On the day his side lost the Vietnam War, Hung Ba Le fled his homeland at the age of 5 in a fishing trawler crammed with 400 refugees. Thirty-four years later, he made an unlikely homecoming -- as the commander of a U.S. Navy destroyer.
Le piloted the USS Lassen on Saturday into Danang, home of China Beach, where U.S. troops frequently headed for R&R during the war, which ended on April 30, 1975, when the southern city of Saigon was taken by communist troops from North Vietnam.
That was the day Le and his family embarked on an uncertain journey in a fishing boat piloted by Le's father, who was a commander in the South Vietnamese navy. They were rescued at sea by the USS Barbour County, taken to a U.S. base in the Philippines, a refugee camp in California and finally to northern Virginia, where they rebuilt their lives.
Le returned on the Lassen, an $800 million, 509-foot destroyer equipped with Tomahawk missiles and a crew of 300. The ship and the USS Blue Ridge, the command vessel for the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet, are making the latest in a series of goodwill visits to Vietnam, which began in 2003 when the USS Vandergriff paid a port call to Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon.
"I thought that one day I would return but I really didn't expect to be returning as the commander of a Navy warship," Le said after stepping ashore Saturday. "It's an incredible personal honor."
"I'm proud to be an American, but I'm also very proud of my Vietnamese heritage," said Le, who spoke a few halting words in Vietnamese.
The ship visits represent the efforts of both the United States and Vietnam to develop their relationship as a balance to Chinese power in the region, without antagonizing Vietnam's massive northern neighbor.
Directly east of Danang are the Paracel Islands, where China and Vietnam are engaged in a sensitive territorial dispute over the archipelago, from which the Chinese drove out South Vietnamese troops in 1974. They are also wrangling over the Spratlys, another island chain believed to contain valuable oil and gas reserves.
Le grew up in Hue, a city on the central coast about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Danang where he still has relatives. He returned to a country that is vastly changed from the days of the Vietnam War.
Along the Danang coastline where U.S. troops used to swim and surf, luxury hotels such as Hyatt and Marriott are springing up. Tourists are flocking to the region, where they can shoot a few rounds at a course designed by professional golf star Colin Montgomerie.
The relationship between the United States and communist Vietnam has also changed dramatically since the former foes normalized relations in 1995. Trade has boomed, and diplomatic and military ties have grown closer.
One vivid symbol of their changing relationship can be found not far from where Le stepped ashore, at a former U.S. air base where American troops used to store, mix and load the herbicide Agent Orange onto planes. U.S. forces sprayed Agent Orange, which includes the highly toxic chemical dioxin, to deprive Vietnamese troops of ground cover. The two countries are working together to rid the site of dioxin, which remains in the soil for decades.
But in an indication of remaining hurdles, Saturday's welcoming ceremony for the Americans was delayed for two hours while the two sides discussed how to display their flags aboard the Blue Ridge. Public affairs officer Cdr. Jeff Davis from the U.S. 7th Fleet said the Americans wanted the flags on the quarter-deck, while the Vietnamese wanted to fly them from the mast. In the end, they flew them from the mast.
When Le fled in 1975, only four of the eight children in his family made it out of the country. The others stayed in Vietnam until 1983, when the family was reunited. Le has few memories of his three-day journey on the fishing trawler, which ended just as they were running out of food, water and fuel.
But he has vivid memories of the example set by his father, Thong Ba Le, who is now 69 and has never returned to Vietnam. After the family settled in northern Virginia, he took a job in a supermarket, where he worked his way up from bag boy to manager.
"I always wanted to be like my dad," Le said. "He persevered and overcame many challenges."
#1
Technical note: Spratleys rightfully belong to the Philippines. Paracels are in the middle equidistant form the PI, Vietnam and China, all 3 have legit claims.
#2
"I thought that one day I would return but I really didn't expect to be returning as the commander of a Navy warship," Le said after stepping ashore Saturday. "It's an incredible personal honor."
We are honoured by Mr. Le's choice. As an aside, it is sad that the journalist never bothered to determine Mr. Le's rank. The "commander" "piloted the ship"?
For the past five years, the growing number of dead harbor porpoises washing up on California shores has been a marine mystery until now.
In September, marine biologists with Okeanis, a nonprofit conservation group based in Moss Landing, captured the only video footage taken in Monterey Bay of bottlenose dolphins attacking and killing a porpoise.
Scientists suspected dolphins, which have a relatively docile reputation, have been attacking the smaller porpoises because the porpoises have been washing up on the shore with rake marks and internal bleeding, but they never had any proof.
"Now we know the how, but we still are unsure of the why," said Daniela Maldini, president of the Okeanis board. "We have been observing the social structure of these animals and it has taken us 20 years to do that. This type of behavior is something new." Maldini has been monitoring the same group of about 600 dolphins since 1990. Maldini said Okeanis believes in collecting a variety of data before problems arise to better diagnose critical changes in the environment. But what they captured raises more questions than supplies answers.
The video shows a group of male dolphins using several techniques to assault a porpoise as it tries to get away. The dolphins corral the porpoise, ram it with their beaks, scrape or rake it with their teeth and drown the porpoise by jumping on top of it. The dolphins then bring the carcass up to the Okeanis researchers, watch them bring it on board and then swim away.
The attack took place in the waters off Capitola.
"It was incredible to finally fit some action to our theories," said Okeanis field director Mark Cotter, who captured the footage along with fellow researcher Thomas Jefferson. "It diminishes the image of the bottlenose dolphin in a way that wild animals are not like those you see at SeaWorld. They all have their own individual personalities." Cotter said the next step is to figure out the why the dolphins attacked. Scientists have several theories, but none has been proven.
Maldini said there have been documented cases of male dolphins killing infants in the United Kingdom because there were few females available to mate with. Once the females have their babies they become unavailable to mate.
"Harbor porpoises are the same size as baby bottlenoses. No bottlenose babies are washing up onshore though, just porpoises," Maldini said. "It would be weird to think they are doing it out of competition for food because sea lions are a more likely candidate for those attacks. We're on the fence." Okeanis is collaborating with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Marine Mammal Center, Long Marine Lab and the Moss Landing Marine Mammal Center in researching the possible causes. The group is working on publishing two papers at the beginning of the year about their findings.
Last year, there were about 74 porpoise strandings statewide, according to Michelle Berman, the assistant curator at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
"Historically, the strandings have been due to fishery interactions but with these strandings there were no external indications right away," Berman said. "With most of these porpoises, the injuries were internal. Several had broken ribs, one had a fractured skull that had punctured the brain. But once I could see the tooth marks on others, I knew right away that it had to be a bottlenose dolphin." Berman said she began seeing the strandings in 2004. Typically, her region sees one to two a year, but last year they had 16.
"It doesn't involve just one type of harbor porpoise. We've had adult males, females and even older males too," Berman said. "It's frustrating for us to know what went on but not know why or where so having a group like Okeanis collecting this type of data, out in the ocean, is huge for us."
#8
"The dolphins sent them a dead fish (heard it worked for Rahm Emanuel), but no, they turn down the protection offered by Don Vito Phocoenidae. Now they sleep with the fishes"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2009 13:58 Comments ||
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#9
Didn't the Navy lose accountability of a couple of dolphins back in the Gulf?
On October 29, the Ukraine officially reported an uptick in Influenza-like-Illness (ILI) and a surge in hospitalisation. Concomitant deaths were reported from hemorrhagic pneumonia and four doctors were soon included in the fatality pool.
The situation was recognised and immediate action was taken. Very early in the process, a nationwide alert was issued and the situation came under central management. In mere days, the healthcare infrastructure was stressed and supplies were exhausted. Resources have been redirected and escalations continue. Citizens are cutting their own clothing to make masks.
Tomorrow will mark 10 days since that spark.
Based on the most recent daily case increases trending upward from 32% to 37%, we expect the Ukraine to surpass one million reported infections by Saturday afternoon, November 7, 2009. If the reporting trend continues with the weekend and the rates hold, just under 1.2 million cases will be cataloged. We cannot speculate if a report will be made publicly available on Saturday.
The official reports from the United States indicated that 1 million infections were reached in late June 2009, 10 weeks after the initial sparks of PF11 began to ignite the populations and burn through the major cities.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Singer Beyonce, who put off a gig in Malaysia following Islamist outrage over her "gyrating moves" and "sexy outfits," was due to perform in Egypt on Friday under tight security, at the Red Sea resort of Port Ghalib.
Hamdi Hassan, a lawmaker from the Muslim Brotherhood, has written to the speaker of the house and the interior minister labeling her planned night show a "sex party" and demanding to know why she was allowed to perform.
He said the concert advertisement, in which the comely diva wears a leotard fitted with motorbike handlebars extending from her crotch and a headlight nestled in her cleavage, "threatens social peace and security."
"I do not know who agreed to this sinful, unacceptable advertisement, or indeed who agreed to these blatant sex parties," Hassan wrote, accusing the government of encouraging "sin and debauchery."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in a military-backed coup four months ago calls for fresh protests after the collapse of a US-brokered deal.
Zelaya said last week's deal was no longer valid after de facto leader Roberto Micheletti formed a new "national unity" government without his participation.
"Now I have no commitment to dialogue," Zelaya said on Friday on Globo radio, calling his supporters onto the streets.
"Our struggle is peaceful. The accord failed due to the non-fulfillment of Micheletti," Zelaya said as hundreds of protesters marched toward the Brazilian embassy where he has been holed up since September 21.
The latest setback dealt a major blow to foreign and US diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who had hailed last week's agreement as a triumph for democracy.
Many fear further social unrest after a heavy-handed crackdown by the de facto regime on protests by Zelaya supporters, including the media, in the past months.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Manny just figured out he got bitch-slapped. The Congress won't take up that vote til after the election (which everyone will recognize, despite the kvetching) if ever. Sucks being a dictator/criminal mastermind nobody will listen to. Think hispanic Pinky and The Brain. Mwahhaha
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2009 11:15 Comments ||
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China on Friday accused the US of protectionist and biased trade policies less than a week before president Barack Obamas first visit to Beijing. How's that shoe fit now that it's on the other foot?
In a stinging rebuke to Washington, Chinas commerce ministry promised to take measures to protect its domestic industry after the US slapped anti-dumping duties on $2.6bn of Chinese steel pipe imports. The duties are part of a growing roster of trade conflicts between the two countries, despite a high-level meeting last week in China aimed at reducing tensions.
China resolutely opposes such protectionist practices and will take steps to protect the interests of our domestic industries, Yao Jian, ministry spokesman, said on its website.
The US should give objective consideration to the fact that the fundamental problem of the US industries in question is the fall of demand brought about by the financial crisis.
The decision by the US Commerce Department, which imposed tariffs of up to 99 per cent on some Chinese steel pipes, follows a move earlier in the week by the US, European Union and Mexico to file a formal complaint at the World Trade Organisation against Beijings restrictions on exports of specialised raw materials. Last month the Obama administration levied 35 per cent tariffs on tyres made in China.
In response, the Chinese have opened probes into US exports of poultry on grounds of safety and into cars and car parts because of the state aid those industries have received.
Lawyers in Beijing say that the government has raised the issue of state aid to push its case for China to be awarded market economy status, which would make it harder for the US to bring anti-dumping cases against Chinese products and has long been a sore issue in Beijing. They are trying to show that every countrys markets have imperfections, said a US trade lawyer in Beijing.
In its statement on Friday, the Chinese commerce ministry said: We hope that the US will set aside its biases and act as quickly as possible to recognize China as a market economy. At the US-China meeting in Hangzhou last week, Gary Locke, the US Commerce secretary, promised to set up a panel to consider the issue.
We should be aware of this kind of trend of western countries using the WTO and free trade as an excuse to challenge us, said Mei Xinyu, a researcher at a think tank connected to Chinas commerce ministry. Western countries adjust their own trade policies depending on the market needs of their own interest group.
At the meeting last week, China agreed to allow US imports of pork and to relax restrictions on importing wind power components. However, Paulo Soares, head of the Chinese operations of Suzlon, the Indian wind power group, said the new rules would make little difference. The big companies already have installed manufacturing operations and established supply chains, so it is not going to change anything, he said.
#1
Ya know, I think a trade war would be a pretty bad idea right now for both parties. Didn't we do something like this in Great Depression I? Who was it that said history repeats itself? First as tragedy then as comedy.
#3
Union payoff by Obama put a tariff on imported Chinese tires. Now all tires are going up in price by as much as $40-60 each. Enjoy paying as much as $200 more per set, all so Obama could stay on the Union boss' porch.
#5
Frank, the last I heard Speaker Pelosi's bill is up to 2013 pages. This compares to the Republican bill at 219 pages and less than half the cost, according to the Congressional Budget Office's calculations.
The unemployment rate has hit double digits for the first time since 1983 -- and is likely to go higher. The 10.2 percent jobless rate for October shows how weak the economy remains even though it is growing. The rising jobless rate could threaten the recovery if it saps consumers' confidence and makes them more cautious about spending as the holiday season approaches.
The October unemployment rate -- reflecting nearly 16 million jobless people -- jumped from 9.8 percent in September, the Labor Department said Friday. The job losses occurred across most industries, from manufacturing and construction to retail and financial.
Economists say the unemployment rate could surpass 10.5 percent next year because employers are reluctant to hire.
President Barack Obama called the new jobs report another illustration of why much more work is needed to spur business creation and consumer spending. Noting legislation he's signing to provide additional unemployment benefits for laid-off workers, Obama said, "I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work."
The government's monthly unemployment report is based on two surveys, one of households, one of companies' payrolls. The household survey showed that about 558,000 more people were unemployed last month than in September, raising the total to 15.7 million. The company survey, however, showed only a third as many job losses -- 190,000.
The disparity can be explained by the fact that the company survey doesn't count people who are self-employed and undercounts employees of small businesses. That's why some analysts, like Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, say last month's household survey could be an ominous sign for the economy.
One struggling small business, Miller and Smith Inc., a home builder in McLean, Va., has trimmed its work force to about 97 from 350 at the height of the housing market in 2005. The company has been hurt by a slowdown in building and surging health care costs.
Miller and Smith faced a 44 percent increase in the cost of health insurance over the past year that it managed to reduce to 23 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
The way the Labor Department calculates its unemployment rate has changed a bit since the 1930's, to make the rate look lower than it did then. Using the original calculation method, the rate is more like 20%.
#4
Gotta love how the Dems are saying 10.2% is actually good news, since this means that those unemployed who want to work are reentering the job search market.
Next year when it's 15% they'll no doubt say, "even bettah!!!".
#5
Great job, Congress and the Big O. You spent trillions and don't have jack sh*t to show for it. To put things in perspective:
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/07/2009 17:09 Comments ||
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#6
The ten per cent is not nearly so important as the width on that graybar on the right of the graph. And it hasn't turned back to white yet. Note that almost all the prior peaks occurred after the recession had ended. This one hasn't ended yey. Last quarter's "growth" was due to cash for cars and the $8K homebuyers subsidy. These will peter out. This Christmas season will be worse than last year's and unemployment will be higher next November than it is now. Especially if the donks pass health care and cap and tax.
#7
I graduated Engineering school in '83. Put out 80+ resumes, and got one (conditional) offer, only because I had job experience as a student engineer/surveyor. People with 4.0 GPA and no experience went 1-2 yrs before finding entry-level jobs. This is NOT the bottom, yet these assholes seem to find every fight except real job creation worth pushing. Ima gettin' the fire in the belly to make mischief
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2009 17:26 Comments ||
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#8
Frank, Mr. Wife took an offer in 1981 instead of going to grad. school because he saw the trend that was your actuality.
#1
Pay the drivers 20,000 pounds a year, show surprise when the driver just drives away? And he figures out how to get around the need for two keys and how to bypass the die packets.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Warsaw has denied Russian media reports that Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski asked Washington to deploy US troops to protect Poland.
On Thursday, the Russian Interfax news agency quoted Sikorski as saying Poland had requesting the United States and NATO to deploy troops in Central Europe.
His comments came after media reports claimed Russia and Belarus had simulated nuclear strikes on Poland during massive war games in September.
"In this case we seem to be dealing with a deliberate manipulation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said on Friday, RiaNovosti reported.
The Polish diplomat suggested rewinding a video recording of Sikorski's comments.
Speaking at a conference on Central Europe at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Sikorsky said Germany felt secure against the threat of a Warsaw Pact invasion during the Cold War not because of NATO's mutual defense clause, but because there were 300,000 US soldiers on its territory.
Paszkowski demanded a "swift and clear" apology from the news agency, saying its reports provoked what he described as "far-reaching reactions" in Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2009 00:00 ||
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Up to one-fourth of the 110,000 votes jobs reported as saved by federal stimulus money in California probably never were in danger, a Bee review has found.
California State University officials reported late last week that they saved more jobs with stimulus money than the number of jobs saved in Texas -- and in 44 other states. In a required state report to the federal government, the university system said the $268.5 million it received in stimulus funding through October allowed it to retain 26,156 employees. Gotta give The One his props if you want more $$$ later?
That total represents more than half of CSU's statewide work force. However, university officials confirmed Thursday that half their workers were not going to be laid off without the stimulus dollars.
"This is not really a real number of people," CSU spokeswoman Clara Potes-Fellow said. "It's like a budget number."
That certainly was not the way Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger described it at a news event with Vice President Joe Biden late last week, where he focused on people, not budgets.
"Anyone that criticizes the stimulus money should talk to those 100,000 votes people that have retained their jobs or gotten jobs because of the stimulus money, especially the 62,000 teachers that have kept their jobs or gotten jobs," Schwarzenegger said.
When asked about CSU's numbers on Wednesday, Camille Anderson, a spokeswoman for the California Recovery Task Force, said it was up to the university to report its numbers accurately. "CSU assured the California Recovery Task Force that they self-reported in strict adherence with federal reporting requirements," Anderson said.
Multiple cases of inflated and underreported job tallies have surfaced since the federal government released detailed stimulus reports last week, said Craig Jennings, a senior policy analyst at OMB Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that tracks federal spending.
"I don't think recipients know what they are supposed to put down," Jennings said, referring to guidelines for estimating the number of jobs retained. Nonetheless, Jennings said his review so far indicates most employers have reported job creation numbers that appear realistic.
Statewide, numbers reported by the Governor's Office show roughly one job in California created for every $75,000 in stimulus funding received through Oct. 30 -- a sum that certainly sounds realistic, especially when benefits are considered.
But broken down by projects and programs, that averaging gets complicated. Many giant projects, most of them dealing with transportation, have received tens of millions of dollars but reported creating or retaining few jobs because work has not yet begun.
On the flip side, about 500 California employers receiving stimulus funds reported creating work for less than $15,000 per job. California State University is the largest example of this -- it spent about $10,000 per job. In another example, the state Employment Development Department reported creating the equivalent of about 12,000 jobs for around $7,000 apiece.
Most of those EDD jobs were temporary and went to youths who would otherwise have had trouble finding employment, said Liz Clingman, deputy division chief in the EDD's work force services division.
By comparison, the University of California system received $717 million in stimulus funding -- nearly three times the amount given to the CSU system -- but reported only about 8,400 jobs saved, a cost of $85,000 per vote job.
In the case of the CSU system, spokeswoman Potes-Fellow said university officials followed federal reporting guidelines in calculating the numbers. They determined that CSU's stimulus funds equaled the pay of roughly 26,000 full-time employees for the two months following the allocation, May and June, and reported that as the number of jobs saved, Potes-Fellow said.
Given CSU's large payroll, the system would need to receive another $1 billion or more to keep funding those jobs for an entire year. But about half of the money California expects to receive under the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund -- the stimulus dollars funding the university jobs -- already has been spent.
CSU's accounting method, however, seems to violate at least the spirit of written guidance from the federal government.
In a June letter to all funding recipients, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag said, "A job retained is an existing position that would not have been continued to be filled were it not for Recovery Act funding."
When asked about CSU's contention that half its work force was not at risk without stimulus funding, a U.S. Department of Education official suggested that CSU might be downplaying the magnitude of its problems. "If the recipient claims that they wouldn't have lost the jobs if they didn't have stimulus money to pay for them, it begs the question of where they would have found the funds to keep the jobs," said Sandra Abrevaya, the Education Department spokeswoman.
Asked how many jobs actually would have been lost at CSU campuses without the stimulus infusion, Potes-Fellow said she did not know, though she said it would have been significant.
On Tuesday evening, the disparity between Fox News' ratings and those of its cable news competitors was remarkable.
More people watched Fox News than all of its cable news competitors combined, and CNN came in a dismal fourth. CNN's ratings have been in a tailspin. Shockingly, CNN finished October out of the list of the top 30 cable channels. Fox News, meanwhile, was the third highest-rated cable channel in prime time, after USA and ESPN.
Some might argue that Tuesday's ratings were skewed because it was mostly Republicans who were fired up about that day's elections. True enough, as the election results showed. But lots of Democrats watch Fox too--in fact, around 30 percent of Fox's audience are Democrats. A couple of nights ago we were watching Bill O'Reilly's show, and he pointed out that more Democrats watch Fox News than CNN and MSNBC combined, even though those networks cater almost exclusively to the left--one more reason why the Obama administration's attacks on Fox are painfully stupid.
For the foreseeable future, Fox News stands alone atop the world of cable news. If this were a boxing match, Fox vs. CNN, MSNBC and CNN Headline News, they would stop it: it's a TKO.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/07/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Patti Anne Brown is so darn hot. when do we get her on the front page?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
11/07/2009 2:30 Comments ||
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#2
even though those networks cater almost exclusively to the socia!ist left
#3
The words "painfully stupid" apply to so much of O's planning & acting out. Watching one painfully stupid thing after another is overworking my "stupid meter".
Nazzo fast Guido. This is a fight to the death and the only time to stop it is after the beast is dead and the scavengers have left the bones bleaching in the sun.
It's not over till the last ant or maggot licks it's chops, gives a final burp and looks for the post-prandila cigar.
#5
O can't brook criticism. As someone pithier than I said: If his skin was any thinner, he'd have a reservoir tip on his head
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/07/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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#6
The words "painfully stupid" apply to so much of O's planning & acting out. Sorry, that label has been permanently and irrevocably attached to everything and anything W ever did. They'll have to invent a new entry in Roget's Thesaurus to properly describe 0's self-destruction.
#7
One comment I saw somewhere implied that having the Obama administration declare Fox "not a legitimate news organization" may be carefully calculated. News organizations are exempt from campaign finance laws. If the government gets to declare who is and is not a a legitimate news organization, they can subject Fox to all of the strictures and loss of freedom of speech imposed on ordinary citizens. This would effectively shut Fox down - they would have to follow the administration's line, like the rest of the MSM, or be put out of business.
You would think that the First Amendment would prevent this, and that the Supreme Court would overrule it. However, in my opinion, we can no longer trust the Supreme Court to guarantee basic rights. They have already upheld McCain-Feingold, which is clearly an assault on freedom of political speech.
You would also think that the other networks would recognize the threat that this presents to them: any organization that does not support the regime will be shut down. They should read the words of Pastor Niemoeller - "When they came for the Jews ...". However, most of the MSM is so besotted with Obama that they would consider shutting down Fox a good thing. Until another President was elected, that is.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/07/2009 12:54 Comments ||
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Designed to scan the heavens thousands to billions of light-years beyond the solar system for gamma rays, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has also picked up a shocking vibe from Earth. During its first 14 months of operation, the flying observatory has detected 17 gamma-ray flashes associated with terrestrial storms and some of those flashes have contained a surprising signature of antimatter.
During two recent lightning storms, Fermi recorded gamma-ray emissions of a particular energy that could have been produced only by the decay of energetic positrons, the antimatter equivalent of electrons. The observations are the first of their kind for lightning storms. Michael Briggs of the University of Alabama in Huntsville announced the puzzling findings November 5 at the 2009 Fermi Symposium.
Its a surprise to have found the signature of positrons during a lightning storm, Briggs said.
The17 flashes Fermi detected occurred just before, during and immediately after lightning strikes, as tracked by the World Wide Lightning Location Network.
During lightning storms previously observed by other spacecraft, energetic electrons moving toward the craft slowed down and produced gamma rays. The unusual positron signature seen by Fermi suggests that the normal orientation for an electric field associated with a lightning storm somehow reversed, Briggs said. Modelers are now working to figure out how the field reversal could have occurred. But for now, he said, the answer is up in the air.
Recording gamma-ray flashes which have the potential to harm airplanes in storms isnt new. The first were found by NASAs Compton Gamma-ray Observatory in the early 1990s. NASAs RHESSI satellite, which primarily looks at X-ray and gamma-ray emissions from the sun, has found some 800 terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, Briggs noted.
#2
No. A natural process occurrence. Some people recognized that electric storms generate x-rays almost a century ago. They were considered crack pots.
But, Fermi dudes may be a bit presumptive in their observations. It may be shorter wavelength x-rays over the boundary of 100 keV, rather than gamma rays (the wavelengths overlap--the two types of radiation are now usually distinguished by their origin: X-rays are emitted by electrons outside the nucleus, while gamma rays are emitted by the nucleus). So if that is the case and the detected radiation is x-rays, no antimatter is needed.
Note the part: "During lightning storms previously observed by other spacecraft, energetic electrons moving toward the craft slowed down and produced gamma rays."
According to the convention, electrons emit x-rays, not gamma-rays.
#3
Umm... Actually we get perfectly good gamma rays from energetic electrons in a strong magnetic field.
Posted by: James ||
11/07/2009 21:55 Comments ||
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#4
James, the distinction is really meaningless. x-rays = gamma rays as the energies go, it is just it has been decided as a convention that x-rays are emitted by electrons and gamma by nucleus.
The question is whether the energy of the emissions recorded by Fermi is only possible by decay of positrons, or is explainable by something that does not require antimatter.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Singer Beyonce, who put off a gig in Malaysia following Islamist outrage over her "gyrating moves" and "sexy outfits," was due to perform in Egypt on Friday under tight security, at the Red Sea resort of Port Ghalib. 
[Iran Press TV Latest] Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed in a military-backed coup four months ago calls for fresh protests after the collapse of a US-brokered deal. 
China on Friday accused the US of protectionist and biased trade policies less than a week before president Barack Obamas first visit to Beijing. 
On Tuesday evening, the disparity between Fox News' ratings and those of its cable news competitors was remarkable.
