Recently, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson visited North Korea on a mission to expand the internet into the DPRK.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T7enysETnRc/UO7PuwpF9dI/AAAAAAAABBs/h6Ric9kdN0I/s400/DSC_0096.JPG)
Along for the ride was Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of the CEO and she used social media to blog about her "adventures" upon her return since the DPRK only has a scrubbed version of the internet on their intranet.
https://sites.google.com/site/sophieinnorthkorea/home (https://sites.google.com/site/sophieinnorthkorea/home)
To sum it up, she considers the DPRK a "distortion field" where reality has been bent so far, its citizens haven't a clue what is for real and what is for show.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-gX-b86q-8_8/UO9YVEPv2kI/AAAAAAAABGc/GwNbvJv2Drw/s400/DSC_0291.JPG)
Hey Ock, they even have a subway.....twice as deep as usual, in case the capitalists decide to bomb them
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-iBMdUmEp2xM/UO9YEZJsBBI/AAAAAAAABGM/wArs29TGBAc/s400/DSC_0271.JPG)
She says North Korea is essentially a national version of "The Truman Show"
The mausoleum also had large trophy rooms for the Leaders, with medals, honorary citizenships and a veritable rogue's gallery of grip-and-grin portraits of the Kims and their various friends: Oh hey, Hafez Assad, Fidel Castro, Teodoro Obiang... Also noteworthy: only U.S. contribution was an honorary degree from the bullshit Kensington University. Aw, nobody told them.
What's really weird is that the daughter of the Google CEO has such a busted-looking blog.
The Vice guide to North Korea said the same thing a few years ago. http://www.vice.com/the-vice-guide-to-travel/vice-guide-to-north-korea-1-of-3
interesting. the blog was a little hard to read through.
I remember reading about their underground system years ago - a number of their stations are very similar to some of the grander ones on the Moscow Metro (though probably not as nice). Wikipedia has a few nice photos.
I thought it was a pretty good effort for a 19 year old girl. Scary country though.
Quote from: NotNow on January 30, 2013, 01:21:34 PM
Scary country though.
And you are the grand master of understatement.
They are profoundly racist, profoundly paranoid, and totally lunatic owners of atomic weapons and rockets.
As scary as it looks, I'd kill to visit the place. Plan on going on one of those organized-government-sanctioned tours at some point in the next few years.
Quote from: Adam W on January 30, 2013, 07:59:05 AM
What's really weird is that the daughter of the Google CEO has such a busted-looking blog.
Hahah
Quote from: ben says on January 30, 2013, 04:06:29 PM
As scary as it looks, I'd kill to visit the place. Plan on going on one of those organized-government-sanctioned tours at some point in the next few years.
You and me both! I'd love to get the chance to see the place - I have a feeling it won't stay that way forever. It's not nearly the same thing, but I've always lamented the fact that I missed out on seeing East Berlin.
North Korea is crazy and I hope it goes the way of the dinosaur at some point (if only for the sake of its starving populace).
Add Cuba to the list of places to visit before "the west" takes over.*
*Not comparing Cuba to NK. Cuba is far and away 100000x better off than NK. Just saying, like East Berlin, etc, gotta see it while it lasts!!
Quote from: ben says on January 30, 2013, 05:41:23 PM
Add Cuba to the list of places to visit before "the west" takes over.*
*Not comparing Cuba to NK. Cuba is far and away 100000x better off than NK. Just saying, like East Berlin, etc, gotta see it while it lasts!!
I know what you mean, though. Cuba is relatively free. But its days are numbered, which is a real shame. It's not without its problems, for sure. But it isn't NK or the DDR.
I've had a lot of friends who've gone on holiday to Cuba and they've really enjoyed it. It might be worth the trek, though we've got a baby on the way, so I don't see myself going on any holidays anytime in the foreseeable future!
My friends who went to Cuba (usually on mission work) were appalled by the poverty and hopelessness of the people. Hmmm.
That's odd. Perhaps it's down to looking at the same thing through different lenses. There is no question about the poverty - though I'd think that is dependent on where in Cuba you are. "Hopelessness" is probably more subjective.
Quote from: NotNow on January 30, 2013, 09:18:20 PM
My friends who went to Cuba (usually on mission work) were appalled by the poverty and hopelessness of the people. Hmmm.
For what it's worth, my dad and grandfather just got back from a two week trip all over Cuba. Said it was beautiful, the people were fantastic, seemed happy, culture was lively, etc etc.
On another note, I love how people in the US always point to Cuba and throw out words like "poverty" and "helpless"---look in the mirror at the US people!! How many millions do we have in poverty again? Probably more than Cuba has in total population.
I have'nt checked yet but... :D
http://www.livescience.com/26724-review-north-korea-google.html
Quote
Pranksters 'Review' North Korea on Google Maps
by Jeremy Hsu, TechNewsDaily Senior Writer
Date: 30 January 2013 Time: 02:52 PM ET
When Google unveiled a detailed map of secretive North Korea, online pranksters and trolls began "reviewing" hotels, stadiums and even gulags.
Most of the Google Map "reviews" won't prove too useful for the few outsiders who get to visit North Korea as tourists. Instead, many people indulged in tongue-in-cheek commentary or dark humor about North Korea's cult-of-personality dictatorship, its Orwellian-style surveillance, and the general lack of both food and material wealth for many North Koreans.
"The finest health care clinic in all of Asia doubles as a fast food restaurant that makes starvation in the Glorious People's Democratic Republic a figment of Imperialist imagination!" wrote Ken R, a Google Plus user, in his review of the Ponghwa Clinic in North Korea's capital of Pyongyang.
Similarly fictitious reviews discussed the culinary merits of "dog-butt sandwiches" at Pyongyang's Yanggakdo Stadium, joked about invisible golf courses, and made mock complaints about movie theaters that showed nothing but films made by Kim Jong-il (the Hollywood-obsessed father of North Korea's current leader Kim Jong-un).
Google Maps previously showed few details in North Korea aside from the bare outlines of Pyongyang. That has changed since citizen cartographers â€" volunteer netizens working with Google Map Maker from outside North Korea â€" helped Google fill in the map and identify the locations of places ranging from Pyongyang's golf courses for the elite to labor camps housing political prisoners.
The Google Map changes debuted just weeks after Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, visited North Korea as part of a private delegation in early January. But Google may not have anticipated exactly how many Google Plus users would use the online reviews to mainly "troll" North Korea.
Such commentary took on an even darker tone in the "reviews" of the North Korean gulags that reportedly house thousands of political prisoners in miserable conditions. Brian Ashcraft, an editor for the gaming website Kotaku, highlighted the more choice remarks about camps in places such as Chongjin, North Korea's third largest city.
"Spent 9 years before escaping," said Tore Sinding Bekkedel, Google Plus user. "What a tourist trap. Unfriendly natives. Only recommended as weight loss program."
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience. You can follow TechNewsDaily Senior Writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @jeremyhsu. Follow TechNewsDaily on Twitter @TechNewsDaily. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
Quote from: Adam W on January 31, 2013, 02:57:49 AM
That's odd. Perhaps it's down to looking at the same thing through different lenses. There is no question about the poverty - though I'd think that is dependent on where in Cuba you are. "Hopelessness" is probably more subjective.
I think it's more down to looking at the things tourists see, versus the way things really are. Obviously this isn't unique to Cuba, but it's particularly divisive there. The Cubans I know aren't particularly happy about the lack of opportunity, restrictive government, and the economic system that makes almost everyone reliant on the black market and "parallel" market for even basic items.
However, Cuba has nothing on North Korea. Almost nowhere does.
^I'm shocked.
I'm surprised anyone in NK can actually reach Google. :P
Quote from: mbwright on January 31, 2013, 02:45:28 PM
I'm surprised anyone in NK can actually reach Google. :P
They can't...
Quote from: ben says on January 31, 2013, 06:59:46 AM
Quote from: NotNow on January 30, 2013, 09:18:20 PM
My friends who went to Cuba (usually on mission work) were appalled by the poverty and hopelessness of the people. Hmmm.
For what it's worth, my dad and grandfather just got back from a two week trip all over Cuba. Said it was beautiful, the people were fantastic, seemed happy, culture was lively, etc etc.
On another note, I love how people in the US always point to Cuba and throw out words like "poverty" and "helpless"---look in the mirror at the US people!! How many millions do we have in poverty again? Probably more than Cuba has in total population.
Comparing "poverty" in the US to the destitution of the majority of Cubans is disingenuous, or ignorant, or both. There is a reason that Roughly 10% of the population has risked their lives to flee the island. Despite the liberal apologist agenda that is commonly peddled here, the desperation of so many Cuban citizens to seek a free and happier life speaks for itself.
A significant number of Cuban refugees are economic migrants. And you can lay the blame for that (the poverty) squarely on the shoulders of the USA and its brilliant embargo. I'd also lay part of the blame for some of Castro's more repressive tendencies on the USA - whilst I don't think we can excuse his behaviour, I think his motivations can be understood if you realise he has been living under threat of assassination and counterrevolution since the 1950s. We know that USA has tried to kill him numerous times. We've even sponsored an actual invasion of the island.
I wonder how things would've turned out if we had tried a different path - engagement or rapprochement rather than antagonism?
Quote from: NotNow on January 31, 2013, 10:31:47 PM
Comparing "poverty" in the US to the destitution of the majority of Cubans is disingenuous, or ignorant, or both.
Neither disingenuous nor ignorant. Comparing misery, no matter how relative, has all the same indicators, namely: economic and social mobility, quality of life, health care (Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world in the Western Hemisphere, by the way).
Quote from: Adam W on February 01, 2013, 02:12:44 AM
A significant number of Cuban refugees are economic migrants. And you can lay the blame for that (the poverty) squarely on the shoulders of the USA and its brilliant embargo. I'd also lay part of the blame for some of Castro's more repressive tendencies on the USA - whilst I don't think we can excuse his behaviour, I think his motivations can be understood if you realise he has been living under threat of assassination and counterrevolution since the 1950s. We know that USA has tried to kill him numerous times. We've even sponsored an actual invasion of the island.
I wonder how things would've turned out if we had tried a different path - engagement or rapprochement rather than antagonism?
Bingo!!!
No doubt... Kennedy and Johnson certainly set the precedent...
Quote from: ben says on February 01, 2013, 06:52:34 AM
(Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world in the Western Hemisphere, by the way).
Depends on how you measure "best". Based strictly on availability, yes, since it is available to all. But the quality is not close to Western standards. They ration much of the best resources.
There has been a distorted view of Cuban health care since Michael Moore made that movie.
If Hugo Chavez was a normal Cuban national from a backwater of Havana, he wouldn't be alive today.
Quote from: spuwho on February 01, 2013, 08:12:44 AM
Quote from: ben says on February 01, 2013, 06:52:34 AM
(Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world in the Western Hemisphere, by the way).
Depends on how you measure "best". Based strictly on availability, yes, since it is available to all. But the quality is not close to Western standards. They ration much of the best resources.
There has been a distorted view of Cuban health care since Michael Moore made that movie.
If Hugo Chavez was a normal Cuban national from a backwater of Havana, he wouldn't be alive today.
This country rations its healthcare resources worse than anything Cuba can dream up, a large chunk of it only has access to basic triage care at public emergency rooms (which can't turn them away due to inability to pay), and that's it. Try getting past the receptionist at any real general practitioner or specialists office without your checkbook or your health insurance card. The worst part is most of them have pictures all over the place of them volunteering at clinics in Africa or south America, but back home they run it like fort Knox, refusing anyone without insurance, and ignore the problems in their backyard.
We have this weird bifurcation going on in this country, generally with a certain conservative mindset, if someone is poor in the US, it must be their fault and too bad, but if someone's poor in some other country, then it's their government's fault and it's time to break out billions in foreign aid. That same bizarre weirdo mentality permeates the healthcare debate, and is going on in this thread as we speak.
Quote from: spuwho on February 01, 2013, 08:12:44 AM
Quote from: ben says on February 01, 2013, 06:52:34 AM
(Cuba has one of the best healthcare systems in the world in the Western Hemisphere, by the way).
Depends on how you measure "best". Based strictly on availability, yes, since it is available to all. But the quality is not close to Western standards. They ration much of the best resources.
There has been a distorted view of Cuban health care since Michael Moore made that movie.
If Hugo Chavez was a normal Cuban national from a backwater of Havana, he wouldn't be alive today.
I'll take the WHO's word for it, though - I never put much stock in anything Michael Moore had to say. But the WHO has consistently ranked the Cuban healthcare system quite highly.