I received an e-mail a few weeks ago from a friend that said I should outsource myself to India.

I hadn't a clue what they meant until I read this article from Times of India about how programmers are outsourcing the work they do.

Programmers are outsourcing their software modules to cheap and efficient labour in India. This way they get the best of both worlds- more money and more time. They earn doubly � one from the outsourced job, other from the new job they undertake.

According to this concept the techie is able to give himself a promotion outsourcing the specific modules to one or more Indian techies . While he takes the charge as a overall project manager.

You can utilise the time in updating yourself to new technologies as well as learning a different domain thereby enhancing your market value considerably .

Says a programmer on Slashdot.org who outsourced his job: "About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 out of the $67,000 I get. He's happy to have the work. I'm happy that I have to work only 90 minutes a day just supervising the code. My employer thinks I'm telecommuting. Now I'm considering getting a second job and doing the same thing."

I noticed today this article is making the rounds again, and thought I would bring it up. I can't believe it. It may not be ethical, but it might be a way to save time and earn a little extra dough - while exploiting other people at the same time!

I shake my head. Why do people think this activity is okay?

Over on Techdirt there is mention of a new service that pays bloggers to write about products in their blogs. Here is what Techdirt has to say:

The idiotification of the blog world continues. As advertisers and PR people continue to prey on bloggers, a new service has launched that claims it will connect bloggers and advertisers, by paying bloggers to write about the products the advertises want to advertise. Any journalist would immediately cringe at the conflict of interest, but the service claims that no credibility is lost because the blogger can say whatever they want. Right...

While watching some of the Canadian rowers this morning on the CBC, point was made that maybe Canadian athletes are suffering more stress than usual.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how Canada only has a single bronze medal. As each event goes by and as the field of athletes is reduced, how does that added pressure on the "medal hopefuls" come out in their performance? Does the added pressure stop them from performing as they normally would? Or does it increase their chances of success?

Since there has been so much talk about "medals per capita" and all of that - how does this talk result in the athlete's attitudes? Do they not hear any of this or is it something they can't avoid through the media.

I hope they are not taking all of these comparisons to heart and, most likely, they are not involved or "in the loop" of these discussions.

But, who knows. It was just a thought early in the morning.

Breebop is one of the blogs I read and she posted something I haven't seen in the blog world for a while. Questions regarding death, life, the universe and God. Always good things when parties happen, but questions such as these are rarely discussed, I think. Unless one is at a party.

Here is what she said:

I sat in a backyard with friends tonight, and under the stars we discussed life, the universe and God. Is everything conscious? Even dirt? When does human consciousness begin? Are sperm and egg conscious? If so, should we mourn their deaths every time a man jacks off or a woman menstruates? Should death be mourned? Who created God, if there is one? If you accept evolution as the right theory, where did matter come from? If the universe is eternally and timelessly expanding and contracting, does it mean all life will be snuffed out or will we simply be absorbed back into the life-energy some call God? If there is such a thing as deity, would you prefer it to be one supreme God or many gods? What do you think rules human behaviour, reason (conscious thought) or instinct (subconscious urges)?

What are your theories? What are your questions?

She poses some good questions about the universe. These kinds of questions always come up and, usually, never really have an answer. I think one must have faith. Faith in themselves and faith in the universe. One thing I have noticed is something people always say:

I don't really know what I am doing.

To bring that into context with what Bree said, I would say that it is very true. I am not talking about work related things or daily decisions - I am talking about something more. I don't think anyone really "knows" what they are doing. There is never any reason that we can expect the same outcome in anything the world throws at us. We may have skills and training, but that never guarantees anything at all.

So, to me, many of those questions are intermingled so closely that they are all asking the same thing. I have often thought that questions really come down to the reliance that everything that happens will happen and there is nothing that anyone can really do about it. I am not meaning things like: should I have crossed the street. Or should I have talked to that girl.

I am talking about things like nature's ability to change our lives. Some call it "God's will" and some call it "a huge storm that comes down and wipes out entire cities". I am talking really about bigger things. For example, I have listened to people talking about "saving the world". We must "save the world" because we are destroying everything on it.

My response: "Yes. But don't worry about destroying the world. We will kill off our entire human population long before the world has anything done to it that can't be fixed."

Anyway, I think that we must all remember to reflect on the questions that were posted on Bree's site.

(UPDATE: 10 minutes later and after my shower.)

What I wrote above is bizarre stuff and my attitude this early in the morning is depressing. Ignore everything I said and...I need a coffee.