When one checks the news and the historical records on any given date, there always are one or two coincidences. The more is happening in the world, the more links can be made. Today is a good day for parallels with the past.
Of course, we might as well clear that out of the way right now, today marks the 25th anniversary of the Web, the world network of computers and one of the men that “created it” came out with a proposal for a Bill of Digital Rights of sorts. That is not a coincidence. It simply makes sense that Tim Berners-Lee uses the birthday of his creation to revive the debate on how it should be managed. There is no denying the necessity to review the rules on Internet either. Since the subject is far from simple however, I’ll let the reader access the link and come back on the matter in a dedicated Post before the week-end ends!
Of course, this is also the chosen date for the World day against Cyber censorship, not a fluke of chance either :
http://12mars.rsf.org/2014-en/
A little too tenuous to constitute a real coincidence but still interesting for some is the 1622 anniversary of the canonization of the founders of the Jesuits. It earns a mention because both Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier were made saints that day and … our present Pope Francis is the first Jesuit to occupy Saint Peter’s throne. The name however means little. If the pope had chosen Francis for his order’s founder, it would only be logic but he took it in reverence and reference to Saint Francis of Assisis so it doesn’t count. Then again, two Popes died on March 12, Innocent I in 417 and Gregory I in 604 so that we can suppose that the living one will be busy with commemorative masses today!
More of a set of correlated dates is found as regards Japan. Today in 1374 died Emperor Go-Kogon. In 1910 it was the date of birth of Masayoshi Ohira who went on to become the 68th Prime Minister of his country. Then in 1925 was born Leo Esaki who earned the 1973 Nobel Prize of physics for discovering the electron tunneling effect and the diode that bears his name. He later worked on semi-conductor superlattices that play a part in our big modern machines and thus relate somewhat to the Web’s anniversary. And in 1995 and 1999, pop singer starlets Kanon Fukuda & Sakura Oda respectively came to this world. The real coincidence here is that all of these people now share their special days with the Fukushima nuclear plant incident that melted on March 12 2011 after being submerged by an Earthquake induced tsunami. Sad for them really!
Oh and nuke news for nuke news, it was on March 12 1993 that North Korea pulled out of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and announced it would not allow inspectors to visit its enrichment and weapons sites.
Hanging by a thread but useful since I had not mentioned Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 yet, on March 12 1950, an Avro Tudor crashed in Wales killing 80 people onboard which was at the time the worst disaster in aviation history. It shows how planes have gotten bigger since if nothing else. There were 3 survivors and we can only hope to get some from the Gulf of Thailand’s disappearance. About which, I would like to offer a few side notes. Yes modern air travel is safe. Planes fly thousands and thousands of kilometers daily over the globe and it is only due to the size of modern airliners as we just said that when one has a problem the numbers are so striking. No, however, the Earth is not fully covered by civilian aeronautic radars. The network of these vary a lot from place to place especially over water. What is the most useful to locate jets remains radio communications … under normal circumstances that is. Yes, there are three main pieces of safety equipment onboard. The transponder is the most precise one. This piece of equipment “answers” the secondary radars and identifies the aircraft. For Flight 370, it was apparently turned off before the loss of contact. There are no normal reason for this to happen and it is the most important reason we have left to suspect a terrorist act since pirates know the usefulness of that tool and often force the pilots to turn it off prior to a hijacking ( changing course ). Without the transponder, primary radars can find spots ( i.e. something ) but have no idea what they represent. For that reason, the information given by a Malaysian Air Force official that they had noticed “something” way off course is doubtful at best and it was more than little irresponsible to make the information public. That it would be transferred to the civilian authorities for it to be investigated is compulsory in such a case but until all data ( for instance time of report versus distance to have been covered by MA F370 to reach that spot from last known location? ) was verified, it should not have reached the press. There are also the 2 well known “black boxes” carried by all modern transport airplanes. Let’s be clear about these : they record instrument data and flight indicators for the first and cockpit conversations for the other. While they do have emitters to make their recovery easier, their primary task is NOT to locate the aircraft – there are two more emitters solely for that. The two recorders ( factually orange to make them easier to find and not black ) activate automatically IF submerged in water but not necessarily otherwise. The most important thing the reader should know however is that they broadcast to approximatively 1,500 meters. This would be more than enough if the plane crashed along its planned route as the waters are not even half that deep. More to the East as is now possible if the indications brought by a Chinese satellite on possible debris, the depth of the sea is much more important. But in any case, this means that those looking for them have to navigate or fly very near the recorders if they hope to pick up the signals. That explains why the search may take some time.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/12/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane/
This leaves 3 main possibilities. Terrorism as in an explosion on-board is possible. This would explain signal loss. If however the airplane had exploded in flight, the debris field would most likely have been located by now. What’s more, terrorist call in to make their bad deeds known and this hasn’t been the case here. Pilot error is also possible as was the case with the Air France 447 over the South Atlantic in 2009 but weather allowed visibility for Air Malaysia and pilots are well trained enough to avoid hitting the water. Similarly, a total loss of electrical production might have brought the aircraft down in one piece prior to sinking. One has to wonder however that no one in such a case would have had time to communicate with a phone. Besides, a Canadian pilot famously crossed nearly a third of the North Atlantic without motors a few years back; airplanes can fly for a long distance from a high altitude indeed. This leaves the transponder mystery. Highjacking is thus not to be eliminated for now and as sad as that may be, it would mean that the passengers and crew might still be alive if prisoners, all in all not the worst option for their relatives. All my thoughts go out to them!
And to finish with coincidences of magnitude :
March 12 1918 After 215 years since Tsar Peter the Great moved it away from invasions to his namesake town, the Soviets change the capital of Russia from Saint-Petersburg back to Moscow.
March 12 1938 Anschluss : the political annexation of Austria saw the Wehrmacht enter the southern neighbor in a move called the Unternehmen Otto that began its blitzkrieg cycle of rapid invasions. A few months later on September 30th, the Munich Agreement would add large portions of Chekoslovakia designed Sudetenland representing the best defenses of that nation to the budding Nazi Empire/Third Reich.
March 12 1940 : Finland surrenders virtually all of Karelia to Moscow after the aggression known as the Winter War.
Most readers and certainly all regular ones of this blog will find the coincidence easily. The present situation in Ukraine and Crimea is telling enough? I have after all warned for the last 3 weeks ( since February 20th ) of the then upcoming and now on-going Russian grab of the strategically essential peninsula which will become factual after next Sunday’s referendum, illegal as it may be?
And for the fans of coincidences, do not forget that the Syrian Civil war that has by now left the front pages of newspapers began on March 15th 2011 when the protests generalized? We will mark that “anniversary” Saturday, don’t doubt it!
Tay.
Definitive Lapse of Reason 