Silicon Space!

Heard of outsourced customer support and software services to Mars? That's now getting closer on the space horizon. Two interesting bits of news today that will make that happen :-)

First, India, leading outsourcing innovator on the planet, just launched 10 satellites (speaking different languages!) into orbit in one fell rocket swoosh! That's a major accomplishment, by any standards.

Next, scientists now think they've discovered remnants of hot springs on Mars - furthering excitement on the possibility of finding water on Mars.

Put the two together, and James Bond and Jaws will be on their way with a bunch of telephones, computers, and a savvy, accented Indian crew to set up MarsSys - the first Martian BPM company - Nasdaq (MARY).

Yes - you'll need an M-1 Visa!

Taking things for granted!

We obsess about our Valley jobs, the stock market, technology, politics, sports, stock options, and such. Often, we lose sight of the important things - good health, family, safety, our quality of life, freedom...

These priorities get shuffled in a hurry when certain events occur. On Saturday, a surprise mid-day fire destroyed our neighbo(u)r's home! They got their cars out and got out safely. Most everything else was impacted.

Ironic that in this busy life that we lead, we sometimes only meet our neighbo(u)rs when there's such an event in the neighborhood.

Perspectives: the 6th grader (whose house caught fire) was worried about whether he would be rebuked for not having his swim gear for PE class in school, and about the $18 that was in his wallet.

Ambidextrous in the Valley!

The Valley must be creating more ambidextrous people than other places!

So I wake up a couple of days back to find that I can't laterally move/rotate my right arm. Forcing function! Left arm thus used to shave (tough!), brush, etc., causing ambidextrous skills to be developed.

I assume it is due to a sudden table tennis spike! "No" says the doctor - it be tendonitis of the rotator cuff! Repetitive stress, I'm told, from a bad workstation and too much computing!!!

Surely that's more prevelant in the Valley! 

"Now remember, he's ambidextrous - he's good at talking out of both sides of his mouth!"

I want my HD-MTV!

Quality vs. Quantity - I always favor quality since I'm a skinny guy! Now, to hear that all the HD paraphernalia I've acquired is being hit at the knees by the cable providers, compromising quality to pack more channels in, makes one wonder where technology and business cross and who wins that tradeoff - definitely not the consumer in this case.

I want my soccer in "full HD"!

Nike, Technology and the Olympics

Nike's using high technology to make super-lightweight shoes for the Beijing Olympic athletes. Technologies called flywire and lunar foam! Amazing how technology impacts all aspects of human development, even as other behavioral issues are being brought to the limelight by YouTube and television - folks tried to extinguish the Olympics torch to protest the human rights violations by China in Tibet. Even the Onion got onboard with its own brand of humor.

While it is always easy to use world forums such as the Olympics to express opinions on world issues and politics, I think it is best to leave sports, global camaraderie and the athletes' aspirations alone! Let the Olympics be about the athletes!

Star Wars, the Force, and politics

Musing - in the context of this war-torn "modern" world - that even Star Wars (watched again with my boys) paints a pretty dismal picture of the future - war, disparity, disagreement, cloned soldiers(!), political corruption and misuse of power.

Interesting how one individual can change the globe/universe via a march to war, and how ineffective an entire senate/house can be in stopping this - unfortunate that there are supposedly checks and balances in place. Misuse of power seems to be be globally ubiquitous, and is now the reality of the human situation.

Comparing Bush to Senator Palpatine, the major differences could be (a) the lightning from the fingernails! and (b) the motivation (?)

However, here's a contrarian theory - if, after struggles, democracy survives in Iraq, stability in Iraq will net Bush the Nobel peace prize (we'll review this 10 years hence)! May the Force be with you!