Space Shuttle Update (48)

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Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Arrives at Kennedy Space Center
NASA – The newly arrived Shuttle Carrier Aircraft is seen through the platforms of the mate-demate device at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The aircraft, known as an SCA, arrived at 5:35 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, to prepare for shuttle Discovery’s ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va., on April 17. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, originally manufactured for commercial use.

One of two SCAs employed over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 911 was decommissioned at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California in February.

Discovery will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Shuttle Carrier Aircraft Arrives at Kennedy
The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft glides down the runway of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The aircraft, known as an SCA, arrived at 5:35 p.m. EDT to prepare for shuttle Discovery’s ferry flight to the Washington Dulles International Airport in Sterling, Va., on April 17. This SCA, designated NASA 905, is a modified Boeing 747 jet airliner, originally manufactured for commercial use. One of two SCAs employed over the course of the Space Shuttle Program, NASA 905 is assigned to the remaining ferry missions, delivering the shuttles to their permanent public display sites. NASA 911 was decommissioned at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center in California in February. Discovery will be placed on permanent public display in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Image Credit: NASA/Frankie Martin

Europe now sees its financial crisis never really went away

By Robert J. Samuelson – The European “crisis” is back. Actually, it never went away — and won’t for many years. The problems are so deep and pervasive that there is no easy or obvious solution. Government debt and deficits in many countries are not sustainable, but the usual remedies of cutting spending and raising taxes — a.k.a. “austerity” — may make matters worse by deepening already severe recessions. Europe is caught in a trap that promises more political and social unrest.

The wonder is that, for a few months, there was a sense of complacency. more> http://tinyurl.com/bwuunvt

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• The President Of Iceland Tells Us How He Had The Balls To Stand Up To Britain, Adam Taylor, Business Insider
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Ducking the Crisis in Medicare

Estimated Funding Gaps in Medicare and Social Security (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Steven Rattner – Thanks to escalating health care costs and repeated sweetening of benefits without commensurate increases in revenues, Medicare was underfinanced by a staggering $37 trillion as of Sept. 30.

Under Washington’s delusional rules, budget crunchers in both the White House and Congress credit this $1 trillion twice: once in calculating that the care law will generate more revenues than costs, and again in concluding that the Obama plan will chip away at the Medicare problem. more> http://tinyurl.com/6s52hwx

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• How The Banks Stole Medicare (baselinescenario.com)
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Decoding Your Medical Bills (infographic)

By Jenica Rhee -

• The average American family spends $19,393 annually for health care coverage
• 60% of personal bankruptcies are linked to medical bills
• U.S. citizens spend twice as much on health care as the Japanese

IT’S NOT BECAUSE AMERICANS ARE UNHEALTHY!

more> http://tinyurl.com/8xtlfb6

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Google’s evil stock split

By Felix Salmon – There’s a long history of such things: they were outlawed in the 1920s, when they were commonly used by unscrupulous managers. The New York World even wrote a poem on the subject:

Then you who drive the fractious nail,
And you who lay the heavy rail,
And all who bear the dinner pail
And daily punch the clock—
Shall it be said your hearts are stone?
They are your brethren and they groan!
Oh, drop a tear for those who own Nonvoting corporate stock.

Dual-class voting shares were illegal for most of the 20th Century, but came back in 1986. more> http://tinyurl.com/cavoy48

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• Google Stock Split: Nonvoting Share Move Does No Evil After All (dailyfinance.com)
• Google’s stock split raises questions (news.yahoo.com)
• What’s up with Google’s plan to split its stock, Anick Jesdanun, Associated Press/USATODAY.com
• Google’s stock split raises questions, Alexei Oreskovic, Reuters