Akira Kawasaki wrote:
-----Forwarded Message-----from Akira Kawasaki
From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Apr 27, 2007 2:27 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday April 27, 2007
WHAT’S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 27 Apr 07 Washington, DC
1. THE HABITABLE ZONE: THE GOOD NEWS IS THEY’RE NOT COMING HERE. Humans,
fragile self-replicating chemical factories, are trapped on a tiny planet
for a few dozen orbits about an undistinguished star among countless other
stars in one of billions of galaxies. And yet, these insignificant specks
have the audacity to imagine they can figure it all out - and maybe they
can. The most compelling scientific quest is to find life to which
Earthlings are not related. The first great discovery of this Century was
to confirm that other stars have planets - lots of them. This week
European astronomers found a planet in the habitable zone of Gliese 581, a
red dwarf in the constellation Libra. The public was thrilled. We can
learn a lot from here, and it’s going to be exciting. Each year I ask my
class of freshman physics majors if they think humans will visit another
star someday. Most say yes, so we take a few minutes of each class to
plan the mission. What’s the closest star? How long are you prepared to
travel? How big will the spaceship have to be? How will you pass the
time? Anyway, we’ll be able to travel much faster some day, so maybe 50
years. There’s always one that insists there’s gotta be a basketball
court. Near the end of the semester they calculate the kinetic energy of
the spacecraft to make the trip in 50 years. Hmmm, the velocity is
squared. Maybe, they conclude, we could just find a way to exchange e-mails.
2. WARHEADS: THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT NUCLEAR STOCKPILES ARE AGING. It was
just five years ago that the Nuclear Posture Review, was leaked
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN02/wn031502.html . It was a Pentagon
report calling for development of a new class of small nuclear weapons to
blur the distinction between nuclear and conventional weapons. Public
exposure killed the plan. But Dr. Strangelove never gives up. The Bush administration is again pushing for a new generation of nuclear weapons; this time it’s the Reliable Replacement Warhead, an idea that’s been around for 30 years. In fact, having spent billions on a Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship Program, there’s no need for the RRW. U.S. warheads
will retain their capability for another century.
3. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: IRAQ NO LONGER POSES A NUCLEAR THREAT. We
invaded Iraq because of their weapons of mass destruction. It worked
perfectly. Iraq hasn’t had a nuclear weapon since. But now we learn that
there’s a nuclear threat brewing across the border in Iran.
Unfortunately, our troops are sort of tied up. We need more missile
defense sites like the ones we built in Alaska and California to deal with
the missile threat from North Korea. Of course that missile defense is
still being tested and we don’t actually turn it on, but we think we
could. It worked anyway. North Korea still doesn’t have a missile, or a
warhead. To take care of the Iran threat we want to install missile
defenses in Eastern Europe like the one that doesn’t work in Alaska.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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Bobs going all political lol. I knew all this stuff years ago. Its very
banal, even the extrasolar planet and its parameters are unsurprising.
The old Guy is getting predictable.
I think we will be in a shooting war with Iran in 3-4 months and a mates
going to the region. Ouch.
Iran has the blue prints of the Pakistan nukes according to the Paki
nuke maker. Its a tested bomb so they need only the fissile material.
The 12th Imam legends say that the Sunni cities will burn. No mention of
Israel. The targets are Baghdad, Riyadh and the Sunni triangle cities. A
shot at Israel might be made to confuse things. Making the destruction
of Iran’s other targets look like an Israeli retaliation.
Israel is a small target and the Iranian missiles are not accurate. A
shot at Israel could hit Jordan, the West bank or Gaza. The fall out
will get to Palestinian territory anyway. Israelis have shelters and
training the Palestinians don't. If Israel is hit it could spell the end
or extinction of Palestine with no Israeli response. The population
density of Israel is such that there are no more than 2 million Jews in
any possible target area. Iran can’t target Jerusalem, Mecca or Medina.
