Food for Thought: Free download of book on food industry

As is my principle, I DO NOT appreciate the traditional publishing houses ripping off authors. So to make a point, I have always released my books for FREE, only in digital formats. You could say I never got publishers, so this is a face-saving exercise. What if I told you that I didn't approach them at all? Whatever... Please find the link to my non-fiction book- Food for Thought. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/404692 The role of the Food Industry in helping consumers eat healthily and sustainably received considerable attention in recent years. While the food companies continue to produce enough affordable, quality food for the fast-growing...

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Scattered Fates - a novel on the second partition of India

Interested in Indian fiction? Alternate history? FREE download of my novel Scattered Fates. ________ It is an alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu (India) 50 years ago, narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005. It is the story of a son's search for the truth about his father's disappearance and the political intrigue that led to India's second partition into South & North, intertwined with the history of Korea Extended Description SCATTERED FATES is an alternate history novel, which unwraps in the backdrop of violent anti-Hindi agitations that rocked the State of Tamil Nadu and is narrated over two time frames – 1965 and 2005. It is the story, in lucid conversational style, of Subbaiah, a university...

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Red Star Operating System

More news on North Korea’s N. Korea's 'Red Star' operating system. North Korea's new "Red Star" computer operating system is mainly designed to control the flow of information on the Internet tapped by users, a review by a state-run think tank said. The Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) said a detailed technical analysis of Red Star version 1.1 shows it is a Linux-based operating system with low-end options similar to those found in products that reached the market in the early 2000s. It added that while it is similar to the ubiquitous Windows OS, emphasis has been placed on meeting security and other local requirements. There is only one Korean-language version of the system and due to the limited number of compatible applications there is little likelihood of its being put...

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The advantage of being rich and famous in Korea

If you are rich in Korea, everything is forgiven! Even if you drive your company bankrupt and run away like a coward, or cheat your shareholders and evade taxes, you will eventually be pardoned. The trick is to lay low for about a year and come back on the public stage, lecturing others on how to make Korea a great nation... Take former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong. He was on the list for the Interpol when he was in exile, because of how he left the company with insurmountable debt. He was arrested soon after he returned to South Korea on June 14, 2005, and apologized "for hurting the nation and accepted full responsibility for the collapse of the group, adding he is ready to accept whatever the authorities have in store for him." In May 2006 he was sentenced to 10 years in jail after...

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HP Slate takes on iPad

Even as I am excitedly waiting for the iPad to go on sale, i was caught unawares by the news that HP is ready with its own version of a tablet called Slate that will run Windows 7 operating system and support Flash. While the above videos that the company released looks promising, one will have to wait and see. I have never been a fan of the windows OS and am pretty sure that I will settle for the iPad. Just hope that the HP tablet does not keep crashing as frequently as the desktop/laptop versio...

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Linux Mint- a fantastic alternative to Windows

I have never been a fan of Windows and found the outdated capabilities of the operating system an annoyance. For this reason, I stopped using my desktop computer at home (with Windows OS) and switched over to an iMac 2 years ago. Prior to that I had also bought a Macbook for my girlfriend and found that the learning curve was really not as steep as people made it out to be. Slowly but surely I got infatuated with my Mac and have never looked back since. Although, I still use Windows at work, since this is Korea, and there is no way out  ! Moreover since my girlfriend needs to use Internet Explorer for all her banking needs I resultantly...

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The next book on my reading list is definitely going to be “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” It tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor black tobacco farmer who was the unwitting donor of cells from her cancerous tumor, which were cultured to create an immortal cell line for medical research. This is now known as the HeLa cell line and has had a groundbreaking impact on modern medicine. The book tracks the story of the source of the HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks, and documents the cell line's impact on both modern medicine and the Lacks family.Born in 1920, she died from an aggressive cervical cancer at 31, leaving behind five children....

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iPad for iPricks

Having just got my iPhone a few weeks back, I am not very keen to spend some more money for an oversized version- the iPad- which will be available here starting March. While I must confess that my iPhone has not disappointed, I would rather wait for version 2 of the iPad which will most probably come fitted with a camera, allow for multi-tasking, and support flash. However, that will not be. My girlfriend’s birthday is in June, and she seems to be besotted by the iPad. All my attempts to convince here have failed>> > so I guess I will just have to go ahead and buy a version of the tablet that will be outdated soon. Meanwhile, here...

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Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea

With the India-Korea FTA (they call it CEPA) now in force, it has not taken long for the Indian business community to form an association, to help improve economic relations between both sides. The Indian Chamber of Commerce in Korea  has been setup and was formally launched yesterday evening. It has the full backing of the Indian embassy and the launch event was actually organized by the Indian diplomats here in Korea. Although I hope the bureucrats do not interfer too much in its actual day to day activities...too much involvement by the Indian bureaucrats in any project has never been good.. A facilitating role is more than enough! While the launch ceremony was slightly embarassing, with too many boring speeches, I am sure the ICCK will soon stand on its own feet. I...

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Interview: Mr. Lee Young-hee, Minister of Labor

In 2008, the new government of President Lee Myung-bak caused a paradigm shift in labor policy. The new paradigm aims to pursue growth and employment simultaneously by supporting economic revival and job creation to make Korea a leading advanced nation. This means pursuing economic growth and job creation at the same time by boosting market economy, developing human resources and achieving active welfare. But now with the Korean economy facing a serious crisis, it has even more challenges. Falling exports and shrinking domestic demand are expected to lead to negative growth and the employment situation is deteriorating rapidly. There is even...

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