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Earlier this spring I discussed the possibility of turning the moon into a black-body object — covering it with non-reflective, fully-absorbing solar panels.

The always interesting Technology Review recently discussed “Black Silicon” a creation that absorbs nearly all light, both visible and infrared.

Here’s to hoping that further research won’t be stymied by economic conditions (… it will though).

Case-study of why you shouldn’t consume lots of it or j-e-l-l-o:

If you’re interested in seeing just how passionate Korean’s are towards getting ahead in English-speaking, here is one of the more somber stories: Goose Dads Feel Pinch

Also, a bunch of people have asked me about an update regarding Korea’s tanking economy.

Despite the huge rebound today, it will probably continue to drop for many moons.

I hate to be the cynic, but the primary reason for why there was a huge jump in the market was the National Pension Service, the largest investor in Korea, bought what they consider “undervalued” assets.

Unfortunately for them, nothing fundamentally changed in the companies they bought. Earnings will continue to slump and profit will continue to falter well into next year. I would be upset if I was on a fixed income, dependent on my monthly stipend from the NPS.

While some of these could be arguably undervalued (like POSCO) in the long-run, many of them are crap (like banks/financials).

You know how the Fed helped bankroll the JP Morgan/Bear Stearn’s take over in March? Well, the Fed just lost $2.2 billion in write-downs (actually the US taxpayer took the hit), because the assets were crap. The same thing is happening here in Korea. In fact, the government is spending part of its $130 billion “bailout” package physically buying commercial real-estate to prop up property prices and pumping cash into construction firms.

In the next couple of years, this will all still have to be written down because the real estate market here was fanatically overbuilt and a lot of it was funded with borrowed money that cannot be repaid.

So, to get back to the results in the market today, the NPS is taking a huge gamble and I think it was definitely a bad decision in the short run and probably a really bad decision in the long-run. Remember, if you invested in the Dow in the summer of 1929 it took the rest of your adult life until you saw the values return to pre-crash levels. With the Kospi down more than 50% since it peaked last year, this is a huge gamble that might not even pay out, period.

See also: So that’s why they’re screwed?
Will this be as low as it goes?

He got some new wheels:

More on Napoleon crossing the Alps. Also, the Wiki entry doesn’t mention it (and I’m too lazy to log in and change it) but it is at the Great Bernard Pass, not the Little one (seriously, there are two).

Via BoingBoing Gadgets

I’ve been operating on radio silence for a few days because of the utterly ridiculous emails I received over a sarcastic piece on abortion.

Holy cow people. If you don’t like abortions, don’t have one. And above all, don’t send out death threats, because, ya know that’s not really pro-life, mmmkay?

This whole ordeal reminded me one of my favorite cartoons from the always good, xkcd.

And of course, mister funny himself, Ali G:

See also: Flame Warriors

Seriously. There has to be some kind of eponymous power law that states, the closer to an election, the more ridiculous everyone sounds.

Exhibit A:

I wonder how people like Nancy Pfotenhauer would classify American’s living abroad. Are we all just rabid anti-Americans rooting for bin Laden?

Again, I don’t care much for Obama (nor will I vote for either of them), but somehow I’m just not swayed by her brilliant smearing:

“I will pray for him.”

Whew, I’m glad you are publicly admitting that. The world is now obviously a safer place because of it.

Seriously though, how self-righteous is that? Is she some kind of wizard with supernatural powers?

Not quite the same thing as 3D or vertical farming, but certainly an interesting step in that direction:

See also: Three cheers for Wired mag and many more for genetic engineers