mac with no pickles on the receipt come with pickles, even with a "special no pickles" tag on the box. The stereotypical "dumb" fast food employee generated from this store and its 32 IQ employees.
Disliked: Food, Service, Atmosphere, Value

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

dysfunkshun ‎ - Mar 10, 2011
This is by FAR the worst mcdonalds ever! I go here frequently, since I live very close by.
...

If it's so horrible why on earth does he keep coming back? It's hard to believe that there's no alternative ( to this particular McDonald's, junk food in general, etc. ) at all.

I was thinking that too, but the answer lies in his post: " I go here frequently, since I live very close by." Too lazy to go to a better place.

I never entered a McDonald in my life. I'm a proud supporter of the Slow Food movement.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

Their hamburgers are called "Sliders", presumably because once you slide them into your mouth, they slide right out the other end..

Please Sanguinemoon... would you spare the sensible souls present here to your American "delicatessen"?

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Please Sanguinemoon... would you spare the sensible souls present here to your American "delicatessen"?

My apologies. We're not known for putting things gently around here.

Originally posted by Sanguinemoon:

I was thinking that too, but the answer lies in his post: " I go here frequently, since I live very close by." Too lazy to go to a better place.

Can't be that horrible then.

Originally posted by Belfrager:

Please
Sanguinemoon... would you spare the sensible souls present here to your American "delicatessen"?

Sensible souls are not apparent here.

Nice to give me the list Jaybro. Two of them are over the city boundary so sadly the locals there are brained into that as well? A kind of warped culture?

Wondering if Kim is targeting Grand Rapids.

Does N Korea frighten anyone in D&D?

This is silliness supreme.

The idea of North Korea aiming for space — and having the missile muscle to get there — has led to the usual hair-on-fire panic in east Asia and a more measured but very real angst in the rest of the world. A loonytoons country with nuclear weapons and global reach is no one's idea of a good thing. The key questions — unanswerable at the moment — are whether North Korea indeed has the technical chops to reach orbit and if they do, does that mean anything?

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2111703,00.html#ixzz1rphZTBe1

Well, I am currently living within easy missile range of North Korea, and am hardly concerned. Since I am about to travel to South Korea in a few days, North Korea is a hassle. South Korea is just around the corner but I cannot pass through North Korea, meaning I have to take boat or plane. A catastrophic collapse will probably leave a mess both on the Chinese and South Korean side (the Russian border is mostly wilderness).

The projected rocket meant for satellite use kind of went belly up. If you are living in China jax you would hardly be targetted as China isn't a N. Korean enemy. Maybe a pointless observation?

I am flying over to Seoul 16 hours from now, should be enemy enough as North and South is formally at war, but the Korean missile program is in any case most likely targeted towards outside paymasters' pockets.

Take a look at the map of the Bohai Sea.

Beijing, Dalian (encompassing the former British/Russian/Japanese base Port Arthur), Seoul, and Osaka/Kyoto are on a straight line. Seoul is closer to Beijing than New York City is to Grand Rapids. Indeed Seoul is closer to Beijing than Shanghai is, and the South Korean capital is closer to Shanghai than Chinese capital is. This is a love triangle at Bohai Sea. Weihai, another former British naval base in China, is the same distance from Seoul as Busan is.

From Beijing I look at, and have a strong suspicion that many Chinese businessmen and politicians also look at, South Korea and Japan as two nice, expensive bottles of wine, and North Korea as the cork.

Originally posted by jax:

Take a look at the map of the Bohai Sea.

So, there's only one town in the entire North Korea...
And people accept this form of manipulation and censorship as very normal. Millions eliminated from the map.

Another thing, I read a few days ago, that North Korea's army has lowered the minimum height for admission from 1,45m to 1,42.
That's because the rachitism affecting an entire generation due to the 90's boycott to the country by the rest of the world. But of course turning millions into dwarves by hungry is not in anyway related with genocide or anything of the sort...

A sinister regime is no justification for total indifference towards millions that suffers. There are real people there, not just the few clowns that tv telelobotomy tries to convince us.

Oh, there are several, but Google Maps doesn't seem to have any deal to get maps over the area. But if you switch to satellite view, or better yet use Google Maps, you will get some pictures or urbane North Korea. Sinuiju, which is on the other side of the river and bridge to Dandong, for example.

The famine in the 1990's wasn't due to boycott, but to bad policies combined with bad luck. The floods and natural disasters, and bad harvests would have strained the most sensible of regimes, which the North Korean was not. Add to that the collapse of the Soviet Union, which had an impact on a great number of countries, including the former Soviet Union itself. Finland for instance had a severe recession, more severe I think than Iceland when the US market collapsed. That said, hundred of thousands died, and many could have been saved. Hopefully less severely, but a new famine could easily happen.

Famine used to be commonplace throughout Asia. Many older Chinese are markedly shorter than the younger generations, nutrition was likely a major factor.

Don't see the point of including former bases of countries that ceased to be theirs a century and such ago?? And there is NO way N. Korea is going to rocket China for goodness sake!

In addition, I think that Grand Rapids will survive as the people live quiet retired lives musing and pondering and would be a boring thing to create a threat about. The N. Korean nut-jobs need something more steeled they can cause confronations with. Jaybro and family for example, sunning and being detached from the taxing realities of the world that is another added reason for safety for the citizenry.

Sharing some in-flight reading over North Korea, though at the time of my bypassing the vision of this Hermit Kingdom was momentarily obscured by clouds: New DPRK leader's speech 'boosts confidence' and Kim's speech steals the show

Originally posted by People's Daily:

Much of the anticipation for Sunday's events had focused on the DPRK's latest missile equipment, which the military planned to showcase during the parade. Yet the highlight came before the parade began, when leader Kim Jong-un addressed the public for the first time. His speech was broadcast live across the country.

Kim delivered the speech from a building overlooking tens of thousands of soldiers and ordinary citizens on the square, with huge portraits of his father and grandfather posted on the building. The young leader seemed at ease, chatting and smiling with officials standing next to him. He read the written speech in a youthful voice for about 20 minutes. It came as a surprise, as his late father is believed to have made only one public speech during his decades-long rule of the DPRK.

Many of the government staff accompanying foreign reporters seemed astonished when they heard that Kim Jong-un was going to make a speech. They listened closely to his words and appeared deeply moved. Many people interviewed by China Daily said they were inspired by the speech. One government official said Kim Jong-un gave a public speech because he wanted to encourage the people. "It shows that our leader has the confidence in leading our people to make progress in the future," the official said.

The parade was the largest ever in the DPRK, yet military experts said most of the equipment on display was outdated except a new weapon that appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to media reports. Sunday's parade reportedly attracted a record 200,000 people. We believe that people took off work to attend the public celebrations that have taken place over the last several days. Our guide from the foreign ministry agreed. "Our integrity, that is why our enemies are afraid of us," said the guide.

Originally posted by People's Daily:

Analysts said the rare public speech by a DPRK leader and the military parade aimed to boost confidence among people in the DPRK and cement the new leadership led by the young Kim. During the 20-minute speech, he lauded his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, and his father, Kim Jong-il, as the "founder and the builder of our revolutionary armed forces".

He also made it clear that the military will continue to have a dominant role in the country, following the "military first" policy, as it had under his father.

Kim, in his late 20s, became leader of the country with a population of 23 million after the death of former leader Kim Jong-il in December.

"I express my greetings to our compatriots ... who dedicate themselves to reunification and prosperity," he told cheering crowds.

"Let's move on toward our final victory!" he said, pointing his finger ahead to cheering troops who repeatedly chanted "Long life!" and "Safeguard Kim Jong-un until death!"[...]


Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the institute of modern international relations at Tsinghua University, said the parade "gives young Kim a great opportunity to mark the start of a new era under the new leadership". The young Kim was officially named first secretary of the ruling Workers' Party and first chairman of the National Defense Commission last week. Liu said Kim's speech is to show that he has won unanimous support for his leadership and "inspire confidence among the DPRK people".

According to the Associated Press, during the military parade the DPRK unveiled what appeared to be a new missile. Military analysts in Japan and the Republic of Korea said further examination would be required before confirming if it was an intercontinental ballistic missile that the DPRK has reportedly been working on for some time. Liu said it is a matter of urgency for the DPRK to strengthen its national cohesion and boost people's confidence after the failure of the DPRK's launch of a satellite on Friday, "and that is also the aim of this parade".

North Korea. An interesting form of Commuism acting like a medieval Monarchy of all things. How does a Marxist explain this daft one away?