Falling rocket junk not a ‘fake news’

“To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea.”

—Henry David Thoreau

By Alex P. Vidal

BECAUSE “it was not immediately reported in the major networks” anywhere in the world, some people who read our previous article about the rocket fragments that fell from the sky and missed New York City on May 11 questioned the veracity of the story.

They thought it was another case of “fake news” meant to divert the people’s attention from the “boring” daily statistics on the cases and deaths related to coronavirus.

I stand by my story.

If we search it in the Google, at least more than five websites made a “developing” story about the rocket chunk more than 72 hours after it happened. 

United Kingdom’s Daily Mail posted this on its website May 13: “Massive 20-ton chunk from China's failed rocket that fell to Earth Monday missed hitting New York City.”

It reported: “A massive chuck of China's failed rocket fell to Earth Monday, but a few minutes sooner and it would have crashed right into New York City. Reports say that debris would have rained down on the Big Apple if the Long March 5B rocket would re-entered the atmosphere just 15 minutes earlier. The Chinese rocket carrying an experimental craft into orbit launched on May 5 and malfunctioned after just a week in space, which led to the uncontrolled descend. 

The 20-ton core stage of the rocket came barreling down into Earth's atmosphere around 11am ET, moving at thousands of miles per minute.”

New York Post also reported on May 12, 2020: “Space junk from Chinese rocket was about 15 minutes from hitting NYC.”

It reported further: “Chunks of the massive Chinese rocket that recently took an uncontrolled plunge back into the Earth’s atmosphere narrowly missed hitting New York City. Had the Long March 5B rocket re-entered the atmosphere about 15 to 20 minutes earlier on Monday, it would have rained debris on the nation’s largest metro area, according to Ars Technica, a technology-focused publication. The about 100-foot-long rocket was launched on May 5, carrying an unnamed prototype of a newly designed Chinese crew capsule.”

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RIDDLES OF MALE PERSONALITY. Why does a husband or lover fall asleep within seconds after lovemaking? Why is a man often more shaken by his wife's infidelity than a woman is by her husband's? 

Why do some men never follow through when they say "I'll call you tomorrow"?

If women are baffled by these and other riddles of the male personality, noted psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers suggests they stop wondering as she explains in What Every Woman Should Know About Men, that the more they know about the mental and emotional characteristics of the men in their life, the better equip they will be to interact successfully with them in business, love and friendship.

"A woman can improve her relationship with any man if she understands more about the sources of men's behavior," writes Brothers, former member of the faculty of Hunter College and Columbia University in New York City.

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And here she examines that behavior to help women relate to the opposite sex with more ease, sensitivity and self-assurance.

In this frank and informative book, Dr. Brothers clarifies the physical, psychological and emotional differences between male and female, dispelling the myths and speculations that have been the basis of much sexual conflict. 

With the support of extensive research, and using examples from case histories and from her own life experiences, she then shows how the stages of male adulthood may affect the moods and behavior of the men you know.

Her observations provide valuable insights into various areas of the male psyche. For example, she describes the male business mentality: the kinship of men in a work environment; the trouble women have in breaking through that closed circle of camaraderie; the trial of sexual harassment and how to cope with it.

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Dr. Brothers also addresses some of the intimate questions that remain unanswered in many women's minds concerning male sexual capabilities and difficulties. 

Here she offers solutions for minor problems and guidelines for making the sexual experience more exciting, more enjoyable and more loving.

The book is an important and much-needed work at a time when the life-styles, values and aspirations of both men and women are changing dramatically--and when personal relationships are adjusting to this cultural transition. 

Filled with Dr. Brothers' expertise and practical wisdom, the book offers sound advice for establishing and continuing relationships with male colleagues, bosses, subordinates, husbands and lovers in ways that will fulfill both the female and male needs.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)

‘If we get caught between the moon and New York City’

“Look, the fame rocket is only on the upward trajectory for a limited time.”

—Guy Fieri

By Alex P. Vidal

IF we “get caught between the moon and New York City,” Christopher Cross said in Arthur’s Theme, his 1981 hit song, “the best that we can do is fall in love.”

How could we fall—or even think of falling—in love if our lives were in danger?

Most of us here in the Empire State were probably sleeping May 11 (Monday) night when we “nearly got caught” by the falling fragments of a Chinese rocket that fell from the sky.

The junk, reportedly weighing up to several hundred pounds, ”narrowly missed New York City”, largely burning up in the atmosphere before some of the debris survived long enough to slam into West Africa.

The incident reminded me of the Skylab, which fell in pieces in the small town of Esperance, Australia, a remote spot seven-and-a-half hours away from Perth by car in 1979.

Before Skylab fell, panic gripped the Philippines when naysayers claimed the country with 7,100 islands was among those in the danger zone being closely watched along with Australia, Indonesia, and Singapore.

I was baby-sitting my twin half-brothers when I heard reports in the radio so many Filipinos suffered heart attack because of anxiety and fear.

A tailor, who could not accept that “we might all be killed together once the Skylab fell” in front of our house in Iloilo City, lost his mind and died days later.

Children in our surroundings would chant a prank, “Ngaa napatay si Manny (Why did Manny die?)”

Someone would shout, “Skaaaaylaaaab.”

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Skylab eventually reached Earth in the early morning hours of July 12, 1979, falling in pieces in Esperance, Australia. 

Esperance resident Stan Thornton was able to snatch up a few of the pieces. He flew to San Francisco to collect a $10,000 prize offered by the San Francisco Examiner to the first person to bring in a piece of the lab.

The fragments that nearly hit the Big Apple came from China’s new single-stage Long March 5B rocket it test-launched, propelling its cargo into orbit before the 20-ton core eventually fell back into the atmosphere, according to a technology publication, Ars Technica.

Quoting  astronomer Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Fox News reported that it’s unlikely that anywhere near that large of an object is what returned to Earth--but fragments weighing up to several hundred pounds could have survived re-entering the atmosphere.

The U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron, which detects, tracks and identifies all manmade objects in orbit, confirmed the re-entry over the Atlantic Ocean at 8:33 p.m. May 11.

The doomed core passed right over New York City, Ars reported -- and if re-entry had been just a few minutes earlier, debris could reportedly have showered the Big Apple.

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Scary especially that most of us have been stranded at home in a lockdown for more than two months already owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Had the debris fell in New York City’s residential areas, no one knows how horrific would be damage to be inflicted to the people and their properties.

Some of those who survived the coronavirus infection would have been killed by the rocket fragments.

There are reportedly about 8,000 man-made objects the size of baseballs and larger orbiting earth. 

About seven percent are working satellites, 15 percent are rockets, and the rest is fragments and defunct satellites. 

Atlantis reported that “though 8,000 may seem like a lot, USSPACECOM, the military body responsible for tracking the debris, says that it amounts to only three or four pieces per area the size of the airspace over the continental United States up to 30,000 feet.”

No humans have ever been killed by falling space debris on record.

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Here’s the latest coronavirus statistics in New York as of May 14, 2020: cases: 350,848; deaths: 27,290; and recovered: 59,217.

Governor Andrew Cuomo’s emergency orders are set to expire on Friday, May 15, and he has focused on taking steps toward restarting New York’s battered and shuttered economy, including getting some residents back to work.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)