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 →

Here are the slides for my North Korea talk at Fred. I expect to show a lot of images, mainly from Joseph’s amazing pictures on Flickr. I like my pictures, but his are phenomenal. Here is a pdf of the slides. Sorry the transitions don’t make it in, but the slides are pretty light. I’ll put up the video when they post it.

I will speak on North Korea at the next Fred Talk, December 4. Fred Talks are riveting and awesome, plus you meet amazing people there. And they get great pizza. The event will be at 5 Crosby Street, #5H in Soho. Plan to arrive before 7pm. Bring your own beer. For pizza, bring $5. See you Sunday!

I’m not a fan of putting positive spins on things. You can’t call something positive without calling something else negative. Calling some emotions negative makes some people want to shun them and act like they don’t have them. How many times have you seen someone obviously angry or enraged, saying through gritted teeth and clenched jaws, “I’m not angry,” in blatant denial of their emotions? They confuse how an emotion[…] Keep reading →

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me my best part of visiting North Korea. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/north_korea_greatest_lesson.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/north_korea_greatest_lesson.mp3[/videofile] — EDIT: I included much of this post and this series on strategy (edited and polished) in my ebook, Understanding North Korea: Demystifying the World’s Most Misunderstood Country. I wrote the book to help increase understanding, communication, and freedom.

Today’s pictures were from the bus ride back from the Demilitarized Zone and Kaesong to Pyongyang. The early bus rides featured a lot of very friendly, open, and educational interchange between the guides and us. For some reason Mr. Kim, whom we affectionately nicknamed Crazy Kim for his ebullience and outspoken expression, quieted down after the first few days. Our loss.     I wrote the following about the above[…] Keep reading →

After visiting the Demilitarized Zone we visited the city of Kaesong, the southernmost city in North Korea. WordPress doesn’t always get links in captions, so here’s a sentence in there with some links, “Here’s a video of many to start with and here’s a Wikipedia page.” After the day in Kaesong, we went to a traditional-style hotel, I think this one. I went to sleep early, but others drank and[…] Keep reading →

In today’s interview, my business partner, Christina Black, asked me why I chose to go to North Korea. Why I chose to go was different than what made such a positive impression on me, a pattern that happens often in my life and I bet yours. Small interface: [audio:https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3] Large interface:[videofile]https://joshuaspodek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/why_choose_north_korea.mp3[/videofile]