Questioning DNA Testing

There was recently a trial nearby that relied heavily on DNA evidence. The thing that I find a little bit disturbing is how DNA testing seems to be considered as absolutely foolproof. If a lab test shows that someone's DNA was found somewhere it is like the Word of God.

I remember when lie detectors, or polygraphs, were where DNA is now, considered as practically infallible. For my first job where I got a paycheck I had to go and take a polygraph test. Getting hired depended on passing the test.

Polygraphs have since fallen out of favor. It is widely recognized that they are not 100% accurate and polygraph test results are usually not admissible as evidence in court.

A hundred years ago if a murder victim had their eyes open a close-up photo was taken of their eyes. It was believed that the last thing a person saw would be imprinted on their eyes. That belief has obviously long since fallen by the wayside.

I cannot help wondering if a day will come when it is realized that DNA testing is not quite as accurate as we thought it was.

Remembering "The Westbound Rule"

With the crisis in fuel prices today I see a way to save a vast amount of fuel in the flight of airlines, by taking advantage of the rotation of the earth. 

The earth rotates eastward and when a jet or rocket takes off it picks up some of the eastward momentum of the earth. This is why nations tend to locate space launch sites on an east coast, such as Cape Canaveral and India's launch site. If some mishap should occur, or when rocket stages are discarded, it will crash into the sea rather than a populated area.

So why don't we use this principle to increase fuel efficiency in aircraft? Eastbound flights should fly as low as is practical, to maximize the boost from the earth's rotation. Westbound flights should fly as high as is practical, to minimize the counter effect of the rotation.

The following link is to the posting:

www.markmeekprogress.blogspot.com/2009/06/westbound-rule.html?m=0

Remembering F.W. DeKlerk

F.W. DeKlerk, the former president of South Africa whose passing was announced today, was behind the end of the Apartheid policy, the separation of the races, in his homeland. I remember his 1994 announcement that Nelson Mandela was being released from prison. Mandela would end up being president of the country, with DeKlerk as his deputy president.

I am certain that the global influence of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms had a strong influence on what took place in South Africa. Like Gorbachev, DeKlerk recognized that the tide was against the system over which he presided and led the change instead of trying to resist it.

P.W. Botha was the less reform-minded predecessor of DeKlerk, as President of South Africa. Has anyone thought that the stroke suffered by Botha, in February 1989, is what led to DeKlerk's presidency and the end of Apartheid?

Did you know that an air force, as a separate branch of the military, originated with an earlier president of South Africa? Jan Smuts, pronounced "Yan Smoots", was in Britain during the First World War, when aircraft were first beginning to be used in combat. Jan Smuts produced a report that would bring about the first new branch of a military since ancient times, an air force that carried on it's own war and not under the control of the army or navy. The result was the formation of the RAF and now most countries have separate air forces. The U.S. didn't start a separate air force until 1947, all warplanes before that were part of the army or navy.

Here is a link to our posting about Mikhail Gorbachev:

 www.markmeeksideas.blogspot.com/2019/09/tribute-to-great-leader.html?m=0