But something equally important has happened in South Asia over the past 15 years. India has been transformed by a market revolution.

Fareed Zakaria sees opportunity in recent regional economic and political developments.

So, when the IBM engineers lose their jobs to the Indians, they might be saddened, but at least they should sleep well -- they're fighting terrorism!

Wealth, or safety? Choose wisely.

Opening in South Asia

] The day before yesterday, my wife came home with a new license
] plate frame for my car: "My other cars are on Mars."
. . .
] I just finished working the Martian night (which today happened
] to be daytime at JPL), planning Spirit's activities for Sol 5,
] the rover's fifth day on the surface. The uplink team is doing a
] great job of getting a lot done in a short amount of time. The
] rover seems to be getting more sleep than we do...
. . .
] I'll make additions to this site as often as living on
] Mars time and exploring an alien planet permit...

Andy Mishkin is an old childhood friend of Elonka, one of the users here on MemeStreams. Here Andy is blogging his day-to-day activities at JPL. Andy, rock on.

First off, I must state I'm in complete awe of all things Mars at the moment. I went to Space Camp when I was a kid.. Wanted to be an astronaut.. You know the story. Thumbs up guys. I'm loving every minute of this!

Mars Roving: Andy Mishkin's Blog

] RIP Brad. Hopefully you are sharing your sence of humour
] with some good spirits, on the other side.

Another site that CrankyMessiah used pays it's respects. There is a link here to a picture for those who wanted to know what he looked like.

FAZED - Slorum - CrankyMessiah Thread

Since you are so bright, you probably have at least two you can articulate. Send me two laws based on your empirical work and observations you would not mind having tagged with your name. Stick to science and to those scientific areas where you have expertise. Avoid flippancy. Remember, your name will be attached to your law.

There are a number of really insightful "laws" here. Although, this does not contain "Decius's Law":

Given a set of similar products, the one which is least technologically sophisticated will be the most successful in the marketplace.

I can't think of anything to top that right now.

What's Your Law?

check the "other news" blurb at the bottom of the page:

"The Congressional bonehead award goes to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) who, on a visit to JPL, asked if Mars Pathfinder had taken an image of the flag planted there in 1969 by Neil Armstrong! Quipped Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) to the Washington Times: "We just don't teach enough science." Worse, Jackson Lee, who represents Houston, is a member of the House Science Committee's space subcommittee. Perhaps some committee reassignments are in order..."

Congressional Bonehead Award

From Flynn23:

It is with an extraordinarily heavy heart that I post that my good friend, Brad Blines, died on Thursday morning of a heroin overdose. Folks on memestreams will know him as crankymessiah. People from the 'scene' in Nashville will remember him from the days of Dragon Park, countless concerts and shows, and Predators games.

Brad was one of the lights of my life. We shared the same giddy excitement over music, film, and creativity that few people can understand. We had that kind of brotherly relationship where you don't really have to say anything to hear the other person. I hope that I will be able to still hear his infectious laugh in my head for the rest of my life.

Goodbye my friend.

Brad Michael BLINES
Nashville, TN
Age 35
January 8, 2003
January 8, 2003. Survived by parents, Michael and Diana Blines; sister, Kristin (Richard) Vik; grandmothers, Bonnie (Lloyd) Holt, Ruth Allen; nephews, Ethan Richard Vik, Brennan Michael Vik. The funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home with Bro. Doug Varnado officiating. Pallbearers will be Chris Scheele, Richard Vik, Michael Dodson, Rich Husband, Jim Folger, Ernie Simon. The Interment will follow at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens. In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the New Life Lodge. Visitation will be Friday 5-9 p.m. and Saturday 1 p.m. until service at HARPETH HILLS FUNERAL HOME, 9090 Hwy. 100, 615-646-9292

I'm going to miss him too.

I'm at a lack for words right now.. I'm sad and angry.

I am sad, and unhappy...

Decius's response: The US IT industry cannot employ the people domestically that it has available to it today, and it has no plans to employ more people domestically in the future. That is the reason that it is beginning to fall under political pressure. Their response is to pretend that this problem does not exist by quoting statistics developed during the dotcom boom, and then, with a straight face, request assistance with moving money across international borders, assistance with R&D expenses, and the training of EVEN MORE engineers ("We can't use the resources we have, so please give us more resources.").

This country does not produce as many Engineers as China because Engineering bears a stigma in this country of being an undesirable profession. Numbers increased in recent years because that perception began to change, but its going right back down again. This is because the IT industry has failed to make a compelling case that people should WANT to be Engineers. If they wish to see the US produce more and better engineers, they need to sell teenagers on the idea that being an Engineer is worth all the work. They need to demonstrate to people that there are real opportunities.

How many of those 61,000 Engineering graduates from the class of 1999 do you know who have been underemployed or unemployed in the last 3 years? What kind of message is that sending to people who are considering following in their footsteps? If the IT industry really wanted more Engineers domestically they would be addressing that concern directly instead of getting up in front of Congress and asking for lower taxes. The fact that they chose the later option further contributes to the idea that this is all a big crock. It should surprise none of you that this is the same industry group that cuts deals with the RIAA to sell DRM into your house.

This sort of complete leadership vacuum does not bode well. Leadership vacuums get filled, inevitably. Sometimes by dangerous people.

Choose to Compete - What the IT industry told Congress today

] Intel chief executive Craig Barrett said the United
] States "now has to compete for every job going forward.
] That has not been on the table before. It had been
] assumed we had a lock on white-collar jobs and high-tech
] jobs. That is no longer the case."

They are smarter. They are hungrier. They have a better work ethic. Their dollars go futher, and they are used to having less stuff. Their labor regulations are looser. This isn't about tech jobs, this is about service/knowledge jobs. This is only the beginning. American dominance is over. There are too many skilled people, no one knows how to utilize all of them, and you are far from the most attractive of them. Ever wanted to know what life was like in the 30s? You will.

Tech Firms Defend Moving Jobs Overseas (TechNews.com)

This is fun to watch, and doesn't take up *too* much bandwidth.

This is neat, I've previously only been exposed to NASA TV via various friends' satellite TVs. It has that "high school tv station" feel to it. Meaning, that they are either playing some educational tapes, showing a blank screen, etc.. Although, it tends to get interesting whenever NASA has something going on of public interest. In the past, I've seen everything from just idle shots of the earth spinning coming back live from the shuttle to cycling through various information screens from probes they are in current contact with. For instance, during shuttle flights they usually relay some telemetry data and the comm channel if they do not have other programming..

[ Update: NasaTV hasn't changed that much since the last time I exposure to it. However I don't think I emphasized enough how much random rad stuff they pump over it whenever they have something going on, and its easy to forget how much NASA has going on at any given time. The ISS (and its leak), animations built from Chandra data, the current Mars activity.. As I typed this, I just caught a series of gnuplot graphs fly by plotting out various rover related stuff. This is a nice feed to have chilling out on monitor #2.. ]

Live stream from NASA TV

] The FBI demanded Las Vegas hotels turn over their guest
] lists leading up to New Year's Eve to check against a
] U.S. master list of suspected terrorists, a law
] enforcement official said on Sunday.
]
] The demand for "patron information" went to all major
] hotels in the Nevada casino and entertainment city, said
] the official who declined to be named.

What was the money line in all the recent Vegas advertising? "What happens here, stays here." Well, not this New Years..

] A second U.S. government official said to his knowledge
] only one hotel had balked at providing its bookings list.
] Newsweek, the first to report the FBI demand, said one
] big hotel had refused and was "slapped with a subpoena."

I would really like to know what the hotel was that required the subpoena.

Wired News - FBI obtains ALL Las Vegas Jan 1 room lists with no court auth.