Book Of Norm

Yes - WTF - Canada just got rid of the penny! The penny! The most important unit of currency we have! Without it, what would line your car's console? What would fill up that jar in the corner of the kitchen? What would weigh down your pockets after you buy things in cash? What would fill up the "leave a penny take a penny" plastic thingy at the counter of your favorite convenience store? Yes, these are British pennies. Better of course in every way.  So, penny no more? Basically - they cost a lot of money, and that's an issue. They are worth more than they are worth, or put another way, they are a currency without currency. Canada is getting rid of them because they cost money to mint and keep in circulation. The US is keeping them because of pricing. If you don't have the penny you have to price everything which can be paid for in currency in $0.05 increments. That's a huge issue - because retailers would have to shift from $4.99 to $4.95 or $5....

TSUNAMI BY  CASEY CHAN MAR 26, 2012 6:00 PM 92,366  114 Share GET OUR TOP STORIES FOLLOW GIZMODO This Japanese Ghost Ship Lost in the Tsunami Was Found Floating Near the Coast of Canada When the  devastating earthquake and tsunami  hit Japan last year, it created more than 22 million tons of debris—the size of California, pretty much. Included in that debris was this ghost ship, a 150-foot long squid-fishing boat that's just been found, a year after the tsunami, near the coast of Canada. Spotted by aircrafts some 120 miles off the coast of Canada, the Japanese squid-fishing boat is a true ghost ship—no one is in control and no one is on board. The ship's owner confirmed it to be from Japan and told Canadian authorities that the ship has been lost since the tsunami. What's both impressive and a bit paranormally eerie is that the ghost ship managed to survive the entire year and nearly 5,000 miles in travel while st...

Looks like another "green" company might not make it - but I actually like this one, and hope it does. A123 is an innovative battery company which ramped up production capability too quickly. Because of that, a welding machine in their new factory was misaligned and, even though it was only one of four machines, cells from that machine could be in each battery and could fail, so all have to be recalled. This will cost $55 million. To a company A123's size, $55 million is a large amount—the company brought in only $139 million in funding all of last year. A123 Systems had $187 million in cash at the end of 2011, considerably less than the $258 million it lost last year. A123 had planned to cut its cost and raise up revenues... and if they survive this they probably will be able to. But like so many before them, they completely misjudged the ramp up of electric vehicles.This is also related to the massive fail which is Fisker Automotive, which I have long predicted will...

For years, there have been two very vocal voices in the debate over corporate governance: CalPERS and Harvard Law School. Unsurprisingly, both are idiots. For years, CalPERS has argued that their focus on corporate governance improves returns. Bullshit. There is absolutely no evidence of that. Most of what we are now talking about as "corporate governance" is crap - the real issues have been solved, we are now just making up shit to give law school professors something to do. Which would bring me to the article below... but first... time to savor a little humble pie. "Alfred Villalobos, a former member of the CalPERS board who hired himself out to several big investment firms, plainly on the expectation that he would use his connections to get them business. According to a lawsuit filed last year by the state attorney general's office, Villalobos made $47 million from 2005 to 2009 by getting CalPERS to invest $4.87 billion with his clients. The AG's lawsui...

How the fuck is this idiot going to get re-elected? Every time he opens his mouth, he is either lying, patronizing, dissembling, or obfuscating. He always believes he is right, has completely fucked the constitution and rule of law, and is so in bed with his buddies and campaign donors that there should be a red light hanging in the window of the White House. The moron makes Nixon look squeaky clean, but everyone goes around pretending that he "really isn't that bad".  Honestly, I have had a lot of people tell me "but what has he really done wrong?" The short answer? Everything he has done. Bailout, stimulus, GM illegal shakedown, idiotic healthcare reform, tax plan, spending plan, individual rights, attacks on corporations, pulling out of Iraq ensuring defeat and pissing on everyone who served over there, and a failure to follow through with anything he said in his last campaign (not that I am really pissed about that, but how liberals don't care I have no ...

Bats All Folks! The Epic Fail of the Worst IPO Ever http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-23/bats-all-folks-the-epic-fail-of-the-worst-ipo-ever --- Sent from Zite personalized magazine webOS app. Available for free in the App Catalog www.zite.com -- Sent from my HP TouchPad

The interwebs are all abuzz over a taco delivery quad copter...  Tacocopter Aims To Deliver Tacos Using Unmanned Drone Helicopters http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/tacocopter-startup-delivers-tacos-by-unmanned-drone-helicopter_n_1375842.html I can understand why, but come on, its obvious it won't work. Weather, the fact you have to be outside, airspace restrictions, delivery range, carry capacity, ability to deliver drinks, and of course price (the operation will be far more expensive than a taco truck) mean this is a non-starter. Some idiot valley CD's might still invest in it though after all this buzz... --- from my HP TouchPad

http://tpt.to/a2nVbcP --

Remember NetZero? Yeah, it's been a while. Free dial up internet hasn't been something you have been lusting for since Clinton was stumbling around the White House, but how about free wireless broadband? NetZero offers free Wi-Fi 'teaser' service for 1 year – USATODAY.com It works like this, across the top of your screen there will be a big banner ad... ok, kidding. It actually is not much of a gimmick. Running on the Clearwire network (which has been having trouble finding buyers other than Sprint), you pay either $50 for a USB modem or $100 for a wifi hotspot. You get 200mb/mo free, for one year. There are no overage charges - the data simply shuts off after 200mb and asks if you want to buy a plan. So, is it a good deal? Well, not for me, because Android has tethering and I have unlimited data on Sprint. Even if I needed it, wifi hotspot over the phone is only $1/day... so paying $100 up front doesn't make a lot of sense. On the other hand, for the sometim...

Recently I wrote about the 10 best doomsday survival shelters in the world . These make sense - they are for continuity of government, they are so mankind will survive, they are all about long-term planning or strategic defense. But, I just came across a brand new show on Discovery - "Doomsday Bunkers" - and it's stupid. Interesting, but stupid. It turns out that there is a whole community of people out there who believe Y2K is still coming think Fallout 3, the Book of Eli, or Mad Max is just around the corner. And so they are "prepping" - getting ready for the zombie apocalypse. The craziest of them - or perhaps just the most obsessive or those with the most money.... spend $50,000-$1,000,000 building underground bunkers to protect themselves from... something. Cozy... I hope you like Progresso   And that's where the idiocy comes in: they don't know what they are protecting themselves from. The vast majority of them are built to offer...

Ok, the Republican nomination is going on way too long at this point. Chief Foot In Mouth Romney can't seem to seal the deal, and that's too bad, because it is sad that Santorum is even being considered for President. Hell, I would never want him hired as a school Principal. And so everyone is complaining. And I agree - this is stupid. We need to get rid of Obama--he's a complete disaster and if you value your job and the currency in your pocket, he needs to go--but let's back up for just one second. Remember 2008? Remember how a certain young Senator did an end-run around Hillary Clinton, claiming that superdelegates had to vote according to state primaries? (they dont). The Democrats didn't have a set candidate until the convention, and the race was far far closer (in terms of delegates) than anything we are seeing this year with the Republican primaries.

So, the Nurburgring is increasingly becoming the standard for auto manufacturers and car development. Because of that, the track is in high demand, and there are fewer and fewer days available both for public use and private testing. My Porsche Goes Both Ways What's an entrepreneur to do? Especially ones who owns and operates tracks like Infineon Raceway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, among others. His name is Burton Smith, he's the CEO of Speedway Motorsports, and he wants to build a new "green hell" - though it's not going to be very green. It's going to be built in Las Vegas. This would be incredibly fun, and while I don't think that it will be quite the same being out in the desert and 115 degrees rather than the shady hills of Bavaria, it would still be amazing to get to drive your car (obviously, especially if you lived in car crazy LA) out to try your lap times against the standard of the world. ...

So, I am really into gadgets. Shocking, I know. And the thing about gadgets? They take power. Yeah, your Kindle takes less power than an LED bulb, but does it take more than a book? Yup. And if you ran out of power half way through The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo while crossing Siberia by Lada, you would be pretty bored (actually, if you could read in the back of a Lada, I would be seriously impressed). It is veeerry bumpy, ya So then what is a gadget hound to do? 10) Solar Sucks (for this) Solar chargers are cool, very cool possibly. Charging your gadgets from the power of the sun? Awesome! However, cold hard reality kind of bites on this one. First, your phone, camera, netbook or tablet, and especially laptop take a lot of power. For example, a laptop normally takes about 60watts of power to charge. This is what a 60w solar rig looks like: Yes.. that is a car battery Yeah... so this is 60watts: a netbook takes about 50watts, a iPad/Tablet about 45w, and a smartphon...

I have never liked United, probably because they have never liked me. I feel like they are pissed that I am there, that I personally affronted all of them by showing up, ticket in hand. After you get on the flying gulag, the food costs $8 for a child's portion, the stewards are grim faced, and everyone is just trying to make it. Continental was a better class of American airline. They were actually glad you were flying with them. Service wasn't amazing, this is no Virgin Atlantic, but it was far better than anything you would get from the big three. Now, Continental is no more. What this really drives home for me is that I will be working double hard to book everything I can on southwest or jet blue. The United-Continental merger: United's computer chaos | The Economist

Aggravure  is an ongoing series of large wall installations by  Baptiste Debombourg . His latest, Aggravure III , was inspired by drawings from 16th century engravers Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Harmensz, Cherubino Alberti and utilizes nearly a half million metal staples tacked to a wall, taking 340 hours to complete. Via the artist: I then use some images by “worsening” the scale, the form or the context to produce an installation in the architecture by means of staples. The recurring theme in these paintings revolves around the collapse that resonates with staples. Here the staple is a material and a media that plays with contemporary aggression and daily life’s secular usefulness. You can see much more of Aggravure I, II, and III on his  website .

Digital cameras have come a long way... but then again, they haven't. They have replaced film, and that's amazing. But they have literally replaced film, and that isn't. The image sensor has replaced the film in terms of capturing the image, but more or less everything else has remained exactly the same. The difference between a dSLR today and a SLR of 20 years ago is that one uses film, and one doesn't. The camera part is basically the same, the sensor is the only difference. Until now. A small company has introduced the "Light Field Camera" - think of it this way, it takes lots of different images all at the same time, of the same frame. Then, after the fact, you can decide where to focus the image. "Focus" thus becomes a thing of the past, as does depth of field, etc. The camera itself is a funky looking thing, and is no professional photo tool at this point (and costs  $500), more of a cool way to demonstrate the technology, to be integ...