A Modern-Day Brain Drain

I went to a Hindi movie theater near my house (the one on West Bellfort) to see a Hindi movie since I haven't seen one in such a long time. This one is actually inspired by The Godfather series and is called Sarkar. Bollywood has definitely made some big advances, but their cinematography is still at least 10 years behind where we're at today. Anyway, it was indeed a noble effort and I was pleased that it had its own story rather than being a carbon copy of the Copolla classic so Bollywood fans may want to consider seeing it. What I'm really here to talk about though is the mass migration of jobs to Google and Yahoo. You may associate the term "brain drain" with the Cold War and the Soviet Union's nuclear arms development program, but in the early 90s it was actually also used with reference to Microsoft's clutch on the programming job market. Just like the issue of outsourcing I do think it's important to realize that the media is exaggerating this topic to a certain extent, but it is true that Google and Yahoo look for the cream of the crop and are very competitive about it. I think within a year we'll see a slowdown of this rapid growth and both companies will eventually settle into what Microsoft is today but hopefully to a much less evil extent (evil as in their business practices). I hope I can still find something worthwhile when I graduate in that case though!

I'm going to start off the tech news by getting the other piece of Google news out of the way. The company was smart enough to file a patent for advertising on RSS in 2003, and so now they whole all the cards in the possible evolution of advertising. Some people find this to be bad given the good image Google has maintained among nerds, but they're not dumb enough to pass up a good business move like that. It's only fair that I mention Microsoft's business move of its own in incorporating HD-DVD drivers with the Xbox 360. Only later models, when the HD-DVD is fully ready, will include HD-DVD drives, but the importance of this move is that they're marking their territory against Sony. The next time you stay at a hotel, be wary of the fancy TV features because it could pose a huge security risk. They use infared, which is simplistic in nature and as such is quite easy to hack. Findings like these are thanks to sniffers, who are hired by companies to test the integrity of their systems and sounds like it could be a fun job. Not sure if it's a route I'll ever take, but I am intrigued nonetheless.

We have quite a phenomenon to start out the movie news with: Wedding Crashers has magically risen to the number 1 spot. This is more about the box office weakening than the movie gaining steam (though the percent change actually went down) since it only brought in $20.5 million with Willy Wonka raking in $16.4 million and all the new movies behind it. Still, quite impressive for an R-rated comedy. I know you're tired of Serenity trailers (yeah, right), but there's yet another one and though it has very few new scenes I still think it's the best of the American movies. There's also a trailer for a movie that you probably haven't heard of featuring a certain hobbit called Green Street Hooligans. I think it's a welcome change for the actor's movie career. I usually don't support romantic comedies, but Moviefone has a trailer for Prime and it features Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep so it may actually be good. Maria Bello and Maggie Gyllenhaal (of Donnie Darko) have now joined the forthcoming 9/11 movie project. Stay tuned for more on that film as I'm sure it will develop quickly. Lastly, I have to show you the poster for Into the Blue because Jessica Alba is in a bikini:



I actually have a few miscellaneous items I'd like to mention. A senator from Delaware is pushing legislation to impose a 25% tax on porn to further efforts against child pornographers. The tax wouldn't do much other than help fund the fight against crazy pervs, but I do think it has a chance if it was lowered a bit. A heated debate has begun regarding the fate of leap seconds, which may seem negligible but apparently have caused issues for computer programs that can only take 60-second minutes. I'm siding with the scientists here on the issue though because time should go by the sun and not by lazy people. Lastly, the economy seems to be doing much better than in the second quarter with less inventory in factories and steady expansion in several sectors.

I've gotta conclude here with some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Risks::Rewards
   
2. Abdominal::Pain (I really killed them today at the gym)
   
3. Radiant::Beautiful
   
4. The usual::The grind
   
5. Mix and match::Jelly beans
   
6. Wireless::WiFi
   
7. Remedial::Learning
   
8. Mile::8,
   
9. Long lost::Love
   
10. Only one::God