Forbes.com: Cheap Jet Update: "Bill Lear, in 1964, was the last entrepreneur to build, certify and sell a business jet--the Learjet. During the years stretching between Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Aviator no other little startup company has matched this feat.

The Corner on National Review Online

"DOZENS [John Derbyshire]

Rich: Why dozens instead of tens? I'm going to throw out some guesses here.

(1) In the days before Hindu-Arabic numerals made computation easy, everyday-size numbers (less than 1,000) were easier to handle -- especially to divide up -- if they were as 'round' as possible -- that is, had the largest possible range of different factors.

Researchers and space enthusiasts see helium-3 as the perfect fuel source:

"Fusion research began in 1951 in the United States under military auspices. After its declassification in 1957 scientists began looking for a candidate fuel source that wouldn't produce neutrons.

Economist.com | IT complexity: "Tony Picardi, a boffin at IDC, yet another big research firm, comes up with perhaps the most frightening number. When he polled a sample of firms 15 years ago, they were spending 75% of their IT budget on new hardware and software and 25% on fixing the systems that they already had; now that ratio has been reversed�70-80% of IT spending goes on fixing things rather than buying new systems.

The History of Kaaba As A Place Of Worship-Hajj-Pilgrimage:

"Kaaba, also known as, Ka'bah, Kabah and Caaba is the center of the holiest place of worship in Islam (Submission in English), i.e. the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, Al Masjid Al-Haram. Its name means the cube in Arabic as it is a cube shaped stone structure built in the middle of the Sacred Mosque.

Business 2.0 :: Magazine Article :: Features :: Nuclear Spring:

"Rather than decommission aging nukes -- there are 103 U.S. nuclear plants -- utilities are instead extending their lives. And that's bringing a gusher of business to Westinghouse, the nation's top supplier of nuclear technology.

NEWS.com.au | How you can break Murphy's Law :

"THERE'S grim news for people who worry that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. A new mathematical formula has proved Murphy's Law really does strike at the worst possible time.

Ordinary people have long known that computers crash on deadline and cars break down in emergencies, while previous studies have shown the law, also called Sod's Law, is not a myth and toast really does fall buttered side down.

MEDC - SmartZones:

"Battle Creek Aviation SmartZone � Western Michigan University and Kellogg Community College

Houghton/Michigan Tech Enterprise SmartZone � Michigan Technological University

Lansing Regional SmartZone � Michigan State University

Mount Pleasant/Center for Applied Research and Technology � Central Michigan University

Kalamazoo SmartZone � Western Michigan University

Grand Rapids SmartZone � Grand Valley State University and Van Andel Research Institute

Muskegon Lakeshore SmartZone � Grand Valley State University"

Business 2.0 - Magazine Article - Printable Version - The Coming Job Boom:

"The cause of the labor squeeze is as simple as it is inexorable: During this decade and the next, the baby boom generation will retire. The largest generation in American history now constitutes about 60 percent of what both employers and economists call the prime-age workforce -- that is, workers between the ages of 25 and 54. The cohorts that follow are just too small to take the boomers' place.

Boing Boing: WTF is an interrobang?

"WTF is an interrobang?

Marc Laidlaw sez: I have a new favorite obscure puncutation mark:

In 1962, the interrobang (?), was introduced by the New York publishing establishment as 'a twentieth century punctuation mark'. The interrobang combined the functions of a question mark and an exclamation point.