Laura Lepisto status

[skatinginbc]

Was last year's ice show broadcast on the North Korean national TV for public viewing? It would be a good cause in my mind if the general public get to watch the show. Indeed, they are enslaved and physically starved. So why do we even want to starve them spiritually as well? To deprive them of all forms of pleasure is an even worse human rights violation than what the dictator has done to them. However, if the ice show was exclusive for only a selected few, then shame on those skaters that had taken part in it.

[chuckm]

How many starving people in North Korea even HAVE TV sets? I am sure that only the privileged few got to see this show.

[brightphoton]

To deprive them of all forms of pleasure is an even worse human rights violation than what the dictator has done to them.

Haha.

oh wait you're serious.

AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAA.

That is the most monumentally stupid thing I've read today, and today I've read some very silly things.

[dorispulaski]

Is Kim Jong-un as big an ice skating fan as Kim Jong Il? Apparently, if there are 3 performances planned in North Korea.

[lowtherlore]

A fan of figure skating or not, he would want to show his people and the world that everything is back to normal. And, AFAIK Finland has maintained friendly diplomatic relations with N Korea for a long time. If Laura gets to skate there, I hope she enjoy the (rare) experience, if possible at all.

Laura is one of my favorites and I hope she wins the battle with her unusual injury and return to the ice soon.

[antmanb]

well Laura may not have the most technical content but I would still love her to comeback , she can still try new things
like upgrade her Flip combos, she can ditch her lutz even though she will have stiff competition from the teens/newcomers

If I recall correctly, Laura never attempt flips in competition, it was the lutz that she started landing the last few seasons she competed. I don't know if she was close to getting the flip or not in her training.

[sky_fly20]

Laura has performed the flip if I recall in Euros, was that in 2009

[skatinginbc]

Haha...oh wait you're serious...AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAA...That is the most monumentally stupid thing I've read today.

People with my kind of IQ may say stupid stuffs that normal people would not. So instead of teasing my stupidity, why don't you educate me with some information or logical reasoning? I'm willing to learn, you know.

The death rate in North Korea estimated in 2006 was about 7.1 deaths per 1,000 (compared to 8.38 deaths/1,000 in the US, July 2011) and life expectancy about 74.5 years for women and 68.9 for men (http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf). Although roughly 10% of North Koreans (http://books.google.ca/books?id=6kFVdjkcXZYC&pg ons) or nearly 25% of Pyongyang families and 7.7% of suburban families have a television set in their home (http://books.google.ca/books?id=e-zn1oOvjmQC&pg), there are televisions available in communal facilities (70% of the TV sets). "The price of housing in areas of North Korea where it is possible to receive South Korean television is considerably higher than in other locations." (http://www.dailynk.com/english/read....cataId=nk00100). People are willing to pay a high price for spiritual food.

[antmanb]

Laura has performed the flip if I recall in Euros, was that in 2009

I've gone back and looked at the protocls for Europeans for 2009 and 2008 and there is no attempt at the flip made. I'm almost certain she's never landed the flip in competition.

[Spun Silver]

Hi antmanb!

[glam]

^

hopefully Laura's practice this summer will go well, so if not, what does start to think of other things ? meaning ??

It means she will probably just focus on her studies and stops hoping for a comeback.


Here is another article of her: http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/muutlajit...?taitoluistelu

It says that the organizer of the show is an American Champions of Ice. She says that it will surely be an interesting trip and that it will be nice to get to skate infront of an audience.
I think she is very aware of what's going on in North Korea.

[brightphoton]

People with my kind of IQ may say stupid stuffs that normal people would not. So instead of teasing my stupidity, why don't you educate me with some information or logical reasoning? I'm willing to learn, you know.

The death rate in North Korea estimated in 2006 was about 7.1 deaths per 1,000 (compared to 8.38 deaths/1,000 in the US, July 2011) and life expectancy about 74.5 years for women and 68.9 for men (http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf). Although roughly 10% of North Koreans (http://books.google.ca/books?id=6kFVdjkcXZYC&pg ons) or nearly 25% of Pyongyang families and 7.7% of suburban families have a television set in their home (http://books.google.ca/books?id=e-zn1oOvjmQC&pg), there are televisions available in communal facilities (70% of the TV sets). "The price of housing in areas of North Korea where it is possible to receive South Korean television is considerably higher than in other locations." (http://www.dailynk.com/english/read....cataId=nk00100). People are willing to pay a high price for spiritual food.

The fact that you think being deprived of a skating show like Stars on Ice is in any way equal to starving and living in poverty under the oppressive, capricious, and despotic regime of a dictator who can commit atrocities with impunity speaks for itself. If you're that delusional about a couple of skating shows, then there is no point in further conversation.

[ImaginaryPogue]

People with my kind of IQ may say stupid stuffs that normal people would not. So instead of teasing my stupidity, why don't you educate me with some information or logical reasoning? I'm willing to learn, you know.

The death rate in North Korea estimated in 2006 was about 7.1 deaths per 1,000 (compared to 8.38 deaths/1,000 in the US, July 2011) and life expectancy about 74.5 years for women and 68.9 for men (http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/North_Korea.pdf). Although roughly 10% of North Koreans (http://books.google.ca/books?id=6kFVdjkcXZYC&pg ons) or nearly 25% of Pyongyang families and 7.7% of suburban families have a television set in their home (http://books.google.ca/books?id=e-zn1oOvjmQC&pg), there are televisions available in communal facilities (70% of the TV sets). "The price of housing in areas of North Korea where it is possible to receive South Korean television is considerably higher than in other locations." (http://www.dailynk.com/english/read....cataId=nk00100). People are willing to pay a high price for spiritual food.

skatinginbc, I'd recommend reading the book "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick to get a bigger picture. Her'es an interview with the author that is based on interviews she had with people who've escaped. It's an eye-opening book.

[Tonichelle]

yay ANTMAN IS POSTING!!!!

[skatinginbc]

skatinginbc, I'd recommend reading the book "Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea" by Barbara Demick to get a bigger picture. Her'es an interview with the author that is based on interviews she had with people who've escaped. It's an eye-opening book.

I read the interview, which unfortunately did not give me new insight. Will the book answer my questions: Are economic and sport sanctions effective in obtaining the objective of regime change? Who will suffer the most from the sanctions: the dictator or the people who are already suffering? North Korea has been the subject of international sanctions since the Korean War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economi...omic_Sanctions). Have the sanctions effectively changed the regime or did they push the North Korea to rely heavily on the import (e.g., fertilizer and fuel) from the Soviet Union so that it experienced sudden, serious resource shortages after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc? There are many factors that led to the North Korean famine in the 1990s, and I'm afraid that international sanction was one of them.

"Nothing to Envy" might be "Ordinary Lives in North Korea", but when they see foreign athletes do better than their own, there is a chance that some of them would get curious about the world outside. Isolating them only helps blinding them from the real world. It makes the dictator stronger, not weaker.

BTW, I would like to thank you for your patience of introducing me to a good book. You did not laugh or yell at my stupidity and I will remember your kindness.