Posted By RichC on April 18, 2008
Although you won’t find me supporting Senator John Edwards, he made a comedy appearance last night on the Colbert Report — very funny. Besides John Edwards (in his segment “Ed Words”), Senator Hillary Clinton made an in person visits along with Barrack Obama by video screen.
Posted By RichC on April 18, 2008
Google Inc. (GOOG) surprised many last night as they release better than expected earning. In pre-market trading, GOOG is up over 18% … that’s $84/ share to over $530. This kind of over night move just added $2.07 Billion dollars of wealth to co-founder Larry Page and $2.03 Billion to Sergey Brin‘s portfolio.
Posted By RichC on April 17, 2008
Its been a while since watching yachting on television, but I enjoyed ESPN2’s coverage of the Acura Miami Grand Prix. If you like sailboat racing, set your TIVO and ‘vote’ for more! See additional footage at Jobson Sailing.
Posted By RichC on April 16, 2008
As someone who holds entirely too many share of Intel (INTC), I’ve been dreading the anticipated news of a bad quarter from Intel. They at least should offset the weak quarter with a positive outlook. Wednesday pre-open electronic trading has INTC at 22.45 Up 1.54 (7.36%) as of 7:52AM ET.
Intel Corp. posted a 12% drop in first-quarter profit, but indicated that healthy demand for its widely used microprocessors is offsetting recent problems in memory chips.
Some investors had been worried that the technology bellwether would issue a bearish forecast, amid questions about the health of computer demand and general economic jitters. But Intel’s prediction for second-quarter revenue came in slightly above Wall Street’s average estimates, and it maintained a prediction for improved profit margins for 2008.
“The competitive position of our core business is superb,” said Paul Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, during a conference call.
More at WSJ
Posted By RichC on April 15, 2008
The Rocket Racing League plans to exhibit their rocket powered racing planes for the first time at EAA Airventure this summer on August 1st and 2nd in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Granger Whitelaw, a co-founder and the CEO of Rocket Racing League, indicated that they still need to firm up sponsorships and media deals before expanding the league, but are already planning on ramping up the production line for the planes. They still have yet to gain Federal Aviation Administration approval for these races so its a chicken and egg thing at the moment. As for the airshow, the FAA has yet to give its final OK for this year’s exhibition flights as well, which could limit appearances to static displays from an aviation enthusiast perspective. That said, Granger Whitelaw already envisions Velocity Aircraft coming out with a new line of six-seat and four-seat luxury airplanes that will incorporating technologies developed for the Rocket Racers. For many of us that anticipated price tag of over $1 million for the the six-seater model may keep us on the tarmac … but you’ve got to love the climb-rate — see MSNBC posted raw video of a rocket powered Velocity taking off (below).
Posted By RichC on April 14, 2008
According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. may unveil their long-delayed merger announcement on Tuesday. As airlines struggle with high fuel prices and a softening economy, they are all looking for ways to control costs and salvage markets. If the merger goes through, it would make Delta/Northwest the largest airline.
Monday afternoon CNBC newsbrief.
Posted By RichC on April 14, 2008
A couple months ago I posted “Would you like a lemon with your water?” and have personally decided that it is something I can do without. Since my daughter, who is in medical school, was home this past week on spring break, the “Lemon story” came up when we were out to eat.We had a good hearted discussion and debate, and her argument was that a good strong immune system stays that way when it is required to defend your body so a little bacteria is no big deal. She debated that the “lemon wedge thing” could be a bit over blown concluding that researchers could probably find contaminates in most restaurants. (I’m not completely in disagreement, but will still pass on “lemon with my water.”) Anyway, I spotted another similar news story this weekend and thought I would share … and of course will forward the link to my daughter after I flush the toilet a few times next to her toothbrush!
🙂
Posted By RichC on April 13, 2008
I’ve posted a few times before about different renewable oil crops used produce biofuels and have concluded that the most promising is algae grown to product biodiesel. (here’s an excellent PDF document) The desert cement pond approach has been my thinking all along, although several innovative companies are working on even better ideas. The efficiency in which algae grows and the non-competitive nature of algae for food makes it nearly ideal.
Valcent Products Inc. is a leader in working with a vertical grow system and their CEO Glen Kertz has produced an online video that ballyhoos their reasoning. (posted a little over at CinciTDI last year) If the cost can be kept down, I think they may just have something.
Posted By RichC on April 13, 2008
IndUS Aviation has flown a two-stroke diesel Thorpedo DP concept airplane from Dallas to Lakeland, Florida for Sun ‘n Fun. This new diesel powered light sport aircraft (LSA) has a unique a three-cylinder, liquid cooled, turbocharged diesel engine installed in an inverted mount. The Thorpedo DP will be the first diesel LSA and is said to only consume only 3.5 to 4 gallon per hour burning Jet-A. Although this is the first time the WAM 120 has been flying in the U.S., it has been flying for four years and logged 400 hours in a Thorp T211 in England. The 220 lb. dry 120 horsepower should be ideal for a variety of airplanes and proves the next generation of “green powerplants” for a slew of LSA.
IndUS Aviation President Ram Pattisapu explained that this will be the first ASTM-compliant diesel engine to enter the marketplace and that “avgas isn’t available around the world like it is here in the United States, so to make general aviation accessible around the world we need an aircraft that uses a fuel that’s more readily available.†According the EAA, IndUS expects special light sport aircraft approval prior to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh this summer. (July 28 – August 3)
Posted By RichC on April 12, 2008
I noticed that the free wifi spot that I occasionally frequent over lunch is restricting connect times to 30 minutes. It is understandable, but will probably for me to change my lunch stop (personally speaking 60 minutes would have been more appropriate). Interestingly a friend of mine who regularly connects at Panera Bread has come up with a devious solution — changing his computer’s ‘mac address’ using SMAC 2.0. I’ve installed it on my Vista OS Notebook and will give it a try.
Follow up …
Unfortunately this didn’t work when I tried it earlier in the week. I held off posting as I wanted to review it with ‘IT guru’ friend. Unfortunately it will not work on my Vista notebook; I’m unable to change my MAC address manually or with the software. So much for me “sticking it to the man.”
🙂