Posted 2/28/2010 03:19:00 PM by Douglas

Global warming has taken a hit recently, in the scientific community, but under several feet of snow in the northeast. So where is Al Gore in all this? You guessed it, The New York Times, and this one's a doosey. This man's ego must have its own ZIP code.

I, for one, genuinely wish that the climate crisis were an illusion.

Right. And I don't want my Oscar, Nobel Prize or anything else that has permanently linked my cult of personality to the illusionary crisis that may or may not be global warming.

It is true that the climate panel published a flawed overestimate of the melting rate of debris-covered glaciers in the Himalayas, and used information about the Netherlands provided to it by the government, which was later found to be partly inaccurate. In addition, e-mail messages stolen from the University of East Anglia in Britain showed that scientists besieged by an onslaught of hostile, make-work demands from climate skeptics may not have adequately followed the requirements of the British freedom of information law.

But the scientific enterprise will never be completely free of mistakes.

So don't let all those mistakes fool you. While the scientific community may make mistakes, Al Gore certainly doesn't.

The heavy snowfalls this month have been used as fodder for ridicule by those who argue that global warming is a myth, yet scientists have long pointed out that warmer global temperatures have been increasing the rate of evaporation from the oceans, putting significantly more moisture into the atmosphere — thus causing heavier downfalls of both rain and snow in particular regions, including the Northeastern United States. Just as it’s important not to miss the forest for the trees, neither should we miss the climate for the snowstorm.

So global warming causes it to get really hot, really cold, really wet and really dry?Who is still listening to this?

Almost all of the ice-covered regions of the Earth are melting — and seas are rising. Hurricanes are predicted to grow stronger and more destructive, though their number is expected to decrease. Droughts are getting longer and deeper in many mid-continent regions, even as the severity of flooding increases. The seasonal predictability of rainfall and temperatures is being disrupted, posing serious threats to agriculture. The rate of species extinction is accelerating to dangerous levels.

Dogs and cats, living together, Coke turns to Pepsi and the Cubs win the World Series. Is there anything global warming can't do?

The political paralysis that is now so painfully evident in Washington has thus far prevented action by the Senate — not only on climate and energy legislation, but also on health care reform, financial regulatory reform and a host of other pressing issues.

Damn old representative democracy, always getting in the way of crazy windbag on the street corner crying "the sky is falling!"

Over the years, as the science has become clearer and clearer, some industries and companies whose business plans are dependent on unrestrained pollution of the atmospheric commons have become ever more entrenched. They are ferociously fighting against the mildest regulation — just as tobacco companies blocked constraints on the marketing of cigarettes for four decades after science confirmed the link of cigarettes to diseases of the lung and the heart.

Geez. To equate the profit motives of tobacco companies to the fact that carbon based fuels run the motor of the world is disingenuous at best, especially coming as it does from a former tobacco farmer.

Simultaneously, changes in America’s political system — including the replacement of newspapers and magazines by television as the dominant medium of communication — conferred powerful advantages on wealthy advocates of unrestrained markets and weakened advocates of legal and regulatory reforms. Some news media organizations now present showmen masquerading as political thinkers who package hatred and divisiveness as entertainment. And as in times past, that has proved to be a potent drug in the veins of the body politic.

I'd never confuse Al Gore as a showman nor a political thinker, but is he freakin' serious? At 7 A.M., I wouldn't believe Al Gore if he said the darkness was about to end.

Posted 2/23/2010 09:17:00 PM by Douglas

I'm so sick of this damn suicide weather I could spit up blood.

Now comes a fitting bookend to a winter seemingly without end.

Houston already had its earliest snowfall ever this winter, with an inch falling on Dec. 4. Today there's a good chance the city will experience the next-to-latest snowfall in its history, with forecasters saying much of the area could see as much of an inch this evening.

When is Spring? It's like The Road without the cannibalism up in here!

Posted 2/22/2010 09:36:00 PM by Douglas

The new credit card law hits the streets and guess who is going to suffer? People that paid their bills and wanted cheap, easy credit.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. The law that President Barack Obama signed last May shields card users from sudden interest rate hikes, excessive fees and other gimmicks that card companies have used to drive up profits. Consumers will save at least $10 billion a year from curbs on interest rate increases alone, according to the Pew Charitable Trust, which tracks credit card issues.

But there was a catch. Card companies had nine months to prepare while certain rules were clarified by the Federal Reserve. They used that time to take actions that ended up hurting the same customers who were supposed to be helped.

Here's a news flash: When you save customers $10 billion, that money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere used to be called "bank profit." Less money they make, less money to loan. I wonder if Barry's new bank law is set up to make cheep credit unprofitable so I have to quit buying crap I don't need.

Posted 2/22/2010 09:19:00 PM by Douglas

Unbelievable. This whole Toyota thing is going to get out of hand when it comes to light that there are people behind bars because their cars malfunctioned, they knew about the problem, and people died.

The 1996 Camry is not the subject of the current round of safety recalls, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 17 complaints from owners of other 1996 Camrys alleging defects that led to sudden acceleration, some of them quite recently.

"I was angry for a moment, but when I came to my senses and thought about it, I didn't understand it," said Quincy Adams whose son and grandson were among those killed. "I can't believe that a guy with his pregnant wife, a kid in a car seat, his father-in-law and a brother-in-law in the car, would purposely be speeding up this ramp like that," said Bridgette Trice, whose seven-year old daughter later died from injuries suffered in the accident.

She said the news stories about Toyota's problems led her to reconsider what happened in the accident that killed her daughter.

A Toyota spokesman said the company would not comment because the case could lead to lawsuits against Toyota.

You're damned right it will. A faulty throttle isn't the end of the world when you make 10 million cars a year, but covering it up is going to cost them. An out of control car isn't the same thing as a hot cup of coffee, but look what happened to McDonald's when they ignored their coffee temperature.

Posted 2/21/2010 08:41:00 PM by Douglas

Filling the void left by NASA's inability to put their money down on a program that's going somewhere, China now says they'll put a taikonaut on the moon by 2010.

China aims to land its first astronauts on the moon within a decade at the dawn of a new era of manned space exploration -- a race it now leads thanks to the US decision to drop its lunar programme.

US President Barack Obama earlier this month said he planned to drop the costly Constellation space programme, a budget move that would kill off future moon exploration if it is approved by Congress.

In contrast, China has a fast-growing human spaceflight project that has notched one success after another, including a spacewalk by astronauts in 2008, with plans for a manned lunar mission by around 2020.

I'm just happy to know that my money is being used to fund a new manned lunar mission, since NASA's not interested. What a fitting coda the end of American manufacturing as we effectively outsource all engineering and technology development to China. We'll still have burgers to flip.

Posted 2/21/2010 03:44:00 PM by Douglas

It's not illegal for people to brand other's butts if they like it.

Breckenridge authorities say a Texas Christian University student who suffered burns when his peers branded his buttocks participated in the act willingly and no charges will be filed.

Authorities said Thursday they made the decision not to pursue charges after reviewing statements from Amon Carter IV and a dozen TCU students. The Summit Daily News reports that Carter had Greek symbols from his fraternity and a sorority branded on his buttocks Jan. 8 during a trip to Breckenridge and needed surgery after suffering second-and third-degree burns.

Ahh, frat boys. Is there anything they can't do?

Posted 2/21/2010 03:23:00 PM by Douglas

Happy Birthday, Pluto, but you're still not a planet.

Pluto was discovered 80 years ago today, and astronomers are still arguing over what it is.

The oddball world, downgraded from planet to dwarf planet status in 2006 and then later reclassified, is really out there. Scientists aren't sure exactly what Pluto's made of, how it formed, or why it orbits so oddly compared to the eight primary planets. And there are at least two camps of astronomers when it comes to defining Pluto. Some just think of it as a planet, others call it a dwarf planet or a plutoid.

Plutoid. What a great insult. Or possibly somthing akin to a hemorrhoid.

Labels: Pluto

Posted 2/20/2010 03:04:00 PM by Douglas

The Republicans take a strawpole and the teabaggers overwhelming vote for a guy that really hates government.

And the winner of the 2010 CPAC straw poll is... Ron Paul? Yep. The libertarian-leading congressman from Texas bested all-comers today with an impressive victory at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, DC.

Are the Republicans so desperate that they're going to go with the Libertarian? Let's hope so.

Labels: Ron Paul

Posted 2/18/2010 06:55:00 PM by Douglas

Turns out an Austin Toyota dealer started selling airplanes

A software engineer furious with the Internal Revenue Service launched a suicide attack on the agency Thursday by crashing his small plane into an office building containing nearly 200 IRS employees, setting off a raging fire that sent workers running for their lives.

Emergency crews recovered two bodies from the wreckage. The pilot was presumed dead and one worker in the building had been missing. Austin Fire Department Battalion Chief Palmer Buck declined to discuss the identities of those found, but said Thursday night that authorities had "accounted for everybody."

Of course, what's an insane act without a long, rambling suicide note that now days passes as a manifesto. This is no manifesto, this is just a sore headed old crank that tried to cheat the IRS and lost. More than once. No one enjoys paying taxes, except for some disingenuous liberals that lie a lot. But flying a small plane into a building in an office building that isn't even the state's IRS headquarters? That's just stupid. There's got to be a better way to make sure your suicide note gets posted on CNN.

Posted 2/16/2010 05:28:00 PM by Douglas

Some claim that ignorance is much more expensive than education. If that's true, this woman is incredibly wealthy.

When Michelle B-----, a 41-year-old family practitioner in Columbus, Ohio, finished medical school in 2003, her student-loan debt amounted to roughly $250,000. Since then, it has ballooned to $555,000.

It is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates. Among the charges: a single $53,870 fee for when her loan was turned over to a collection agency.

Catch that? This interest is "relentlessly" compounding? What errant bullshit. You take a loan, you have to pay it back. Guess what? You put money in the bank, the interest accrues just as "relentlessly," right? If only understanding compound interest was as easy as medical school. Or as easy as a student loan to "wiggle" out of:

Unlike other kinds of debt, student loans can be particularly hard to wriggle out of. Homeowners who can't make their mortgage payments can hand over the keys to their house to their lender. Credit-card and even gambling debts can be discharged in bankruptcy. But ditching a student loan is virtually impossible, especially once a collection agency gets involved. Although lenders may trim payments, getting fees or principals waived seldom happens.

Well good. Student loans are the easiest to get and the easiest to pay back. You shouldn't be able to get out of them. If you don't have more sense than to assume responsibility for a financially crippling amount of debt, I don't think society should have too much sympathy for your situation.

Posted 2/16/2010 05:19:00 PM by Douglas

Were it not for sexually suggestive dancing, teenagers may never figure out that whole fuckin' thing:

Across the nation, public schools have been putting the brakes on grinding — also known as freak dancing — where partners repeatedly rub their pelvises together in a sexually suggestive manner. Some schools have canceled dances altogether.

That'll do it! Turn these feral teenagers out on the neighborhood. I'm sure their pelvises (pelvi?) won't be in contact. Did we learn nothing from Footloose! I do find their methods of making them conform pretty clever:

And some schools are turning to more unconventional means, such as Pacific Hills School in West Hollywood’s recent threat to turn up the lights and play Burt Bacharach if students started to grind.

That'll do the trick!

Posted 2/14/2010 04:13:00 PM by Douglas

Happy New Year! I for one welcome the Tiger. The ox kinda sucked.

This Sunday, Feb. 14, marks a new year according to the Chinese calendar, which will be moving from the reign of the Ox to the year of the Tiger.

Waving kitty approves:

Posted 2/13/2010 05:22:00 PM by Douglas

Looks like Texas' so called "pole tax" is taking the main stage again.

The Texas Supreme Court has decided to review the legality of charging a $5-per-person “pole tax” to patrons of strip clubs and other adult entertainment venues, a case that has hinged on whether the government can tax content protected by the First Amendment.

The law, passed in the 2007 legislative session, originally directed revenues collected from the fee toward sexual abuse and violence treatment and prevention programs, but it has been mired in legal wrangling almost since it took effect in 2008.

On any level, this "tax" is absurd.

Labels: houston titties

Posted 2/13/2010 05:04:00 PM by Douglas

Sheila Jackson Lee. Very few three word combinations make the blood of Houstonians boil. When she's not answering her cell phone during town hall meetings or complaining that hurricane names are too "white," she's asking the rocket scientists at JPL to drive that Martian rover over to where Neil Armstrong planted the flag. Now it would seem that this mental giant is facing a bit of a challenge from her primary in her re-election bid.

Sheila Jackson Lee's appearance at Michael Jackson's funeral in Los Angeles last summer helped convince a three-term Houston city councilman to give the ubiquitous congresswoman her first credible re-election challenge since she won her seat 16 years ago.

"To say the least, the question 'Why?' came to mind," says Jarvis Johnson, who hopes to end Jackson Lee's tenure in Texas' 18th Congressional District by winning the March 2 Democratic primary. "Why are you there?"

Personally, I'd much rather see this woman at the Staples Center than in Congress. But don't hate her just for that. One of those hurricanes with OUT a "lily white" name, came to this carpet-bagger's home district and screwed up some stuff. How did she react?

She's determined to defend her record and her clout. On the first visit by the new director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to Houston, Jackson Lee shepherded him to her district even though it was dozens of miles from the areas most devastated by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Forget all those people on the coast without power and water, there's a camera rolling in Houston and SJL is standing in front of it. Except when she's late.

“It's difficult to get things done in a place like Congress when you're repeatedly voted one of the worst people to work with,” said Sean Roberts, an attorney who is challenging Jackson Lee in his first run for public office.

Jackson Lee, who visited Haiti Friday as part of a delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrived late to the event and did not hear Roberts' comments.

What an ingenious way to respond to your ineffectiveness. "Sorry, I can't respond to your comment you made before I got here, I'm running on CPT."

Posted 2/12/2010 09:56:00 PM by Douglas

It's downright un-Texan to complain about the heat, and I'll be the first to say that a 75ºF low and 95ºF high for four straight months gets a little tedious in the summer, but this shit is getting old:

Though the weather will remain unusually cold — with highs in the mid-40s today — the wet weather has mostly passed by the region, the Weather Service says. The weekend is likely to be cool and dry with temperatures in the 30s and 40s.

Next week looks set to remain chilly, although temperatures are predicted to rise into the 50s by Thursday.

It's been 41ºF and raining for what seems like weeks, and it's just getting tired. And while I understand why so many people with the misfortune of living in the Pacific Northwest want to kill themselves, I can't figure out why all of them haven't reached for the sweet release of suicide.

Posted 2/12/2010 09:55:00 PM by Douglas

49 out of the 50 states got snow this week.

There was snow on the ground in 49 states Friday. Hawaii was the holdout. It was the United States of Snow, thanks to an unusual combination of weather patterns that dusted the U.S., including the skyscrapers of Dallas, the peach trees of Atlanta and the Florida Panhandle, where hurricanes are more common than snowflakes.

More than two-thirds of the nation's land mass had snow on the ground when the day dawned, and then it snowed ever so slightly in Florida to make it 49 states out of 50.

You're letting me down, Mauna Kea. I'm tired of listening to mouth breathers say "what about global warming now, Al Gore?" While that's pretty dumb, it's even dumber to say that global warming makes the climate exceptionally cold, too. I saw this turd and I'm not buying it. if you take credit for record heat/drought, you can't claim record cold/snow. You can't invent data and have it both ways.

Labels: global warming

Posted 2/12/2010 09:07:00 PM by Douglas

Here's one take on the Canstellation Program that's a bit hyperbolic, but not too far off the mark.

By the end of this year, there will be no shuttle, no U.S. manned space program, no way for us to get into space. We're not talking about Mars or the moon here. We're talking about low-Earth orbit, which the United States has dominated for nearly half a century and from which it is now retiring with nary a whimper.

At the peak of the Apollo program, NASA was consuming almost 4 percent of the federal budget, which in terms of the 2011 budget is about $150 billion. Today the manned space program will die for want of $3 billion a year -- 1/300th of last year's stimulus package with its endless make-work projects that will leave not a trace on the national consciousness.

Obama's NASA budget perfectly captures the difference in spirit between Kennedy's liberalism and Obama's. Kennedy's was an expansive, bold, outward-looking summons. Obama's is a constricted, inward-looking call to retreat.

Fifty years ago, Kennedy opened the New Frontier. Obama has just shut it.

There was a two and a half year gap after both shuttle disasters and an even bigger one before the first shuttle launch, so it's not the end of the world. The bigger issues is if there is going to be a program in the wake of Constellation. The administration cancelled NASA's next manned vehicle, as flawed as it might have been, and replaced it with nothing, effectively. You can't put your finger on any one ship today and say this is the one that's going to take American astronauts to the ISS or anywhere else. That's a problem. So NASA got an additional billion dollars a year for the next five years, but where it's going to get spent is anyone's guess.

The Russian angle is turning out to be the real interesting part in all this:

"We have an agreement until 2012 that Russia will be responsible for this," says Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian space agency, about ferrying astronauts from other countries into low-Earth orbit. "But after that? Excuse me, but the prices should be absolutely different then!"

The Russians may be new at capitalism, but they know how it works. When you have a monopoly, you charge monopoly prices. Within months, Russia will have a monopoly on rides into space.

In the wake of NASA's plan to "privatize" the path to low-earth orbit, the Russians must be laughing their asses off. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, their space program continued in private hands without a hiccup as they maintained and resupplied their Mir Space Station with launches from a country that wasn't even in their empire anymore.

It's just a bit early to throw up your hands and say America has lost its place as the world's preeminent space power. Or maybe it just took this Cancellation to remind people that we still want one.

Posted 2/12/2010 08:36:00 PM by Douglas

Fantastic possibility of the future of NASA:

Posted 2/08/2010 05:45:00 PM by Douglas

More on the fallout of unconsented baby blood:

A critical safety net for babies — that heelprick of blood taken from every newborn — is facing an ethics attack.

After those tiny blood spots are tested for a list of devastating diseases, some states are storing them for years. Scientists consider the leftover samples a treasure, both to improve newborn screening and to study bigger questions, like which environmental toxins can harm a fetus' developing heart or which genes trigger childhood cancers.

But seldom are parents asked to consent to such research — most probably don't know it occurs — raising privacy concerns that are shaking up one of public health's most successful programs. Texas is poised to throw away blood samples from more than 5 million babies to settle a lawsuit from parents angry at what they call secret DNA warehousing. A judge recently dismissed a similar lawsuit in Minnesota.

You really don't have to be a conspiracy theorist for this to sound like a horrible, horrible idea.

"DNA is your personal signature, and it uniquely identifies us," Puck says. "We all have to become more careful and more specific in terms of what we're going to do with the blood spots."

Well, duh. And by "careful" how 'bout refusing to submit them? The government is going to extract some of your babies precious bodily fluid and you don't get a say?

Posted 2/08/2010 05:28:00 PM by Douglas

This video is getting a lot of attention lately, as Hitler apparently likes to yell at everything, but I thought him yelling at Barry's NASA plan was pretty funny. Bonus point the Jersey Shore reference!

Posted 2/06/2010 06:21:00 PM by Douglas

A few years ago, I blogged about the dangers of singing Frank Sinatara's "My Way" in Filipino karaoke bars, but who knew it would become such an epidemic?

Next, he belted out crowd-pleasers by Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Mr. Gregorio, 63, a witness to countless fistfights and occasional stabbings erupting from disputes over karaoke singing, did not dare choose one beloved classic: Frank Sinatra’s version of “My Way.”

“I used to like ‘My Way,’ but after all the trouble, I stopped singing it,” he said. “You can get killed.”

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

"'My Way' Killings?" If it's got a name, it's a much bigger problem than is currently realized.

FREEBIRD!!!1!one!!!

Posted 2/06/2010 06:06:00 PM by Douglas

Looking for that perfect gift for an eight year old girl? How 'bout a "girl" Ouija Board?

It's designed for young girls ages 8 and older, but some say the mysterious product is a "dangerous spiritual game" that opens up anyone, particularly Christians, to attacks on their soul.

Ha! If your girl's soul is so endangered by a piece of pressed Chinese newspapers, hey, something is going to get to her before Hasbro does. Why does this remind me of this old SNL ad, Chess for Girls!

Morrissey approves.

Posted 2/06/2010 05:22:00 PM by Douglas

Nerdy things that are 25 years old this year. Pretty interesting list, although I wish the Mythbusters idiots would fall in a well.

Posted 2/06/2010 05:15:00 PM by Douglas

Put on your tin-foil hats, folks. The government isn't nefariously gathering people's DNA without their knowledge, are they? Naw, probably just babies:

Newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it's often done without the parents' consent, according to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn Screening & Genetics Resource Center.

In many states, such as Florida, where Isabel was born, babies' DNA is stored indefinitely, according to the resource center.

Many parents don't realize their baby's DNA is being stored in a government lab, but sometimes when they find out, as the Browns did, they take action. Parents in Texas, and Minnesota have filed lawsuits, and these parents' concerns are sparking a new debate about whether it's appropriate for a baby's genetic blueprint to be in the government's possession.

What? Resist the government and its desire to acquire, document, and retain the most private part of you humanity without your consent? What could possibly go wrong?

Turns out Texas has already sued and won to get the samples destroyed.

The state will destroy an estimated 5.3 million blood samples legally collected from newborns but kept without parental consent under a federal lawsuit settlement announced Tuesday.

The number of newborns involved is unclear because multiple samples are received from each by the Texas Department of State Health Services, department spokeswoman Allison Lowery said.

Typically, two samples are taken from each child, but there could be more, she said. The disputed samples cover a period of about seven years starting in 2002. The state conducts newborn screening to detect disorders or illnesses.

I'm sure that's the first thing they do with the samples, ya know, for the children, but why is this done without consent? And it really makes no difference if the samples are destroyed or not (other than making a hilarious headline of destroying baby-blood). Once the samples are processed, what's to say the information isn't retained just because the samples are destroyed. A ONE Terabyte hard drive is now 86 bucks so don't think any information like this, once collected, is going anywhere.

< /tin foil hat>

Posted 2/04/2010 05:18:00 PM by Douglas

The "new" ketchup pack is not as groundbreaking as you might think:

For decades there was only one way to use the humble ketchup packet, and it was messy. Now, thanks to a redesign by Heinz, fast-food lovers have a choice: the traditional squeeze play — or the option to dunk.

You want fries with that, in the minivan? No problem.

The redesigned ketchup pack, unveiled Thursday by H.J. Heinz Co., is shaped like a shallow cup. The top can be peeled back for dipping, or the end can be torn off for squeezing. It holds three times as much ketchup as a traditional packet.

When I loaded this page, there was a Whataburger ad at the top banner of the page. Funny, because Whataburger has put their crack, I mean Ketchup, in these packets for years.

Posted 2/03/2010 09:03:00 PM by Douglas

Why does time go faster when you get older? I call it the swirling vortex of time.

As people get older, "they just have this sense, this feeling that time is going faster than they are," says Warren Meck, a psychology professor at Duke University.

This seems to be true across cultures, across time, all over the world.

No one is sure where this feeling comes from.

Posted 2/03/2010 08:53:00 PM by Douglas

Something tells me before you get one of these as a pet, you have to have this discussion:

"Hey honey, can we get a 100 pound rat for the house?"

"Uh, only if you promise to put a saddle on it for Halloween."

Done and done.

This photo released by Melanie Typaldos shows Typaldos and Caplin her pet capybara wearing his Halloween costume. The capybara, Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris, is a semi-aquatic rodent of South America. It weighs about a hundred pounds, and is about 2 feet tall at the shoulder.

Posted 2/02/2010 09:15:00 PM by Douglas

I know times are hard but are they really that hard that we have to resort to this level of rot-gut?

Americans' love affair with top-shelf booze cooled last year as the recession took a toll on high-priced tipples.

People drank more liquor but turned to cheaper brands, according to a report by an industry group. They also drank more at home and less in pricier bars and restaurants in an effort to save money.

Industry growth slowed in 2009, with the amount of liquor sold by suppliers up 1.4 percent. That's the smallest increase since 2001 and below the 10-year average of 2.6 percent.

The lowest-priced segment, with brands such as Popov vodka that can go for less than $10 for a fifth, grew the fastest, with volume rising 5.5 percent, after edging up 0.6 percent in 2008. Meanwhile, the most expensive brands, priced roughly $30 or more for a 750 ml bottle (think Grey Goose, owned by Bacardi), fell the most, tumbling 5.1 percent.

Moonshine can't be far behind. . .

Posted 2/01/2010 10:19:00 PM by Douglas

More news from the top:

Top NASA officials claimed Monday that Houston's Johnson Space Center will remain at the heart of manned space operations for the coming decade despite the President's proposal to kill the agency's marquee program to return astronauts to the moon.

While Texas lawmakers blasted the Obama administration's budget as a disaster for Houston's Johnson Space Center and human space flight, NASA was doing its best Monday to tell Americans that it was not a victim of budget-cutting but a beneficiary of more money.

Worthwhile, or wasteful spending? As Colbert would say "pick a side, we're at war."

Posted 2/01/2010 06:37:00 PM by Douglas

February 1^st is not a good day for NASA. It was seven years ago today that STS-107 didn't come home. But now, even with Bush's grand Vision for Space Exploration, NASA, and President Obama had decided, yeah, maybe not.

So this budget cancels the Constellation Program, including the Ares I and V rockets and the Orion crew exploration vehicle. NASA intends to work with the Congress to make this transition smooth and effective, working responsibly on behalf of the Taxpayers.

Oh, it's gonna be smooth, alright. Smooth right out the door. But in all actuality, it comes down to whether or not the United States wants a manned spaceflight program. Do people in districts not fat with NASA money care if there's a launch putting an American in space? Ida know. We'll see what falls out of this first proposal of the budget, but this effectively kills manned launches, gives the ISS to the Russians (or Chinese) or anybody else that can get to LEO. NASA has had Orion in development for four years, so it's ridiculous to think that a private venture would be ready to fly before Orion would. A few notes about the money:

• $20 Billion of a $3.8 Trillion dollar budget is 0.53%. A little more than half a penny of your tax dollar goes to NASA
• The Department of Defense got an $80 Billion increase this year.
• Over half (56.7%) of total Federal spending is welfare, social security, and medicare/cade

It's pretty clear that the focus of the government is bread, and not so many circuses anymore. Budget info here.

Posted 2/01/2010 05:56:00 PM by Douglas

In light of NASA's news, I can't get this song out of my head today:


I know it's over, still I cling. I don't know where else I can go. . . .