Years of Poems and Spirits

Washington Post article: “Little Support for Bush Immigration Plan”

There are H-1B visas for skilled workers. How come there are not visas for unskilled labors? With some kind of public acknowledgement, it will be a lot easier for employers to comply and for law enforcement to check.

Have a feeling that illegal immigration and IP piracy both result from the huge gap between the developed and the underdeveloped countries. According to Wallerstein (I could be wrong), England used to forbid American colonies to have any Mouflon sheep. Someone had to risk his life to smuggle some into the new world. Soon enough, wool joined cotton as the major exports of the colonies back to England.

This is not fair, one may say. But as much as one is entitled to denounce individual act of theft, the definition of theft may be betraying us.

Met eBay’s International President, Mr. Matt Bannick Friday morning. He was giving a speech in UW Club and our program Chair, Prof. Mary Callahan, got him to chat with some IS students.

His bio

It usually makes me uncomfortable singing praise for someone I don’t know that well. But I left the meeting deeply impressed and equally inspired.

He said his personal success was due to cultivating relationships, hardwork and making the most of every opportunity. He stressed again and again how much he values personal integrity. He said he did not build connections, but relationships. If you genuinely care about someone, the feelings would be reciprocal.

When he first joined eBay, he was asked to manage Customer Services, which I guess is not high in the corporate totem pole. But he said he trusted Mag Whitman and did his job well. He implied where he is today is a result of that.

He is a very intelligent man. Someone asked how he felt differently in foreign service and private sector. He observed the former was an intellect exercise, the latter more on leadership. Nothing cynical, nothing philosophical, but one can relate to. Excellent communication skills: focus on a couple of key points, add some stories, observations but always comes back to the same points.

I can work for someone like that. At least I know being a “good” man actually pays.

Find this little out of whack kind of article on http://slashdot.org, “Out-of-this-world sex could jeopardise missions”

Summary:
“Sex and romantic entanglements among astronauts could derail missions to Mars and should therefore be studied by NASA”

Highlights:
Sexual harassment may also endanger a mission. In an 8-month space station simulation on Earth in 2000, a Russian man twice tried to kiss a Canadian woman researcher just after two other Russians had gotten into a bloody brawl. As a result, locks were installed between the Russian and international crews’ compartments.
—Talking about Ultimate Reality TV …
—For behavioral scientists, this has to be one-of-a-kind lab.