The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding Wood's research in the hope that it will lead to stealth surveillance robots for the battlefield and urban environments. The robot's small size and fly-like appearance are critical to such missions.

Technology Review: Robotic Insect Takes Off for the First Time

flynn23 wrote:
For sure, the predatory practices of lenders over the last couple of years has definitely pushed the market into uncomfortable territory, and there will be another wave of fallout as investors get whacked on their returns, but this will probably clear up by years end, maybe Q108, and then you'll see prices start rising again. Except for areas that are still dealing with fundamental economic depression (like MI).

Flynn's observations seem to track those of economists.

Fannie Mae says "at some point in 2008 he expects unsold inventories to have fallen enough to relieve downward pressure on house prices."

NAR says "it expects existing-home sales to rise to nearly 6.4 million in 2008, up from the 2007 estimate of more than 6.1 million. Nearly 6.5 million existing homes were sold in 2006, the association said."

Bernanke says "the pace of home sales seems likely to remain sluggish for a time, partly as a result of some tightening in lending standards and the recent increase in mortgage interest rates. Sales should ultimately be supported by growth in income and employment as well as by mortgage rates that--despite the recent increase--remain fairly low relative to historical norms. However, even if demand stabilizes as we expect, the pace of construction will probably fall somewhat further as builders work down stocks of unsold new homes. Thus, declines in residential construction will likely continue to weigh on economic growth over coming quarters, although the magnitude of the drag on growth should diminish over time."

However, there is some risk that there are more people in houses they can't afford than the Fed estimates. Bernanke also says "One risk to the outlook is that the ongoing housing correction might prove larger than anticipated."

Housing, is this the year to buy?

Mike the Usurper wrote:
By using a rule people in this country don't understand, the Republicans are actively working to make Congress look bad because of inaction rather than make the President look bad because of vetoes. Tuesday night was to put the pressure on the Republicans in the Senate who are making Congress look bad.

OK, that makes sense, both for them as a strategy and as something an all nighter is worth countering. Thanks for the explanation. Thats more insight into the strategies of both parties than I've gotten anywhere.

RE: Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout

I've spoken to a number of people over the past few years who've convinced themselves that the housing bubble is really only something that is going on in California and the increase in their home price is real permanent wealth. Such a fallacy is perfectly understandable emotionally, but its bad business. Here are some graphs of the regions of the country that are most impacted by the "sub prime" forclosure problem. Do you live in one of the darkly colored areas? If so, lots of people in your area can't afford to pay their mortgages. That means housing prices in your area are going to go down. Most of the Americans on MemeStreams that I know live in such an area.

The Big Picture | Brief Foreclosure History & Mortgage Delinquency Maps

We will create the greatest digital festival in the history of Nashville. We will bring together entrepreneurs, technology visionaries, digital creators, music revolutionaries and marketing gurus under one roof for twelve hours of education, innovation and recreation.

Is anyone going to this? It seems more art/marketing focused than the barcamp run by O'Reilly, but it might be interesting.

BarCamp Nashville - What's this all about? What's a BarCamp?

I've been meaning to learn to surf....

SURFOLOGY

Seven of the most important Sunni-led insurgent organisations fighting the US occupation in Iraq have agreed to form a public political alliance with the aim of preparing for negotiations in advance of an American withdrawal, their leaders have told the Guardian.

Congradulations Congress... The result of all this ineffectual pre-election grandstanding you've been doing this week is that the Sunni insurgency, who boycotted the elections a few years back, just declared victory. Anyone got any links on what, exactly, their problem is with the democratic government?

Insurgents form political front to plan for US pullout

possibly noteworthy wrote:

Google's Security team has discovered vulnerabilities in the Sun Java Runtime Environment that threatens the security of all platforms, browsers and even mobile devices.

"This is as bad as it gets."

In general I try to keep stuff I do in the office out of this blog, but I thought it worth coming back to clarify that this particular bug does not impact the wide array of platforms indicated in this press report. The only OS I've confirmed that this impacts is Linux. It specifically does not impact Windows. It may or may not impact other operating systems.

The fact that Java runs on lots of platforms does not immediately imply that bugs in Java impact all platforms. In this case as a POC was released it was really easy to verify that Windows was not impacted.

I've stuck my foot in my mouth in communications with the press about technical issues in the past, so nothing personal to the people interviewed here, but they are wrong in this case, and the real story, frankly, is EEYE's bug, which is, well, also easy to "verify."

RE: Dangerous Java flaw threatens virtually everything

Leeson is fascinated by pirates because they flourished outside the state—and, therefore, outside the law. They could not count on higher authorities to insure that people would live up to promises or obey rules. Unlike the Mafia, pirates were not bound by ethnic or family ties; crews were as remarkably diverse as in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films. Nor were they held together primarily by violence; while pirates did conscript some crew members, many volunteered. More strikingly, pirate ships were governed by what amounted to simple constitutions that, in greater or lesser detail, laid out the rights and duties of crewmen, rules for the handling of disputes, and incentive and insurance payments to insure that crewmen would act bravely in battle.

Gold Star

The Pirates’ Code: Online Only: The New Yorker

"The Bull," 94.9 FM, is hosting a free gas promotion at the Sam's Club in Alpharetta, near the Georgia 400/Mansell Road interchange. The first 125 people to arrive will receive free gas.

The promotion starts at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

GDOT is reporting that Alpharetta Police are prepared to shut down the ramps at Mansell Road if conditions warrant. This could mean gridlock on Georgia 400.

What a bunch of jerks. Its rush hour! This is almost as bad as the idiots who killed a woman in California last year.

11Alive.com - Free Gas Giveaway May Cause Gridlock