Author Archive: Bruce Henderson

Bruce Henderson is a former Marine who focuses custom data mining and visualization technologies on the economy and other disasters.

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Financial Markets And The Break Down In Trust

Financial Markets And The Break Down In Trust

| March 21, 2008 | Reply

A very clever lady taught me that our entire financial system works on trust. When traders are buying and selling stock or securities, there is an inherent bond of trust that the transaction is what it appears to be. While we hear stories of slimy dealings on Wall Street and in the financial power houses […]

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The Fed’s Mistakes – How Deep In It Now?

The Fed’s Mistakes – How Deep In It Now?

| March 18, 2008 | 1 Reply

In a recent private discussion thread, one of the participants cited our current problems as a shortage of liquidity (available cash) brought on by failed sub-prime mortgage lending. We are not a liquidity crisis, but a debt crisis. The banks have some idea of how bad the problem really is, but most people don’t know […]

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Charting The Banking Crisis – A Boomerang Demo

Charting The Banking Crisis – A Boomerang Demo

| March 12, 2008 | 1 Reply

Anyone who has been following the financial news knows that banks and other large financial institutions are under a growing amount of strain given the misguided investments in speculative ventures over the past 5 years, including mortgages and exotic credit / investment packages. While chasing down what state a company like Merrill-Lynch might be tough, […]

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Sunspots Still Missing – What Impact?

Sunspots Still Missing – What Impact?

| March 5, 2008 | Reply

Image from the SOHO spacecraft of the Sun – March 04, 2008 Our sun is a gigantic nuclear furnace that most people on Earth take for granted. It’s easy to assume that the sun is a constant, as we know it has been around longer than the planet Earth has, and has warmed the planet […]

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Clinton Wins 3 – McCain Closes The Deal

Clinton Wins 3 – McCain Closes The Deal

| March 5, 2008 | Reply

Last night was another Tuesday primary swarm. Once again it was a parade of newsies working hard to create a story. Some of the specifics: John McCain completed his bid to be the Republican nominee for 2008. Congratulations to him. It is my honest opinion that he was the weakest contender for the GOP slot, […]

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Disco Ultra Cheese – Meco Star Wars Theme

Disco Ultra Cheese – Meco Star Wars Theme

| March 2, 2008 | 1 Reply

Once upon a time in the late 70’s, it seemed everything was Star Wars. To be honest Star Wars was (if I recall) the one that gave rise to merchandise tie ins to things like Happy Meals and action figures. But also big during the late 70’s was the evil form of dance culture known […]

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Nerds Gone Wild – The Furby Gurdy!

Nerds Gone Wild – The Furby Gurdy!

| March 2, 2008 | Reply

Some of you may be aware of a sub-culture of nerds that like to “bend circuits”. That means taking perfectly usable electronic items and re-purposing them for other things. Sometimes bizare other things. One of the big realms of this is taking anything that makes noise and re-wiring it’s brains to make strange noises for […]

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USA 193 Shoot Down Animation

USA 193 Shoot Down Animation

| February 21, 2008 | Reply

The Pentagon is confirming that they got a good hit last night against USA 193, also known as NRL 21; a crippled intelligence satellite. While we await a better quality version of the video to be available from the DoD, take a look at this wonderful computer rendering of the shot and the break up..

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USA 193 Shoot Down Update [Updated]

USA 193 Shoot Down Update [Updated]

| February 20, 2008 | Reply

[Update 0730 PST – Henderson] Some nice animation of the shot can be found here.. [Update 1945 PST – Henderson] Brief word from the news wires that USS Lake Erie took the shot as planned and reported a hit. Congratulations to the crew for executing their mission like professionals in spite of conditions that (from […]

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Headed East

Headed East

| February 18, 2008 | Reply

I am headed for a week of barnstorming customers on the east coast of the US. I will try to keep an eye on the USA 193 situation, and post updates as I can. I am hoping against hope I am home in time to get a look at the shoot down. My posting bandwidth […]

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