Another great story of a company (FedEx) doing the right thing:

Because of caring people and a caring company, a terminally ill little Green Forest girl was flown home Friday by air ambulance from M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, so she can spend her last days surrounded by the people who love her most.

Jada Harper, who turned seven on Sept. 1, has an inoperable malignant tumor in her brain and is in a coma with a ventilator doing her breathing for her. She has been at the famous cancer center in Houston since July, but her situation is now at the point not much else can be done to help her.

Friday afternoon, Jada was flown home to the Ozarks — on a gurney, attached to the machine that breathes for her. FedEx Freight paid the $11,000 bill for the special medical flight her family was unable to afford.

Jada is the daughter of Savannah and Jason Surface and has been a student at Green Forest Elementary School. The family, which includes Lyndon, 4, and Gracelyn, almost 2, lived in Oak Grove until Jada got sick this summer, and the family moved in with Jason’s family — his mother Wanda and sister Brandy Surface — in Batavia.

I’m quite impressed that FedEx paid the the $11,000 bill to get this young girl home, even in her fragile state.  It gives me a bit faith once again…

Welcome to the “So cool but no duh” category: Water is on the moon.

From the Wired.com article.

Observations from three spacecraft suggest that water is widely distributed over a thin layer of the lunar surface rather than locked up in icy enclaves predicted to lie at the moon’s poles. The results, detailed in a trio of papers posted online September 24 in Science, suggest that liquid water may be more available to future moon explorers than had been thought. Concentrations in sunlit soil might average about 1,000 parts per million, the equivalent of roughly a quart of water per ton of material. That water doesn’t remain on the moon, but comes and goes each lunar day.

Not being a scientist, it sounds like to me water forms on the surface of the moon when the sun warms the surface.  Is an area of the moon does not have direct sunlight does that then imply there is a lack of water?

It sounds like the water story was in NASA circles for a long time now (10 years) but wanted to confirm findings before really going public.

Aside from being really cool to finally confirm it, I want to point of the first rule of microbial ecologists: Where there is water, there is life.

The Cash for Clunkers program is fading fast in the rear view mirror and it’s quickly becoming apparent it was all for not. Just as many suspected, the government created a small, unsustainable, bubble in the automotive sales numbers in hopes of providing what some might call a “silent bailout”.

Take a look at this quote:

Manager Adam Silverleib said business was “pretty intense’’ as a result of the federal stimulus program, with the dealership hustling to accommodate customers and handle the piles of paperwork required for them to receive reimbursement on vouchers. “Now we’re kind of back to where we were in the spring,’’ he said.

Interesting to see that the sales are back to where they were now that there isn’t an artificial demand in place. Just to stimulate your memory, here is what the industry was looking at (in terms of sales) this past spring:

“I’ve seen everything except that a Martian is going to run General Motors,” the automaker’s sales chief, Mark LaNeve, said on a conference call. “We’ve been fighting every one of these rumors, and I can tell you they don’t help sales.”

GM beat the average estimate for a 37 percent sales decline, based on a survey of 5 analysts. Purchases by fleet customers buoyed results, while sales to individual consumers fell 45 percent, Detroit-based GM said. Honda was projected to drop 27 percent, based on 4 estimates.

Ford’s slide exceeded the 30 percent average estimate among 5 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and Chrysler outstripped projections for a 37 percent drop. Toyota’s decline was greater than the 37 percent average of 4 estimates, while Tokyo-based Nissan’s slump exceeded a projected decrease of 28 percent. April had 26 selling days, the same as a year earlier.

If this dealer is representative of the rest of the nations, automakers are back to sales of 30% to 50% off on a year over year perspective. So, the bailouts and government assistance given to the automakers (the 1st direct loans, second direct loans, and the bailout) was simply to give a lifeline to the industry as they limp along looking for the end of the recession.

There was another interesting comment that should have a huge impact on industry watchers:

Nationwide, customers snatched up 700,000 new cars, most of them foreign-made, and the government ended up paying out nearly $3 billion toward the purchases.

Sorry GM, sorry Chrysler… sounds like you didn’t get your part of pie, though I would be interested to know what constitutes “most.” What percentage was domestic, and what was the brand breakdown of that percentage.

I believe the Cash for Clunkers program is a micro example of our current economic situation. Once the housing tax credit vanishes, so will the buyers. Once the government spending stops, so will the “growth” many say they are witnessing.

The consumer represents roughly 2/3rd of economic spending in the United States and it’s quite clear that the consumer isn’t spending, and if that continues, it would make sense that the economic conditions within the next six months would begin to once again move downward.

As for the car companies, the end of the recession is not yet within sight. If sales do reflect the beginning of 2009, it is a matter of time before they ask for more assistance.

Since the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, the White House has, on a yearly basis, extended the 9/11 National Emergency act. As each September rolled around the announcement was expected almost like clockwork. With out fail, last Thursday, President Obama notified congress of the extension:

NOTICE
- – - – - – -
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT
TO CERTAIN TERRORIST ATTACKS

Consistent with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, in Proclamation 7463, with respect to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States.

Because the terrorist threat continues, the national emergency declared on September 14, 2001, and the powers and authorities adopted to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 14, 2009. Therefore, I am continuing in effect for an additional year the national emergency the former President declared on September 14, 2001, with respect to the terrorist threat.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

The event has become so common place, the press does not even report on the extension any longer. However, this year people need to take notice… almost like the next bit of news. On Monday, 09/14/09, Osama bin Laden’s semi-annual audio warning was released on an Islamist website:

“A statement to the American people”

“The time has come for you to liberate yourselves from fear and the ideological terrorism of neo-conservatives and the Israeli lobby,”

“The reason for our dispute with you is your support for your ally Israel, occupying our land in Palestine.”

“If you think about your situation well, you will know that the White House is occupied by pressure groups,” Bin Laden said.

“Rather than fighting to liberate Iraq — as Bush claimed — it (the White House) should have been liberated.”

“If you stop the war, then fine. Otherwise we will have no choice but to continue our war of attrition on every front… If you choose safety and stopping wars, as opinion polls show you do, then we are ready to respond to this.”

“You have only changed the faces in the White House,” he said, referring to Obama who took office this year. “Obama is a weakened man. He will not be able to stop the war.”

Also on Monday, 09/14/09, news leaked that U.S. Special Forces may have killed a wanted al Qaeda terrorist who was seeking safe harbor in Somalia:

Special Forces used a helicopter to fire on a car in southern Somalia, killing several people, including one the U.S. military believes was Saleh ali Saleh Nabhan, a senior al Qaeda operative. Nabhan has been tied to several attacks in East Africa, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, according to the sources.

However, the final and potentially worrying event, on 9/14/2009 was a joint operation by the FBI and the NYPD task force on terrorism raided three residences in New York City. The believed target was a person with connections to al-Qaida.

No arrests were announced Monday but the investigation was still under way.

Authorities have not found any weapons ready for use — such as a bomb — that would indicate an attack was imminent, they said. Nevertheless, one of the officials called the threat very real and emphasized the urgency of the threat.

Obviously, the world is large and at any time a wide rage of events may be taking place. Often times the events are unrelated and are purely coincidental; however, when a pattern appears in a very short period of time I tend to take notice.

That said I’m not naive enough to think law enforcement isn’t constantly working behind the scenes. I have no doubt arrests, raids, and actions take place all the time with little or no fanfare. I simply find all of the events taking place within such a short period of time a bit coincidental.

So what does this all mean? Frankly, I have no clue. I’m simply noticing a pattern that seems to have popped up.

Was this raid due to President Obama’s stop over in New Work? Don’t know. If I look at events taking place over the next several weeks, I would be more concerned with the G20 summit heading to Pittsburgh on 9/24 and 9/25.

The G20 Summit represents 19 major world economies, as well as the European Union, that meets on a semi-annual basis to discuss macro-economic trends and how member nations should operate to keep the global economy stable.

Who represents the G20 members, you ask – the Presidents, Chancellors, Prime Ministers and Kings of the representative countries. What better target exists at this very moment for someone who wants to make a statement?

With the above events in mind, I can see why roughly 2,000 Pennsylvania National Guard will be assisting Pittsburgh police in keeping the peace during the conference. It will be interesting to see if more events take place between now and the start of the summit.

UPDATE 9/15/2009

After posting the above article, more information became available.

Hundreds of FBI agents are on the ground in Colorado, conducting round-the-clock surveillance on five suspects – including a man who recently visited Queens, sources told The News.

New York authorities searched three Flushing apartments and detained several men – later released – after getting a warrant to look for bomb-making components, explosive powders and fuses.

“The FBI is seriously spooked about these guys planning another 9/11,” a former senior counterterrorism official told the News. “This is not some … FBI informant-driven case. This is the real thing.”

Again, too many things going on all at the same time.  Someone in law enforcement is really worried.

Over the last 8 days I found myself sitting in front of a laptop with intent of writing a blog entry. Each attempt was met with an unenthusiastic sensation of dismay. The underlying sensation was not coming from a lack of inspiration or desire but from a sense of overall dissatisfaction with blogging.

I had thoughts about recent Scientific American commentary on depression (The Evolution Paradox), pointed criticism over the new, 60K, Hyundai sedan that will attempt to take on the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S Class (like VW before it, Hyundai will fail with said concept in the us), and I wanted to point out a number of rather innovative technology items I’ve found…

But I just could not squeeze the trigger.

Each time I would sit the words begin to flow, and as before the emotion begins to take shape within my writing; however, my personal satisfaction with the overall experience seemed to dissipate without warning. Literally, in a matter of seconds the feeling of dissatisfaction in my efforts and the experience would vanish.

As the pattern of idea generation and blogging disappointment progressed, the pressure began to build. All of a sudden the activity I enjoyed, the activity I used as a creative and personal outlet, became a burden. I began to feel as if I was neglecting something (what, not sure) by not posting to the site. Having such an experience in life previously, this was not an emotion I wanted to carry forward, so I walked away from the site for almost two weeks in hopes of letting that sensation pass.

It has not.

One of the very first ideas behind my blog was a method of tracking my emotions and thoughts on life over a period of time, and as such, I made a commitment that no posting for the sake of posting would take place. I still hold to said commitment.

As of today this blog will go into a version of hiatus. When the moment to exit hiatus hits me, you will know. That said, I do not expect posts to appear on a regular basis, nor do I expect to be posting replies to comments (sorry, not being rude). The site may go weeks on end with no posts or there may be a flurry of activity.

I simply do not know.

I do know; however, that the site is not going away and will continue to live on well into the future. The question of activity between now and then is the unknown.

See you on the other side!