I try very hard to invent high-quality fantasy stuff for my blog, but sometimes I just can’t compete with reality. For instance, I could never make up anything like this actual science story:
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (Reuters) – A start-up space company building inflatable habitats for commercial and government lease has laid off half its staff because of delays developing space taxis needed to fly people to the outposts, the company president said on Wednesday.
Robert Bigelow, a hotel entrepreneur and founder of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, had hoped space taxis, also needed by NASA to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, would be available by early 2015.
I don’t even know which element is most bizarre. Is it that this guy makes inflatable space houses, or that now the taxis he thought would take folks up to his inflatable space houses won’t be ready on time, or that his business is based in Las Vegas?
I need to start paying more attention to technology, because I haven’t felt this ignorant about current events since a year ago, when I found out the U.S. Navy was shooting off Volkswagens at the speed of light or whatever it was.
I mean, did I fall asleep for 20 years and suddenly wake up in a world where there’s a weekend space house waiting for me, if only I can get a taxi?
Well, why didn’t you say so? Heck, I’ll just see if I can find an assistant on my iPhone, and command her to CALL one for me!
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The Buzz Lightyear balloon makes its way through Times Square during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York November 27, 2008.
A woman walks into the world’s first inflatable church on a highway near the southern German city of Stuttgart, December 10, 2003.
More stuff from Oddly Enough
On Tuesday, gasoline blended to meet California’s strict
environmental regulations fell in the Los Angeles market to
28.5 cents a gallon over the November contract for RBOB
gasoline on the New York Mercantile Exchange. California
gasoline finished in L.A. on Monday at 34 cents over.
Facebook asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio in Buffalo, New York to punish the plaintiff, Paul Ceglia, and his lawyers for their failure to turn over email accounts and passwords, as the judge had directed in an August 18 order.The filings mark the latest twist in a year-old case over the authenticity of a 2003 contract under which Ceglia said he hired Zuckerberg, then a Harvard University freshman, on multiple projects, one of which eventually became Facebook.The company calls that contract a forgery, and said an “authentic” contract found on Ceglia’s computer does not concern Facebook.Facebook made its request on Friday, one week after Jeffrey Lake, one of Ceglia’s lawyers, said in a court filing that his client told him not to follow the judge’s order.”I informed Mr. Ceglia that the court had ordered him to produce, among other things, accounts and passwords for all email accounts he had used since 2003,” Lake wrote. “Mr. Ceglia instructed me not to comply with this provision and to bring the issue before (U.S.) District Judge (Richard) Arcara.”In its October 14 filing, Facebook said Ceglia’s lawyers had a duty to resist their client’s alleged effort to break the law, and might have violated state ethics rules by revealing what he said in an effort to protect themselves.”If they fail to persuade their client to change direction, their proper course is to withdraw,” Facebook lawyers wrote.Lake’s colleague Nathan Shaman, in an accompanying filing, also said Ceglia refused to comply with Foschio’s order.Calls to Lake, Shaman and Paul Argentieri, another lawyer for Ceglia, were not immediately returned.Facebook is based in Palo Alto, California, and may be worth $68.2 billion, according to SharesPost Inc, which tracks valuations of private companies.Many analysts expect Facebook to conduct an initial public offering as soon as next year. Zuckerberg is worth $17.5 billion, Forbes magazine said last month.Ceglia is a wood pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York, and now reported to be living in Ireland.The case is Ceglia v. Zuckerberg et al, U.S. District Court, Western District of New York, No. 10-00569.
Below are Humala’s key promises and some of his early
accomplishments:SOCIAL POLICY* Double the number of households covered in the “Juntos”
(“Together”) cash transfer program for families in extreme
poverty and single mothers in need.* Raise minimum wage to 750 soles ($275) per month from 600
soles when Humala took office. His government increased the
minimum wage to 675 soles in August and now plans to raise it
further to 750 in January 2012.* Introduce a program for early childhood development,
especially in districts with high poverty rates.* Mandatory government-funded pension of 250 soles ($92)
per month for people over 65 who have no other social safety
net. The program would first be introduced in regions in
extreme poverty and cover the entire country by 2013.MACROECONOMIC POLICY* Maintain current monetary policy model based on inflation
targeting and an autonomous central bank. Humala reappointed
known inflation-slayer Julio Velarde to lead the central bank.* Implement responsible, counter-cyclical fiscal policy.
The government has proposed a modest 5 percent budget increase
for next year, saying this year’s bigger-than-expected fiscal
surplus will guarantee funding for social programs for now.* Promote investment in infrastructure through public and
private investment. The finance ministry, led by Miguel
Castilla, who is well-respected on Wall Street, has launched an
initial stimulus focused on infrastructure investment of
between 0.4 and 0.5 percent of gross domestic product.* Create internal markets for raw materials and
manufactured goods rather than prioritizing exports.TAX POLICY* Congress approved Humala’s proposal to raise taxes and
royalties in the country’s vast mining sector after negotiating
with key mining firms and persuading them they needed to
contribute more to social programs.* Humala wants to increase the tax intake to 18 to 20
percent of GDP — it currently stands at below 15 percent — by
improving tax collection.
($1 = 2.731 soles)
