Finally! Catching up to China

Obama Unveils Plan to Fund High-Speed Passenger Rail

Fast trains have been old news in China, Japan, Europe, and elsewhere for decades. The Dick Chaneys have been working hard to keep us happy in the arranged marriage between suburbanites and automobiles with various measures to keep rail transportation from filling needs and government spending directed for less efficient and frustrating auto transportation. I've enjoyed relaxing on CalTrain on trips to San Jose instead of driving. I get work done and relax instead of sitting in the traffic. The interconnectivity with local transpo could be better. Bigger than spending public money, the challenge of developing partnerships between local bus and regional train systems is going to be a trick. I have heard that in China some of the high speed train systems take you hundreds of miles in no time and then dump you out into traffic jams that take as long to go less than 10 miles. All the same, I believe we can work it out.

Nerding Out

Three years ago the Spirit and Opportunity rovers landed on Mars and I was quite excited. I think I even tortured my staff with some monologues about exploration and innovation and then launched into metaphors based on Mars exploration. I wont do the same to you....their numb stares reminded me that it is only a narrow slice of humanity that is excited. But, if you want, like any great story, there is now a movie - Roving Mars. It is a little slow but with beautiful images from the red planet... no martians yet though. I did hear from my friend Grant today that Wall-E is good and there's an uncanny resemblance...

5 Thoughtful Minutes

Ecological Footprint Calculator

Two Great Resturants

We’ve had an uncommonly fun and social weekend with some of our best friends. Friday we went out with Kelly and Chad Newhouse to Walzwerk. But, but before that with Mark and Lisa we heard the director of The Last Emperor about Valentino speak at the DeYoung. Wild guy, but … netflix. At dinner, I gorged on bread, of course, – this time a dark walnutty dense slice. Mmmm. And, the Chicken stuffed with bacon and apples and topped with cherry cream sauce was terrific. I feel a little weird getting chicken since I make it at home, but this looked so good and even exceeded my expectations. It was a risk I’m glad I ventured into. And, we had some fun beers. Mine – Kostrizer Schwarzbier was dark and creamy. I got to chat a bit with Emily and learned about Credo Mobile, which has a remarkably progressive CSR policy that allows employees to participate in finding beneficiaries. And, their whole business model of ‘getting in the way of people’s spending’ for the purpose of redirecting funds into good causes seems like an attractive concept.

On Saturday, our dear friends from Tahoe, Hilary and Chris met us for a double museum tour of the Legion and the DeYoung. Hillary spent time in France and studied Rodin, so she was the ultimate guide through the Legion’s impressive bronze statue collection. Then we topped it off with dinner at Chou Chou which is a favorite country French restaurant. The baguette was perfect with the cheese plate and it was a good experience, though I’m afraid the management has changed. The good company and stories from Chris’ exciting job as an arson investigator were even better than my monkfish with truffle sauce, which is saying a lot. 