self-centered

Pronunciation: -'sen-t&rd
Function: adjective
concerned solely with one's own desires, needs, or interests

Martian Sea

The BBC is carrying an article (which has also just made the radio news) that its Opportunity Rover is sitting on the shore of an ancient salty Martian lake or sea...


The US space agency has announced that its robotic Mars rover Opportunity is parked on what was once the shore of a salty Martian sea. There is multiple evidence that the surface of Mars was awash with liquid water at some time in its past.

But the latest findings from Nasa's robot explorers on the Red Planet are fleshing out a picture of what Mars must have been like when it was wet.

"If you have an interest in searching for fossils on Mars, this is the first place you want to go," said Dr Ed Weiler, Nasa associate administrator.

Read more at BBC News Online

What I learned in 5 1/2 years of business studies

Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismout. However, in business we often try other strategies with dead horses including the following:

1. Buy a stronger whip.
2. Change riders.
3. Say things like "This is the way we always have ridden this horse".
4. Appoint a committee to study the horse.
5. Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
6. Rewrite the standards for dead horse performance.
7. Appoint a "tiger team" to revive the dead horse.
8. Create a training session to increase riding ability.
9. Compare the state of dead horses in today's environment.
10. Change the requirements declaring that "this horse is not dead".
11. Hire contractors to ride the dead horse.
12. Harness several dead horses together to increase speed and pulling power.
13. Declare that "no horse is too dead to beat".
14. Provide additional incentive funding to increase the horse's performance.
15. Do a CA study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.
16. Purchase a software product to make dead horses run faster.
17. Declare the horse is "better, faster, and cheaper" dead.
18. Form a quality circle to find uses for dead horses.
19. Revisit the performance requirements for horses.
20. Say this horse was procured with cost as an independent value.
21. Promote the dead horse to a supervisory position.
22. Shorten the track.
23. Establish benchmarks for industry dead-horse leaders.
24. Gather other dead animals and announce a diversity program.
25. Put together a spiffy PowerPoint presentation to get planners to double the dead-horse R&D budget.
26. Get the horse a web site.

Castration on subscription

As I was walking through the streets of St. Gallen village, I was stopped by a girl who jumped in front of me and asked me if I knew Vier Pfoten, which I didn't. She then flipped through her folder of plastic slides and explained in her Bern Swiss German about all the pain inflicted to animals in the world and how her association was helping out, from castrating stray dogs to putting dancing bears in special parks.

The solutions offered seemed surprisingly reasonable coming from the mouth of a teenage animal-hugging girl. So, as her flow of words was taking me dangerously near to shops closing time (the few hours they are actually open in St. Gallen village), I told her I found her projects good and wanted to give her 10 Swiss Francs (4.30£).

To my utter astonishment, she declined my offer, saying she was only taking membership subscriptions with monthly fees of 10 to 20 Swiss Francs. I said I was only willing to give her money in cash now or not at all. Stubbornly, with what I took was a certain pride at resisting my attempts at corrupting her principles, she said the word that most Swiss German babies learn first, namely NEI (meaning no).

So, any rich readers out there wanting to save animals, please be very generous, or you might be turned down.

Baby Pot

I bought a baby pot today at the supermarket: flavour Nestle carrot-potatoe-chicken.

I've just heated it up and am eating it. It tastes metallic and artificial... I'm wondering how babies can enjoy this stuff.

Maybe they don't, and that's why they make such a fuss while eating. How cruel to shove baby pots down their little powerless throats...

New Life

Birds flying high
You know how I feel
Sun in the sky
You know how I feel
Reeds driftin' on by
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea
You know how I feel
River running free
You know how I feel
Blossom in the tree
You know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me
And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun you know what I mean, don't you know
Butterflies all havin' fun you know what I mean
Sleep in peace when the day is done
And this old world is a new world
And a bold world
For me

Stars when you shine
You know how I feel
Scent of the pine
You know how I feel
Yeah freedom is mine
And I know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life
For me

And I'm feeling good



'A spaceman's blog' and its author are taking a graduation break after successfully completing 5 1/2 years of uni studies...

Thanks for reading.

Clan Democracy in Sudan

I was fascinated by these pictures of an election of traditional chiefs in Sudan (In Pictures - NEWS.BBC.CO.UK)

Elections are held regularly and musical instruments are used to woo voters.


During the elections for Panyion clan chief, youth clad in traditional attire campaigned vigorously for their favourite candidates.


Voters lined up behind their favourite candidates at the elections and a head count was conducted. Neutral observers from a different clan were invited to ensure fair play.


According to Dinka traditions, women were not allowed to vote but they were spectators at the process. Even men who had left their villages for a long period were barred from the ballot as they had "lost touch" with their roots.


And after a hectic struggle Thondo, a local farmer was elected the new chief of the Panyion clan. He has powers to raise local taxes, determine community disputes and send his people to war.

Drink Deep

A flood of evidence coming from Mars is inundating NASA backing the theory that there was once water on the planet. Both rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, currently scouring Mars have analysed and photographed many rocks that provide physical and chemical indication of the past presence of water. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history.

If there actually was water on the planet, was there some primitive form of life? Was Mars once able to sustain life? These are the issues that scientists will be trying to grok more than ever now.

Judgement Day

Prime Minister Tony Blair's speech on Friday articulated with great clarity the rationale behind Britain's policy in the 'war on terror' and the balance of judgement between action and inaction. Blair explained his vision of modern international security and his doctrine to face the combined threats of Islamic extremism and the international trade of weapons of mass destruction. Unlike with the containment strategy used in the past, the agenda of the 'enemy' is not driven by a set of negotiable political demands, but by religious fanaticism - an agenda no compromise will satisfy.

The new nature of the threat requires a fundamentally different characterisation. The threat faced is not conventional. "It is a challenge of a different nature from anything the world has faced before. It is to the world's security, what globalisation is to the world's economy."

On the legitimacy of intervention under international law:
"It may well be that under international law as presently constituted, a regime can systematically brutalise and oppress its people and there is nothing anyone can do, when dialogue, diplomacy and even sanctions fail, unless it comes within the definition of a humanitarian catastrophe (though the 300,000 remains in mass graves already found in Iraq might be thought by some to be something of a catastrophe). This may be the law, but should it be?"

On interventionism and self-interest:
"We know now, if we didn't before, that our own self interest is ultimately bound up with the fate of other nations. The doctrine of international community is no longer a vision of idealism. It is a practical recognition that just as within a country, citizens who are free, well educated and prosperous tend to be responsible, to feel solidarity with a society in which they have a stake; so do nations that are free, democratic and benefiting from economic progress, tend to be stable and solid partners in the advance of humankind. The best defence of our security lies in the spread of our values."

On unilateralism:
"The UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights is a fine document. But it is strange the United Nations is so reluctant to enforce them. I understand the worry the international community has over Iraq. It worries that the US and its allies will by sheer force of their military might, do whatever they want, unilaterally and without recourse to any rule-based code or doctrine. But our worry is that if the UN - because of a political disagreement in its Councils - is paralysed, then a threat we believe is real will go unchallenged."

Blair concludes with the need for a 'broader definition of self-interest' that would place promoting human rights for all people, whereever they are, at its core. It remains to be seen whether Blair's doctrine of 'International Community' can bring about the institutional and legal changes it requires and whether he can successfully convince the 'man and woman on the street' of the imminence of the threat - using his words, "regardless of the political cost".
> Number10.gov.uk - Blair's speech on the threat of global terrorism
> BBC.CO.UK - View the speech (Real)

Is it all a photo-op?

Former Astronaut John Glenn's (to Kerry's right) sharp rebuke of Bush's new space vision was reported in today's news. The resource reallocation needed to fund the Mars-via-the-Moon trip might imply cutting scientific research that was already mostly pay for, not so much to save money but in order to 'mark the change in priorities'. While having a man standing on Mars is specific enough to be shown as an accomplishment (with great fanfare), the many milestones to get there will involve small (unspectacular) steps forward.

One can legitimately question if the need to show more spectacular milestones (to guarantee political support and to show that the project is going forward) won't have as a consequence the emphasis on resource-consuming intermediary objectives (such as building a station on the Moon) - this to garner as much political capital as possible, thus limiting resources available for the end-objective. The photo-op could end up higher on the political agenda than the 'bold vision of a human presence across the solar system'. In other words, a flag-waving press conference on the Moon could mark the premature end to the trip to Mars.
> CNN.COM - John Glenn's criticism of Bush's space vision

Walking my pig