What's New Robert L. Park 29 Jul 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 29 July 11   Washington, DC

1. SOROS vs. MURDOCH: THE BATTLE OF THE BILLIONAIRES.
I have only one thing in common with these gentlemen:  They are both 80=20
years old.  Aside from a talent for making money, age may also be about t=
he=20
only thing they have in common with each other.  The Center for American=20
Progress, heavily financed by Hungarian-American George Soros, demands to=
=20
know whether Australia Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. violated U.S. law in=20
obtaining phone records in the U.S.   The Center, headed by John Podesta,=
=20
co-chairman of Obama's presidential transition team, has called attention=
=20
to the fact that News Corp. is a U.S.-based corporation, subject to the=20
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prosecutes for bribery of foreign=20
officials.  Sens. Rockefeller and Boxer sent a letter to Attorney General=
=20
Eric Holder calling for an investigation into whether News Corp. may have=
=20
hacked the phones of 9/11 victims.=20

2. FUEL EFFICIENCY STANDARDS: DOUBLE THE MILEAGE STANDARD BY 2025.
Detroit executives staged a march on Washington a few years ago to protes=
t=20
higher fuel efficiency standards.  Tougher standards, they claimed, would=
=20
cause the collapse of the United States auto industry.  Well, under the=20
George W. Bush administration the auto industry did collapse -- not becau=
se=20
fuel economy standards were too tough, but because they were too soft. =20
Today, as Bill Vlasic wrote in this morning's NY Times, the President is=20
scheduled to announce an unheard-of doubling of the standard, from 27 mil=
es=20
per gallon to 54.5 by the year 2025.  This time, the Detroit executives=20
support the change, but it's easy to argue that the new standards are sti=
ll=20
too soft.  The Toyota Prius topped 54 mpg in=20
2001.                                                                    =
  =20
        =20
3. LARGE HADRON COLLIDER: NO BIG SURPRISES AT THE HALF-ENERGY POINT.=20
Peak energy of 7 TeV is scheduled for 2014, but they=92ve had their first=
=20
good look now at 3.5 TeV.  It reminds me of NASA's initial look with the=20
Viking 2 Lander on Mars, 32 years ago.  The Lander had just arrived; not=20
gently, but intact.  We were about to see the first pictures of Mars, clo=
se-
up.  Carl Sagan was there, looking very nervous.  The camera would rotate=
=20
360=B0 giving a panoramic view.  No one knew exactly what to expect; perh=
aps=20
some unexpected this life form?  Everything, including the sky, was in=20
shades of pink.  Any hope of seeing something totally unexpected was=20
dashed.  The desolate, boulder-strewn landscape, littered with sharp-edge=
d=20
boulders, was utterly desolate.  I can never forget the devastated look o=
n=20
Carl's face.  Looking at LHC spectra this summer must have been like that=
=20
for high-energy physicists.  Everything you knew you should expect to fin=
d=20
from the standard model was there, and nothing else.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
What's New is moving to a different listserver and our
subscription process has changed. To change your subscription
status please visit this link:
http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=3Dbobparks-whatsnew&A=3D1