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Yesterday saw a historic day for the divided island of Cyprus. During the last 34 years the island has been split into what effectively count as two separate nations: Cyprus, and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Under the last Greek Cypriot leader, T. Papadopoulos, the impetuous for reunification stalled. When the Annan plan was rejected, in 2004, by referendum – a referendum which saw Turkish Cypriots support and Greek Cypriots reject the plan – there were fears that the pessimism and lack of progress which have long defined attitudes on both sides of the Green Line had returned for good.

When the moderate, left-wing Demetris Christofias was voted into power this February the world was reminded that long entrenched obstacles, and issues thought to be irresolvable, are often given that appearance of permanency only within a transitory political climate. In the case of Papadopoulos, his anti-reunification stance made it difficult to be optimistic over the issues that are now being discussed in Cyprus. Christofias, who has made public the fact that his primary objective as President is reunification of the island, has both an ideological and personal connection with his counterpart, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

The current round of talks – which began yesterday at a compound close to the last divided capital city in Europe, Nicosia – are being seen by commentators as providing the best chance yet of bringing reunification to the island. It is not just the personal ideologies and aspirations of the two moderate, left-leaning leaders that is motoring the drive towards a lasting settlement being made, but also the broader political climate, and especially Turkey’s relationship to the EU.

Turkey, which made a promise in 2005 to open its air and sea ports to Cypriot traffic, has been engaged with the EU on the Cyprus problem for the last couple of years, and their membership is, to a large degree, resting upon their response to the current round of negotiations (especially with Cyprus, an EU member now, still possessing their right of veto). EU membership talks had been plodding along at a regular pace until December 2006, when EU ministers decided to slow them down due to the fact that the EU and the country could not reconcile the promises that they had made to one another: the EU to provide aid and end the economic and diplomatic isolation of North Cyprus, and Turkey to open its ports.

The upshot of the talks yesterday seem positive, and reports place both leaders in high spirits immediately following the first day’s events. The leaders have agreed to meet again of the 11th of this month, with the hope that they will meet once a week to further flesh out the agenda towards reunification.

The property market in North Cyprus presently represents one of the best opportunities for investment in Europe. Not only is the county blessed with natural beauty – making it an ideal location for people wishing to retire or to buy to let abroad – but property prices in the North are currently far lower than in the South and far, far lower than in other locations on the Med – Spain for example. At the moment, the currency of the North is the New Turkish Lira, though wages and property deals are normally negotiated in Sterling. With the Euro now far less attractive against the pound, purchasing in pounds is far more sensible for a British buyer. When reunification occurs it is more than likely that Turkey will, like all other soon-to-be EU members, try to bolster their current currency so that joining the Euro does not equate to a recessionary pressure on their domestic economy. What this means for an investor is that buying in pounds now is a sure fire way of securing a return when reunification brings the two halves of this divided island back together.

More at White Rocks

Why is the U.S. the most loved and the most hated country in the world at the same time?

It is the country that people love to hate because of its wealth, power, kindness and resilient spirit. Although the United States of America is often criticized, when there is a problem, they are usually the ones other countries come to for help.

With their country known as one the world’s “super powers,” Americans often come under fire for being wasteful, arrogant, wealthy and opinionated. Their democracy affords them freedom of speech and religion, the right to bear arms and to vote for their government leaders.

In many countries, speaking one’s mind may get someone imprisoned, executed or deported by their government. In the United States, people are expected to share their opinions. The only retaliation they probably face is a counterpoint from someone else. They say whatever they want with few repercussions. For this reason, Americans are often seen as opinionated and arrogant.

Having one’s own opinion is seen as a threat to the government or politicians in other places. For example, where one religion is required to be followed by everyone, Americans choose their religions based on personal faith and belief, not on mandate. Christianity is frowned upon in fundamentally Muslim countries. Because so many Americans are Christian, they are seen as the devil incarnate and are hated for it.

With the ability to think and express freely comes open commerce. Although the American economy is suffering somewhat now, food, clothing and shelter still abound in the U.S. while people in many third-world countries are starving and have no means to protect themselves from the elements.

The U.S. is also one of the highest in consumption of the world’s natural resources per capita. This backs the argument that Americans are wasteful. Consumers are famous for wanting the biggest and the best they can have for their dollars. However, this image is really only portrayed on television and sometimes by wealthy tourists abroad. Anyone that thinks Americans truly live as their network shows “The Young and the Restless” or “Desperate Housewives” has no concept of reality whatsoever.

America’s prosperity is cause for hatred from those who don’t have it. However, when other countries are struck with disaster, the United States is usually the first country to step forward with assistance to their critics.

The U.S. military flies in with aid when allowed, such as food, medicine and supplies donated after tidal waves destroyed villages in Indonesia, mud slides ravaged Haiti and earthquakes leveled parts of China.

America is seen as a safer place to live, as well. Although they “hate” Americans, foreigners send their children to study and learn at U.S. universities and play sports at their state-of-the-art facilities.

Millions of refugees each year try to sneak across the borders of America, the “land of opportunity.” One family member will earn a living in the States and send money home to those who can otherwise barely afford to survive.

So although the U.S. appears to be the most hated country in the world, it is also loved at the same time.

For more information on the United States of America, visit http://www.microblogusa.com/

For decades the people and government of the U.S.A. have worried and obsessed over occupation or disaster brought on from the outside. The Cold War was all about the fear of annihilation by the Communists and Russia (the Soviet Union). We have so obsessed over that fear that we often forget the truth behind the rule that great societies such as ours do not usually get destroyed from the outside—they fall apart from within. How does the U.S.A. stack up in the realm of great societies that have crumbled? Sadly I’m afraid.

The path of destruction all great societies have taken is a common one, and one that we share in frightening proportions. Affluence is the start of any great society and few can argue with the wonders of having great wealth. The wealth of the U.S.A. began in the industrial age and transferred into the technological age with head spinning speed. Softness usually follows, and it did. An acceptance of things that otherwise would make us cringe because it seems that we are ‘deserving’ of such luxuries. Decadence is triggered by softness—if a little of something is great, a lot of it is even better. This cascades into a constant need for more, better, bigger, faster—does that sound familiar? Then comes the after effects of decadence—extinction. The current economic situation in the U.S. should make anyone who pays attention to the above shudder with fear.

Decadence is truly the catalyst that causes great societies to fall: whether it is a relaxing of moral values, or financial decadence that drives a need to have everything immediately at any cost, or usually both at once. It causes a collapse of everything that the affluent society once held true and dear. The very moral and economic fiber that got the society to the point of affluence disappears. Once it is all swept away by greed and desire the entire fabric of that society collapses upon itself because it no longer has the impetus that made it great. With work ethics, moral ethics, and frugality gone there is nothing to keep the financial and economic structure afloat.

From ancient Egypt to Rome and even to the Communist Soviet Union the pattern has been set and history repeats itself because no one ever thinks it will happen to them. The beginning of the cycle is so alluring and comfortable that it is hard to see it as a bad thing. Once the pattern gets to the point of extreme softness and begins to tumble into decadence even if those inside can see the destruction coming it is often too late. It tumbles like an avalanche to its logical conclusion.

Is the U.S.A. doomed to repeat historical collapse? Probably. It is very difficult for any society to continue with such incredible power and wealth. Those that see it coming are usually powerless to stop those in control who have the most influence over prosperity and those who are enjoying the financial and moral freedom have little desire to stop it. Why stop a good thing? On the upside—when a society falls another takes its place. It’s not the end of the world as we know it—only a beginning to something new.

For more information on America, visit http://www.americanmicroblog.com/

Benji, the computer entity, was guiding the exploration of Saturn’s moons by Capt. Marcos and his team of spatons (space robots) with his space ship ‘Napolean.’

Napoleon was roving about ‘Find 68’ mapping the region for radio activity carefully. It was not long before Capt. Marco sent message to Benji that the radio active (RA) source pinpointed to what looked like a bundle of Chinese noodles floating the outermost orbit of Saturn’s moons. Their bundle appeared to be 1kilometer wide and about 5 kilometers long. It consisted of long strands of wire bundled together. It was in the same orbit as ‘Rhea’ a known moon of Saturn. A little calculation showed that the bundle of rods was trailing Rhea by 60 degrees in its orbit. It seemed to have been caught in the L5 Lagrange point of Rhea and was its trojan. It was 527,000 km from Saturn and its orbit time was almost exactly 100 Earth hours. The unusual mass seemed to have come from outer space and caught in orbit by Saturn’s gravity and Rhea’s pull without any impact.

As the ship went nearer, Capt. Marco saw that the wiry rods, and said, “Each wire-like rod is cylindrical with a shiny silvery surface.” The ship went closer. He observed, “It looks like a kind of pure metal, but the radio activity is very high. Each strand is about 1 meter in diameter and 50-100 m long. There are hundreds of them tangled together.”

“Send a Spaton down to the rod and take a sample of the material for analysis”, Benji ordered.

Capt. Marco sent down a Spaton who touched the rod with its newly developed ‘claws’ and held firmly on to the surface. He took a shaving of the material and returned to the ship. Capt. Marco put the sample in the analyzer and sent the data down to Earth for Benji. Benji forwarded the data from the material to a specialized lab which identified it as Plutonium. Further analysis and research showed it to be Plutonium 244. The lab sent the analysis report with a short note to Benji. ‘On Earth Plutonium is not found in nature. It is a byproduct in the atomic reactor. It gets made from Uranium 238. When an atom of U-238 is exposed to neutron radiation, its nucleus captures a neutron, changing it to U-239. The U-239 rapidly undergoes beta decay to produce Neptunium-239, which rapidly undergoes second beta decay, producing Plutonium-239. A part of it gets converted to Plutonium 240 in the process, but not to Plutonium 244. Plutonium 239 is a very valuable material. Just 15 kg is enough to make a nuclear bomb. The total quantity of Plutonium 239 in the whole world, stockpiled by nuclear countries was only about 1000 tons!’

Kalpa was the first to speak out. “It is pure Plutonium 244. It’s only 2% spent, indicating that it might have come there about 3 million years ago. The 244 isotope is not made on Earth. It has a half life of 83 million years, much longer than the 24,000 years of Plutonium 239. The longer the half life, the better it is for making nuclear weapons. The contaminant of Plutonium 239 on Earth is Plutonium 240 which has a half life of only 6,500 years. There is no contamination of Plutonium 240 in our Plutonium 244. But we must understand why the mass has not exploded by itself. The critical mass for spontaneous explosion of an unreflecting sphere of pure Plutonium 239 is only 16 kg. Since the density of our Plutonium 244 is the same as Plutonium 239, i.e. 19.8 g/ml, the critical mass must be about the same, as it is inversely proportional to the square of the density. Here we have thousands of kilos of Plutonium 244 existing without having exploded.”

“What is critical mass?” Alby asked.

“It is the mass beyond which the fission reaction becomes a self sustaining chain reaction, leading to explosion” explained Kalpa.

“But when you talk about kilogram, it’s the weight on Earth. As there is zero gravity on the satellite, the weight of 16 kilograms is not achieved and hence there is no explosion” remarked Alby.

“This time you have spoken like a genius. The critical mass depends on density which is measured in grams per ml. The weight in grams in the orbit is a negligible fraction of that on Earth as there is no gravity. The density therefore is near to zero, and critical mass of Plutonium may be more than tens of thousand times that of Earth, and since the critical mass is not reached in this place, there is no explosion.” Benji concluded.

“But there is gravity on the moon where we want to store it. So we have to make it into pieces sized less than its critical mass for moon’s gravity and keep the pieces apart” added Kalpa.

They gloated over the find. Kalpa continued to voice her thoughts. “It is impossible to make so much quantity of Plutonium 244 on Earth, and of such pure quality. It has remained in space because there was no gravity and no oxygen to oxidize it. All the other isotopes have vanished due to their short half lives. Only Plutonium 244 survived with its half life of 83 million years. Generally in a period of 20 half lives, the trace of the substance vanishes. That is the reason why Plutonium 240 was not found.”

“So we have found Plutonium 244. I concede that it’s a huge find. Now what should we do with it?” asked Benji.

“I think we should mine it there and bring it in pieces to the moon base.” Kalpa said.

“I’ll improve on that. Let’s send in a factory ship and cut it into standard sized bars which are at least one tenth of their critical mass on the moon and pack them separately and then move them to the moon base.” Benji concurred with her, and looked at Albert.

“But the entire mass is more than a million tons. We’ll just guard it there in its place and take what we need,” suggested Albert.

Just what did they do with the Plutonium? Read the book to find out.

The author Dilip Dahanukar studied engineering in India and management in the USA. Dilip Dahanukar has written 2 science fiction books; Alien Man and eMaya. Visit the webpage of the author: ‘Dilip Dahanukar’. He is deeply appreciative of the functioning of the Earth and loves Nature.

The amount of warning time a tsunami warning system can provide depends on the distance between your location and the location of the undersea event. A tsunami can travel 500 to 600 mph in deep water, slowing as it approaches shore. If the undersea earthquake that starts the tsunami is 500 miles offshore in deep water, for example, and the tsunami is headed your way, local authorities will be notified within minutes of the event and will have about one hour to issue the warnings to the public and start announcing directions for evacuation to a safe area.

In doing research for my adventure novel TSUNAMI, I found that in some cases, a local earthquake or undersea landslide close to shore can initiate a tsunami that strikes almost without warning. In 1998, a 7.0 magnitude undersea earthquake near Papua, New Guinea, triggered a massive submarine landslide that started a 50-ft. tsunami close to shore. The wave hit the shoreline within minutes and wiped out several villages along the New Guinea coast, stripping the land almost bare. 2200 people died.

However, most major tsunamis are started by undersea earthquakes in deep water. In the Pacific Ocean, a quake will be picked up by seismometers, pressure sensors, and tidal gauges at the reporting stations of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System operated by 26 nations bordering the Pacific Basin. The collected data registers on the instruments at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii. The scientists at the Ewa Beach warning center can then determine the location, earthquake magnitude, tidal variations, and changes in ocean pressure. If readings indicate the disturbance may have started a tsunami, warnings are issued immediately to the areas in danger with approximate arrival time of the first wave.

If an undersea event happens near Alaska or anywhere along the West Coast of the U.S., the instrument signals are picked up by the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning System headquartered in Palmer, Alaska. There the same procedure is followed. Immediate warnings are issued to local authorities in the areas at risk.

As part of the international tsunami warning network, the United States has recently completed its own U.S. Tsunami Warning System that takes in the Pacific Tsunami Warning System, the West Coast & Alaska Tsunami Warning System, and the Atlantic Tsunami Warning System. The U.S. system is composed of 39 DART (Deep Ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunami) and DART II stations. Five stations are located in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, and the remaining 34 in the Pacific. The DART system is made up of a pressure sensor resting on the ocean bottom that transmits continuous data by acoustic telemetry (sound waves) to a surface buoy anchored near the pressure sensor. The buoy is equipped with satellite link that relays the real time information to tsunami warning centers around the world. Certain fluctuations in ocean bottom pressure can indicate the presence of a tsunami.

Many other kinds of reporting stations and observatories are used in the larger international reporting network. These include pier-based and satellite-based tidal gauges that track the height and length of passing tsunami waves, and seismometers buried in ocean bottom caissons that measure the magnitude of an undersea earthquake and determine its location.

One of the most well known undersea seismometer projects is the Hawaii2 Observatory (H2O) located in deep water between Hawaii and California. The observatory was placed next to a retired undersea AT&T telephone cable so that the cable could be used to power the observatory. The observatory package includes a broadband seismometer, geophone, hydrophone, and pressure sensor developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the University of Hawaii.

The installation was performed by ROVs (remotely operated submarine vehicles) controlled from a mother ship. The ROVs drilled a borehole, sunk a caisson into the hole, then inserted the seismic package into the caisson and sealed it. The seismic package is connected to an adjacent junction box operated with 400 watts of power fed from the old telephone cable. The sensor information is transmitted by fiber optic cable to a relay station on a surface buoy, which sends the data to the internet so that it can be used by tsunami warning centers and by universities and scientific laboratories around the world. The H2O installation has had many problems and has never performed up to expectation. However, the overall tsunami warning system works well. The entire system has undergone successful testing.

If you live on or near the beach and if your local authorities issue a tsunami warning, take it seriously and follow evacuation directions. Do not hang around the shoreline to watch the tsunami. It could cost you your life, because the wave can be up to 100 feet high and moves much faster than a person can run.

Gordon Gumpertz, author of TSUNAMI, is a working novelist who writes suspense-packed adventure novels featuring believable characters caught up in the dynamic forces of natural and man-made disasters. His books achieve a sense of immediacy and realism through extensive background research. For more, visit Tsunami.

It is a matter of record that both President Dryden of the Prudential and President Knapp of the Metropolitan were close students of the Prudential of London. Both went to London and witnessed the functioning of the business at first hand. In fact, Mr. Knapp and the Metropolitan’s Attorney, Stewart L. Woodford, and an expert they took with them, were shown every courtesy. They brought back with them a clear conception of the details of management, and implemented this with a complete file of the forms essential to a business as intricate as industrial insurance.

The records of the company show that the procedures and the forms of the Prudential of London were followed to a large degree, and these undoubtedly contributed to the immediate success of the venture. Of course, important adjustments to American conditions had to be made. There was a fundamental difference, for instance, in the basis on which the reserve liability was computed. To be permitted to transact business in the United States, regardless of whether it is life insurance or cheap car insurance, a company was required to maintain reserves computed on the net premium basis, which made it necessary for American companies to maintain larger reserves than those on similar business in England.

The computation of premiums in the earlier days, before the mortality experience on this class of risks or the expense rate of conducting such business was known, was not easy. It was due to the good sense and skill of James M. Craig, Actuary of the Company, that the business was launched properly and safely. The Metropolitan’s industrial business was begun with the issuance, on November 17, 1879, of 34 Industrial policies for weekly premiums totaling $3.95. Before the end of that year a total of 5,143 policies for $516,618 face amount were on the books, and those at the helm knew that their new venture was meeting a real need. By the end of 1880 the industrial business of the Metropolitan had already out?stripped that of the two other companies then operating.

There was no sign of uncertainty as the new enterprise expanded in many directions. The greatest advantage which the Metropolitan enjoyed arose from the decision to bring from England a large number of men already well trained in the business of life insurance and home owner’s insurance, a decision of historic interest, as the most direct transfer of old world marketing methods in the history of the industry. The first contingent of 21 men appears to have arrived early in the year 1880. All the men were expertly trained, most of them having previously been with the Prudential of London. (http://cheap-insurance-rates.com/home/)

Among these were the vigorous old timers Goldthorpe, Higginbotham, Booth, Selkirk, Shackleton, Roberts, Staniland—men who made Metropolitan history in the early days. Most of them were placed as superintendents or assistant superintendents of district offices in the larger cities of the country, and set to work at once to build up a solid field organization. The importations from abroad rapidly increased in number. Brice Collard literally commuted between New York and London, signing up more than 800 likely field men in the old country.

Altogether, including their families, it is estimated that some 2,000 persons came over in this directed migration. As Mr. Craig said in his company history of 1897: “To these, in addition to its own home force, was assigned the task of laying the foundation; of educating a body of efficient coworkers; training them to the best methods of house to house canvassing and collect?ing; perfecting them in the intricate matters of bookkeeping, accounts, and the numerous forms inherent to a business of so much detail.”

Sarah Martin is a freelance marketing writer based out of San Diego, CA. She specializes in finance, business, and home owner?s insurance. For cheap car insurance, please visit http://cheap-insurance-rates.com/.

The Worldwide General News (WGN) TV channel was inundated with questions about the danger from the LHC which was commissioned. They decided to devote their next ‘Space Talk’ program to this subject. For the purpose, they invited Albert Burman and Kalpa, the experts to their Studio.

On the appointed day and hour, Larry Newton the presenter of the show appeared on the screen. “Good Evening viewers. I am happy to welcome our distinguished guests Albert and Kalpa for the show to our studio today. Let me begin with a short introduction about them. Albert and Kalpa are space beings written about in the Science Fiction book ‘Alien Man.’ They have explored the satellites of Saturn and discovered Steel, Gold and Plutonium! Albert and Kalpa share their experiences in space on TV from time to time. They are well known all over the World as Space Celebrities. Welcome to you both!” Larry began the session. He continued after a short pause, “The subject of our discussion is the danger of extinction from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the World’s largest and the most powerful particle accelerator. Our channel has received hundreds of messages mainly about the possibility of the Collider destroying the entire planet by converting it into a black hole. We want our viewers to hear your analysis on this subject.” Larry opened the topic for the day.

“Good Evening Larry. We are happy to be here with you today to enlighten all of you about black holes which might emerge from the LHC. At the outset I want to allay all your fears and assure you all that the LHC functioning will not result in the destruction of our beloved planet Earth.” Albert gave his unconditional assurance to the viewers.

“Albert is absolutely right. All fears that the black hole generated by the Collider will eat up the Earth are based on misinformation and have no scientific foundation.” Kalpa endorsed the assurance given by Albert.

“But the Collider will form the black hole. Isn’t that correct?” Larry asked pointedly.

“We don’t know for sure, the scientists are saying that it is highly improbable. But I sincerely hope that a black hole does form. It will advance our knowledge about the fundamental forces in the Universe.” Said Albert.

“But once the black hole is formed, however minute, it will gobble up matter and grow and grow till the whole Earth becomes a black hole. This is what people fear.” Said Larry.

“This fear has arisen out the simplistic view that the black holes that are formed when a star collapses into a dense ball which pulls everything inside and not even light can escape it. This was the view at the very beginning when scientists discovered the black hole in the Universe. But since then science has progressed further and we now have a far greater understanding of the properties of the black hole. It follows the same basic laws of gravity as other objects in space.” Kalpa put the knowledge of black holes in the right perspective.

“What is the power of its tremendous gravitational pull?” Larry asked.

“The gravitational force that a black hole exerts on another body depends on only 2 factors: mass and distance between them. The more the mass of the black hole the greater is its gravity, and conversely, the smaller is its mass, the smaller is its pull. Similarly, the closer the center-to-center distance between the black hole and the object, the stronger is the pull between them. In fact pull increases exponentially as the distance reduces. The actual gravitation attraction between the 2 bodies is dependent on the product of their masses, and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.” Kalpa explained the basic theory.

“The black Hole does not have a unilateral force pulling the object. The black hole itself can be pulled by the gravity of other more massive objects. In the case of the LHC, if the black hole is formed, it will be hardly be made of 100 protons and will be very small indeed. In absolute terms is that the mass of the black hole will be one hundred times the mass of a single proton, about 100 x 16 E-26 kg. If you divide 1 kg. into 10 raised to 26 parts (1 followed by 26 zeros) and take just 16 of them you will get the mass of the black hole. As against that, the mass of the Earth is 6 E24 kg, which means 6 followed by 24 zeros, in kg units. This shows that the Earth is so much larger than the incumbent black hole by a factor of 10 raised to 50! (1 followed by 50 zeros). The difference is stupendous! The small mass of the black hole is truly insignificant as compared to Earth, and consequently it will be pulled by the Earth rather than vice-a-versa.” Albert explained the relative size of the black hole.

“But since it is a black hole, its size will be less than a millionth of that of the 100 protons! It’s so small that it can penetrate everything and anything. It will be pulled by Earth’s gravity and will travel through to the Earth accelerating with its gravity till it reaches the centre of the Earth and the decelerating as it goes out on the other side, to be pulled back in again. It will swing back and forth like a pendulum!” explained Albert.

“No hope of that! The black hole will just evaporate in a fraction of a nanosecond! Stephan Hawkings of the Cambridge University says that the black hole creates new energy particles on its surface which escape. This results in shrinking the black hole. He calls it ‘evaporation.’ He says the smaller the black hole the hotter it is and the faster is the rate of evaporation! I do not know why he looks at the black hole as a liquid which evaporates. I would rather look at the black hole as a solid which sublimes. But no matter how you describe it, the fact is that a small black hole of a few protons mass will evaporate and disappear faster than we can measure the time!” Kalpa explained why the black hole will not last.

“A black hole is made of very dense matter. Our Sun for instance, with its diameter of 1.4 million kilometers will shrink in size to just about 4 km to convert to a black hole. But its mass will be the same, and its gravity will remain the same. If the Sun becomes a black hole, it will not change any of the orbits of its planets in the Solar System. It will not pull the Earth and gobble it up.” Albert outlined the limitation of the black hole.

“If this is so then why do the scientists describe the black star with as a region of space with tremendous gravity forceful enough to prevent even light from escaping!” asked Larry.

“This is because for a given mass, an object can go much closer to the centre of the black hole than a star or a planet of the same mass. For example the radius of the sun is about 700,000 km. An object close to the Sun is stopped by its surface which is 700,000 km from its centre. But if the Sun converts itself to a black hole of 4km diameter, an object can go as near as 2km. from its centre. Since the distance from such a heavy mass is now reduced so drastically, that the gravity just near the centre increases by 700,000 x 700,000 = 490 billion times! But the effect of this incredible gravity is felt only in a region very close to the black hole. Such close distances are not achieved in a normal object like a star or a planet due to limitations of its comparatively large size. The difference in gravity vanishes as the object moves beyond a certain distance. Further away from a distance equal to the radius of normal star of the same mass, there is no difference in the gravity of the black hole and the star.” Kalpa was clear in her thinking.

“What you are saying is that the black hole can only stop light in a certain range beyond which it has no effect.” Larry summarized.

“That is correct. If the black holes could suck everything from everywhere, and prevent light from transmission, how could see the billions of stars in the sky? Their light could have vanished in the black holes!” said Albert.

“In the case of our LHC, the black hole generated will be of the size of about 100 protons. The protons will form into a ball and shrink about one millionth of their normal size. The diameter of a proton in units of a meter, is 10 raised to minus 15 (1 divided by 10 followed by 15 zeros). The diameter of the black hole is likely to be one ten-thousandth of this value. And the extraordinary gravity that the black hole can exert is only with a range of say 10 raised to minus 18 meter; which is a billion-billionth part of a meter! There is no possibility that any matter in the form of any protons or atomic nuclei coming so close to the minute black hole ball particularly in the extremely short duration of its existence. So for all practical purposes, there is no scope of the black hole expanding if at all it is formed.” Asserted Kalpa.

“There is another argument put forth by Steve Giddings of the University of California (Santa Barbara) and Michelangelo Mangano of LHC’s parent lab CERN. They point out that there are minute black holes being generated by cosmic rays hitting a neutron star, But these microsized black holes do not seem to grow inside the body of the star which is more than a trillion times denser than the rocks on Earth. From the observations made of the cosmos, the scientists infer that as black holes do not exist inside dense stars, they couldn’t exist inside the body of the Earth. And in case the black hole does exist it will probably take a billion years to grow to the size of a golf ball! They conclude therefore that there is no danger of the small black hole from snowballing into an Earth gobbler.” Albert brought out an authority on the subject.

“Anyway, coming back to our topic, whether the LHC will create a black hole which will destroy the Earth, the answer is an unequivocal ‘NO’! The LHC was switched on the 10th September but only for checking the functioning of the beams. There was no collision attempted. Now it is down for repairs and will be ready early in 2009. But rest assured that there is nothing going to happen to the Earth and to you when the LHC is switched on and the particle beams are made to colloid face to face at 99.9999% of the speed of light! No fears!” Albert spoke emphatically as Kalpa nodded in agreement.

“I am happy to hear that. To be frank, I was fretting too. But now I am fully relaxed. I have to thank you Albert and Kalpa for explaining the concept in simple language for the benefit of our viewers. The back office has informed me that their phone is constantly ringing with viewers giving appreciative thanks to you both. Now we can all sleep peacefully. Thank you again.” Larry wound up the discussion.

And with that the Space Talk show ended.

The author Dilip Dahanukar studied engineering in India and management in the USA. Dilip Dahanukar has written 2 science fiction books; Alien Man and eMaya. Visit the webpage of the author: ‘Dilip Dahanukar’. He is deeply appreciative of the functioning of the Earth and loves Nature.

Is Australia’s present drought a sign of global warming?

In our examination of the international controversy that is climate change and global warming, we’ve looked at the positions of both parties - the Scaremongers who fully support the theory, and the Idealists who want more concrete evidence. However in Australia much of the so-called support for the ‘Yes’ case is based on distorted information, untruths, and naked lies.

Australia has always been at the mercy of Nature

Of all the countries in the western world, Australia is the one that suffers most from the vagaries of the weather. At any one time, part of the country experiences drought. At the moment large parts of inland Australia on the Pacific side of the country are experiencing this problem whilst other areas are enjoying more favorable conditions.

The Scaremongers believe the present drought is the worst ever - it may be the worst in living memory, but it’s not the worst since European civilization started in 1788. The Federation drought of 1895 to 1903 is considered to be the one that caused the most damage to the economy and life in general.

The farming community in rural Australia accept drought as a normal aspect of life. Since the 1860s there have been 9 periods of major and prolonged drought covering large areas of the country, excluding the current situation. In addition there has been 6 droughts during this period covering smaller regions of the country.

During the periods of pre-European settlement, that is pre-1788, when industrial pollution could not have caused greenhouse gases and therefore affected climate change, droughts were just as prevalent. Examination of rings on trees and coral support this view. In fact examination of a piece of coral taken from the Barrier Reef in northern Australia shows that there was a drought in that region lasting 20 years from 1660.

Drought is a regular feature of Australian life

However, in spite of the overwhelming evidence that droughts are a regular occurrence of Australian farming life, the media still push the line that the present drought is caused by global warming. Even the saner and more responsible parts of the press insist that Australia’s current predicament is being exacerbated by the government’s late signing of the Kyoto agreement.

Just more unsupported distortions of the truth from the people who are happiest when they’re dispelling doom and gloom.

Droughts in Australia are caused by, and have always been caused by, the activity of the El Nino Southern Oscillation - ELSO. This is a complex weather pattern that influences climatic conditions throughout the Pacific region. This phenomenon only became known in the late 70s and although much more work needs to be done to understand its complexity, weather scientists are now able to determine the influence it has on countries bordering the south Pacific fairly accurately.

The average Australian now believes drought is caused by climate change

However, the average man in the street now believes changes in climatic conditions in Australia are caused by global warming, rather than the more likely affect of the ELSO. Aided by the local media who attribute every unusual circumstance to world-wide global warming, from the increase in bush-fires to the desalination problems of the River Murray to the decline in coral growth on the Great Barrier Reef, the gullible public blindly follow what they’ve been told.

So successful are the Scaremongers in Australia that 2 out of 3 people writing letters to the press and web sites vigorously support the concept of man-made global warming. In actual fact, Australia’s last Federal election, in November 2007, was won by the party most vocal in supporting this theory. A gullible public were frightened into voting for a party that claimed to be able to play God.

As an indication of the untruths and down right lies coming from the Australian Scaremongers camp, consider this gem - taken from the very best Joseph Goebbels propaganda manual:

…but in 2007 our Prime Minister still finds it hard to accept the possible existence of a human driven climate change.

Taken from http://home.iprimus.com.au/foo7/droughthistory.html

So what this web site, and other similar ones, is saying is that every climatic disaster that’s occurred in the last 50 to 100 years has been caused by man-made climate change, but they don’t know what caused climatic disasters before that.

Quite plain and simple, an increase in greenhouse gases by the burning of fossil fuels, allegedly causing climate change cannot be proven or supported by the sparse facts presented by its gullible supporters. Hysteria outweighs credible facts.

This is the fifth part of an attempt to put some balance into the ongoing international controversy that is the theory of man-made climate change.

The world-wide controversy over the warming of the earth and the causes has led the author to research this phenomena and give his thoughts about the shortcomings of the evidence in support. He also has an interest in more down to earth issues such as how to lose weight and the increasing popularity of satellite TV.

The theory of man-made climate change is based on mass hysteria not proven facts

In the previous three articles about the world-wide controversy that is global warming, the position of the people who support this theory - the Scaremongers - has been explained and their core arguments commented upon. They seem to be winning the propaganda war, but their battle tactics are based on the feeble interpretation of recent data. The facts presented by the Idealists, however, are much more sustainable but are ignored by the Scaremongers.

The indication from reading the web sites of the major news organizations is that the pro-warming lobby enjoys support from one third of the public, whilst two out of three says more evidence is needed. That is the common view throughout most of the world.

However in some countries, the reverse is the case. There 2 out of 3 people believe that global warming is occurring and that it’s caused by man. In these countries it’s very easy for politicians to seek electoral advantage by promising a range of policies that gullible people think will stop global warming.

But generally the world media believes that every major problem that comes about is being caused by global warming: drought in Australia; famine in eastern Africa; violent storms in the Caribbean; or melting glaciers. The mass media jump on this and in their desire to be seen as ‘leaders’ in the debate, push the ‘Yes’ case without giving any detailed comment or supporting facts.

Lets look at just a few examples, bearing in mind that the ‘Yes’ case tell us that world climate has got warmer with adverse climatic conditions becoming more extreme and violent.

The ten fiercest and most violent hurricanes to affect the US all occurred before 1950. Likewise with the ten most powerful tornadoes, none have happened in the past 50 years. And yet the Scaremongers and the international media continue to tell us that present day hurricanes and tornadoes are getting more and more powerful. Why is the public not being told the truth?

The ‘Yes’ people like to justify their case by suggesting that famine in Africa is being caused by global warming causing difficult growing conditions. In fact the real cause of the problem is poor government and deforestation. But the UN is not going to state the real causes as it would conflict with its position of not commenting on the poor governance the people of Africa are experiencing.

In the case of Australia, the ‘Yes’ people would have us believe that the current drought is the worst in the country’s history and is due entirely to man-made global warming. On both counts they are wrong. Australia’s worst drought since European settlement occurred between 1893 and 1904, well outside the time-frame suggested by the Scaremongers that greenhouse gases started to increase. They also state that the present poor condition of the River Murray - Australia’s largest - is an example of their theory. Again they are wrong. From time to time the Murray has had problems with lack of water supply - that’s happening today, and will continue in the future.

The ‘Yes’ case would like us to believe their case is proven. They tell us that because 5,000 scientists in the US have signed a petition confirming their support for the theory, then it must be true.

What they won’t tell us is that 31,000 US scientists, including over 9,000 PhDs, say the theory is just plain wrong. And that there’s no proof whatsoever that global warming, if indeed it’s taking place and is unique in the life of the earth, has been caused by mankind’s activities. But of course the media is not going to make too much of this - it’s not news. They have an interest in keeping the story going.

Some observers say that the Scaremongers are the same sort of people who 30 years ago suggested that the West was responsible for all the world’s problems: friction with the European eastern bloc; the military build-up and the obscene amounts of money spent on weapons of war; US support for right-wing dictatorships in central and southern America, and Asia; and lastly western support for Israel’s position in the Middle East.

Now it’s said that these people support the theory of man-made global warming because it lays the blame at the feet of the industrial west. A position the UN seems happy to support as it fails to recognize the role played by land deforestation, which occurs principally in the poorer, non-industrialized countries, and over-population.

The Idealists suggest that one of the biggest failings of the ‘Yes’ case is that the supporters are not prepared to look at the big picture. They seem focused on data collected over the past 110 years but more particularly the last 50 years. They won’t ask questions or provide solutions concerning events that have happened in the centuries before then.

In fact the biggest criticism leveled at the Scaremongers is that they approach the topic in a wholly unscientific and poorly researched manner with a disregard for translating data in a professional way. Hysteria rules rather than a calm, measured look at the problem.

For the Scaremongers to convince people that man-made global warming is under way, the evidence they produce has to be more credible.

This is the fourth part of a look at the international controversy concerning the cause of climate change, and an attempt to put some balance into the argument.

The world-wide controversy over the warming of the earth and the causes has led the author to research this phenomena and give his thoughts about the shortcomings of the evidence in support. He also has an interest in more down to earth issues such as how to lose weight and the increasing popularity of satellite TV.

Climate change is an ongoing part of the evolution of Earth

In the two previous parts of this investigation the basic differences between those who support the man-made global warming theory and those who don’t has been highlighted. It’s time now to look at the past history of periods of world-wide climate change.

The scientific community agree that the earth is about 4.5 billion years old and during that time, it’s undergone at least 12, and possibly 14 major periods of climate change. In addition to this there have been numerous minor changes to the earth’s climate.

The information about pre-man climate changes has come from studying ice cores and from sophisticated scientific investigation involving many branches of science. However some of these minor changes have occurred within the life-time of man and have been recorded over time.

The existence of these major and minor periods of climate change is not in doubt; what is open to speculation and controversy are the causes.

On this, the Scaremongers remain totally silent: they are emphatic that mans’ industrial activity and the burning of fossil fuels is the cause of any climate change taking place at the moment, but would have to agree that industrial activity could not have caused the start of a period of climate change 5,000 years ago.

In 1991 the body of a man was found in the European Alps in the border regions of Austria and Italy. He was said to have died about 5,000 years ago whilst crossing the Alps. From this two facts can be determined: man at that time knew he could cross the Alps; secondly this feat was possible because of the absence of snow and ice at lower altitudes.

2800 years later occurred the first recorded historical event involving man crossing the Alps. That was Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps with an army, including elephants, to wage war on the Roman Empire. This event was clearly documented at the time and is today accepted as a historical fact.

When this event was taking place, the snowline of the Alps was estimated to be in the region of 1,800 to 2,000 meters above sea level. Until recently the Alpine snowline was approximately 1,500 meters above sea level. What this means is that in modern times the level above sea at which snow falls and lies on the ground is about 300 to 500 meters lower than when Hannibal achieved his feat. So during the past 2200 years the earth’s temperature has fallen to enable snow and ice to settle at these lower altitudes. However in Hannibal’s time and the centuries earlier going back to 3,000 BCE the air temperature was considerably warmer that it is today.

From this scientists know that the world’s climate has changed over the past 5,000 years. So what’s caused this change?

The activities of Man? Unlikely.

The work of Nature or the Almighty? Probably.

Is there a definite answer? No.

Lets now look at more recent times and consider the recorded history of events that took place in London.

Between 1660 and 1820 is was quite a common occurrence for the river Thames to freeze over; not every year, but certainly enough for people at that time to make comments. Since the mid 19th century the Thames has rarely been frozen, certainly never in recent memory. So the question needs to be answered: what caused the warming of the air from 1820 onwards?

At the same period of time from 1660, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia was subject to stress caused by an event that lasted 20 years. Coral has characteristics not unlike that of trees. Rings in a piece of sliced coral tell the story of climatic events long ago. A piece of coral collected off the coast of northern Australia has recently been examined and it shows the effects of drought in the region. Lack of fresh water, and therefore the absences of nutrients, coming from the nearby rivers would affect the growth of the coral and would be noticed in examining the rings. The coral showed a period of about 20 years of severe drought in this region.

In the years since then the reef has made a full recovery, although it may be suffering now.

The ‘Yes’ case points to the decline in coral reefs as an example of global warming, but ignore the fact that Nature has the remarkable capacity to rejuvenate stressed coral.

The known history of the world has numerous events that took place long ago that couldn’t happen now:

1) The indigenous people of Australia came from SE Asia via a continuous land mass leading from the Malay peninsula, through Indonesia, New Guinea, and into northern Australia.

2) The native Indians of north America are thought to have entered the continent about 10,000 years ago via the land mass across the Bering Straits. That feat couldn’t be achieved today.

3) Likewise the original inhabitants of the UK are thought to have come from Europe via the land mass that connected mainland Europe to Britain. This is now covered by the English Channel.

From these events of long ago, its plain to see that sea levels rose covering once-accessible traffic routes.

And the most likely causes of the rise in sea levels - global warming causing polar ice-caps to melt. But what could have caused this? Well definitely not man’s industrial activity. So it must have been the action of Nature, or the Almighty.

That being the case, isn’t it more likely that if global warming is taking place today, it’s being caused by the same influence that caused the previous periods of climate change?

This is the third part of a look at the international controversy concerning the cause of climate change, and an attempt to put some balance into the argument.

The world-wide controversy over the warming of the earth and the causes has led the author to research this phenomena and give his thoughts about the shortcomings of the evidence in support. He also has an interest in more down to earth issues such as how to lose weight and the increasing popularity of satellite TV.