I just found this video one of my group-mates took that illustrates one of North Korea’s benign oddities — they make amazing scale models of things. Their museums are full of them. This video shows a model train.
I’m not sure the value of showing these models. What do they convey besides model-making skills? I don’t quite get it.
You also hear at the beginning one of our funniest running jokes of the trip. “Leader Kim Jong Il” sounds like “little Kim Jong Il.” We kept hearing “little Kim Jong Il did this … little Kim Jong Il did that,” which made it sound like they were describing his achievements as a baby.
Then when our guide described what we heard as “Inside this train is little Kim Jong Il,” it was too much not to laugh at. Was there a tiny Kim Jong Il inside there?
Former rocket scientist now entrepreneur, leadership coach, speaker, and artist, Joshua Spodek (PhD ’00, Astrophysics; MBA ’06; both Columbia University) has succeeded at many big things that few people even try. More importantly, he loves everything he does.
A modern renaissance man, he studied with Nobel Prize winners and helped build a European Space Agency X-ray satellite to observe supernova remnants, then started a business now operating globally based on several of his patents. He coaches leadership with the Columbia Business School Program on Social Intelligence and taught at New York University and the New School. He earned five Ivy-League diplomas; has shown his art in solo gallery shows and museums and installed large public art in New York and around the world; socializes with Academy Award winners; ran five marathons; and competed at national and global sporting events.
He has been quoted and profiled in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Fortune, CNN, and the major broadcast networks. Esquire Magazine named him “Best and Brightest” in its annual Genius issue.
More here: http://joshuaspodek.com/about
I lead and organize seminars periodically. I'm also working on a book. If you're interested about hearing about dates, sign up. I'll email maybe once a month and never share your information with anyone else.
