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Katherine's blog

Obsessions: Thin films, writing, small business, and random web flotsam

December 6, 2001

 
From the mailbag:
Soitec is moving its SmartCut process for bonded SOI wafers to other engineered substrate applications. Earlier this year the company signed a development agreement for Silicon-on-Quartz wafers with Seiko-Epson Corp. New applications being investigated range from SiC to GaAs and other optoelectronic materials.
posted 17:37 |

December 4, 2001

 
Drew tells me that the previously mentioned deadbeat client has finally sent me a check. After yet another demand letter and a threat to take them to court. Harrumph. I hope they're not stupid enough to send a rubber check, but I'm still holding off on the celebration until it clears.

I've been spending a fair amount of time reading at the Starbucks up the street from my hotel. It's a much less sterile atmosphere than my hotel room, the light is good, and the chairs are more comfortable. This evening I realized that's exactly why Starbucks is so popular. They deliver the warm community feel of European cafe culture in a nonthreatening, consistent, Americanized package. Bookstore cafes like Barnes & Noble do the same thing. Purists complain that neither can compare to a sidewalk cafe in Paris, or even New York, but that's not the point. Main Street USA hasn't got the original model and didn't realize it was missing until Starbucks came along.
posted 23:05 |

December 3, 2001

 
I found an excellent bit of advice about writing, self-employment, and life at Holly Lisle's blog. A timely reminder that sometimes working harder isn't the answer, no matter how tight the deadlines are.
posted 11:01 |

 
SEMI article is done and shipped. We won't talk about the late hours that entailed, but now I can go off and learn about the latest electronic device news with a clear conscience.
posted 10:52 |

December 2, 2001

 
I've been reading an interesting book about the Taliban, by Ahmed Rashid, a Pakistani journalist who's been covering Afghanistan for more than 20 years. Now that the Taliban have become the Bad Guys, it's important to remember that they rose to power in the first place because they brought some semblance of order to the chaos wrought by years of civil war. Foreign and domestic powers seeking to replace them should remember that desperate people will embrace any regime that promises food, shelter, and security, and turn against any regime that cannot keep those promises.

I'm also becoming more and more worried by the present administration's willingness to discard even the most basic civil liberties in pursuit of terrorists. Those misguided priorities now threaten to actually impede the battle against terrorism, as our European allies are declining to extradite people who might face military tribunals in the US. If we believe, as I do, that American values of freedom and justice are self-evidently superior, then we should have the courage to uphold those values in the face of this threat, rather than retreating to the heavy-handed tactics used by thugs the world over.
posted 22:30 |

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