Month April 2009

California budget train wreck

Democratic activists at the annual state party convention blocked endorsement of several controversial budget measures on the upcoming May 19 special statewide election. Republicans are overwhelmingly opposed to all six ballot measures. If they don’t pass, the current budget agreement…

Stock market rally seems unreal

Michael Santoli in Barron’s Final-hour surges and air pockets, common lately, unnerve the methodical investor. The apparent gaming of newly popular leveraged exchange-traded funds late in the day is another wrinkle… These funds always need to trade in the same…

Swine flu. Don’t believe the hype

OMIGOD. Swine flu will surely attack the entire planet. Apocalyptic scenarios of mass doom abound. Be scared, be very scared. Truly, it is TEOTWAWKI. (Wait, wasn’t the world supposed to end during the last 5 Horrible Threats To Us All?)…

Space-based solar power

If it works, space-based solar power would be extraordinary, zero carbon energy is created in space by solar panels, converted to radio waves and beamed to earth, then converted back into electricity. Big Gav details the pros and cons, and…

Left-Green coalition wins Iceland election

Ms Sigurdardottir [the new PM] told supporters the nation was “settling the score with the neoliberalism” and with the conservative Independence Party who “have been in power for much too long”. “The people are calling for a change of ethics.…