Before entering the War Museum (not sure the official name), I interviewed my friend and group-mate, Andrew, on the differences between our expectations — that the environment would be oppressive, we would be watched all the time, and so on — and experiences — communicating with the people and learning so much. Sorry about the sound, but as you can see it was windy. Here are details of painting of[…] Keep reading →

Shortly after last post’s videos, we returned to Kim Il Sung Square and interacted with more North Koreans, overcoming language obstacles in North Korea with friendly body language. If our would-be leaders don’t create peace, understanding, and communication between us, we have to lead them. The more we interact the more we understand each other. That’s how we show we aren’t the monsters or dupes their government says we are[…] Keep reading →

Here is a quick video with my thoughts on some differences between my expectations of North Korea (and those of everyone I know who visited) and experiences. I’m on the avenue between the Foreign language bookshop and Kim Il Sung Square. You’ll see Kiwi Tom being silly in the background (he does stand-up comedy, among other things) and the usual desolate, sparsely populated city. Here I shake hands with a[…] Keep reading →

Usually I post North Korea posts separate from my main page, but I consider today’s videos too-good examples of leadership not to include in the main page (despite being in the middle of a series of George Clooney posts). The scene: Kim Il Sung Square, Pyongyang, April 14, 2012 — the day before the celebration of the hundred-year anniversary of Kim Il Sung’s birth. Whether you like him or not,[…] 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 →

Longtime readers might know I enjoy and recommend a blog on retirement and financial independence called Mr. Money Mustache. The author there wrote a post on people who evaluate him by their standards and claim he isn’t really retired. He created a definition, quoted below, and said he was. As I said, I recommend his blog, but I think his choice of how to define “retirement” missed the point of[…] Keep reading →

Do you ever find yourself trying to get someone to let go of something, to relax, or something similar, but they don’t? You know if they just didn’t worry so much or stopped caring about something so much, they’d have an easier time with the project, relationship, life, or whatever, but they just don’t let go? You may be motivated by compassion, but I suspect a lack of empathy may[…] Keep reading →

Illustrative labels can help, as opposed to evaluative, judgmental ones like yesterday’s post. I love the term “Monkey Mind.” I heard it from a friend who teaches yoga. Without hearing any explanation I immediately understood its meaning and saw how the term helped understand a concept. When you increase your self-awareness you start to notice how your mind works. The less you know how to manage it, the more it[…] Keep reading →

Last August, many reported on the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream speech. One of my favorite sites which concerns itself with copyright, started a conversation, “The copyright nightmare of ‘I Have A Dream“, on how the speech, which was broadcast in a way that would seemingly make it part of the public domain, ended up copyrighted. Please read that conversation for many views on how[…] Keep reading →