As IF Times

link FOXNews.com – NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World.

Well finally, we’re going to harness the vast resources of the Muslim world in order to advance space travel.  The west is going to tap into their deep reservoir of …uh..er…of ..hmm..well, maybe they’re good at math.  That seems to be the directive by President Obama as filtered through the new NASA Chief Charlie Bolden.  Again, as I often do, I check The Onion to see if this is one of their stories, but sadly not.

That’s not to dismiss the yearnings of Muslim kids, many of whom undoubtedly dream of space travel.  In fact, next to policeman, fireman and Imam, astronaut is probably the top aspiration of all Muslim kids.  But if we’re going to embark upon this path, why stop there?  Why not reach out to Peruvian Indians, Canadian Inuit and Australian Aborigines for their contributions as well.  I’m sure they’d be interested if only someone asked them.  As a matter of fact, I can’t seem to recall that there was an outreach to Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Hindus or Scientologists.  I guess they didn’t have to for those groups, because they seem to be able to live harmoniously with one another.  The fact that they don’t have the infidel thing going on in their religions makes co-operation somewhat easier. 

Or maybe the teachings of their respective faiths did not preclude objective assessments of science and knowledge.  Maybe those faiths allowed for acceptance of things even if they conflicted with centuries old medieval beliefs.  If space travel and research requires that the Muslim world be included in their activities, will that hamper future research initiatives?  What if launching a rocket happened to fall on an inauspicious holy day?  While the Chinese do pay attention to  bad feng shui days, should this affect western space research? Do Jews care if a launch happens on the Sabbath?  Should anyone?

Doesn’t inclusion require collaboration in all areas of scientific and medical research as well?  Does the Muslim prohibition of male doctors from working with female patients provide a challenge?  Should we care?  What does religion have to do with space travel? It looks like the world of politics has invaded the world of space.  It won’t be long before quotas of certain racial and ethnic types will be tracked for inclusivity’s sake.  It’s almost surprising the gay community haven’t clamored for more representation.   The PC lunacy will literally be out of this world.  

But here’s the thing.  Who says the Muslim world wants to participate? It may be like offering opera tickets to football fans.  The response may be, ‘meh’.  Maybe the people charged with running a very highly specialized agency such as NASA should not mistake their role to be UN ambassadors.  They already have those, unless of course those folk would rather run NASA, perhaps some job swaps are in order.  Now, if they want to start sending politicians on deep space missions, that’s another matter.

link NY pension fund to sue BP for investment loss | Reuters.

The CFA program is an intense certification degree which confers on its graduates knowledge of every aspect of finance, accounting and investing analysis and techniques.  It appears that a new section will have to be added in the area of achieving investment returns.  The sue section.  If all the statistical models created do not result in the theoretical return, then sue the investment as a means of achieving the expected result.   If you can’t earn it, sue for it.

Actually, this case will set a precedent for anyone who has ever lost money in an investment due to unforeseen circumstances….which means every one, because who can foresee losing money?  Who knew that bs.com wasn’t worth 5 jillion dollars at it’s market peak?  All the people who ever lost money in General Motors can sue on the grounds that they intentionally made cars that wouldn’t sell.

I wonder how they’re going to frame a case against Apple computers, widely known to be selling new Iphones like booze to sailors, recently moving 1.7 million of them in the first 3 days of their introduction.  Yet the stock price has fallen from a high of 279 barely 2 weeks ago to today’s less lofty level of 245.  That has to be grounds for some kind of suit.  There may be created an entirely new category of investment returns for fund managers, called “entitled returns”, the return that should have happened if the vicissitudes of reality didn’t interfere.  They may label this the what would have been, or the “wah wah” return expectation.

It will be most interesting if/when one day government bonds begin defaulting.  What will be the basis for the lawsuits then?  That they had no idea that the debt had no backing? That they couldn’t have foreseen this coming?  Lawyers should constitute a part of every investment program.