News Events

On the news wire today, 9/9/08--

(1) United Airlines Bankruptcy--Some clerk at a minor financial news service Googled "bankruptcy" today and found an old story about UAL from 2002, but since the story wasn't dated, Google had put a current date on it. Within one minute after the time the "news" hit the financial wires, UAL stock plunged 75% from $12.30 to $3 a share.

After about 4 minutes the error was corrected, and UAL stock rebounded to about $11 by the end of the day.

(2) Kentucky Fried Chicken Security Threat--Today KFC moved the original copy of Col. Sander's 11 herbs and spices recipe to a new, more secure location. The yellow, hand-written sheet of paper was carried in a steel case, hand-cuffed to a security guard, with multiple other security guards deployed nearby.

(3) End of the World Next Week--The Large Hadron Collider will fire up next week. Some observers are worried that it may create mini-black holes or other exotic phenomena that will destroy the Earth. But most scientists don't think so.

Explanation: After 25 years of planning and building, the Large Hadron Collider, the largest, most expensive scientific experiment in human history, will start up. Thousands of scientists from over 100 countries have been involved. The LHC will produce energies several times more powerful than have ever been created before--except at the Big Bang creation of the Universe; the LHC's highest collision energies will approach to within one-trillionth of a second of the instant of creation.