Sep 27, 2011

Not so fast

You may have heard about a particle-physics experiment called OPERA, which seems to have measured neutrinos coming from the CERN accelerator traveling faster than the speed of light. If confirmed, this result would be extremely exciting and intriguing, as it would modify the foundations of all physics for the past 100 years.

The physics community seems to accept that the team at OPERA did a professional and thorough job, but naturally, there is also widespread skepticism.  The effect they measured might be explained simply by some systematic error of 60 nanoseconds, although finding the source of the error itself could be interesting.  In the next year or so, laboratories in the U.S. and elsewhere should be able to independently test the result.

A professor of particle physics told me and some other students, "It should be looked into with an open and skeptical mind."  She's seen many extraordinary discoveries and disappointments in her 50 years as a physicist, so I guess she would know.

Just for fun:  below is a video of how to build your own cloud chamber, a simple device which forms visible tracks as particles fly through it (go to 3 min. 10 sec. in the video to watch the tracks).  Watching the tracks is fun and mesmerizing, and you don't actually need any radioactive samples like the one used in the video; unless you live in a lead box, an empty chamber will produce a frenzy of zig-zagging tracks due to the ambient particles raining down on us every day (mostly muons).

Sep 18, 2011

Palestinian statehood

The situation as of 2007, from here.  A detailed, full-page map of the West Bank can be found at the Washington Post.  Israel has a population of 7.5 million (about 5.8 million Jews and 1.5 million Arabs).  The West Bank has a population of 2.6 million, plus 500,000 Israeli settlers.  Gaza has a population of 1.7 million.
The U.S. and Israel have been trying to dissuade the Palestinian Authority from seeking recognition as a state at the United Nations.  Israel has threatened "harsh and grave consequences" if the PA goes ahead with its application to the UN.


But why?  After all, polls have shown that a sizable majority (or at least plurality) of Israelis and Palestinians have supported a two-state solution for years.  Clinton, Bush, and Obama have pushed for two states.  President Obama said that "the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security."  Since Israelis are recognized by the UN as having a state, shouldn't Palestinians be recognized, too?

President Solyndra

President Solyndra

The current case of the solar panel company collapsing and taking a half billion dollars of taxpayer money down with it, is an excellent example of why the federal government should not be in the business of trying to manage business. I have explained to the Grad Student a number of times over the years that there are two fundamental reasons that the government shouldn't be in the business of managing business. The first is competence. They're incompetent. This is not to say that the people in the government are incompetent people, or that they aren't smart, anymore than saying Michael Jordan was an incompetent professional baseball player means he wasn't a great athlete. Look at the experience and education of the President and the Congress…even their advisors are academics, lawyers and financiers…not business professionals who have ever had much, if any business experience. The second is motivation. The government largely has the wrong motivation…political or personal, not profitable business goals.

This brings us back to Solyndra. The application for funding for the solar panel company was started under the Bush administration. But the people in the government agencies, charged with reviewing these applications, raised all kinds of "red flags" and tabled the loan application. First, it appeared (last January) that the company was very unprofitable, had no plan to get profitable, and would run out of cash by September (that's right, the "underlings" were able to predict almost exactly when it would crash). Further, this was a huge loan ($500 million) for this size company. But, the biggest equity investor was/is one of the largest "bundlers" of campaign contributions to the President's campaign, and this was/is exactly what he wants to promote…"green" energy; 1,000 jobs; stimulus money doing good on multiple fronts; etc. He even made a filmed photo op at Solyndra. Then, the government went even further…it apparently violated a law put in place that all federal loans of this type be in front of equity and other (junior) debt. This is common practice in the private business world anyway. But the government created an exception for this special case, and ordered it off the back-burner and accelerated. "Poof!"…there goes a half billion taxpayer dollars while a political backer gets bailed out, and almost all 1,000 people get laid off. Incompetence? Cronyism? Political favors? Wanting business to be what you wish it to be? You decide. I'm simply saying…my two reasons seem validated.

The Old Man