Dennis Rodman's disgraceful behavior in North Korea

  (The photo is from the Washington Post)

It is difficult to explain what 'disgraceful' behavior is. Disgraceful behavior is usually 'wrong' behavior that people strongly disapprove of.  In fact, disgraceful behavior is so wrong, that it kind of makes people feel sick or disgusted.

Dennis Rodman used to be a basketball player in the NBA.  He won 2 championships with the Detroit Pistons and 3 with the Chicago Bulls.  The Chicago Bulls team on which he played in 1998 was the best basketball team ever.  They won 72 games and only lost 10. That was the team which also had Michael Jordan.

Since leaving the game of basketball, Rodman has had trouble making money and had gone into debt (he owed money and was almost thrown in jail for not giving his ex-wife money to help take care of their child).  For some strange reason Rodman now claims to be best friends with Kim Jong Un - the dictator of North Korea. Perhaps he is making money, somehow, through his 'friendship.' (A dictator is a person who runs a country by himself - he creates the policies and laws and he has total power.)

Here is an article about his disgraceful behavior:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/wp/2014/01/08/dennis-rodman-sings-happy-birthday-to-kim-jong-un-video/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

a meltdown - this is when a person loses his temper and becomes very angry and starts yelling. Rodman began yelling at a television host who asked Rodman to talk to Kim Jong Un about freeing an American who is in a North Korean prison for no good reason.

outrage - extreme anger

an exhibition - a show

surreal - like a strange dream

people joined in - people began singing too

faded a bit - the singing became weaker

heartfelt - sincere, real, emotionally true or real

a Marilyn Monroe moment - this old actress once sang "Happy Birthday" to US President John Kennedy - it is believed they were having sex with each other during this period of time.  I don't think Rodman, however, is having sex with Kim Jong Un :P :P :P  But, who knows!!!!? Maybe Rodman will do anything for money.

self-instigated - nobody asked him to do this, he chose to do this himself

the most heated reaction - the most angry reaction

lapsed into - fallen into; if a person lapses into something, he begins doing something

an unintelligible tirade - a long, angry speech that did not make any sense or which could not be understood by most people

a missionary - someone who wants to spread his religion in a foreign country. Kenneth bae made the mistake of trying to go to North Korea for religious reasons.  Now this Korean-American is in a North Korean jail.

was to blame - Rodman seemed to state that Kenneth Bae deserved to be in jail in North Korea, instead of criticizing Kim Jong Un for throwing him in jail.

distancing themselves - if you distance yourself from someone, you make it known that you disagree with the person and have nothing to do with him.

hoops diplomacy - spreading world peace through basketball; a hoop is what the basketball has to go through for points to be scored

expletive-ridden - filled with dirty words, filled with curse words. An expletive is a dirty or curse word.  "ridden" means filled with.

tainted our efforts - hurt our efforts to create peace with North Korea

to articulate something - to say something

remorse - sadness for something a person did in the past

naive - very innocent to the point that a person doesn't really understand the world

Dennis will be Dennis - this means that Rodman has acted like a crazy person in the past and there is no way to control him

blinded by a flash of North Korean money - the head of the NBA believes that Rodman and the other players are receiving lots and lots of money from North Korea, but he thinks it might be fake money (counterfeit money).  If a player is blinded by the money or the flash (the color or light from the money) of the money, he just sees the money and he is not thinking about whether what he is doing is moral (good) or not.

he refused to dignify Rodman's outburst - this person from the government is saying that what Rodman said on TV was so crazy that he will not even comment on it, because commenting on it might make it seem as if the statements were not crazy.

antics - crazy actions to make himself popular

upstaged his career - the crazy things that Rodman did almost became more famous than what he did as a basketball player
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If you are benefiting from this blog, you might like to download my e-book from Amazon: 

http://www.amazon.com/York-Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

It is inexpensive, funny and provides good reading, grammar and vocabulary exercises.
 

Vocabulary Review from "North Korea" Article

Here's a vocabulary review exercise from this previous article:
http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/02/north-korea-creates-video-of-new-york.html
Please review the vocabulary words at this link before doing the exercise.

Words to be used (two words are used twice):

to stem from, a sanction, hostility
to retaliate, imminent, a double-standard
to ban, billowing, to resemble
apparent, a PR stunt, provocative

Exercise:

1)  These days, many parents are concerned because performers like Lady Gaga and Rhianna try to make their songs and music videos as sexually _______________ as possible, to draw attention to themselves and to sell their music. This sends the wrong message to young people about women and interpersonal relationships. 

2)  Although there will probably be immigration reform (changes) in the USA, the changes are not ________________.  The new laws will probably not be passed until next year and it will take some time before the laws can take effect.

3)  The mayor of New York City tried passing a law making it illegal for fast-food establishments (like McDonalds) to sell very large containers of soda.  This _____________ of large soft drinks, however, was ruled "unconstitutional" by a judge (the judge decided that it is a person's right to drink whatever he wants to drink).

4)  The novels of Dostoyevsky are among the most _______________ novels ever written.  They cause you to think, feel a variety of emotions and even become angry at times. 

5)  The current world financial crisis _________________ a terrible decision by the US Congress to force banks in the USA to loan money to people who had bad credit histories.  Obviously these people were not be able to pay back their loans, and so they defaulted (were officially not able to pay the loans back) and banks lost billions of dollars.

6)  Many of the world's great religions teach that if a person harms us, we should not __________________.

7)  The Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is one of the largest parades in the world and, of course, takes place on the American holiday of Thanksgiving each year.  Tens of millions of Americans watch this parade on TV and about a million people show up in downtown Manhattan to see it.  Therefore, it is a huge ________________ stunt by Macy's, which generates lots of publicity and new customers.

8)  Don't you think the world should be concerned about whether the nation of Iran acquires nuclear weapons?  Most people would think so, but how can we stop that government from doing so?  Israel would like to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, but the Obama administration prefers to use economic ________________.

9)  On 9/11/2001, I was teaching in the Bronx.  Indeed, The Bronx is quite far from where the World Trade Center attacks occurred.  Yet, even from the Bronx I could the smoke ________________ up into the sky from lower Manhattan on that day.

10)  There was an immense (strong) feeling of ______________ between the US and Soviet governments during the Cold War (1945 to 1989), but, thankfully, another World War in Europe did not occur.

11)  The pain in Bob's back ______________ an accident he had had 3 years ago.

12)  In some countries, young men are required to do military service.  Many of these young men feel that there is a _______________ involved in this situation.  Women and men might have equal rights in their country, but only the men are expected to make a two year sacrifice for their society.

13)  Three women had inexplicably (without explanation) disappeared in the city of Cleveland 10 years ago.  It suddenly became ______________, however, that these women had been kidnapped (captured) and held as prisoners in a man's house.  This was realized one day when one woman was able to scream for help, and was heard by a neighbor who took action to save her and the others.

14)  Bob's brother looks more like his father while Bob tends to _____________ his mother more.


Answers are way below:





Keeping going down please:




Father, please:




OK, here they are:


Answers:


1) provocative
2) imminent
3) ban
4) provocative
5) stems from
6) retaliate
7) PR stunt (here's a good web site of PR stunts: http://www.taylorherring.com/blog/index.php/tag/top-50-pr-stunts/
(the peanut protest is my favorite!!!!! so creative!)
8) sanctions
9) billowing
10) hostility
11)  stemmed from
12) double standard
13) apparent
14) resemble

Vocabulary Review for "Taiwan and The Philippines"

This vocabulary review is from this article:
http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/tension-between-taiwan-and-philippines.html
Please review the vocabulary at this link before doing the exercise.

Words to be used:

a dispute, a rift, to oscillate,
to implement,  compensation, sloppy
tension, to impose sanctions, aviation

Exercise:

1) Although Howard Hughes was a movie producer, he became famous because of his feats (amazing actions) in the field of ______________.  For instance, he built one of the largest airplanes ever: The Spruce Goose.

2) Although Japan and Korean are allies and normally have friendly relations, the dispute over the island the Koreans call Dokdo and the Japanese call Takeshima has created a ___________ in relations between the two countries.

3)  If a person does a job for an employer, he/she is certainly entitled to a fair amount of ________________.

4) Scientists are still _____________ whether or not global warming is a fact or not with many conservative politicians.  The politicians claim that changes in global temperature are natural and are not due to carbon emissions.

5)  I used to like Bob, until I learned that he had been gossiping about me.  He knows that I know that he was gossiping, so now, every time I see him, there is a great amount of ______________ between us.

6) Joe couldn't make up his made. He kept ____________ between going back to graduate school and staying at a job he didn't like.

7) The current educational strategy to help poorer students do as well as wealthier students has not worked. It is time we ____________ a new policy in which we helped lower income families make more money to provide their children with better lives, and then better educations.

8)  Bob was a genius.  But, when Bob showed up for his job interview, he looked really ___________. His suit was wrinkled, there was a stain on his tie and the employer did not want to hire someone who looked like a slob (a slob is a messy, dirty person).

9) Whenever North Korea does something terrible, the USA tries to __________________ against North Korea in the United Nations.  Unfortunately, this has not changed the attitude of the government there.

Answers are below:




Keep going down please"





Farther down:



Here they are:


The answers:


1. aviation
2. rift
3. compensation
4. disputing
5. tension
6. oscillating
7  implemented
8. sloppy
9. impose sanctions
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If you like art, you might like my new blog about artists who show their work in New York City:
http://artgallerystuff.blogspot.com/
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Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia awhile ago. :P

Links:
http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/
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Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.

North Korean Hackers Crash South Korean Systems?

This story helps to show how dependent our society has become on the internet and on computers in general.

Previously I posted an article on how the US government is protesting apparent hacking sponsored by the government of China.  The US claims that Chinese hackers have been stealing information from various US businesses and government offices.

Now the South Korean government is blaming North Korea for potentially hacking into South Korean systems in order to disrupt services at banks and media companies.

The article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/southkorea/9941975/Hackers-paralyse-South-Korean-banks-and-broadcasters.html


Vocabulary to help you understand the article:


to be paralyzed - if a person is paralyzed, it usually means he/she had an accident and cannot move part or all of his/her body.  If a system is paralyzed, it cannot be used.  Basically, to be paralyzed means a person can't move or something is no longer usable.

a hacker - someone who illegally enters another person's or groups' internet or computer systems

to crash a system - if your computer 'crashes' it stops working.  If a system crashes, it stops working. In these two examples we used 'crash' as an intransitive verb - a verb that doesn't take an object.  "Crash" is also used as a transitive verb, taking an object: They crashed various computer systems.  This means they took measures to force these systems to stop working.

to disrupt - to interrupt, to cause problems with

a coordinated attack -  this is an attack which is well-planned so that a number of goals can be reached at one time.

to pinpoint -  to identify something precisely; to be able to point precisely at a cause

to decline to do something - to refuse to do something; to say that you will not do something

to speculate on - to think about the causes of something; to guess

suspicion fell on - this is an idiomatic usage.  If you suspect someone of doing something, you think he/she did something, so your suspicion falls on this person.

to dispatch - to send

inexplicably - without explanation, unexplainably.  If something is inexplicable, there is no explanation as to why it happened.

a halt - to stop doing something is to halt doing something; a halt is therefore a stoppage.

intensive - very deep, thorough, strong

discord - the opposite of harmony; if there is discord between a couple of people, they are arguing

to circumvent - to go around something; to avoid something

propaganda - this is information provided by a government to make the government look good. It is somewhat true and somewhat false information.  For instance, let's say a government is run by a dictator.  His government might create movies or news stories showing how happy the people of the country are.  yet, many innocent people might be in jails being tortured.

sanctions - these are regulations meant to harm the economy of a country which has violated international law

to impose - to place upon, to put on.

a regime - a long-term government system that is anti-democratic

provocation - to provoke, to cause trouble; provocation is the causing of trouble

to unleash - this word is used often in newspapers.  A leash is something that a person puts on a dog when the dog is taken for a walk.  If you have a mean dog and you unleash him, he might attack someone.  So to "unleash" something is to let something wild go so.  A government can unleash its army, for example, and the army will attack another country.

infrastructure - everything that makes up the basics of a society.

vulnerable - to be at risk; if you are vulnerable you are not safe.

to collide - to crash into, to smash into

to be immobilized -  if you are immobilized you cannot move

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1)  What do you think should be done about these apparent cyber-attacks from North Korea and China?

2)  Do you think it would be justified to start a war if a country launched a massive cyber-attack which was designed to paralyze your entire society?

3) Do you think that South Korea should retaliate (get revenge) if it is determined for certain that North Korea attacked their internet systems?

---------------------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway.  
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

If this page is useful to you, please buy the book (it's quite inexpensive and useful!!!!). If you don't have an e-reader, drop me a line at djg51qu@gmail.com and I'll send you a free copy via Word file. Let me know whether you have Word 2010 or an earlier version.
-----------------
Yes, I'm also the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

North Korea Creates Video of New York under Missile Attack

I am going to change the format of this "blog" a little.  I'm going to pick out interesting vocabulary words (and give you their definitions) from the internet or newspaper article I post, so that you can better read the article.

Here are the interesting words, followed by the article:

Here is a vocabulary review exercise for these words: http://convostartersenglish.blogspot.com/2013/05/vocabulary-review-from-north-korea.html

to provoke, provocative - to provoke something is to cause something; if something is provocative, it is meant to cause a reaction or a response.

a PR stunt - PR stands for Public Relations.  A stunt is an action done to create publicity or to gain attention.  A PR stunt is some action or activity done in order to get  everyone's attention.

bizarre - strange

a sequence of something - when one thing follows another.  If I look at 10 photos, one after the other, I look at a sequence of 10 photos.

proceeds - profits; if I wrote a book and say I am going to give the proceeds to charity, I am going to give all the profits to charity.

a caption - a caption is a little bit of text or words that come along with a picture or image.

a soundtrack - this is music which comes along with a video or movie

apparent - if something is apparent, it looks that way.  i.e. If a man is lying on the street and not breathing, it seems apparent that he might be dead.

instrumental music - this is music without words. In this video they take the music from a famous 1980s song created by a super-group of US celebrities who were trying to raise money to feed people in Africa.

to unify, to be unified - to be together.  Germany unified in 1990. Korea is not unified - it is divided.

to resemble, resembling - to look like something.  The city in the video resembles (looks like) New York City.

billowing - billowing smoke is when big clouds of smoke rise into the sky

to ban something - to prohibit something, to make something illegal

a double-standard - to have different standards for two similar situations. i.e. My parents have a double-standard in regard to my brother and me.  They treat my brother like a prince, but they treat me like a beggar.

imminent - if something is imminent, it will happen soon

to be ablaze - to be on fire

to retaliate - to get revenge, to hurt someone who has hurt you

wickedness - evilness

a nest - this is where a bird makes its home. In the N. Korean video they say NY is a nest of wickedness (a home for evil).

hostility - aggressiveness

a sanction - if a group of countries places sanctions on another country, they refuse to do business with that country, or refuse to cooperate fully with that country.  The UN has placed sanctions on Iran and North Korea for their aggressive actions.

to stem from - a stem is a part of a flower that grows from the ground up.  If something stems from something else, it causes something else.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/north-korea-dream-video-us-missile-attack-140005920.html

In this article we see that the North Korean government is trying to scare Americans by presenting images of what NY City will look like if it is attacked by missiles.

1)  Why do you think North Korea is doing this?

2)  Do you think they are serious about attacking the USA?

3)  Do you think the USA has a double-standard?  It criticizes North Korea for missile tests, but remains silent when South Korea conducts tests.

4)  North Korea is one of the poorest countries in the world with one of the worst dictatorships.  The people of that country are truly suffering.  What can the world do to help the North Korean people?

5)  Previous South Korean presidents used to send lots of food to North Korea and they had very peaceful relations with that government.  However, most of the food went to soldiers and government officials.  People starved.  Now current South Korean presidents are refusing to send food and North Korea keeps threatening other countries.  What should South Korea do?

----------------------
Yes, I'm the guy who created the scandal in Asia two years ago :P

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100511000742

http://nwww.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20100512000682

http://www.shoutcastblog.com/2010/05/11/wondergirls-were-mistreated-by-jyp-entertainment/

Yes, I'm also the guy who wrote the very funny ESL book: New York City Sucks, But You'll Wanna Live Here Anyway
http://www.amazon.com/Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS