PUBG developer apologies after controversial World War II references found in game
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-07-20-pubg-developer-apologies-after-controversial-world-war-ii-
Purchasable mask and AI bot caused offence across Korea and China with allusions to Imperial Japan
#cryptokitties Co-Founder on Go to Market in China and the Future of Blockchain in #asia
▻https://hackernoon.com/cryptokitties-on-go-to-market-in-china-and-the-future-of-blockchain-in-a
“A trend you will start to seeing in the next 3–6 month in Asia is that, in these large tech companies in Korea, Japan, China, they will come up with their so called “blockchain solutions”. Most of these are private blockchains, but they have the keys to 300mn to 500mn people, and they will onboard these hundreds of millions of people onto what they say is the blockchain.This is something I’ve been thinking about, which is the entire crypto space around the world is more or less around 60mn people currently, and we have come to recognize that #bitcoin is crypto and Ethereum is crypto, and that it means a distributed ledger. But I think these conversations will be challenged in the 3–6 months by these big companies saying “no no no, that’s not blockchain”, THIS is “blockchain”. And their (...)
Today’s Crypto News on Asia — Jun 28th
▻https://hackernoon.com/todays-crypto-news-on-asia-jun-28th-6a0b39c8444a?source=rss----3a8144eab
Binance to launch crypto-fiat exchange in Uganda, #korea’s new Crypto regulation; Messaging App #line to release an exchange; JD working with HuobiWhat Crypto insiders are reading on Asia.Subscribe now? Top NewsBinance is about to launch a crypto-fiat exchange in Uganda, supporting the Ugandan Shilling, alongside major cryptocurrencies. ▻http://bit.ly/2tCsO7wKorea has revealed a new crypto regulatory framework and guidelines pertaining to AML and KYC requirements for crypto exchanges. It’s investigating into three major banks and having banks alert suspicious fund movements to avoid the “kimchi premium” from happening. ▻http://bit.ly/2N5OhOgLine is launching its own exchange supporting 30 cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, at a trading fee of 0.1%. The Japanese messaging (...)
#china’s True Crypto Giants- #tencent, Baidu, #alibaba and JD
▻https://hackernoon.com/chinas-true-crypto-giants-tencent-baidu-alibaba-and-jd-91bf7786413b?sour
Regulation is not a sexy topic, unless we are discussing crypto regulations.In the last few weeks, many countries have voiced their unique ways to welcome ( or not so much) the crypto community. Korea has decided to regulate crypto exchanges as banks, while Thailand has permitted certain cryptocurrencies to be traded and exchanges to be opened. Even the SEC made remarks on BTC and ETH not being securities (horay!). China certainly has voiced their opinions too, this time through their permitting of e-commerce company JD to build a blockchain-backed token.This is particularly important, for 2 reasons. For one, we now know that China doesn’t just care about blockchain, it cares about tokens too. Past announcements only suggested the former, such as President Xi’s recent speech touting the (...)
Are Genetic Testing Sites the New Social Networks? - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/style/23-and-me-ancestry-dna.html
At-home genetic testing services have gained significant traction in the past few years. 23andMe, which costs $99, has over five million customers, according to the company; AncestryDNA (currently $69), over 10 million.
The companies use their large databases to match willing participants with others who share their DNA. In many cases, long-lost relatives are reuniting, becoming best friends, travel partners, genealogical resources or confidantes.
The result is a more layered version of what happened when Facebook first emerged and out-of-touch friends and family members found one another. Children of long-ago casual sperm donors are finding their fathers. Adoptees are bonding to biological family members they’ve been searching for their entire lives.
The Genetic Global Village
Others who have their DNA tested are forming relationships not with specific people, but with their family’s places of origin.
One example is Leah Madison, 32, an education outreach coordinator for the Desert Research Institute in Reno, Nev. She was planning trips to Peru and Korea when she learned a year and a half ago from 23andMe that her family came from Greece, Italy and the Iberian Peninsula.
Over the winter she and her father went to the Iberian Peninsula for two weeks. She felt an ineluctable connection to the people as she ate their bread masterpieces, toured buildings by Antoni Gaudí and danced to flamenco music.
“I had a piece of paper that tells me I’m from Spain,” Ms. Madison said. “But then I went there and I noticed all these people have curly hair, and maybe that is where mine comes from?” Now she feels compelled to visit the other places as well.
Perhaps the most frustrating reality is when users don’t have any known connections at all. This can happen to people in certain ethnic groups, including Latinos and Asians, that thus far have fewer people using the services and a smaller database.
“Diversity in genetic research is a global problem,” said Joanna Mountain, the senior director of Research at 23andMe, adding that the company is offering free testing in some countries to begin to rectify that. “The results for Hispanics and Asians aren’t there yet, but they are coming,” said Jenn Utley, a family historian at Ancestry (the parent company of AncestryDNA). “The database keeps growing.”
08/06/2018: Biggest Stories in the Cryptosphere
▻https://hackernoon.com/08-06-2018-biggest-stories-in-the-cryptosphere-9aba9ff870c?source=rss---
by BlockEx1. Mastercard To Use Public #blockchain For Its Credit CardsMastercard has filed a patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to establish a public blockchain to authenticate payments carried out with their credit cards at the point of sale. Users’ payment credentials would be corroborated over a blockchain platform that anyone would have access to. The two-method system would be integrated with point-of-sale devices to obtain fully secured transactions. It is estimated that card providers lose $2 billion every year due to card skimming. This patent could be the answer to the issue.2. Korea’s Biggest Crypto Exchange Cleared by GovernmentBithumb, the biggest crypto exchange in South Korea, has been cleared by the local government of any illegal activity. Financial (...)
#weekly Crypto Highlights in Asia | May 28th — June 1st
▻https://hackernoon.com/weekly-crypto-highlights-in-asia-may-28th-june-1st-edbdcf9d0d2a?source=r
Coin and Exchanges- Huobi, a major cryptocurrency #exchange originally from China, is setting up shop in Brazil.- Binance’s new US $1bn fund will be denominated in Binance tokens. Investments include funds as well, which could potentially increase institutional transactions on Binance significantly.- On the way to #eos and TRON’s mainnet launches this week, EOS had vulnerabilities discovered by a Chinese security company and some Chinese media tried to undermine TRON’s CEO Justin Zhen. TRON has fallen 20% in the last 7 days. EOS still raised $4bn from year-long sale. To continue to follow EOS’s launch this weekend, check out streams on Steemit and YouTube- Korea’s Exchange Bithumb banned trading in 11 countries and is lowering withdrawal limit for accounts without real-names.Macro and (...)
Four possible outcomes in Korea – Sasha Trubetskoy
▻https://sashat.me/2018/05/06/four-possible-outcomes-in-korea
Je n’y crois pas mais je référence pour le archives.
The Panmunjom Declaration is an exciting step towards peace on the Korean peninsula—a goal many have worked hard towards across many decades. We have forecasted four scenarios of potential developments as a result of future summits, closed-door deliberations, and agreements. A realistic view of current developments would mean that the future most likely lies somewhere between Scenarios 1 and 2.
Nexon more than doubled profits in Q1
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-10-nexon-more-than-doubled-profits-in-q1
Pixelberry acquisition boosted North American revenue, but Korea remains Nexon’s source of strength
Korea summit: When war ends but peace is out of reach - BBC News
▻http://www.bbc.com/news/world-43933745
Ancient #Rome and #Carthage
Going further back, in ancient times Rome and Carthage never agreed to peace after the Romans seized and destroyed Carthage at the end of the Punic wars in 146 BC.
More than 2,100 years later in 1985, the mayors of modern Rome and Carthage municipality - a modern-day suburb of Tunis - signed a peace treaty and an accompanying pact of friendship.
Korea to require seatbelts for all passengers
▻http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/03/119_246469.html
All car passengers will have to wear seatbelts starting later this year.
The National Police Agency said early this week that a new law requiring every passenger to wear a seatbelt will come into force on Sept. 28, after a six-month grace period.
The driver will be fined 30,000 won ($28), if any passenger violates the law. The fine will be 60,000 won, if the passenger is 13 years old or younger.
Given that bus and taxi drivers do not have the legal means to force passengers to buckle up, the government is considering applying different rules for such drivers.
The new law will also require bicycle riders to be sober and to wear a safety helmet.
Culturalisation, and why Microsoft rewrote history for Korea
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-28-culturalisation-and-why-microsoft-rewrote-history-for-kore
Geogrify’s Kate Edwards discusses how to tailor your game for global appeal - and what to do if you inadvertently cause offence
Vox’s US Government-Linked Experts Present Options for Korea: Sanctions or War | FAIR
▻https://fair.org/home/vox-experts-north-korea-us-government
[...] #Vox wrote: “Five experts discuss what a war on the Korean peninsula would look like, how close we are to conflict, and the terrifying consequences.”
Who are those five experts opining on the prospects of a new war?
Andrew C. Weber, a former US assistant secretary of defense
Jung Pak, a former CIA analyst on North Korea
Dave Maxwell, a retired US Army colonel
Tammy Duckworth, a US senator representing Illinois
Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, which is bankrolled by the US government
That is to say, four of the five experts cited by Vox directly worked for the government. The fifth expert works at a think tank that is substantially financed by the Pentagon and does research contract work for it.
STPMJ: ‘In Korea, architecture was not seen as a profession that synthesises cultural, social and environmental aspects’ | Thinkpiece | Architectural Review
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/area/profiles/stpmj-in-korea-architecture-was-not-seen-as-a-profession-that-synthesises-cultural-social-and-environmental-aspects/10027689.article
With one foot in South Korea and the other in New York, the work of Seung Teak Lee and Mi Jung Lim is a hybridisation of East and West
On the face of it, the prospect of two young Korean architects working in Seoul and New York ticks all the tediously clichéd boxes of ‘East meets West’. Yet impelled by geographical and cultural fluidity, such cross-fertilisations can be compelling. Born in Korea but educated in the US, STPMJ is the personal and professional partnership of Seung Teak Lee and Mi Jung Lim who met while studying at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The firm’s acronym is formed from the first initials of the two partners’ names connected by a ‘p’ for ‘plus’. It also stands for their five core values: speculative, trailblazing, playful, materialised and judicious.
L-Shaped House in Korea by Byoungsoo Cho Architects | Buildings | Architectural Review
▻https://www.architectural-review.com/today/l-shaped-house-in-korea-by-byoungsoo-cho-architects/8649725.article
1 Comment
Highly Commended: In it’s sensuous materiality and hidden depths, the L-Shaped House is a welcome respite from the sprawling metropolis of Seoul
This weekend house lies in a small valley about an hour from the sprawling metropolis of Seoul. The clients are a professional couple who spend time out of the city at weekends, but at some point plan to relocate here permanently.
L_Shaped_06
Folding doors of black-stained cedar open up to reveal a low terrace deck adjoining the main living space. When the house is not in use, the doors seal it shut
Though rural, the setting is slightly schizophrenic, with a recently-developed industrial area to the west and a more pastoral backdrop of mountains and forests to the east. This experiential dichotomy frames the architectural approach, as the house turns its back on industry and opens up to nature.
Koreas to march under single ’united’ flag in Olympic Games - BBC News
▻http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42721417
North and South Korea have agreed to march together under a single “unified Korea” flag at next month’s Winter Olympics in the South.
They also agreed to field a joint women’s ice hockey team in rare talks at the truce village of Panmunjom.
These are the first high-level talks between the two Koreas in more than two years.
The Games will take place between 9 and 25 February in Pyeongchang in South Korea.
Korean War, a ‘Forgotten’ Conflict That Shaped the Modern World - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/world/asia/korean-war-history.html
The war devastated Korea. Historians said that between three million and four million people were killed, although firm figures have never been produced, particularly by the North Korean government. As many as 70 percent of the dead may have been civilians.
Destruction was particularly acute in the North, which was subjected to years of American bombing, including with napalm. Roughly 25 percent of its prewar population was killed, Professor Cumings said, and many of the survivors lived underground by the war’s end.
“North Korea was flattened,” he said. “The North Koreans see the American bombing as a Holocaust, and every child is taught about it.”
@jvplive: “Inspired by her grandmother who was a youth leader under Japanese occupation of Korea, Ava joins a chorus of young voices to #FreeAhed led by @YASHebron at 1pm ET today on twitter. Children should not be in Israel’s military detention. Occupation ends. Palestinians should be free”
North Korea hacked war blueprint, says Seoul lawmaker
▻https://www.ft.com/content/d8bbceb0-ad64-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e130
A trove of classified military documents, including the joint South Korea-US wartime operational plans for conflict with Pyongyang, was stolen by North Korean hackers, a lawmaker in Seoul said.
Lee Cheol-hee, a member of the ruling Democratic party, on Tuesday said hackers had broken into a defence data centre in September last year. He said stolen documents included Operational Plan 5015, the most recent blueprint for war with North Korea.
The plans reportedly includes detailed procedures for a decapitation strike against the North Korean regime, a proposal that has infuriated Kim Jong Un, the country’s supreme leader.
The development comes amid growing anxiety in South Korea that US President Donald Trump intends to use military action to curb North Korea’s rapidly developing nuclear and ballistic missiles programmes.
Citing South Korean defence officials, Mr Lee said 235 gigabytes of data had been stolen, although 80 per cent of the documents had yet to be identified. Among the files identified were contingency plans for Seoul’s special forces as well as information on key military facilities and power plants, the lawmaker said.
The defence ministry in Seoul declined to comment on the reports.
Euh, il est encore ministre le monsieur dont on parle à la ligne ci-dessus ?
“This is a total failure of management and monitoring [of classified information],” said Shin Jong-woo, a researcher at the Korea Defense and Security Forum. “We have organisations in charge of supervising these cyber security issues . . . but they must have neglected to follow procedures and regulations, and they have failed to maintain military discipline.”
Kim Tae-woo, former president of the Korea Institute for National Unification think-tank, said: “This is a really serious matter. Given the military is playing down this announcement, I am concerned at the extent of information that has been stolen by North Korea.”
He added: “Part of my mind hopes the South Korean military intentionally leaked the classified documents to the North with the intention of having a second strategy.”
#Chris_Marker - Si j’avais 4 dromadaires (1966)
Puisqu’on est dans Chris Marker en ce moment :)
Narration: Pierre Vaneck, Nicolas Yumatov, Catherine Le Couey. Music: Lalan et Trio Barney Wilen. 49 mn, 1966. 3 people comment photographs taken all over the world: China, Cuba, Japan, USSR, Greece, Korea, Island, in the late fifties/early sixties. A masterpiece by Chris Marker (1921-2011). www.chrismarker.org
Female Samurai Warriors Immortalized in 19th Century Japanese Photos
▻http://www.openculture.com/2017/01/female-samurai-warriors-immortalized-in-19th-century-japanese-photos.ht
And yet, it turns out, “such women did exist.” Known as onna bugeisha, these fighters “find their earliest precursor in Empress Jingū, who in 200 A.D. led an invasion of Korea after her husband Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth emperor of Japan, perished in battle.” Empress Jingū’s example endured. In 1881, she became the first woman on Japanese currency.
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/26232323/Bugeisha-1-659x1024.jpg 
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/26232345/Bugeisha-2.jpg 
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/26232421/Bugeisha-3.jpg 
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/27000852/women-samurai-2-578x1024.jpg 
http://cdn8.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/26232436/Bugeisha-4.jpg
Tillerson is working with China and Russia — very, very quietly - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/tillerson-is-working-with-china-and-russia--very-very-quietly/2017/09/07/1aed4970-9416-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has often been the silent man in the Trump foreign policy team. But out of the spotlight, he appears to be crafting a broad strategy aimed at working with China to resolve the North Korea crisis and with Russia to stabilize Syria and Ukraine.
The Tillerson approach focuses on personal diplomacy, in direct contacts with Chinese and Russian leaders, and through private channels to North Korea. His core strategic assumption is that if the United States can subtly manage its relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin — and allow those leaders to take credit for successes — complex regional problems can be solved effectively.
Tillerson appears unfazed by criticism that he has been a poor communicator and by recent talk of discord with President Trump. His attitude isn’t exactly “take this job and shove it,” but as a former ExxonMobil chief executive, he doesn’t need to make money or Washington friends — and he clearly thinks he has more urgent obligations than dealing with the press.
Tillerson appears to have preserved a working relationship with Trump despite pointedly separating himself from the president’s controversial comments after the Charlottesville unrest. Although Trump didn’t initially like Tillerson’s statement, it’s said he was ultimately comfortable with it.
The North Korea crisis is the best example of Tillerson’s diplomacy. For all the bombast of Trump’s tweets, the core of U.S. policy has been an effort to work jointly with China to reverse the North Korean nuclear buildup through negotiations. Tillerson has signaled that the United States is ready for direct talks with Kim Jong Un’s regime — perhaps soon, if Kim shows restraint. Tillerson wants China standing behind Kim at the negotiating table, with its hands figuratively at Kim’s throat.
Despite Pyongyang’s hyper-belligerent rhetoric, its representatives have conveyed interest in negotiations, querying details of U.S. positions. But Kim’s actions have been erratic and confusing: When it appeared that the North Koreans wanted credit for not launching missiles toward Guam, Tillerson offered such a public statement. Bizarrely, North Korea followed with three more weapons tests, in a reckless rebuff.
Some analysts see North Korea’s race to test missiles and bombs as an effort to prepare the strongest possible bargaining position before negotiations. Tillerson seems to be betting that China can force such talks by imposing an oil embargo against Pyongyang. U.S. officials hope Xi will make this move unilaterally, demonstrating strong leadership publicly, rather than waiting for the United States to insert the embargo proposal in a new U.N. Security Council resolution.
Tillerson signaled his seriousness about Korea talks during a March visit to the Demilitarized Zone. He pointed to a table at a U.N. office there and remarked, “Maybe we’ll use this again,” if negotiations begin.
The Sino-American strategic dialogue about North Korea has been far more extensive than either country acknowledges. They’ve discussed joint efforts to stabilize the Korean Peninsula, including Chinese actions to secure nuclear weapons if the regime collapses.
The big idea driving Tillerson’s China policy is that the fundamentals of the relationship have changed as China has grown more powerful and assertive. The message to Beijing is that Xi’s actions in defusing the North Korea crisis will shape U.S.-China relations for the next half-century.
Tillerson continues to work the Russia file, even amid new Russia sanctions. He has known Putin since 1999 and views him as a predictable, if sometimes bullying, leader. Even with the relationship in the dumps, Tillerson believes he’s making some quiet progress on Ukraine and Syria.
On Ukraine, Tillerson supports Russia’s proposal to send U.N. peacekeepers to police what Putin claims are Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s assaults on Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. The addition of U.N. monitors would help implement the Minsk agreement, even if Putin gets the credit and Poroshenko the blame.
On Syria, Tillerson has warned Putin that the real danger to Russian interests is increasing Iranian power there, especially as Bashar al-Assad’s regime regains control of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria. To counter the Iranians, Tillerson supports a quick move by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces to capture the lower Euphrates Valley.
Trump’s boisterous, sometimes belligerent manner and Tillerson’s reticence are an unlikely combination, and many observers have doubted the relationship can last. But Tillerson seems to roll with the punches — and tweets. When Trump makes a disruptive comment, Tillerson seems to treat it as part of the policy landscape — and ponder how to use it to advantage.
Tillerson may be the least public chief diplomat in modern U.S. history, but that’s apparently by choice. By Washington standards, he’s strangely uninterested in taking the credit.
China’s military practices for ’surprise attack’ over sea near Korea
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-military-northkorea/chinas-military-practices-for-surprise-attack-over-sea-near-korea-idUSKCN1B
China’s air force has carried out exercises near the Korean peninsula, practicing to defend against a “surprise attack” coming over the sea, Chinese state media said.
[…]
An anti-aircraft defense battalion held the exercises early on Tuesday, near the #Bohai_Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea that separates China from the Korean peninsula, an official military website said.
Troops traveled to the site from central China before immediately beginning drills to fend off the “surprise attack” simulating real battle, it said.
“The troops’ rapid response capabilities and actual combat levels have effectively been tested.”It was the first time certain weapons, which the website did not identify, had been used to shoot down low-altitude targets coming over the sea, www.81.cn said, without elaborating.
The drills “do not target any particular goal or country”, and were part of an annual plan intended to boost the troops’ capability, China’s Defence Ministry said on its website late on Wednesday, in a response to media.
Earthquake from N Korea nuclear test (▻https://earthquake.usgs.gov/e...
▻http://02mydafsoup-01.soup.io/post/631379366/Earthquake-from-N-Korea-nuclear-test-https
Earthquake from N Korea nuclear test
Hacker News Comments : ▻https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15160131
Source : ▻https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%22autoUpdate%22%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22
#hackernews [Reposted from (...)
Every US President Makes Unilateral Nuclear Threats. It’s an American Tradition | Black Agenda Report
▻https://www.blackagendareport.com/every-us-president-makes-unilateral-nuclear-threats-its-american-
In 1946 and 1948 President Harry Truman threatened the Soviets over Iran and Berlin, respectively, and the Chinese in 1950 and 51.
President Eisenhower also threatened the Chinese over Korea in 1953, and again in 1956 over Quemoy and Matsu. He offered the French nukes to use against the Vietnamese at Dienbienphu in 1954.
President Kennedy threatened a nuclear strike at the Soviets over Berlin, and sent nuclear armed missiles to Turkey on the Russian border in 1961. Though these were later wisely withdrawn after the nuclear standoff of the Cuban missile crisis, the US has consistently based its nukes on its fleets and bases in the Pacific, in Europe and Asia, and for decades in South Korea.
Presidents Johnson and Nixon menaced North Korea, Vietnam and the Soviet Union with air and seaborne nukes, and President Gerald Ford ordered nuclear armed bombers from Guam to loiter for an extended time off the coast of North Korea. Jimmy Carter issued the Carter Doctrine, reaffirmed by Ronald Reagan which committed the US to a nuclear response if its vital interests in the Middle East were every threatened. Ronald Reagan terrified the world, though he did briefly consider a lasting arms treaty with the USSR.
Bush 1, Bush 2 and Bill Clinton all menaced North Korea and Iraq, and Obama declared “all options on the table” against Iran.
The AFSC list does not include vital US assistance in developing nuclear weapons technology given to apartheid South Africa which later relinquished its nukes, and apartheid Israel, which currently has missiles aimed at every Arab capital within a thousand miles, and at Iran.
So while Donald Trump’s “fire and destruction” bombast IS criminal and detestable, it’s not new. It’s merely the latest installment in a long running crime wave by the planet’s number one nuclear armed felon, the United States of America.