Queen to Abdicate in favour of the Cambridges?

Posted by George Brown on 25/11/2014
Posted in: History, Law, Media, Monarchy, News, Public Opinion, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I am not a great watcher of anything Royal, even though I am of English/Scottish ancestry. I would have voted Yes in the recent referrendum on Scottish Independence.  I am of the belief that the monarchy is outdated or obsolete.  However, my eye fell upon the front page of the Australian Woman’s Day (dated 24/11/2014) with the headline blaring “Royal Breaking News”, “Monarchy Bombshell”; “It’s Queen Kate”.

Monarchy Bombshell - It's Queen Kate

Monarchy Bombshell – It’s Queen Kate

The womens magazine  suggest “a very serious terror threat” during Remembrance Day in London against the Queen has caused her to reconsider her public position. She has since come to the “momentous decision” to crown her grandson Prince William and his wife Duchess Catherine as the next King and Queen.

The story went on to suggest that the Queen was going to announce her abdication at her traditional Christmas Day broadcast – “a message set to shock the world“.

It added that “covert discussions” with the “most senior royal advisors” and the British Prime Minister – as well as her son and heir Prince Charles, a decision has been made to instal the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as the next King and Queen of England!

The reason for this? The Womans Day suggests that the Queen is “desperate to spend more time with her increasingly frail husband, Prince Philip” citing 93 year old Phillip’s recent bouts of ill health and also stating that the Queen “has chosen love over everything else”.

And what is the source of these revelations? As usual, the source is the obscure:

  • “most senior royal advisors”,
  • “well-placed Kensington Palace sources”
  • “sources”
  • “insiders”
  • “our palace insider”

Or equally dubious and unnamed persons inside royal circles.

Whether the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are equal to the task of assuming the monarchy is not in question, rather the problem is one of law, protocol and precedence.  To allow the Duke to ascend to the monarchy would require not only the Queen to abdicate, but Charles would need to abdicate as well.  A double abdication? This is unprecedented in the history of the English monarchy.

The magazine suggests that Camilla has “well and truly dashed her chances” to be Queen by citing “drunken gaffes” and a “link” to a “drug scandal” as reasons why she is unsuitable, but gives no further substance to these allegations!

So what’s wrong with this story?

  1. The Queen has repeatedly stated that she is in the job “for life.” Nothing has changed.
  2. The Queen has always been a target for terrorists, domestic and foreign.  She has not let this bother her before, and I don’t believe that she would let that bother her now.
  3. I doubt whether a discussion and decision as momentous as this would be “leaked” out by unnamed sources. This matter would be highly confidential.
  4. Prince Charles is 66 years old, he has waited all his life to assume the monarchy.  He is quoted as being”supportive and understanding of his mother’s decision.”  What has changed? Nothing! He still wants to be King.
  5. Suggestion that Camilla is unsuitable to be Queen by the use of unsupported allegations.
  6. For William to be King, would require a double abdication, the Queen cannot just “install” Prince William as King.
  7. Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown was inherited by male-preference cognatic primogeniture.  In other words, succession passes first to an individual’s sons, in order of birth, and subsequently to daughters, again in order of birth. However, from 2011, males would no longer take precedence in the order of succession over their older sisters. This change will not apply retrospectively to people born before October 2011.
  8. The monarch of the United Kingdom is also the monarch of 15 other Commonwealth sovereign states. By convention (as iterated in the preamble to the Statute of Westminster, 1931) the line of succession cannot be altered without the agreement of ALL 16 Commonwealth realms. Individual realms will need to enact legislation before the succession changes could take effect. There is no guarantee that this agreement would occur.
  9. This “Royal Breaking News” seems only to have been published by this magazine.  An internet search for other sources to support this story proved fruitless.
  10. While Prince Philip at 93 is increasingly frail, he would not want the Queen to give up her position on his behalf. He has spent a lifetime at her side, supporting her at all times. He would continue to support her as much as he is able.
  11. “Love over service?” In the past the Queen has always chosen service. After 63 years on the throne she has clearly demonstrated the importance and value of service.
  12. And it certainly would not be Queen “Kate!”

This story is clearly a ploy to help sell magazines, and has been poorly researched, using unnamed quotes from dubious sources. More a work of fiction than fact?

 

 

Philae lander spotted on 67P

Posted by George Brown on 18/11/2014
Posted in: News, Science, Technology, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Philae spotted after first landing on 67P

On Friday, the ESA published a series of remarkable NAVCAM images acquired by Rosetta as the orbiter monitored the intended landing point of Philae on 12 November from its orbit above Comet 67P/C-G. The images show what appears to be the shadow of a dust cloud kicked up when Philae made its first touch down on the surface of the comet at 15:35 UTC.

Philae lander on 67P. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM; pre-processed by Mikel Canania.

Philae lander on 67P. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM; pre-processed by Mikel Canania.

The images were provided by ESA’s Flight Dynamics team on Friday, who sent them to the web team to be published as soon as possible: we all wanted to make sure you saw them right away. Once we had convinced ourselves that the dark ‘splotch’ seen in the second of the images was almost certainly the tell-tale signature of Philae’s precise first touch-down and bounce, we put them out.

However, some careful work by a number of people in ESA’s Flight Dynamics team and by followers of our Rosetta blog has shown that these NAVCAM images show more, namely Philae itself, just after the bounce!

Philae touchdown site seen by Rosetta’s navigation camera. The first image in this sequence was taken on 12 November at 15:30 UTC, just before the lander’s first touchdown; the second image was taken at 15:35 UTC, right after touchdown. The large red circle indicates the position of the shadow of the dust cloud caused by the landing. The third image in the sequence is the same as the second, with the likely position of Philae and its shadow highlighted. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM; pre-processed by Mikel Canania

It appears as a couple of brighter pixels closely accompanied by its shadow in the form of a couple of darker ones just below, both to the right of the diffuse dust cloud shadow.

Credit for the first discovery goes to Gabriele Bellei, from the interplanetary division of Flight Dynamics, who spent hours searching the NAVCAM images for evidence of the landing.

Once the images were published, there was also quite some speculation by Rosetta blog readers in the comments section, wondering which features might be attributable to the lander. Martin Esser, Henning, and Kasuha in particular were among the first to make insightful observations on the topic, although many others have since joined in.

Last but not least, a careful independent review of the images was made by Mikel Canania from the earth observation division of Flight Dynamics, with the same conclusion. He also made the annotated animation shown here.

So very well done, Gabriele and Mikel from Flight Dynamics, as well as Martin, Henning, Kasuha, and everyone else from the blog: thank you from all of us for helping spot Philae!

P.S. Note that in our rush to share these exciting images with you on Friday, we made a couple of small errors in the labels and text; those have been updated now. In particular, the image that was indicated to have been taken at 15:30:32 UTC, just before touchdown, was actually an image taken at 16:30:32 UTC, about an hour after touchdown. This should indeed have been clear from the obviously changed illumination conditions, but the web team were very tired at the time.

Also, Flight Dynamics have clarified that the green spot on Friday’s images is actually the computed touchdown point based on data taken during the deployment and descent to the surface, not the originally intended landing point. Nevertheless, it’s still very close to the latter, again a testament to the excellent work done by Flight Dynamics.

Barack Obama – 10 Memorable Quotes from UoQ Address

Posted by George Brown on 16/11/2014
Posted in: Media, Opinion, Politics, Public Opinion, Views. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment
President Barack Obama. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Barack Obama. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

  1. “For the young people here: practicality is a good thing. There are times where compromise is necessary. That’s part of wisdom. But it’s also important to hang on to what you believe.”
  2. “The US and Australia have a lot in common. One of the things we have in common is we produce a lot of carbon.”.\
  3. “This week I’ve travelled more than 15,000 miles from America to China to Burma to Australia. I have no idea what time it is right now.”
  4. “We do not benefit from a relationship with China or any other country in which we put our values and our ideals aside.”
  5. “We’re opposing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, which is a threat to the world, as we saw in the appalling shoot-down of MH17.”
  6. “He described to me how crocodiles kill more people than sharks. There are just a lot of things in Australia that can kill you.”
  7.  “I believe that the best measure of whether a nation is going to be successful is whether they are tapping the talents of their women.”
  8. “We will continue to deepen our engagement using every element of American power – diplomacy, military, economic, development, the power of our values and our ideals.”
  9. “By the end of this decade, a majority of our navy and Air Force fleets will be based out of the Pacific, because the United States is and always will be a Pacific power.”
  10. “My staff was very excited for Brisvegas. When I arrived, they advised I needed some XXXX.”

Source: ABC News, Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Barack Obama’s Speech to University of Queensland during G20

Posted by George Brown on 16/11/2014
Posted in: Humanity, Media, Opinion, Politics, Science, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

US president Barack Obama speaks at the University of Queensland during the G20 summit on wide-ranging topics, including announcing a $US3 billion contribution to an international fund to help poor countries cope with the effect of climate change.

Source: ABC News

More on the Rosetta Project

Posted by George Brown on 16/11/2014
Posted in: News, Safety, Technology. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

The probe that made Wednesday’s historic comet landing has already started to beam valuable information back to earth, the mission’s scientists say.

Scientists have used both ground- and space-based telescopes to study comets for years. In addition, spacecraft have made brief visits to such celestial bodies, including one that flew past Halley’s comet in 1986, and another that crashed a probe into the surface of a comet in 2005.

But Europe’s €1.3 billion ($1.62 billion) Rosetta project is expected to surpass all those missions because it is getting up close and personal with a comet for a lengthy period—by orbiting it, by landing a probe on its surface, and in accompanying it as the comet moves closer to the sun.

The lander separated from the orbiter at 0903 GMT.  
The lander separated from the orbiter at 0903 GMT.

In the months before the probe’s landing on the comet on Wednesday, “we’ve collected more data about a comet” than has ever been assembled before, said Matt Taylor, project scientist for Rosetta, a mission masterminded by the European Space Agency.

Scientists want to learn about comets because they are essentially deep frozen leftovers that hold clues about how the solar system formed and evolved. They are made of ice, gas and dust—ancient debris that has survived largely intact for some 4.5 billion years.

Scientists already know quite a bit about the comet, known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Images taken by Rosetta reveal a comet about 4 miles in diameter, with two segments joined by a “neck,” giving it a duck-like appearance. There are sharp cliffs, crevices and boulders. To many scientists’ surprise, the surface appears to be mainly dust rather than ice, though ice is expected to lie in lower layers.

Rosetta’s sensors have also been “sniffing” 67P’s fumes since August, when it began to orbit the comet. The data suggest that comets give off a faint but heady mix of odours, including that of rotten eggs (hydrogen sulphide), horse stable (ammonia), almonds (hydrogen cyanide), alcohol (methanol) and vinegar (sulphur dioxide).

Instruments aboard Rosetta show the comet’s growing “coma,” an envelope of gases surrounding its nucleus, is mainly water and carbon dioxide, mixed with carbon monoxide. The coma, which stretches more than 20,000 kilometres, will get even longer as 67P flies closer to the sun and more surface material gets blasted into space.

Scientists are especially eager to get their hands on data from the lander Philae. The probe is carrying 10 instruments that are intended to do on-the-spot analysis of the comet’s ices and organic material. A drill would take samples from a depth of 23 centimetres and feed them to an on-board laboratory for instant analysis. That data would be sent to the orbiting Rosetta and then zipped back to earth.

The lander is also expected to analyse the water on 67P to see if it is of the same chemical “flavour” as water found on earth. If it is, that would bolster a theory that at least some of earth’s water could have been brought here by comets.

The Rosetta mission could also provide information about whether comets could have brought life’s basic building blocks to earth, such as amino acids, which make proteins. A previous mission had discovered the amino acid glycine on a comet. Philae will examine the comet’s surface to see if it, too, can find any trace of amino acids.

“The possibility is that comets brought not just water, but—trapped in the water—organic components that are the missing link for explaining the emergence of life on earth,” said Jean-Pierre Bibring, lead lander scientist.

If Philae can survive the landing and continue to work for several weeks or even months on solar-powered backup batteries, it could also collect valuable data as 67P flies closer to the sun. Unless it gets shrouded in dust, it may be in a position to collect data as the heat boils off the comet’s icy nucleus and generates the bright halo and ion-and-dust tails that are typical of comets.

Even if Philae’s days are numbered, Rosetta will continue to orbit the comet for months to come. During all that time, its instruments will continue to study the comet’s makeup and activity and send that data back to earth.

For now, 67P continues to baffle scientists. On Tuesday, scientists said the comet seemed to be emitting a “song” in the form of oscillations in its magnetic field. Though emitted below the range of human hearing, it was made audible by increasing the frequencies by a factor of about 10,000.

“We didn’t expect this and we are still working to understand the physics of what is happening,” said Karl-Heinz Glassmeier, a researcher at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany.

The Rosetta Landing

Posted by George Brown on 13/11/2014
Posted in: News, Science, Technology, Transportation. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

The scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) faced a nervous wait this morning after it emerged that the history-making Philae probe landed not once but three times on a comet more than 300 million miles from Earth. Reports this morning however, suggest that the probe is now stable, even after magnetic field anlaysis from the craft reported three separate landings at 15:33, 17:26 and 17:33, suggesting a high initial bounce and second, smaller one.

Image of Comet 67P/CG taken by the Philae lander from a distance of approximately 3km from the surface

Image of Comet 67P/CG taken by the Philae lander from a distance of approximately 3km from the surface

Engineers from the ESA said today that the probe may have bounced “hundreds of metres” back into the air after its first landing. But they told BBC News that the probe is now starting to send back images from the surface, and that scientists are considering how to proceed with planned experiments. Dr Matt Taylor, a scientist on the Rosetta project, said the ESA was receiving a “good” signal that included usable scientific data. He said: “Now we are busy analysing what it all means and really trying to find out where the lander actually is on the surface.”

Stephan Ulamec, head of the lander operation, said last night that both the thrusters designed to push Philae down into the surface of the comet and the harpoons that should have anchored it failed – meaning the probe’s ability to conduct its series of unprecedented experiments was not guaranteed He confirmed that initial data relayed via Philae’s parent spacecraft Rosetta showed that the probe lifted off, turned and then came to rest. Ulamec then said the ESA team would have to wait until Thursday until they could find out more from the probe because Rosetta has moved out of radio contact. “Tomorrow morning we should know a lot more,” he said. The fact that the 100kg (220 pound) probe descended some 4cm (1.5 inches) into the surface of the comet was also a concern, suggesting it had landed on a relatively soft top layer of dust.

Rosetta probe

Rosetta probe

Now that it has been confirmed as stable, the Philae lander will travel with the comet as it continues its journey around the Sun. It should witness the plumes of vapourised gases emitted from the icy surface as the comet feels the rising heat of its orbital summer. And Dr Genge said that this journey, along with Rosetta’s readings from its orbit around the comet, could help answer fundamental questions about the origins of our planet. “Did comets deliver the building blocks of living things and start life on Earth? We may soon know with the help of Rosetta,” he said.

Source: European Space Agency

The 10 Best Airports 2014

Posted by George Brown on 09/11/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Opinion, Tourism, Transportation, Travel, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

By contrast to the last post The 10 Worst Airports 2014, travel site Sleeping in Airports has just released The 10 Best Airports for 2014.  

The four criteria used to vote on include comfort, conveniences, cleanliness and customer service.

Singapore Changi International Airport WSSS/SIN

Singapore Changi International Airport WSSS/SIN

Here they are:

  1. Singapore Changi International Airport – WSSS/SIN
  2. Seoul Incheon International Airport – RKSI/INC
  3. Helsinki International Airport – EFHK/HEL
  4. Munich International Airport – EDDM/MUC
  5. Vancouver International Airport – CYVR/YVR
  6. Kuala Lumpur International Airport – WMKI/KUL
  7. Hong Kong International Airport – VHHH/HKG
  8. Tokyo Haneda International Airport – RJTT/HND
  9. Amsterdam Schipol International Airport – EHAM/AMS
  10. Zurich International Airport – LSZH/ZRH

The thing of note here is that ALL these airports are well travelled, well attended major hubs throughout the world.  Also of note is that 5 of these airports are in Asia, 4 in Europe and only 1 in North America.

The 10 Worst Airports 2014

Posted by George Brown on 09/11/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Public Opinion, Tourism, Transportation, Travel. Tagged: , . 1 Comment

Travel site Sleeping in Airports recently polled more than 18,000 passengers for its annual 2014 Worst Airports survey – and their compilation is a hair-raising lineup of unbearable crowds, dirty bathrooms and barren terminals. The four criteria to base your vote on include comfort, conveniences, cleanliness and customer service.

Lesser-visited airports topped the list — in countries like Pakistan and Nepal — but further down, you’ll find 4 airports to beware of in Europe. Germany came in with TWO of the worst airports on its soil, and the last one, New York’s LaGuardia, does not sit well for the U.S.

1. Benazir Bhutto International Airport, Pakistan

2. King Abdulaziz International Airport, Saudi Arabia

3. Tribhuvan International Airport, Nepal

4. Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Philippines

5. Tashkent International Airport, Uzbekistan

6. Paris Beauvais-Tille Airport, France

6. Frankfurt-Hahn Airport, Germany

8. Bergamo Orio al Serio Airport, Italy

9. Berlin Tegel Airport, Germany

10. LaGuardia Airport, U.S.A.

The Worst Airport in the UK

Posted by George Brown on 07/11/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Opinion, Public Opinion, Tourism, Transportation, Travel, Views. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

London-Luton has been named the worst airport in the UK for the second year running, according to the Which? annual survey of “holiday hassles”.

London-Luton Airport Photo: Wikipedia

London-Luton Airport Photo: Wikipedia

Despite a record two million passengers using the Bedfordshire hub over the last two months – largely thanks to the popularity of EasyJet, Monarch and Ryanair who are all based there – many travellers still complain about security control, baggage reclaim and Luton’s pick-up and drop-off point, which has a maximum stay of 10 minutes and costs £2 on exit.

Of the 8,000 Which? members that rated airports in different categories, Luton finished bottom with a 37 per cent satisfaction rating – a six per cent drop on last year. One member described the airport as a “hell hole”.

However, final planning consent for a £100m development of the airport has recently been granted that will increase annual passenger capacity from 12 to 18 million per year by 2031. Many of its frequent users will be hoping the inevitable problems they continue to encounter will be dealt with long before then.

Hampstead cricket club member John Mennis vented his frustration today upon arrival at London Luton. He said: “Another hideous queue at Luton Airport – there must be something that someone can do about it. Such a drag. [Staff] forced a lady in front of me to buy a plastic bag for a tiny bottle of prescribed eye drops – extortion!”

A spokesperson for London Luton said it was “surprised and disappointed” by the findings. She said: “Since the poll was undertaken, we have been given the green light for a £100m redevelopment project which will transform the airport. This marks the start of an exciting new journey for London Luton Airport. We are committed to working with our carriers, baggage handling agents, the Border Force and transport partners to deliver a simple, hassle-free airport experience for our customers.”

I endured this debacle in September and then again in October 2014 when flying with Wizz Air to Skopje (and that’s another story). Long queues, no seating, extraordinary long wait for security checks, slow UK Border Force staff, rude and apathetic airport staff, over-inflated prices (£4 for a capuccino), long walks down halls and then down stairs to ground level gates, £2 for a baggage trolley, car parking scams and ripoffs, London-Luton airport is just one nightmare after another.

I still have not worked out why border control is required for flights originating in another EU country. Oh yes, that’s right; the UK “opted out” of the EU “open borders” policy!

£100m? That might go some way to fixing the airport, but I doubt that there will be a change in attitude! As an international gateway to the UK, Luton does not cut it.

Welcome to Britain? Not!

Source: Which?

Gee, Wizz?

Posted by George Brown on 02/11/2014
Posted in: Aviation, Opinion, Safety, Uncategorized, Views. Tagged: , , , , , , . 3 Comments
Wizz Air A320 HA-LYD at Luton Airport

Wizz Air A320 HA-LYD at Luton Airport

I recently travelled from London-Luton airport in the UK to Skopje in Macedonia. Skopje is a destination that few airlines service directly from the UK. The one exception to this is Wizz airlines, a Hungarian budget airline that offers  the EGGW-LWSK route 5 times a week.

So I booked an outgoing flight for early September, with a return flight in mid-October. Easy, yes?

No! Tickets can only be purchased on-line. There is no option to email the company should you have a problem with the booking. So of course I had a problem. The web based system would not accept my credit card details. The only option I had was to do an international electronic funds transfer, which I duly arranged. A week later my travel details had NOT be confirmed. I found that I could contact the company’s call centre in London at the princely sum of GBP1 per minute. I was told the original booking had been cancelled, and  thatI would have to rebook. Yes, the IEFT would be applied to second booking, by linking the original booking number with the secondary booking number. After rebooking I needed to contact the call centre agaian to again recheck why the booking was still not confirmed. I managed to confirm the booking with this call, and received electronic verification; but I was asked to pay another GBP20. OK, I thought, I can put up with that.

Then there was the on-line check-in that must be completed prior to arrival at the airport, or pay an additional fee at the airport. But hang on a minute, my wife who is a non-EU passport holder would need to check in at the airport to have her passport checked! Let me think about this a minute! We have to check-in pre-paid baggage at the check-in desk. So we need to check in on-line to avoid a fee, but still need to check-in at the desk for a non-EU traveller and check in baggage. Go figure! Oh, did I mention that there is a fee for carrying a “large” cabin bag. I always thought a cabin bag was made to set dimensions, not so it seems to Wizz.

Then there was the flight! Flight Number W67702 (A320 HA-LYD c/n 6115) on 2014-09-10 left Luton-London at 08:34, 19 minutes behind schedule. An hour into the flight the PIC (Pilot-In-Command) is seen for an extended period  fraternising with cabin crew in the passenger cabin of the aircraft whilst drinking coffee. Who is flying the aircraft? The door to the flight deck is also left open for a considerable amount of time. An hour out of Skopje, two members of the cabin crew dissappear onto the flight deck, with the female member of the crew remaining there for 20 minutes or more! Why so?

In my opinion, the behaviour of the flight and cabin crews demonstrated a distinct lack of protocol, safety and security in the way this flight was conducted. I left with no option than to believe that the airline condones this sort of in-flight behaviour of it’s flight/cabin crews!

I suppose the final insult was that the touch down in Skopje was so poor, with the aircraft bouncing so heavily, I was forced to consider whether we had landed or indeed had we been shot down!

All in all, in my opinion, Wizz delivered a very dismal performance in terms of in-flight safety and security with basic in-flight protocols being ignored.  There was open access to the flight deck for a considerable time.

Wizz clearly offer flights made down to a price, NOT up to a standard.

For further reviews on Wizz Air’s performance as a budget airline, go to http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/wizz.htm.