Get one's head handed to one

=get humiliated

Change

is being expected...

Plain White T's "Hey There Delilah

Lyrics
http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/plainwhitets/heytheredelilah.html

Do not stand at my grave and weep

The reason this poem is great is because it allows those left behind to help themselves overcome the sadness and emptiness. Strictly speaking, it's a kind of hypnosis or self-deception. However, sometimes we need hallucination. When the reality is too harsh to endure, you may deceive yourself into believing the reality is not real.

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.
I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.
I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room.
I am in the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there. I do not die.

Equation: prediction

One benefit of putting things into an equation is that you can predict something with that equation.

IRIS

I watched IRIS two times, yesterday and the day before it.
It was good.

Play

We played when we were young and it was fun.

Grown up, we are still playing for fun even in our usual business activities.

Living a life is playing in itself.

EM Reunion...

Six people gathered. Talked about random things.

Making notes of ideas...

When ideas come into your mind, make notes of them. They will make for a book.

Amoled...

Some of the people that I know from my former company appeared on MBC's News Desk tonight. The TV program was trying to introduce to the viewers some single-minded, hard-working professionals who are delving into their own area of work. It may look cool, as the producer intended, to untutored eyes.

Well, to me, who was once in the midst of it together with those people, seeing it was rather painful. No life, all work.

on compassionate grounds

on compassionate grounds: 동정에 의해 (특별히), 인간적 차원에서
on humanitarian grounds: 인도적 차원에서
by reason of insanity: 정신질환을 이유로

chalk up A to B

chalk up A to B (chalk it up to B)

= ascribe A to B
= attribute A to B
= A is due to B
= A is because of B
= A is caused by B

ex) It was a poor performance, but may be chalked up to lack of practice.

hobnob [hɑ́bnɑ̀b / hɔ́bnɔ̀b ] vi. (-bb-)권커니 잣거니 술을 마시다, 친하게(허물없이) 사귀다, 사이좋게 이야기하다, ┅와 매우 친밀하다(with), 유력자나 부호와 사귀어 이익을 꾀하다; 간담하다(with).hobnobber ―n.

gringo [gríŋgou] n. (pl. ∼s ) (미국속어) (종종 경멸적) 외국인, (특히) 영미(英美) 사람(라틴 아메리카 사람이 이르는).

kowtow to = pander to = flatter to

inimical to = hostile to

would...

Would

1. the result of what is imagined which will happen or will not happen in the future.
If the bill is passed, it would V ~
=In case the bill is passed, it will V ~

요즘의 사용 추세: 가정절이 현재형이든 과거형이든 관계 없이, 또 그 가정이 일어날 수 있는 일이든 일어날 수 없는 일이든 상관 없이, 주절에 would 를 쓰는 경향이 있음.

would는 기본적으로 "~한다면" 또는 "~라는 가정하에" 일어날 수 있는 일을 의미하는 용도로 쓰일 뿐임.

만일 가정절이 가정법 과거 (가정절이 과거형)이고 주절에 would을 쓴다면, 가정법 과거 처럼 현실의 반대 사실을 가정하는 것임.

2. subjunctive mood.
if I were you, I would V~
(but in reality because I am not you, I can't V~)

Swine Flu

Swine flu hit even the English kindergarten my elder daughter attends.
According to my wife, moms stormed into the institute in droves to withdraw their children. The teacher seems to have been frightened.

At the request of Erin's mom, I gave the teacher a reassuring call on her mobile phone, saying that Erin will come back as soon as it's felt safe to go back and expressing gratefulness for all the care she gave Erin.

Met Sangchul

Last night at the Hongik Univ. area.
Then went to Itaewon (JJ Marian)
Talked much and drank much.

He was carrying with him a book named "High Fidelity" written by Nick Hornby.

These kinds of men, this kind of man, these kind of men

• fusty=musty=hackneyed
• square A with B: harmonize A with B
• follow from = come from=be caused by
• benchmark=indicator

a degree is not necessarily the benchmark of a good education

• There has been some progress over the last ten years, but nowhere near as much as could have been achieved. =but the progress is nowhere near as much as (the progress that) could have been achieved.
• The economic losses of educational underperformance are significantly higher than the costs of the financial crisis.
• Simply spending more on education doesn't yield better results.
• The huge resources now being spent to create elite schools would be better used for expanding and improving engineering programs at unflashy polytechnics.
• Largest returns on investment come not from funneling more money toward top or even average performers, but toward those who have been left behind.
• Lower crime rates, fewer welfare payments,as well as better integration of minorities and immigrants.
• ghettoize: round stg up into a ghetto
• based on folk wisdom
• The event served as a wake-up call to space planners.
• keep count=continue counting
• opprobrium=smudge=negative image
• engineers are noodling the idea of building lasers... = producing
• China, a place once synonymous with concubines and bound feet...
• work on an equal footing with men= on equal terms with
• massage parlors
• resistance to hiring women of childbearing age has become widespread
• Signs of patriarchal attitudes abound
• these kind of men (old style)= men of this kind. ★Modern style: this kind of man or these kinds of men

bending themselves into pretzels trying to ...

• put up a good fight: 선전하다.
• deign /dein/ to V = condescend to V
• pony up = pay money
• Why not charge people to use these sites?

• bend oneself into a pretzel, bend themselves into pretzels (trying to V)

=try very hard to do something but end up being in a ridiculous (pitiful) situation.

Why not charge people to use these sites? If the service is so useful, surely people would pay. Nevertheless, the prevailing wisdom in Silicon Valley today is that everything on the Internet must be free. Enslaved by this dogma, tech companies keep bending themselves into pretzels trying to invent ways to "monetize their traffic," as they say in Valley-speak. Maybe they'll charge companies that monitor Facebook and Twitter to see what customers are saying about them.

• pillory=ridicule
• with one foot out the door=almost out
• a bevy of=a group of
• tableau=dramatic scene
• unwieldy=difficult to handle
• weatherize=make stg. (a house) dull to weather changes
• dust-bowl=dry
• Declaring the stimulus a failure five months after its passage is a little like calling the results of a marathon at the second-mile marker.
• unadulterated=pure, complete

the New Deal was an unadulterated failure

Forget the Great In Britain

http://www.newsweek.com/id/209953

-bills come due on Britain's role in last year's financial meltdown

-the sun that once never set on the British Empire

-History has been closing in on Britain for some time.
--> The good time is coming to an end

-Britain's geopolitical default setting would no longer be to automatically follow America's lead.
-->the basic principle (no-brainer strategy)

-at its apogee
-->at its climax (from which it will decline)

-feels like an anchor.
-->feels like an anchor around its neck (something that is causing the problem)

The global recession has hit virtually every country, but Britain more than most. The great engine room of British prosperity, the financial sector, now feels like an anchor. Britain has slipped into deflation—a decline in general price levels—for the first time in 50 years.

Visiting Jikji Culture Park

As the name Jikji tells, this park sits adjacent to Jikji Temple in Gimcheon. The play facilities for children were great. The artificial multi-stage waterfalls and fountains, along with the gigantic wooden totem poles, "The Great General Under Heaven" (天下大將軍) and "The Female General Under Ground" (地下女將軍), make for the richness of the park. Most of all, the area is isolated well away from cities' pollution.

On leaving, I saw a "temple stay" banner put up at the entrance of the temple. These days, "temple stay" appears on TV quite often, whether in the form of advertisement or as part of stories, exclusively featuring foreigners to Korea. But on the banner I saw, which is also a sort of advertisement, no word was observed indicating that it was targeting foreigners. So, I wish to join a temple stay at Jikji Temple to find my "true self amongst the harmony of nature."

Blogger + Mobile color mail

I can leave messages with attachments of photos or videos directly from my mobile. In case of an emergency or when there's something too important to forget, that would be very useful.

This was sent via email

Testing this.


Regards, Jongho Kim

up to scratch

up to scratch
at an acceptable standard or quality We're giving him a week to bring the team up to scratch.

Usage notes: often used in the form not up to scratch: I'm afraid your last essay wasn't up to scratch.

Related vocabulary: on a par with somebody/something

The Snow Queen (Movie) vs. Queen Seondeok (TV Drama)

I suspect if the producer of Queen Seondeok copied some from the movie "The Snow Queen." Unmistakable is the feeling that Misil is being depicted in the image of the devilish Snow Queen--that tall and scary figure--and, more than anything else, the music often appearing in subdued, meditative, helpless and pensive times is 99% identical to one in the Snow Queen.

http://www.thesnowqueenpkj.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OXSwUi75Ls&feature=related

Philosophical Korea

Korea has a long history of being governed by rulers who were philosophers. Sung Confucianism was the main governing ideology during the Chosun Dynasty. The books that Kings and aristocrats read were mostly on philosophical learning and thoughts.

To confirm one's existence...

I bought this book named "I regret marrying my wife." (나는 아내와의 결혼을 후회한다). The provocative title wasn't the whole reason that I picked it up at the bookstore; the author appeared on KBS TV the night before, wearing a funny necktie. I liked his comments, especially, that "you need to find your own enjoyments no matter how trivial they might be for life without enjoyments isn't actually life." Yeh. Be happy! That's common sense. Everybody agrees that a human should live a happy life. But too often, that simple and obvious-looking axiom is overlooked and many find it not easy to live by that line. In fact, this reciprocally proves that it's not easy, really.

Reading the book, however, I'm finding him just one of such and such guys who don't really get so serious whether intentionally or not. But he is a psychologist and, some of the easygoing words were impressive a little, though. Some confirmed my belief, too.

"If you try to confirm your existence by things that could go away easily, you'd be easily disappointed and get lost. However, if you confirm your existence with what you really like and enjoy, no matter how trifle or worthless-looking it may be, you can keep living happy and things that you've lost will also come back somewhere along the way."

"Churchill was great because he loved painting, something he was left to do even when everything went away."

The writer doesn't actually say he regrets marrying his wife; he is actually saying the opposite, as I guessed. It's a hackneyed marketing strategy aimed at drawing eyes to the book. But I also have to admit that the book consoles a soul in want of an Epiphany--which will never come free of charge.

Be the master of your life. Retain and find your enjoyments, however humble they might be. As long as you can get happy with them, you are on the right track.

be in the pipeline...

=be in progress

Appears in Newsweek quite often.

Who should be politicians...

This thought came into mind.

A wealthy man shouldn't be a politician. Period.

Planning...

Planning is a difficult job.
You need to know what to do as if you have already done it.

Making it a rule to write regularly

If there's nothing special to write, I will write about something I read during the day, which could be Newsweek articles, technical documents, etc. What's most important is keeping writing regularly. Unique thoughts must be in the writing.

Paris...

Staying in Paris for the Easter holiday until April 13.

Fined 125 pounds...

for "illegal parking." The sign was too tiny to draw my attention. Though I and Martin shared it, each paying 62.5, it was still a big amount. I just wonder if they are trying to earn money in this sleazy kind of way.

Their rationale was that I parked the car in Leisure Park's property and left the park, without spending money there. I had already been aware that Britain has the most surveillance cameras of any nation in the world, but didn't actually know that it was for this kind of purpose: making a proof for imposing an absurd amount of fine on a foreigner. What the...

Down with Britain!

Haworth...

The background for Wuthering Heights...

Driving in the UK

It's really challenging to adjust to the driving environment in the UK--car, roads, etc. What is compounding this strange experience is having to drive a car with manual gear-shit on a new road. But I have no choice but to drive this company pooling car because the hotel and the office are more than 30 minutes apart on foot.

Will be in the UK for 2 months

From March 9 to May 9.

In Shanghai

Leaerning PXI programming with VC...

Met Joonhyung yesterday...

Talked too much about private and personal things. He was so inquisitive. I felt worn out after revealing so many secrets about me :))

The beer house was good.

insecure vs. stable

The British tend to try to be viewed as having a high ego, resulting in looking arrogant to others. Why? Nathan told me that that's because they are, in fact, "insecure."

On the other hand, Americans are stable and so they relatively easily admit their mistakes when they are made--British tend to be hard-pressed to admit their faults and behave and talk like laywers and politicians, the symbol of meanness.

Such attitude of theirs is partly rooted in their long history of being an empire, wielding power over the world, and it partly proves that they are actually incompetent. They are fearful of admitting mistakes since they feel doing so could reveal their incompetence. They are fearful of losing their self-proclaimed status of king by revealing their weakness.

I think it's a meaningful point.

Avente promoter...

For the second day, I picked up Nathan, an LTE engineer from Cambridge, from his hotel to Samsung, Suwon. There was an instance when he stayed alone in my car while I went to a toilet. After being filled in by me on my car's fuel mileage and price, he seemed so much impressed with the car, Avante. He said, "OK. This is my next car. I will buy this one back in Britain." I said, "Good choice."

So, am I qualified to be called a patriot because I successfully promoted a Korean-made car to a foreigner?

Bought a navigator

Gini map.
I-Station G7.

Bought a new car

Avante Delux 2009 e-1st class