To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 18, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 08:38:01 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM
DISC - AMAZING EARTH - Catastrophic events alter the
planet's appearance; Patrick Stewart
narrates.(CC)(TVG)
9:00
HIST - SWORN TO SECRECY - "The Gulf War: Steel Rain" -
Narrator Charlton Heston examines the Allied air campaign in
the Persian Gulf War.(CC)(TVPG)
10:00
DISC - PANAMA CANAL: THE EIGHTH WONDER OF THE WORLD - In its
scale of construction, the Panama Canal surpasses the
pyramids and the Great Wall of China.(CC)(TVG)
PAX - QUEST FOR NOAH'S ARK: A scientific expedition
searches for the ark near Mount Ararat in Turkey
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jesus' baptism site reawakens 2,000 years on
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 08:54:03 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Jesus's baptism site reawakens 2,000 years on
Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse
WADI KHARRAR, Jordan, July 16 (AFP) - Two thousand years on, John the
Baptist's haunts on the east bank of the Jordan River are probably
sleepier than in the days when he baptised Jesus Christ here.
Small flocks of birds alight on the remains of an early Christian
baptism pool, unbothered by a team of archaeologists taking a break to
consider the risk of night attacks by the wild boars which lurk among
the palm trees of this lush valley.
But with millions of Christian pilgrims expected to descend on the
Holy Land in a matter of months, and a visit by Pope John Paul II on
the cards for March 2000, the boars could be the least of the
disturbances.
Excavations began two years ago at Wadi Kharrar and quickly
established the existence of hermit dwellings contemporary with Jesus
Christ in hills overlooking the springs which feed the valley.
It is in the calm, fresh water of those springs, two kilometres (1.3
miles) east of the Jordan River, that archaeologists now believe Jesus
was baptised, and not in the fast flowing, dirty waters of the Jordan
as tradition tells.
"This is where Jesus was baptised. This is where John the Baptist
lived. This is where the first Christian community on earth emerged,"
Jordan's Tourism Minister Akel Beltaji said with enthusiasm on a
weekend visit to the site.
Beltaji and his team of Jordanian archaeologists are convinced the
site is the biblical "Bethany beyond the Jordan," recorded in the
gospel of John, and have issued an open challenge to theological
archaeologists to come and prove them wrong.
Their theory is backed up by the discovery of an early Christian
settlement at Tell Kharrar, a hill which rises out of the reed beds at
the head of the Wadi Kharrar valley.
A Byzantine monastery and three churches have been unearthed along
with a series of shallow pools they believe were used for baptism when
the site rapidly grew into a pilgrimage centre in early Christianity.
The Vatican itself has given Wadi Kharrar a seal of approval,
supporting a pilgrimage to the site in January 2000.
The Holy See's representative in Amman, Dominique Rezeau, told AFP
Vatican theologians believe Jesus was "most probably" baptised on the
Jordanian side of the river, to the displeasure of Israel which is
promoting two rival baptism sites on its side of the Jordan.
But while Jordan touts Wadi Kharrar as "one of the three most
important sites in Christianity" next to Bethlehem and Jerusalem,
curious tourists currently have little chance of finding their way
through a sea of banana plantations to reach the serene location.
No signposts mark the road to the site which, up until 1994 when
Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty, lay on the front line between
two countries at a state of war.
And while the area's long-neglected infrastructure may have helped to
preserve the holy site, work on new roads and tourist facilities
appears to have hardly begun.
But the tourism minister -- who stressed he would not want "millions
of tourists" to swarm the fragile site in the year 2000 -- assured AFP
that the basics would be in place to welcome visitors and pilgrims by
the end of 1999.
"It won't be a Disneyworld, but the place will be accessible," Beltaji
said, giving his longer-term vision of developing a site stretching
from Tell Kharrar down to the River Jordan without jeopardising the
archaeological remains.
"You don't develop a site on a kill basis," he explained. "We're not
going to have some millennium festivities, light some candles and
disappear.
"After all, the year 2000 for us is a base year, not a peak year,"
said the minister, leaving open the possibility that the boars may
continue to find a refuge in Wadi Kharrar's green oasis in the new
millennium as they did in the days of John the Baptist, undisturbed by
an uncontrolled influx of tourists.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tzemach News Service items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 09:05:32 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
PA/PLO PARLIAMENT BUILDING: The first concrete evidence has
emerged that a Palestinian Authority (PA/PLO) parliament building is
under construction on the outskirts of East Jerusalem. The five-story
edifice has been officially described by the PA/PLO as an office
building and library. Workers on the site are forbidden to talk about
the building's purpose and the project is shrouded in a veil of
secrecy. But Khalil Tawfakji, director of the office of mapping and
geography in Orient House, the PA/PLO headquarters in East Jerusalem,
last week gave the first confirmation by any Palestinian official of
the true nature of the project. "This building is the Palestinian
parliament", Mr. Tawfakji said in an interview. "Abu Dis will be the
site of the symbols of Palestinian statehood such as the parliament
building and the office of the president. The Israelis have not
interfered with the construction, which indicates that a deal has
already been agreed. There will be a safe passage to East Jerusalem
from Abu Dis to enable Muslims to pray at the mosques on the Temple
Mount". A photographer managed to evade strict around-the- clock
security to take exclusive pictures from within the future
president's office, now under construction. "The wing housing Yasser
Arafat's office is just over the municipal boundary and is actually
within Israeli- controlled Jerusalem", said Mr. Tawfakji. This
careful positioning will allow Arafat to say that the capital of the
Palestinian state is in Jerusalem, even if it is only a few square
meters of the city. (THE GLOBE AND MAIL/ZINC)
IS HE SERIOUS? "Palestinian sentiments regarding Jerusalem are
identical to our own." So says the Minister for Jerusalem Affairs in
the Barak government, Chaim Ramon. Speaking on CHANNEL TWO television
last week, Ramon predicted that the Palestinians would ultimately
settle for de-facto Israeli sovereignty over the city. In Ramon's
view, if agreements are reached on other main issues, "the Jerusalem
issue will become less of a problem".
Meanwhile, speaking at a discussion on final status solutions for
Jerusalem held by the Knesset caucus for Jerusalem and the Jerusalem
Institute for Israel Studies, MK Ahmed Tibi, stated, "We don't want a
Berlin wall ... but the idea of control only over certain
neighborhoods is also unacceptable". (ARUTZ-7, JERUSALEM POST)
HIZB'ALLAH WILL NEVER RECOGNIZE ISRAEL: Hizb'Allah's deputy
leader Sheikh Naim Kassem declared Thursday that the Shi'ite terrorist
organization would not recognize Israel's right to exist even if all
Arab countries signed peace deals with it. Kassem, who spoke in an
interview with SKY NEWS, refused to give any assurances that
Hizb'Allah would stop fighting Israel in the event of an IDF
withdrawal from the Security Zone. The same statements were issued by
Iran's ambassador to Syria, Hossein Sheikh el-Islam, in the London
Arab daily AL-HAYAT.
Meanwhile, Sheikh el-Islam met Monday in Iran with a number of
Lebanese senior officials. The ambassador held separate meetings with
Seyed Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hizb'Allah, Sheikh Abdul-
amir Qabalan, the Shi'ite Mufti of Lebanon and Nabih Berri, President
of Lebanon's National Assembly. (JERUSALEM POST, IRNA)
US TROOP ON THE GOLAN? With Israel and Syria edging towards
resuming peace talks, the debate over the possibility of American
troops being deployed as peacekeepers on the Golan Heights after a
future Israeli withdrawal is picking up steam. Security analysts
believe the question of an American military role is back on the
agenda. "There is now an atmosphere of accepting peacekeeping forces
all over", said Shmuel Sandler of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic
Studies at Bar- Ilan University. In 1994, an 11-member team of
specialists - including five four-star generals - concluded: "There is
no mission or rationale for a U.S. peacekeeping force on the Golan
that would justify the resulting costs and risks.
Meanwhile Syria has denied a claim by former Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu this week that during his tenure an envoy had reached an
understanding with Assad that Israel could retain an early-warning
station on Mount Hermon, the northernmost and highest point of the
Golan. (CNS)
THIS WEEK IN JEWISH HISTORY:
12 July 1555: Pope Paul IV, in his "Bull Cum nimis absurdum", renewed
all previous anti-Jewish legislation and installed a ghetto in Rome.
Jews were forced to wear a given cap and forbidden to own real estate
or practice medicine on Christians. Communities weren't allowed to
have more than one synagogue and Jews in all the papal states were
forced to lock themselves into the confines of the ghettos each night.
13 July 1933: In Germany, Nazism was declared the sole German party.
15 July 1099: Godfrey de Bouillon entered Jerusalem, drove all the
Jews into the synagogue, and set them afire while he marched around
the synagogue singing, "Christ, we adore thee".
15 July 1834: The Inquisition was finally abolished by the Queen
mother, Maria Christina after nearly three and one half centuries.
16 July 1391: Valencia's King Pedro IV orders that all Jews who had
hidden in Christian houses to be allowed to return to their homes
unmolested. Furthermore he decreed that synagogues were not to be
turned into churches. This did not prevent him from personably
confiscating all the property of those Jews who had either been
murdered or fled. (WZO)
Tzemach News Service
Week Ending: 17 July 1999 / 4 Av 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Inside China Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 09:08:11 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Editor's Pick: Chronology of China's Nuclear Arms Development
(http://www.insidechina.com/features.php3?id=79395).
CHINA READY TO INTERVENE IF TAIWAN DECLARES INDEPENDENCE
BERLIN -- China reserves the right to intervene militarily if Taiwan
declares independence, China's ambassador to Germany, Lu Qiutian, has
told the Sunday paper Welt am Sonntag.
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=79596&text
TAIWAN FACES CHINA BACKLASH FROM STATEHOOD CLAIM
TAIPEI -- Taiwan faces a painful backlash to President Lee Teng-hui
defiance of Beijing's "One-China" policy but analysts and politicians
say they doubt the statement will result in military action.
http://www.insidechina.com/news.php3?id=79598&text
EU AND CHINA TO BEGIN MARITIME TRANSPORT TALKS
BRUSSELS -- The European Commission and China will begin negotiations
on maritime transport relations later this year, a European Union
spokesman said Friday.
http://invest.insidechina.com/business.php3?id=79589&text
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Russia Today items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 09:09:30 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
KILLER RUSSIAN VIRUS CLAIMS SIXTH LIFE, LEAVES 81 IN HOSPITAL
MOSCOW -- Health officials said Sunday a sixth person died overnight
from a killer virus which has seen panicked residents flee the
southern Russian village at the center of the outbreak.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=79593&text
RUSSIANS IMPRESSED, AND OUTSHONE, BY ARMSTRONG'S WALK ON THE MOON
MOSCOW -- The Soviet propaganda machine worked full steam to try to
downplay Neil Armstrong's historic walk on the moon but the Russian
scientific community knew the US feat opened a new era in space
exploration. http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=79594&text
BUSINESS TYCOON SAYS JEWISH ORIGINS COULD HURT POLL PROSPECTS
MOSCOW -- Influential Russian business baron Boris Berezovsky said
Saturday his Jewish origins could hurt his campaign to win a seat in
parliament in December elections.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=79595&text
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (7/18/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 14:08:36 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
BARAK SETS 15-MONTH DEADLINE
The media attention paid to the crash of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane
has eclipsed the visit in the U.S. of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Barak and U.S. President Clinton have agreed that over the next 15
months they will effect a "breakthrough in the peace process." The
deadline is apparently based around the upcoming American elections in
November 2000, as well as on Barak's promise to withdraw from Lebanon
within a year and American promises that final-status talks will take
place around the same time. The next three steps on the diplomatic
agenda involve a Barak-Arafat meeting right after Barak's return from
the U.S., a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Albright to the Middle
East, and a trip by Barak to Europe and the U.S.
Reactions in the Likud: "The setting of a deadline for the end of the
talks is a grave error, since it will serve as a lever by which to
pressure Israel to make concessions." MK Silvan Shalom, who served
as Deputy Defense Minister in the Netanyahu government, criticized
Barak's haste: "Within a few days after taking office, he has already
met with Arafat, Mubarak, Abdullah, and Clinton, without having
studied the matter, without having held a government meeting on the
matter, and he is already telling us that within such-and-such time
there will be an agreement... This is no way to do things." It has
also been reported that Barak has not even read the position papers
prepared for him by his staff, preferring instead to "take a fresh
approach to the matter."
The Pikuach Nefesh ("Saving Endangered Life") Organization will hold a
rally tonight in Tsfat, in cooperation with other local groups. The
Chief Rabbis of Tsfat, Upper Nazareth, and Kiryat Motzkin will speak
on "the critically dangerous situation regarding talks about
relinquishing vital areas of Eretz Yisrael to our enemies, G-d
forbid."
ISRAEL DECIDES ON F-16
Ehud Barak, in his capacity as Defense Minister, has also met with
U.S. Defense Secretary Cohen in Washington. Israel has finally made a
formal decision on which jet fighter it will purchase to revamp its
Air Force. The winner is Lockheed-Martin's F-16 jet, of which Israel
will buy 50, with an option to buy a similar amount later. The deal
is worth $2.5 billion, making it the largest-ever defense contract
signed by Israel. Boeing's F-15, which also competed for the Israeli
contract, was almost twice as expensive as the F-16. HaModia military
correspondent A. Pe'er reports that various factors were taken into
account, including the perception of Israel's long-term threats,
distance capabilities, manufacturing-rights granted to Israel for
plane-parts, hovering capabilities, maintenance costs, bomb capacity,
and more.
Former Defense Minister Moshe Arens said that he had come to the same
decision before leaving office, but at the request of Barak, agreed to
leave the final approval for him. The plane will not be fitted with
Israel's advanced ELTA radar, as Israel had requested, but rather with
the lesser-quality American-made radar - thus that Arab countries'
F-16's will have the same radar systems as Israel.
PALESTINIAN HOTEL VILLAGE PLANNED
The Palestinians are planning an extensive tourist project in Gush
Katif, with the declared intention of making life difficult for the
Jewish residents there. Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports
that Palestinian sources say that the project will include a hotel and
a gambling casino, although he added that Israeli security figures
said they knew nothing about plans for a casino. At a ceremony
marking the signing of a contract to fund the project between the
relevant Palestinian Authority offices and the Palestinian governors
of Khan Yunis and Rafiah last week, the latter announced that the
purpose of the project is to "strengthen Palestinian presence as part
of the struggle against the settlements." His colleague from Rafiah
said that the fight against the settlements is one of the primary
missions of the PA.
Huberman notes that over two years ago, the PA submitted plans for
Israeli approval regarding a tourist village all along the 5-kilometer
Palestinian shoreline of Gush Katif. The plans called for three
hotel-complexes of 180 rooms each. What made these "hotels"
noteworthy was that each room was to be 100 square meters in size
(over 1000 sq. ft.), thus that they could easily turn into full-scale
apartments and, in the end, a new Palestinian residential area. The
IDF has not yet approved or rejected the plans.
SADDAM SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ISRAEL
AP reports that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein said yesterday that Iraq
will not give up its fight against Israel until the Jews leave the
region or accept living as citizens under a Palestinian Arab state.
"Palestine is Arab. The Zionists must depart from it," Hussein said,
adding that other Arab leaders also felt the same way but are
reluctant to tell the Israelis.
This was the harshest public words Saddam has had for Israel since
the
1991 Gulf War.
ISRAEL STILL HAS SOME LEVERAGE
Israel has convinced the Americans - for now - to keep their
peacekeeping forces in the Sinai peninsula. The Pentagon decided to
accept the Israeli position, and to cancel a previous plan to reduce
the American presence in the Sinai. Ha'aretz reports that over the
past weeks, Pentagon officials had been claiming that there was no
further need to maintain a military force to ensure the long-standing
peaceful relations between Israel and Egypt. Israel, however, opposes
any change in the multi-national troop deployment, as long as the
peace with Egypt remains a "cold peace." The Pentagon finally decided
to adopt the Israeli position, fearing that a reduction of the force
would weaken the peace process. Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA notes that
Israel "won" this round because it still has land 'chips', which the
U.S. wants Israel to cede during upcoming negotiations. "This
experience is of particular significance as Israel considers
arrangements for a 'post chip' era in which it no longer has anything
left to offer," writes Lerner.
INTERNAL TENSIONS
Religious-secular tensions are back in the news. Trade Minister Ran
Cohen and Labor Minister Eli Yeshai traded barbs at today's government
meeting about the latter's enforcement of Sabbath laws. Cohen warned
that he would send provocatively-dressed inspectors to hareidi areas,
if Yeshai continues to send Druze inspectors to kibbutz shopping malls
on Shabbat. Cohen also hinted that it is he who is responsible for
the enforcement of the law against the import of non-kosher meat to
Israel. Acting Prime Minister David Levy asked that the two ministers
discuss the issues and try to reach an agreement after the Cabinet
session.
A headline this past Friday in a Tel Aviv newspaper demanded the
closing of a local yeshiva. Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Rabbi Chaim
Gans, dean of the 50-student institution in the heart of Tel Aviv,
said that though he believes only a small minority of residents back
the demand, the story simply strengthens his resolve regarding the
importance of the yeshiva: "The yeshiva's founders recognized the need
for observant Jews to connect themselves more significantly to the
multitudes of non-religious Jews in the Tel Aviv-Gush Dan region. We
feel that the artificial geographical divisions between the religious
and secular publics throughout Israel simply invite the kinds of rifts
and feelings of hatred expressed in the article. We also believe that
the very presence of believing Jews whose manner and approach to life
brings peace to the world - in accordance with the Talmudic dictum,
'Torah scholars increase peace' - can be a positive contribution to
the society," he explained.
Rabbi Gans deflected claims by MK Yossi Paritsky (Shinui) that the
institution was "an outreach organization disguising itself as a
hareidi yeshiva, whose true goal is religious coercion." Rabbi Gans
said, "First of all, we are not hareidi. We believe in the holiness
of the role that the modern State of Israel plays in the revival of
the Jewish people. Secondly, the claim of religious coercion is
baseless. We have absolutely no desire to force people to do
anything. Such accusations, though, do remind us that we must be
unconditionally accepting of our fellow Jews, not to issue patronizing
'bear-hugs' with the hope that others adopt our positions and beliefs.
If we all internalize the message of our new Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud
Barak, we will all begin to understand that 'we are truly one nation.'
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Sunday, July 18, 1999 / Av 5, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - A Big Bang Replicator?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 18 Jul 1999 09:10:48 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
July 18 1999
BRITAIN
by Jonathan Leake
Science Editor
A NUCLEAR accelerator designed to replicate the Big Bang is under
investigation by international physicists because of fears that
it might cause "perturbations of the universe" that could destroy
the Earth. One theory even suggests that it could create a black
hole.
Brookhaven National Laboratories (BNL), one of the American
government's foremost research bodies, has spent eight years
building its Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) on Long
Island in New York state. A successful test-firing was held on
Friday and the first nuclear collisions will take place in the
autumn, building up to full power around the time of the
millennium.
Last week, however, John Marburger, Brookhaven's director, set up
a committee of physicists to investigate whether the project
could go disastrously wrong. It followed warnings by other
physicists that there was a tiny but real risk that the machine,
the most powerful of its kind in the world, had the power to
create "strangelets" - a new type of matter made up of sub-atomic
particles called "strange quarks".
The committee is to examine the possibility that, once formed,
strangelets might start an uncontrollable chain reaction that
could convert anything they touched into more strange matter. The
committee will also consider an alternative, although less
likely, possibility that the colliding particles could achieve
such a high density that they would form a mini black hole. In
space, black holes are believed to generate intense gravitational
fields that suck in all surrounding matter. The creation of one
on Earth could be disastrous.
Professor Bob Jaffe, director of the Centre for Theoretical
Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is on
the committee, said he believed the risk was tiny but could not
be ruled out. "There have been fears that strange matter could
alter the structure of anything nearby. The risk is exceedingly
small but the probability of something unusual happening is not
zero."
Construction of the £350m RHIC machine started eight years ago
and is almost complete. On Friday scientists sent the first beam
of particles around the machine - but without attempting any
collisions.
Inside the collider, atoms of gold will be stripped of their
outer electrons and pumped into one of two 2.4-mile circular
tubes where powerful magnets will accelerate them to 99.9% of the
speed of light.
The ions in the two tubes will travel in opposite directions to
increase the power of the collisions. When they smash into each
other, at one of several intersections between the tubes, they
will generate minuscule fireballs of superdense matter with
temperatures of about a trillion degrees - 10,000 times hotter
than the sun. Such conditions are thought not to have existed -
except possibly in the heart of some dense stars -since the Big
Bang that formed the universe between 12 billion and 15 billion
years ago.
Under such conditions atomic nuclei "evaporate" into a plasma of
even smaller particles called quarks and gluons. Theoretical and
experimental evidence predicts that such a plasma would then emit
a shower of other, different particles as it cooled down.
Among the particles predicted to appear during this cooling are
strange quarks. These have been detected in other accelerators
but always attached to other particles. RHIC, the most powerful
such machine yet built, has the ability to create solitary
strange quarks for the first time since the universe began.
BNL confirmed that there had been discussion over the possibility
of "perturbations in the universe". Thomas Ludlam, associate
project director of RHIC, said that the committee would hold its
first meeting shortly.
John Nelson, professor of nuclear physics at Birmingham
University who is leading the British scientific team at RHIC,
said the chances of an accident were infinitesimally small - but
Brookhaven had a duty to assess them. "The big question is
whether the planet will disappear in the twinkling of an eye. It
is astonishingly unlikely that there is any risk - but I could
not prove it," he said.
source:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/99/07/18/stinwenws02029.htm
l?999
Brookhaven National Laboratories:
http://www.rhic.bnl.gov/
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - China News Digest items (7/19/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 08:56:59 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Non-binding US Congressional Resolution Says China Must Pay for
Riot Damage
[CND, 07/18/99] A non-binding US Congressional resolution demands that
Beijing pay for wanton riot damage to U.S. facilities in China before
Beijing receives any reparation for the bombing of the Chinese Embassy
in Belgrade, reported AFP on Friday.
Chairman of the House International Relations Committee,
Representative Benjamin Gilman (R-New York) submitted the resolution,
saying "the Chinese retaliated against our accidental bombing with
government-sanctioned violent protests" against U.S. buildings in
China.
For its part, Beijing insists that Washington first make compensation
for the deaths of three Chinese journalists and injuries to 20 others
during NATO's May 7 bombing of its embassy in Belgrade. (Sue Bruell,
YIN De An)
Report Urges Better Control Over Weapons Proliferation
[CND 07/18/99] A report submitted by a U.S. congressional commission
led by John Deutch, urges the Clinton Administration to better control
proliferation of nuclear technology to other nations by setting up a
chief's position, according to a UPI report on Friday.
This position would report directly to the national security adviser
and through him to the president and the vice president. The main
responsibility of this position will be to coordinate the efforts of
96 federal agencies, bureaus, and offices which are in charge of
countering proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism.
President Clinton immediately instructed his National Defense Adviser
Samuel Berger to work out the implementation of the recommendations in
a two-month time frame. In addition, congressional sources said that
bipartisan support will be given to ensure its key recommendations
will be enacted into law. (Yan WANG, WU Yiyi)
Opinions Divided on Reasons for Neutron Bomb Revelation
[CND, 07/18/99] The analyses of knowledgeable China observers are
sharply divided over whom the announcement of China's neutron bomb
capability was intended to impact most--the Taipei government or the
United States. An article in the Hong Kong Standard quotes experts
representing both opinions.
Si-Kuen LEE, a professor of political sciences at the National Taiwan
University, feels that the announcement was timed to discourage the
United States from backing Taiwanese President LEE Teng-Hui's stated
intention to deal with the Beijing government on a "state-to-state"
basis. "It would increase the mainland side's chips when negotiating
with the United States," he said. Professor Lee denied that China's
neutron bomb capability posed a real threat to the Taipei regime and
the residents of Taiwan, stating that Beijing intends to frighten the
Taiwanese but not destroy them. "Crises [across the straits] will
continue, military action is highly possible, but war is out of the
question."
The same observation was put forth by Arthur DING of National Chengchi
University, who expressed surprise at the revelation after 11 years of
silence on the issue. Ding said he felt the disclosure was linked to
anger at the United States following NATO's bombing of China's embassy
in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
On the other side, military observer MA Ting-shing of Hong Kong said
he felt the announcement was specifically timed to cause fear in
Taiwan following President Lee's escalating defiance of Beijing's "one
China" policy. He said that unilateral possession of neutron bomb
technology, which yields high fatality rates with minimal damage to
buildings or infrastructure, poses a frightening prospect for the side
that is unable to retaliate in kind.
An unnamed Western diplomat in Beijing echoed this opinion, saying
that Beijing was enraged by the recent pronouncements from Taipei and
that the neutron bomb disclosure "fits the pattern of slowly
escalating threats." (Phil Stephens, WU Yiyi)
via: CND-Global Editors <cnd-editor@cnd.org>
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Newsmen and religion seminars
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 09:15:18 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
The nation's political reporters will be learning more about
religion. Journalists from ABC's Nightline, CNN, The Wall Street
Journal, and the Los Angeles Times have signed up for seminars
taught by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (see link #3
below). The Washington, D.C.-based group received a $925,000
grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to bring religion to "one of the
most godless groups this side of the flaming abyss," The New York
Times said. The grant will be used for a series of seminars and
luncheons, a content-analysis of 30 years of media coverage of
religion, and three summits where reporters spend a day and a half
listening to theologians and academic experts. The point is to provide
information, not to get reporters to go to church, but "that would be
fine if they did," Michael Cromartie (see link #4 below), director of
the center's Evangelical Studies Project, said.
RELATED LINKS:
3: http://www.eppc.org/about.html
4: http://www.eppc.org/bios/mcbio2.html
http://www.religiontoday.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arabia On Line items (7/19/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 12:32:50 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Mideast Peace : Hezbollah's Own Agenda
http://www.akhbar.com/content/news/7_99/hezbollah_19.shtml
Barak: Palestinian Refugees Will Never Return
Israel's PM says Palestinian refugees will not be able to return to
Israel under any circumstances, press reports.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/7_99/barak19.shtml
Assad Planning Pro-Peace Government
The planned Syrian government reshuffle is to facilitate the renewal
of peace talks with Israel, paper reports.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/7_99/assad19.shtml
King Appoints New Jordanian Army Chief
A royal decree appoints General Mohammad Yussef Al-Malkawi as new
armed forces chief of staff, report says.
http://www.arabia.com/content/news/7_99/jordan19.shtml
Jordan Planning to Boost Economic Growth
Jordanian government will try to boost economic growth and cut
unemployment by lowering the population growth rate.
http://www.arabia.com/content/business/7_99/jordan_19.shtml
Dead Sea Fighting for Life
http://www.arabia.com/content/living/7_99/deadsea_17.shtml
JFK Jr, An American 'Prince,' Lost in Plane Crash
Rescuers conceded that John Kennedy Jr. was dead after his plane went
down in chilly ocean waters.
http://www.arabia.com/content/living/7_99/jfk_19.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - State of emergency declared in Brazil because of drought
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 12:50:12 -0500
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
July 18, 5:52 p.m. ET
State of emergency declared in Brazil because of drought
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) A severe drought has prompted
officials in an impoverished northeastern Brazilian state to declare a
state of emergency in 26 cities, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The drought has destroyed more than half the area's agricultural
crops, affecting thousands in the southern part of Piaui state, 1,500
miles north of Rio de Janeiro.
"Many of these municipalities haven't seen rain for a year," Osmar
Araujo, Piaui's civil defense secretary, was quoted as telling the daily
Folha de Sao Paulo.
In Avelino Lopes, the only water for the municipality's 12,000
inhabitants comes from a single truck. Local officials predict
widespread starvation if state and federal authorities don't react soon.
Last year, 221 towns declared a state of emergency as the northeast
suffered its worst drought in 15 years.
The drought-plagued northeast has 45 million residents.
Most victims are subsistence farmers.
via: Newmill <hblonde1@tampabay.rr.com>
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Six billionth person born
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 13:28:18 -0500
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
July 19, 1999
CENSUS BUREAU ESTIMATES 6 BILLIONTH PERSON
The US Census Bureau estimated that the planet's six billionth person
was born sometime last weekend. Their PopClock of current estimated
world population is online at
http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
via Matt Rosenberg,
Georgraphy News,
http://geography.about.com
For more info, please see
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/n-006-01.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mini circuits may speed computers
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 19:05:11 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
From:
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990716/V000712-071699-idx.html
Mini Circuits May Speed Computers
By Anne M. Peterson
Associated Press Writer
Friday, July 16, 1999; 6:16 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Researchers have created computer circuitry in a
single molecule -- a breakthrough that could open a brave new world of
tiny computers billions of times more powerful than current PCs and
sensors that could be injected into the bloodstream to diagnose
disease.
``What we are proposing is essentially building a computer in a test
tube,'' said Phil Kuekes, a computer architect for Hewlett-Packard in
Palo Alto. ``Eventually computers are going to be so small you won't
be aware of them. The computer won't just be in your wristwatch -- it
will be in the fibers of your clothes.''
Researchers at Hewlett-Packard and the University of California at Los
Angeles, in a paper published Friday in the journal Science, reported
early success in combining computer technology with chemistry.
They have found a way to make part of a molecule operate like a switch
that can be turned on or off -- the first step in basic computing.
Currently, computers are run by semiconductor silicon chips that are
increasingly jammed with transistors to make them faster and more
powerful. Within about 15 years, scientists say, it simply won't be
possible to push such chips any further.
That's where ``chemically assembled electronic nanocomputers,'' or
CAENs, come in. Scientists say such molecular-based computers will be
much smaller, much more powerful and a lot less expensive than
silicon-based counterparts.
Researchers created their switch using two regular wires and synthetic
molecules. For now, however, the device can switch only from one state
to another and cannot switch repeatedly, which it must do if it is to
replace silicon-based chips.
``What we have here for the first time is a molecular device that is a
real technology -- not just an isolated device,'' said UCLA chemistry
professor James R. Heath, who led the team. ``This is a real step
toward making a molecular computer.''
The next step is for scientists to put the molecules between much
smaller wires, and create a device that can perform basic computer
functions.
``We're hoping to build something as complex as a chip you could have
bought in the 1970s,'' Kuekes said. ``It will be very simple, but the
point is it will have a real legitimate function, in a space much
smaller than anyone can make a transistor now.''
Although substantial molecular electronics are still a decade away,
researchers are already excited about the possible applications.
``Imagine millions of tiny computers everywhere in our lives,'' said
Eric Wong, a UCLA researcher involved in the project. ``Tiny probes in
the body, monitoring body functions -- perhaps a very sophisticated
pacemaker.''
via: bible_prophecy-news@onelist.com
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/19/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 19:11:18 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Way to vary speed of bullet found
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - It sounds like something from a science
fiction tale - a rifle that can be adjusted so its user fires bullets
at varying speeds, such as "stun," "disable" or "destroy." Now
researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory say they have made
the first step toward building such a weapon. A prototype rifle
equipped with an electronic firing mechanism and guided by a laser
rangefinder is still about a year away. But researchers say they
already have developed an aluminum-based gunpowder replacement that
can control the speed of a bullet. Government officials, including
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, witnessed a test firing of the
technology in May. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560351849-69f
*** Body art bars possible blood donors
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Chris Wood waited in line for a blood drive at
Western Hills High School, ready to do his public service. First, a
scan of the list of disqualifiers: anemia, antibiotic usage, abnormal
blood pressure. No problem, Wood thought. But, as he plunged farther
down the list, he spied another disqualifier: Tattoos. Oops. He wasn't
expecting that. "It came out of nowhere," said Wood. That was in 1998,
his junior year. Wood, who is bound for Western Kentucky University in
the fall, had gotten a jester's head tattoo on his hip while on spring
break. At the same time, he unwittingly disqualified himself as a
blood donor for one year. He wasn't alone. Blood-donation workers say
it now happens routinely. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560350446-405
*** China nears manned space flight
BEIJING (AP) - If the experts are right, China is nearly ready to put
astronauts into space. They expect the Chinese to launch an unmanned
spacecraft later this year and put human crews into orbit next year.
That would make China only the third nation, after Russia and the
United States, to put a human being in space. "The Chinese will be
able to show the rest of the world that, despite what everybody has
said about them, they have developed the capability to put people in
space," said Phillip Clark, a British expert on the Chinese program.
China has ploddingly progressed toward a manned space mission for more
than three decades. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560342612-c36
*** Scientist memorialized in fireworks
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - John A. Kotowski was a rocket scientist. After he
died, his family thought it fitting to send his remains into space.
Well, almost. Kotowski, who designed rockets, missiles and a drill
that collected samples from the moon's surface, died last summer at
age 85. On Saturday night, he received a nearly astral send-off when
his ashes were scattered in a 3-1/2 minute fireworks display over the
San Francisco Bay. "He would love every moment of it," daughter-in-law
Jane Kotowski said. "It just suited his personality." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560343863-b85
*** Ark. street may bear Clinton's name
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - In the euphoria over landing Bill Clinton's
presidential library, city directors voted to rename a portion of
Little Rock's main drag "President Clinton Avenue." That was November
1997. Now some local officials are reconsidering the honor. Little
Rock city directors are set to vote Tuesday on whether to revoke their
pledge to rename Markham Street, one of the city's oldest and longest
thoroughfares. Some city officials say the move is being done to
preserve the historic value of the street - its addresses include the
Old State House, where Clinton celebrated election night victories in
1992 and 1996, and the future library. Critics say the change was
proposed because of Clinton's troubles during 1998 - the revelation of
the Monica Lewinsky affair and his subsequent impeachment. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560350419-2a1
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel Line items (7/19/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 19:13:54 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
ENVIRONMENTAL PANEL TO ADVISE MINISTRY
Minister of the Environment Dalia Itzik formed a national
environmental panel to report to her ministry on the state of the
environment, YEDIOT AHRONOT reported. The panel will be
comprised of representatives from the academic community,
environmental activists, businessmen and public officials.
According to HA'ARETZ, Itzik has called for a state of emergency
regarding Israel's water supply, announcing that soon there will
be no water left. Water Commissioner Meir Ben-Meir responded
that he is not willing to cause a public panic and that the
country is not approaching the dreaded "red lines' at its
national water reservoirs. Hitting the red line means exposing
the underground water reservoirs to contamination and salination.
A salty aquifer cannot supply drinking water, irrespective of how
much liquid it contains.
A report published last week by former Water Commissioner
Professor Dan Zaslavsky of the Technion claims that the present
pumping of water beyond that which is replenished by rainwater is
causing large-scale salination. Zaslavsky estimates the financial
damage caused by this process at $1 billion a year, and warns
that absent large-scale water desalination or substantial water
conservation programs, Israel will suffer drinking water
shortages long before the year 2010.
ALGERIAN PRESIDENT SEEKS PEACE WITH ISRAEL
For the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict,
President of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflilea announced his
intention "to improve relations and establish peace with Israel,"
YEDIOT AHRONOT reported. Nevertheless, the newly elected Algerian
President stressed that the Arabs should not retreat from
claiming "one centimeter of land in southern Lebanon, the Golan
Heights, and the West Bank." His remarks were reported
throughout the Arab world.
Foreign Minister David Levy said on Sunday that he welcomes the
opportunity for diplomatic relations with Algeria.
via: Consulate of Israel - New York <nycon@interport.net>
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 20, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 08:44:00 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
8:00 PM Eastern
HIST - HISTORY UNDERCOVER - "Roswell: An Alien
Obsession" - The debate over a possible UFO crash in 1947
Roswell, N.M.(CC)(TVG)
MSNBC - TIME & AGAIN - Apollo 11 and man's first
steps on the moon.(CC)
9:00
PBS - NOVA - "Special Effects: Titanic and Beyond" -
Special effects make movies like ``Titanic'' come to
life.(CC)(TVG)
A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Cop World" - Different
operational strategies in China; Miami; Istanbul;
Moscow.(CC)
HIST - TALES OF THE FBI - "The Bureau vs. the Klan" -
Ku Klux Klan murders of the '60s draw the FBI into a secret
war on terror.(CC)(TVPG)
10:00
PBS - P.O.V. - "School Prayer: A Community at War" - A
woman wants separation of church and state in her children's
public school.(CC)(TVPG)
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Jewish Radicals Raise Funds to Replace Mosque?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 12:23:45 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Tuesday, July 20, 1999: The Culture Channel
Jewish Radicals Raise Funds to Replace Mosque
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli militants are raising funds
to rebuild the Jewish temple on a site now occupied by Al-Aqsa
mosque in east Jerusalem, the Haaretz newspaper reported on
Tuesday.
The Jewish radicals held a secret fundraising meeting in a
Jerusalem hotel several weeks ago and plan to hold further
conferences to build a "temple treasury" for the project, the
newspaper said.
The campaign is being led by Yehuda Etzion, who was jailed in the
1980s for organizing attacks on Palestinians, and involves
several right-wing religious groups, it said.
A flyer produced for the campaign called on the Jewish people "to
fulfill their responsibilities to rebuild the temple."
According to Jewish tradition, the first Jewish temple, built
under King David, was destroyed by the Babylonians in the sixth
century before the Common Era, and the second was razed by the
Romans in the year 70.
Muslims subsequently built Al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the
Rock on the raised platform which formerly held the temple and is
still known to Jews as Temple Mount.
The last vestige of the temple, the Western Wall of the mount, is
today the holiest side in Judaism.
Muslims call the site, from where the prophet Mohammed is said to
have ascended to heaven, Al-Haram Al-Sherif.
Calls by Jewish militants for construction of the Third Temple in
the place of Al-Haram Al-Sherif are a constant source of tensions
between Israel and the Palestinians.
http://www.arabia.com/content/culture/7_99/mosque_20.shtml
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 6,000 years
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 18:08:45 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
The Talmud states (Sanhedrin 97a) that there are three distinct
periods of history that make up a total of 6,000 years: 2,000 years
of spiritual desolation, 2,000 years of Torah dissemination, and
2,000 years of Moshiach's coming.
--- BPR
BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/20/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 18:16:07 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Vatican official miffed at Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - A papal representative shocked listeners at a
conference on anti-Semitism by saying that Israel is to blame for
tensions between Jews and the Catholic Church. The Rev. David Yager
said at the conference Monday that Roman Catholic institutions are no
longer anti-Semitic and that Israel's anti-Catholic attitude is
preventing relations from warming as Israel prepares to greet millions
of Christian pilgrims at the start of the new millennium. The priest,
who represents the Holy See on a bilateral committee to improve
relations with Israel, said that Jewish mistrust of Catholics was
unjustified and that Israel was creating antagonism. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560365040-f65
*** Part of Great Wall razed for bridge
BEIJING (AP) - One of the oldest sections of China's Great Wall has
been destroyed to make way for a highway bridge, officials in the
northern city of Baotou said Tuesday. Provincial authorities have
threatened severe punishment for those responsible for digging up the
7,900-square-foot section of the wall, believed built around 100 B.C.,
during the Zhou dynasty. "This has really caught the attention of our
leaders," said Zheng Shuqing of the Baotou Relics Bureau, which is
responsible for conservation of local antiquities. An investigation is
underway to find out who destroyed the wall. The same section of the
wall, which runs through long stretches of northern China, had been
damaged during earlier construction. This time, the entire section was
dug up, according to a report in Tuesday's Beijing Evening News. ###
*** Town votes to change city seal
REPUBLIC, Mo. (AP) - Leaders of this small Missouri town have agreed
to remove the Christian fish symbol from the city seal, ending an
18-month legal battle that has driven a wedge between neighbors.
Gasps, hisses and shouts of "Spineless cowards!" filled a packed
community center as Mayor Doug Boatright announced his tie-breaking
vote Monday night. "This has been a very trying, a very difficult year
and a half," Boatright said, his voice shaking slightly. "There are a
lot of hard feelings on both sides." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560367070-b27
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Ascend to Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 18:23:11 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Temple Mount Faithful Calls Upon the Masses to Ascend to Temple Mount on
Tisha B'Av
(IsraelWire-7/20)
The Temple Mount Faithful organization has once again called upon the
masses to come to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, wearing
sackcloth, marking the day of mourning for the destruction of the First and
Second Temples.
"Come and assist in returning the glory and splendor to the Temple Mount,
Jerusalem and the entire country," reads the Temple Mount release.
The Temple Mount Faithful has been among those fighting to regain Jewish
control of the holiest site to the Jewish People, calling for Freedom of
Worship for Jews on the Mount, currently barred by the Moslem Wakf.
Temple Mount Faithful leaders are calling for the banning of the PLO
Authority (PA) flag on the Mount, continued Wakf construction on the Mount,
and the continuation of the 'destruction of the Third Temple in our time.'
On Thursday, Tisha B'Av, participants will meet at 9:00am at the Western
Wall Plaza, near the Mugrabi Gate, which leads to the Temple Mount. Once
again they will attempt to offer their prayers on the Mount, despite
objections by Moslem officials entrusted to protect the site by the
government of Israel.
http://www.israelwire.com/New/990720/99072012.html
via: End_Times_News@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Meteorite spotted over Rome, hundreds call police
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 13:58:50 -0500
From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>
July 19, 9:39 a.m. ET
Meteorite spotted over Rome, hundreds call police
ROME (Reuters) - Romans deluged emergency services with calls after
spotting a luminous flying object, most probably a meteorite, in the
sky in the early hours of Monday.
Police said the callers reported seeing a "fireball" or a "luminous trail
moving at low speed across the sky" over the Italian capital.
Many Romans, several hundreds according to Italian media, rushed to
phone the police and the fire brigade at about 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) to
report the sighting.
Astrophysicist Margherita Hack said in an interview with RAI state
television that the object was a big meteorite.
via: Newmill <hblonde1@tampabay.rr.com>
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 21, 1999 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:12:47 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
9:00 PM Eastern
TLC - GREATEST INVENTION: MICROCHIP - Scientists engineer
the chip for the 21st century.(CC)(TVG)
9:30
TBN - JACK VAN IMPE PRESENTS
10:00
DISC - INSIDE THE SPACE SHUTTLE - The history of NASA and
the space shuttle program.(CC)(TVG)
HIST - STEREOS - Capturing and transmitting music; Edison
phonograph; digital sound.(CC)(TVG)
TLC - GREATEST INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: CIA - The highly
secretive agency combats international
terrorism.(CC)(TVG)
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Not the end of the world
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:25:22 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_399000/399513.stm
Tuesday, July 20, 1999 Published at 18:38 GMT 19:38 UK
Sci/Tech
Not the end of the world
Two long tunnels bring together matter at near the speed of light
By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
Scientists have quashed suggestions that a =A3350m experiment planned
for the autumn could cause the destruction of the Earth.
The director of the laboratory commissioning the machine says there is
"no chance" of the atom-smashing experiment causing a disaster, such
as a black hole that would devour the entire Earth.
Researchers have spent eight years constructing the Relativistic Heavy
Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long
Island in New York state. Its goal is to smash the nuclei of atoms
together and study their wreckage to determine the fundamental
properties of matter.
RHIC takes atoms of gold and swings them around two 3.8 kilometre (2.4
mile) circular tubes where powerful magnets accelerate them to almost
the speed of light. When they collide, they do so in minute collisions
that are 10,000 times hotter than the Sun.
Scientists hope to create a quark-gluon plasma, a fundamental state of
matter that probably has not existed naturally in the Universe since
the Big Bang.
Armageddon?
But could they create something else, a mini-black hole perhaps or a
new form of particle with unknown properties that could expand and
engulf the Earth?
That was the suggestion made recently in the letters section of the
Scientific American magazine, "I am concerned that physicists are
going where it is unsafe to go," said one correspondent
If a mini black hole was created then some speculate that, in certain
circumstances and if it was next to a concentration of mass, it could
become stable and continue to grow. It would be drawn towards the
centre of the Earth, where it would start to grow. It might engulf the
entire Earth within minutes.
Too far-fetched
But it is all a bit-far fetched according to the scientists
commissioning the particle collider. John Marburger, Director of
Brookhaven Laboratories says: "I am familiar with the issue of
possible dire consequences of experiments at the RHIC, which
Brookhaven Lab is now commissioning.
"These issues have been raised and examined by responsible scientists
who have concluded that there is no chance that any phenomenon
produced by RHIC will lead to disaster.
"The amount of matter involved in the RHIC collisions is exceedingly
small - only a single pair of atomic nuclei is involved in each
collision. Our Universe would have to be extremely unstable in order
for such a small amount of energy to cause a large effect."
"On the contrary, the Universe appears to be quite stable against
releases of much larger amounts of energy that occur in astrophysical
processes."
He emphasises that RHIC collisions will be within the spectrum of
energies encompassed by naturally occurring cosmic radiation that
strikes the Earth all the time.
Experts in the relevant fields of physics have been asked to produce a
single comprehensive report on the safety of each of the speculative
"disaster scenarios". When completed it will be placed on the
laboratory's web site.
Familiar fear
It is not the first time that scientists and others have worried that
they may produce some form of chain-reaction in their particle
colliders that may endanger the Earth.
In the 1970's the Russian physicist Yakob Zeldovich expressed concern
that experiments being carried out at the Cern European particle
physics centre in Switzerland may result in catastrophy. He later
carried out more calculations and decided that his fears were
groundless.
In 1995 protestors picketed the Fermilab laboratory near Chicago
carrying the banner "Fermilab: home of the next supernova." Experts
said their fears were baseless.
via: isml@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (7/20/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:32:10 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Temple Mount Faithful group gets permission to pray on Mount on Tisha
Be'av
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Jerusalem Post
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- The High Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the
police, in principle, should allow small groups of the right-wing
Temple Mount Faithful organization to visit the Temple Mount site
tomorrow, Tisha Be'av. Gershon Salomon, head of the Temple Mount
Faithful, had originally sought permission to hold a prayer service
and recite the Book of Lamentations on the day which commemorates the
destruction of the two temples. Jerusalem police chief Cmdr. Yair
Yitzhaki had told Salomon that he would only allow his followers to
visit the site in pairs, the custom until now, because of the
hostility between Palestinians and the organization, which calls for
the abolition of Wakf control of the Temple Mount. However, a panel of
three justices ruled that the police should follow a ruling issued by
the High Court in 1994, when Salomon petitioned against a police
decision not to let members of the group visit the site because of
Israeli-Palestinian tensions triggered by the massacre of Palestinian
worshippers by Baruch Goldstein a few months earlier. At the time, the
court ruled that a balance must be maintained between the need to
preserve public order and the right of Jews to enter the Temple Mount
on Tisha Be'av. Police will uphold the ruling, said deputy Jerusalem
police spokeswoman Sigal Toledo yesterday, but she refused to state
how many Temple Mount Faithful activists would be allowed to enter the
Temple Mount at one time. Toledo said she was unfamiliar with the
ruling, but added that "we will abide by the court ruling."
Jordan denies talks about confederation with Palestine
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- Jordanian Information Minister Nasser Lawzi has
denied that Jordan and the Palestinian government had talks about any
future unionist formula between themselves. This came from a reply to
reporters replying to news asking about establishing a Jordanian -
Palestinian confederation. He stated that Jordan has revealed its
position toward the question of a confederation in that the remarkable
relations between Jordan and the Palestinians should translate
themselves into the actual reality in one way or the other in the near
future, adding that any unionist formula should be made at the will of
the two peoples and following the declaration of the Palestinian state
and its supremacy on its territories and people with Jerusalem as a
capital. The Jordanian minister added that no talks were made on the
future unionist formula during the continuing coordination and
dialogue with the Palestinians
Palestine reject Barak's statements on refugees not returning
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Arabic News
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- The Palestinian National Authority said it opposes
statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday in
Washington, in which he excluded the probability of the Palestinian
refugees' return to their homes and his call for settling them in the
Arab states. They said that Barak's statements also contradict the
agreement signed between the two sides in 1999, as they are considered
to be a unilateral action by Israel. Asaad Abd El-Rahman, a member of
the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who
deals with the refugee issue said these statements contradict the
peace process, the agreements signed between the two sides and
resolutions of international legitimacy. He assured the PA's and
Palestinian Liberation Organization's opposition to all Barak's
statements that unified Jerusalem is a capital for Israel and that the
refugees cannot come back. He said Jerusalem is a part of the occupied
lands and the capital of the independent Palestinian state and that
the Palestinian refugees must return to their houses so that a just
and comprehensive peace can take place in the area, because without an
Arab Jerusalem and the refugee's return peace will not take place.
Wakf establishes another mosques under the Temple Mount
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- In total disregard for local building laws and
codes, and the preservation of archeological artifacts, the Moslem
Wakf in charge of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City has erected
another new mosque which occupies approximately 1,000 square meters
(about 10,000 square feet). The project was undertaken primarily by
the Islamic Movement run by Israeli Arabs. The destruction of walls,
ancient ruins, removal of artifacts and the entire project was
accomplished without any supervision of officials of the Israel
Antiquities Society, a move which experts now admit may have disturbed
or destroyed some of the most important archeological finds in the
capital. Adnan al Husseini, the executive director of the Wakf stated
in response on Monday, "We do not need any building permits or
licenses since this is a Moslem controlled site. This has been our
policy since 1967." According to Amir Drori, who heads the Israel
Antiquities Society, since the opening of the Hashmonean Tunnel in
September 1996 and the bloody Arab riots that followed, his
organization has ceased its practice of constantly monitoring the
sited under Wakf control. Senior police commanders admitted being
aware of the ongoing Wakf construction - explaining they have an
understanding that as long as the construction goes on quietly, they
would not intervene unless receiving orders from "higher up."
Taiwan president make's public stand on statehood claim
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: AP
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- President Lee Teng-hui on Tuesday stood behind his
claim that Taiwan and China are two states, calling it a necessary
step to prepare the capitalist island for talks on eventual
reunification with the communist mainland. Lee insisted he was not
championing formal independence for Taiwan, which China says would
lead to war. But Beijing was not appeased, reiterating its demand for
Taiwan to stop ``all activities aimed at splitting the country.'' In
his first public remarks since setting off the uproar, Lee said his
declaration that China must deal with Taiwan ``on a state-to-state
basis'' was intended to establish an equal political status for the
two that could allow real negotiations on an amicable future.
China puts it's military on high alert
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: Reuters
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- China has put its military on high alert amid a row
with Taiwan over the estranged island's political future, a
Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper said on Tuesday. But the United
States said it saw no signs China was mobilising the 2.5
million-strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) and suggested any
military movements were routine. Taiwan's military dismissed Hong Kong
newspaper reports last week that the PLA had stepped up training
drills. China's state media was silent on Tuesday on what the military
was up to. But the English-language China Daily published a public
opinion poll on its front page that showed 86.9 percent of 1,957
respondents in seven cities would back any government decision to
invade Taiwan if the island declared independence. The poll, conducted
by the Social Survey Institute of China, showed 94.7 percent felt
"disgust" at Taiwan's policy shift. Chinese President Jiang Zemin told
U.S. counterpart Bill Clinton on Sunday that Beijing had not ruled out
the use of force against Taiwan in the latest crisis, sparked by
Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui junking of the longstanding "One China"
policy. Wen Wei Po, Beijing's newspaper in the former British colony
of Hong Kong, said the PLA had been put on high alert but did not say
when. It reported troop movements in China's southeast provinces
facing Taiwan involving field units of the Nanjing, Jinan and
Guangzhou military regions. It quoted General Su Jing, deputy chief of
staff of the Nanjing Military Region, as saying Lee was playing with
fire and would burn himself. The newspaper carried a front-page a
photograph of soldiers carrying heavy equipment marching next to a
column of armoured personnel carriers. It did not say when the picture
was taken.
Israel minister to restore Palestinian residency rights
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: Tampa Bay Online (AP)
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- In a goodwill gesture to the Palestinians, Israel's
new interior minister said today he plans to end the practice of
revoking the residency permits of Arabs residents of Jerusalem who
have lived abroad or outside the city for several years. Such a policy
change would help restore the trust between Israel and the
Palestinians as they move to negotiate a permanent peace agreement,
including the future of Jerusalem whose eastern sector is claimed by
the Palestinians as a capital. The revoking of residency permits is an
especially sore point for the Palestinians, who have accused Israel of
using unfair rules to reduce the Palestinian population in east
Jerusalem and cement Israeli control over all of the disputed city.
The Israeli human rights group Betselem said that since Israel
captured east Jerusalem - along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip - in
the 1967 Mideast war, it has revoked the residency permits of 5,385
Palestinians from Jerusalem. In all, Jerusalem has 430,000 Jewish and
200,000 Palestinian residents. Israel's new interior minister, Natan
Sharansky, toured his ministry's overcrowded branch in east Jerusalem
today and said he was upset by the conditions he found. Dozens of
Palestinians had spent the night camped outside the office, some
sleeping in mattresses, in hopes of winning a turn to speak to a
ministry clerk. "People are suffering," said Sharansky, a former
Soviet dissident, adding that the long lines reminded him of hard
times in the Soviet Union. Sharansky said he hoped to improve service,
perhaps add staff and move the office to a bigger building. Sharansky
said he planned to stop the practice of revoking residency rights of
those who have spent more than seven years abroad or in the West Bank.
With housing scarce in east Jerusalem, many Palestinians moved to the
city's West Bank suburbs over the years. In 1996, the hard-line
government of Benjamin Netanyahu came to power and began revoking
residency permits of those who had moved out of the city or had been
living abroad. Betselem said the number of revoked permits jumped from
96 in 1995 to 689 in 1996. Those stripped of their Jerusalem identity
card usually manage to enter the city, but are no longer able to get
health care or send their children to Jerusalem schools. Their
movements are also limited, as they fear passing through Israeli army
checkpoints between Jerusalem and the West Bank. "It is time to change
the policy and the cancelation of residency rights. I will work toward
making policy changes," Sharansky said. He said change would not be
immediate and that he needed to study whether new legislation was
necessary. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Ziad Abu Ziad welcomed
Sharansky's pledge. ``I hope that this promise will be translated into
action,'' Abu Ziad said.
Barak administration doesn't intend to close Orient House
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- Minsiter of Internal Security Shlomo Ben-Ami stated
on Monday that his office will not move forward with plans to close
the PLO Authority (PA) headquarters in eastern Jerusalem, Orient
House, as was the intention of the former Netanyahu administration.
Ben-Ami added however that his position did not differ from his
predecessor; namely, the PA may not conduct official activities in
eastern Jerusalem as per the Oslo Accords. Ben-Ami told Israel Radio
he would explain the administration's position to Faisal Husseini, who
hold the PA Jerusalem portfolio.
Fundraising Underway for Third Temple
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- Temple Mount activists are stepping-up efforts to
regain control of the Temple Mount and begin efforts towards the
construction of the Third Temple. Efforts by Chai Vekaiyam leader
Yehuda Etzion and other Temple Mount activists brought about the first
meeting which was held several weeks ago in Jerusalem in the hope of
launching the "Temple Treasury" project to begin raising funds for the
construction of the Third Temple. Also involved in the project are
Yoel Lerner and Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and leaders of the Temple Mount
Faithful organization. Etzion, who has been at the forefront of the
battle to regain Jewish control of the Temple Mount, the site of the
First and Second Temple, points out that Jewish law dictates that the
Jewish people make preparations for the building of the final temple.
This, he explains, includes the raising of the necessary funds to
undertake the project. He explained the monies collected would be
traded for gold, which must be set aside for the time when
construction could get underway. Etzion added the project would
increase awareness among Jews, with many then asking themselves, "What
have I done today to bring the construction closer to becoming a
reality?" In June 1967, Israel liberated the Old City of Jerusalem,
including the Temple Mount, the holiest site to the Jewish people, but
saw fitting to place control of the site in the hands of the Moslem
Wakf, which until today, has barred Jews from praying on the Mount and
denying them Freedom of Worship. The High Court of Justice has
repeatedly called to permit Jews to pray on the Mount, but has always
placed the final decision in the hands of Israel police - permitting
the cancellation of Jewish prayer at anytime police thought the public
safety may be compromised. To date, police have always used the clause
to deny Jews permission to pray on the Mount and the Wakf threats of
violence in light of any attempts by Jews to pray have succeeded in
keeping the area off limits to Jewish worshippers. Etzion and his
followers as well as the Temple Mount Faithful organization, continue
to call for the expulsion of the Wakf and demand the government of
Israel take control of the Holy Site, and once again cleanse it of
foreign deities and begin preparations for the construction of the
Third Temple.
Latest U.S.-British strikes on Iraq condemned by Russia
Weekend News Today
By Kelly Pagatpatan
Source: Reuters
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- Russia on Tuesday condemned U.S.-British air
strikes on Iraq, which it said had killed 14 civilians in recent days
and represented a continuing violation of international law. The U.S.
military reported on Sunday that its aircraft, helping to enforce a
no-fly zone in southern Iraq, struck missile and communications sites
after Iraqi gunners opened fire. The Iraqi News Agency put the death
toll at 17. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vladimir Rakhmanin
called the strikes a ``crude violation of the fundamental norms of
international law.'' ``According to received information, as a result
of the air strikes in recent days, 14 peaceful civilians were killed
and 17 were injured,'' he said. The Iraqi News Agency originally had
originally put the death toll at 14 and then revised it to 17. ``These
no-fly zones over the territory of a sovereign country were set up by
London and Washington without the approval of the U.N. Security
Council, under the slogan of 'protection for the civilian
population','' Rakhmanin said.
Joint statement by Clinton and Barak - part 1
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- This article is in two parts due to its length and
importance. The President and the Prime Minister have agreed on the
need to assign a top priority to the pursuit of peace in the Middle
East. They have also reached a meeting of minds on the desirability of
making an intensive effort to move ahead simultaneously on all tracks
of the peace process, bilateral and multilateral, as well as on the
important role that would be played by the United States in support of
the process. Clinton assured Prime Minister Barak that the US would be
ready to assist and contribute in any way it can to achieving an
historical reconciliation that will usher in a new era of peace,
security, prosperity and cooperation in the Middle East. He reiterated
the US commitment to help Israel minimize the risks and costs it
incurs as it pursues peace and affirmed the broad US backing that
would be accorded to Israel, to facilitate the pursuit of peace.
Recognizing that the US-Israel relationship serves as a cornerstone
for pursuing peace, they vowed to strengthen and deepen this unique
relationship, which is based on shared democratic values, bonds of
friendship, common interests and joint cooperation in so many areas of
human endeavor. Clinton reiterated the steadfast commitment of the US
to Israel's security, to maintain its qualitative edge, and to
strengthen Israel's ability to deter and defend itself, by itself,
against any threat or a possible combination of threats. The United
States and Israel will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which
will express their joint intention to restructure US bilateral
assistance to Israel. The MOU will state the United States' intention
to sustain its annual military assistance to Israel, and incrementally
increase its level by one-third over the next decade to a level of
$2.4 billion subject to Congressional consultations and approval. At
the same time, the MOU will provide for a gradual phase-out of US
economic aid to Israel, over a comparable period, as the Israeli
economy grows more robust, less dependent on foreign aid, and more
integrated in world markets. The two leaders also reviewed the status
of the US-Israeli defense relationship and agreed that existing
defense channels of coordination and cooperation work effectively.
These would have to be further consolidated and strengthened under a
Defense Policy Advisory Group (DPAG) to meet the new challenges of
WMD, counter proliferation (CP) and theater missile defense (TMD). The
Group will coordinate and plan the cooperation between the US
Department of Defense and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. In
addition, the two leaders agreed on the components of the $1.2 billion
military aid package for Israel that the Administration has already
requested from Congress. The President assured the Prime Minister of
his intention to work closely with the Congress to seek expedited
action for funding, starting in FY 1999, for this package to support
Israel as it implements the Wye River Memorandum. The package will
have three components: 1) Assistance to the Israeli Defense Forces as
they carry out further redeployments, including projects which will be
managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. 2) Assistance in meeting
Israel's broader strategic requirements, including Theater Missile
Defense (TMD), helicopters, and communications equipment and
munitions. 3) Assistance in meeting the increased cost of Israeli
counter-terrorism efforts. The two leaders also agreed on the
importance of spreading the benefits of peace to all those who
participate in the process. In that context, they expressed support
for the $400 million in assistance to the Palestinian people and $300
million for Jordan that is part of the Administration's request to
Congress to support implementation of the Wye River Memorandum.
President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak agreed that Israel faces
new challenges in the strategic arena, particularly the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles that threaten to
undermine Israel's security. In this context, the two leaders agreed
to step up the overall bilateral cooperation and coordination, as well
as to implement a number of measures designed to help Israel meet
these emerging threats: -- The United States will provide funding for
Israel's acquisition of a Third Arrow battery that will enhance the
protection of Israel's citizens from ballistic missile attacks. -- The
United States and Israel will expand their collaborative efforts to
develop new technologies and systems designed to deal with ballistic
missiles.
Joint statement by Clinton and Barak - part 2
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- The two leaders will establish a Strategic Policy
Planning Group (SPPG), composed of senior representatives of the
relevant national security entities of both countries. It will be
tasked to develop and submit recommendations on measures to bolster
Israel's indigenous defense and deterrent capabilities, as well as the
bilateral cooperation to meet the strategic threats Israel faces. The
SPPG will also consider ways to minimize risks and costs, to enhance
Israel's security, and address its other needs related to national
security which arise in the context of steps Israel might take to
achieve a comprehensive peace. The SPPG will report to the President
and the Prime Minister at four month intervals. The two leaders agreed
to meet in joint session at regular intervals. Another area of mutual
concern that was discussed between the two leaders was the growing
threat of WMD terrorism. This was acknowledged to be an area in which
both countries stood much to gain from each other's knowledge and
experience. In order to enhance their capability to deal effectively
with this threat, it was agreed to sign a new MOU between their
respective national security institutions. It would facilitate broad
cooperation between the various government agencies in both countries
in all areas associated with preparing and responding to WMD
terrorism. One specific area of economic cooperation discussed between
the two leaders pertains to water resources. They have noted the
growing scarcity of water in the Middle East, and also recognized the
potential inherent in bilateral, as well as regional, cooperation to
turn water from a potential source of conflict into a force of
regional stability and prosperity in the region. Toward that end, the
United States has pledged to work with Israel, both bilaterally and
with other regional partners and their private sectors, to promote the
development of new and additional sources of water, including
desalination, and to examine ways to transfer water to arid lands, and
to manage existing water resources more efficiently. A joint task
force will explore specific measures that could be carried out in this
domain, and will submit its recommendations to Clinton and Barak by
the end of 1999. The President and the Prime Minister have also agreed
that promoting tourism to Israel and the entire region presents a
unique opportunity to promote cooperation and spread economic benefits
to the peoples of the Middle East. Both sides agreed to explore
specific steps to develop this unique potential together, and with
other interested regional partners and their private sectors,
beginning the fall of 1999. Finally, President Clinton and Prime
Minister Barak agreed that scientific cooperation between Israel and
the United States will benefit the peoples of both countries, as they
enter the 2lst century. In this context, they agreed to enhance
cooperation in the peaceful uses of space. A joint working group of
NASA and the Israel Space Agency (ISA) will be established to develop
new areas of joint cooperation, including educational activities,
scientific research and the development of practical applications in
the peaceful use of space for the benefit of people around the world.
The President also informed the Prime Minister that an Israeli
astronaut and payload of Israeli experiments would fly on a shuttle
mission in the year 2000. Upon concluding the Prime Minister's visit,
the two leaders expressed their shared conviction that these meetings
have laid the foundations for a vigorous effort to bring an end to the
Arab-Israeli conflict, as well as for even closer American-Israeli
ties based on the US ironclad commitment to Israel's security. The two
leaders called upon the other leaders of the region to lend their
support to this effort to bring comprehensive peace, security, and
prosperity to the peoples of the Middle East.
US agrees to relax Israeli withdrawal timetable
Weekend News Today
By Andra Brack
Source: IsraelWire
Tue Jul 20,1999 -- Following what was termed an excellent visit in
Washington by Prime Minister Ehud Barak, President Bill Clinton stated
his was optimistic regarding Israeli implementation of the Oslo and
Wye agreements, but the US would not impose strict timetables on
Israel and the 15 month time limit expressed by the prime minister,
for achieving an agreement with Syria, was not etched in stone. At the
join press conference following the meeting between the two leaders on
Monday night, the president stated the job of the United Stated was
not to "impose timetables on the [Oslo] process." According to an
Israel Radio report, the two leaders agreed to met one-another every
four months, as Israel continues to work to gain US approval for the
new administration.
via: bible_prophecy-news@onelist.com
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bracing for Impact
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 08:44:16 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Bracing for Impact
Astronomers prepare to observe Lunar Prospector's crash into the Moon's
south pole
July 21, 1999: In 1998 a spectrometer on board NASA's Lunar Prospector
spacecraft discovered tantalizing signs of frozen water at the Moon's north
and south poles. The ice deposits, presumably the residues of ancient comet
and meteorite impacts, are located in places that are permanently shadowed
from sunlight by tall crater rims. Project scientists estimate that at
least 200 million metric tons of water in the form of ice crystals are
mixed with the top 18 inches of soil near the poles. If these figures are
correct there might be enough water on the Moon to support substantial
human colonies.
Not everyone is convinced that "Moon water" really exists. Skeptics note
that what the spectrometer on Lunar Prospector actually detected was
hydrogen, and that there is no guarantee that the hydrogen atoms are bound
up in water molecules. The debate -- hydrogen vs. water -- is not merely an
academic one. The course of human space exploration may ride on the answer.
Earlier this year Dr. David Goldstein of the University of Texas at Austin
and colleagues suggested an unorthodox way to settle the question: Simply
crash Lunar Prospector into a shadowed crater and see if any water flys out
of the impact site. The Lunar Prospector mission is nearly over, they
reasoned, and the spacecraft would eventually collide with the Moon anyway.
A kamakaze-style crash into a polar crater could liberate up to 40 pounds
of water vapor that might be detectable from ground- and space-based
observatories. A positive detection of either water vapor or OH (the
hydroxyl radical formed when solar ultraviolet radiation frees a hydrogen
atom from water) would provide definitive proof that water ice exists.
In June 1999 NASA accepted their proposal and scheduled the spacecraft to
plunge into a permanently shadowed crater near the Moon's south pole on
July 31, 1999.
"While the probability of success for such a bold undertaking is low, the
potential science payoff is tremendous," said Dr. Guenter Riegler, from the
Office of Space Science at NASA Headquarters.
If all goes as planned, the 354 lb spacecraft will enter the unnamed crater
on July 31, 1999, travelling at a speed of 3800 mph, and slam into the
crater floor at 0952 UTC. The approach angle will be about 6 degrees from
horizontal, meaning that the incoming craft will barely clear the crater's
rim. Impact is slated to occur at night while the Moon is visible from
Texas and Hawaii where important ground-based telescopes are located.
"In the best case scenario the spacecraft will hit in a place where there's
ice mixed with the lunar soil," says Lisa Chu-Thielbar, the Lunar
Prospector Mission Office Outreach Coordinator. "In the first few seconds
after impact there will be a plume of soil that might be seen by large
telescopes. It depends on how much soil is ejected and whether it rises
over the lip of the crater."
"You can think of Lunar Prospector hitting the crater floor as a person
doing a running belly flop into a pool. Much of the splash will be forward
and to the sides," says David Goldstein. "When the spacecraft hits it could
produce as much as 18 kg of water heated to 400 K. There will be a sort of
splash that will distribute the mixture of soil and water over an area of
several square kilometers around the impact site. Water vapor will then
begin to rise off the surface and out of the crater, which is about 4 km
deep. If the water molecules are moving at their thermal velocity, 1100
m/s, the vapor cloud will start to be visible above the crater's rim about
4 seconds after impact."
"Almost immediately UV rays from the sun will begin to break up the water
into H (hydrogen) and OH (hydroxyl)," Goldstein continued. "If the column
density is high enough, solar fluorescence will cause the OH molecules to
be visible to telescopes with UV spectrometers. The gaseous plume is going
to rise up for about 16 minutes and then fall back to the lunar surface in
the same amount of time. The material will hover near the apex of its
trajectory for a little while and that's when we hope to catch some of the
brightest emission lines. As the cloud falls back down to the surface it
will still be predominantly water. It will then form a little atmosphere,
or 'exosphere' 50 - 100 km high that will last for an hour or more."
Goldtein and collaborators have been granted time on the Hubble Space
Telescope, the 107" telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, and the
Keck telescope in Mauna Kea to search for spectral lines from fluorescing
OH just after the impact. NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite
(SWAS) will also be watching. Scientists using that satellite will attempt
to detect water directly by looking for spectral line emission at a
wavelength of 538.2 microns.
Mission scientists caution that any clouds of water vapor and hydroxyl will
be very tenuous, and it may not be immediately obvious whether or not these
gases were detected. Data analysis could take up to 3 months.
More information about the upcoming impact of Lunar Prospector may be found
at UT Austin's Lunar Prospector Impact Page. The UT Austin impact team
includes Dr. David Goldstein, Dr. Edwin Barker, Prof. Steven Nerem, Mr. J.
Victor Austin.
Amateur Observations
The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO), a group of amateur
and professional astroomers, has issued a call for all lunar enthusiasts to
monitor the south polar region of the Moon on July 31 for visible signs of
Prospector's impact. Observations of all types are invited -written,
sketched, photographic, and electronic - and observers are encouraged to
report their results to ALPO.
Will amateur astronomers really be able to observe the crash?
"It's doubtful," says Lunar Prospector's principal investigator Dr. Alan
Binder, "but I would encourage anyone to try."
Few, if any, non-professionals have the spectroscopic hardware required to
detect water vapor at infra-red wavelengths or hydroxyl in the ultraviolet
band. However, there is a chance that amateurs with large telescopes might
be able to see a visible debris plume for a few seconds just after impact.
The plume, consisting of lunar soil possibly mixed with rapidly vaporizing
ice, would come into view for just a few seconds above the crater's rim.
For such observations to have scientific value, they must be recorded
photographically or with a CCD, and the image frames should be accurately
time-tagged. A suitable recording setup would consist of an 8 inch or
larger telescope equipped with a CCD video camera such as the Astrovid
2000. The camera's output should be recorded on the video track of a VCR.
The audio track can be used to record time information. The easiest way to
do this is to tune a shortwave receiver to WWV, which transmits time
signals at 2.5, 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz, and route the audio output of the
receiver to the audio input of the video recorder. To hear what a WWV
signal sounds like, you can phone (303) 499-7111. Another good source of
time information is the Canadian radio station CHU which broadcasts at
3.330 MHz and 7.335 MHz.
"If an impact plume is detectable by amateurs, I suspect that it will be
recorded by those equipped with astro-video equipment," says Bill
Dembowski, the ALPO Coordinator for Lunar Topographical Studies. "Not only
are these cameras quite sensitive, but they allow the recording of hundreds
of images in a short space of time which can later be searched and enhanced
to show very faint details."
"At the end of this month the Moon will be higher in the sky than it was on
August 15, 1994 when I took that picture," says Shirk, "so viewing access
to the impact site is slightly more favorable in spite of the differences
in the libration values. I do not expect to see the actual impact of Lunar
Prospector, but I will still be watching for any rising debris plumes
tangent to the lunar limb."
Shirk, an experienced lunar observer, offers these words of advice to
novice Moon watchers on July 31st:
"From the Eastern Daylight timezone, the impact time places the Moon in the
SW-WSW sky with its polar axis rotated clockwise by aprox. 30 degrees from
vertical (see below)."
"Depending on the telescope used, some images will be reversed left-to-
right or top-to-bottom. Therefore, users of alt-az mounted scopes which
invert the image (top-to-bottom) should look along the 11 o'clock position
on the limb thru the eyepiece. Operators of alt-az mounted scopes which
reverse the image (left-to-right) should look along the 5 o'clock position
on the limb thru the eyepiece."
"Operators using equatorial mounted scopes should move the scope southward
to the farthest southern limb, and they will be close enough to the target
area to enclose the environs of of the impact crater even at magnifications
of 200x."
"For others having Moon maps or charts," concludes Shirk, "simply draw a
line between the lunar-eastern rims of craters Maginus and Moretus and
where that line crosses the limb of the Moon is very close to the location
of the impact site."
"Those of us in the east will be at a distinct disadvantage," adds
Dembowski, "because the anticipated time of impact will occur at 5:52 am
EDT which places the Moon in a relatively bright sky. The farther west an
observer is, the darker the skies and the higher the Moon will be in the
sky (which makes for steadier viewing). Eastern observers may benefit from
the use of a red filter to darken the sky where necessary."
A fitting end
Mission scientists emphasize that the failure to observe a plume, by
professionals or amateurs, does not signify a lack of water on the Moon.
"There could be water there but in the form of hydrated minerals," says
Goldstein, "in which case it would be much harder to extract. Our impact
would have enough energy to vaporize water ice, but it shouldn't have
enough energy to separate the water from minerals."
According to the UT Austin Lunar Prospector Impact Web Site: "A negative
result will tell us nothing one way or the other about potential lunar
water resources. The spacecraft could miss the crater entirely; it could
impact high up the inner rim; it could miss a water deposit. Many things
could go wrong. Still, it is befitting of this extremely productive little
spacecraft, that even in its final act, Lunar Prospector may serve yet once
more as a source of knowledge about our Moon."
Further information about Lunar Prospector can be obtained at the project
website at: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov
Lunar Prospector was the first of NASA's Discovery class of "faster,
better, cheaper" space exploration missions. The $63 million mission is
managed by NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast21jul99_1.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Storms in space 'may cause heart attacks'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 12:06:27 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000271261842766&rtmo=Vw6J8qfK&atmo
=99999999&pg=/et/99/7/21/wspace21.ht ml
Wednesday 21 July 1999
Storms in space 'may cause heart attacks' By Roger Highfield and Nick
Flowers
RUSSIAN space scientists yesterday linked interplanetary shockwaves to
increases in heart attacks and car accidents.
Also they warned that the next onslaught is due, because the Sun is nearing
the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity. Turbulent magnetic fields will
spike its surface with sunspots and give rise to bursts of energy, sending
writhing balls of plasma into space.
The resulting magnetic storms can interfere with radio, television and
telephone signals, damage satellites and disrupt satellite communications.
The International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics conference in Birmingham
was told yesterday that there may also be a link between space weather and
human health.
Prof Lev Dorman, formerly a researcher in Moscow and now head of the Israel
Cosmic Ray Centre, Tel Aviv, said: "We urgently need to organise global
research for 2000."
Prof Dorman's group worked with statistics from the seven million call-outs
the Russian ambulance service deals with each year, analysing data from the
last solar maximum - when the earth is struck by up to three solar wind
shockwaves a month.
In the days following each event, call-outs for heart attacks, strokes and
fatal car accidents each increased by 15 per cent. Shockwave impacts cause
the Earth's magnetic field to "ring like a bell" and it is thought this may
affect the body.
via: isml@onelist.com
=============
For more info, please see "The Prince of the Power of the Air Plays a Mean
HAARP" on the BPR website http://philologos.org/bpr/research.htm
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (7/21/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 12:17:47 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
LAND SHORTAGE
Not only is Israel suffering from water problems, but now a land
shortage is developing here as well. The Moshavim Movement
(cooperative farming communities) and the Center for Local Government
are at bitter odds, following the support by the latter for a new
country-wide zoning plan. CLG Chairman Adi Eldar has come out in favor
of the plan, which calls for dividing up the country over the next
several years into urban districts, to which 99 kibbutzim and moshavim
will be annexed. For example, Kibbutz Gan Shmuel will be annexed to
Hadera, Moshav Beit Yitzchak to Netanya, and Kibbutz Ramat Rachel and
other communities will be incorporated into Jerusalem.
The moshavim movement is very upset about the intended program. Labor
MK Shalom Simchon said that Eldar is quite mistaken if he thinks that
the kibbutzim and moshavim will stand by and let him take control over
them. "The farmers understand the cities' need to grow, but this must
be done wisely, planned in advance, and with the maximum saving of
land," he said. Aryeh Getzler, Chairman of the Moshavim Movement, said
that "this imperialistic plan will be a 'tragedy for generations,' and
will destroy the remaining green tracts of central Israel. There are
enough lands in and adjacent to the cities, and there is no need to
erase kibbutzim and moshavim from the map."
THE TEMPLE MOUNT, THE COURT, AND THE POLICE
The Supreme Court overturned a previous District Court conviction of
Avraham Itiel regarding a Temple Mount incident that occurred two
years ago. Itiel, who attempted to read the "Sh'ma" prayer on the
Mount, was charged with the "disruption of a police officer in the
line of duty," and was initially found guilty. Chai V'Kayam leader
Yehuda Etzion - whose conviction resulting from the same incident
remained intact after today's court decision - told Arutz-7 today that
the court's acquittal of Itiel effectively sets a precedent for
permitting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount.
The police detained for almost three hours this morning a group of 40
Jews who wished to ascend to the Temple Mount. Yaakov Heyman, a
member of the group, told Arutz-7 that the police inspectors claimed
that they don't have permission to allow the group to enter. "He was
referring to the fact that it is the Mufti of the Temple Mount who
determines how many Jews are allowed up at once," Heyman said. "This
is an absurd situation, in which hundreds of tourists from all around
the world are allowed to go up to the Mount in large groups, but we
can only go in three at a time. The last of our group waited there
close to three hours, while dozens of tourists continued to stream in
- only because we were wearing yarmulkes on our heads."
SECULAR JEWS FOR THE TEMPLE
"With Causeless Love We Will be Rebuilt." So reads a new bumper
sticker being distributed by an organization named "Secular Jews for
the Temple," whose goal it is to promote Jewish awareness of the
Temple and the Temple Mount. Arutz-7 spoke with one of its members,
Ahuvyah Tabenkin of left-wing Kibbutz Ein Harod. "It's true that we
don't exactly represent a majority of secular Kibbutz members," he
said, "as most of them are busy building themselves materialistically,
but the pioneers have always been a minority - the Zionists were a
minority among the Jews, those who came to the Land were a minority
among the Zionists, those who worked the land were also a minority,
and now this group is a minority as well. But I hope that soon we
will be the leaders."
"Why concentrate on the Temple Mount?" Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane asked.
Tabenkin's reply:
"The fact that the Arabs pray from there to Mecca, but at the same
time
don't let us up there [at will], makes the Temple Mount into a symbol
of our Exile and humiliation. Similarly, instead of ordering the
police to enforce Jewish fundamental rights to pray there, our Supreme
Court leaves the decision to the police, according to whether it's
'convenient' or not... Historically, too, the Mount was not only a
place of sacrifices, but also a place of prayer and a symbol of our
nationhood. The Arabs, too, feel that as long as they control the
Temple Mount, they have a chance to banish us totally from the Land."
Arutz-7 asked, "Do you also have religious considerations?" Tabenkin,
a bit surprised by the question, responded, "Well, the word
'religious' can be the subject of long discussions. Look, there's the
well-known 'vurt' [Yiddish for 'word' or 'thought'] by the Gerrer
Rebbe, who said, 'When the Haskalah [Enlightenment] came to the world,
with science, physics, etc., we [the religious] left it for the
secular Jews, and when Zionism came to the world, we gave that too to
the secular, and now we have also left the Repentance Movement for the
secular.' Accordingly," concluded Tabenkin, "it looks like we [the
secular] will also have to build the Beit HaMikdash."
Asked whether he calls for the actual construction of the Temple, he
said, "There are many religious authorities, including Maimonides, who
say that the Temple must be rebuilt, and so I think it should be
done... As a first step, we must show that we control the Temple
Mount. Tomorrow is the fast of Tisha B'av and the [anniversary] of
the destruction of the Holy Temples, and I call upon all of Israel to
come to the Mount on this day and show that it belongs to the Jewish
nation." [Ed. note: Prominent rabbis permit the ascent to parts of
the Temple Mount after certain Halakhic precautions have been taken.]
****Information about Tisha B'Av can be found on the following
websites:
Project Genesis -<http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/3weeks/>
The OU -<http://www.ou.org/yerushalayim/tishabav/default.htm>
613.ORG: -<http://www.613.org/3weeks.html>
Virtual Jerusalem -<http://www.vjholidays.com/3weeks/9av.htm>
Ohr Somayach -<http://www.ohrnet.org/special/9av/index.htm>
Aish HaTorah -<http://www.aish.edu/calendar/3weeks>
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Wednesday, July 21, 1999 / Av 8, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tour of the Holy Temple
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 12:36:14 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
Take a Breathtaking Tour of the 2nd Beis Hamikdosh... Online!
http://www.moshiach.com/mikdosh
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Wednesday, July 21, 1999 / Av 8, 5759
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Al Gore's Vision of Planetary Oneness
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 07:57:04 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
Al Gore's Vision of Planetary Oneness
by Berit Kjos <www.crossroad.to>
"Al Gore's celebrated new emphasis on "religious values" is as phony
as a three-dollar bill," said WND editor Joseph Farah in his July 16
column. "I truly believe Al Gore is the point man in a campaign to
set a fatal trap for America's churches and Christian charities."
Mr. Farah is right. Vice President Gore's "faith-friendly" campaign
hides beliefs that oppose Christianity and his Baptist roots on every
point. The evidence is in his book, Earth in the Balance - Ecology and
the Human Spirit.1 It calls for a "panreligious perspective" that would
squeeze Christianity into a universalist mold. The old biblical
absolutes simply don't fit the new global spirituality needed as a
foundation for a global earth-centered ethic. Whether Buddhist,
Baha'i, Native American, or "Christian" (without the cross), each
model for this blended spirituality must be:
pantheistic: god is all, god is in everything
monistic: all are one, all are spiritually interconnected
evolving: always ready to adapt to the changing requirements of our
globalist leaders and of the Total Quality Management process used
to "re-invent government."
Please see the following url for excerpts from Gore's book:
http://www.crossroad.to/text/articles/Gore7-99.html
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Occult Symbols
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 07:57:04 -0500
From: owner-bpr@philologos.org
SYMBOLS and their MEANING
An excerpt from Brave New Schools
http://www.crossroad.to/text/symbols.html
Occult symbols are fast replacing Christian symbols in our culture.
Many are used by people who trust occult powers rather than God.
Therefore it is important for Christians to recognize them -- and have
nothing to do with them. This list will help you. Use it to warn others,
especially Christian children who use them because they are popular.
But keep in mind that some of these symbols have double meanings.
For example, the pentagram has been used to transmit occult power in
all kinds of rituals for centuries, but to Christians the same shape may
simply represent a star -- a special part of God's creation.
ALL-SEEING EYE: A universal symbol representing spiritual sight,
inner vision, higher knowledge, insight into occult mysteries... Watch
out!
AMULET: A magic charm worn to bring good luck and protection
against illness, accidents and evil forces. Don't believe it!
ANCHOR: A reminder to Christians of our security in Christ, but it
may represent sea gods and goddesses to pagans.
ANKH: An Egyptian cross symbolizing eternal life, rebirth, and the
lifegiving power of the sun.
ASHES: A universal symbol of death and mourning, guilt and remorse,
or purification and resurrection.
BAT: A symbol of good fortune in the East, it represented demons
and spirits in medieval Europe.
CELTIC CROSS: A standard cross with a ring around the point where
the two lines cross. The section inside the (sacred) circle is identical to
the Wiccan "quartered circle" or the Native American "Medicine
wheel".
CHRISTIAN CROSS: While anyone--even pagans--now use the cross
as decoration or as an occult symbol, Christians must continue to
treasure the cross of Calvary. But be careful what kind of cross you
wear - and what message you communicate to others.
CIRCLE (sacred hoop, ring): A universal symbol of unity, perfection,
wholeness, time and infinity. To many pagans, it means Earth as well
as heaven, the cosmos as well as a small sacred place.
CIRCLE (quartered): The sacred circle filled with a cross, four equal
lines pointing from the center to the spirits of the north, east, south,
and west &SHY; or to the basic element: earth, wind, water, and fire.
Many contemporary pagans consider it their main symbol for
transmitting the energy of the goddess.
COMPASS (MASONIC): Like the ancient Chinese, the Masonic
symbol of the compass and the T-square represents movement toward
perfection and the balance between spirit and matter. Gifts to schools
from the Masons often carry this occult symbol.
COW: It symbolized the sky goddess Hathor to Egyptians,
enlightenment to Buddhists, one of the highest and holiest stages of
transmigration (reincarnation) to Hindus...
CRESCENT MOON: A symbol of the aging goddess (crone) to
contemporary witches and victory over death to many Muslims. In
Islamic lands, crescent can be seen enclosing a lone pentagram.
DRAGON: A mythical monster made up of many animals: serpent,
lizard, bird, lion... It may have many heads and breath fire. To
mediaeval Europe, it was dangerous and evil, but people in Eastern
Asia believe it has power to help them against more hostile spiritual
forces. In the Bible it represents Satan, the devil.
DREAMCATCHER: An American Indian magic spiderweb inside a
sacred circle. After making dreamcatchers in crafts lessons in school,
many children hang them on or near their beds. They have been told
that these occult symbols will block bad dreams but allow good
dreams to pass through the center. Don't believe that myth!
ELEMENTS: The four basic elements to many pagans are earth, water,
air (or wind) and fire. Many consider the first two passive and
feminine - and the last two active and masculine.
EYE OF HORUS: A favorite crafts project in schools, it represents the
eye of Egyptian sun-god Horus who lost an eye battling Set. Pagans
use it as a charm to ward off evil.
EYE IN PYRAMID: Masonic symbol for the all-seeing eye of God - an
mystical distortion of the Biblical God. You can find it on the $1 bill.
HEXAGRAM or SIX-POINTED STAR: An occult sign of the "Divine
Mind" (a counterfeit of God's wisdom) to numerous occult groups
through the centuries. Many still use it in occult rituals. But Jewish
people see it as good and call it the Star of David.
INVERTED CROSS: Represents Satanism and its mockery of Christ.
MASK: Used by pagans around the world to represent animal powers,
nature spirits, or ancestral spirits. In pagan rituals, the wearer may
chant, dance and enter a trance in order to contact the spirit world and
be possessed by the spirit represented by the mask.
MASONIC EMBLEM: Like symbols of eastern or earth-centered
religions, the Masonic "compass and square" symbolizes perfection
and balance between the spiritual and physical. The compass (used to
form circles) represent spirit. The ruler (part of a square) represent the
physical. Some public schools pass out pencil cases and other gifts
decorated with this emblem.
MEDICINE SHIELD: A round shield decorated with personal symbols
and pictures of the animal spirit(s) contacted on a Spirit Quest or
through a classroom visualization simulating an American Indian
ceremony. Its basic image is often the quartered circle (see Circle,
quartered)
PEACE SYMBOL or NERO'S CROSS: A broken, upside-down cross.
To Roman emperor Nero, who hated and persecuted the early
Christians, it meant destruction of Christianity. Revived in the sixties
by hippies and others who protested nuclear weapons, Western
culture, and Christian values, it now symbolizes a utopian hope for a
new age of global peace and earth-centered unity. But many of heavy
metal rock fans would agree with Nero and use it to mock Christ and
His followers.
PENTAGRAM or FIVE-POINTED STAR: A standard symbol for
witches, freemasons, and many other pagan or occult groups. To
witches, it represent the four basic elements (wind, water, earth and
fire) and a pantheistic spiritual being such as Gaia or Mother Earth.
PENTAGRAM, INVERTED: The horned god to many contemporary
witches, it represents Satanism when inside a circle.
SERPENT OR SNAKE: Most earth-centered or pagan cultures
worshipped the serpent. It usually represents rebirth (because of its
molting), but might also symbolize protection against evil, either male
of female sexuality, rain and fertility, a mediator between the physical
and spiritual world.... The list is endless, but in the Bible it represents
sin, temptation, destruction, and Satan. (See dragon)
SPIRAL: Ancient symbol of the goddess, the womb, fertility, feminine
serpent force, continual change, and the evolution of the universe.
SQUARE: In contrast to the circle which symbolizes the sacred and
spiritual, the square represents the physical world. But like the
quartered circle, it points to the four compass directions: north, east,
south and west.
STAR: See pentagram or hexagram.
SUN AND MOON TOGETHER: Unity of opposites (see Yin Yang)
SUN SIGN: A dot or point in the center of a circle symbolizes the
union of the surrounding a point or dot. Hindus call the midpoint in a
circle the bindu - the spark of (masculine) life within the cosmic womb.
SWASTIKA: Ancient occult symbol of the sun and the four
directions. Revived by Hitler, it represents racism and the "white
supremacy" of neo-nazis.
THUNDERBOLT: In ancient mytholgies from many cultures (Norse,
Roman, Greek, Native American, etc.) the lighting bolt would be hurled
by male sky gods to punish, water, or fertilize the earth or its creatures.
Navaho myths linked it to the Thunderbird, the symbol of salvation
and divine gifts. Double bolts, popular with contemporary skinheads,
symbolize Nazi power.
TOTEM: Carved, painted representation of power animals or animal-
human ancestors. To American Indians in the Northwest, who believe
that all of nature has spiritual life, the animals in their totems poles
represent the spiritual powers of animal protectors or ancestors.
TRIANGLE: Associated with the number three. Pointing upwards, it
symbolizes fire, male power and counterfeit view of God. (See pyramid)
To Christians, it often represents the Trinity. Pointing down, it
symbolizes water, female sex, goddess religions and homosexuality.
UNICORN: To many New Agers, it means power, purification, healing,
renewal and eternal life.
WHEEL: A universal symbol of or cosmic unity, astrology, "the circle
of life," evolution, etc. The pagan sacred circle plus any number of
radiating spokes or petals form the wheel - a Wheel of Life to
Buddhists, a Medicine Wheel to Native Americans, a Mandala to
Hindus. It symbolizes unity, movement, the sun, the zodiac,
reincarnation, and earth's cycles of renewal. Pagans use it in
astrology, magic and many kinds of rituals. (See Medicine Wheel and
Circle)
YIN YANG: A Chinese Tao picture of universal harmony and the unity
between all opposites: light/dark, male/female, etc. Yin is the dark,
passive, negative female principle. Yang is the light, active, positive
principle. Since it represent monism (all is one) and pantheism (all is
God), it opposes Christianity, which shows us that there is only one
God (monotheism), and only in Christ can we be one.
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (7/21/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 17:43:28 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
*** Pope still plans Mideast visit
INTROD, Italy (AP) - The Vatican is pushing ahead with plans for Pope
John Paul II to visit Biblical sites in the Middle East, insisting no
political opposition to the trips has emerged. The pope wants to visit
Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Israel, including Palestinian-controlled areas.
But there is still no certainty on the dates or whether
representatives of other religions will take part. John Paul announced
his plans for the pilgrimage three weeks ago and has been
"fine-tuning" his ideas during his 13-day vacation in the Italian
Alps, said Papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560374497-c29
*** Berlin to be seat of power Sept. 1
BONN, Germany (AP) - Germany will be run from Berlin again starting
Sept. 1, completing a return to the historic capital that began when
the Berlin Wall fell nearly a decade ago. Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
officially turned off the lights Wednesday at the ruling Social
Democrat's old headquarters in Bonn, the sleepy Rhine River town that
served as the West German capital during four decades of Cold War
division. The date of the $10.7 billion switch of the nation's seat of
power has been in full swing all summer, but the official date hadn't
been set until Wednesday. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560384549-090
*** Report: Barak rejected Iran offer
JERUSALEM (AP) - Prime Minister Ehud Barak has rejected an Iranian
offer to release 13 Jews arrested on spying charges in exchange for
Israel's agreement to pay longstanding debts to Iran, an Israeli
newspaper said Wednesday. There was no immediate comment from Barak's
office. The 13 Jews, from the town of Shiraz, are accused of spying
for Israel and the United States and could face the death penalty. The
Iranian offer was delivered by intermediaries claiming to speak for
Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Khameini, the daily Yediot Ahronot
reported. The Israeli government turned down the deal because it
opened the door to extortion, the paper said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560382430-dab
*** New Zealand unveils Y2K cockroach
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - Regarded worldwide as a dirty pest, the
cockroach has become the official "millennium bug" for New Zealand,
which will be among the first nations to experience the real effects
of Y2K. "Ken" the cockroach was unveiled Wednesday as the spearhead
for a government-funded campaign to infest New Zealand households with
a "be prepared" message. The Y2K, or millennium, bug refers to fears
that older computer programs that count years by the last two digits
may mistake 2000 for 1900, wreaking havoc on everything from airlines
to bank teller machines that run on computers. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560382751-ae6
========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Levy Solicits World-Wide Support for Peace
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1999 17:54:20 +0000
From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>
LEVY SOLICITS WORLD-WIDE SUPPORT FOR PEACE
Foreign Minister David Levy on Tuesday sent a communique to 140 foreign
ministers around the world stating that "Israel is willing to make
painful concessions in its negotiations, but expects the international
community to support its policy endeavors," YEDIOT AHARONOT reported.
Levy also wrote that he hopes the international community will come
together to form a positive public opinion with regard to the peace
process, and expects economic support to serve that end.
"Strengthening the economic and social systems in the region must take
top priority as a condition for the peace process to succeed," he said
in the letter.
MA'ARIV reported that right-wing activists in opposition to peace
initiatives by Prime Minister Ehud Barak have begun to disseminate
political materials to muster support for their agenda. Meanwhile,
activists in the Golan Heights have begun to manufacture billboards in
protest of any withdrawal from the region, reading, "I'm with the
Golan" and "The nation is with the Golan."
Member of Knesset Hanan Porat (National Unity) is trying to mobilize
opposition groups in Israel to sign a petition to bring a national
referendum against any withdrawal from the Golan. Most Shas MKs,
meanwhile, support a Golan withdrawal and peace agreement with Syria
under the conditions of security and the approval of the Council of
Sages and its chairman, Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.
via: Consulate of Israel - New York <nycon@interport.net>
Please be advised that this domain (Philologos.org) does not endorse 100 per cent any link contained herein. This forum is for the dissemination of pertinent information on an end-times biblical theme which includes many disturbing, unethical, immoral, etc. topics and should be viewed with a mature, discerning eye.