South Korean leaders announce unprecedented invitation for Trump to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited US President Donald Trump to meet, and said his country would refrain from further nuclear and missile tests.
• The announcement was delivered by South Korean national-security officials on Thursday evening after they briefed their US counterparts about their recent trip to North Korea.
• Trump agreed to meet Kim Jong-un “to achieve permanent denuclearization.”
• The White House says a timeline for such a meeting has not yet been determined.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited US President Donald Trump to meet and said his country would refrain from further nuclear and missile tests.

Kim Jong Un meets with South Korean officials for historic talks in Pyongyang

• A South Korean delegation met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for the first time in history on Monday.
• The talks could set the tone for US engagement at a later date.
• The South Koreans received a warm welcome, but promised to push North Korea on denuclearizing — something it bitterly opposes.
• International sanctions are closing in on North Korea, and the US and South Korea will return to regular military drills after the Paralympics.

A 10-member South Korean delegation met face-to-face with Kim Jong Un for the first time in history on Monday — and the talks could set the tone for later US engagement.

The meeting, which took place in Pyongyang, reportedly involved an elegant reception and banquet for the visiting diplomats, who will stay in what South Korea’s president’s office spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom told NK News was a “luxury resort” on the Taedong River.

A Kim Jong Un impersonator walked through North Korea’s Olympic cheer squad — and their faces say it all

A man dressed to impersonate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un walked through Pyongyang’s cheer squad at the Olympics — and they looked unimpressed to say the least.

Though it’s unclear if this is the same impersonator who crashed the games’ opening ceremony, the man was rushed away from the squad, much as the earlier impersonators were shoed away on Friday.

The cheerleaders looked less than thrilled to see a likeness of Kim before them.

The squad is hand-picked for meeting stringent physical requirements, they are unpaid and train for months at a time, and have been imprisoned in the past for talking about the world they see outside of North Korea.

Winter Olympics: Kim Jong-un calls for further reconciliation

North Korea’s leader has called for a “further livening up” of the “warm climate of reconciliation” with the South created by the Winter Olympics.

Kim Jong-un, whose nuclear bomb and missile tests have stoked international tension, praised the South for hosting his state at the games in Pyeongchang.

Kim’s apparent Games charm offensive was led by his sister Kim Yo-jong.

South Korean President President Moon Jae-in has meanwhile said the US is open to talking with the North.

He did not elaborate and may have been referring to a remark by US Vice-President Mike Pence on his flight back to Washington from the Games.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invites South Korean president to Pyongyang, setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than 10 years

• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang “at an early date.”
• The invitation came during talks and a lunch Moon hosted with Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of Kim Jong Un.

SEOUL/PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited South Korean President Moon Jae-in to Pyongyang “at an early date,” South Korean officials said on Saturday, potentially setting up the first meeting of Korean leaders in more than 10 years.

Any meeting would represent a diplomatic coup for Moon, who swept to power last year on a policy of engaging more with the reclusive North.

The recent detente, anchored by South Korea’s hosting of the Winter Olympic Games, came despite an acceleration in the North’s weapons programme last year and pressure from Seoul’s allies in Washington.

The invitation came during talks and a lunch Moon hosted with Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of the North Korean leader, at the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Kim Jong Un wanted to meet Moon “at an early date,” a spokesman for the Blue House said. Moon had said “let’s create conditions to make it happen,” the official said, an indication that Moon was likely to accept the invitation.

Trump’s nuclear proposal went through three versions before getting Asian geography right

Donald Trump’s administration is struggling with Asian geography—not a good idea in an area of the world where sensitive territorial disputes abound. India regularly punishes people who show disputed territories as not belonging to its landmass. Vietnam refused to stamp Chinese passports that depicted a disputed area as belonging to its larger neighbor.

The administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, first leaked to The Huffington Post, had to go through multiple revisions before getting Asian geography right.

The initial leaked version made an egregious error: it labeled the entire Korean peninsula as “North Korea.” This is not just some obscure disputed territory; it threw all of South Korea in with the North, with the latter’s flag superimposed. It was if Kim Jong-un had finally made good on his family’s long-standing promise to unify the Koreas.

North Korea leader’s sister to visit South for Olympics

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is to attend Friday’s opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, which are being held in the South, ministers in Seoul say.

Kim Yo-jong is the youngest daughter of late leader Kim Jong-il and her role was strengthened last year when she was promoted to the politburo.

Both Koreas will march under one flag at the opening ceremony.

The North’s participation has been seen as a thawing of bilateral ties.

However, experts say it is unlikely to have any impact on the North’s nuclear ambitions.

How Christian ‘prophets’ are breaking the third commandment

There’s a story going round at the moment about a ‘prophecy’ that God will remove North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un unless he becomes a Christian.

The prophetess in question is one Cindy Jacobs, and a video of her in action was shared on Right Wing Watch, a whistleblower site that is no friend to evangelical Christians.

Well, God bless Cindy. She seems like a nice person. But I’ll be honest: I watch things like that with my hands over my eyes, wincing at every second sentence. Because, not to put too fine a point on it, I don’t believe it. I don’t think Ms Jacobs – with all her undoubted sincerity – has a hot line to God.

North Korea agrees to send athletes to Winter Olympics, South says

North Korea has agreed to send a delegation of athletes and supporters to the Winter Olympics to be held in South Korea next month, announced Seoul’s participants to the talks on Tuesday.

There was no immediate confirmation from the northern side, but the South’s announcement was in line with recent North Korean signals that it was willing to send competitors to the games, which will open in PyeongChang on Feb. 9.

The talks are ongoing but the tentative agreement constitutes a rare moment of consensus between Kim Jong Un’s regime, its estranged southern neighbor and the outside world.

South Korea has been calling North Korea everyday for the past 2 years, and someone finally answered

• South Korea has been calling North Korea through a communications hotline every day for about two years, and finally someone answered on Wednesday.
• The communications equipment sits along the DMZ border and was put in place to create dialogue between the North and South Korean Red Cross in 1971.
• South Korean officers used to call North Korea every day in the morning and evening but North Korea stopped responding in 2016.

North Korea reopens hotline to South to discuss Olympics

North Korea has reopened a hotline to South Korea, almost two years after it was disabled on the orders of leader Kim Jong-un.

South Korea confirmed it had received a call from the North at 15:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on Wednesday.

The North Korean leader had earlier said he was open to dialogue with Seoul and to sending a team to the Winter Olympics in the South next month.

The two nations have not held high-level talks since December 2015.

North Korea cut off the communications channel shortly afterwards, refusing to answer calls, according to officials in the South.

Trump Tweets His ‘Nuclear Button’ Is ‘Much Bigger’ Than Kim Jong-un’s

WASHINGTON — President Trump again raised the prospect of nuclear war with North Korea, boasting in strikingly playground terms on Tuesday night that he commands a “much bigger” and “more powerful” arsenal of devastating weapons than the outlier government in Asia.

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ‘Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,’” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

Mr. Trump’s combative response to a statement made the day before by Mr. Kim raised the temperature in the brewing confrontation between the United States and North Korea even as American allies in South Korea were moving to open talks with Pyongyang. The contrast between Mr. Trump’s language and the peace overture by South Korea highlighted the growing rift between two longtime allies.

Newly appointed ambassador to North Korea Dennis Rodman travels to Pyongyang despite travel ban as tensions speed up

Ban on US passport holders travelling to Pyongyang stops former basketball star from making sixth trip

Dennis Rodman, the American basketball star turned freelance diplomat , has urged Donald Trump to sign him up as a peace envoy to North Korea after his latest foray into Kim Jong-un’s hermit kingdom was scuppered by a travel ban preventing US citizens from visiting.

During an interview in Beijing, from where Rodman had hoped to fly to Pyongyang for his sixth trip there, the former NBA star said US officials had discouraged him from doing so amid continuing tensions between the countries. “Basically they said it’s not a good time right now,” he said.

Nobel Peace Prize winners warn the world is ‘one tantrum away’ from nuclear crisis

• The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, which won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said on Sunday that the the world is “one tiny tantrum away” from a nuclear crisis.
• The group also said a country’s “moment of panic” could lead to the “destruction of cities and the deaths of millions of civilians.” 
• Tensions between the US and North Korea have spiked, bringing forth the possibility of nuclear retaliation into the global spotlight.

Top-level Chinese envoy arrives in North Korea for the first time in years

BEIJING (AP) — China dispatched its highest-level envoy to North Korea in two years on Friday in a bid to improve chilly relations after President Donald Trump last week urged Beijing to pressure Pyongyang to cease its nuclear weapons program.

Song Tao will report on the outcomes of China’s ruling Communist Party congress held last month and visit counterparts in his role as President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, according to Chinese state media. China has given no other details about his itinerary or said whether he’ll meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

North Korea ‘sentences Trump to death’ for insulting Kim Jong-un

Regime-run newspaper says US president is ‘hideous criminal’ after he said North was a ‘cruel dictatorship’ and Kim ‘short and fat’

North Korea’s state media has criticised Donald Trump for insulting leader Kim Jong-Un, saying the US president deserved the death penalty and calling him a coward for cancelling a visit to the inter-Korean border.

An editorial in the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun focused its anger on Trump’s visit to South Korea last week, during which he denounced the North’s “cruel dictatorship” in a speech to legislators in Seoul.

The Mysteries and Tragedy of Russia’s Bottomless Karst Lake (PHOTOS)

The water is serene but deathly cold – and danger lurks beneath its surface. Yet, in the aquatic depths the promise of discovering hidden underwater caves and relics of our past awaits. Here, beauty and allure belie risks – but risks that some are prepared to take.

“A sapphire in a ring of green trees.” That’s how this stunning lake has been described. Even on overcast days, the water has a deep, crystal blue color like the gemstone to which it has been compared.

But there is much more than splendor to this lake. Beneath its smooth surface lie mysteries as yet unsolved. And some of these are secrets that the lake will not easily give up; at least, not if the recent tragic death of one diving explorer and the hospitalization of another are read as telltale signs.

9 Magical Zen Gardens

Zen garden is an interesting and deeply spiritual aspect of Japanese gardening traditions. The typical Zen garden consists of an enclosed and shallow sand box of sorts which features predominantly sand or gravel with rocks of various shapes and sizes.

The rocks and sand (or gravel) are the chief elements of the garden, which generally creates the scene of islands in the sea. The sand or gravel in a Zen garden represents the sea or ocean and is used instead of water. It will be carefully raked by tending monks to create the impression of waves on the surface of a body of water.

The rocks themselves represent islands or rock formations jutting out from the water. The overall goal is to create a small-scale recreation of an aerial or cliff-top view of an intricate coastal scene. One of the primary differences between a Zen garden and most other varieties is the lack of living elements. Although grass may sometimes be included, no other plant or flower species will be found in a classic Zen garden.

This can be both unusual and exotically appealing to people with no past experience with the history and meaning of a Zen garden.

The world’s most extraordinary hotels in pictures

Mihir Garh, Rajasthan 
“The fort sits in splendid isolation amid the Thar Desert near Jodhpur. It looks like an enormous sandcastle, a mirage, and is not just a unique place to stay; it’s a shrine to the artistic and architectural traditions of Rajasthan in general and Jodhpur in particular.”

Planet Baobab, Botswana
“Botswana’s Makgadigadi Pan comprises the world’s largest network of salt pans – a thirsty, mirage-inducing landscape of flat, shimmering expanses under hard blue skies. Halfway along the sole tarred road through this arid moonscape, a statue of an anteater towers at the dusty verge. It is a surreal sight, and an appropriate signpost for the distinctive Planet Baobab.”

Prendiparte B&B, Bologna, Italy
“A medieval high-rise turned romantic hideaway, the Torre Prendiparte is unlike anywhere else you’ll ever stay. The living area is on the first two floors and comprises a snug, classically-furnished living room, mezzanine bedroom, and kitchen. Above this is the former jail where you can still see graffiti left by prisoners on the 2m-thick walls.”

Qasr al Sarab, UAE
“Rising from the shifting sands, Qasr Al Sarab appears like a mirage on the edge of the vast Empty Quarter desert. Outside high crenellated walls echo fortresses of old. Inside rooms continue the dream of Arabian Nights with sumptuous fabrics, carved Islamic designs, woven rugs, wooden doors and metalwork lanterns.”

Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, Tasmania, Australia
“A stay at Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge plunges you into the heart of Tasmania’s wilderness, with luxury that feels as organic as your surrounds. The cabins are nestled privately in the bushland, with wallabies bounding past the windows and wombats shuffling amid the trees.”

Free Spirit Spheres, British Columbia, Canada
“Suspended in the trees on sturdy guide ropes, Vancouver Island’s Free Spirit Spheres look like giant eyeballs peering deep into the British Columbia woodlands. Step inside and the handmade orbs – accessed via spiral rope staircases or slender steel bridges – are lined like comfy boat cabins with built-in beds and cabinets.”

Taskonak Hotel, Goreme, Cappadocia, Turkey
“Göreme has dozens of beautiful cave-hotels but Taşkonak manages to dish up the cave-suites and stupendous views Cappadocia is famous for without breaking your budget.”

Thonga Beach Lodge, iSimangaliso Wetland Park, South Africa
“One of few such lodges within the extraordinary 328,000 hectare iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a Unesco world heritage site.”

Saugerties Lighthouse, New York state, USA
“Saugerties Lighthouse is a historic 1869 landmark that makes a wonderful base for exploring the scenic Hudson valley. It is 100 miles north of New York City, and the red brick building has played a pivotal role in safely guiding steamboats, barges and other vessels safely along the Hudson river over the years. More recently (in the mid 1990s), the lighthouse was transformed into a two-room B&B, providing safe haven of a different sort.”

The Gibbon Experience Treehouse, Bokeo Reserve, Laos
“The tree houses erected by conservation group Animo are a thing of architectural wonder, straddling the giant trunks of strangler fig trees. But more extraordinary still is that to reach these vertiginous eyries you’ll have to trek through the fecund realm of the tiger, then catch a series of exhilarating zip lines strung across the forest canopy, before flying into your night’s accommodation.”

Amazing color pictures from 1960s Budapest

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National Geographic Photo Contest

 

 

 

 

100 years old pictures in colours before World War I

Türkei, Bursa, Ladengeschaeft einer Confiserie, Auguste Leon, 1. Juni 1913

Vietnam. Tonkin, Leon Busy, 1914

Indien, Statue des Heiligen Stiers, Stephane Passet, 29. Januar 1914

Österreich, Wien, Judengasse, Fotograf unbekannt, 23. April 1913

Mongolei, nahe Ulaanbaatar Urga, Stéphane Passet, 23. Juli 1913

Irland, Galway, Marguerite Mespoulet, 26. Mai 1913

Indien, Uttar Pradesh, Agra. Mausoleum Taj Mahal von Shah Jahan für Mumtaz Mahal, Stéphane Passet, 19.-21. Januar 1914

Indien, Amritsar. Marmorne Strasse zum Goldenden Tempel, neben den rituellen Reinigungsbecken, dem Darbar Sahib und dem Hari Mandir, Stéphane Passet, 15. Januar 1914

China, nach Kalgan. Nomadenlager, drei Männer und ein Junge vor einer Jurte, Stéphane Passet, 18.-21. Juli 1912

Water pipe smoking. Samarkand

Mongolei, Ulaanbaatar. Der Finanzminister des unabhängigen Staats Mongolei auf dem Marktplatz, Stéphane Passet, 22. Juli 1913

Major Lazer & DJ Snake – Lean On (feat. MØ)

Listen To A Rare 1965 Recording Of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Profound Interview

When physicist and renowned author Jeremy Bernstein (born December 31, 1929) penned a terrific piece on 37-year-old burgeoning director Stanley Kubrick for The New Yorker, the story gained so much attention that Bernstein was commissioned to write an even more elaborate profile of the legendary filmmaker. Normally Kubrick would have flat-out refused, however, he agreed due to the fact that he shared a common passion with Bernstein — chess. When Bernstein travelled to Oxford, England for the conversation on November 27, 1965 it was also captured on tape. The interview remains to this day one of the most profound conversations with Kubrick ever recorded, and you can listen to it in full below.

Helios – Hope Valley Hill (Arms and Sleepers Remix)

Keith Kenniff – Helios

Mac DeMarco // “Brother” (OFFICIAL SINGLE)

 

Alan Watts: Sense of Nonsense

November 27, 1965: A Rare Recording of Stanley Kubrick’s Most Revealing Interview

“People react primarily to direct experience and not to abstractions; it is very rare to find anyone who can become emotionally involved with an abstraction.”

George Orwell on how to make the perfect cup of tea

Excerpt from Orwell’s fantastic 1946 essay outlining his 11 “golden” rules of tea /

Harald Grosskopf’s 1979 Masterpiece “Synthesist” Is 7 Minutes Of Pure Amazingness

Yesterday TEEN DAZE released a new mixtape which you can stream and download by visiting ThePlayground.co.uk.  The 8-track collection provides a perfect ambient backdrop for pretty much any situation, but the crown jewel of the mixtape is unquestionably Harald Grosskopf’s brilliant track “Synthesist”.

Shanghai Tower (650 meters)

Raskalov and Russian photographer Vadim Mahora broke into and climbed the Gensler-designed Shanghai Tower, soon to be China’s tallest and the world’s second tallest skyscraper at 632 meters (2,074 feet) high. Although the tower will eventually boast the world’s fastest elevators (reaching 40mph), the pair had to climb the 120 flights of stairs by foot (taking them about two hours); they then spent another 18 hours sleeping and waiting for the weather to clear. The staggering resulting images show not just the dizzying heights, but also fantastic views of the adjacent Jin Mao Tower and Shanghai World Financial Center (together, the trio of buildings that are re-defining the Shanghai skyline).

Adam Magyar – Stainless, 42 Street (excerpt)

High speed video recording in NYC at Grand Central station.

Tolkien & Sendak On The Psychology Of Fantasy & The Powerful Effect Of Fairy Tales On The Adult Mind

In March 1939, renowned fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien penned an essay enitled “On Fairy-Stories” which explores the nature of fantasy and the cultural role of fairy tales. His argument is the same — that there is no such thing as “writing for children.” Tolkien writes: “A ‘fairy-story’ is one which touches on or uses Faerie, whatever its own main purpose may be: satire, adventure, morality, fantasy. Faerie itself may perhaps most nearly be translated by Magic — but it is magic of a peculiar mood and power, at the furthest pole from the vulgar devices of the laborious, scientific, magician. There is one proviso : if there is any satire present in the tale, one thing must not be made fun of, the magic itself. That must in that story be taken seriously, neither laughed at nor explained away.”

Tolkien adds: “Creative fantasy, because it is mainly trying to do something else … may open your hoard and let all the locked things fly away like cage-birds.” You can read more excerpts from Tolkien’s essay by visiting BrainPickings.org.

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food

The Aqualibrium Garden – The Future of Food by “Aqualibrium”

The fish in the self-cleaning aquarium in the bottom chamber of the Aqualibrium Garden provide the nutrients that feed the plants in the self-watering grow space in the upper chamber. This cycle… like nature herself… is automatic, providing the potential to grow an abundance of fresh vegetables, herbs and flowering plants all year.

The Real Walter White (VIDEO)

When AMC’s Breaking Bad premiered in 2008, one of Alabama’s most successful meth cooks was already knee deep in building a massive meth empire. His name? Walter White. In this documentary, Walter tells us the secret behind his product, how he stacked up thousands of dollars per day, and why his partner is now serving two life sentences.

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

A new industry born from the disaster — LED indoor farm

Awesome pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope

 

 

 

 

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

http://vimeo.com/103807651

Great Gardens: “Prospect Cottage” by Howard Sooley – NOWNESS

Speeding Around The World in Under 5 minutes Time Lapse

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.

GoPro: Wild Downhill Ride with Claudio Caluori

Claudio Calouri and Will Longden takes us on a wild run through the UCI Downhill Course at Leogang in Austria.

World’s smallest cat – Big Cats

森の木琴

TOUCHWOOD SH-08C http://answer.nttdocomo.co.jp/touchwood/

“TRUMP ANTHEM” — A Bad Lip Reading of Donald Trump

Snow falls in the Sahara desert

The town of Ain Sefra, on the edge of the Sahara desert, was hit by icy weather last week – and even snow.

Snowfall is very rare in the Sahara, despite the fact that it can be cold at night – because there’s rarely enough water around for any kind of precipitation.

Unbelievable Unlikely Animal Friendships Compilation 2017

Winds on this mountain in the US will make it feel like -67C

Temperatures on a mountain peak in the US state of New Hampshire could fall so low you risk getting frostbite in just a couple of minutes.

Micro Wind Turbine

Oxmo Puccino – 365 Jours

The Future Of Transportation

The World in 2050