Hal said, "once the food intake is set, the engineering output can follow." That really cracked me up. I have always known that foods are such powerful motiviator for engineering behavior, but never put it so poetically like Hal.

Long time ago, I lost a bet and ended up paying for 4 5-gallon Gelato ice-cream from Palo Alto's Michael's Gelato & Cafe. When they arrived, I, first and only time used the public announcement system for the company. The thunder of stampeding engineers was scary. 25 or so young engineers were dreamily happy after about 30 minutes with 4 empty containers on the table.

Every Friday, Sun's China engineering center hosts a teatime. We buy cookies and bakeries from a local store together with soft drinks. The feast starts after a forum where someone will share an interesting topic with free participants. The most interesting observation is always the time for the foods to disappear.

Fuel for innovations.