>Search for ET Put on Hold

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The Allen Telescope Array, a major instrument designed to speed up our hunt for intelligent beings elsewhere in the galaxy, has been turned off.

On April 15, this phalanx of small antennas, built to eavesdrop on signals that might reach us from civilizations hundreds of trillions of miles distant, was put into park, and its multimillion channel receivers powered down. It’s as if Columbus’s armada of ships, having barely cleared Cadiz, were suddenly ordered back to Spain.

The reason for the shutdown is both prosaic and lamentable. Money. The Array was built as a joint project between the SETI Institute (my employer) and the University of California at Berkeley’s Radio Astronomy Laboratory. The former raised the funds to construct the instrument, and UC Berkeley was responsible for operations. But the grievous financial situation of the State of California and reduced funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) have sharply curtailed the university’s research budget, and private donations haven’t yet been adequate to keep the Array in operation.

In tough economic times, a lot of folks who hear this story will dismiss its importance. After all, with problems like expensive health care, a weakened education system, and pervasive joblessness, it’s unlikely that people are going to march in the streets to get the hunt for ET back on track. They’re more likely to shake their heads, and profess that this sort of exploration is superfluous. …

via Seth Shostak: Search for ET Put on Hold.

Federal and state funding cutbacks for operations of U.C. Berkeley’s Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) force hibernation of Allen Telescope Array – In an April 22, 2011 email (PDF) to Allen Telescope Array stakeholder level donors, SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson described in detail the recent decision by U.C. Berkeley, our partner in the Array, to reduce operations of the Hat Creek Radio Observatory (and thus the Allen Telescope Array) to a hibernation state effective this month. NSF University Radio Observatory funding to Berkeley for HCRO operations has been reduced to approximately one-tenth of its former level and, concurrently, growing State of California budget shortfalls have severely reduced the amount of state funds available for support of the HCRO site. …

Public help is needed – Donate now – Help return the ATA to operations and support the exciting SETI exploration of the Kepler planets over the next two years.

via seti.org

>Amazon seller lists book at $23,698,655.93 — plus shipping

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Lots of normal people would pay $23 for a book. But $23.7 million plus $3.99 shipping for a scientific book about flies!? This unthinkable sticker price for “The Making of a Fly” on Amazon.com was spotted on April 18 by Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and blogger. The market-blind book listing was not the result of uncontrollable demand for Peter Lawrence’s “classic work in developmental biology,” Eisen writes. Instead, it appears it was sparked by a robot price war. “What’s fascinating about all this is both the seemingly endless possibilities for both chaos and mischief,” writes Eisen, who works at the University of California at Berkeley and blogs at a site called “it is NOT junk.” “It seems impossible that we stumbled onto the only example of this kind of upward pricing spiral. “Eisen watched the robot price war from April 8 to 18 and calculated that two booksellers were automatically adjusting their prices against each other. One equation kept setting the price of the first book at 1.27059 times the price of the second book, according to Eisen’s analysis, which is posted in detail on his blog. The other equation automatically set its price at 0.9983 times the price of the other book. So the prices of the two books escalated in tandem into the millions, with the second book always selling for slightly less than the first. Not that that matters much when you’re selling a book about flies for millions of dollars. The incident highlights a little-known fact about e-commerce sites such as Amazon: Often, people don’t create and update prices; computer algorithms do. Individual booksellers on Amazon and other sites pay third-party companies for algorithm services that automatically update prices. Some of these computer programs purportedly work very well, getting sellers up to 60% more sales because they underbid the competition automatically and repeatedly.

via Amazon seller lists book at $23,698,655.93 — plus shipping – CNN.

>Why gold could hit $5,000

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With turmoil overseas and energy prices on the rise, investors are worried. They’re worried about geopolitical risk. They’re worried about a falling dollar. And they’re worried about inflation becoming entrenched as the Federal Reserve continues to administer its cheap-money medicine despite signs of inflation.

As a result, gold is on the move again. For much of last year, gold moved higher over worries about Europe’s debt crisis and a “double dip” recession in the United States. Prices fell into a funk in the fall, though.

Now, a new set of concerns has gripped the hearts and minds of investors. Fear has returned.

And the yellow metal again set new highs this week, closing on April 21 at $1,503.80 an ounce.

So how high can it go?

Believe it or not, some analysts are calling for prices to move close to $5,000 — not immediately, but sooner than you may think. …

This is because, according to the folks at Standard Chartered Bank, gold is moving into a new “super-cycle” as a number of structural factors — including consumer demand from Asia and tepid growth in supply — combine to push prices higher. The team, led by Dan Smith, is looking for prices of $2,107 an ounce in 2014 as its base forecast.

The team’s members see the potential for much more. In their words, “statistical modeling suggests a possible ‘super-bull’ scenario of gold prices rallying up to $4,869 in nominal terms by 2020.” …

via Why gold could hit $5,000 – 1 – precious metals – MSN Money.

I’m interested in people who are using actual gold coins as payment for personal transactions. How do you verify that the coin is genuine? If it was verified, would you trade a $2,000 used car today for a 1 oz gold coin if you didn’t need the money right away?

>Democratic senator wants Internet sales taxes

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A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping.

The proposal–expected to be made public soon after Tax Day–would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter recess, a Democratic aide told CNET.

“Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?” Durbin said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February. “Out-of-state companies that aren’t paying their fair share of taxes are sticking Illinois residents and businesses with the tab.”

At the moment, Americans who shop over the Internet from out-of-state vendors aren’t always required to pay sales taxes at the time of purchase. Californians buying books from Amazon.com or cameras from Manhattan’s B&H Photo, for example, won’t pay the sales taxes at checkout time that they would if shopping at a local mall–which is what Durbin means by giving online retailers an “unfair advantage.”

On the other hand, there are some 7,500 different taxing jurisdictions in the United States, each with a set of very precise rules describing what can and can’t be taxed and at what rate. That makes it challenging terrain for retailers to navigate.  …

via Democratic senator wants Internet sales taxes | Privacy Inc. – CNET News.

Oh hell no. Let this be the last straw.  Politicians have taken our money and they have squandered it. Year after year they have wasted billions in useless brutal overseas oil and opium wars. They’ve bailed out big banks on the backs of the broke, just to create another bubble. Enough! No more taxes! Get your light saber and rise up, goddamnit!

>Men who lose their jobs at greater risk of dying prematurely

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Research by McGill Sociology Professor Eran Shor, working in collaboration with researchers from Stony Brook University, has revealed that unemployment increases the risk of premature mortality by 63 per cent. Shor reached these conclusions by surveying existing research covering 20 million people in 15 (mainly western) countries, over the last 40 years.

One surprising finding was that, in spite of expectations that a better health-care system might contribute to lower mortality rates, the correlation between unemployment and a higher risk of death was the same in all the countries covered by the study.

The truly groundbreaking aspect of the research is that it suggests that there is a causal relationship between unemployment and a higher risk of death.

“Until now, one of the big questions in the literature has been about whether pre-existing health conditions, such as diabetes or heart problems, or behaviours such as smoking, drinking or drug use, lead to both unemployment and a greater risk of death,” Shor said. “What’s interesting about our work is that we found that preexisting health conditions had no effect, suggesting that the unemployment-mortality relationship is quite likely a causal one. This probably has to do with unemployment causing stress and negatively affecting one’s socioeconomic status, which in turn leads to poorer health and higher mortality rates.”

The research also showed that unemployment increases men’s mortality risk more than it does women’s mortality risk (78 per cent vs. 37 per cent respectively).The research also showed that there is a much higher correlation between unemployment and mortality for men than for women (78 per cent vs. 37 per cent). The risk of death is particularly high for those who are under the age of 50.

“We suspect that even today, not having a job is more stressful for men than for women.” Shor said. “When a man loses his job, it still often means that the family will become poorer and suffer in various ways, which in turn can have a huge impact on a man’s health by leading to both increased smoking, drinking or eating and by reducing the availability of healthy nutrition and health care services.” …

via Men who lose their jobs at greater risk of dying prematurely.

>Real estate: It’s time to buy again

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… Of course, home prices are low and home construction is weak for a reason: incredibly low demand. For our scenario to play out, America will need a decent economy, with job creation and consumer confidence continuing to claw their way back to normal.

One big fear is that today’s tight credit standards will chill the market. But we’re really returning to the standards that prevailed before the craze, and those requirements didn’t stop prices and homebuilding from rising in a good economy. “The credit standards are now at about historical levels, excluding the bubble period,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics. “We saw prices rising with fundamentals in those periods, and it will happen again.”

To see why, let’s examine the remarkable shift in home affordability. A new study by Deutsche Bank measures affordability in two ways: first, the share of income Americans are paying to own a home. And second, the cost of owning vs. renting. On the first metric, the analysis finds that homeowners now pay just 9.8% of their income in after-tax mortgage, tax, and insurance payments. That’s down from 17.2% at the bubble’s peak in 2007, and by far the lowest number in the Deutsche Bank database, going back to 1999. The second measure, the cost of owning compared with renting, should also inspire potential buyers. In 28 out of 54 major markets, it’s now cheaper to pay a mortgage and other major costs than to rent the same house. What’s most compelling is that in all of the distressed markets, owning now wins by a wide margin — a stunning reversal from four years ago. It now costs 34% less than renting in Atlanta. In Miami the average rent is now $1,031 a month, vs. the $856 it costs to carry a ranch house or stucco cottage as an owner. …

via Real estate: It’s time to buy again – Fortune Finance.

>Are the wealthiest countries the smartest countries?

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Tiffany Harrington – It’s not just how free the market is. Some economists are looking at another factor that determines how much a country’s economy flourishes: how smart its people are. For a study published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, researchers analyzed test scores from 90 countries and found that the intelligence of the people, particularly the smartest 5 percent, made a big contribution to the strength of their economies.

In the last 50 years or so, economists have started taking an interest in the value of human capital. That means all of the qualities of the people who make up the workforce. Heiner Rindermann, of the Chemnitz University of Technology, wanted to look more closely at human capital, and particularly the factor that psychologists call cognitive ability. “In other words, it’s the ability of a person to solve a problem in the most efficient way—not with violence, but by thinking,” Rindermann says. He wrote the new study with James Thompson of University College London.

The researchers collected information on 90 countries, including far-off lands from the U.S. to New Zealand and Colombia to Kazakhstan. They also collected data on the country’s excellence in science and technology—the number of patents granted per person and how many Nobel Prizes the country’s people had won in science, for example.

They found that intelligence made a difference in gross domestic product. For each one-point increase in a country’s average IQ, the per capita GDP was $229 higher. It made an even bigger difference if the smartest 5 percent of the population got smarter; for every additional IQ point in that group, a country’s per capita GDP was $468 higher.

“Within a society, the level of the most intelligent people is important for economic productivity,” Rindermann says. He thinks that’s because “they are relevant for technological progress, for innovation, for leading a nation, for leading organizations, as entrepreneurs, and so on.” Since Adam Smith, many economists have assumed that the main thing you need for a strong economy is a government that stays out of the way. “I think in the modern economy, human capital and cognitive ability are more important than economic freedom,” Rindermann says.

via Are the wealthiest countries the smartest countries?.

>’Field of money’: Police find thousands of dollars lying on Ohio highway

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The police officers couldn’t believe their eyes – thousands and thousands of dollars blowing in the breeze in the middle of a busy highway.

There was so much cash, one deputy told Ohio police Chief Russ Martin that it looked like ‘the field was growing money’.

Now the authorities are trying to figure out how the bills – over $10,000 – were left north of Columbus on the median of U.S. Route 23 on Monday.

Officers spent hours collecting them after a surprised motorist had raised the alarm when he saw the money floating past his window.

Martin, of Delaware police, won’t reveal the exact total, but he said: ‘We’d like to leave that a secret now, but I can tell you it was five figures.’

Police have checked with the FBI, an armoured car company and bank couriers, but no one has reported any missing money.

Police did not release any more details about where the money was found because they are hoping the owner will provide vital details to prove it is his fortune.

Martin is fairly confident officers have recovered all the money, so he says drivers shouldn’t stop in the hope of finding anymore cash floating about.

via ‘Field of money’: Police find thousands of dollars lying on Ohio highway | Mail Online.

>’Field of money’: Police find thousands of dollars lying on Ohio highway

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The police officers couldn’t believe their eyes – thousands and thousands of dollars blowing in the breeze in the middle of a busy highway.

There was so much cash, one deputy told Ohio police Chief Russ Martin that it looked like ‘the field was growing money’.

Now the authorities are trying to figure out how the bills – over $10,000 – were left north of Columbus on the median of U.S. Route 23 on Monday.

Officers spent hours collecting them after a surprised motorist had raised the alarm when he saw the money floating past his window.

Martin, of Delaware police, won’t reveal the exact total, but he said: ‘We’d like to leave that a secret now, but I can tell you it was five figures.’

Police have checked with the FBI, an armoured car company and bank couriers, but no one has reported any missing money.

Police did not release any more details about where the money was found because they are hoping the owner will provide vital details to prove it is his fortune.

Martin is fairly confident officers have recovered all the money, so he says drivers shouldn’t stop in the hope of finding anymore cash floating about.

via ‘Field of money’: Police find thousands of dollars lying on Ohio highway | Mail Online.

>Sacramento makes Forbes most miserable cities in the U.S. list

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Five California cities have made Forbes Magazine’s top ten list of most miserable cities: Vallejo, Sacramento, Modesto, Merced and Stockton.

via Most miserable city in the U.S.? Stockton resident begs to differ : KALW.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in as the governor of California at the end of 2003 amid a wave of optimism that his independent thinking and fresh ideas would revive a state stumbling after the recall of Gov. Gray Davis.

The good vibes are a distant memory: The Governator exited office last month with the state facing a crippling checklist of problems including massive budget deficits, high unemployment, plunging home prices, rampant crime and sky-high taxes. Schwarzenegger’s approval ratings hit 22% last year, a record low for any sitting California governor.

California’s troubles helped it land eight of the 20 spots on our annual list of America’s Most Miserable Cities, with Stockton ranking first for the second time in three years.  …

We ranked each area on 10 factors, including unemployment over three years, tax rates (both sales and income), commute times, violent crime and how its pro sports teams have fared over the past three years. We added two housing metrics this year: the change in median home prices over three years, and foreclosure rates in 2010, as compiled by RealtyTrac. We also considered corruption based on convictions of public officials in each region, as tracked by the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice. Lastly, we factored in an index put together by Portland, Ore., researcher Bert Sperling that rates weather in each metro on factors relating to temperature, precipitation and humidity. …

No. 5 Sacramento, Calif.

No state taxes $50,000 of income like California, with a rate of 9.55% on incomes above that level for singles. Sacramento is a one-team sports town, and that team has been awful in recent years. The NBA’s Kings have won just 26% of their games the past two-plus seasons.

via Forbes

Don’t care about the Kings winning or not, but no jobs, high taxes, violent crime and bad weather … well, it is still a beautiful city, with live music, art and plenty of happy people.