60 nanoseconds faster than photons

Very, very interesting...

My youngest son Tim brought this to my attention when it broke yesterday.  My first thought was "cold fusion" until I read it came out of CERN.

Here is the bottom line so far:  "In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up 60 billionths of a second earlier than they would have done if they had traveled at the speed of light."

10 Days Until Early Bird Registration Ends For [MC]2 MTConnect Connecting Manufacturing Conference

Since its introduction to the manufacturing industry, the MTConnect standard has been revolutionizing the way manufacturing equipment and devices "talk" to each other on the shop floor. Anyone in the manufacturing industry can benefit from learning about this important standard. That's why you must attend [MC]2 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference, November 8-10, 2011, in Cincinnati, Ohio. This conference will have something for everyone, from distributors to end users, to manufacturing technology builders, to software developers, to C-level executives, to professors, to students, and to anyone who just wants to really understand MTConnect. [MC]2 offers both business and technical tracks, hands-on technical workshops, panel discussions on the use and benefits of the standards, as well as a showcase of commercially available products utilizing the MTConnect standard. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to learn from the experts to really understand how MTConnect, as Modern Machine Shop said, is enabling tremendous productivity gains in manufacturing.  Those attending will return with new knowledge and skills so they can engage in a deeper dialogue on manufacturing productivity, as well as a much better understanding on what it takes to compete in 21st century manufacturing. Register now! This is an event like no other.

Social Security Is Not A Ponzi Scheme

I had this discussion with my father.  Here is an article by Dean Baker showing that if Social Security is a ponzi scheme, then so is the entire US government and most businesses.  Below is a snippet:

"The way in which Social Security is ostensibly similar to a Ponzi scheme is that it depends on new workers in the future to meet obligations that it incurs today. This also happens to be true of any debt issued by either the government or the private sector.

If the size of the working population in the United States collapsed tomorrow, then it would not have the tax revenue to pay off government bonds. Similarly, if the public stopped buying General Electric's products, it would also be unable to pay off its bondholders. Yet no one in their right mind would describe the bonds issued by the federal government or General Electric as Ponzi schemes."

 The image below is from Mother Jones: