Steps that hurt credit

Reducing debt and cleaning up your balance sheet are important steps toward financial health, but don’t go overboard. That could leave you with a low credit score, which could hurt you when you apply for a loan or mortgage in the future, according to Houston-based Money Management International, a credit and debt counseling nonprofit.

Other actions MMI warns against include:

• Closing old accounts. It might seem smart to end accounts you never use, but this can shorten your credit history, which lowers your credit score.
• Avoiding all debt. No credit history at all is nearly as harmful as a shabby one. When lenders have no way to judge how you’d handle a loan, they’re leery.

Technology can identify ‘friendly’ ground targets

A national weapons lab has developed radar technology that produces synthetic echoes designed to help military pilots identify “friendly” ground targets.

The Defense Department has said 24 percent of the 146 U.S. battle deaths and 15 percent of the 480 wounded in the 1991 Gulf War resulted from “friendly fire” incidents.

The new technology from Sandia National Laboratories, dubbed Athena for the mythical Greek goddess-protector of armies, allows aircraft to read radar profiles of friendly ground vehicles and tanks differently from enemy profiles. Athena has yet to receive the Pentagon’s green light.

Above, Lars Wells, project manager for Sandia, displays a prototype of the radar tag sensor at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, N.M.

Motley Fool: Name that company

My founder started me in 1984 when he sold pizzas out of a back room in his father’s tavern. A year later, he opened his first restaurant. Today, I’m America’s No. 3 pizza provider, trailing Pizza Hut and Domino’s. I sport nearly 3,000 restaurants in 49 states and 16 international markets. I also own or franchise 131 Perfect Pizza restaurants in the United Kingdom. I’ve repeatedly been rated No. 1 in customer satisfaction among all national fast-food restaurants and have received high marks for quality. My dough is never frozen and my tomato sauce is made from vine-ripened tomatoes. Who am I?