Mubarak‏

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/world/middleeast/official-silence-surrounds-mubaraks-condition-in-egypt-hospital.html?pagewanted=all

I bet he is not even sick.

President Hosni Mubarak’s health on Wednesday, a day after the state news agency reported that his condition was so grave that he had to be transferred from the prison where he is serving a life sentence to a military hospital.

Mubarak was in the military.  It is his military that is controlling the country.  There is now a power vacuum in the country between the radical Muslim Brotherhood who is claiming victory in the election and the military rulers.  The military is trying to consolidate power by dissolving the parliament and weakening the president’s powers before they hand over control.  If they hand over control.  I bet they are trying to protect their old leader before that transfer happens.  I bet he is just fine.  Otherwise why all the secrecy about his condition.

Low ranking security officers, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, speculated that the previous night’s reports that Mr. Mubarak was on the edge of death were part of a scheme to transport him out of Egypt for care. Indeed, many Egyptians on Wednesday wondered if the state news agency reports of his near death were all a morbid hoax.

Analysts marveled that Mr. Mubarak had lost consciousness at the climactic moment of the struggle over the future of the system he had defined for so long, and just two days after the vote to choose his successor.

Nuclear Power...It is safe....Really....Trust them.‏

Last year Obama said Nuclear Power Plants in the United States are safe.  Sure Russia has had problems in the past.  And sure Japan has had problems more recently.  And sure there were issues at 3 Mile Island a couple of decades ago.  But this is 2012 and everything is safe as can be….Don’t you even worry your silly little head.  Just trust them…… 

http://www.usnews.com/science/news/articles/2012/06/18/ap-exclusive-feds-design-led-to-nuke-plant-woes 

federal regulators have determined that design flaws appear to be the cause of excessive wear in tubing that carries radioactive water through California's troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant 

The twin-reactor plant between Los Angeles and San Diego has been idle since January, after a tube break in one of four, massive steam generators released traces of radiation. A team of federal investigators was dispatched to the plant in March after the discovery that some tubes were so badly corroded that they could fail and possibly release radiation, a stunning finding inside the virtually new equipment. 

Eight tubes failed during earlier pressure tests in the Unit 3 reactor and "we have not seen that in the industry before,"
"It's these four steam generators that either have, or are susceptible to, this type of problem," Collins said, referring to the unusual damage caused when alloy tubes vibrate and rattle against each other or brackets that hold them in place.

"It's not too hard to frame up the problem," he added. "The answers are very difficult, or they already would have emerged."
What's at issue is why so many tubes degraded so quickly, when the design changes were intended to improve the plant's performance and longevity. 

The tubes have to be thin enough to transfer heat, but thick enough to hold up under heavy pressure. They represent a critical safety barrier — if a tube breaks, there is the potential that radioactivity can escape into the atmosphere. Also, serious leaks can drain protective cooling water from a reactor.

Everything sounds safe to me….

Windows Phone an Abysmal failure‏

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/weak-lumia-smart-phone-sales-haunt-nokia-2012-06-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111903857104577468541485259290.html?mod=BOL_twm_da

I told you windows Phone 7 was going to be an abysmal failure.  Here they are exactly as I said they would be…..failing.

The sad part is Microsft is making Windows 8 to look like Windows phone 7 and nobody gives a sh*t about windows phone 7.  That is not a good sign for Microsoft.  Exactly as I told you it would be…….

Nokia made a big bet rolling out smartphones based on Microsoft Windows Phone 7 software in October 2011, but despite heavy advertising, promotions, and discounting, sales have been disappointing.

We would like to note that Microsoft has been trying to build a mobile-phone business for more than 12 years (entered April 2000). It was first Research In Motion's  BlackBerry that gave Microsoft a lot of problems and now it is  Apple's iOS and Google Android. We see Apple continuing to consolidate share with its recent iOS 6 refresh.

With both Microsoft and Nokia having difficulty competing in the smartphone market, both decided to join forces in February 2011 with the first Windows Phone 7 Lumia smartphones shipping in October 2011. Despite heavy promotion and advertising by carriers as they want a viable alternative to Android and iOS, Windows Phone 7 has found weaker-than-expected customer acceptance.

Watching Microsoft fumble about is like watching a slow motion car wreck.  Steve Ballmer is the driver.

NASA's new Frontiers.‏

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/nasa-tours-apollo-launch-control-kennedy-space_n_1589432.html

Now that all the sweeping and vacuuming is complete our NASA heroes have time for the really important work of the future…..Guided tours.

The NASA control center that gave the command to launch rockets to the moon and send space shuttles into orbit will be opened for public tours this week for the first time in more than 30 years.

NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida announced that beginning Friday (June 15), a limited number of daily tours will take guests into the spaceport's historic Launch Control Center (LCC). Tour-goers will have the rare opportunity to enter the room where directors and engineers supervised the countdown for all 152 launches of the Apollo moon landing and space shuttle programs.

The new tour takes visitors inside Firing Room 4, one of the Launch Control Center's four firing rooms and the one from which the final 21 space shuttle launches were controlled.

Inside, guests will pass by the consoles where engineers monitored the computerized control system's thousands of system checks every minute leading up to launch. They'll see the countdown clock and the large video monitors on the walls.

Visitors will also enter the "bubble room," with its wall of interior windows through which the Kennedy Space Center management team viewed what went on in the firing room below.

NASA and the Kennedy visitor complex recently extended its first behind-the-scenes tour through the end of 2012. That tour, which began in November 2011, takes visitors inside the 52-story tall Vehicle Assembly Building, the massive building adjacent to the LCC where the Apollo Saturn V rockets and space shuttles were assembled.

Both the LCC and VAB tours are possible in part due to a lull in crewed launches from the Kennedy Space Center. 

You would think that having strangers walk through the NASA complex might distract from all the important work NASA was doing.  Then you remember NASA isn’t doing anything anymore.  It is a giant empty complex with nothing going on.  It is the pride of our country.  Nothing inspires the next generation of explorers like a space program that does nothing.  Aim high kids.  The sky is the limit…except for NASA who can’t actually get there.  But if you have millions of dollars maybe the Russians will take you.  God Bless America.  We are # 1.

JP Morgan might take back Compensation.‏

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-13/dimon-says-clawbacks-likely-for-executives-tied-to-trading-loss.html

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the bank probably will seek to reclaim pay from executives responsible for $2 billion in trading losses.

Dimon encouraged his chief investment office to make bigger and riskier trades, former employees have said, while he became one of the highest-paid CEOs in U.S. banking, taking home more than $1.9 million a month on average in 2010 and 2011.

“The board will review every single person involved in this case and figure out what’s appropriate,” said Dimon, 56. The clawbacks will be “somewhat limited” to what employees received in the previous two years, he said.

“One of the legitimate complaints was that after the crisis, a lot of people walked away from companies that went bankrupt with a lot of money,” Dimon said today. “Some of that was inappropriate.”

That is funny because the last crisis was paid for by Tax Payers.  At the time we were told Corporate Bonuses HAD TO BE PAID.  There was no way to prevent tax payer bail out money from going to executive bafoons.  The bafoons were entitled to take that public money and put it in their pockets.  There was nothing anyone could do or say about it.  

Now a couple of years later (when it is the banks money) suddenly the tune has changed.  Suddenly the bank can go back and take away past compensation and bonuses.

From 2009 - http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1933201,00.html

Family net worth plummets nearly 40%‏

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/news/economy/fed-family-net-worth/

The average American family's net worth dropped almost 40% between 2007 and 2010,

The stunning drop in median net worth -- from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010 -- indicates that the recession wiped away 18 years of savings and investment by families.  What they meant to say was outsourcing, off shoring, and deregulation wiped out 18 years of savings.  They should really let me proof read these articles before they publish them.

In 2007, the median homeowner had a net worth of $246,000. Three years later that number had fallen to $174,500, a loss of more than $70,000 on average.  Isn’t deregulation great…..

Making matters worse, income levels also fell during the tumultuous three-year period, with median pre-tax income falling 7.7% as earnings from capital gains all but disappeared.  Wow every ones imaginary wealth disappeared….Who could have predicted that would happen…….

The report also indicated that families with more assets at the start of the recession were able to retain more of their net worth than less fortunate families.

Families in the top 10% of income actually saw their net worth increase over the period, rising from a median of $1.17 million in 2007 to $1.19 million in 2010.  The rich got richer…..  They deserve it.

Meanwhile, middle-class families who ranked in the 40th to 60th percentile of income earners reported that their median net worth fell from $92,300 to $65,Oh that is too bad….  Average people got hosed again.  Isn’t capitalism great…..

Once again trickle down economics didn’t trickle.900 over the same time period.  

Auriemma in trouble‏

http://espn.go.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/8039685/us-women-basketball-olympic-coach-geno-auriemma-faces-discrimination-suit

Hardwick is a former detective with the New York police department who started working for the NBA in security back in 2002. Her suit says that as part of her job duties, she managed security for the U.S. women at international basketball events, including the Olympics in 2004 and 2008.

a 2009 trip to Russia, that she says she met Auriemma. According to the lawsuit, one night after Auriemma wedged his way into a conversation with Hardwick and a co-worker in a hotel lounge, he followed her to the door of her room and tried to kiss her.

"Plaintiff was startled but, utilizing her training as a police officer and security professional, reacted quickly by shoving him away and stating, 'What are you doing? You better check yourself before you get hurt!' " the suit says.

Hardwick says in the suit that she told supervisors about the incident, but that nothing was done. In subsequent international trips, according to the suit, Auriemma avoided her but was uncomfortable with her being there.

In March, Hardwick says she learned of a conference call involving NBA officials in which Auriemma demanded that she be taken off the security assignment for the London Games.

As part of the lawsuit, Hardwick also says that the NBA discriminated against her due to her gender, that she was denied promotions, raises and employment opportunities because she is a woman.

Warren Buffett doesn't see another recession‏

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/06/06/bloomberg_articlesM568TK1A1I4H01-M56EZ.DTL

Warren Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said he expects the U.S. economy to avoid another recession as long as Europe can contain its debt crisis.

Warren should really get his eye glasses checked.  He might not see it but I sure do.  He should really learn a thing or two about how the economy works.  Clearly there is a gap in his understanding when it comes to issues of finance.

$3.36 to keep Brandon Jacobs‏

http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/8023118/young-new-york-giants-fan-sent-brandon-jacobs-336-stay-new-york

Jacobs tweeted a letter from 6-year-old Joe Armento, who sent $3.36 to Jacobs when his mother explained to him that the Giants couldn't keep Jacobs because of money.

"Dear Mr. Jacobs,

My 6-year-old son, Joseph, is a huge NY Giants fan. Last year he had the opportunity to go to a game, and he just fell in love with the team. He was very sad to learn that both you and Mario Manningham are no longer with the team. When he asked me why you were going to SF I explained that the Giants did not have enough money to keep you. So, in an effort to convince you to return to NY he wrote you the enclosed letter, and included money from his piggy bank.

"Joseph is just learning to read/write so I will help you by translating his letter:

"'Dear Brandon Jacobs,

"So you could go to the Giants, here is my money.

"Love, Joe'

"I hope this letter finds you well. Congratulations on the Superbowl win! Our family will miss you next year, but we wish you all the very best in San Francisco.

"Sincerely, Julie Armento."

The Death Of NASA Continues

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/07/nasa-kills-x-ray-telescope-blames-project-cost/

They can’t use the shuttles.

They can’t continue the Constellations project.

They can’t send astronauts to space.

Now they can’t even send a telescope to space.

There is nothing that NASA can’t NOT do.  Our space program must be the envy of the world.

GE 90 Turbo Failure

The GE 90 Turbo Fan engine is the world’s largest engine.  It is used on the Boeing 777 which is one size below the 747 but has only two engines.

According the GE it has been thoroughly tested against every possible issue.  Rain, Ice, Birds.  GE says it is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT5EZ5itYH4

And yet last week one blew apart in mid air spewing hot medal parts all over the Canadian countryside. Pieces the size of cell phones landed on cars smashing windows.  Luckily nobody was hurt even though people picked up the pieces not realizing they were still hot.  

Last year it was Rolls Royce Engines blowing apart on the A380 and now it is a GE engine.  The part of the engine that blew apart is the part that should never fail.  Yet it did anyway.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1202913--safety-board-probes-dramatic-engine-failure-of-air-canada-jet

“It’s kind of unusual that we’re going to be shedding parts out of this engine. So it attracts our attention right off the bat. It’s the latest generation of aircraft and engine,” said Don Enns, regional manager for the Transportation Safety Board.

“The Americans are quite interested in it as well. They built and certified the airplane,” Enns said Wednesday.

Air Canada Flight 001 had departed Pearson International Airport for Japan Monday when the pilots of the Boeing 777-333 heard a loud bang and temperatures in the number two engine spiked. The pilots dumped fuel over Lake Ontario and returned to Pearson for a safe landing. There were no injuries.

However, the massive GE-90-115B engine had dropped a trail of debris under the plane’s flight path. The blackened pieces of metal have been identified as pieces of turbine blades, Enns said.

“We’re looking at some kind of failure in the turbine section,” Enns said, referring to the rear section of the engine.

Expert analysis on the Economy - "This is horrible."

http://money.msn.com/market-news/post.aspx?post=109dd732-6daa-4f8a-b878-a8ee80dd9aba

March – 143,000 jobs created which was way below expectation.

April – 77,000 jobs created which was way (way) below expectation.

May – 69,000 jobs were created which is practically a catastrophe.

The numbers and the trend are all going the wrong way.  The “experts” are still all surprised.  After 12 years nobody should be surprised.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist of High Frequency Economics, summed up the report in three words: "This is horrible." 

Meanwhile the Stock Market is tanking because all the geniuses on Wall Street still don’t understand that if everything (in every store) says “Made in China” that means there will be no jobs here in the USA.  If all the white collar jobs are done in Bangalore India then there will be no  jobs here in the USA. 

These are very tough concepts for the “experts”.  They struggle with the comprehension of it. 

There was renewed speculation that the Federal Reserve might try new measures to stimulate the economy, 

 What is the Fed going to do that  already hasn’t been done over the last 12 years?????  Interest rates are at ZERO.  They have been at zero for YEARS.  They have pumped 800 Billion in Stimulus.  They gave 1 Trillion in Tax cuts for the rich.  They did $300 checks to everyone in the country.  They did multiple wars with hundreds of billions in spending.  They spent 15 Trillion in National Debt.  The did “Qantitative Easing” multiple times.  Republicans tried fixing it and failed.  Democrats tried fixing it and failed.

They have done everything you can possible do the prop up the economy.  But at the end of the day everything still says “Made in China”.  So they can keep chasing their tale round and round and round but it aint going to make a lick of difference. 

If a psychiatrist were to analyze the situation he would call it living in denial.