Book Of Norm

The I in ISS is starting to fade. As space missions become more commercial (because governments are trying to find some purpose to the big hunk-o-metal in the sky), tensions aboard the ISS are rising. Essentially, what happened is that Russia started billing the US for sending astronauts into space. The US has responded by not allowing Russian cosmonauts to use US ISS facilities. It has gotten to the point that Russians cant use the US toilets or gym. This creates a problem, especially as the ISS crew recently expanded to the long-planned 6 instead of the 3 person skeleton crew it has been running since 1998. I cant imagine that the current US/Russian relations are helping the situation any. I have never thought that the ISS makes a great deal of sense - I think that the govt. should be involved only on the cutting edge of space exploration, where there is little economic short-term incentive. I don't think that they should be operating a space hotel where limited scientific resear...

Found by Minnucci, this has got to be a contender for worst job ever.

The kicker to the whole thing (other than the fact that the US Govt. will be backing GM/Chrysler warranties if the companies go out of business) is that Edward Montgomery will now be the "Director of Auto Recovery." "Dr. Montgomery will work to leverage all resources of government to support the workers, communities and regions that rely on the American auto industry." It may not be surprising to learn that Edward Montgomery is a labor economist, and an academic. He has absolutely no connection to the auto industry, no qualifications for the job, and no legitimate reason to be considered for the job. Many of his academic papers focus on issues such as whether workplace bans on smoking affect smoking behavior. His only qualification is his friendship with Obama.

For Chrysler the only way forward is with Fiat holding its hand. The Obama press release: the Administration has reluctantly concluded that Chrysler is not viable as a stand-alone company. Administration will provide Chrysler with working capital for 30 days to conclude a definitive agreement with Fiat If an agreement is not reached, the government will not invest any additional taxpayer funds in Chrysler.

And I dont mean it in the good "trying to find the right person for the job" kind of way. I mean it in the "find somebody we can sacrifice to the altar of public perception" kind of way. The Obama administration has asked for Rick Wagoner to step aside as CEO of GM. There is no real reason behind this - he still has the support of the company and the board - but the administration did not feel that he was the right man for the job. From the White House press release: "While GM’s current plan is not viable, the Administration is confident that with a more fundamental restructuring, GM will emerge from this process as a stronger more competitive business. This process will include leadership changes at GM and an increased effort by the U.S. Treasury and outside advisors to assist with the company’s restructuring effort. Rick Wagoner is stepping aside as Chairman and CEO. In this context, the Administration will provide GM with working capital for 60 days to devel...

Creationism, the religious doctrine which insidiously claims to have something to do with science, has gotten a little closer to being taught across the US. The Texas board of education has decided to include the following language in their review of new textbooks - due for 2012: textbooks must "analyze and evaluate scientific explanations concerning any data on sudden appearance and stasis and the sequential groups in the fossil record." This is one of the main claims against evolution: because we have a very incomplete fossil record, there is no evidence on how certain organisms "jumped" from one form to another. Hence, it must have been done by god. This makes about as much sense as buying your groceries from a French arms dealer in Sierra Leone. The sad part is because any textbook has to be bought by Texas and California in order to be profitable, this could end up changing the wording of textbooks across the country to make it sound like there was some actual ...

Obama and his administration have decided that GM and Chrysler's plans for returning to profitability were not up to snuff. They have decided they will still finance GM for another 60 days and Chrysler another 30... but then said that Fiat could not take a majority ownership of Chrysler until the pentastar paid back all the govt. money it has received so far. This would have been like telling JP Morgan that it could take over Bear until Bear had paid back everything it borrowed from the fed. RIP Chrysler. In related news, GM and Chrysler put out a press release stating they did not have confidence in the US $'s long-term viability and would henceforth be pricing their models in Euro's. (Ok, that last one is not true)

There is a wootoff going on right now, and this just came up.. and it is classic = ) Welcome to Woot. Skip straight to the content or let us know if anything on our site can be improved to further meet your accessibility needs. Disney Pix Max 3MP Digital Camera $12.99 + $5 shipping Condition: New Product: 1 Digital Blue Disney Pix Max 3MP Digital Camera Kind: Pirates, Stars, Hannah Montana I Want One! Discussion on Today's Woot Got something of value to say about today's Woot? ...

One of the best skiers of all time, and one of the people who pushed skiing into the modern freeride era, Shane McConkey died today during a BASE jumping accident while filming with Matchstick Productions in Italy. No further information has yet been released. He was a godfather to the freeride community, and he will be missed. He is easily one of the most influential skiers of all time, and someone I have looked up to for a long time.

A lot has been said about the American health care system. However, when it comes down to it, it is the best health care system in the world. There are downsides to it, certainly, but in sum it is the best and strongest option which is out there. Ten facts you may not have come across about the US health care system: Fact No. 1: Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers. Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom. Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway. The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher. Fact No. 2: Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians. Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States. Fact No. 3: Americans hav...

Bush was terrible at speaking in public. However, it is increasingly coming to light that Obama can only speak well when he is reading off a teleprompter. I just had to repeat this quote from his Tonight Show appearance, not because I care much about what he said, but because I find it impressive the media and disabled community are not up in arms about this: T he first appearance by a sitting president on "The Tonight Show" may well end up being the last. President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled. Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he's gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley. He bowled a 129, the president said. "That's very good, Mr. President," Leno said sarcastically. It's "like the Special Olympics or something," the president said. When asked ...

This is a basic one, and yet pretty sweet. Someone has come up with a heat exchanger which transfers some of the waste heat from your shower water going down the drain to the cold water heading to the faucet. Incredibly simple really, but it cuts hot water use from showering by as much as 40% (seem s a little high to me, but even %10-20 would be sweet). It really is not complicated and so should not be expensive. One of the few smart and actually economical 'green' ideas I have seen in a while.

One of the reasons (I just found out) that Subaru left the WRC (World Rally Championship) that made them famous is because the WRC has decided to ban turbos for the next couple years. How incredibly dumb is that. At a time when manufacturers are increasingly looking to turbos and superchargers to get more out of small engines--BMW, Ford, VW, and others all have combo supercharged/turbocharged engines in the works or in production--the WRC is looking to pull out. Dumb dumb dumb. The only reason they did it is because they are looking to pull in teams from a rival league. If the IRL/CART fiasco taught the world anything, it should have been that fueding leagues get you nowhere.

Sheep In LED Clothing - I have always been impressed by what well trained Shepherds and their dogs could do (always loved the dogs, they are amazing) but this is just out of control.. and fantastic.

My Crazy new skis: Dimensions: 148-128-148 Reverse Camber (bent up, not down)

I finally figured out how to play with the template settings. For now, it just means the main text is wider (mostly so that I can put in graphs and pics easier, without them getting chopped), in the future, further developments may (or may not) occur.

China is looking to move away from the USD as the reserve currency of choice, and with good reason. The way that we are printing money, it is not going to hold up for long. China has stated that they would rater use the IMF's SDR (Special Drawing Rights) which is essentially a 'currency' made up of a basket of other currencies that has been in limited use since the 70's. Basically, if China moves away from the $ as the reserve currency of choice, the US is screwed. It is basically that simple. The long-term fall of US dominance is going to come from the vast over-spending set in motion by Bush and exaggerated by Obama: "It took the U.S. government 191 years – from 1791 until 1982 – to run up its first trillion dollars in debt. The second and third trillions got on the scoreboard much more quickly – each in just four years. By the time George W. Bush was inaugurated in 2001, the National Debt stood at $5.7-trillion. He ran up more debt faster than nearly all of his ...

A guy in the UK followed his sat nav up a narrow hiking path (no mean feat in a BWM), and then hit a fence and nearly went down a steep mountain side (reported as a 'cliff' in the media) after deciding that the best thing to do was follow his GPS whatever it said. The kicker is that the guy's job is to be a driver. Classic.

The EU pres Mr Topolanek has called out Obama on his over-spending plan, stating the United States combo of budget deficit and "buy American" policies were not the way to go: "all of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell". Justly attacking the plan from a historical perspective, he went on to state: "We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the (EU) is the refusal to go this way." Sadly, because it is a sad day when the EU Pres is reminding the US Pres of the basics of modern capitalism, the statements seem to fall on deaf ears as Obama pushes forward with his huge printing money plan. Interestingly, at his press conference, this is the same subject where Obama took the most flak, and were he was at his weakest, according to the pundits.

Ethan walked along the street, his hand in his pocket idly flicking a credit card in and out of his wallet. The wallet carried that credit card and a few others, one earmarked and stained old business card, a NY State driver's license, and a few pithy Chinese fortunes: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," "Any rough times are behind you," and "You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands to." Money, however, never seemed to stay in the wallet, always slipping away through the cracks.

Went and saw the Watchmen last night. My reaction was similar to my reaction to the book: I liked it quite a lot, but was not overwhelmingly impressed. My criticisms are this: 1) The director manages to subvert all of the drama in the movie. Only the lead character (Rorschach) is the only really "dramatic" character, in all other cases, there is not the light/dark battle which comes through so well in the book. The watchmen hero's are all the Han Solo type, you are never meant to be totally sure that they really are the good guys. This does not come through well in the movie. Also, both the romantic plot lines and the main plot line fail to engage the watcher in the way that the should, and so the viewer is left not really caring as much as they should about the things that happen. 2) The movie is too brutal. I dont know if the 300 caused this shift in movie making, but excessive blood is not really needed in a movie such as this. 3) Overly aggressive use of prosthetics....

Most treasure ships you hear about are from ye olden tymes. But this one is not. It is very recent, and has a very dubious history. Quoting from the AP article: BUENOS AIRES (AFP) — It's a story of a ship that vanished off the coast of Patagonia with a cargo of gold and silver, but its ending remains shrouded in mystery. The Polar Mist was abandoned by its crew in a storm and sank earlier this year, but did the nine tons of gold and silver aboard worth more than 16 million dollars go down with it? "Nobody knows anything. There is something strange here, but nobody knows what. I've made inquiries everywhere: nobody knows," said John Wilson, the Argentine representative of the British insurance company Lloyd's. The mining group Cerro Vanguardia, which owns nearly all the gold and silver aboard the Polar Mist, has said the cargo was insured by Lloyd's. The cost of recovering the cargo, which went down in waters 75 meters (225 feet) deep, is estimated at three mil...

Well, its only just under the water at this point.. and it makes for some amazing footage:

UFO Spotted Over China Chinese officials saw a UFO while they were flying around, and they reported that it looked nothing like a plane, moved very quickly, and changed direction at very high speeds. Interestingly, the sighting was offially reported in a state controlled newspaper, meaning that China's govt. has no interesting in supressing UFO sightings. Pretty crazy looking object if you ask me.

A brit traveling in Europe decided that he and his son were a little bored with the local TV offering (understandable). He thus decided the way to go would be to download the best car show ever over his Vodafone data card. What he did not check was whether his plan covered data access outside of the UK. As a result, when he got home, he had a data bill of $30,334.40. That is a lot of cash. Luckily, the story has a happy ending, as Vodafone waived the bill, and told the guy to make sure to read his contract next time.

Whatever your stance on public health care, it must be recognized that a government has a responsibility to those injured in war. Soldiers in such a case are acting for the government, and as such, that government should pay for the care of the soldiers. An Obama administration plan would renege on that contract. His idea is to charge private insurers for injuries sustained in combat. This is an absolutely heinous decision, one that would try to pass on the cost of war to the private sector. There is something so very disturbingly calculating about this idea. It speaks to a deep rooted lack of respect for the economic system of the United States and for it citizens. Excerpt from Washington Post article: An Obama administration proposal to bill veterans' private insurance companies for treatment of combat-related injuries has prompted veterans groups to condemn the idea as unethical and powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill to promise their opposition. Nevertheless, the White House ...

In an interesting move, meant to re-align France with the other European states, France has rejoined NATO. This is the end of the "Third Way," and most frenchies are totally against it. Though they avoided saying they were aligning with the US, everyone knows that NATO is dominated by the Yankees. Though I cant imagine that France will be much use militarily... it is still good that they are joining the most important global military alliance, especially at a time of resurgent Russian pain-in-the-assism. It is also another reason to like Sarkozy.

China is looking to develop its own aircraft carriers. They have been discussing this for some time, but they are really pushing for it now. Over the last 20 years, they have bought 4 older aircraft carriers: the Melbourne (1985), the Varyag (1998), the Minsk (1998) and the Kiev (2000) from Australia, Ukraine and Russia respectively. While mostly these carriers have been set up as amusements/attractions, the Varyag especially is likely to be used in a military, albeit training, capacity. As is typical with China, they have tried to acquire knowledge from outside sources, and then will likely design and build their own indigenous design which is an upgrade of the older units they derived their knowledge from. China often takes a long term and meticulous route to this in order to develop their own capacity, rather than India which generally just buys military hardware directly for use. China has agreed to buy 50 Su-33 carrier aircraft from Russia, and has set up a fake carrier deck at ...

Russia is now planning to deploy bombers to their lovely friends Venezuela and Cuba. We've had Web 2.0, welcome to Cold War 2.0 Basically, this is just another attack on the new administration. Since it has already buckled once under pressure, the Russians must be thinking they are an a fine position to keep pushing. Much as it is an aggressive stance however, the reality of the situation is that no Russian bomber would have a snowball's chance in hell of striking the continental US. We are talking about Tupolev Tu-95 Bears - an icon of the Cold War and a relic of the 1950's. They are equivalent, roughly, to the B-52, but they are turboprop aircraft. They have been very versatile and successful, but they would have no real ability to get past US fighters. Other than their cruise missle capability, they dont pose a threat to the US, but do signal an increasingly agressive stance.

This is a repost from another blog, but I found it interesting enough that I would like to share it here. Basically, it is asking why we have not seen aliens yet? And the logic is that if they visited the planet 50 times, the chance of running into us is tiny: humans have only been around for a very very short amount of time. That said, I do have a bit of a hard time with this, because I think we are being visited constantly, and I dont really understand why everyone refuses to admit it. Fermi paradox meets the timescale John over at cosmic variance has been discussing extra-terrestrial life , so I figured I'd put a geologic spin on it. Specifically, look at the Fermi Paradox through the lens of deep time. The Fermi paradox states, "If advanced aliens are common in the galaxy, where are they?" More specifically, why aren't they here. As a geochronologist, I don't wonder where and why, I wonder when. So let's make a few assumptions: Suppose that Earth has ...

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Forwarded from James, an interesting explanation of how CDS can create unlimited downward pressure on a stock. Personally, I have always thought that no CDS's should be sold that are not insuring an actual bond... This insanity is caused by the CDS feedback loop; here's how it works.I buy a CDS on GE (a few weeks ago) for a couple hundred basis points ($200,000 per $10 million)The SELLER of that CDS protects against possibly having to pay by shorting whatever he can against that short credit position. This means he buys PUTs, he shorts the common, he does whatever he needs to in order to lay off that risk. He does this because if GE goes bankrupt their stock would presumably go to zero; therefore, if he has a potential $10 million exposure on the CDS he will short $10 million face value of the common stock, or buy enough PUTs to pay him $10 million if the stock goes to zero.The PUT writer (assuming he buys PUTs), being a market-maker, will in turn short the common to lay off ...