The New Mars Rover Is Bigger And Better

The scientists at NASA are still gathering both data and images from the last two rovers that it launched to Mars years after they were expected to go dead. Spirit and Oppourtunity are still running around the surface taking pictures of all they see. They are certainly going to be a tough act to follow but NASA thinks it can do it. They are calling it the Mars Science Laboratory and it will include technology based on the lessons learned from their two great and long lasting rovers running all over Mars now more than 4 years after thier mission began (The rovers were expected to last only a few months with a little luck) and have been astonishing all with their staying power. The new rover will not only be built tougher but much larger and heavier too. It is just about 9 feet long and well over 200 pounds and will be powered by plutonium which should give it much more kick than it needs. Among its features it will have on board a neutron gun which it will use to fire at the ground in an attempt to detect any kind of ice beneath the surface. If there is ice then that is water and if there is water than there is the possibility of life either microbial or other and that is among the mysteries that NASA is trying to get to the bottom of with these missions. The Mars Science Laboratory (God I hope they can come up with a better name than that - why not call it MAC or something) is set for launch sometime in 2009.

Government Bailout Costing Taxpayers Trillions

With the decision just coming down today that the government has decided to rescue Citicorp with another 20 billion dollar handout in addition to the 25 billion it gave it a little over a month ago it made me wonder just how much has the government spent so far bailing out corporations with taxpayer money? Well if you add it all up so far the figure is about 7.4 trillion dollars. This figure includes money that has already been spent in addition to money that has been alotted and is being considered for other corporations such as GM. To give you an idea of just how much help that is the entire U.S. economy added up would total about 15 trillion. In addition one should consider that these "Loans" will not even guarantee that these companies will not return to "Uncle Sam" 3, 4, or even 6 months from now asking for even more which is probably likely.

Poverty In America

It should come as no surprise to anyone that under President Bush poverty in the United States increased. According to The U.S. Department of Agriculture over 320,000 U.S. households were forced to cut back on food consumption for their children due to a lack of money to buy food in 2007. This figure is up from just over 220,000 who had to do the same in 2006. The U.S.D.A. estimates that 1 in 25 U.S. households had to cut back on the purchase of food or limit their purchases because of a lack of money. 1 in 14 households had to utilize some kind of assisstance program such as food stamps or visiting a food pantry in order to meet their food needs both for themselves and their children. 1 in 6 households could not afford to but enough food to adequately feed all its members. That translates to a little over 16% of U.S. households who have members who go hungry on a daily basis.

The Monotracer: Coolest New Car On Earth

Finally some clever engineer came up with it. A vehicle that combines the features of both a motorcycle and a car. Called the Monotracer it looks like a cross between a motorbike, a car, and something you would see flying around in an episode of The Jetsons. You will be able to zip around traffic because it is not any wider than a conventional bike while at the same time you and a passenger will be in air conditioned spendor inside the dome that is made of Kevlar, which is the same stuff they make some parts of suspention bridges out of, just in case you can't keep your balance on its two wheels. It has windshield wipers for the front window, which is made of carbon fibers so it wont shatter, plus a roll cage that is made of aluminum hidden cleverly just beneath the skin of the outer surface. It is as energy efficient as anything on the road now getting about 65 miles to a gallon and it can go from zero to 62 M.P.H. in less than 5 seconds. So if you want the speed and manuverability of a motorcycle, the fuel efficiency of a compact car and beyond, and the safety of a reinforced protective dome you should give it a look maybe. In addition its futuristic style should cause heads to turn.

Cell Phone Sales Exceed 1 Billion For First Time

It seems that people all around the world love to talk and talk and talk especially to people that they dont have right in front of them at the time. For the first time in the history of the world the total number of cell phones sold in one year exceeded 1 billion worldwide. In 2007 1.15 billion cell phones were sold to chatty consumers all around the world. This represents an increase from 990 million in 2006. The company that has benefitted the most is Apple. The company sold millions of its I-phones around the world in 07 making it the third largest cell phone retailer in the world. It is still behind South Korean Firm Samsung which is still the worlds leader. Sales have already slowed down however due to the worldwide recession that is just beginning to take hold and sales have dropped from these historic highs this year.

Vatican Updates Seven Deadly Sins

In an attempt to keep up with modern times the vatican has updated its seven deadly sins with seven more modern ones it calls social sins. The seven new ones are:

1. Bioethical sins
2. "Morally Dubious Experiments" --- Such as Stem Cell Research
3. Drug abuse
4. Causing Pollution
5. Social Injustice
6. Being very wealthy -- wealth in great excess
7. Creating Poverty or causing poverty

Total U.S. War Dead And Wounded So Far

The war on terror has gone on now basically ever since we invaded Afganistan in October of 2001. It has cost the nation over 600 billion dollars and counting and thousands of lives. Here is a precise look at how many so far. These figures are official as of November 8th, 2008 and have been estimated where ever precise figures are not possible. The total number of American dead in Iraq: 4193. Total number of war dead since George Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech (5-1-03): 4054. Toal dead since the capture of Saddam (12-13-03): 3732. Total wounded: 30,774. This figure is official but unofficial estimates have placed this number at over 100,000. Total number of U.S. dead in Afganistan: 626. Estimated number of Iraqi dead since the invasion of Iraq began (4-19-03): 1,284,105.