There’s a first time for everything

For years when traveling I’ve not paid much attention to the flight attendants’ spiel about using your seat cushions for flotation in case of a water landing. Aside from the fact it’s boring, there isn’t any such thing as a jetliner making a safe water landing. They usually wind up like that hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 that cartwheeled itself to pieces in the Indian Ocean off Comoros in 1996.

Until now.

WARNING: Not safe for use as float toy.

You probably know already that 57-year old pilot Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, III successfully crash-landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River. Nobody’s known to have died; if you click the name link there’s a Smoking Gun photo of the Airbus A320 – pictured above – floating placidly while passengers apparently exit onto an inflatable raft.

Now, that’s a great thing. First time in 50 years of commercial jet travel. The word “hero” has been overused to the point of profanation and pointlessness. I still think maybe I’ll go ahead and call ol’ Sully a hero.

There’re a couple other interesting things developing in the world of science and technology and things that generally take place overhead. (In the case above that activity’s flight; water landings don’t usually take place over your head unless you’re a Scuba diver or a fish. An extremely hardy fish.)

First. the methane on Mars thing. NASA and its minions. you’ve probably seen, are claiming it may indicate the presence life. I’m not sure what to think. In 1996 NASA claimed to have found evidence that fossilized microorganisms had been carried to Earth on a Martian meteorite dubbed ALH84001. That seems to’ve been pretty well debunked, or at any event seems widely doubted in the scientific community.

On the other hand, back in the 1970′s one of the biological tests carried out by the Viking lander came back positive for life. I recall vividly how in advance of the landing NASA hyped claimed that a positive on any one test would conclusively demonstrate the presence of life. Then when the Labeled Release came back with a big, Hell yeah!, NASA fell over itself backpedaling and debunking its own experiment.

Gilbert Levin, the dude who designed the LR test, still believes his experiment proves there’s life on Mars. I’ve long inclined the same way. So what I’m wondering is, if suddenly NASA releases definitive proof of Martian life, will it admit its strenuous poo-poohing was all wrong, all the time?

And if you’re wondering whether NASA would fudge or outright lie to boost its budget … of course they would. What rational reason have we got to doubt it? They’re government; they’re a hierarchy. They’ll say anything to serve their corporate interests. Why would they not?

The other Watch-the-Skies weirdness in the news concerns columns of light seen in the sky over Sigulda, Latvia. Check out the wild photos.