As I wrote before, North Korea seems to like making models of sites and I like making fly-through videos of models. Here are two more videos of models. I’m not sure of what. Something industrial. Maybe the steel factory? Here’s the second video. Typically when they showed us models like this they described how they represent a time Kim Il Sung visited the place, even if his visiting probably contributed[…] Keep reading →

Part of my series of videos on North Korea from my April 2012 visit, for now unedited and in the order I took the videos. Today’s videos are of our visit to a North Korean steel factory. They told us we were among the first foreigners to visit the place in a long time, maybe ever. We loved visiting this place. That we got to tour right into the heart[…] Keep reading →

Part of my series of videos on North Korea from my April 2012 visit, for now unedited and in the order I took the videos. Today’s videos happen to cover infrastructure. Pyongyang Roadside This video shows the view out of a tour bus of a typical Pyongyang street. You can see the (in)famous Ryugyong Hotel, a subway stop entrance, and Pyongyang’s typically empty roadways. You can hear our guide’s voice[…] Keep reading →

I visited North Korea for the celebration of the anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth last April. The trip was eye-opening and amazing. I believe it created more understanding and communication than whatever potential problems. As I’ve explained before here and in my book, I consider such interactions among the best ways to increase communication and understanding with North Koreans, which I consider the best ways to bring about more[…] Keep reading →

Some advice sticks with you more than others. I still remember words a great friend of mine told me in college. I remember he said it while consoling me over a breakup with a girlfriend, which would have put it in 1989 or maybe 1990. Something that stands the test of time like that, I think speaks for itself. He said There are few shoulds in life. I’ve written at[…] Keep reading →

This model is one of my most important ones I think about almost daily. It fits with my practice of having low standards the first time. It also enables you to act on the perspective most successful people I know of realizing the importance of failing. The scene is a martial arts class. A few students learning from a great master. The students ask the master how he never loses his[…] Keep reading →

Everybody faces tasks they don’t want to start, know they have to do, but also know won’t take that long — things you might characterize like pulling teeth, holding your nose and taking your medicine, or grinning and bearing it. We all want to learn to motivate ourselves better. Examples include talking to your boss about a raise, talking to a significant other about a problem that’s been bothering you[…] Keep reading →