Archive for December, 2010
Baby Boomers’ Retirements in Jeopardy
December 28th, 2010What is this ‘Retirement’ you speak of? —Generation X Also, Pookie sent me this set of age distribution charts for the U.S. If we didn’t know anything else about political and economic doom, this alone should be enough to indicate that bad trouble is ahead. Look at those charts and then consider the unemployed, underemployed […]
More Than 25% of Kids and Teens in the U.S. Take Prescription Drugs on a Regular Basis
December 28th, 2010Via: Wall Street Journal: These days, the medicine cabinet is truly a family affair. More than a quarter of U.S. kids and teens are taking a medication on a chronic basis, according to Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest U.S. pharmacy-benefit manager with around 65 million members. Nearly 7% are on two or more such […]
SkyWatch Manned Mobile Surveillance System
December 28th, 2010Research Credit: JW
Bailed-Out Banks Slip Toward Failure
December 27th, 2010Via: Wall Street Journal: Nearly 100 U.S. banks that got bailout funds from the federal government show signs they are in jeopardy of failing. The total, based on an analysis of third-quarter financial results by The Wall Street Journal, is up from 86 in the second quarter, reflecting eroding capital levels, a pileup of bad […]
China Matches U.S. Space Launches for First Time
December 27th, 2010Via: Wired: Outwardly, it looked like just another big space launch — and those happen about once a week, from spaceports all around the world. But Friday’s blast-off of a rocket, carrying a Chinese GPS-style navigation satellite, from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center was different. It set a record for successful Chinese launches in […]
pHood Printer
December 26th, 2010Is there an unwritten rule that members of the grant swindling class have to be batshit insane? Via: BBC: Christmas dinner traditionally centres on the turkey or goose. But if US scientists have their way, everyone may be sitting around a printer. The team at Cornell University’s Computational Synthesis Lab (CCSL) are building a 3D […]
Researchers Develop Reactor to Make Fuel from Sunlight
December 26th, 2010Via: Guardian: A simple reactor that mimics plants by turning sunlight into fuel has been demonstrated in the laboratory, boosting hopes for a large-scale renewable source of liquid fuel. “We have a big energy problem and we have to think big,” said Prof Sossina Haile, at the California Institute of Technology, who led the research. […]
Operators of the World’s Most Successful Atomic Smuggling Ring Worked for CIA
December 24th, 2010Via: New York Times: A seven-year effort by the Central Intelligence Agency to hide its relationship with a Swiss family who once acted as moles inside the world’s most successful atomic black market hit a turning point on Thursday when a Swiss magistrate recommended charging the men with trafficking in technology and information for making […]
Companies That Made And Maintained Blow Out Preventer Have Had Hands-On Access To It
December 24th, 2010Via: AP: A federal board allowed to monitor testing of a key piece of Gulf oil spill evidence — the blowout preventer — demanded Thursday that the analysis stop, saying representatives of the companies that made and maintained the 300-ton device have been getting preferential and sometimes hands-on access to it. The U.S. Chemical Safety […]
Sacramento-Area Pilot Punished By Feds for YouTube Video
December 24th, 2010Via: News10: An airline pilot is being disciplined by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for posting video on YouTube pointing out what he believes are serious flaws in airport security. The 50-year-old pilot, who lives outside Sacramento, asked that neither he nor his airline be identified. He has worked for the airline for more than […]
