Day: March 24, 2015

  • The Big Bang glitch: A shirt circuit at CERN

    The Big Bang glitch: A shirt circuit at CERN

    Today as the Germanwings flight fell to the earth over the French Alps, other news was silently being reported at the Large Hadron Collider. There was a short circuit.. Now the big firing up has been postponed, it is being reported..

    This is how Reuters captured the event for historical record:

    CERN scientists expressed disappointment at the last-minute problem, in just one of the underground machine’s eight sectors, which have been rewired and checked thoroughly during the closedown. But the research centre’s director general, Rolf Heuer, played down its significance.

    “All the signs are good for a great run 2,” he said in a statement. “In the grand scheme of things, a few weeks delay in humankind’s quest to understand our universe is little more than the blink of an eye.”

    Scientists and engineers at CERN, mindful of a serious leakage in 2008 which caused a delay of two years in the start-up for the first LHC run, have long insisted that there can be no rushing into full operations.

  • The eerie coincidence over the French Alps

    The eerie coincidence over the French Alps

    Presented for your thoughtful consideration, the place where the Plane crashed in the French Alps today was the same exact location where another plane crashed in 1953.. ..

    Meanwhile, it was reported today that pilots refusing to fly over the same part of the Alps where this occurred led to several delays and cancellation of flights..

    And this is how things work.. Strange coincidences that may not be just chance, and the human reaction and emotion to tragedy..

    Today was tragic. All of those lives lost in the 8 minutes to oblivion is awful..

    Another day in the life of planet earth..

  • Germanwings crash theories abound

    Germanwings crash theories abound

    The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 today is a story only a few hours old. But already theories are advancing online. Conspiracy theories.. One because the trip the plane was making was from Barcelona to Barcelonnette .. Strange, perhaps..

    Already, though, it’s taking ‘flight’ online.. That, along with questions of whether scientists were on board, perhaps officials or authorities that someone wanted to ‘take out’ ..

    Another theory actually says that CERN–firing up the Hadron Collider soon to full power–is the reason for the crash.

    Some are claiming terrorism.. Some aren’t..

    There is a link to a foreign news story that reports the crash–but the date on the story is March 22. Two days prior to today. That has fired up a series of theories of conspiracy as well..

    We know this:
    We don’t know.

    Already today, the news surrounding the flight crash has changed substantially.

    When it was first reported, there were news accounts that a mayday distress call was made. Now it has turned out, according to official statements, that no mayday was made. And then the plane descended for 8 minutes before the final crash into the mountains of the French Alps..

    This is a part of why, until the dust clears, I attempt to steer clear of reporting breaking news… we make readers aware, but on the details, it’s better to allow the events to play out in real time, as no news source seems to get anything correct..

    As for the events of this Germanwings crash: The theories are abounding.. This is the latest in a series of high profile crashes that have seemingly been dominating headlines over the past 14 months..
    But crashes happen..

    I don’t want to authoritatively state any theory on why this crash occurred. To the best of our knowledge, if you believe the reporting of NBC NEWS at least, there is at least one black box recovered from the scene.   In that light, the world hopefully will find out the truth as to why the plane crashed, why no mayday was called out, and why the entire event took 8 minutes. . . just imagine the horror of those 8 minutes.

    I think it’s fair and proper to question all accounts, all theories, and try to ascertain what events took place. That goes for any events that occur.. But it’s premature to conclude a conspiracy.

    Sometimes accidents do happen. Just as every crash accident is not a conspiracy, every plane crash is not either.

    I have my personal thoughts about Fligth 800 in 1996. I also have my own doubts about Flight 370.. I also think a missile took down the flight in late 2014..

    As far as this one? Time will tell.
    But there is one thing to note.. If this is not a conspiracy, not terrorism, not inflicted on humans by other humans, then it becomes scarier.. Why? Because it shows how out of luck we can be on this planet.. how cursed we often times are without knowing it.. And how at risk we all are to the dangers that pop up when least expected.

    Yes, indeed.. Just as reality is scarier than fiction, ‘chance’ is much more frightening than conspiracy. Because there’s no rhyme or reason or sympathy when you speak about ‘chance.’

  • THE GERMANWINGS CRASH

    THE GERMANWINGS CRASH

    Disaster: A rescue helicopter flies over wreckage of a Germanwings Airbus A320 plane that crashed between the towns of Barcelonnette and Digne in the French Alps. All 150 people on board - including two babies and 16 children from the same German school - are presumed dead
    German official: High school group on crashed Germanwings plane; Spanish school says 16 students involved »

    I remember the crash of TWA Flight 800.. I was 16 at the time (and all conspiracy and missile theories aside) that result from that crash was traumatic to my area in Pennsylvania. On Flight 800:  The town of Montoursville PA was ‘in a daze’ after a number of high school kids died on that plane (Source: USA TODAY, 1996)

    I would imagine the same ‘daze’ will be happening in whatever school these kids were from—teenagers who were lucky enough to get a chance to see some new parts of the world and now after this tragedy, have perished from our earth..

    Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Airbus A320 plane crashes in French Alps en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf »

    There was NO mayday..
    The plane dived for 8 minutes
    NBC news is reporting that at least on black box has been recovered..

  • A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIOLENT SOLAR SYSTEM

    A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIOLENT SOLAR SYSTEM

    Just when you think your plight in the grand scheme of things matters a bit, news comes along to give perspective to just how tiny we all are. Today, two examples exist in science news, presented for your review:

    Maybe JUPITER is planet x!? There is new information to suggest that the early solar system was made up of giant super earths. And then Jupiter came along to smash things into pieces.. A theory for now, but certainly amazing when considering the mighty explosion something like this could have made..

    And this other tale, a little closer to home: The huge Australian impact of an asteroid was so large that it caused cracks to the earth’s core..

    When considering the history of our universe, and the ever-changing space around us, it’s pretty amazing that we are even here. That somehow we evolved into the creatures of habit we have.. and somehow still survive in a very hostile existence..

    We are somehow alive..

    No matter how big of planets of the past crashed and asteroids smashed.

    Of course all of that could easily happen again..

  • THE FRENCH ALPS CRASH: NO SURVIVORS EXPECTED

    THE FRENCH ALPS CRASH: NO SURVIVORS EXPECTED

    A passenger jet carrying 152 people crashed Tuesday in the French Alps as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, authorities said..

    Various sources reporting: The crash site was at Meolans-Revels, near the popular ski resort of Pra Loup, according to Eric Ciotti, the head of the regional council in southeast France…

    There are also reports that the Germanwings Airbus A320 sent out a distress signal prior to the crash.. A long search and rescue operation has now begun, as the crash site is in an extremely mountainous region..

    The CEO of the airline said that there were, in all, 152 people on board.  That number includes two babies.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that “we don’t know much about the flight and the crash yet. And we don’t know the cause.”

    And more, the AP reporting:

    The owner of a campground near the crash site, Pierre Polizzi, said he heard the plane making curious noises shortly before it crashed.

    “At 11.30, I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn’t see any fighter planes,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “The noise I heard was long – like 8 seconds – as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds.”