I alluded to a point yesterday that people don’t eat what they want and eat what they don’t want. They diet, avoid things for reasons other people give them, eat unhealthy foods, and so on. Is this mind-blowing or what? How can someone eat things they don’t like and avoid things they do? Food is as basic as things get. What better feelings does life offer than for eating food[…] Keep reading →

North Korea’s uniquely extreme isolation and disparity of power and wealth means you have to think of it differently than most other countries. Today I’ll present a toy idea not for serious consideration as is, but to provoke thought and promote new, potentially effective ideas or improve other plans. I call it a toy idea so no one accidentally takes it seriously on its own, but plays with it to[…] Keep reading →

A movie I saw recently called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (view for free here, view trailers here) struck a chord and got me thinking more about food recently, and buying and eating more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables than ever. So I’ll post a few posts on food and diet. The last time I intentionally ate meat was the spring of 1989. Occasionally someone brings me a turkey burger[…] Keep reading →

Usually I prefer using GNU/Linux. Every now and then something in that community annoys me. In the spring the people behind the Ubuntu distribution decided to make a new interface the default without telling me. When I “upgraded” it messed things up, but, with some work, I got it back to how I liked it. This time when I upgraded, they removed my usual interface. After major work, I realized[…] Keep reading →

Today’s pictures were from the Grand People’s Study House, a giant library overlooking the Taedong River, with the Juche Tower on the other side. Sorry for how long some captions are. I formatted them to be more readable but WordPress seems to ignore the formatting. I hope you can read them okay anyway. Nearly all big public buildings we visited had big statues of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jung Il,[…] Keep reading →

Most people can think of reasons not to visit North Korea. Most people consider the place dangerous. They have imprisoned foreigners for life for things that we wouldn’t consider illegal here, and you have no right to due process. For starters. What do you get from visiting? If you travel to explore new places, North Korea is one of the few frontiers left that tourists haven’t overrun. Tourists are even[…] Keep reading →

Here is the solution to any relationship problems you have. Whatever problems you and any significant others have, just watch Chris Rock videos online until you find him joking about exactly your issue, realize what you thought was the most important problem in the world you’d never get over is a trivial thing everyone goes through, laugh about it and how unjustifiably self-important you felt, and get over it. Then[…] Keep reading →

Please join us for a special viewing of Elements Artwork by Joshua Spodek at District 36 If you missed my show at Crossing Art Gallery in June, this will be your first chance to see my new series. If you’ve only seen my public pieces Union Square and Bryant Park, this series is on a whole other level. Plus we can have wine here. If you haven’t seen it since[…] Keep reading →

The third exercise comes in two parts also. First you think of emotions you’d prefer to the ones listed in the previous exercise. Second you think of environments, beliefs, and behaviors to create those emotions. You think of the emotions first because they are the roots of your values and what creates meaning and purpose. By listing what you can’t or won’t do in the previous exercise, you assure yourself[…] Keep reading →