Did a meteor bring down Air France Flight 447?

Here's what we call "The back of an envelope calculation." from Discover Magazine. This theory du jour probably won't get much traction in the press. Did a meteor bring down Air France Flight 447?

My excuses for this post are:
It's a nice model for quick roughout of diverse data collection, then basic arithmetic and probability calculation.
[Note: If you'd like a stretch, calculate the odds that meteors [plural] brought down Flight 447 and TWA's Flight 800 in 1996, as the article contemplates.]
Also, it's raining and I can't fix fences or mow ...

New Scientist Links ... from fun to mind-benders

If you don't know the New Scientist, It's great. It's un-peer reviewed, but they're beyond that!

Here's some tasty prime rib with a side of horseradish.

13 Things that Don't make Sense
How to Map the Multiverse
Hunting the Magnetic Monopole
Raindrops Splash before they Hit the Ground
The Theory of Everything [Some surfer guy astounds academics]

Virtual Sex? Microsoft and Spielberg

Dennis Miller once said that in a few years, supposedly virtual sex will be indistinguishable from the real thing, and ... when that happens ... "this virtual reality stuff is going to make crack look like Sanka."

Here's a good start ... This is what Microsoft and Spielberg are doing in the game business.

Lake Okeechobee backpumping & Flooding

Florida's Lake Okeechobee water management is controlled by politics and the Sugar Lobby. Unfortunately, the mud "dike " around the 730 square lake now functions as a leaky dam and is almost certainly going to breach within several years. Hundreds of thousands of South Floridians may die soon in a massive flood, which will extend from West Palm Beach to Miami! It only takes one large tropical storm. See our Okeechobee Disaster Report. [1.2 meg PDF]

Thanks to a recent Federal Appeals Court decision allowing polluted canal water to be pumped back into the lake, the water will be filthy when the major disaster happens.

The conditions are analogous to the Johnstown Flood. The Okeechobee Flood by comparison will be approximately 100 times larger! We are currently beginning Hurricane Season ... stay tuned

Hung Fu

David Carradine always was creepy ... Here's the article re: his death in a Thai closet. Article

Here he is fighting Bruce Lee's son Brandon, who caught a 44 magnum slug on a movie set ... for real. Video.

Ada ... A missing link fossil

Chew on this meat:

"Ada" is news. This is a fossil alleged to be a "missing link":?