What's New Robert L. Park 29 Sep 2011

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L Park   Friday, 30 Sep 11   Washington, DC

1. BE AFRAID: THE BUDGET CONTROL ACT OF 2011 AWAITS US.
Passed by Congress and signed into law by the President on 2 Aug 2011, th=
e=20
Budget Control Act brought conclusion to the 2011 debt ceiling crisis tha=
t=20
threatened to lead the U.S. into sovereign default on 3 Aug 2011.  Like=20
amputating a limb to stop an infection, it may have been necessary but it=
=20
didn't end our suffering.  In a Science editorial last week that every=20
scientist should read, Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) predicts that science will=20
bear more than its share of the $2.4 trillion in federal spending cuts=20
required by the bill.  I have no doubt he's right.  The only remaining Ph=
D=20
physicist in Congress, Rush has served the 12th district of New Jersey=20
since 1998.  Before that he was the Assistant Director of the Princeton=20
Plasma Physics Laboratory.  "With the budget control act," he=20
writes, "Congress appears to have said in effect, that federally sponsore=
d=20
science has no role to play in advancing the economy, that unemployment i=
s=20
a problem that only time will cure, and that the nation's best days are=20
behind us.  How contrary to American tradition that would be!  It must no=
t=20
prevail."=20

2. TEVATRON: ACCELERATORS ARE BUILT TO BE SHUT DOWN.
Located at Fermilab National Laboratory on the Illinois prairie about 50=20
miles west of Chicago, the Tevatron  is no longer the world's most powerf=
ul=20
accelerator.  Later today Pier Oddone, director of Fermilab, is preparing=
=20
to issue the command to shut down the most successful particle accelerato=
r=20
ever built.  It should be the occasion for celebration.  The command=20
to "shut down" is an announcement that Tevatron has completed the tasks f=
or=20
which it was intended. We should all be so lucky.  =20

3. EXECUTION: KEY AL QAEDA FIGURE IS TAKEN OUT BY DRONE.
I oppose the death penalty and would have preferred that al-Awlaki=20
surrender himself for trial, but I=92m pretty sure he didn't have that in=
=20
mind.  I=92m glad we had the technology to take al-Awlaki out without maj=
or=20
collateral losses among innocents.  However, the handwringing over the=20
killing of an American citizen without "due process" loses me.  War is, a=
s=20
it has always been, due process.  Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have=20
resulted in many thousands of civilian and military deaths without any du=
e=20
process other than war.  President Obama characterized the killing of=20
radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki as "a major blow to al Qaeda's most active=
=20
operational affiliate."  That's what the war has been about.

4. JUST IN: NEUTRINO VELOCITIES AND FLYING CARPETS.
I am told that Andrew Cohen and Sheldon Glashow in arXiv:1109.6562v1 make=
=20
the observation that superluminal neutrinos would radiate by the same=20
effect as Cerenkov radiation when particles exceed c/n.  That makes it=20
clear, if it wasn=92t already, that the claim of superluminal neutrinos w=
as=20
wrong.  No one knows why. =20

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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