the simplest solution to the current US financial problems is a short period of modest wage inflation say 25-50% inflation over 3-4 years for median household incomes this would cover consumer inflation, help moderate the credit crisis and alleviate in part the mortgage problems however, it would hurt corporate profits in the medium term, and significantly reduce the net income of people holding long term fixed income assets, who rely on unearned income - ie trust fund holders and many retirees so it is not going to happen without considerably more political turmoil the alternatives are all…

SpaceX has explanation for Falcon 1 stage separation failure in 3rd launch failure With mo' better video. Should be easy to fix. SpaceX telecon: "...on Flight 3, with the regeneratively cooled engine, there was some residual thrust after engine shut down and this caused the first stage to be pushed back toward the second stage after separation and there was a recontact between the stages." (via NASAwatch) See for your selves. video link From NASAwatch

reasons for tenure #24952 ORNL fires Distinguished Scientist, UT picks up slack from Incoherent Ponderer Oak Ridge National Lab denies charge that outspokenness of scientist the reason NAS member and physicist who had a joint appointment at ORNL and University of Tennessee was terminated by ORNL without notice. Reason, officially, was DoE's interest in "use-inspired" research as opposed to "discovery based" research. The firing had absolutely nothing, whatsoever never-ever positively-not pinky-promise-honestly, to do with the researcher using his stature to make open criticism of the…

the Department of Justice took the unusual step of releasing some of the documents filed in the case against Dr Ivins in the 2001 anthrax attacks here is the document dump - "Amerithrax" - very catchy it will have to be crowd sourced for analysis, but a glance shows a lot of duplication, cut-n-paste statements to get search warrants etc the "leaks" were clearly half-assed versions of a lot of the affidavits some of the circumstantial evidence bandied about in the media is quite robust and worrying, some of it seems just silly cf this affidavit (pdf) - pages 8-9 on Ivins working late in the…

Anthrax Vaccine blog by Dr Nass. Interesting perspective on the Ivins allegations on the 2001 anthrax attacks. 'cause links are an intrinsic good.

sometimes it is important to parse language precisely if I say something is "absurd" or a notion is "ridiculous", then, strictly speaking, the claim has not been denied Since I am not laughing, I conclude that, as might be expected, the White House press officer has a better command of the nuances of the english language than the former CIA director. It is not that hard to actually deny something. Oh, and as former CIA officials know, saying "I didn't do it" is not synonymous with "didn't happen" - saying "none of those people told me to do it" and "I don't know anything about it" are not…

Academic term will start soon here, just in time for football season. Enrollment is high, due to demographic and economic factors, but, with the slowly developing funding crunch, will the students actually show up and register? Enrollment in institutions of higher education, in the US, is very high right now, due primarily to demographics- the echo of the baby boom is passing through the lucrative 18-22 phase - but also because of higher participation rate and because times are hard. It is rational for people to defer entering the job market and take on the direct and opportunity cost of…

Fascinating article on slashdot about why California can't cut wage payroll employees to fed minimum wage, because their financial system is a COBOL legacy system and Schwarzenegger's executive order bans hiring retirees with the requisite expertise... "The state controller, who has opposed the pay cut on principle and legal grounds, now says the pay cut isn't even feasible because the state's payroll systems are so antiquated. He says it would take 6 months to go to minimum wage, and 9 months more to restore salaries once a budget is passed. The system is based on COBOL, according to the…

Freeze drying anthrax and the weird case of the US domestic anthrax attacks in 2001 There has been a set of good Sb posts on the recent developments in the anthrax mailing terrorist attacks in 2001, after the FBI revealed they had a new suspect, Dr Ivins, who was a researcher at Ft Detrick USAMRIID Greg has a timeline and link to Greenwald Tara lays out the basic story and Revere comments Mike lays out the open questions There are two additional bizarro evidentiary leaks that came out today, that make the whole story even stranger: the letter were mailed from Princeton NJ, and Ivins has no…

No says NASA. Not yet. (h/t NASAwatch) NASA is surreptitiously downplaying blog buzz that the Phoenix lander has found something very interesting... In particular it is absolutely definitely not life! As we know it. But, there is a lot of heat and smoke and hints of an upcoming paper in Science or something. I know nothing. So, I will feel free to wildly speculate in the hope someone who does know will correct me, because that is how the web works, as you know: I am guessing, that the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer found something juicy in the sample that had the water ice that they…

Third Falcon launch failed also. Three satellites lost. From NASAwatch - with launch video - first stage engine performed, but stage separation failed. SpaceX homepage has comments - they have raised capital, have booked customers and plan multiple future launches including the Falcon 9 heavy launcher. I hope they get the bugs shaken out soon. Falcon 1 - 3rd launch attempt press kit - lets just skip over the section on stage separation on page 9... Payloads were Marshall's NANOSail-D - a solar sail demo Ames' PRESat - a biological experimental microsat and DOD's Trailblazer - a Jumpstart…

"...a fire was started on the porch of a faculty member's home. Injuries were sustained as the faculty member and his wife and children escaped the residence." Attack comes after pamphlets were found threatening faculty claimed to use animals in research. Fires were set at two faculty residences, car in the driveway of one house, and on the porch of another's house. "Injuries were sustained as the faculty member and his wife and children escaped the residence." UPDATE: Injury was incurred during escape down a fire ladder, researcher whose house was firebombed identified as Prof Feldheim -…

August friday, and a start of something new. We cheerfully flitter to the Mighty iPod and ask the obvious: Can We Believe There Will Be Change? Whoosh goes the randomizer. Whoosh. iPod Divination for newbies - Believe It. The Covering: Shadow Play - Joy Division The Crossing: It's Nasty (Genius of Love) - Grandmaster Flash The Crown: Accident Waiting to Happen (Red Stars Version) - Billy Bragg The Root: Chilling of the Evening - Arlo Guthrie The Past: It's Going to Happen - Undertones The Future: The Firebird II: Dance of the Firebird The Questioner: Crystal Ship - Doors The House:…

Do Not Panic! Do Not Blink! Do Not Go Back to Sleep. Go out, in about 3 hours, and watch the solar eclipse It is short, about 2 mins, but it will be beautiful (unless it is raining, is it raining?) and you in Gooseland will be just about the only people with a chance to see it. From Natural Sciences.org Dude. h/t Greg for reminder

Ok, The Official Dynamics of Cats Obama Campaign Donation Funding Match is on. As promised Site meter is up, a few hours early, so discount the number by some small n. So... I'll take requests. Since this is in a good cause. Is there anything people would like me to cover specifically during the next month, in my quest to actually maintain blogging activity before semester begins and to try to stay broadly on topic?

"Crush your employees, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations at their paycheques..." Oh, I wish I had thought of that title. UPDATE: a check or a headfake? The order is out. The clause on Student Assistants could have interesting repercussions.

Pontifications on Physics Personified, from two perspectives. Here is the Harry Potter personification of physics. 0. Newtonian gravity is Ron. Solid, dependable, good long heritage. It has its limits, but is surprisingly powerful. 1. Electromagnetism is Snape. You must master E&M, but so many have irrational fear or hatred of it. It leads to deep unification and glimpses of fundamental symmetries, and is strangely beautiful yet powerful. 2. Special Relativity is Ginny. Transcends classical mechanics, but in touch with its heritage. Practical, explosive, generally high energy.…

Inside Higher Ed has a note on Crackergate - usual suspects in the comments.

Amount of August blog check will go to Obama Seed pays us SciBlings to blog: not a lot, beer money, not living wages, and definitely not retire-at-thirty kinda dough. This is an academically oriented blog, and, to be honest, the summer months are a slow period. Both for readers, and for me. Too much travel, real life etc. So, I need some motivation to keep on bloggin'. Now, I am not a US citizen, so I don't vote for President. But, I do live in the US, I pay taxes here, and my kids are growing up here. So, you could say that I have a pro-active interest in the elections. So, my wife, who is…

The popular VOIP Skype has a backdoor for bugging h/t Steve at Information Processing A German online tech source reports that Skype has a hidden backdoor on its encryption protocol enabling third party bugging of conversations. Info was leaked by Austrian police. Backdoor is presumably there at the request of European regulators, if not, Skype could be in serious trouble with the EU. Backdoor is presumably shared with the US authorities, specially since they are now US owned... Skype is very popular internationally as a quasi-free Voice-Over-Internet-Phone application. Skype was founded in…