Italy returned an important fragment off the Parthenon stolen by lord Elgin during the Ottoman empire's occupation of Hellas (Greece for some). That is an excellent gesture and another good faith and right thing to do from the World. The accumulated effect of legitimate returns from private collections and museums should apply enough pressure to the British to return to the Hellenes what is rightfully theirs. The Parthenon 'elginian' Marbles currently located at the british museum in London are actually and undeniably for the World to see, enjoy and feel their greatness. This can only be done in Athens at the original location where they meant to be by their creators. Italy, thank you for showing what it means to have honor.

Clearly the big news is the sudden and gradual withing days collapse of the capitalistic system that US depends on. There will be no Bailout for most US Americans since that $700 Billion will go to save the Banks, Holdings Companies and large Insurance Corporations. They argue that if we do not give them the money, the Economy will collapse with the Banks giving no credit or mortgages therefore inhibiting growth. Were have they been recently? Have they tried to get a loan or a mortgage the last few months or couple of years to see how impossible it is for anybody with small income (how do you define small? maybe less than $5 Million?) and any tiny blemish in their credit? Forget it, we do not get any help now, and by giving them $700 Billion we will still not be able to secure loans. The ones that feel the pain are the small businesses especially when they cannot pay their salaries, health insurance, business insurance, their vendors and Sales have diminished with extraordinary increases in energy, freight and raw materials. Include me in that mix since I know first hand, and of others in various Industries. So, we say NO to BAILOUT. Instead, rather than Socializing the System, do not intervene and let the Companies and people associated with those (mostly the well to do that will have plenty to continue) to collapse. It is simple, the thousands of small businesses created by the new wave of released professionals along with the existing small businesses will come in and feed of what the big Corps left behind and will eventually cover the Void. With this system, this is inevitable when there are uncontrollable profits associated with large Corps and their executives. Especially with a horrific government as this one that knows no boundaries in making revenue for their friends and hoarding cash. Hey Capitalists, play the game by your rules and do not regulate...

This should not be anything new for the Industry and the Country. Companies do not fail overnight but rather happens gradually and after years of losses and poor performance. Do not believe that they are surprised of this. They (Government and Executives) knew of this a long time ago, even though I would not know how long that is. They operate by constantly looking and studying the numbers. Cash Flow, Projections, Sales performance, Revenue, Assets. How can they possible miss it and only now realized therefore they go to bankruptsy and ask for help with our money? Many months or years ahead you will find out after some kind of freak exposure that they drew assets and money to unknown stealth destinations before they failed the Companies. And no way you cannot fix such Companies with great assets, cash and ability to operate even at smaller scale. Just give it to turnaround specialists (like my brother and I) and we can repair it in six (6) months the most. Cleaning up, negotiating and delivering hard news to people, vendors and government, is easy. No such luck though. They whine and get more money and more help and they keep their milliions, their mansions and their corporate jets, while the little people get stiffed. Thanks a lot America. That is fair, very fair.

The discovery of this exoplanet is an important step towards realization of the human beings that we might not be alone in the Universe, or even in our own Galaxy. While it does not appear to be able to support life, statistically we are collecting data to eventually support the theory of the existence of living organisms elsewhere. Do not expect nasty alien races that would attack Earth any time soon. If they have been here and could taxi themselves easily in and out our Solar system, they would have stopped by now to say hello in a fashion that it could be properly documented. Enough of those speculative signtings and experiences. As scientists or logical human beings we do not buy it, but many poor souls do and support a nice profitable niche market that could easily be included within the religious markets and their exploitation of the natural human instict to fear what they do not understand. While I am writting too much about this, let us look back at the discovery at hand. So do not expect slimy alien races that want to obliterate Earth, but rather organisms that have come to life and evolved in a different way that ours, but most likely with many similarities. Let us find an extraterrestial incect and celebrate life in our Universe! I cannot wait for the Europa submarine probes, the Enceladus robot landers and maybe some Martian microbes dug up by the Phoenix Lander. To conclude, hey Toronto Scientists, a job well done and thank you for this nice discovery.

Has everyone else noticed that in US there is no real coverage for the Paralympics? There are not many people that care and of course it is not a big money maker, so we do not get to see, hear or surf any coverage. That is unfortunate since there are extremely wonderful and worth of covering accomplishments by so many athletes with certain physical handicap. Anybody that made it to the Paralympics deserves a medal, and this country should have done more to show appreciation. Not everything they allow us to see, should be about money. It is now left up to the individual to search through our confusing electronic world to reach out and get a glimpse of what is happening in China. Watch some of the swimming where the same passion is felt as the regular Olympics, or watch anything to give hope and appreciation for these athletes that strive for life many times more than us 'regular' people.

As we already assumed, Tina Fey was the person selected to impersonate Palin in this new Saturday Night Live. A good performance really by both ladies, but not greatly funny, but I guess is hard to prepare the perfect comedy and satisfy all tastes, the ones that hate her and the ones that for some insane reason like Palin. Maybe when the writers work some better material for Tina Fey the new episodes will be better. As far as Phelps, that was a popular choice  even though not superb in comedy. But so what, given what he has accomplished he deserves a chance in comedy, drama and anything else he wants to try. Still, this episode did not manage to keep our attention too long. It seemed that anything else that you can do late at night was a better priority.

Are you kidding me? Now we will save the Lehman Brothers after paying for the other messed up Banks? If the executives re-invested their millions in salaries and bonuses in the Company and their employees this would not have happened. They used their authority and arrogance to eat, travel, entertain, spent on expensive homes, cars, clothes, clubs and now we are supposed to save them? Let them fail and see what it means to be hunted by creditors and get served at home with lawsuits. Do not take our money and give it to them with the hopes that it will stabilize this miserable economy that the rich destroyed; but without hurting them, of course. We say NO. Let them burn on the stick since they never cared if the little people suffer. I have an idea. What if we excuse all of the debt that the little people have and write off their balance of their real estate loans. That would solve the economy crisis, and the basis of this country, the Middle Class will get going with new small businesses, shopping, creating work and jobs for everybody.