Mike Bara and wormholes

        Mike Bara, the world-famous theoretical physiscistphysicist^{note 1}, was given the second half of Coast to Coast AM last night. The peg was the 78th anniversary of the "Battle of Los Angeles"—an event that saw anti-aircraft crews peppering a weather balloon in the mistaken belief that it was part of a Japanese attack. Bara, naturally, preferred the version of the story that  makes the balloon into an extraterrestrial flying machine piloted by LGM. You either believe that or you don't. I don't, personally.

        That little fantasy wasn't nearly enough to fill the allocated two hours—even allowing for the torrent of commericals C2C is now allowing itself—so George Noory moved on. "Of all the things you've investigated," he said,"which one gets you the most excited?" I thought Bara would say "The Bermuda Triangle" in order to plug his most recent book (which has been hammered by Amazon reader reviews). But no, what gets Mike all fizzy today is wormholes. He said "I believe wormhole technology has been solved. It'll be announced later this year. We'll be able to travel faster than light to the stars!!!"

        Well, y'know, there's no such thing as "wormhole technology" and never will be. It's not a technology and hardly even a science—more of a mathematical exhibit. Wormholes are a theoretical consequence of general relativity, invented (as a means of space travel) by Kip Thorne more as a way of teaching relativity than a speculation about what we humans might actually be up to in another 1,000 years. I like to think that Prof. Thorne rolls his eyes somewhat when he hears of half-educated nincompoops like Mike Bara misunderstanding his work.

Change at Châtelet
        My question to wormhole-believers is this: Supposing you did find the entrance to a wormhole. How in hell would you know where in the universe it pops back up into reality? It might not be anywhere you're remotely interested in going. If you're lost in Paris, you can always study the map of the Métro and eventually get it. «Direction Porte de Clignancourt, six stops, change at Châtelet, direction Mairie des Lilas, four more stops.» But in a womhole-rich universe, there's no Métro map and no changing at Châtelet. You disappear and re-appear in some location over which you have no control. Is that really practical, do you think?

        Another problem is that, unlike the Paris Métro (other than during industrial strikes, of course) there's no guarantee that a reverse hole exists to get you back home. Like the failed Mars One scheme of a few years ago, it's a one-way ticket if it's a ticket at all.

        Oh God! It's just occurred to me that perhaps the reason Bara made this topic his front page headline last night was because that'll be the subject of his next book. God save us, and save the trees!!!

Update:
        In the movie of "Contact" it's not made clear, but in fact Carl Sagan had the idea that a very advanced civilization might be able to artificially construct a two-way wormhole specifically for the purpose of superluminal travel between points A and Z. That's like closing the Paris Métro except Line 4, then closing all the intermediate stations so that the only possible journey is between Porte d'Orléans and Porte de Clignancourt. It's hard to imagine that being very popular.

        If this is the sort of thing Mike Bara means when he referes to "Wormhole technology" he's dreaming. Well, we knew that, I guess.

==========================/ \======================
[1] Just kidding. "Former CAD-CAM technician" is the truth.

This just in from Kerry Cassidy... Lies

        Today, Kerry Cassidy reports that she has interviewed the convicted murderer Mark Richards yet again, and he has news about COVID-19, formerly known by the generic name coronavirus.

Here it is, in the most dishonest nutshell you ever came across:

« 100,000 people in China [are] involved in the virus. 30% have died, 30% are infected and 40% are taken off-world by Reptilians assisting China in their drive to eliminate approx. 500 million people ...

Those humans taken off-world, according to Mark, by Reptilians, are sold to other races for food and used as sex slaves. This virus will mutate and other governments are using it to facilitate eliminating some of their populations as well. One-quarter of a million people will die of the virus this year.»

The true figures as of today, per the Johns Hopkins online tracker, are:

Confirmed cases: 75,788, of which 74,588  (98.4%) in Mainland China
Deaths: 2,132 (2.8%)
Recovered 16, 910

=====Update: 10 days later (1st March) =============
Confirmed cases: 88,108, of which 79,826  (98.4%) in Mainland China
Deaths: 2,995 (3.6%)
Recovered 42,716
============================================

=====Update: another 12 days later (13th March) ======
Confirmed cases: 137,066, of which 80,945  (59%) in Mainland China
Deaths: 5069 (3.6%)
Recovered 69,643
============================================

        The People's Daily released video ten days ago, showing a fleet of trucks disinfecting the streets of Wuhan with a mix of propyl alcohol and bleach.

        So there's no doubt about the seriousness of this outbreak. But Kerry Cassidy is once again guilty of promoting UTTER BULLSHIT. I promise I'll be back at the end of the year when Mark Richards' prediction can be assessed with certainty. Given that Richards is now serving a life sentence in Vacaville jail, with no special access to sources, I'm very confident that I will be telling him, if he's listening, that he was wrong.

Update:

        In fact, we did not have to wait very long for a quarter of a million deaths. That benchmark was reached on 5th May. By then 3,662,691 cases had been confirmed—the true figure almost certainly much higher.