Boring Financial Stuff

Here is the most cynical economic predication ever. The commentator is negative on:

The Stock Market
The Current Business Expansion
The Inverted Yield Curve
Corporate Earnings Growth
The Housing Downturn
and ... the fact that more people are optimistic about the stock market makes him pessimistic (a clear contrarian)

So if you want to read a classic contrarian commentary then this is the one.

This Is Awesome

I don't have a good title for this or really a good description. Just read this story at the New York Times. If you do much traveling, especially overseas, you will just start to giggle at what this reporter was able to do in a Chinese airport. Pretty awesome.

Cold Fusion News Warms Up

Cold Fusion isn't a dead science it seems and happens to be in the news today. New Scientist has a story about research results achieved in 2002, quickly thrown into question by peers, that has been found to be confirmed by independent verification. Cold fusion first entered the public consciousness in March 1989 when researchers Fleischmann and Pons announced that they had discovered cold fusion. There was much controversy in the science community and in the months to follow what ended up in the news was that the Fleischmann and Pons results could never be verified by other researchers so Fleischmann and Pons research must have been faulty. Since that time Fleischmann and Pons have continued their research in France and other researchers have quietly been doing work on the cold fusion problem as well. Some have even claimed to have duplicated Fleischmann and Pons results. This is where the most recent story comes from. A researcher working on "bubble" fusion reported results, had the results poo pooed at, and finally had his research confirmed. None of this probably makes the main stream news because once news organizations felt that cold fusion was debunked they stopped reporting anything about it.

It is a very elusive subject to follow. Is the science real? Maybe no one can really be sure yet so it is good that research continues. It is the kind of topic that gives conspiracy theorists wet dreams, because there is so much there to think that a conspiracy must exist. I usually don't believe in conspiracies (and I don't now) because I don't think people can keep secrets in today's world. I love stories like this though. I keep hoping one day we will wake up and hear/read about some incredible breakthrough in something that will change the world. Curing cancer, discovering a clean energy source, something along those lines that would immediately start changing the world. I can dream can't I. I'll leave you a last link that concerns different possibilities of cold fusion. It is a little old, but it's angle plays into the research as being outside the mainstream while giving some hope to the possibilities involved if real results are accomplished.

Romantic Attachment Quiz

This is a pretty good quiz that tries to tell you what kind of romantic attachment style you have. Apparently I am a "avoider". What are you?

The Year of the Pig could be a pig of a year

The Year of the Pig is almost upon us and one feng shui expert is expecting the worst. A lot of gloom and doom quotes. Not good times ahead if he is correct, except for a special child born on a specific date at a specific time mentioned towards the end of the article. Have a great year!

Monty

The puppy has a name and it is Monty. Here is another video. Frank is mostly not playing with Monty. Wouldn't it be great to have the flexibility of a puppy.

Mile High Club Update

It seems more details are emerging in the "did they join the mile high club" story involving Ralph Fiennes and a Qantas flight attendant. The Daily Mail has the story.

Puppy

My close friend has a new puppy. If you are ever feeling down spend a little time with a puppy. So much fun. For pictures and more videos check out my flickr and youtube links on the left side of the blog. Frank is the black and white dog (a jack/shitz). He has no interest in playing with the puppy. This puppy will be much bigger than Frank very soon so Frank's days in charge are numbered and I think he knows it.

The Grammy's

Bill Simmons does a running diary of the Grammys. He is usually a sports columnist with a fan's perspective, but occasionally he does a non-sports column. He calls himself the sports guy and his wife the sports gal. A very funny read. Enjoy.

The Dog Show Takes Center Stage

The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show begins in New York tonight. It airs on the USA Network. Enjoy the show.

Stock up on Honey

Honeybees are dying on mass and no one knows why. Many stories out there, here is the link to the NY Times story. Is this a subtle sign that the environment is in worse shape than anyone realizes or just an isolated incident? There must be another example of 50 percent of a species population dying in less than a year (sarcasm intended). Good luck to the bees still hanging on.

Mile High Club

MSNBC has a story about how Ralph Fiennes may have tried to join the mile high club and has gotten a flight attendant in trouble.

Researchers Running Out of Things to Research

UC Berkeley researchers believe that male sweat causes female hormones to rise. The study was done with bottles of sweat, not actual sweaty men. I'm guessing that the sight of 99% of sweaty men out there in the world (the one's that don't look like Brad Pitt) will offset any up-tick in a woman's hormone level. Visual stimulus outweighing the nose every time.

Is Wind Chill All In The Mind?

Researchers are beginning to believe that the idea of "wind chill" isn't really scientific. An interesting read and to sum it all up, wear a hat and you'll be fine.

Mice Are Cured Of Everything!

Well, not quite yet, but at the rate research is going mice will out live us one of these years. The latest thing cured is a particularly nasty type of autism called Rett Syndrome. Diabetes cured in mice last year, autism this year, what will be cured next year for the little white things ... maybe cats!

Hand Drawn Animation Isn't Dead Yet

It seems Disney isn't giving up on hand drawn animation yet. Computers will just have to wait a little longer to completely conquer the big mouse. Thank you John Lasseter.

Happy Anniversary to the 747

Amazingly enough, the first test flight of the Boeing 747 was 38 years ago today. There is one problem with the linked article. At the end of the article the author implies that the 787 (currently in design and taking orders) will be the replacement of the 747. But that isn't the case. There have been many different versions of the 747 since that initial test flight, and Boeing will continue that evolution with the 747-8. I can't wait to fly on it.