Year: 2007

You Know Housing Sucks when the San Diego Paper is Pessimistic

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So much of their revenue of all papers comes from realtors ads that they are universally cheerleaders for real estate.

Just a few months ago, they said it would be over in the 2nd half of 2007, now it’s “Well into 2008”.

I was in the Massachusetts real estate crash in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It was local, and relatively small.

It took 2-3 years to get back to normal, and the price drop was far less than we will see here.

This will be 5-10 years.

Subprimes, affordability cited for industry’s woes

By Emmet Pierce
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

June 12, 2007

The implosion of the subprime mortgage market is likely to prolong the national housing slump, Harvard University researchers said yesterday in their annual report on the state of the nation’s housing.

“At a minimum it will slow any recovery,” said Nicolas P. Retsinas, director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which issued the report. “Add to that the overbuilding and the inventory correction and you can see why it appears, particularly for the new-home market, that this slump will last well into 2008.” (emphasis mine)

Housing-industry analysts say the riskiest subprime adjustable-rate loans were made in 2005 and 2006. As they reset at higher interest rates through 2008, they are likely to fuel the current surge in foreclosures.

As lenders move to tighten loose credit standards and prevent defaults, it will become harder and harder for subprime borrowers to refinance into more affordable loans, Retsinas said.

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More Bush Admin Corruption

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Once again, we see that there is no policy, just politics.

GSA chief accused of Hatch Act violation

By JIM ABRAMS

WASHINGTON — The head of the main federal contracting agency, a longtime GOP supporter, should be “punished to the fullest extent” for violating a ban on political advocacy on government time, a watchdog agency concluded.

The Office of Special Counsel, in a letter to President Bush released late Monday, said General Services Administrator Lurita Doan engaged in “the most pernicious of political activity” banned by the 1939 Hatch Act when she asked, at a meeting of General Services Administration political appointees, how they could help Republican candidates.

“I recommend that Administrator Doan be disciplined to the fullest extent for her serious violation of the Hatch Act and insensitivity to cooperating fully and honestly in the course of our investigation,” wrote Scott Bloch, special counsel for the independent investigative and prosecutorial agency.

Doan’s attorney, in a June 1 response to Bloch also released Monday, rejected the office’s conclusions, saying Doan was only peripherally involved in the January 26 PowerPoint presentation by a senior White House political adviser at GSA headquarters on helping Republicans in coming elections.

Michael J. Nardotti, Jr., of Patton Boggs LLP, criticized the “lack of objectivity and impartiality” by the Office of Special Counsel and said it had “resulted in an extraordinary unfairness to Administrator Doan.” He urged the president to disapprove the report and submit the matter to another entity outside the Office of Special Counsel.

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USAF considers scrapping Lockheed Martin JASSM deal-07/06/2007-Washington DC-Flight International

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This is a very large program, and it would be a VERY big deal if it got canceled, but it should be canceled.

USAF considers scrapping Lockheed Martin JASSM deal-07/06/2007-Washington DC

By Stephen Trimble

The US Air Force may cancel the Lockheed Martin AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile programme unless the government and the contractor can agree on a plan to resolve systemic reliability issues by 27 June. The air force has invited Lockheed to propose a way forward for the programme during a 30-day assessment period, but officials are not optimistic about the potential for a successful deal.

The USAF is prepared to replace JASSM with a new-start programme or order an alternative, such as an air-launched version of the Raytheon BGM-109 Tactical Tomahawk or MBDA’s Storm Shadow.

JASSM is a stealthy, penetrating cruise missile with a 453kg (1,000lb)-class warhead. Although the capability remains a requirement for warfighters, the USAF is willing to scrap the programme for a more reliable product. “We do not know if we will be able to certify this programme,” says Sue Peyton, assistant secretary of the air force for acquisition.

The $5.8 billion programme needs to be certificated in order to proceed, after breaching the so-called Nunn-McCurdy limit, a congressional rule for any programme that exceeds its original budget by at least 25%. So far, the air force has spent $2 billion on developing and producing the weapon.

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The certification requirement allows the USAF to pressure Lockheed to resolve a perceived reliability crisis with JASSM. In 64 flight tests to date, the JASSM has recorded 39 successes and 25 failures, with the latter caused by a wide range of usually small manufacturing quality errors or design glitches.

The air force wants Lockheed to submit an acceptable plan that would elevate the missile’s 58% reliability rate to a minimum of 75%, Peyton says. The service is willing to pick up some of the costs for the reliability improvements, but Lockheed’s proposal must show “the air force they really, really want this programme” by also contributing to the extra cost, she adds.

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Those numbers are hideous. Even their 75% target is a big wet kiss to Lockheed.

Cancellation for cause would be a good thing.

My Email to the Edwards Campaign

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I meant what I said. I am leaning toward his candidacy, and I want an apology from Mr. Sanders. A real one, not a phony “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” apology.

The text (pasted into their web form):

I recently read Dave “Mudcat” Sanders’ blog on time, and I am profoundly concerned by what he wrote on Time’s Swampland Blog.
There are a number of reasons:

* It was anti-Jewish. Specifically his slam of “elitist wing of the Democratic Party, or what I refer to as the “Metropolitan Opera Wing”.” is specifically a call to Jew Baiting.

* It was homophobic.

* It was racist, or at least it used racist code words.

I’m not of any particular importance. I have a blog with (perhaps) 100 readers a day (no I did not drop a few 0s, we are talking Z-list blogger).

I was a precinct captain for Howard Dean in 2004, but obviously the campaign was suspended before the Maryland primary.

I am given to understand that he is an adviser to your campaign.

I have not yet made a decision on which candidate to endorse, but you are currently the candidate I favor.

I will be making an endorsement before the Iowa caucuses (that and $2.50 will get you a Starbucks).

I am not suggesting that you separate Mr Saunders from your campaign.

However, SOMEONE should tell him that he needs to think before he talks.

I understand that sometimes consultants are tempted to sell themselves too much, and I believe that this is what happened here.

This campaign needs to be about John Edwards, not Dave “Mudcat” Saunders.

I would suggest that he apologize. It should be heartfelt, not a phony “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” apology, and it should be made clear to him that he needs to give his advice in private in the future.

Specter to vote against Gonzales – Yahoo! News

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This is a good thing. Bush won’t let Abu Gonzalez go, because he knows where the bodies are buried, and he is a close personal friend.

We also now have confirmation that the vote means nothing, because Spector votes with the Dems only when it does not matter.

Top Republican to vote against Gonzales – Yahoo! News: “By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 16 minutes ago

WASHINGTON – The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said Monday he will vote for a no-confidence resolution against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
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Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., said he’s concerned like others in his party that the resolution, sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and up for a test vote later in the day, was a Democratic effort to embarrass Bush and push Gonzales to resign.

But Specter has long said that Gonzales has exercised poor leadership on a host of issues, from the firings of eight federal prosecutors to the Justice Department’s handling of wiretapping authority under the USA Patriot Act.

‘If you ask Arlen Specter, do I have confidence in Attorney General Gonzales, the answer is a resounding no,’ Specter said during a news conference in Philadelphia. ‘I’m going to vote that I have no confidence in Attorney General Gonzales.'”

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This is Bullsh$#!

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Here is the problem: You want the most numerate students entering college to select a profession where pay is marginal, layoffs are rife, status is low (how many engineers have a secretary?), the positions are constantly under threat of outsourcing, and your bosses are technically and mathematically illiterate morons.

So you are saying, “Gee you have special and valuable skills, how about taking a low paying job for a career where you will be dumped for younger cheaper labor when you are in your 40s.

Had I thought more about the real world, I would not have gone into engineering school. I would have gone into business school, made my millions, spent my two years in a low security prison playing ping pong with Jack Abramhoff, and have gotten out with three homes, 5 cars, and my kids college education fully funded.

If you want more people to be engineers, pay them more and make their employment more stable.

Engineering Encouragement for Youth(Subscription Required)
Aviation Week & Space Technology
06/11/2007, page 13

Edited by Patricia J. Parmalee

Printed headline: Engineering Future Talent

A New Jersey fifth-grader will get a taste of the future this summer as winner of a Lockheed Martin-sponsored essay competition, a part of its national Space Day initiative. Victoria Geyer’s entry earned her a spot at Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. See http://www.spaceday.org. And BAE Systems has launched a nationwide competition offering a team of students the chance to be ‘test pilots for a day’ at their Military Air Solutions site in the U.K. where they will fly the Typhoon simulator. See http://www.baesystemseducationprogramme.com

Bush Diplomacy Leaves Debris in Its Wake

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The program is splitting Europe because it is poorly conceived and dishonestly presented.

Again, I refer you to my post on the patent system to provide some perspective on the level of performance of this administration

NATO Struggles With Missile Defense(Subscription Required)

Russian pressure heightens missile defense concerns within NATO

Printed headline: Out of Sync

NATO nations are growing increasingly divided over how to move forward plans to establish European missile defenses, with unease exacerbated by concern over Russia’s strategic objectives.

Officials at NATO Headquarters in Brussels say the U.S. plan to station a radar site and 10 interceptor missiles in the Czech Republic and Poland, using bilateral agreements, is throwing NATO’s own approach off balance. NATO worries are being aggravated by what one official describes as ‘well-orchestrated Russian pressure on all chess boards simultaneously, ranging from the CFE [Conventional Armed Forces in Europe] treaty to energy, Estonia, Kosovo, NATO expansion and missile defense.’ Moscow’s latest gambit is the offer of a joint missile defense system to be sited in Azerbaijan.

The crux of the problem is that the U.S. system is designed to provide protection for the continental U.S., and will only give some European coverage, through the proposed Polish and Czech sites. The NATO missile defense architecture would protect all of Europe. Command and control also remains an area of contention.

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Let’s be clear. This is directed at Russia, Iran is just a pretext here.

That’s why Putin’s proposal of locating the radar in Azerbaijan made the Bushies look like fools.

It’s better to protect Europe, and does not threaten the Russians, which is the real objective of the US, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

CIA Plans Cutbacks, Limits on Contractor Staffing – washingtonpost.com

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This is what happens when you people think that the only legitimate role of government is to get money to your friends.

If you want something to be “privatized” then it should not get government money. Otherwise, it’s just graft.

CIA Plans Cutbacks, Limits on Contractor Staffing – washingtonpost.com

By Walter Pincus and Stephen Barr
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, June 11, 2007; A02

Acting under pressure from Congress, the CIA has decided to trim its contractor staffing by 10 percent. It is the agency’s first effort since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to curb what critics have decried as the growing privatization of U.S. intelligence work, a circumstance that has sharply boosted some personnel costs.

Contractors currently make up about one-third of the CIA workforce, but CIA Director Michael V. Hayden has said that their work has not been efficiently managed. Associate Deputy Director Michael Morell said in an interview that he does not think the CIA has become a revolving door, but ‘Director Hayden has said we don’t want to become the farm team for contractors.’

Morell said reviews are underway ‘to identify which of our jobs here at CIA should be done by staff and which of our jobs should be done by contractors or a ‘mix’ of contractors and staff.’ Effective June 1, the agency also began to bar contracting firms from hiring former CIA employees and then offering the employees’ services to the CIA within the first year and a half of their retirement from the agency — a practice known as ‘bidding back.’

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U.S. Supreme Court rules against Philip Morris – Jun. 11, 2007

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Good. Hope they fry.

U.S. Supreme Court rules against Philip Morris – Jun. 11, 2007

Justices unanimously reversed a ruling allowing the Altria Group unit to transfer a class-action lawsuit to federal court from state court.
June 11 2007: 11:59 AM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a class-action lawsuit against Philip Morris USA, a unit of Altria Group, should not be decided in federal court, handing a defeat to the tobacco company.

The justices unanimously reversed a ruling that allowed Philip Morris to transfer the lawsuit to federal court from the Arkansas state court where it initially was filed.
Video More video
CNN’s Allan Chernoff reports on the controversy sparked over a smoking ban in apartment buildings. (April 24)
Play video

At issue is a suit filed against Philip Morris by two Arkansas women alleging that the company engaged in unfair business practices in marketing its low-tar Cambridge Lights and Marlboro Lights cigarette brands.”

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Three Cheers for the Rule of Law

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Mr. Bush, L’état, ce n’es jamais tu. (The State is never you) My apologies for the high school French, but the use of the familiar form is intentional, and an insult.

Court Says Military Cannot Hold ‘Enemy Combatant’ – New York Times

In a stinging rejection of one of the Bush administration’s central assertions about the scope of executive authority to combat terrorism, a federal appeals court ordered the Pentagon to release a man being held as an enemy combatant.

“To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote, “even if the President calls them ‘enemy combatants,’ would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution — and the country.”

“We refuse to recognize a claim to power,” Judge Motz added, “that would so alter the constitutional foundations of our Republic.”

When it Comes to Covering Bush’s Ass, CBN University is NOT Sufficient

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Snark of the day from Tom Schaller.

By way of background, Regent University, Monica Goodling’s alma mater, was founded by Pat Robertson as CBN (Christian Broadcast Network) University, and while its graduates seem to be good enough to run the DoJ and fire US Attorneys, it’s not good enough to cover GWB’s alcoholic ass.

TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect

SO HELP ME IVY. The Post reports that President Bush is beefing up his besieged White House legal team with some crack lawyers to defend the administration against a variety of congressional inquiries. As the Post’s Peter Baker notes, all eight [of the newly-hired attorneys] received degrees from Ivy League schools or from West Point.

So, when it comes to policy-making over at the so-called Justice Department, a Regent University law degree, like the one held by Monica ‘I may have crossed the line’ Goodling and a battalion of other fundies, suffices. But when it comes to protecting the president’s backside, apparently a divine legal degree is no substitute for an East Coast elite Ivy School pedigree.

–Tom Schaller

Greenspan Being Fingered As Allowing Subprime Meltdown

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Finally!!!! It’s about time that he gets credit for the mess that HE made.

Greenspan rejected proposal to tighten subprime lending – Jun. 9, 2007

Former Fed governor says Greenspan blocked proposal to crack down on subprime lending practices.
June 9 2007: 2:21 PM EDT

(CNNMoney.com) — Former Federal Reserve Governor Edward Gramlich claims that former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan blocked a proposal to crack down on subprime lending practices back in 2000, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Gramlich, who was Fed governor from 1997-2005, says he proposed the idea to Greenspan personally, The Journal reported. He suggested that the Fed send examiners into offices of lenders that were units of Fed-regulated bank holding companies. He claims Greenspan – well-known for his deregulatory practices – rejected the idea.

He was opposed to it, so I didn’t really pursue it,” says Gramlich, who is now a scholar at the Urban Institute.

Subprime lending practices – giving high-interest loans to individuals with poor credit history – became increasingly popular during the real estate boom of the last several years. But since 2006, subprime borrowers have been defaulting at alarming rates, putting downward pressure on the overall housing market.

The Democratic Congress is now pointing fingers at regulators – particularly the Fed – for failing to prevent the subprime fallout.

When asked about the proposal, Greenspan claimed he did not recall the specific conversation with Gramlich, but did confirm that he was opposed to the idea, for fear that “Fed-inspected” lenders might give borrowers a false sense of security.

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This is crap. Alan Greenspan was a close friend of Ayn Rand, and has always had a visceral opposition to any government programs.

Witness social security, where he was part of the panel that came up with the fix in the 1980s, and then immediately started to suggest that the program be dumped.

This is All About Racism

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Let’s be clear. This case was about stringing up a black man from the beginning, and the DA is stringing it out because it’s good politics there.

Tough on crime=Keeping the N%^$#@s down.

Appeal blocks release in teen sex case – CNN.com: “ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — Prosecutors filed a notice of appeal on Monday in the case of Genarlow Wilson, blocking him from being released from prison, his attorney B.J. Bernstein said.

Wilson is serving a 10-year prison sentence for a sexual encounter with a 15-year-old girl that occurred when he was 17.

Earlier in the day, a judge in Monroe County, Georgia, voided that sentence and said Wilson should be released.

The judge ruled Wilson could serve one year, less than he has already served, and that he would not be listed as a sex offender.

Deluge of peanuts brings back ‘Jericho’ TV show | CNET News.com

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I’ve not seen the show, but my dad was one of the thousands of people who wrote to NBC in 1967 to save Star Trek.

Deluge of peanuts brings back ‘Jericho’ TV show | CNET News.com

An online protest involving 20 tons of peanuts delivered to CBS Entertainment in New York and California has succeeded in bringing back the television show Jericho, which the network canceled last month.

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Peanuts…Heh.

Boeing Gives Future Away on 787

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Look at the line about “with Boeing 787-based carbon-fiber construction”. The MBA suits at Boeing thought that it was a great idea to outsource critical technologies to “risk sharing partners”.

It has funded competitors in its own market.

This is stupider than when Coke decided not to buy Pepsi in 1933.

State Subsidy Plan Lifts Mitsubishi’s RJ Hopes(Subscription Required)
Aviation Week & Space Technology
06/11/2007, page 43

Bradley Perrett
Beijing

Plan for state aid buoys Mitsubishi’s aspirations for a regional jet

Printed headline: RJ Funding

A key Japanese government department plans to allocate ¥40 billion ($330 million) in subsidies for a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries project for a large regional jet, greatly increasing the likelihood of the country finally establishing itself as a supplier of commercial aircraft.

With Boeing 787-based carbon-fiber construction and new engines, the proposed Mitsubishi aircraft could present a serious challenge to Embraer, Bombardier and two other companies developing such jets, Sukhoi and China’s Avic I.”

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It’s Official, Joe Lieberman is Insane

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Here we see a man so full of his own hubris and venom that he can say anything.

Lieberman Backs Limited U.S. Attacks on Iran – New York Times

WASHINGTON, June 10 — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, an independent who strongly supports the war in Iraq, said today that unless Iran stops training Iraqis to carry out anti-coalition attacks, the United States should launch cross-border attacks into Iran.

“I think we’ve got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq,” Mr. Lieberman said in an interview on the CBS News program “Face the Nation.”

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Rovers, reactors and ‘green’ rockets all on NASA’s future-technology list

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Here is an interesting rundown on the technologies that NASA is looking at:

Rovers, reactors and ‘green’ rockets all on NASA’s future-technology list

Aviation Week & Space Technology
06/04/2007, page 50
Frank Morring, Jr.
Washington

Some advanced technology for long-term human space exploration is already getting on-orbit checkout as NASA targets about $350 million from its tight exploration budget this year on the long-lead items that may enable a return to the Moon en route to Mars.

There is some neat stuff here, but also some scary stuff.

But the program also is funding advanced-technology research ranging from composite space radiators that might save weight on Orion to a 5-ton nuclear reactor that would generate power for the outpost NASA plans to build on the Moon as a proving ground for expeditions to Mars.

The reactor is one of the scary things. The tech is described below, and I’ll explain why it’s scary (it’s notbecause it’s a nuclear reactor) after that.

One such system is getting a workout on the Orbital Express mission being conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). Although the satellite-servicing testbed has had problems in orbit (AW&ST May 28, p. 22), they were unrelated to the Advanced Video Guidance Sensor provided by NASA.

Evolved over the past decade at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and previously space-tested on two space shuttle flights and the failed Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology mission in 2004, the sensor is designed for short-range rendezvous guidance between cooperating spacecraft.

I worked at the battery manufacturer for DART and did some (very) minor work on the batteries. It should be noted that the batteries worked just fine.

If it turns out that such a large piece of PICA can’t handle the lunar-reentry heat flux, which is four to five times greater than that experienced by a reentering space shuttle, NASA will turn to two more contracts for backup heat-shield material. Boeing’s Huntington Beach, Calif., facility will receive as much as $10 million to conduct early studies of a proprietary material known as the Boeing Phenolic Ablator (BPA). Textron Systems of Wilmington, Mass., won a contract worth as much as $24 million for preliminary work on two proprietary materials–Dual Layer, and a material called Avcoat that was used on the Apollo capsule.

“We’re trying to relearn how to make that material,” Moore says. “It’s been a generation, and a lot of the people have retired who have done the Apollo heat shield, so we have lost a lot of that expertise.”

They could also talk to the Russians.

Also under study are new fluids to carry the heat away from Orion electronics into the radiators–a mixture of propylene glycol and water is the baseline.

Don’t confuse Ethylene Glycol and Propylene Glycol. The former is normal poisonous anti-freeze, the the latter is an alternative anti-freeze that is in the “pet safe” stuff, which is so non-toxic that you see it added to salad dressing.

Other advanced technologies under study for Orion include lightweight parachute material that can also fit into a smaller volume, and an amine swing-bed for carbon dioxide and moisture removal from the crew compartment. A bed of very small plastic beads is coated with chemicals that absorb CO2 and water vapor, and then release it when vented to the space vacuum.


NASA is developing a prototype amine swing-bed system to remove carbon dioxide and moisture from the Orion crew compartment.Credit: NASA/JSC

I think that this is of more concern for the Mars missions than the moon missions, where the use of conventional CO2 sorbents might require too much weight and volume.

For crew safety, a team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is working on a “green” Orion attitude-control thruster system. Instead of requiring storage of highly toxic hydrazine fuel near the crew compartment, the system would burn gaseous oxygen and methane.

I think that this might be more of an issue of ISP (fuel economy) than environmental friendliness. The room temp propellants typically have a lower ISP, but Methane is much easier to store than liquid hydrogen, having a higher boiling point.

The dual propellant thrusters are more difficult to control precisely, but much more efficient.

Advanced preparations for the shuttle-derived Ares I crew launch vehicle that will carry Orion to orbit are also underway, piggybacking at times on routine shuttle-program tests to gather data. A case in point was the May 24 static test of a four-segment shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) in Utah, which provided motor-signature data for a study at Ames Research Center on ways to detect impending failure in the five-segment RSRM that will serve as the Ares I first-stage.

Good move, but a better move is not to use solid rockets on man-rated systems. I continue to be dubious of solid rocket boosters on manned systems.

To help astronauts establish a lunar outpost and explore the surrounding terrain, the advanced-technology program is studying rovers, a nuclear power source and in situ resource utilization (ISRU) techniques. One promising activity at the Pasadena, Calif.-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory has field tested the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (Athlete), a six-legged vehicle as tall as a man that can move heavy payloads such as habitats around the surface either on wheels or by “walking.” Another project at Houston-based Johnson Space Center, dubbed Scout, is an updated version of the unpressurized moon buggy that hauled Apollo astronauts around the lunar surface.


Two Athlete rovers undergo testing in California’s Dumont Dunes. Athlete can roll over rough terrain using its wheels or its six legs, transporting heavy payloads during construction of the planned lunar outpost.Credit: JET PROPULSION LABORATORY

I think that this just looks cool, so here is the picture.

A big objective of the lunar outpost will be to test exploration technologies and techniques that can enable subsequent human exploration on Mars. Engineers at JSC are working on a variety of ISRU techniques to extract oxygen from the lunar regolith, as much for the experience as the resource.

Along the same lines, NASA and the Energy Dept. are working under a scaled-back version of the old Project Prometheus to advance some of the technologies that would be needed for a five-metric-ton, 40-kw. fission reactor that would take over from the solar power plant scheduled to provide initial power for the outpost. It would be fueled with uranium dioxide and cooled with a sodium/potassium liquid alloy.

This scares the hell out of me. Based on discussions with a Naval Nuke over a decade ago, metal cooled reactors are VERY twitchy things, with reaction times so fast that you can’t operate them manually.

They are much more compact though, hence their use in the Soviet’s Alpha class boats, where they worked (though their nuclear personnel glowed in the dark), and the unsuccessful use in the USN’s original Seawolf, which was our 2nd nuclear boat.

They replaced it with a pressurized water reactor a few years after it was installed.

Cable Box Interoperability Standards To Go Into Effect, July 1

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This is a major profit center, and one of the reasons that I’m still doing analogue basic cable.

Rent or Own? The New Cable-TV Dilemma – WSJ.com

Soon, Subscribers Will Have
Option to Buy Set-Top Boxes;
Pros and Cons of Cablecards
By COREY BOLES

A generation ago, federal regulators opened the way for consumers to buy telephones rather than rent them from the phone company. Now, the government has its sights on the television set-top boxes that consumers rent from cable or satellite companies.

Beginning July 1, the Federal Communications Commission has ordered cable companies to supply only set-top boxes that can accept a so-called cablecard that slides into the set-top box and determines a customer’s level of access to cable service. The change is meant to give consumers nationwide the option of buying their own set-top boxes — or TVs that can use the cablecard — rather than renting one.

That new freedom may soon trigger an old question: Is it better to own or rent? On average, cable companies charge $5 a month for a regular set-top box and $7 for one with a built-in digital video recorder, or DVR. The National Cable & Telecommunications Association estimates those costs will increase to $8 and $10, respectively, for a set-top box with a slot for a cablecard.

A standard box with no recording capability, meanwhile, would likely retail for around $130 — the cost of renting for a little more than a year, according to Ian Olgeirson, a Denver-based cable analyst with SNL Kagan, a market-research company. The price of a DVR that can use a cablecard is expected to be much higher. TiVo Inc. sells a version for $700 but plans a less-expensive model.

Shocker of the Day: Windows Vista Sucks Wet Farts From Dead Pigeons

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I am so not shocked.

First, speech recognition, a google video of Vista’s Speech Recognition:

Then there is the fact that it screws up its IPv6.

Vista not playing well with IPv6
Microsoft acknowledges some “compatibility issues,” but calls operating system its best ever

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Network World, 06/07/07

Early adopters of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system are reporting problems with its implementation of IPv6, a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s primary protocol.

IPv6 supports a 128-bit addressing scheme, which lets it support an order-of-magnitude more devices that are directly connected to the Internet than its predecessor, IPv4. IPv6 also has autoconfiguration, end-to-end security and other enhancements.

Vista supports IPv6 by default. Vista runs a single-stack, dual-IP-layer architecture, which means it is IPv4- and IPv6-capable out of the box. It supports tunneling of IPv6 traffic over an IPv4 backbone and includes IPSec that works for both IPv4 and IPv6.

Network management software vendors and users are reporting problems with Vista’s IPv6 implementation.

“Vista is showing some serious deficiencies around IPv6 and IPv4 insofar as their compliance or the transparency of their compliance around IP behaviors,” says Loki Jorgenson, chief scientist for Apparent Networks, a provider of network assessment and optimization tools.

“For example, Vista doesn’t expose any of the [Internet Control Message Protocol] errors to applications running on Vista,” Jorgenson says. “The application can’t get access to that message, and subsequently all it sees is that the network connection is not working. This is a big challenge for us around Vista. It’s not clear at all why IPv6 isn’t properly supported in this regard.”

Duane Murphy, president of Managed Information Services in Long Beach, Calif., says he has experienced problems with Vista’s IPv6 implementation on the networks he runs for law firms. Murphy used Network Instruments’ Observer 12 application, which supports IPv6, to isolate Vista’s IPv6 problems.

“We are seeing a number of applications that are IP-based that do not like the addressing scheme of IPv6,” Murphy says. “We will send a print job to an IP-based printer, and the print job becomes corrupted. We’re seeing this with Window’s Vista machines. When IPv6 is installed, this happens without fail. As soon as we remove IPv6, all of our printer functions return to normal.”

Murphy says the printing problem has cropped up on 45 Dell Latitudes and Dimensions running Vista Business or Vista Ultimate.

“We’re also seeing loss of network connections on IP when you have both IPv6 and IPv4 loaded on the same machine with an IPv4-based network,” Murphy says. “As soon as we remove IPv6, we suddenly have connectivity to the rest of the local workstations.”

Murphy says he believes the problems stem from Vista’s IPv6 implementation.

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