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You would think that being in Pittsburgh was torture enough.
WIRED – Two sunspots are visible on our star’s face for the first time in more than a year, possibly ending an unexpected lull in solar activity.
Solar flares rise and fall on an 11-year cycle, so scientists thought sunspot activity would pick up some time in 2008. It didn’t. And this year has been quiet, too. No sunspots have been visible on the sun for 80 percent of the days this year.
Sunspot activity is correlated with the total amount of energy we receive from the sun. If the sun’s activity were to change remarkably, it would have an influence on global climate. So, in the context of climate change, the fact that the current solar minimum has been the longest and deepest in more than a century has been of special interest.
In May, a big sunspot seemed to augur a return to normal, but it faded away and sunspotless days returned. The latest activity might not mark the end of the solar minimum, however. People have been counting sunspots since Galileo first observed one in the early 17th century. Through the 28 documented cycles, stretching from 1745 to today, some variation in cycle length has been observed.
Maybe NOW we can get a little of that global warming… and winter won’t suck after all.
This is what everything boils down to online. This was a video I made in 2006 of the animatronic Barney developed by Microsoft. This is, by far, the most popular video I have ever done. Pathetic, no?
Able to clear eight foot of air on his stick, Fred Grzybowski also holds the world record for the number of consecutive back-flips, which stands at nine.
“I am so keen to push the pogo stick out there as a recognised extreme activity,” said Mr Grzybowski, 20, from Los Angeles.
“The technology behind the sticks has improved dramatically in the past decade, so now we are able to make those heights and jumps.”
Financial consumers would have fewer protections than originally envisioned under a draft of a bill being circulated on Capitol Hill.
The latest proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency would no longer require financial institutions to offer a “plain vanilla” version of its products, such as a basic 30-year fixed rate mortgage. That would free lenders to concentrate on selling more sophisticated and expensive products.
The changes were proposed in a memo sent to Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday evening by its chairman, Barney Frank.
The financial crisis sparked the idea for the agency, to make financial products safer for consumers. Advocates say such an agency could have prevented the subprime mortgage crisis and the resulting financial meltdown.
The agency would be able to examine and subpoena information from banks, while regulating financial tools such as mortgages and credit cards. Such an agency could determine the language on loan applications, how it’s presented and what the disclosure requirements are.
The new proposal would exempt non-bank businesses — such as merchants and retailers — from oversight. That means they could continue to offer customers tabs and layaway plans without facing a new layer of regulation, Frank’s memo said. Accountants, real estate brokers and agents also would be exempt.
Oddly enough, the banks are less than thrilled with the idea of this agency and would rather kill it outright.
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Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired a shot at the Federal Reserve in her coming-out speech in Hong Kong today, blaming the central bank for the current crisis and disagreeing with the idea that the Fed should have a greater role in preventing the next crisis. It was an echo of fellow Republican and Texas congressman Ron Paul, who has led the charge in Congress to perform an audit of the Federal Reserve with an eye to eventually eliminating it.
Sarah Palin addresses Asian investors.“How can we discuss reform without addressing the government policies at the root of the problems? The root of the collapse? And how can we think that setting up the Fed as the monitor of systemic risk in the financial sector will result in meaningful reform?” she said. “The words ‘fox’ and ‘henhouse’ come to mind. The Fed’s decisions helped create the bubble. Look at the root cause of most asset bubbles, and you’ll see the Fed somewhere in the background.”
Maybe Palin isn’t a nutjob? Nah, never mind I said that.
- Google mail goes down once more. The company also shows its new markup idea. They say people cannot anonymously comment. Bull.
- Meteorites show that Mars has tons of ice.
- Sony PS3 sales jump on price cut.
- Honda dorkmobile released.
- Microsoft/EA rumors abound.
- Twitter gets $100 million.
- Gartner says PC sales at rock bottom.
- Google says Pittsburgh is ideal for start ups.
- Voodoo brand up for grabs?
- Intel predicts SSD mass adoption.
- Perot insider did a dirty deal.
- MSFT secret phone revealed.
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
Honda on Wednesday unveiled the U3-X, a stool with a unique directional wheel system that allows it to travel diagonally, as well as right, left, forward, and backward.
It’s basically a robotic unicycle.
The device is able to readjust itself so that instead of riders having to constantly balance themselves, the robotic unicycle does the compensating.
I am sure this will convince men that fighting breast cancer is important.
This has TREND written all over it. People complaining in public on You Tube. It should spark more and more of these vids. Let them come!! What is interesting to me, as this video makes the rounds, are the a-holes who defend this and other usurious banks. I bank with a good honest bank and know the difference. Apparently the public doesn’t.
It should be noted that when the Bank saw the video, the PR mechanism went to work to get this woman her old interest rate back. This means the only way to get their attention is via public out-cry.
Expect this to show up on Beck, O’Reilly and the other right-wingers. Hmm… could this have been staged by them?
 Bill Sparkman at work as a teacher |
When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: “Be careful.”
The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word “fed” scrawled on his chest…and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.
“Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as ‘the government.’ I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there,” said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.
The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until the investigation is complete, an official said…
The Census Bureau has yet to begin door-to-door canvassing for the 2010 head count, but thousands of field workers are doing smaller surveys on various demographic topics on behalf of federal agencies. Next year, the Census Bureau will dispatch up to 1.2 million temporary employees…
Census work wasn’t Sparkman’s full-time job. He also was a substitute teacher and an Eagle Scout who volunteered for the Boy Scouts.
Obviously part of the Socialist Conspiracy.
Millions of women drink alcohol before having sex because they lack confidence in their bodies, a study suggests.
Almost half of those questioned said they preferred sex while under the influence of alcohol because it helped them lose their inhibitions and be more adventurous.
Researchers, who surveyed 3000 women aged 18-50, found on average they slept with eight men, but were drunk with at least five, and on two occasions couldn’t remember the man’s name the next day, the Herald Sun reports.
Four out of 10 had been tipsy when sleeping with a partner for the first time.
I don’t know why, but I’m obsessed with advice columns. Not the answers, just the letters. Maybe it’s because of bizarre stories such as this one…
DEAR ABBY: For 15 years I was a happily married homemaker with a wonderful husband. “Duncan” and I attended church together, frolicked through the fields, even exterminated rodents together. He was my best friend. It was bliss.
Last year I found out my father had had an affair with Duncan’s mother the year I was born, which makes him my half-brother! The news was too much for my husband. He had a fatal heart attack not long after.
What should I put on his gravestone — “Loving Brother” or “Loving Husband”? — GRIEVING IN MASSACHUSETTS
I’m pretty sure this letter was a joke. Most people don’t fondly recall spending time exterminating rodents with their spouses. But if it’s true, ewww…. gross…..!
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