Mars with an ocean

Here's an interesting map, utilizing NASA survey data, showing what Mars may have looked like with an ocean.

Through the Rainbow

Today I drove through a rainbow. I didn't think it was possible, but today I honestly think it occurred. There was no pot of gold or leprechaun though that I could see, and certainly no gateway to Asgard.

Anyhow, I was driving home from work and it was monsoon season. Water standing in the road several inches deep in places because it can't drain fast enough.

It's raining so hard I can hardly see and then all of a sudden as I'm driving by the lake and nearing crossing the dam on my way home the rain lets up and I'm in bright sunshine. Wind and mist is still blowing, but there clear bright sunshine too. In front of me across the dam less than 100-200 yards away is a big fat rainbow, almost touching the ground/road.

As I cross the dam I expect the rainbow to "back away" from me as I approach because I thought rainbows were all about the angle between the misty rain, observers eye, and the sun/light source. Anyhow as I approached the rainbow to my surprise didn't run away from me. I swear I think I drove right through it. Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me but I thought I saw some of the color even as I was very close to entering where I perceived the rainbow to be touching down.

About a mile down the road I saw another big, bright rainbow, so all-in-all a pretty cool trip home.

Three stories in a day

Flamingos falling from the sky in Siberia
Apparently some bird's internal compass can get reversed

The Far Side of the Moon - very cool pic recently released by NASA.
We're all familiar with the side of the moon facing earth, but have you ever seen the other side? It's far more cratered (if you think about it it makes sense) and looks quite a bit more foreign than the familiar moon we've come to know.

A 26 pound rabbit.
I'm not kidding. He was one big bunny.

Inside story on the space race

Here's a story from NPR regarding an early Russian cosmonaut who plunged to his death in the early stages of the space race between the U.S. and Soviet Union. The story puts a human face on the highly politicized competition between super-powers.

Here's Vladimir Komarov's story: "I'm not going to make it back from this flight."

Solar Power projection

Here's an interesting Solar Power projection from Scientific American. If costs keep falling in a predictable manner, solar power may be highly price competitive within the next decade.

The shape of the curve is interesting though. Has solar hit a plateau, or are costs continuing to fall?

The Walking Cactus

Check out this odd new Cambrian explosion creature whose fossils were discovered in China. It's been dubbed "the walking cactus"

Portfolio update 2011 02-25

I haven't updated in a while, so figured I'd better do so. Honestly I haven't been that engaged with what's going on with the market since I've raised to a high cash level waiting for a pullback.

My only stock holdings currently are (in order of size of position)

EBIX Ebix - IT software services
TEO Telecom Argentina - telecom / wireless
DO Diamond Offshore - offshore drilling - gulf exposure
CSCO Cisco - Networking
LHCG LHC Grp - Home Health
MDF Metropolitan Health Networks - health services - microcap

and that's it. I hadn't seen anything I couldn't live without, so I've just been on the sidelines, but some interesting companies have slid back in price since the start of the year so repurchase opportunities may be near.

Spiders/Snakes, or Need some cheap glasses?

This study surprised me some. I figured we were hard wired to be afraid of snakes and spiders, but it turns out we're just predisposed to learn to be afraid of them very easily, but we're not born with the fear. I would've guessed we were born with it.

Plus I saw this and thought it was a great deal. Need some cheap glasses? Check out this offer from Sears. 2 pair + lenses for $99

Can a giraffe swim/float?

I saw this question on a science link on Scientific American the other day. "Can a giraffe swim? or float?"

The knee-jerk reaction is to say "of course it can" because can't all animals swim/float? But then I started thinking about it and how tall, muscular and dense they look at the zoo - my next thought was a) in a giraffe's environment when would it ever need to swim? B) if it walked into the water wouldn't it just go in while still walking on the ground and hold it's neck up, and C) if it did get in too deep of water wouldn't it's big neck cause it to be front heavy and make it tip forward like a front-engine car sinking face-first into the water?

For what it's worth, here's a study that attempts to determine. Apparently nobody's ever seen a swimming giraffe - but they haven't put a giraffe in deep water to check either.

Portfolio update 2011 01-07

Haven't posted here in a while. Figured I'd update some changes made in the past few weeks. Essentially have raised some cash and am just hanging out for some more attractive opportunities to buy.

Here's what I hold now in order of position size:

EBIX Ebix (IT)
UFPT UFP Tech (packaging)
CHL China Mobile (telecom)
TEO Telecom Argentina (telecom)
SHOO Steve Madden (shoes)
DO Diamond Offshore (drilling)
CSCO Cisco (internet / routers)
LHCG LHC Group (home health)
MDF Metropolitan Health Networks

I'm about 50% cash - just waiting for pullbacks somewhere and better buy prices. Of the above the only "large" or "big" commitment for me is Ebix. Everything else is a standard to small size position. I still like MSFT/INTC which were twi of my other larger holdings, but sold my remaining at the end of the year due more to the way the charts were behaving than anything. My general feeling was that there was alot of complacency about risk at the end of the year so I liquidated some spots and am just taking a wait/see approach now and am fine holding cash with intent to deploy should good opportunities present.

Portfolio changes

Made quite a few adjustments to the portfolio today. General approach was to raise cash to deploy in the coming weeks should better options present themselves.

Some recent actions:
- reduced MSFT Microsoft position by about half. Was my top holding and the oversized position was too big for my comfort.
- sold one of my drillers NE Noble Energy. The drillers just aren't acting right and wanted to lighten up. I still hold DO Diamond Offshore
- sold LLY Eli Lilly. The more I thought about it I just didn't know enough about it and the only reason I owned it was metrics and dividend. I need to stick to mutual funds for pharmaceutical exposure.
- sold AFAM Almost Family home healthcare. Yep... that was me selling about a half an hour before the stock rose by $1.63 to close up 4.3% for the day... Dangit! Some huge upside volume started hitting the stock soon after I sold. Not sure what was going on.
- added to WDC Western Digital. It had dropped pretty severely in the past few days on no news so I took the other side as most other related tech has been pretty solid.

Top Holdings in order now (excluding mutual funds) are:
EBIX Ebix
INTC Intel
MSFT Microsoft
WDC Western Digital
CHL China Mobile - telecom/wireless
UFPT UFP Tech - packaging
TEO Telecom Argentina - telecom
DO Diamond Offshore - offshore driller
LHCG LHC Group - home health
MDF Metropolitan Health Networks - healthcare facilities

After the activity today my cash level is up to almost 50% so I'll look to redeploy some of this next week. That cash level is a bit excessive and surely I can find 1 or 2 places to put it.

Some I'm looking at: CSCO Cisco, KMB Kimberly Clark (again), MCD McDonalds?... ABT Abbot Labs... maybe a few others. I'll know better after I work on things over the weekend.

Protecting yourself in nuclear detonation

This is one of the most interesting things I've read in a while. I saw this link a NYTimes story today about best way to survive a nuclear detonation. The new studies indicate there's lots we can do to substantially increase odds of surviving. Two keys to surviving.

1. Hide fast from radiation. Brick concrete basements of big buildings are best, or middle interior rooms of big office buildings. My initial inclination would be to try to get away as fast as possible, but it sounds like finding cover from radiation is by far the best way to go.
2. Stay put. The radioactive fallout is worst in the first few hours after the detonation and radiation levels quickly fall.

Here's a Fact Sheet from the Dept. of Homeland Security. Note the first image shows how radiation levels spike in the first hour after a blast and then fall off considerably after 6 hours or so. Taking cover can significantly reduce your exposure.

The second image on the second page shows levels of protection provided by different places and building types. Like mentioned above, lots of brick and concrete between you and radiation is good, and if you can combine that and get underground it's even better. But failing being in a big concrete building basement, an average home basement seems to provide sufficient protection.

In the article the experts make it clear that the event is more survivable than expected if shelter from the radiation can be achieved.

Get this - students know who the most effective teachers are

I've always felt it was fairly easy as a student to tell who the best teachers were, and thought it was strange that schools never asked students who the best teachers were. (I guess I'd assumed the unions didn't want there to be comparisons between good and bad teachers?) Now a big study by the Gates has confirmed it as reported in the NYTimes.

From the story: “Kids know effective teaching when they experience it,” he said. “As a nation, we’ve wasted what students know about their own classroom experiences instead of using that knowledge to inform school reform efforts.”

"Thousands of students have filled out confidential questionnaires about the learning environment that their teachers create. After comparing the students’ ratings with teachers’ value-added scores, researchers have concluded that there is quite a bit of agreement."

Here's the full story. Pretty good read.

Jack Handey

Sometimes I wish I had fingers on my toes so I could pick up ice cubes more easily when I drop them in the kitchen floor. How convenient. But then I wondered if I had fingers on my toes would I instead walk on my arms and view the world upside down? And when I was on the internet would that mean I'd have to type with my keyboard on the floor?