Getting a Grip about Genesis, Gamma Ray Bursts, and (Maybe) a Multiverse

I decided to focus on science again for my 'in the news' post this week: a star that's going to explode; detailed information about this universe's early years; and the first topographic map of Titan.

1. WR 104: Again
   • Living With Uncertainty
   • Disasters: Handy Reminders
   • Large and In Charge
2. Cosmic Microwave Background: Best Map So Far
   • Multiple Universes, Maybe
3. Mapping Titan

---

Genesis, an Elementary View

A fellow told that his eight year old daughter is very bright: after reading the first chapter of Genesis she said that six days of creation didn't make sense. The universe is lots older than that.

He may have hoped to start the folks he told ranting and raving about 'Bible truths' and the evils of science. Instead, his (Catholic) targets discussed God, metaphor, literary styles, and reality.

About the Bible: as a Catholic I have to take Sacred Scripture, the Word of God, very seriously. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133)

But fallout from a Victorian-era snit notwithstanding, I do not have to cultivate ignorance about this creation.

This is a pretty good 10-point list that outlines what the Church says about the Bible:

• "Understanding the Bible"
  Mary Elizabeth Sperry, Associate Director for Utilization of the New American Bible

Although I believe what the Bible says, I don't look to Sacred Scriptures for all the answers:

• "When to Call Tech Support, When to Read the Bible"
  (January 14, 2011)

Seeking Truth, Seeking God

I see no conflict between seeking truth and seeking God. I also accept the idea that creation is bigger and older than folks thought when this was written, 27 centuries back:

"Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: You question me about my children, or prescribe the work of my hands for me!

"It was I who made the earth and created mankind upon it; It was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I gave the order to all their host."
(Isaiah 45:11-12)

Living in a universe where we're still finding new horizons doesn't diminish the grandeur of creation, or my belief that God is infinite and eternal. (Catechism, 202)

Accepting Reality

I'm quite sure that God could have made a cozy little universe, a few thousand miles across and a few thousand years old. It's becoming increasingly obvious that the world we live in isn't like that: at all.

It seems prudent to take reality as it is.

Sadly, some Christians seem determined to prove that ignorance is a requirement for faith. Since I'm a Catholic, I recognize that we can learn about God by observing the beauty and order of creation. (Catechism, 32)

More of my take on faith, reason, and getting a grip:

• "Vast and Ancient"
  (February 27, 2013)
• "Reason, Evidence, and Searching for Truth"
  (February 3, 2013)
• "Eden - and - Adam and Eve Weren't German?!"
  (May 16, 2012)
• "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word"
  (January 29, 2012)
• " 'In a State of Journeying' "
  (January 18, 2012)

Catholics aren't perfect, by the way. I've run into some of us who seem convinced that the world must be a few thousand years old: 'because the Bible says so.' One of these days I'll write about 'going native,' but that's another topic.

One more thing: normally I'd post this Friday morning. This week isn't normal, so I'm getting this out a day early.

---

1. WR 104: Again

Earth May Still Lie In Path Of Potential Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), Say Astronomers"
Bruce Dorminey, Forbes (May 27, 2013)

"Fifteen years after its discovery, two astronomers say earth may still lie within the sights of a potentially lethal progenitor of a stellar gamma-ray burst (GRB).

"Although WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star some 8000 light years distant, has thus far remained largely quiescent, it is ripe to undergo a core-collapse supernova of the sort that could generate a seconds-long burst of gamma-rays that, in turn, might potentially wipe out a quarter of earth's protective atmospheric ozone.

" 'We could see it go supernova anywhere from tomorrow to 500,000 years from now,' said Grant Hill, an astronomer at the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. 'For all intents and purposes, the gamma-ray burst and optical photons from the supernova would arrive simultaneously.'

"The question of whether a GRB from WR 104 - which lies in the direction of our Milky Way's galactic center - would actually cross earth's path has been the subject of debate for years now. But Grant says that given the continuing uncertainty about the star's alignment with our own, such a scenario can't be ruled out...."

This isn't, quite, 'news:' although I suppose another astronomer saying 'we don't know' is enough to warrant another article. I've written about WR 104 fairly recently:

• "Guns, Gamma Ray Bursts, and Roller Coasters"
  (January 4, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Getting a Grip About WR 104
  • Scared Silly

The bottom line is that WR 104 is 'close' by cosmic standards: only about 8,000 light years away. It's a double star. One of the pair will almost certainly explode 'soon,' again by cosmic standards: in the next few tens or hundreds of thousands of years.

Living With Uncertainty

If WR 104's north or south pole is pointed at us, we'll see a gamma ray burst: up 'close.' At the risk of sounding alarmist, that could be bad news:

"...But if such a GRB did hit earth's atmosphere, says Adrian Melott, a physicist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, it would likely cause a 50 percent increase in solar UVB radiation which would not only disrupt photosynthesis among marine and freshwater plankton, but also likely precipitate some sort of broader extinction event.

" 'You would first notice a 10-second blue flash in the upper atmosphere,' said Melott, 'but then the damage would be done.'"
(Bruce Dorminey, Forbes)

If WR 104 is aimed at us, and if the core-collapse supernova happened eight thousand years back, so that the radiation will reach us next week: we'd find out how much of Earth's plant and animal life got disrupted. We'd also have to start being very, very careful about sunburn. Particularly folks who look more or less like me.

There's no point in worrying about WR 104. Either it is pointed at us or it's not. There's probably a much greater risk that someone will lose control of a truck and crash into my house.

We live in a world where the unexpected happens. Learning to tell the difference between what we can prepare for, and what we can't, seems prudent.

Disasters: Handy Reminders

Assuming that God won't let bad things happen to good people may feel good, for a while: but that's not the way things work.

I could get morbid about Luke 12:18-20 and Luke 13:1-5, or ignore the reminders that we don't know when our life will end. A better idea, I think, would be to remember that we may go through our particular judgment at any time. (Catechism, 1021-1022)

It's sort of like being prepared for a pop quiz: with my eternal status at stake. 'No pressure.' (May 21, 2013)

Large and In Charge

Like I've said before, God is large and in charge:

• God
  • Cares about His creation
    • From the smallest detail to the largest events
  • Does what He wants
    • Regardless of whether it fits our plans
    (Catechism, 303)

All creatures matter, and have a part in how the universe works. We've got a particularly critical job, and that's yet another topic. (Catechism, 306-308)

It's obvious that the universe, as it exists, isn't always a nice place. God decided to make this world "in a state of journeying," and that's yet again another topic. (Catechism, 309-314)

Finally, Jesus has some good advice:

• Trust God
• Don't be anxious about what we
  • Need
  • Want
  (Catechism, 305)

---

2. Cosmic Microwave Background: Best Map So Far

(from ESA and the Planck Collaboration, via Space.com, used w/o permission)
"This map shows the oldest light in our universe, as detected with the greatest precision yet by the Planck mission. The ancient light, called the cosmic microwave background, was imprinted on the sky when the universe was 370,000 years old. It shows tiny temperature fluctuations that correspond to regions of slightly different densities, representing the seeds of all future structure: the stars and galaxies of today. Image released March 21, 2013.
CREDIT: ESA and the Planck Collaboration"

"Exquisite Map of Cosmos Hints at Universe's Birth"
Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (May 24, 2013)

"A map of the universe based on its oldest light is giving astronomers hope that they may be able to answer some of the deepest questions of the cosmos, including how it got started.

"Scientists met this week at the University of California, Davis to pore over the treasure trove of data published two months ago from the European Planck spacecraft. The observatory measures what's called the cosmic microwave background - light spread across the sky that dates from soon after the Big Bang that kick-started the universe.

" 'We have the best map ever of the cosmic microwave background, and that shows us what the universe was like 370,000 years after the Big Bang,' said Charles Lawrence, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California who is the lead U.S. scientist on the Planck project. Lawrence and other researchers summed up the consequences of the meeting, called the Davis Cosmic Frontiers Conferences, in a call to reporters Friday (May 24)...."

This is another 'been there, done that' news item, sort of. The new map was released in late March. (April 2, 2013)

On the other hand, I don't mind reading about what researchers think about it, about two months later.

What's exciting about this new cosmic microwave background (CMB) map is its fine detail. For one thing, it looks like some odd features in the CMB are real.

Astronomers and cosmologists had a pretty good idea of what they'd find in the CMB. Some of what they expected to see is there: but some of what they're seeing doesn't fit the relatively simple models they've been using.

Observation confirming theory is nice: observation showing something unexpected is exciting, since it means we have more to learn.

Multiple Universes, Maybe

Reality may be a whole lot bigger than we thought it was:

"...getting to the bottom of the other anomalies in the Planck data may point to even more radical conclusions, such as the idea of multiple universes and bubble universes created by areas of the primordial universe that inflated at different rates.

"It turns out that collisions between these bubbles of space-time are one possible explanation for why inflation might not have proceeded uniformly in all directions.

" 'The fact that these anomalies not only exist but exist on the very largest scales gives us some hope that we may be actually able to say something in the future about a multiverse,' [astrophysicist Marc Kamionkowski of Johns Hopkins University] Kamionkowski said."
("New Map of Big Bang Light Hints at Exotic Physics," Clara Moskowitz, Space.com (March 21, 2013))

Physicists and cosmologists have known for quite a while that other universes - space-time continua that aren't connected to ours - might exist. This isn't the sort of goofiness that shows up in the movies, and I've been over that before. (April 2, 2013)

---

3. Mapping Titan

"Cassini Shapes First Global Topographic Map of Titan"
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology press release (May 15, 2013)
Jia-Rui Cook, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Michael Buckley, Johns Hopkins, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland

"Scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a valuable tool for learning more about one of the most Earth-like and interesting worlds in the solar system. The map was just published as part of a paper in the journal Icarus.

"Titan is Saturn's largest moon - with a radius of about 1,600 miles (2,574 kilometers), it's bigger than planet Mercury - and is the second-largest moon in the solar system. Scientists care about Titan because it's the only moon in the solar system known to have clouds, surface liquids and a mysterious, thick atmosphere. The cold atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, like Earth's, but the organic compound methane on Titan acts the way water vapor does on Earth, forming clouds and falling as rain and carving the surface with rivers. Organic chemicals, derived from methane, are present in Titan's atmosphere, lakes and rivers and may offer clues about the origins of life.

" 'Titan has so much interesting activity - like flowing liquids and moving sand dunes - but to understand these processes it's useful to know how the terrain slopes,' said Ralph Lorenz, a member of the Cassini radar team based at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., who led the map-design team. 'It's especially helpful to those studying hydrology and modeling Titan's climate and weather, who need to know whether there is high ground or low ground driving their models.'..."

Titan's atmosphere is murky, so the map was made with imaging radar. Saturn's largest moon seems to have two 'continents:' distinctly higher areas. I'm intrigued by the four roundish high points in an arc, about 45 degrees south of the equator: and more-or-less corresponding dents on the other side of the southern hemisphere:


(from NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/JHUAPL/Cornell/Weizman, used w/o permission)

"Global Topographic Map of Titan"
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (May 15, 2013)

"Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a 3-D tool for learning more about one of the most Earthlike and interesting worlds in the solar system. The map team used a mathematical process called splining -- effectively using smooth curved surfaces to 'join' the areas between grids of existing topography profiles obtained by Cassini's radar instrument. The estimations fit with current knowledge of the moon -- that its polar regions are 'lower' than areas around the equator, for example. But connecting those points allows scientists to add new layers to their studies of Titan's surface, especially those modeling how and where Titan's rivers flow, and the seasonal distribution of its methane rainfall.

"The radar data were collected between 2004 and 2011...."

"Earthlike" in this case doesn't mean what it did in Star Trek episodes. Nobody's going to walk on Titan without a spacesuit. It's not just the unbreathable air: it's cold there.

But we finally have another world to study that has weather, rain, rivers, and lakes: just like Earth, except it's methane and probably ethane instead of water. There's a lot to learn.

Related posts:

• "Robots, a Martian Dune, and Mapping a Billion Stars"
  (May 10, 2013)
• "Studying the Builder's Craft"
  (April 5, 2013)
• "Seeking Truth, Accepting Vastness"
  (April 2, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Sailor Moon, Star Trek, and Reality
  • Physical Constants - Aren't?
  • Planets, Physics, and God
• "DNA, Voyager 1, Habitable Worlds, and the Universe"
  (March 22, 2013)
• "Seriously Searching for Life in the Universe"
  (February 8, 2013)

The Vatican and SCIENCE?!

"Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, his maker: You question me about my children, or prescribe the work of my hands for me!

"It was I who made the earth and created mankind upon it; It was my hands that stretched out the heavens; I gave the order to all their host."
(Isaiah 45:11-12)

We've learned quite a bit about "the heavens" in the 27 centuries that rolled by since Isaiah's time: much of that in the last hundred years or so.

I don't have to be interested in this wonder-filled universe to be a Catholic. But a lively interest in God's creation doesn't get in the way of my faith, either.

The Catholic Church was getting involved with what 'serious thinkers' were discussing long before we knew about stem cells.

For example, there was a lively debate a bit over seven centuries ago about whether we're standing on the only world, or if there could be others. Predictably, some folks didn't like the newfangled ideas.

Eventually the Church had to remind us that personal preference and Aristotle don't outrank God. Ever since, Catholics haven't been allowed to say there can't be other worlds. And that's another topic. (January 29, 2012)

In 1603, the Accademia dei Lincei was the first academy in the world that studied science: and nothing else. That academy didn't last long, but Pope Pius IX re-founded it as the Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes in 1847. Pope Pius XI restarted it in 1936, and changed the name to what we've got now.

And that's yet another topic:

• "History"
  Pontifical Academy of Sciences

Honest Research and God

The Church gets along fine with honest research. I've been over this before:

"...the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God..."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159)

"...The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect and submission of man's intellect and will."
(Catechism, 341)

"...Science and technology are ordered to man, from whom they take their origin and development; hence they find in the person and in his moral values both evidence of their purpose and awareness of their limits."
(Catechism, 2293)

The down side, if you can call it that, is that the Church also insists that people pay attention to ethics: even if they're important people like doctors and scientists.

(Mostly from "Stem Cell Research, Mapping Mercury, and Alpha Centauri's Cool Layer " (March 8, 2013))

Related posts:

• "Vast and Ancient"
  (February 27, 2013)
• "Ethics and Asteroids"
  (February 20, 2013)
• " '...The Man With the X-Ray Eyes,' the Tuskegee Experiment, and Seeking God"
  (February 10, 2013)
• "Reason, Evidence, and Searching for Truth"
  (February 3, 2013)
• "News, Good and Otherwise: and Billions of Worlds"
  (January 11, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Asteroid 99942 Apophis Missed Us
  • Planets Like Earth: Billions of Them

Trinity Sunday: Our God is a Sharing God

Readings for May 26, 2013, Trinity Sunday:

• Proverbs 8:22-31
• Romans 5:1-5
• John 16:12-15

---

Trinity Sunday 2013

By Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas
May 26, 2013

Keep in mind that God is family. As we begin in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

How often we have done this probably not giving it much thought, it's sort of like saying good morning to someone, it's quite automatic.

But that's the reason that today we celebrate the Holy Trinity Sunday. Today is a day set aside by the Church to remind us why we say these particular words.

The bottom line reasoning, is that, because that's who we are as a family of Faith. We need to be reminded of this reality because we easily forget that in all of human history, we are the unique Religious Community.

What makes our Faith so exceptional, so unique is the belief that our God is a family! Our God is a community of persons, a fellowship of Love that has burst forth in ecstasy to the point that St. Paul can say in the reading we heard today. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us."

But this tells us about the God we believe in, that He is One, who is constantly communicating infinite love between the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. Our God is a sharing God. A God who wants to invite us into becoming a similar community of love among ourselves. Our God, then, is a model for how we are to be, in relationship with one another.

The whole history of God loving us, wanting to save us from the worst of our own selves and bringing us into his Trinitarian family of love, is best highlighted by one word that is, communication.

In order to communicate, you and I speak. We use words. And more than ever, we come to realize that words mean something. God says in the Hebrew Scriptures, "I will be your God, and you will be my people." Then God comes to us in a new way in the New Testament, He speaks to us in a most definitive way possible: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." Finally, then, he spoke to us through the Holy Spirit. After the resurrection, Jesus promised to send a Paraclete, Who will "lead you into the complete truth," as the gospel we heard today told us.

He will do that through the Church, through the Sacraments, through the Scriptures, through the love we show one another in our common pursuit of justice and compassion, through the Eucharist we are celebrating today as a family at this very Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

God is calling us as a church community, a family of faith, to be like him -- to be like the family that is the Trinity.

That's why we began every Mass and most of our prayer time, "In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit."

This weekend too: we call to mind all those who have gone before us with the hope that peace may be ours. Of course we know that the work of Christ is to bring peace for he laid down his life to reconcile us to one another and to the Father. He is the bridge, as C.S. Lewis's words remind us that Christ crosses the chasm between who we are and who God wants us to be. "Winston Churchill was honoring members of the Royal Air Force, guarded England during the Second World War. He recounted their brave service and he declared, "Never in the History of mankind have so many owed so much to so few."

A similar sentiment appears on a memorial plaque in Bastogne, Belgium. That is the location of the famous Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest conflicts of World War II. The inscription, in honor of the US 101st Airborne Division, reads: "Seldom has so much American blood been shed in the course of a single action." "Oh, Lord, help us to remember!"

We need to remember the sacrifices of the soldiers, especially on this Memorial Day weekend, but even more important that we remember the Sacrifice that Christ made to earn permanent peace with ourselves with our neighbors and with our God. Paul writes, "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by Faith into His Grace in which we now stand."

In closing: a brief story about a man named Kurtis. He worked as a stock boy in the grocery store and fell in love with the young woman named Brenda he was 22 she was 26. He finally asked her for a date, she refused, so he asked her again. Coming to her home, once again, she says we cannot go out because I do not have a babysitter, but she lets him in and finds her with her little daughter and a son in a wheelchair, a paraplegic and with down Syndrome. He said, 'Well can't the four of us go out?'

He learned how to help care for the little boy, even how to take him to the bathroom. Time will not permit to tell the whole story but Kurt is better known as Kurt Warner who became the star quarter-back for many years for the St. Louis Rams. Kurt was declared most valuable player awarded by the NFL, as well as the MVP awarded by Super Bowl XXXIV. He is now retired but he is not retired from being a follower of Jesus Christ. If you ask Kurt Warner where he learned to love his family like this, he would unabashedly tell you that it is the Holy Spirit working in his life! Can we too, respond with, AMEN.

So you too, be Good, be Holy, preached the Gospel always and if necessary use words.

---

'Thank you' to Deacon Kaas, for letting me post his reflection here.

---

More reflections:

• "Reflections from Sauk Centre's Our Lady of Angels Church"

Related posts:

• "Being Catholic on Memorial Day Weekend"
  (May 27, 2012)
• "How Could God Floss His Teeth?"
  (July 2, 2011)
• "I Don't Understand the Trinity: No Surprise There"
  (May 6, 2011)
• "Rambling About What 'Spirit' Means"
  (February 22, 2011)
• "Rambling on About Memorial Day, the Flag, and Snake Oil"
  (May 28, 2010)

Married to a Black Belt

My wife and one of our daughters have a black belt in Soo Bahk Do, a Korean martial art. (April 15, 2012)

Does my wife having a black belt bother me? Honestly, yes: a little.

I was born in the Truman administration. It would be surprising if I hadn't picked up some of that era's cultural baggage.

But I'm 'bothered' only in the sense of having conflicts between old emotional responses and what I know to be true.

One of my wife's lifelong dreams was to earn a black belt, and I am glad that she realized that dream.

Those Dreadful Days of Yesteryear

I remember when telling a woman 'you're as smart as a man' was supposed to be a compliment. Some of the changes my generation worked for were desperately needed and long overdue. Although some of our reforms didn't turn out as I had hoped, I do not miss the 'good old days.'

Today's view of women, men, and marriage also needs correction. That does not mean that I sympathize with folks who like Ephesians 5:22, but seem oblivious to the rest of that chapter. (May 1, 2012)

Not a Doormat

Like many folks, I learned from my parent's example. Sometimes I learned the wrong lesson, and that's another topic.

Something I learned correctly, though, was the idea that women, and men, are people who matter.

My mother was far from being a doormat: willing or otherwise.

Her strength wasn't physical. She was five-foot nothing with a disinclination for physical activity that I, unhappily, inherited. I also seem to have inherited an echo of that diminutive black-haired daughter of the Vikings' capacity for intimidating others.

No bragging there, by the way. I also have blue eyes and dark hair: it's part of the equipment I have to work with.

Knowing my father, he was probably drawn to her indomitable spirit. She did not like it when someone said 'you don't look Norwegian,' and that's still another topic.

My wife is, I think, a bit like my mother was before a debilitating stroke: and that's yet another topic.

'It's in the Bible'

Some folks may still think that if something's 'in the Bible,' it's a good idea. That's not necessarily so.

Don't get me wrong: I take Holy Scripture very, very seriously. I have to. I'm a Catholic, and it's 'in the rules. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 101-133)

Crackpot notions about what the Bible says are (what else?) another topic. (November 16, 2010)

Folks we find in the Bible aren't necessarily good role models. Jezebel, for example, didn't end well; and Sampson isn't known for his common sense. (Judges 14:4; 16:1-17; 2 Kings 9:7, 35)

Europe's artistic and cultural preferences during the last few centuries can give folks a somewhat distorted notion about being 'spiritual,' and being a woman: or man, for that matter. (February 20, 2011; February 15, 2010)

Women in the Bible are not necessarily wimps. There's Deborah, judge of Israel; and Jael, wife of Heber, who is chiefly known for nailing a general's head to the floor. (Judges 4:4-5; Judges 4:17-22, Judges 5:24; and see Footnote 2 of Judges 5)

A Mother's Advice

Proverbs ends with a mother's advice to her son. (Proverbs 31:1-31)

Here's part of her description of a "worthy wife:" (Proverbs 31:10)

"She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands.

"Like merchant ships, she secures her provisions from afar.

"She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household.

"She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

"She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms."
(Proverbs 31:13-17)

Besides managing the household, manufacturing cloth and clothing, investing in real estate and operating a vineyard, this lady "is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms." (Proverbs 31:17)

- - - and not one word about being 'as smart as a man.'

Related posts:

• " 'My Wife has to do Anything I Tell Her?!' "
  (May 1, 2012)
• "Martial Arts and the Battle for Purity"
  (April 15, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Martial Arts and Me
  • Ethics, Rules, and the Catholic Church
• "Vocations for Everyone"
  (December 11, 2011)
• "Yoga, Ephesians, and Getting a Grip"
  (May 30, 2011)
• "Marriage, Catholic Beliefs, and This Catholic"
  (September 24, 2009)
  Particularly
  • Read the Book! It says be Subordinate to Each Other!

Warp Drive: Imagined and Real (Maybe, Eventually)

This week I'm mostly looking at not-quite-yet applied physics: Alcubierre's 'warp drive' equations.

1. Weird Physics, Warp Drive, News, and NASA
   • Crawling Along at the Speed of Light
   • Space-Time Distortions, Business as Usual in the News
   • Skylark Physics, Quantum Entanglement, and All That
   • Energy: LOTS of Energy
   • Refreshingly Non-Gloomy
2. A Robot on Mars
3. The Next Mount Saint Helens Eruption
   • Really Hot Toothpaste
   • Exploding Mountains and Other Excitement

---

Travel to the Stars

I might live long enough to read about a prototype warp drive. On the other hand, maybe faster than light travel actually is impossible. There could be a flaw that physicists haven't found yet in Alcubierre's math: although that seems less likely each year.

Using what happened after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky's 1903 publication as a model, we could have faster-than-light starships in a half-century.

That's probably much too optimistic. We don't have anything even close to the necessary technology today. But in 1903 the closest we had to a spaceship was the zeppelin: and we don't seem to have stopped developing new tech.

Maybe the first human beings will return from the stars a hundred years from now.

Or maybe Tsiolkovsky is the wrong place to start. Rockets were developed more than two thousand years before the he was born: if you count Archytas of Tarentum's steam-powered bird. I'm not making that up.

China developed solid fuel rockets in the 1200s. A bit over seven centuries later, folks were walking on the moon.

Maybe it will take us nearly a thousand years to develop practical star-hopping transportation systems. I think it's a trifle more likely that we will start traveling to other stars 'soon:' a century or so from now.

Unlike folks living during the Song Dynasty, many of the world's 7,000,000,000 or so citizens have Internet access. Granted, most of us chat about movie stars, sports, and what we do or don't like. But folks with the interest and background necessary can discuss warp drives, quantum physics, or any other topic: fast. We don't even have live on the same continent.

I like the Information Age, and that's another topic.

Science, Technology, and Doing Our Job

Recapping what I've said before, we're not supposed to worship science, technology, or anything else. Idolatry, treating anything that's not God as if it's divine, is a really bad idea. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2112-2114)

On the other hand, we're expected to take care of this creation: and need technology to get just about anything done.

Happily, we're able to study this creation and develop new technologies. That's okay, although ethics apply. 'Because we can' isn't an excuse for bad behavior. (Genesis 1:26-31 Catechism, 355-361, 2293-2295)

Finally, we can learn about God by studying what God created. Again, this is okay. (Catechism, 31-36, 282-289)

---

1. Weird Physics, Warp Drive, News, and NASA

The first sensible question for an op-ed like this is - who's writing it? For example, it's one thing when someone with a PhD in English Literature says that interstellar flight is possible - or impossible. It's something else when the opinion comes from someone with a background in science or a technical discipline.

As it turns out, this opinion piece is written by someone who should have an informed opinion:

"Marc G. Millis headed NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project and took an early retirement to continue this work as part of the interstellar research activities of the Tau Zero Foundation. He contributed this article to SPACE.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
..."(Space.com)

Here's what he wrote

"Warp Drive and 'Star Trek': Physics of Future Space Travel (Op-Ed)"
Marc G Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, via Space.com (May 22, 2013)

"...Another 'Star Trek' film just hit the screen - featuring the venerable Starship Enterprise. To enable such fantastical star flight, we need faster-than-light (FTL) flight, control over inertial and gravitational forces, extreme energy prowess, and the societal discipline to harness that much power safely. Between the sensationalistic hype and pedantic disdain, how much progress is really being made?

"For starters, the technical goals ceased to be just science fiction decades ago with a legacy of pertinent publications (see editor's note below). To be clear, this does not mean that these breakthroughs are on the threshold of discovery. What it does mean is that these notions have advanced to where they are now problems that are able to be attacked. A graduate-level treatise, along with next-step research options, is available as the compilation 'Frontiers of Propulsion Science' (AIAA, 2009). For the rest of us, here is a short version...."

I could buy "Frontiers of Propulsion Science," AIAA, for only $123.45: a quite reasonable price for a publication of that sort. I don't have that much in my book budget, so I'll rely on the summary - and summarize that. As usual, I strongly recommend reading the original - summary, in this case. By definition, summaries leave stuff out. The AIAA book's ISBN numbers are ISBN-10: 1563479567 and ISBN-13: 978-1563479564, by the way.

One more thing: AIAA stands for American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Crawling Along at the Speed of Light

"...Compared to the distances between stars, lightspeed is slow. The neighboring star system nearest to us (Alpha Centauri) is more than four years away at light speed (as measured from the perspective of an external observer). The nearest habitable planet might be anywhere from 25 light-years to 200 light-years away. And, to consider meeting new aliens for each week's episode, our ship would need a naive cruise speed of at least 25,000 times light speed. The word 'naive' is used to remind us that we don't really know what happens to time and space beyond lightspeed. [Warp Drive & Transporters: How 'Star Trek' Technology Works (Infographic)]..."
(Marc G Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, via Space.com)

Hats off to Millis, for pointing out that we don't know what happens when something moves faster than light, relative to neighboring space-time.

I'm not quite as happy about Space.com's posting an infographic that mixes well-done art and text about the (fictional) Star Trek universe with a discussion of the (real) Migel Alcubierre equations that started serious discussion of (real) warp drives in 1994.

Basically, Zefram Cochrane is a fictional character. Harold "Sonny" White is a real person who works for NASA.

Adding to the possible confusion, some of White's more readable papers about exotic propulsion technology weren't available earlier this year: a frustrating situation for me. I wrote about that yesterday. (May 23, 2013)

Space-Time Distortions, Business as Usual in the News

"...Recent news regarding the work of Harold 'Sonny' White at NASA's Johnson Space Center has been exaggerated. That work is an attempt to measure space-time distortions caused by the presence of negative energy. Unfortunately, I do not have an article to cite about that hypothesis or the methods being used, since such information has not (yet?) been published. Although Eric Davis is tracking this for the Tau Zero Foundation, we do not yet know enough to render judgment...."
(Marc G Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, via Space.com)

What Millis said about news reporting on White's research is true: and no surprise. I've harangued occasionally about old-school journalism:

"...If establishment news covered the Super Bowl the way they cover religious news, we'd see expert discussions of the quality of this year's home runs compared to number of women employed by the NFL, and speculation about why the jockeys weren't wearing feed bags....."
(June 15, 2012)

Sadly, many news editors don't seem to have realized that it's also a good idea to have a science editor who knows a little about science: apart from what they've learned by watching classics like "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster" and "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes."

On the other hand, what NASA may or may not be working on doesn't seem to involve negative energy. White has discussed negative energy in connection with a working warp drive. ("Warp Field Mechanics 101," pages 7, 9) He's also discussed a way to test some warp field math: the White-Juday warp field interferometer.

As far as I can tell, that device would test space-time distortions of about 1 part in 10,000,000 in a sphere about 1 centimeter across. The equipment isn't the sort of thing I've got laying around the house: but apparently the field generator could be "something as simple as a very high voltage capacitor ring." ("Warp Field Mechanics 101," page 8)

The warp field interferometer would be pricy - but doesn't seem to require unavailable technology.

With a field that's smaller than a golf ball, and miniscule space-time distortions, it's a useful laboratory device: but not even close to a practical warp drive.

It looks like we could test some of the basics of Alcubierre's math. That would be a start.

Skylark Physics, Quantum Entanglement, and All That

We've started learning about the universe at very large and very small scales. In each case, things get a bit weird.

Millis mentions quantum effects like tunneling and entanglement. These may eventually lead to near-instantaneous communication over interstellar distances: or not. He links to "Status of nonlocal quantum communication test," and I'll leave it at that.

I've read some of E. E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark stories. They're rip-roaring good old fashioned space opera: and use what's at least an early example of an inertialess drive. They're also, like Kirk's starship Enterprise, fiction.

Millis says that we've had some intriguing suggestions for how gravitation and other fundamental forces could be altered: without stepping out of Einstein's general relativity equations. Or at least not very far. The problem is that, although some of these ideas have been bouncing around for decades: we still don't know how to make these things happen.

It's a little like the situation when Konstantin Tsiolkovsky showed how folks could travel to other planets: provided someone could get outside Earth's atmosphere and accelerate to unreasonable speeds.

Even cutting-edge transportation technology like zeppelins didn't have what it takes in 1903. (May 17, 2013)

Energy: LOTS of Energy

Another issue that Millis discusses is the amount of energy that's required for making current ideas work. Even if we knew how to make something like a wormhole or warp drive, we don't have an energy source that's up to the job.

Although I gather that someone tweaked warp field math so that power consumption wouldn't be measured in Jupiter-mass per minute: a real 'warp ship' would need more power than we've got today. Even if we knew how to make the engine.

Refreshingly Non-Gloomy

I was pleasantly surprised when Millis wasn't conventionally despondent over humanity's odds. The section heading "Sustainably peaceful society" ends with:

"...Although trends indicate that humanity is becoming more peaceful, overall, I am concerned that this challenge might turn out to be harder than creating the new physics for FTL and controllable gravity. The good news is that this is something we can all work toward by being more thoughtful about how each of us chooses to resolve conflicts of views, wants and needs..."
(Marc G Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, via Space.com)

I'm inclined to agree with him. Compared to establishing something like Tennyson's "Federation of the world," developing starships or stargate networks will probably be easy.

I think that eventually we'll have an "international authority with the necessary competence and power," that protects people without resorting to military force. (Catechism, 2308)

It won't be perfect, and I've been over that before. (December 3, 2012)

---

2. A Robot on Mars

"NASA Mars Rover Curiosity Drills Second Rock Target"
Guy Webster, Mars Science Laboratory, Mission News, NASA (May 20,2013)

"NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called 'Cumberland.'

"Plans call for delivering portions of the sample in coming days to laboratory instruments inside the rover. This is only the second time that a sample has been collected from inside a rock on Mars. The first was Curiosity's drilling at a target called 'John Klein' three months ago. Cumberland resembles John Klein and lies about nine feet (2.75 meters) farther west. Both are within a shallow depression called 'Yellowknife Bay.'

"The hole that Curiosity drilled into Cumberland on May 19 is about 0.6 inch (1.6 centimeters) in diameter and about 2.6 inches (6.6 centimeters) deep.

"The science team expects to use analysis of material from Cumberland to check findings from John Klein. Preliminary findings from analysis of John Klein rock powder by Curiosity's onboard laboratory instruments indicate that the location long ago had environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. The favorable conditions included the key elemental ingredients for life, an energy gradient that could be exploited by microbes, and water that was not harshly acidic or briny...."

The life we're talking about here is the sort of thing we find under rocks and in cool, damp places. No beautiful space princesses, colorfully wicked interstellar warlords: almost certainly. Flying whales, maybe. (Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 8, 2009)

Why bother with Mars? We're human: checking out as much of creation as we can is part of what we are. (January 27, 2013)

---

3. The Next Mount Saint Helens Eruption

(from AccuWeather, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)

"Mount Saint Helens 'Reloading' For Future Eruption"
AccuWeather, via FoxNews.com (May 17, 2013)

"On Sunday morning, May 18, 1980, an earthquake that measured magnitude 5.1 triggered an eruption of Mount Saint Helens in Washington state that did not fully cease until 1986.

"The force of the eruption destroyed more than 200 homes and more than 185 miles of roads, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The lava flow from the volcano scorched 230 square miles of forest. By the time the eruption ended, 57 people had been killed.

" 'A volcano can go from nothing to a very large eruption in a very short time,' said USGS Hydrologist and Outreach Coordinator Carolyn Driedger. 'Mount Saint Helens only took one week to go from nothing to a full eruption.'..."

The nice thing about asteroid impacts is after it hits Earth once, an asteroid won't come around again. On the other hand, it's not the sort of thing we'd want to happen even once, and that's almost another topic.

Volcanoes, even 'dormant' ones, keep erupting at intervals. We're learning more about Earth's inner workings, but 'eruption forecasts' aren't even close to being as accurate as weather forecasts.

Really Hot Toothpaste

"...Teams of scientists use seismographs to monitor the movement of magma below the surface of the volcano. They use GPS units to measure the movement of rocks and changes in the volcano at ground level and they measure the gases that are coming from the volcano to determine how close the magma is to the surface, said Driedger.

" 'Gases measured from the crater help predict the force of future eruptions.' Driedger said the more gas that is trapped in the silicate rocks during an eruption the larger the explosion will be.

"Mount Saint Helens erupted again during the years of 1989 through 2001 and 2004 through 2008. Those eruptions were not anywhere near the force of the eruption of 1980.

" 'The first eruption was very explosive,' said Driedger. 'The second eruption was relatively calm, like toothpaste squeezing out of a tube.'

"Driedger said volcanoes can erupt in a variety of ways. Driedger believes future eruptions will be less explosive than the one in 1980. 'The eruption in 1980 collapsed the northern side of the volcano, so a future eruption won't be able to cause as large a landslide.'..."
(AccuWeather, via FoxNews.com)

Comparing what oozed out of Mount Saint Helens to toothpaste is an effective way to describe the event. That would be very hot toothpaste, though.

Exploding Mountains and Other Excitement

(from USGS, used w/o permission)

Earth isn't a particularly boring place.

Every now and then a mountain explodes.

Debris ranging in size from sand and gravel to rocks the size of Rhode Island and up falls out of the sky. "The impact rate on Earth," The Royal Society (December 15, 2005), gives statistics on how often we can expect something the size of, say, Kansas, to hit.

Even so, it's a nice place to live. Taking care of it is part of our job, and - that's yet another topic.

Related posts:

• Using our brains
  • "Tornadoes, Trusting God, and Planning Ahead"
    (May 22, 2013)
  • "Today, the Planets: Tomorrow, the Stars?"
    (May 17, 2013)
  • " Prayer! Meditation! Science!"
    (May 3, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Science
  • "Spaceships, Robots, and Being Catholic"
    (April 12, 2013)
  • "Science, Technology, and Being Human"
    (January 27, 2013)
• Doing of our job
  • "Designed as Stewards"
    (March 17, 2013)
  • " '...The Man With the X-Ray Eyes,' the Tuskegee Experiment, and Seeking God"
    (February 10, 2013)
  • " '...Efficient Use - Not Abuse -
    of Natural Resources...' "
    (January 21, 2013)
  • "Advanced Technologies and Responsible Stewardship"
    (January 14, 2013)
  • "Earth Day, 2012: This Catholic's View"
    (April 22, 2012)
• Living with hazards
  
  • "Antigravity Experiments, Quantum Entanglement, and Making Kidneys"
    (May 3, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Yellowstone Volcano's Magma Pool
  • "Vast and Ancient"
    (February 27, 2013)
    Particularly
    • King Cnut and the Limits of Executive Authority
  • "Ethics and Asteroids"
    (February 20, 2013)
  • "Guns, Gamma Ray Bursts, and Roller Coasters"
    (January 4, 2013)
    Particularly
    • WR 104: Cosmic Time Bomb, Maybe
  • "Dinosaurs, Three Major Asteroid Impacts, and Massive Volcanic Eruptions"
    Apathetic Lemming of the North (August 29, 2010)

When NASA 'Went Black'

What happened two months ago would, by leaving some details out, make for a rousing tale of conspiracy, intrigue, and maybe even shape-shifting, space-alien lizard men.

I don't need that kind of trouble at my particular judgment, and that's another topic.

NASA, Warp Drive, and a Vanishing Website

NASA has a pretty good website: including sections on 'next generation' propulsion technologies; and some 'after the next generation' tech.

I'd archived two documents about exotic space propulsion systems from NASA back in March. The next morning, as I recall, almost the entire website 'went black.' The most I could find was the occasional polite notice that the information was no longer available.

It wasn't my fault. Someone had hacked into United States government databases. The Information Technology folks couldn't tell exactly how much had been filched, and apparently someone higher in the administrative food chain (finally) realized that some of the data probably shouldn't be shared with everyone.

About freedom of information, transparency, and all that: I think it would be nice if everybody would be nice; I'm convinced that not everybody is nice; letting citizens know what our government doing is usually a good idea; but it's not a good idea to let everybody know details that could get American armed forces - or civilians - killed.

Happily, when the NASA website opened again, the 'warp drive' documents were still there.

More accurately, they discuss some exotic and hypothetical propulsion technologies. There's also a pretty good discussion of the White-Juday warp field interferometer: which, if built, might change the shape of space in a sphere about one centimeter across: by about 1 part in 10,000,000. If we can make the necessary technology work, and If the underlying assumptions about space-time are valid: we have equipment that could measure the change.

That's the good news. The bad news is that a one-in-ten-million perturbation isn't much: and there's not much we can fit into something the size of a large marble. Still, it's a start.

• "Warp Field Mechanics 101"
  Dr. Harold "Sonny" White, NASA Johnson Space Center (2011)
  (from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110023492_2011024705.pdf (March 18, 2013))
• "Eagleworks Laboratories: Advanced Propulsion Physics Research"
  Dr. Harold "Sonny" White, Paul March, Nehemiah Williams, William O’Neill; NASA Johnson Space Center (2011)
  (from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110015936_2011016932.pdf (March 18, 2013))

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Today, the Planets: Tomorrow, the Stars?"
  (May 17, 2013)
• "DNA, Voyager 1, Habitable Worlds, and the Universe"
  (March 22, 2013)
  Particularly
  • Mapping this Universe
  • Outward Bound
• "Seriously Searching for Life in the Universe"
  (February 8, 2013)
• "A 'Threat to National Security,' a New Spaceplane, and Asteroid Mining"
  (January 25, 2013)
• "Technology, Freedom, and 'Love Your Neighbor' "
  (January 18, 2013)

Tornadoes, Trusting God, and Planning Ahead

I was shocked when I learned that quite a few American homeowners don't have a basement under their house. That was decades back, and there are quite a few reasons for that situation. On the other hand, it means that quite a few folks are - in my opinion - taking unreasonable risks.

Storm Shelters, Law, and Oklahoma

"Why so few storm shelters in Tornado Alley hotspot?"
Tara McKelvey, BBC News Magazine (May 21, 2013)

"Oklahomans had only limited access to safe rooms and shelters during the storm. People who live in Tornado Alley explain why.

"Representative Pat Ownbey was hunkered down in a basement of the Oklahoma House of Representatives as the tornado arrived in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.

"Ownbey had been through a milder episode before. A tornado hit part of his district in 2009, destroying a mobile-home park.

"It turned the neighbourhood into 'a landfill', he says.

"Afterwards Ownbey tried to get a bill passed that would require mobile-home parks to offer emergency plans to residents.

"He also looked into building a shelter for his house - but never got around to it.

" 'It's risk versus cost,' says Ownbey. 'You think it's not going to happen again.'..."

What Representative Ownbey did about trailer parks makes sense, I think. More to the point, it's consistent with what the Catholic Church says about social justice: letting "associations or individuals ... obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1928-1942)

His impulse to build a special-purpose tornado shelter is reasonable, and so is deciding not to do so: in my opinion. Taking reasonable steps to preserve our own life is 'in the rules.' Principles for legitimate defense seem to fit emergency planning, too. 'Trusting God' is a good idea: so is using our brains. (Catechism, 301, 304, 2086, 2263-2264, for starters)

On a more personal note, I've never lived in a house or apartment with a special-purpose tornado shelter. But I've never lived in a place where I didn't have a spot to go in threatening weather.

BBC News has a picture that includes specs for a practical tornado shelter: in case you have the resources to build one, and see a need:


(from BBC News Magazine, used w/o permission)

Reasonably Confident

After about three decades in our house, we finally had central air conditioning installed. (Through One Dad's Eye (May 17, 2013))

We could have used the financial resources to get a tornado shelter: but we didn't. It's not that I 'have faith' that God won't let anything bad happen to us. So far two of our six children have died, we nearly lost my wife in the last incident, and we've experienced various other unpleasantness.

I didn't build a tornado shelter because we already have one: sort of. We live in a farmhouse that's been added on to over the last century. A room in the basement has standing-room-only for at least six people - the entire household.

When we're there, we have about 18 inches of a field stone/concrete foundation on three sides: with at least fifty feet of packed dirt between us and the next house. Overhead there's about a foot of assorted flooring and structural trusses.

There's nothing but an interior wall on the fourth side: but debris and wind effects would have to go through a foot of flooring and trusses, a ground level interior wall, and an exterior wall first. I'm reasonably confident that we're safe from tornadoes there.

Death and History

Folks living near Ellington, Missouri spotted a tornado back in 1925. Several hours and about 219 miles (352 kilometers) later, it fizzled out near Petersburg, Indiana. Roughly 700 people died in that storm, a bit less than half the death toll in the Bangladeshi tornado of 1989. Nearly a thousand folks died there in 1969, although Bangladesh had another name them. (Wikipedia)

I could rant and rave about tornadoes getting worse: and that it's the fault of some political party, or killer tomatoes, or whatever: but I won't.

I lived in the 'good old days,' when the communist menace was as popular as global warming is today. If we read about what was happening in East Pakistan, or the Belgian Congo: it was days or months after the fact. Today anyone who's interested can pick up news from Bangladesh or Zaire: often with a live feed from the current crisis.

I don't miss the 'good old days,' and that's almost another topic.

I strongly suspect that in the 'good old days,' the death toll in places like Bangladesh might not have made it into a permanent record: or been made at all. I've speculated that some ancient civilizations winked out of existence because something like the Midwest's recent storm system rolled over them.

Getting Ready for the Next Big One

The United States hasn't had another tornado like the big one in 1925: yet. My guess is that when we do, the death toll will be lower: certainly in terms of the fraction of folks who lose their lives.

We have fewer 19th century farmhouses now, but we have much better weather forecasts: along with multiply-redundant systems for letting folks know that it's time to duck.


(from Google Maps, Wunderground.com, used w/o permission)
Several hours after the worst storms, the weather system that included them was still going strong. (10:07 p.m. Central Time, May 20, 2013)

We've also had much more experience with disasters: and learned quite a bit. Bad things still happen, but folks generally organize themselves into search-and-rescue teams pretty well.


(from FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)
"Workers look for victims under debris from a tornado that passed across south Oklahoma City...." (May 20, 2013)


(from AP, via FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)
"A boy is pulled from beneath a collapsed wall at the Plaza Towers Elementary School following a tornado in Moore, Okla...." (May 20, 2013)

Rescuing people is the first priority: but we're supposed to take care of animals, too. (Catechism, 2418)


(from FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)
"Alli Christian, left, returns Jessica Wilkinson's dog Bella to her after finding her among the wreckage of Wilkinson's home shortly after a tornado struck Norman, Okla. No one was in the home when the storm struck...." (May 20, 2013)

Getting back to basements and 'unreasonable risks:' I realize that basements are rare in some parts of this country because soil is thin or nearly rock-hard; or for other practical reasons. Making everyone build houses like the ones we've got in Minnesota would be silly in places like Louisiana or Arizona.

But I think folks living in 'no-basement' regions would be well-advised to work out ways for having a 'storm shelter' in or near their homes. It wouldn't have to be a little bunker that's only useful in emergencies.

Our 'storm shelter, for example, has been a lab, a sort of washroom, and also provides maintenance access to a water softener. The point is that a solidly-built interior room can be 'hardened,' and still be useful for something besides riding out a twister.

More upscale 'storm shelters' could be a media room, den, anything that doesn't need windows.

Folklore and Science

I don't think that something's true because folklore says so: but I don't think folklore is always wrong, either.

I grew up in the Red River Valley of the North, where some old-timers insisted that destructive hail storms tended to follow specific paths. Meteorologists, using data from the first half of the 20th century, said that paths like that don't exist. Maybe so: but thunderstorm sprites were 'known' to be hallucinations - until someone got video of them. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (February 20, 2009))

And that's another topic.

Related posts:

• Our job
  • "Spaceships, Robots, and Being Catholic"
    (April 12, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Living in the Information Age
  • "Designed as Stewards"
    (March 17, 2013)
  • "Getting a Grip About Science, Religion, Technology, and Magic"
    (March 13, 2013)
  • "Ethics and Asteroids"
    (February 20, 2013)
  • " '...The Man With the X-Ray Eyes,' the Tuskegee Experiment, and Seeking God"
    (February 10, 2013)
Social justice (Catholic style)
• "Prayer, Technology, and Looking Ahead"
  (February 24, 2013)
• " 'I Love Humanity - - - ' "
  (October 15, 2012)
• "Individuals, the Common Good, and All That"
  (May 13, 2012)
• "Love and Intelligence, Faith and Reason"
  (April 30, 2012)
• "Upset Applecarts: A Hopeful Sign"
  (March 5, 2012)

---

Excerpt from the news:

"Deadly tornado tracked path of 1999 Oklahoma twister"
Associated Press, via FoxNews.com (May 20, 2013)

"Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999.

"The National Weather Service estimated that the storm that struck Moore, Okla., on Monday had wind speeds of up to 200 mph, and was at least a half-mile wide. The 1999 storm had winds clocked at 300 mph, according to the weather service website, and it destroyed or damaged more than 8,000 homes, killing at least two people.

"Kelsey Angle, a weather service meteorologist in Kansas City, Mo., said it's unusual for two such powerful tornadoes to track roughly the same path. The 1999 twister was part of a two-day outbreak sweeping mostly across central Oklahoma -- similar to the past two days....

"...The biggest known tornado was nearly 2 1/2 miles wide at its peak width, which the weather service describes as near the maximum size for a tornado. It struck Hallam, Neb., in May 2004.

"The deadliest tornado, which struck March 18, 1925, killed 695 people in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana...."

asdfasdf asdfasdf

Sin, Death, Tornadoes, and Getting a Grip

First, these outfits could probably use money.

• Catholic Charities
  Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
• Central and Western Oklahoma Region
  American Red Cross

They're helping folks in quite a few places, including the Oklahoma City area. No pressure, that's just a thought Prayer wouldn't hurt, either: but like I said, no pressure

Midwest Tornadoes

The American Midwest has had rough weather for the last several days. I stayed up late one night when a particularly energetic storm front was headed toward my home. The half-dollar-size hail didn't happen here, which wasn't exactly a disappointment. (Through One Dad's Eye (May 18, 2013))

Yesterday afternoon some folks in Oklahoma, south of here, got in the way of a massive tornado. They're still sorting out debris, survivors, and bodies: but the bottom line is that many people died, many more were hurt, and buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Like I've said before, this universe is a dangerous place. It's beautiful, fascinating, immense, filled with wonder: and will kill us if we're not careful. Sometimes even if we are, but we're learning more with each disaster. (February 10, 2013)


(from Google Maps, Wunderground.com, used w/o permission)
Several hours after the worst storms, the weather system that included them was still going strong. (10:07 p.m. Central Time, May 20, 2013)

Life, Death, and Priorities

It's small comfort to those who lost family and friends, but the reported death toll has gone down: for now.

"Crews search for survivors after massive twister strikes near Oklahoma City"
FoxNews.com (May 21, 2013)

"The Oklahoma City medical examiner's office says the death toll from a massive tornado that churned through Oklahoma City Monday has been downgraded from 51 to at least 24.

" 'To date, 24 deceased victims of the tornado have been transported to our Oklahoma City office, and positive identifications have been made in the vast majority of those, and these are ready for return to their loved ones,' spokeswoman Amy Elliott told FoxNews.com in an email.

"Nine of the bodies are children.

"Elliott said during early recovery efforts, 51 deaths were reported to the medical examiner's office, but some of them may have been double-counted...."

I'm not surprised that early reports weren't entirely accurate. Monday afternoon and evening was a bit hectic for folks in Oklahoma, and elsewhere. My guess is that they had their priorities straight: digging through wreckage to rescue survivors and recover bodies first; filling out forms and cross-checking records later.


(from FoxNews, used w/o permission)
Houses can be replaced. People: not so much.


(from FoxNews.com, used w/o permission)
"May 20, 2013: Emergency responders and residents begin sorting through debris following a tornado that decimated Moore, Okla., killing...." (Fox News (May 20, 2013))


(from FoxNews, used w/o permission)
"Large sections of Moore, Okla., were completely..." (Fox News (May 20, 2013))

Reassembling Families

Under normal conditions, American towns and cities have very good communications networks. Monday afternoon in Moore, Oklahoma, wasn't "normal conditions." The tornado took out parts of the infrastructure. Happily, low-tech communication methods like shouting still worked:

"...Search-and-rescue crews were looking for anyone who may be trapped in the rubble. Many land lines to stricken areas were down, and cellphone networks were congested. The storm was so massive that it will take time to establish communications between rescuers and state officials, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said.

"Fallin deployed 80 National Guard members to assist with rescue operations and activated extra highway patrol officers. She also spoke Monday night with Obama, who declared a major disaster and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts.

"Families anxiously waited at nearby churches to hear if their loved ones had survived. A man with a megaphone stood Monday evening near St. Andrews United Methodist Church and called out the names of surviving children. Parents waited nearby, hoping to hear their sons' and daughters' names...."
(FoxNews.com)

I heard an eight-year-old boy on radio news, saying that he was okay, but didn't know whether his parents were alive or not. I trust that he knows by now, one way or the other.

My experience has been that realizing that someone in the family may be endangered, or dead, but not knowing is at least as trying as 'worst case' news.

Treating the injured and burying the dead are important. So is getting families back together, when that's possible. I realize that some families don't get along very well, and that's another topic.

International News

"Oklahoma tornado: Dozens killed in Moore"
BBC News (May 20, 2013 )

"At least 51 people have been killed after a huge tornado tore through Oklahoma City suburbs, with the death toll likely to rise.

"Worst hit was Moore, south of the city, where neighbourhoods were flattened and schools were destroyed by winds of up to 200mph (321km/h).

"About 120 people, including 70 children, are being treated in hospitals for their injuries.

"Search and rescue efforts are continuing throughout the night.

"Monday's twister hit Moore, a suburb of about 55,000 people, and remained on the ground for about 45 minutes.

"The Oklahoma chief medical examiner's office said children were among the 51 dead.

"At least two schools were devastated by the high winds, and there are reports that children are still unaccounted for...."

Again, the 'first count' was 51 fatalities. The good news is that when folks in Moore had a chance to compare notes, they learned that some of the deaths had been counted twice, so the current number is lower.

The bad news is that they're expecting to find more bodies in the rubble.

Unfit for Human Habitation?

I've occasionally run into the idea that folks shouldn't live in particular areas. Sometimes it makes sense.

For example, several homes had been built in a nice little patch of flat land right by the river in my home town. It was a cozy neighborhood, and flooded nearly every spring.

After a particularly bad flood, the town government decided that enough was enough. The houses were already damaged beyond repair, as I recall. The area was declared of-limits for more construction. The last I heard, it's a park. I hope the folks who owned homes there got something resembling a reasonable price for their land.

The American Midwest has very good farmland. I've lived most of my life here. It's also the place that's best for getting up close and personal with a tornado.

Tornadoes can, and have, happened almost anywhere on Earth: but they're most likely a bit south and west of where I live. I gather that it has to do with having no barriers to speak of between the north pole and the Gulf of Mexico.

The weather here is anything but boring. The northern Midwest goes through extremes of hot, cold, wet, and dry. I like it, but your experience might vary.

In a way, it's dangerous to live here. Tornadoes, thunderstorms, and seasonal extremes encourage a certain situational awareness.

Possible, Yes; Practical, No

We can build structures that will endure 200 mile an hour winds. We can even make buildings that will endure that sort of wind, and impacts from assorted 200-mile-an-hour flying trees, trucks, and debris. I don't think we'd enjoy living in them for the years - decades - when a tornado doesn't hit.

Perhaps more to the point, I'm not sure that we'd be able to spend the money needed to harden our homes that way.

"The School Started Coming Apart"

"...James Rushing said he had rushed to the Plaza Towers Elementary School, where his foster son Aiden was a pupil, to see it destroyed by the storm.

" 'About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,' he told the Associated Press news agency.

"The National Weather Service (NWS) said Monday's tornado had generated winds of up to 200mph.

" 'It's certainly the most powerful tornado that I've ever dealt with in my 20 years with the weather service,' NWS meteorologist Rick Smith in Norman, Oklahoma, told the BBC.

"The town of Moore was hit by a severe tornado in May 1999, which had the highest winds ever recorded on Earth.

"But Betsy Randolph of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol told local news station Skynews 9 that the damage on Monday appeared to exceed that of the last devastating tornado.

"Tornadoes, hail and high winds also hit Iowa and Kansas, part of a storm system stretching from Texas to Minnesota...."
(BBC News)

From the looks of it, not all of Plaza Towers Elementary "came apart." There's a considerable portion of one area that's nearly intact. Even so, I'd rather have been in the school's basement, preferably a utility room, if I'd been in the school when the storm hit.


(from AP, via FoxNews, used w/o permission)
"This aerial photo shows damage to Plaza Towers Elementary School after it was hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. (AP)..." (Fox News (May 20, 2013))

It's bad when a tornado hits any occupied building. There seems to be a particular emotional impact when it happens to a school or hospital.


(from AP, via FoxNews, used w/o permission)
"This aerial photo shows damage to Moore Medical Center after it was hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla. (AP)..." (Fox News (May 20, 2013))

Sin, Death, and Getting a Grip

"^{1 2}In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea

"(and) saying, 'Repent, ³ for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!' "
(Matthew 3:1-2)

In my youth, some folks seemed to get their jollies by shouting "Sinner repent" and so on: sometimes with what seems a sincere desire to share what John the Baptist said; sometimes as the start of a diatribe about commies, Catholics, and why everyone should hate music they don't like. I've explained how they indirectly encouraged me to become a Catholic, and that's almost another topic.

Matthew 3:2 makes a good point, though. Each of us is no more than a few decades from a final exam that determines where we spend eternity. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1021-1022)

America's spiritual tone was set early: not entirely for the better, and I've been over that before:

• "Catholics aren't Calvinists"
  (May 7, 2012)
• "My Take on the News: Jingle Bells, Jangled Nerves, and Good Advice"
  (December 16, 2011)
  Particularly
  • Fear and Wisdom

There's a difference between rational awareness of personal responsibility and long-term consequences, and obsessing over sins: real or imagined, committed by oneself or 'those sinners over there.'

Another bit from the Bible:

"And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods

"and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!"

"But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' "
(Luke 12:18-20)

The point, as I see it, is that being prepared is being prudent, not that it's wrong to be wealthy: or poor. (August 4, 2011)

Then there's the enduring - and wrong - notion that bad things happen to bad people. As long as someone's enjoying a boring part of his or her life, that's a sort of ersatz comfort. When it's time for a personal crisis, not so much.

Telling us that we're going to die isn't the sort of 'good time Gospel' that's been occasionally popular, but that's part of what Jesus told us:

"^{1 2} At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

"He said to them in reply, 'Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

"By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!

"Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them ³ --do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?

"By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!' "
(Luke 13:1-5)

Again, this isn't a reason to cringe in fear. It's more of an "invitation to change our lives and to do works worthy of penance." Benedict XVI talked about that a few years back:

• "Pastoral Visit to the Parish of St John of the Cross in Rome, 7 March 2010 - Homily of "
  Benedict XVI (March 7, 2010)

Somewhat-related posts:

• "Statues, Magic, and Juggling Plutonium"
  (May 17, 2013)
• "Sin, Outrage, and Making Sense"
  (May 5, 2013)
• "Boston Marathon Bombing: Tragedy and Uncertainty"
  (April 15, 2013)
• "Guilt and Group Discounts"
  (April 14, 2013)
• "Timothy, Amos, Money, and Getting a Grip"
  (August 4, 2011)