Raising Korean Corporate Tax From 22% To 25%, Reaction?

Corporate tax will be 25% for those earning more than $300 million a year. It was much higher, then they reduced it to 22% to stimulate growth and jobs almost a decade ago. Guess what happened? You betcha. Little growth, no jobs. Who knows, lowering taxes may work sometimes, but in most cases, it did little good.

String Theory and 11 Dimensions

In String Theory, there are 11 dimensions. What could the 11 dimensions be?

Space, Time, Energy, Mass, Gravity, Information, Intelligence, Life, Electromagnetism, Gluons?

Big Bang Make Any Sense?

They say nothing travels faster than light, then they say except for the big bang (inflation theory).
Everything in the universe crammed into a Planck length? They said that nothing escapes from black holes, excluding radiation.

If there is nothing at the edges of the universe, then wouldn't the universe expand naturally? Where did all the matter come from, or where is it emerging from?

Maybe there is no such thing as "nothing"? Maybe there is always something in space. Even if it was nothing, that would be something in the context of a filled space.

Bit and zeros add up to software. Maybe bits and zeros in space add up to energy, which equals matter, which equals intelligence or knowledge?

A theory with no beginning and no end would be good.







Is consciousness a type of energy or force?

And more things to think about...







Exciting times.

No Dark Matter and Dark Energy?

Science Daily: Dark matter and dark energy: Do they really exist?

Makes sense.

If time was forever and intelligence exists, most likely true, then intelligence should have evolved to where it could exist forever, even through supernovas and the like. Maybe we are a minuscule part of that intelligence. Then again, maybe intelligence is like time. an emergent phenomenon.

Is Land Ownership Democratic?

Maybe the native American Indians had it right?

Pretty sure what Jesus would have done.

Experiments Prove Consciousness Affects Matter

From a distance, no less!

Seems like we are entering a new era of physics and consciousness.

Gravity Is An Emergent Phenomenon

Heard that today in a video of a lecture by Erik Verlinde, a Dutch theoretical physicist on Scientific American

Everything comes from information. 

Big Bang Theory

If there was a big bang, then maybe there were some things came out other than energy and matter. Something for information, good, and life force. How much do we not see, or know? 90%? 99%?

Energy + Matter = Life. Seems very unlikely.

According to a recent theory, there is no dark matter. It seems if you interpret the data from a different perspective, there is no need for dark matter.

Korean TV news now just say a person was arrested for "Devil Drugs". They don't say what kind of drugs. In Korean, illegal drugs are called 마약 (마  meaning devil or evil, and 약 meaning drugs). Reminds me of the 70s. Rounding up long haired people and giving them haircuts. Other worse things.

Hope I live as long as these two.

Korean Freedom Of Press?

The previous governments of Lee, Myung-bak and Park, Kuen-hye, in my opinion, installed their choice of presidents at many TV broadcasting companies. They also controlled most print news.

The prosecutor is investigating MBC TV's president for violation of labor laws (suppressing labor unions and firing union workers illegally. He did not show up for question several times, so they issued an arrest warrant. He showed up for question yesterday "voluntarily".

Because of this, the conservative party is protesting that President Moon Jae-in's administration is trying to control and influence the media. Where were they when everybody was complaining about ex-Presidents Lee, Myung-bak and Park, Kuen-hye controlling the media? Where were they when everyone complained that Presidents Lee and Park used the national intelligence agency for political purposes? If I remember correctly, they denied those allegations and called all the accusers communists and leftists.

The press is giving major coverage to the conservative party's protest and making it seem like a legitimate and major issue. What a joke! Sadly a lot of mostly old people believe what they hear on the news. Seems almost like PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) from the war and dictatorships. 

Samsung pays for over 25% of media advertising. If you add in Hyundai, Lotte, SK and others, it could be well over 60%.

Samsung's Lee Jae-yong received a 5 year sentence. Did you know a starving person who stole food got 5 years in Korea?

Will The Korean Court Rule Samsung's Lee Jae-yong Guilty Of Bribery?

If they rule not guilty on a technicality, then the whole world will know something is fishy. They ruled not guilty for his father a few times, I think.

Prosecutors asked for a 12 year sentence. Sentencing is scheduled for August 25.

Most Important Thing In Life?

Staying on God's good side. ^^

How to spend thought wisely? Stop talking orally? Having good thoughts?

Thought = Think +Time? Remember that Time = Space. What is Will?

Never Thought I Would See The Day

From 2009 to late 2012, the Korean intelligence agencies took to SNS to influence public opinion and the elections against the opposition party. A couple of weeks ago, the present government found evidence of this and managed to restore deliberately deleted tapes of a former intelligence chief. There were over 30 task groups set up to spread favorable posts for Park Keun-hye and negative posts against the opposition. It seems that this all started with the Lee Myung-bak administration. There is only 5 months left on the statute of limitations for Lee Myung-bak on this one. Tough break!

The Guardian: S. Korea spy agency admits trying to rig 2012 presidential election 
Korea Times: Ex-president may face probe over spy agency's election meddling

If a conservative party president was in office, this would not have been possible. It would have been covered up.

A prosecutor tried to investigate in 2012 and was pressured out of office. He is a chief prosecutor now. 

A few days before the Presidential elections in 2012, the police said there was no evidence of such activities on SNS by the intelligence agency. No one has been arrested for obstruction of justice and spreading false information, so far. 

Kim Moo-sung, a conservative party member, also spread false rumors about President Noh Moo-hyun and North Korea right before the elections in 2012 in order to discredit Moon Jae-in who was close to President Noh. He was found not guilty, somehow. They lock up people for doing that nowadays. Seems very unfair. 

If you were corrupt, rich, powerful, could beat up employees, break laws, get pardoned, steal, lie and cheat, then would you want Korea to change? Why don't more Koreans see this? It almost seems as if some are permanently brainwashed. 

I receive emails from old people supporting the conservative groups and spreading hate against President Moon Jae-in, stating that he is a commie and a disgrace. If it is not Korean intelligence doing this now, who is it?

Korea finally signed three agreements with the International Labor Organization last month. Before the corrupt rich used the government to crack down on labor unions and make it illegal to have retired employees in the unions. Then they broke up several unions that had retired employees as members. The new agreements prevent the government from doing this. 

Things seem to be much better now. They restored the corporate tax to 25%, but only for the very top conglomerates and raised the income tax for the very wealthy from 40% to 42%. The conservatives cried bloody murder and warned that this would lead to tax increases for everyone. Can you believe that probably close to 15% of Koreans believe this stuff? In the past, the majority believed. Imagine how I felt!

Different States Of Consciousness

Alert, chronic fatigue, tired, stoned, sleepy, angry, afraid, content, and more.

Have a feeling that people's states of consciousness vary vastly.

Maybe it is just conscious, dream states, and unconscious. The rest seems to be just hormonal states of feeling and emotion. Hmm... Education, thought, reflection, also affect the consciousness. One huge conglomerate of continuous thought.

God Exists In Virtual Reality?

If God exists in many minds, then God exists in virtual reality. Does that make God an entity? Yes, but not the entity people are expecting? Maybe it is time for people to start changing their expectations.

Information + Matter + Energy = Life

That's what many scientists are pondering. Read about the latest thoughts on the origin of life.

YHouse : On Matter and Information - The Origin of Recipes

This article made sense and satisfied my curiosity a little bit. But now I wonder, who drew the information on matter to make RNA?



I agree with the title of the next video and most of what Alan Watts says.

Alcohol Causes Brain Damage, Marijuana Does Not

Alcohol kills brain cells. We knew that for decades, if not centuries. Now, there are studies!

High Times: Alcohol, Not Weed, Manipulates Brain Structure

If marijuana is the only cure for pain and illness for some patients, it should be legal, right? Morgan Freedman agrees. 

High Times: Morgan Freedman Pushes For Full Marijuana Legalization

Feel good music.

Reflections on Korea's Stance on Marijuana

Guess Korea's stance on marijuana has changed slightly. Haven't seen those anti-drug public messages and they do mention that other countries have legalized marijuana. And many people get off with a year or two of probation.

Canada, Uruguay, and Other Countries Violate International Drug Treaties

More and more nations are violating three international treaties on drugs in order to legalize marijuana and more are expected to follow suit.

High Times: How Canada and Uruguay Are Challenging International Pot Laws 

Another Korean pop singer and some more old actors were arrested for smoking pot in Korea last week which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. Bummer!

Research Shows THC Slows Alzheimer's Disease

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) can slow the production of beta-amyloid proteins in the brain which are said to cause Alzheimer’s disease. It's a miracle drug. Seems to cure almost everything.

In the Bible, there is something about God giving humans herbs to consume. Someone made that herb illegal. Hope that someone faces God to try and explain. ^^

The above news was brought to you by High Times Magazine, recently bought out by wealthy investors.

High Times: Positive Effects of Medical Marijuana on Alzheimer’s Prevention





Still alive and rocking! Congratulations.

Seems Like Korean Media Is Always Worried About Companies

President Moon ordered a review of the Four Rivers Water Works Projects that were carried out during the Lee Myung-bak administration, where construction companies (Samsung, SK, Hyundai, and other business conglomerates) colluded in bids to fix prices and were convicted. They were banned from participating in future public projects, but were pardoned by the Park Keun-hye administration. Tens or hundreds of billions of dollars wasted in shoddy and questionable projects. A lot of Koreans want this investigated again. President Moon ordered a review and if there is any evidence of illegalities, then they will be investigated.

Korean media's spin? Construction companies are facing a hard time due to the economy and these investigations could hurt them. They usually add that this would be disastrous for the economy, but this was left out this time.

President Moon ordered a stop to construction of coal fired electrical generation plants. Korea media's spin? You got it! Most of the major construction companies depend on construction of these plants and if construction is stopped, most of them would lose money.

Anyway, you get the idea. I know these types of articles are normal, but when most of the media puts out lots of articles with similar spin, that is abnormal.

Korean Media vs American Media

President Trump pushed for job creation, and the media discussed the topic.

President Moon pushed for job creation, and some of the Korean media report on business fearing repercussions from this type of policy.

There are a few favorable articles, like this one.

Korea Herald: Policy advisory panel calls for greater competition to create more jobs

However, most are somewhat negative in tone, asking if it will be possible to create jobs that way and encouraging negative feelings. Most of these articles are in Korean like the ones below.

Asia Times: 새 정부의 ‘비정규직 제로’ 정책… 증권업계도 가능할까
Sisa Journal: 유통업계 꺼내든 일자리 카드…‘질(質)’도 좋을까

The majority of Koreans seem to believe the media. However, growing numbers are becoming very skeptical.

Cary Grant Used LSD 100 Times For Therapy

He used it when it was legal in the early sixties. He visited Dr Mortimer Hartman at the Psychiatric Institute of Beverly Hills weekly for therapy because he was having a difficult time adjusting to fame. Cary Grant said that LSD cured him and helped him find his goal. Now, there is a movie out about this.

Guardian: Cary Grant: how 100 acid trips in Tinseltown 'changed my life' 

Vermont Gov To Veto Recreational Marijuana

Sign of the times.

Vermont would have become the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana. And would have been the the first to legalize it through legislation rather than public voting. 

NBC News: Vermont Governor Plans to Veto Bill That Would Legalize Marijuana

Adultery

Used to be a crime in Korea. Several years ago, the courts ruled that it was not a crime, and was a moral issue, if I remember correctly.

While cheating is sort of different from adultery, gives me an excuse to introduce -

Good Words For Former President Noh Moo-yun

Yesterday, President Moon Jae-in attended held memorial services for former Korean President Noh Moo-hyun. They sang songs the public wanted to sing and said good things about the former president.

Call me paranoid, but it almost seemed as if there were organized campaigns to smear former President Noh Moo-hyun almost a decade now.

Yesterday was the first day former President Park Keun-hye attended her court trial.

You Are Illegal!

Did you know that?

In 1990, Miles Herkenham of the National Institute of Mental Health, discovered that the human body had its own internal cannabinoid receptor system. The human body produces cannabinoids, like THC.

If THC is illegal, then cannabinoids could also be illegal because they do what THC does. They have the same effects.

29 US states have legal medical marijuana, several countries have legal recreational marijuana, must be thousands of patents being registered, billions of dollars being taxed and still not even one pro-marijuana article in Korea.

Corporations push sugar, trans fat, salt, preservatives, chemicals, and other things that people do not need, like cars, automatic weapons. These really kill and make people sick.

The following quote from Dr. Sanjay Gupta is from an article in Cannabis Now - Cannabis: It’s Getting Better All the Time on how much times have changed since the old days when people were locked up for marijuana.

“We have been terribly and systematically misled for nearly 70 years in the United States, and I apologize for my own role in that.” - Dr. Sanjay Gupta

Recordings and Presidents

Recordings of conversations played a part in the impeachments of President Nixon (resigned), President Keun-hye Park, and in the probable impeachment of Brazilian President Temer.

Wondering if there are recordings of President Trump regarding the dismissal of FBI Director Comey, among other goodies.

Meanwhile in Korea, it seems like the rich may be taxed fairly eventually. Good news! But not for the rich. hehe

How To Convince The Politically Radical?

This article in Scientific American outlines how to approach and present facts to people who believe in false things.

If Korean politicians knew how to do this, then only the ones that presented the facts clearly would be popular. Guess the same is true all over the world.

Scientific American: Sometimes, Facts Can Actually Trump Ideology - It's hard to get people to look past their ideological blinkers, but behavioral science research shows it's not impossible.

I remember another article in Scientific American. It was about how to persuade people with serious cognitive dissonance. They both state similar methods, but from different perspectives.

Korean Prosecutors Received Envelopes Filled With Money

Korean prosecutors received money from a superior from the Justice Ministry just after they closed a case. At first, they said it was a "normal" customary practice. No shame! Now, officials are offering to resign over the incident. Resign? They should be jailed, IMHO. The official who handed out money (from $800-900 each to over 6-7 people) was one of those investigated in the case that was closed by the prosecutors without anyone being indicted.

It is still a struggle in Korea. TV and media is still mostly titled towards the goals of the powerful and rich.

President Moon is trying to get justice for any serious crimes committed by the last administration. He was the one who ordered the investigation into use of government funds for investigation that was misused to entertain prosecutors with food, drink and money.

For details on this scandal, please read the following article;

Yonhap News: Senior prosecutor, ministry official offer to resign after Moon's inspection order 

Detaching Ourselves From Personal Perspective Leads To Better Morality

That's what I said, sort of. So did Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and others.

Now the scientific community is saying the same thing.

The following excerpt is from a review in the New York Times on Steven Pinker’s “Better Angels of Our Nature”. A book that promptly reached the best seller list after Bill Gates recommended it.

"Pinker argues that enhanced powers of reasoning give us the ability to detach ourselves from our immediate experience and from our personal or parochial perspective, and frame our ideas in more abstract, universal terms. This in turn leads to better moral commitments, including avoiding violence."

NY Times: Is Violence History?

Conscious and Unconscious Minds

It appears that both the conscious and unconscious mind are both at work in our brains. The unconscious mind is always working in the background automatically guiding our decisions and perception in many cases.

BBC: Why It Feels Weird To Step On A Stopped Escalator

The following was the number one song in the the US in 1969, beating out songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jackson 5, Elvis Presley, David Bowie, and Stevie Wonder. I remember liking the song. Must be getting really old.

Michael Jackson in 1969.

Brain Functions

The brain has different areas for different functions, and some neurons are huge and extend through the body.

It also seems like there are many brain states, for dreams, deep thought, and so on.

I think there are two types of operating modes or more for the brain. One is the action mode where thought is directed towards physical action, and simple "two-dimensional" decisions. The other is thought directed towards reflection, silence, in many cases with eyes closed, deep concentration, solving very complex problems with seemingly no solutions, and such.

It seems these two types develop sort of independently in adulthood. If one talks too much, and spends time only doing things, then that "action" brain function develops.

If one spends a lot of time in deep thought, that "thinking" brain function develops and "worthwhile" knowledge accumulates.

Seems like a lot of people spend their lifetimes acting out their lives, rather than thinking before they act. The barrier seems to be thoughts about death, purpose in life, running out of money and such. These thoughts are a headache and people want to avoid thinking about these in depth. It is hard and takes decades to get over hangups and complexes about these matters. Once one gets over their hangups about death, purpose, material wealth, and some other things, then thinking becomes very enjoyable and beneficial. Some never get past their hangups.

That's just my thinking. What's yours?

Life After The Park Keun-hye Administration

It's only been a few days since President Moon took office, but already the atmosphere is different. The winds have suddenly shifted, on TV, in the news, in government policies, in people's attitudes. Small changes, but still you can tell.

"No Big Bang" Theory

It is hard for me to believe that the universe started with a big bang, and it seems there are some people who agree. There are other theories.

Cosmic background radiation doesn't have to be from a big bang. It could be something else. Looking through 14 billion years of space might create a "haze" of radiation. 

Or, the distance of over 14 billion light years would prevent light from further away from reaching us. The expansion of the universe over great distances of tens of billions of light years is faster than the speed of light. So we may see only haze from the furthest light we can see. 

It only makes sense that time has been forever with no start and no end. Makes sense?

Found this following article which explains that the big bang theory is pseudoscience because there is no way to test it. Like the multiverse theories. The truth will come.

Scientific American: Is a Popular Theory of Cosmic Creation Pseudoscience?

New Jersey Looks Certain To Legalize Recreational Pot In 2018

It seems there have been over a 230% increase in opiate deaths in New Jersey in the past couple of years. Pharmaceutical companies and doctors can make money off of opiates. We knew for decades, but still couldn't do anything about it. Thank goodness time changes.

New Jersey : Forget decriminalization. Time to legalize weed | Editorial 

Seems like people in New Jersey will certainly get legal recreational pot soon.

What will society look like in the future? Probably more like what this guy in the following video says. It seems headed that way.

Happy poor and miserable rich

That's what I thought privately. Then I read this following article.

BBC: How rich are you really? 

In the article, they talk about wealth and happiness. They say the rich are used to finding happiness in showing off their wealth, while the poor find happiness in many other ways independent of wealth.

The rich are usually surrounded by those interested primarily in money. They also tend to order people around and get pissed at people. They also usually think they are smarter and so on. Not fun people to be with. Can rich people be humble?

Did God instill thoughts about being humble for nothing?

Which brings me back to my favorite song.

Vermont lawmakers approve legal recreational marijuana

Vermont's House of Representatives approved a measure to legalize recreational use of marijuana which would take effect from July 2018.

Massachusetts and Maine also approved possession and cultivation of marijuana for personal use by adults 21 years of age or older from July 2018.

High Times: Vermont lawmakers approve legal recreational marijuana

Nobel Prize Winners, Billionaire CEOs, and Other Genius Potheads

The following are just a few of the "stoners" who spoke against marijuana prohibition. Do you really want to lock up people who smoke or ingest weed? Do these people seem like they are criminals? Lack motivation? Would steal to get drugs? Gimme a break!

Stephen Ray Gould was a paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science

Bill Gates founded Microsoft along with fellow stoner Paul Allen and voted for legalization in Washington

Kary Mullis received a Nobel Laureate in chemistry for his DNA research on the polymerase chain reaction in 1993

Steve Jobs smoked weed in his early days, and also did other drugs, including LSD.

Margaret Mead was a cultural anthropologist and activist who helped spark the feminist and sexual revolution movements in the United States.

Carl Sagan, the well  known scholar on extraterrestrial life and author. For more information on Carl Sagan and his view on marijuana, see our previous article “Carl Sagan and Pot.”

Richard Feynman was a theoretical physicist and received the joint Nobel Prize in 1965. He openly used drugs in the 50s and 60s.

Francis Crick discovered the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953 and jointly received the Nobel Prize in 1962 along with James Watson.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet started the Giving Pledge in 2010. Paul Allen also joined in the pledge. I wonder how many Korean billionaires have joined the Giving Pledge. Maybe zero? Probably zero? Most likely zero? Their sons are in charge of their companies and stuff. I dun think they are giving their money away. More like trying to build dynasties and shit.

I hope the future holds better things for Korea's "paper economy" (as in "paper tigers").