"Luke, I'm your father"

Pentagon Says It Blasted Falling Satellite

Could you possibly ask for a better excuse to test our 'Star Wars' technology?
My favorite quotes:

"...the military is tracking the debris as it falls over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."

The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans? in other words, they have no idea where all of the crap is going to fall, so in order to avoid panic they're saying it will land in the oceans.

"...so far officials have tracked 'nothing larger than a football.'"

That's almost reassuring, unfortunately, even a football traveling at 2 brazillion miles/hour could take out a building.

So in short, what we've just done is created the first world wide cluster bomb.

Treasury Dept Just Doesn't Get It

Yes, they're at it again! In their infinite wisdom, the Treasury Dept will make yet another attempt to issue $1 coins. (U.S. mint pushes new $1 coin) The plan is to issue 4 different faces per year until each president shows up on the coin.

"We think Americans are going to want to collect the series, and that will drive the coins through the economy," said U.S. Mint Director Edmund Moy.

I'm guessing Edmund got his Phd from James Madison High University, so Edmund, I only minored in Business Administration but let me explain a few principles I learned in my business classes.
1. Collectors do not circulate coins. Collectors collect coins, that's why they are called collectors.
2. Susan B. Anthony and Sacagewea were not the 1st and 2nd attempts at a $1 coin. In my short lifetime, I witnessed both the Eisenhower dollar and the bicentenial dollar (another hot collector's item). In fact, the US Silver Dollar dates back to 1804. You could put Jenna Jamison on the coin and it will still fail.
3. Changing the shape (Susan B. Anthony) or size or color will, likewise, not improve circulation. The bottom line is: penny, nickle, dime, quarter. It is frustrating enough digging through a pocketful of change and having to distinguish between a penny and a dime. Adding more coins to the mix will only add to the confusion.
4. The unrealistic hope that a $1 coin will go like wildfire as prices in vending machines continue to rise, is only further complicated by adding yet one more variation of the $1 coin. As long as a vending machine takes a paper dollar, manufacturers are not going to bother with coin mechanisms that have to distinguish 4 different $1 coins in addition to all of the other change. If I can accomplish with 4 standard quarters what I could with a $1 coin, I'm going to use the quarters just to be safe.
5. Real men don't carry coin purses. When the Treasury Dept can figure out a clever way to put a $1 coin in my wallet, I'll think about using them.
6. Just as an aside here, what happens in 2020 when we've used up all of the Presidents?

"I don't need change baby, I need folding money" - Lynyrd Skynyrd.