tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post770357096999169794..comments2024-03-28T21:41:52.558-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Hold Your Breath and Say Your Prayers for Tuesday.Deuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-78495887403878845362008-10-21T04:30:00.000-04:002008-10-21T04:30:00.000-04:002164,Taking down good posts to make room for the r...2164,<BR/><BR/>Taking down good posts to make room for the retarded ones. Well enjoy the power.Habuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15883037170077821624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-21556338797565630162008-10-21T04:21:00.000-04:002008-10-21T04:21:00.000-04:002164, Man o man, EB, the circular firing squad whe...2164, <BR/><BR/>Man o man, EB, the circular firing squad where nothing serious is discusses, only insults hurled. wowHabuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15883037170077821624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82685406396011808452008-10-21T03:58:00.000-04:002008-10-21T03:58:00.000-04:00For anyone still awake or interested in revisiting...For anyone still awake or interested in revisiting the original topic of the post, <A HREF="http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/market-movers/2008/10/19/why-the-cds-market-didnt-fail" REL="nofollow">this Portfolio.com piece</A> takes a far more optimistic view on the CDS market, principally because they DID follow mark-to-market rules on a DAILY basis, which creates quite a transparent market, as opposed to the opaque one the Brit misfit financial journals crow about. Haven't found a good British financial/economic analyst type in quite a while, but plenty like these and that ambrose-evans or whatever his froo-froo, sissy ass double name is. FWIW, this Felix guy at portfolio.com has written extensively, knowledgably and impressively about the last few weeks market conditions. He's definitely a go-to guy for reality based financial analysis. With that said, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.<BR/><BR/>On that note, my eyes crossed, too, so off to la-la land for me.j williehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13351257651406475696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-76862336789900144172008-10-21T00:25:00.000-04:002008-10-21T00:25:00.000-04:00You can live pretty comfortably on the dole here, ...You can live pretty comfortably on the dole here, Bob. Lots of surfers do it as well as aboriginals. I'm not sure of the exact figures (dole payments) but I know it's a long long way from starving. I've also heard stories from more than 1 source that aboriginals in the Northern Territory also get free Landcruisers from the guv'ment.samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11856051164644278989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-44265117306307960852008-10-20T23:56:00.000-04:002008-10-20T23:56:00.000-04:00Revolutionary paper is stronger than steelTALLAHAS...<B>Revolutionary paper is stronger than steel</B><BR/><BR/>TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.<BR/><BR/>Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.<BR/><BR/>"All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.<BR/><BR/>That idea -- that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes -- has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.<BR/><BR/>Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Due to its unique properties, it is envisioned as a wondrous new material for light, energy-efficient aircraft and automobiles, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products.<BR/><BR/>So far, buckypaper can be made at only a fraction of its potential strength, in small quantities and at a high price. The Florida State researchers are developing manufacturing techniques that soon may make it competitive with the best composite materials now available.<BR/><BR/>"If this thing goes into production, this very well could be a very, very game-changing or revolutionary technology to the aerospace business," said Les Kramer, chief technologist for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which is helping fund the Florida State research.<BR/><BR/>The scientific discovery that led to buckypaper virtually came from outer space.<BR/><BR/>In 1985, British scientist Harry Kroto joined researchers at Rice for an experiment to create the same conditions that exist in a star. They wanted to find out how stars, the source of all carbon in the universe, make the element that is a main building block of life.<BR/><BR/>Everything went as planned with one exception.<BR/><BR/>"There was an extra character that turned up totally unexpected," recalled Kroto, now at Florida State heading a program that encourages the study of math, science and technology in public schools. "It was a discovery out of left field."<BR/><BR/>The surprise guest was a molecule with 60 carbon atoms shaped like a soccer ball. To Kroto, it also looked like the geodesic domes promoted by Buckminster Fuller, an architect, inventor and futurist. That inspired Kroto to name the new molecule buckminsterfullerene, or "buckyballs" for short.<BR/><BR/>For their discovery of the buckyball -- the third form of pure carbon to be discovered after graphite and diamonds -- Kroto and his Rice colleagues, Robert Curl Jr. and Richard E. Smalley, were awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1996.<BR/><BR/>Separately, Japanese physicist Sumio Iijima developed a tube-shaped variation while doing research at Arizona State University.<BR/><BR/>Researchers at Smalley's laboratory then inadvertently found that the tubes would stick together when disbursed in a liquid suspension and filtered through a fine mesh, producing a thin film -- buckypaper.<BR/><BR/>The secret of its strength is the huge surface area of each nanotube, said Ben Wang, director of Florida State's High-Performance Materials Institute.<BR/><BR/>"If you take a gram of nanotubes, just one gram, and if you unfold every tube into a graphite sheet, you can cover about two-thirds of a football field," Wang said.<BR/><BR/>Carbon nanotubes are already beginning to be used to strengthen tennis rackets and bicycles, but in small amounts. The epoxy resins used in those applications are 1 to 5 percent carbon nanotubes, which are added in the form of a fine powder. Buckypaper, which is a thin film rather than a powder, has a much higher nanotube content -- about 50 percent.<BR/><BR/>One challenge is that the tubes clump together at odd angles, limiting their strength in buckypaper. Wang and his fellow researchers found a solution: Exposing the tubes to high magnetism causes most of them to line up in the same direction, increasing their collective strength.<BR/><BR/>Another problem is the tubes are so perfectly smooth it's hard to hold them together with epoxy. Researchers are looking for ways to create some surface defects -- but not too many -- to improve bonding.<BR/><BR/>So far, the Florida State institute has been able to produce buckypaper with half the strength of the best existing composite material, known as IM7. Wang expects to close the gap quickly.<BR/><BR/>"By the end of next year we should have a buckypaper composite as strong as IM7, and it's 35 percent lighter," Wang said.<BR/><BR/>Buckypaper now is being made only in the laboratory, but Florida State is in the early stages of spinning out a company to make commercial buckypaper.<BR/><BR/>"These guys have actually demonstrated materials that are capable of being used on flying systems," said Adams, director of Rice's Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology. "Having something that you can hold in your hand is an accomplishment in nanotechnology."<BR/><BR/>It takes upward of five years to get a new structural material certified for aviation use, so Wang said he expects buckypaper's first uses will be for electromagnetic interference shielding and lightning-strike protection on aircraft.<BR/><BR/>Electrical circuits and even natural causes such as the sun or Northern Lights can interfere with radios and other electronic gear. Buckypaper provides up to four times the shielding specified in a recent Air Force contract proposal, Wang said.<BR/><BR/>Typically, conventional composite materials have a copper mesh added for lightning protection. Replacing copper with buckypaper would save weight and fuel.<BR/><BR/>Wang demonstrated this with a composite model plane and a stun gun. Zapping an unprotected part of the model caused sparks to fly. The electric jolt, though, passed harmlessly across another section shielded by a strip of buckypaper.<BR/><BR/>Other near-term uses would be as electrodes for fuel cells, super capacitors and batteries, Wang said. Next in line, buckypaper could be a more efficient and lighter replacement for graphite sheets used in laptop computers to dissipate heat, which is harmful to electronics.<BR/><BR/>The long-range goal is to build planes, automobiles and other things with buckypaper composites. The military also is looking at it for use in armor plating and stealth technology.<BR/><BR/>"Our plan is perhaps in the next 12 months we'll begin maybe to have some commercial products," Wang said. "Nanotubes obviously are no longer just lab wonders. They have real world potential. It's real."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-19845038880673085012008-10-20T23:22:00.000-04:002008-10-20T23:22:00.000-04:00You are one of us.==You too, Bob.You are one of us.<BR/>==<BR/><BR/>You too, Bob.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-38447241788779668322008-10-20T23:12:00.000-04:002008-10-20T23:12:00.000-04:00Yes, that is the way T and me read it too.I think ...Yes, that is the way T and me read it too.<BR/><BR/>I think you have got it right.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Night, <BR/>Mat.<BR/><BR/>You are one of us.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-80829017730494257322008-10-20T23:04:00.000-04:002008-10-20T23:04:00.000-04:00G'nite, Bob. Keep practice your fly swatting techn...G'nite, Bob. <BR/><BR/>Keep practice your fly swatting techniques. Amelekites are everywhere these days, it seems.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-23629449605005612872008-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:59:00.000-04:00the catfish fishing is great!==So are the local je...the catfish fishing is great!<BR/>==<BR/><BR/>So are the local jerk pork restaurants. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-57287623841784868932008-10-20T22:57:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:57:00.000-04:00The people whom Huck and Jim encounter on the Miss...The people whom Huck and Jim encounter on the Mississippi are drunkards, murderers, bullies, swindlers, lynchers, thieves, liars, mows, frauds, child abusers, numbskulls, hypocrites, windbags and traders in human flesh. All are white. The one man of honor in this phantasmagoria is 'Nigger Jim,' as Twain called him to emphasize the irony of a society in which the only true gentleman was held beneath contempt.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82183066097611188482008-10-20T22:55:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:55:00.000-04:00:)I'm going to bed,Mat.But the catfish fishing is ...:)<BR/><BR/>I'm going to bed,Mat.<BR/><BR/>But the catfish fishing is great!Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-82999544127021930842008-10-20T22:53:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:53:00.000-04:00'Nigger Jim' too?'Nigger Jim' too?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-11989574357342043842008-10-20T22:49:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:49:00.000-04:00Scammers the whole lot of them.I can believe that,...<I> Scammers the whole lot of them.</I><BR/><BR/>I can believe that, Mat, and I invite you down for a trip on the Mississippi, with Teresita and me :)Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-29252370452300361842008-10-20T22:41:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:41:00.000-04:00In Australia, I'll check this out with Sam, I beli...In Australia, I'll check this out with Sam, I believe the welfare payments to the blacks, who don't do anything, are called "sit down money"<BR/>Figures.<BR/>==<BR/><BR/>Bob, <BR/><BR/>I have a dentist friend who has to deal with them white hicks in them Pennsylvania towns. They're not much better than blacks. Scammers the whole lot of them. Often times the whole town is on the dole. This isn't just a black thing.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11132252460964519368noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-3036064042434402008-10-20T22:00:00.000-04:002008-10-20T22:00:00.000-04:00Hey, bob, this fits your wife's scenario, almost t...Hey, bob, this fits your wife's scenario, almost to a "T". Fella registered at his "bothood home" though he really "lived" some where else.<BR/>Bail was $50,000.<BR/><BR/><BR/><B><I>Republican Voter Registration Chief Arrested for Fraud in California<BR/><BR/>The head of a signature-gathering firm hired by the California Republican Party was arrested over the weekend for allegedly lying about his address to to vote in the state. </I></B><BR/><BR/>FOXNews.com<BR/><BR/>Monday, October 20, 2008 <BR/><BR/>The head of a voter registration group hired by the California Republican Party was arrested over the weekend for allegedly lying about his address in the state in order to vote illegally, the office of California's secretary of state announced Sunday.<BR/><BR/>Mark Anthony Jacoby, the owner of a signature-gathering firm called Young Political Majors, was taken into custody by Ontario police just after midnight Saturday and booked with a felony punishable by up to three years in prison.<BR/><BR/>Jacoby allegedly registered himself at his childhood home in Los Angeles, even though he no longer lives there. It is voter fraud to register if ineligible and perjury to provide false information on a voter registration card. Jacoby was charged with two counts of each relating to his 2006 and 2007 registration.<BR/><BR/>"Voter registration fraud is a serious issue, which is why I vigorously investigate all allegations of elections fraud," said Bowen, California's chief elections officer. "Where there's a case to be made, I will forward it to law enforcement for criminal prosecution." <BR/><BR/>An arraignment date has not been scheduled yet. Bail was set at $50,000.desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13688768962485794182008-10-20T21:56:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:56:00.000-04:00There are few cherries in this crowdThere are few cherries in this crowddesert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-29172841586085957962008-10-20T21:46:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:46:00.000-04:00I was just sittin' here pondering how a poly putti...I was just sittin' here pondering how a poly putting INDEPENDENT on his sign might be branding himself if a favorable way these days. Maybe the next go 'round we'll see it happen.Ashhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06232405130481114127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-59715791048264009222008-10-20T21:45:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:45:00.000-04:00In Australia, I'll check this out with Sam, I beli...In Australia, I'll check this out with Sam, I believe the welfare payments to the blacks, who don't do anything, are called "sit down money"<BR/>Figures.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-12940706556436490812008-10-20T21:44:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:44:00.000-04:00jeeeze rat, can't you get it right, ever!!?? It's...jeeeze rat, can't you get it right, ever!!?? It's cherry juice not metrosexual juice.<BR/><BR/>:DAshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06232405130481114127noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51427336126241698282008-10-20T21:42:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:42:00.000-04:00DR: It all comes back to gout.Where's that cranber...DR: <B>It all comes back to gout.<BR/><BR/>Where's that cranberry juice?!?!?!</B><BR/><BR/>Cherry juice. And it's not working for shit this time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-13884633507728752262008-10-20T21:40:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:40:00.000-04:00By Gloria BorgerCNN Senior Political AnalystYet th...<I>By Gloria Borger<BR/>CNN Senior Political Analyst<BR/><BR/>Yet the Powell endorsement was not just a pro-forma, "he's my guy" announcement. Instead, in supporting Obama, Powell decided to get specific -- and not only about McCain's uneven performance during the financial crisis and his judgment (or lack thereof) in choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate.<BR/><BR/>In fact, what was most notable was Powell's dire assessment of the state of the GOP: "The party has moved even further to the right," he said, adding that, "over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become narrower and narrower."<BR/><BR/>That's the key indictment, and the key problem, for the GOP. While the political world shifts towards independent voters -- who, by nature, are more about pragmatism than dogma -- the Republican Party remains unable to redefine itself back into a working majority. Watch the effect of Powell's endorsement <BR/><BR/>Is it still the party of Ronald Reagan? Or has it moved beyond Reagan's innate optimism and into a party that wants to build fences and demand ideological purity? Or can it come up with new ideas that could eventually provide some rejuvenation?<BR/><BR/>Truth is, after more than a decade of political dominance, the GOP is out of steam and on the verge of a civil war -- with factions splitting among the foreign-policy hardliners, the tax-cutters and the social conservatives.<BR/><BR/><B>What's more, the party that had distinguished itself in the 1990s era of Newt Gingrich and his revolutionaries is now suffering from the political gout that afflicts the powerful when they get too comfortable.</B></I><BR/><BR/>It all comes back to gout.<BR/><BR/>Where's that cranberry juice?!?!?!desert rathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02369546288659566961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-51841525819729099622008-10-20T21:39:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:39:00.000-04:00OR maybe not ironically, but "appropriately enough...OR maybe not ironically, but "appropriately enough"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-62024684229843889392008-10-20T21:38:00.001-04:002008-10-20T21:38:00.001-04:00These white women talk, Ash, among themselves.These white women talk, Ash, among themselves.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-52329054596534567572008-10-20T21:38:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:38:00.000-04:00Joe Biden said it was a sure bet that Barack Obama...Joe Biden said it was a sure bet that Barack Obama would be tested with a national security crisis within the first six months of taking office. I'll bet Obama was thrilled by that. Way to go Joe, you really are earning your double agent paycheck. <BR/><BR/>He said it, ironically, at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-65818599016566973642008-10-20T21:30:00.000-04:002008-10-20T21:30:00.000-04:00She wishes now, she had never married this black t...She wishes now, she had never married this black tv sitter, and is asking my wife how to get out.<BR/><BR/>And that is the post Powell truth.Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04145155737835511824noreply@blogger.com