MH370 - So what have they been searching for? Scientists claim 'pings' were NOT from MH370 - as they label the operation a 'debacle'

So what have they been searching for? Scientists claim 'pings' were NOT from MH370 - as they label the operation a 'debacle'

>  Underwater scientists claim the search of MH370 has been a debacle
>  They believe signals picked up by a pinger locator were not from the black boxes
>  The scientists also say Prime Minister Tony Abbott's April announcement on locating black 
     box was premature
>  The search of the Western Australia coast has been unsuccessful so far

By RYAN LIPMAN
Published: 12:30 GMT, 23 May 2014 | Updated: 18:13 GMT, 23 May 2014

Underwater scientists have called the search for MH370 a debacle and claim that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's announcement that black box pingers had been found was premature and lacked detailed analysis.Acoustic experts, who do not wish to be identified, said four critical signals picked up by a U.S. pinger locator where almost definitely not from the MH370 black boxes, but likely from a different man-made source.The experts believe the signals were detected too far apart to be from the black boxes and were also the wrong frequency, reported The Courier Mail.

'As soon as I saw the frequency and the distance between the pings I knew it couldn’t be the aircraft pinger,' one of the scientists said.

Deep sea drone Bluefin 21's failure to find anything in the search area supports the scientist's claims.

The unmanned submarine will be replaced by a commercial deep water search vehicle when it returns to Perth this weekend.

A mystery signal was also detected earlier in the search by an RAAF aircraft, proving there were other signals being transmitted.

This backs up claims by an expert who believes there were other man-made signals, which went undetected.

But the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said the signals were likely sourced from electronic equipment believed to be consistent with the Flight Data Recorder.

Yet the scientists claim the 33.3 kilohertz frequency of the signal was significantly different to the 37.5 kilohertz generated by underwater acoustic beacons and say the signals were detected 30 kilometres and four days apart.The Joint Agency Coordination Centre has refused to release recordings of the signals for independent analysis or any information on the location or depth of the signals.

We continue to pursue this lead to either discount or confirm the area of the detections as the final resting place of MH370,' a spokesman told the Herald Sun on Monday.This has added to the scientist's speculation that the signals are not being released because they are yet to be determined.

'Signals do pass through water in complicated ways and you can get unusual "sound ducts" but at those distances it is very unlikely,' one scientist said.

To guarantee nothing was missed further analysis on the signals is ongoing, confirmed agency head retired defence chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston.

But it has also come as a blow to the families of some of the MH370 passengers who issued a plea earlier this month to make the recordings public.A group of families called Voice370 released a statement saying: 'We implore the Malaysian Government to share and release the raw Inmarsat satellite engine ping data for 9MMRO (every ping from Friday, March 7 12.00 until the final signal was received globally) so that it can be subject to broader analysis by relevant experts.

The scientists also claim the necessary detailed analysis of the signals was not completed when Prime Minister Abbott went public with the news in China on April 11.

In his announcement from Shanghai, Mr Abbott said: 'We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometres.'

But this was immediately contradicted by Mr Houston, who said nothing had changed and that based on the information available to him, there had been no major breakthrough in the search.As part of the search, 17 ships and 23 aircraft from eight countries have been involved and with RAAF P-3C Orion aircraft deploying 1416 sonobuoys costing $1018 each and totaling $1.4 million, with the search off the Western Australia coast proving unsuccessful so far.

The Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared on March 8 after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

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10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 263 (23/05/2014)

2621.            Milk and cheese can aid in the reduction of tooth decay.

2622.            On average, a strawberry has 200 seeds on it.

2623.            Coconuts kill more people in the world than sharks do.

2624.            The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing.

2625.            Research has indicated that indoor pollution is 10 times more toxic than outdoor
    pollution.

2626.            Eating a banana at night can help in falling asleep.

2627.            The stapler was invented in Spring Valley, Minnesota.

2628.            The first television newscaster was Kolin Hager, who used to broadcast farm and
    weather reports in 1928.

2629.            Pixie, a Siberian Husky, gave birth to 7 puppies, one of which was bright green.

2630.            Back in 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Marshmallow Peep. Now it takes only
    six minutes.

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10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 262 (22/05/2014)

2611.            Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

2612.            The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

2613.            Apple seeds are poisonous as they contain a cyanide compound.

2614.            The word breakfast was coined due to the fact that after sleeping for hours, we are
    "breaking our fast."

2615.            The cardigan was originally made to be a military jacket made of knitted wool.

2616.            The month of December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines.

2617.            The deepest cave in the world is the "Lamprechtsofen-Vogelshacht" cave which
    can be found in Salzburg, Austria. The cave is 5,354 feet deep.

2618.            The capital of Vermont, Montpelier is the only state capital in the United States that
    does not have a McDonalds.

2619.            The longest engagement lasted 67 years, and the couple ended up marrying when
    they were 82 years old.

2620.            Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears. never stop
    growing.

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10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 261 (21/05/2014)

2601.            In Israel, religious law forbids picking your nose on Sabbath.

2602.            In twins, there is a great chance that one will be left handed.

2603.            In the 1920's, Q-Tips were invented by Leo Gerstenzang who got the idea after
    watching his wife clean their baby's ears with cotton stuck onto a toothpick.

2604.            In the Pacific Islands when people get burns they often use a banana leaf as
    treatment.

2605.            Acorns were used as a coffee substitute during the American Civil War.

2606.            An airplane mechanic invented Slinky while he was playing with engine parts and
    realized the possible secondary use for the springs. Barbie was invented by Ruth
    Handler after watching her daughter play with baby dolls imagining then in grown
    up roles.

2607.            When the female grasshopper lays eggs, she covers her eggs with a pasty liquid
    that protects the eggs throughout the winter.

2608.            The longest recorded duration of a total solar eclipse was 7.5 minutes.

2609.            On average, an American makes three pounds of garbage in a day.

2610.            Even if you eat food standing on your head, the food will still end up in your
    stomach.

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10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 260 (20/05/2014)

2591.            There are 40 official jelly belly flavours.

2592.            Early sewing machines were destroyed by mobs or workers who felt their jobs
    were threatened by automation.

2593.            In 1992, the Antarctic Ozone hole was larger than the continent of North America.

2594.            Someone gets divorced every ten to thirteen seconds.

2595.            There is a certain type of Hawk Moth caterpillar from Brazil that inflates its thorax,
    which makes its head look like a head of a snake when it feels it is in danger or
    alarmed.

2596.            The CIA has made a disk camera that is as big as a quarter. This gadget can
    take many pictures at a time when the disk is opened.

2597.            The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."

2598.            In Hong Kong, delivery times are primarily influenced by traffic conditions on
    elevators. It often takes drivers longer to travel vertically than horizontally, as
    access to elevators is so congested during "high peak" hours. This is due to
    the volume of people residing in high rises.

2599.            The ancient Greeks had a fascination with the planet Mars. They attributed the
    planet to Ares, their god of war, because of its red colour.

2600.            The only lizard that has a voice is the Gecko.

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 259 (19/05/2014)

2581.            The cost to build the Empire State Building was $40,948,900.

2582.            A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will on average lose two teeth
    every ten years.

2583.            Wasps that feed on ferment occasionally get drunk and pass out.

2584.            The largest cereal company in the world is Quaker Oats, located in Cedar Rapids,
    Iowa, USA.

2585.            The first Olympic games only had one event - a foot race.

2586.            Colonel Sanders traveled over 250,000 miles a year visiting various parts of his
    Kentucky Fried Chicken Empire.

2587.            Some desert snails have been known to sleep for three to four years.

2588.            Over 80% of the brain is water.

2589.            From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size.

2590.            Jackrabbits can reach a speed of fifty miles per hour and can leap as far as
    twenty feet.

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10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 258 (18/05/2014)

2571.            There are more Subway restaurants in Canada than there are McDonald
    restaurants.

2572.            The CN Tower, in Toronto, is the tallest freestanding structure in the world with a
    height of about 553 metres.

2573.            The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific.
    When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo
    belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots
    fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

2574.            Construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa began on August 9th, 1173.

2575.            President Lyndon Johnson used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day.

2576.            The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma.

2577.            The word "laser" stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission by
    radiation."

2578.            In a lifetime, on average a honey bee produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey.

2579.            There are 315 species of parrot in the world.

2580.            The TV show Doctor Who, when it was popular, had an audience of 110 million
    people.

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 257 (17/04/2014)

2561.            Snake is a delicacy in China.

2562.            In 1999, All Nippon Airlines, had one of its jets fully decorated with Pokemon
    characters from nose to tail on its exterior.

2563.            The Dead Sea has been sinking for last several years.

2564.            Uranus has 27 moons.

2565.            Actress Sally Field was paid $4,000 a week for her role in the TV show The Flying
    Nun.

2566.            More pollution is emitted from the average home compared to the average car.

2567.            The snow leopard protects itself from extreme cold when it sleeps by wrapping its
    3-foot-long tail around its nose.

2568.            Only 4% of babies are born on their actual due date.

2569.            In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile Services
    (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel
    assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.

2570.            A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for approximately sixty-nine years.

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 256 (16/05/2014)

2551.            On May 9, 1999 approximately 600,000 gallons of whiskey flowed into the
    Kentucky River during a fire at Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg.

2552.            Thomas Jefferson had three achievements placed on his headstone at his
    request, "Here Was Buried Thomas Jefferson/Author Of The Declaration Of
    American. Independence/Of The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom/And
    Father Of The University of Virginia.? He never mentioned being President of the
    United States.

2553.            Humans and cows have the same gestation period, which is about nine months.

2554.            In the Victoria era, red tulips were a declaration of love.

2555.            The sport Lacrosse was initially played by Native American Indians. They played
    the sport to prepare for war.

2556.            It takes a sloth up to six days to digest the food it eats.

2557.            According to Scandinavian traditions, if a boy and girl eat from the same loaf of
    bread, they are bound to fall in love.

2558.            In 1796, Napoleon was only 26 years old when he took command of the French
    Army of Italy.

2559.            A bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed every animal in
    the Berlin Zoo except the elephant, which escaped and roamed the city. When a
    Russian commander saw hungry Germans chasing the elephant and trying to kill it,
    he ordered his troops to protect it and shoot anyone who tried to kill it.

2560.            The expression "Tying the Knot" comes from an old Roman custom where the
    brides clothes were tied up all in knots and the groom was supposed to untie the
    knots.

MH370 - Defective drone delays search

The search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been delayed after the discovery of a technical issue with the underwater drone used in the hunt. The communications equipment on the Bluefin-21, on loan from the US, has a "defect", Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said. 

It is now awaiting spare parts from the UK before it can continue its search in the southern Indian Ocean. Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

There were 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on board. Using satellite data, officials have concluded that MH370 ended its journey in waters north-west of the Australian city of Perth.

However the ongoing multinational search for the missing plane - shaping up to be the most expensive in aviation history - has yet to yield any concrete findings.

The robotic submarine Bluefin-21, operated off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.

It had only restarted its mission in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean following maintenance. Its initial search of the area where acoustic signals thought to be from flight recorders were heard found nothing.

"Examination of the communications problem has established that a hardware defect exists in the transponder mounted on the Ocean Shield and that a defect may also exist in the transponder mounted on the Bluefin-21," JACC said.

"This inhibits the ability of the two devices to communicate with each other," the statement added. Spare parts from the UK and are due to arrive on Sunday, the agency said. The issue was discovered on Wednesday.

The Ocean Shield is now on its way to Dampier, Western Australia - a journey that is expected to take a few days - to receive the parts and await repairs, it added. Meanwhile, Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammudin Hussein said that the air and surface search for the missing plane would be suspended.

"The search operation has entered a transition phase, prioritising deep sea search. In this context the air and surface search has been suspended," he said in Kuala Lumpur. He added that an Australian P3 Orion aircraft and naval ships from Australia, Malaysia and China would remain on standby in Perth.

Source: http://www.bbc.com

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 255 (15/05/2014)

2541.            The five Olympic rings represent the five continents linked together in friendship.

2542.            Ray Kroc bought McDonalds for $2.7 million in 1961 from the McDonald brothers.

2543.            It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

2544.            Shark cartilage has been used to make artificial skin for human burn victims.

2545.            The first person to die in the electric chair was William Kemmler, an ax murderer
    from New York on August 6, 1890.

2546.            Finland has 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands.

2547.            The average adult has approximately six pounds of skin.

2548.            A crocodile can open and close its jaw but cannot move it side to side.

2549.            There are over 1,000,000 swimming pools in Florida, eventhough the ocean is no
    farther than 80 miles away.

2550.            99% of the blueberries that are produced in the United States are produced in the
    state of Maine.

10 GREAT FACTS A DAY - Part 254 (14/05/2014)

2531.            The male platypus has poisonous spurs on its legs.

2532.            Polar bears can smell seal from 20 miles away.

2533.            Canadians Scott Abbott and Chris Haney invented Trivial Pursuit. They were
    planning on playing Scrabble and realized that some of the pieces were missing
    so they came up with the idea of making their own game; Trivial Pursuit.

2534.            On average, there is about three molecules of ozone for every 10 million air
    molecules.

2535.            A person uses approximately fifty-seven sheets of toilet paper each day.

2536.            The Barbie doll has more than 80 careers.

2537.            James Buchanan was the only unmarried president of the United States.

2538.            The Stanley Cup originally was only seven and a half inches high.

2539.            In 1991, during an attempted political coup on Russian President Boris Yelstin,
    food supplies had dwindled down at the parliament buildings so they ordered
    Pizza Hut to deliver pizzas.

2540.            Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune system.