Check out this post by James, the model middle-aged minority.  It has a funny cartoon about software business and some photos to pick you up if you are depressed about your current job.

This sentence from an Washington Post article is startling:

"Russian armed forces are conducting an elaborate series of military exercises in the Far East, in part to prepare for any refugee crisis that might occur should North Korea's government collapse or become involved in a war with the United States."

Is this just pressure being applied for the Beijing talk or Russia preparing for imminent breakout of chaos or war in North Korea?

In 1100, Korea was known to Arabic countries as Coree because the name of the country at the time was pronounced Go-Ryu.  When Europeans got to know Korea, Coree changed to Corea which is still used in France, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico — I have read somewhere that the Corea family of Italy was started by a Korean boy who chose Corea as his last name when he arrived in Italy on a trading vessel, an interesting but unconfirmed story.

Around turn of the previous century, Korea started to be used instead of Corea.  Because Japanese occupation of Korea began around the same time period, there are accusations of Japan being the culprit behind the name change.  One of the theories is that Japan wanted to enter ahead of Korea in the Olympic.  The truth is that no one knows for sure yet.

Lately, the movement to restore the country name to Corea from Korea has been gaining momentum in both North and South Korea.  At first, Corea seemed odd to me, but I am starting to like it because Corea feels more refined than Korea and the letter K reminds me of K-mart.  If things go well, I'll be a Corean-American in the near future.  Go Corea!

Does this post remind you of that Monty Python sketch about a guy who couldn't pronounce the letter C?  It does to me.  Monty Python is like herpes.  Once exposed, you are stuck with it for life.

Alarming increase in outsourcing of technology jobs is not new, but Dan Gillmor's Outsourcing Our Future article is a sign of recent increase in alarm bells.  Just in time too because outsourcing trend is accelerating.  The real fun will begin when Presidential hopefuls start peddling this issue.

One solution I thought might work is encouraging unionization of IT workers in both India and US.  Unionizing IT workers in India will increase labor cost there.  Unionizing IT workers in America will discourage outsourcing here.

Unionization is a powerful force.  Just look at how unions are destroying manufacturing industry in Korea.  Did you know it cost 25% less for Hyundai to manufacture cars in Alabama than in Korea?  Oops.  That was the before the most recent labor deal Hyundai was forced to sign under which Hyundai auto workers gets 150+ days off per year (women get 170+ days off).

I am not talking about yesterday's unions.  These days, unions are highly organized both internally and externally.  In the near future, unions armed with cellphones, e-mail, IM, and socialwares, even small unions will weave themselves into larger networks of allied unions spanning nations and even continents.  Massive long term conflicts between global union networks is not unimaginable either.

Expect to be held hostage by unionized IT workers of tommorrow

According to a federal jury in Chicago, this frivolous patent is worth $521 million.

It is:

"A system allowing a user of a browser program on a computer connected to an open distributed hypermedia system to access and execute an embedded program object."

In plain language, it's a bleeping patent on plugins for web browsers.  Is that novel enough to warrant patent protection?  I don't think so.  Compare this to a Korean company that came up with a way to shoo mosquitos away by generating sound from cellphones.  Now THAT is worth awarding a patent on and their $600K per month revenue is honestly earned money.  Not THIS crappy patent that could cost us half a billion dollars via Microsoft Tax.

Every country has their share of idealistic fools.  Here are some pictures of idealistic fools in Korea via OhmyNews.

Standing on top of a tank is not an act of peaceful protest

I am thinking explosive American flags…

South Korean university student associations are riddled with fools like the ones you see above.  If Korea wasn't my mother country, I would have demanded Bush to pull American troops out of Korea and let these ungrateful bastards rot in Kim Jong-Il's infamous prisons.  Since it is, I don't know what to say but apologize for their behaviors.  Another example of my double standards.  *sigh*

Update #1: South Korean government has issued arrest warrants for the Korean students in the pictures.

Update #2: Most Korean newspapers are condemning the act and police are actively searching for members of Han-chong-ryun who planned the act.  Good.  FYI, Han-chong-ryun is a illegal student organization which has strong influence over most Korean university students.

In my view, it is cult-like in that its members are brainwashed and opposite views are not tolerated within its rank.  Apparently, Internet failed to break up their highly selective consumption and interpretation of information.

Current Han-chong-ryun chairman held a press conference saying the act was a peaceful demonstration.  Very funny.  I don't remember Ghandi pushing British soldiers around.

Jung Mong-Hun, chairman of several Hyundai jaebol companies committed suicide early morning of August 4th by jumping off a Hyundai HQ building.  He was the man who was supposedly pressured into providing the half a billion dollars wired to North Korea just before the historic meeting between the heads of North and South Korea.

Half-a-Billion Dollar Handshake

Kim Dae-Joong, the former Korean president who caused all this mess, should have been jailed for abusing power IMHO.  At the very least, he should have returned the Nobel prize he got for that paid-for meeting.  As to Kim Jong-Il, I think he should forget the nukes and concentrate on finding a better hairdresser.

My father is back in the States.  He was denied entry to North Korea, so he came home early.  Good thing too.  At his age, he should avoid the hot weather in Korea this time of the year.  He tells me he is going back there in a few months.  He is a busy man for his age, but I think I would be running around like he is at his age also.  Dying on my feet with a sword in my hand sounds a whole lot better than counting the last breaths in my bed.

In my post Pissed off on Sept 28, 2002, I mentioned Kim Doo-Han, a famous man in Korean history.  He became famous in his youth as the toughest gangster in Korea with his lightening flying kicks and thunderous fists.  He was also admired for standing up to Japanese oppression and secretly ransacking rich Japanese houses.

After Korea was liberated, he got into politics, initially beating and occasionally killing communists (his father, a famous general who fought in Manchuria against Japanese army, was killed by a communist) and later becoming a congressman.  Needless to say, he added a lot of excitement to disgustingly corrupted Korean politics.  How disgusting?  It was disgusting enough to cause a son to commit patricide because his father, a well known politician, was corrupt.

One of Kim Doo-Han's famous acts was throwing pig's urine all over Korean Congress because other congressmen were trying to cover up an incident in which one of Samsung's division was caught smuggling saccarine from Japan.  I mentioned it briefly in Pissed off but I didn't have any pictures.  Well, I found them on OhmyNews.com (Korean).  Enjoy.  Don't forget to mention that you have seen these hard to find pictures of Kim Doo-Han to your Korean friends.  If they are old enough to watch TV, they will know who he is.

Kim Doo-Han, God Father + Robin Hood + Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Good til the last drop