The new year

I've been remiss in sending out anything out in the blogosphere of late. I have been busy with the holidays and such. All I can say, is thank God 2008 is over. The only thing good about it was we elected a new President. Boy, does he have his job cut out for him. This country is in a mess with financial institutes falling by the wayside, jobs being lost daily, the housing market in turmoil, properties dropping almost 50% in the last year, manufacturing in a down turn as a result, and the rest of the world not fairing any better.

A Little Science

On the Science front, there have been some amazing innovations in 2008 and some of the best are:

Until now astronomer used the wobble algorithm to detect exoplanets. Astronomers would figured out where exoplanets are and what they weigh by noticing how each planet's gravity pulls at its own star, making the star wobble. But images from Hubble in 2008 of Fomalhaut, the 18th brightest star in the sky about 25 light years from earth, shows a planet circling this star. About the same time, an observatory in Hawaii was able to confirm the discovery of a three planets system around a star 130 light years outside our solar system. While hundreds of planets are known to exist around stars other than our sun, none have ever been visible until now. A change in the searching method, rather than new technology, made the breakthroughs. Isn’t that too cool for words!

Another great scientific discovery was the use of living adult stem cells to help in a transplant done in Spain. The donor part was washed to rid it of all the active cells and the part was put in a tank of the patient’s own stem cells, alleviating the need for immune suppressant drugs and rejection of the donor's part. Now that’s something we need—a better way to replace body parts without rejection.

Also, scientists in China were able to deceiver 80% of the DNA sequencing of a woolly Mammoth and now want to clone it—Hey, Jurassic Park could be a reality sooner than we think.

Another discovery was new class of high temperature superconductor material invented by China. Using from iron instead of copper could eventually make storing energy produced by wind and sun more reliable for long electrical transmissions and could increase power grid capabilities. Now that’s something we need to explore here at home and now too.

Isn’t it interesting that more inventions are coming out of Asia and Europe than America? Hey guys what happened to American innovation?

Shame on me, Shame on you rants

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California in order to save 1.3 billion or a 42 billion deficit has ordered a 10% cut in state agency payroll and by executive order has decreed that state employees take two days off a month without pay. Now the employees are suing, stating it is unfair. Shame on you,—instead of two days off you can have complete layoffs. Isn’t better to have two days off a month instead of unemployment without benefits?

Frankness from Ben Franklin

Ben said—Why are people always meddling with the administration of government and bickering what’s wrong and what’s right. They spend so much thought on the state affairs they neglect the actual doing of the affairs! He equated it as…While some travelers keep gazing at the stars, they slip in a ditch, theonly result is a dirty arse.