This wasn't a very good day for Northrop Grumman Corp. It lost out to arch-rival Lockheed Martin Corp. for that huge NASA contract (see below), worth as much as $8 billion over the next eight years. That's "b" as in billion. But the L.A.-based company at least can count on the Business Journal (FD: my former employer) to help salve the wounds. Under the headline "Northrop Wins One, Loses Another," the paper gives equal treatment to a $95.8 million design contract that it won today. That's "m" as in million. The first sentence: "Northrop Grumman Corp. received mixed news on the business development front Thursday." I suppose that's true - what's the difference in another $7.9 billion, right?