http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/23950 From the L. A. Times: “Peter Davenport runs the National UFO Reporting Center from an abandoned missile complex in Washington state. He is passionate that there is something out there…” As those who are really into UFOs know, Davenport is not a nut and puts his money and his energy where his mouth is. And since we know those in government lie to us as a matter of course, I continue to follow the saga of those searching for the “real thing” with great interest all the while hoping Klaatu may yet land in DC. But for an attention getter this one is a real grabber: “Doomsday Fears Spark Lawsuit.” A very close friend of many years and I were discussing several things of current mutual interest the other day. The discussions become quite lively due in no small part to his UC Berkeley background. But we both share an intense interest in literature and science, so you can imagine we find ourselves in agreement on many issues while agreeing to disagree on others. One thing we recently found agreement over was the work going on with the Large Hadron Collider and the mix of SciFi and actual science hovering all about the project. The headlines being generated by this project would seem to lean more to SciFi if you are keeping track. MSNBC Cosmic Log: March 27, 2008. Alan Boyle: Doomsday Fears Spark Lawsuit. The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they're bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion. The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected? Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter…? The several citations and links in Boyle’s column can lead in many different directions, and the comments certainly become quite animated, even hostile. Since I have other sources to pursue for information I often give the column a glance and move on. But this one concerning the LHC was noteworthy in covering some of the issues many scientists do not want to talk about but are scattered about elsewhere. And my old friend being so familiar with me given to some esoteric philosophical speculations including some with a scientific bent this is where he and I got into a very interesting discussion on the topic. For example, apart from hypothetical doomsday scenarios suppose the Europeans discover how to pierce the moon through with a hole the size of a pencil. Using such technology could they drill a hole into the earth’s core inexpensively and draw enough heat to make the use of oil and coal unnecessary? It isn’t just the SciFi ultimate weapon that might evolve from discoveries made by scientists using the LHC, suppose complete energy independence whether of inexpensive fusion processes or others should be the outcome? What would the nations dependant on oil sales do with all that sand? What would happen to the Big Oil conglomerates? Will the EU emerge the Big Stick on the world scene, or as some surmise fulfill the Biblical apocalyptic prophecies of the “End Times?” One thing is quite obvious; the amount of money and brainpower poured into this project it had to hold promise of an enormous “payoff” other than advertised for common consumption in the media. My friend and I do know this; the scientists working on the first atomic bomb were not certain but what when they pushed the button it might result in an uncontrolled chain reaction threatening the entire planet. That the fears of a few were thought to be of little real moment and gave place to the majority opinion and the “device” worked without destroying the planet proved the majority was correct. But does science invariably subsume all else for the sake of scientific inquiry, investigation and experimentation? Sometimes the potential “payoff” is enough to quell all doubts and misgivings. It’s the fascinating stuff of SciFi and intriguing to speculate about. But when I consider what the mind is capable of, what could have been more farfetched than someone in 1860 believing they could actually record their voice on a piece of paper: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – “At first listen, the grainy high-pitched warble doesn't sound like much, but scientists say the French recording from 1860 is the oldest known recorded human voice… The 10-second clip of a woman singing ‘Au Clair de la Lune,’ taken from a so-called phonautogram, was recently discovered by audio historian David Giovannoni. The recording predates Thomas Edison's ‘Mary had a little lamb’ -- previously credited as the oldest recorded voice -- by 17 years. The tune was captured using a phonautograph, a device created by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville that created visual recordings of sound waves. Using a needle that moved in response to sound, the phonautograph etched sound waves into paper coated with soot from an oil lamp…” Now this is the kind of thing that gives me pause and is of more interest to me than portents of doomsday scenarios, and a whole lot more fun to speculate about. In all the years I lived with coal oil lamps, the cleaning of chimneys and the many uses for “lampblack” made from various materials for various purposes like “blacking” tires that I was aware of, the thought of using it to record my voice on a piece of paper never once occurred to me. The mind and the wonder of its workings, a never ending source of speculation about so many things; why can’t it always turn to marvels like recording a voice on a piece of paper rather than seeking bigger and better bombs and trying to gain power and authority over others? It’s a mystery.   From the L. A. Times: “Peter Davenport runs the National UFO Reporting Center from an abandoned missile complex in Washington state. He is passionate that there is something out there…” As those who are really into UFOs know, Davenport is not a nut and puts his money and his energy where his mouth is. And since we know those in government lie to us as a matter of course, I continue to follow the saga of those searching for the “real thing” with great interest all the while hoping Klaatu may yet land in DC. But for an attention getter this one is a real grabber: “Doomsday Fears Spark Lawsuit.” A very close friend of many years and I were discussing several things of current mutual interest the other day. The discussions become quite lively due in no small part to his UC Berkeley background. But we both share an intense interest in literature and science, so you can imagine we find ourselves in agreement on many issues while agreeing to disagree on others. One thing we recently found agreement over was the work going on with the Large Hadron Collider and the mix of SciFi and actual science hovering all about the project. The headlines being generated by this project would seem to lean more to SciFi if you are keeping track. MSNBC Cosmic Log: March 27, 2008. Alan Boyle: Doomsday Fears Spark Lawsuit. The builders of the world's biggest particle collider are being sued in federal court over fears that the experiment might create globe-gobbling black holes or never-before-seen strains of matter that would destroy the planet. Representatives at Fermilab in Illinois and at Europe's CERN laboratory, two of the defendants in the case, say there's no chance that the Large Hadron Collider would cause such cosmic catastrophes. Nevertheless, they're bracing to defend themselves in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion. The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, is due for startup later this year at CERN's headquarters on the French-Swiss border. It's expected to tackle some of the deepest questions in science: Is the foundation of modern physics right or wrong? What existed during the very first moment of the universe's existence? Why do some particles have mass while others don't? What is the nature of dark matter? Are there extra dimensions of space out there that we haven't yet detected? Some folks outside the scientific mainstream have asked darker questions as well: Could the collider create mini-black holes that last long enough and get big enough to turn into a matter-sucking maelstrom? Could exotic particles known as magnetic monopoles throw atomic nuclei out of whack? Could quarks recombine into "strangelets" that would turn the whole Earth into one big lump of exotic matter…? The several citations and links in Boyle’s column can lead in many different directions, and the comments certainly become quite animated, even hostile. Since I have other sources to pursue for information I often give the column a glance and move on. But this one concerning the LHC was noteworthy in covering some of the issues many scientists do not want to talk about but are scattered about elsewhere. And my old friend being so familiar with me given to some esoteric philosophical speculations including some with a scientific bent this is where he and I got into a very interesting discussion on the topic. For example, apart from hypothetical doomsday scenarios suppose the Europeans discover how to pierce the moon through with a hole the size of a pencil. Using such technology could they drill a hole into the earth’s core inexpensively and draw enough heat to make the use of oil and coal unnecessary? It isn’t just the SciFi ultimate weapon that might evolve from discoveries made by scientists using the LHC, suppose complete energy independence whether of inexpensive fusion processes or others should be the outcome? What would the nations dependant on oil sales do with all that sand? What would happen to the Big Oil conglomerates? Will the EU emerge the Big Stick on the world scene, or as some surmise fulfill the Biblical apocalyptic prophecies of the “End Times?” One thing is quite obvious; the amount of money and brainpower poured into this project it had to hold promise of an enormous “payoff” other than advertised for common consumption in the media. My friend and I do know this; the scientists working on the first atomic bomb were not certain but what when they pushed the button it might result in an uncontrolled chain reaction threatening the entire planet. That the fears of a few were thought to be of little real moment and gave place to the majority opinion and the “device” worked without destroying the planet proved the majority was correct. But does science invariably subsume all else for the sake of scientific inquiry, investigation and experimentation? Sometimes the potential “payoff” is enough to quell all doubts and misgivings. It’s the fascinating stuff of SciFi and intriguing to speculate about. But when I consider what the mind is capable of, what could have been more farfetched than someone in 1860 believing they could actually record their voice on a piece of paper: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – “At first listen, the grainy high-pitched warble doesn't sound like much, but scientists say the French recording from 1860 is the oldest known recorded human voice… The 10-second clip of a woman singing ‘Au Clair de la Lune,’ taken from a so-called phonautogram, was recently discovered by audio historian David Giovannoni. The recording predates Thomas Edison's ‘Mary had a little lamb’ -- previously credited as the oldest recorded voice -- by 17 years. The tune was captured using a phonautograph, a device created by Parisian inventor Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville that created visual recordings of sound waves. Using a needle that moved in response to sound, the phonautograph etched sound waves into paper coated with soot from an oil lamp…” Now this is the kind of thing that gives me pause and is of more interest to me than portents of doomsday scenarios, and a whole lot more fun to speculate about. In all the years I lived with coal oil lamps, the cleaning of chimneys and the many uses for “lampblack” made from various materials for various purposes like “blacking” tires that I was aware of, the thought of using it to record my voice on a piece of paper never once occurred to me. The mind and the wonder of its workings, a never ending source of speculation about so many things; why can’t it always turn to marvels like recording a voice on a piece of paper rather than seeking bigger and better bombs and trying to gain power and authority over others? It’s a mystery.   en-us