Don't Worry... You Didn't Miss Anything

To my adoring fans, I am sorry that I have not been blogging more regularly, it's just been a busy past few days... that translates to "I've been lazy lately." On a personal note, the Communist Party at my new place went well and many people have since told me how much fun they had. I am looking for a place to host a pirate party since my new place is probably a little too small. If anyone wants to volunteer their pad for International Talk Like A Pirate Day, do let me know! Perhaps the people from Caroline Collective will want to host it?

So what did you miss last week? Not much... in fact I'll cover all the highlights in less than 10 minutes. Just keep on keeping on with your reading on this post! Oh... be sure not to look at your stock portfolio as I am sure that it's still down but be aware that tomatoes are still making people sick!

And if you were worried, the U.S. public education system still sucks... I blame it on federal intervention and the fact that teaching has gone from a noble profession to overpaid babysitters. Who cares if a student can name all the presidents of the United States in order... they will forget by the time they are 18 anyways. Instead lets focus on life skills... such as "how credit cards hurt your credit" or "how not to get pregnant and ruin your life."

In International News

North Korea has taken a symbolic but perhaps minor step to show its commitment to stop making plutonium for atomic bombs. The 20 meter cooling tower at the main reactor complex is a nice gesture in response to the concessions made my the United States, but is one of the simplest pieces to rebuild. North Korea also released a declaration of its plutonium enrichment... but it does not include information on its uranium enrichment or proliferation efforts. Some experts believe North Korea has enough weapons-grade plutonium for 10 nuclear bombs, the United States says, "We'll have to study it very carefully and then we'll have to work on verification," translated: "We have no idea whats going on here, but we will continue to hold talks and do nothing." In the meantime, especially with rising energy needs, more states are considering the nuclear option, which puts them on track for an easy conversion to nuclear weapons. If North Korea fails to disarm... South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are only a stones throw away from being able to convert their nuclear power to nuclear weapons program. If Iran produces a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and others may make the push to develop them as well. Many countries may follow Brazil's example, positioning themselves as compliant with the Nonproliferation Treaty's ban on bombs, but equipping themselves with the power technology - enrichment centrifuges - that enable them "to move rapidly to weaponization if and when needed."

In Space News

Will NASA find live on Mars? We already talked about how water ice was found on Mars (scroll to Space News), but does water mean life, especially with the surface radiation taken into account? One astrobiologist says "Phoenix could easily be sitting a meter or two about pay dirt," but it's a shame that it can't drill that deep. The next two Mars missions including NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, an SUV-sized rover set to launch in 2009, and the European ExoMars rover that would wield a drill capable of digging 6.5 feet down set to launch in 2013 might lead to more answers. Perhaps we will find a new form of fossil fuel that both shows there was life on mars and provides solutions to our energy issues? In the meantime astronauts will be playing with an explosive bolt in space... gee, that sounds like a good idea.

Technology In Our Lives

Do you get annoyed when you can't find a website because they use .net, .gov, or .edu rather than .com? What about the tricky ones using .cc or some country code? Well now that Internet's key oversight agency (ICANN) relaxed the rules to permit the introduction of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of new Internet domain names. New names may be location or industry based, and will lead to helping site promote easy to remember names. Of course, these new suffixes will merely force companies and organizations to spend more money registering names such as "microsoft.houston" simply so others can't and many legal battles are possible over common but trademarked names like ".apple." I'm hoping for simplification of the web with the use of descriptors such as .bar or .parody.