Somebody had to say it, and I’m glad it ended up being Buzz Aldrin: NASA is heading in the wrong direction.  The rovers on Mars have totally kicked ass, but face it, NASA’s been pussyfooting around space for year and it’s time to get up there and show this solar system who’s boss.  The shuttle program is ending, the ISS is up there but doing… what?  We haven’t gone to the moon in forever and they don’t have anything exciting on the horizon except a new moon car and some new rockets. Same old, same old.  2010 is next year.  Arthur C. Clarke was on his way back to Jupiter by 2010!

Buzz has some great goals – new shit, never before tried, that should pose a challenge to NASA and the world space community. Click the link or goto /., I’m not gonna rehash it here, but I’ve got a separate plea to make.  All of Mr. Aldrin’s plans sound great but still come in under the same budget they have now.

Give NASA a bigger budget!

The problem I see is that the government has been leary of giving all these billions of dollars to NASA for what it perceives as non-critical functions.  Going back to the moon?  Yeah, they killed that decades ago because it’s not practical, we get “nothing” to show for it, and it’s not even inspiring anymore.  Been there, done that – on the fucking moon. Yawn.

I believe NASA has been tailoring its missions to its budget, when they need to grow some balls and demand congress cut them a check for the survival of humanity.  You wanna talk about stopping global warming, averting a nuclear holocaust, etc. etc., but don’t you think we should have a legit backup plan?  Or more to the point, a backup planet?

We’ve dumped billions onto NASA over the years (incidentally, far less per year than we dump into Iraq, and with far fewer casualties) but we’ve got to dump trillions into it and really make it worth our collective while.  I say ‘collective’ meaning ‘in the best interests of all humanity’ with a special regard towards the future.  Yes, we’ll grow the debt.  We always grow the fucking debt.  It’s fucking huge.

Metaphor time:  The debt is congress’ prize pig and they are trying to get this sucker fattened up for the fair – nobody is putting that sow on a diet.  Our best option is to fatten is up, get it all rippling with fat and flavor, then BAM! Pop an apple in it’s mouth and make me a Bacon Explosion!

Face facts and recognize that we are going to leave a huuuuuge debt for our grandchildren (surely you’ve heard the “we’re leaving such a mess for our grandkids” argument on any number of issues) and I say let’s ALSO leave them a legacy that’s worth all that spending.  Are they going to enjoy our War on Terror?  Not nearly as much as we’ve enjoyed our grandparents’ WWII (see: movies, games)!

If they’re gonna be strapped for cash and choking on exhaust fumes their entire lives, let’s at least give them something worth all that bullshit: let’s give them space, the infinite and beyond!

And to that end, let’s give NASA money, thank you very much.

I try not to use this forum as a place for solicitation, but Brighter Minds is accepting arts and crafts activity submissions from kids this month and I thought you all might have some nieces, nephews, pets, friends with kids, etc. that might be interested in getting published. So far we have had a pretty big response, so I am not sure when the submissions will be cut off. The goal is to get the book finished and go to press this summer. Here is the link for more info: http://www.brightermindsmedia.com/parents/diy-book.php
Thanks guys!

So it’s been just over a year since my original post on investing, and 10 months since it’s followup.  In hindsight, I wish I would have made a few posts during the market crash, but not much I can do about that now.  During the last 9 months, I’ve pretty much stayed away from the market, partly because I had cold feet, and partly because I was spending my money on silly things.  I’m looking to change that, as I feel the worst is over, and getting in now will provide solid returns as the market recovers.

First, let’s start off with what I’ve done since that post in August of 08.  I mentioned several video game companies, with a focus on Activision Blizzard (ATVI).  I ended up buying some ATVI about two weeks ahead of the stock split, however it is hard to say if it was better to get in before the split, due to the market crash happening directly after the split.

On September 7 (the day before the split), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship.  ATVI still managed to split at $16.79 on September 8, just 6 cents cheaper than I had bought it at, and saw gains of about 3% through the week.  Things were just starting to unravel then, and on the 14th, Lehman Brothers collapsed, marking the beginning of the stock market collapse.  While I certainly could have got in cheaper if I had waited a few weeks after the split, this would have been because of the decline of the market in general, not due to the stock price dropping because of the split itself.

Unfortunately, this purchase is still down about 24% since I bought it, though ATVI has been making a strong recovery.  It is up nearly 50% on the year as I write this, while the NASDAQ is up just under 16%.  Based off of how well the stock has been performing, I doubled the amount of money I had in ATVI in mid-May, and have seen the value of that second purchase go up about 16%, helping to bring my overall loss to under 4%.  I look forward to seeing overall gains in the near future for this stock.  All in all, I still believe Activision Blizzard is a good purchase, and if I had more cash sitting around, I would not hesitate to buy more.

That’s all for now, perhaps next week sometime I will talk about my holdings in Intel and the emerging markets ETF I am in, as well as some ideas of what I may look at next.

Tiny Gods has crossed the three year mark, and Pasty has secured two more years of web hosting goodness for the site.  Let’s get year four kicked off proper like, with some activity here on the front page!  Write some stories, recount adventures, post pictures of attractive people, whatever.

There were a total of 92 posts published in year three, an increase of 8 over year two.  In this time, we saw the beginning (and end) of the Tiny GodCast and the Tiny Gods WoW Guild.  Our pal Fezzik stepped up and revived the ‘Babe of the Month’, which then prompted the start of the ‘Beefcake of the Month’ (which without these, there would have been entire months with no posts).  What other great moments am I missing? What do you want to see in Year Four?

Somebody tell Sega I want a port of The Typing of the Dead or The Typing of the Dead 2 for cellphones!  Some 15yo chick is the fastest texter in the world (and quite prolific, sending 15k SMS a month) and I would love to see a zombie slaughtering game where the world champion was a 15 year old girl.

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I have failed in my BotM duties, and for that I apologize.  However, I cannot stand by and let two of these “beefcakes” occupy the top two posts here.  While it is too late to go back and add a BotM for May, I can certainly inject some hotness into the front page with one of the stars of Transformers movies, Megan Fox.   Other than Transformers, umm she has done some other stuff probably, I don’t really know.  What else can i write here…..um, she’s dating Brian Austin Green, of Beverly Hills 90210 fame (who is ~13 years her senior).   You know what, you really don’t care, you just want pictures, I know.  So, here ya go, an extra large gallery of pictures, since I left you hanging last month. (more…)

To be honest, I was pretty surprised that not a single Tiny God chose to post something to get last month’s beefcake off of the front page.  And now we’ve got another Beefcake.  This month, we continue the trend of beefcakes from abroad with everyone’s favorite Australian, Hugh Jackman.  What’s not to love?  He was hilarious when he hosted the Oscars (that opening number was great) and he’s frickin’ Wolverine!  Not to mention the fact that he’s done his share of chick flicks, starred on Broadway, and looks good with his shirt off.

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