BPR Mailing List Digest: 08/10/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
August 10, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | August, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Aug 10, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 08:34:23 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

DISC - ON THE INSIDE - "Cults" - Psychological
manipulation.(CC)(TVG)

HIST - VANISHED! - Investigators ponder the fates of
individuals who have disappeared.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

DISC - STIGMATA - Some people exhibit the wounds of the
Crucifixion.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - FORGOTTEN SECRETS - Ancient civilizations are
similar in their understanding of the
heavens.(CC)(TVPG)

10:00

DISC - INTO THE UNKNOWN - "Giant Creatures" -
Extraordinary species of lizards and
birds.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - AZTECS: INSIDE THE HIDDEN EMPIRE - Sacrificial
practices alienate Aztecs from other
cultures.(CC)(TVPG)

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Web-porn scandal rocks White House
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 08:41:17 -0400

Wed, Aug 9, 2000

                 Web-porn scandal
                 rocks White House
                 West Wingers downloaded gay, bestial,
                 teen sex videos, jamming firewall system

By Paul Sperry
=A9 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

                 WASHINGTON -- A consultant hired last year
                 to beef up security for the White House's
                 computer network found massive pornographic
                 video files passing through the system's Internet
                 firewall, WorldNetDaily has learned.

                 Some of the downloaded files were traced back
                 to West Wing officials as recently as the
                 beginning of last year, during the height of the
                 impeachment crisis, say sources who were
                 involved in replacing the firewall system as part
                 of Y2K security upgrades.

                 The real-time video files -- which came from
                 hard-core porn sites featuring homosexual,
                 farm-animal and teen sex acts -- were so large in
                 byte volume that they accounted for most of the
                 traffic coming into the firewall, sources told
                 WorldNetDaily.

                 All Internet links and e-mail must first pass
                 through the firewall before coming into the local
                 area network for the Executive Office of the
                 President and on to individual network users.
                 The firewall system is designed to screen
                 Internet traffic for messages containing
                 network-crippling viruses.

                 A Y2K computer consultant in early 1999
                 discovered the unusually large volume of
                 porn-site traffic coming into the White House
                 while reviewing the firewall logs.

A White House computer specialist recalled the
reaction of one of the contractors at the time.

                 "He started to laugh and said, 'It looks like the
                 majority of traffic going through the firewall is
                 pornography,'" said the White House employee,
                 who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

                 Both President Clinton and Vice President Al
                 Gore have denounced cyber-porn and have
                 pushed so-called "E-chips" to block the
                 Internet's "purveyors of pornography," as Gore
                 called them last year.

                 White House cyber-security experts have asked
                 WorldNetDaily to withhold the name of the
                 Y2K contractor that upgraded the firewall
                 system, arguing that disclosing the information
                 would tip off hackers to the security software
                 the White House is using and make it easier for
                 them to breach the network. WorldNetDaily
                 agreed to reveal only that the company is based
                 in California.

                 The firewall logs show the uniform resource
                 locator, or URL (basically the Web zip code), of
                 the porn sites from which the videos (MOVs)
                 and still-graphics (JPEGs and GIFs) were
                 downloaded.

                 "There were things that said 'teen,'" the White
                 House computer expert said. "There was gay
                 and bestiality stuff too."

                 Bestiality? "Donkeys, goats, dogs," explained
                 the source, who later accessed some of the
                 raunchier sites. "It's embarrassing."

                 Upon the discovery of the heavy XXX-rated
                 traffic, White House security specialists
                 undertook a "forensics" effort to ID the White
                 House network users who were downloading --
                 and watching -- the videos on government
                 computers and time.

                 Investigators, including White House Security
                 Officer Charles Easley, looked at a number of
                 variables to separate the habitual from the
                 accidental Web-porn surfers. They scanned
                 firewall logs over several weeks so they could
                 see the repeat offenders. They also zeroed in on
                 the large-byte files.

What they found was shocking.

                 "There were some significant names. I can say,
                 yes, West Wing," said one White House source
                 familiar with the investigation. "There were
                 women too."

                 Many of the offenders also officed out of the
                 Old Executive Office Building, including
                 presidential personnel, sources say. One was in
                 national security.

                 One of the worst offenders, however, was a
                 senior White House computer-systems
                 manager, who was reprimanded but allowed to
                 stay in the White House after being treated for
                 an "addiction" to porn. Sources say the porn
                 abuser is so sensitive to the possibility of public
                 exposure that he would likely take his own life
                 if his name were disclosed here.

                 Security experts weren't just worried about the
                 bandwidth-eating Web videos slowing down
                 the White House computer network for
                 legitimate business, or bringing a "Trojan horse"
                 virus into the system. They also feared they
                 could open up White House officials to
                 blackmail from outsiders looking to access the
                 network.

                 "It's a potential security risk," said one White
                 House insider. "A hacker could call up an
                 official and say, 'I have evidence you've been
                 downloading kiddy porn. Give me your
                 network passcode, or else.'"

                 The Internet-linked network is unclassified
                 (although another, classified network exists in
                 the White House), but most everything on it is
                 still sensitive.

                 At any given time it may contain secret agendas
                 for high-level meetings over trade and other
                 policies, for example, or advance data from
                 unpublished economic reports. Such
                 information is potentially valuable to anyone
                 from foreign diplomats looking for geopolitical
                 leverage to stock traders looking for an edge.

                 By February 1999, after the California contractor
                 had replaced the old firewall and alerted
                 officials to the cyber-porn problem, White
                 House computer specialists set up filters to
                 block employee access to the porn sites.

                 Officials could have installed filters on the old
                 Internet firewall, but never did -- except in the
                 case of one site, an X-rated spoof of the official
                 White House site. (Last year, a New Jersey man
                 who says he accidentally logged onto the
                 unofficial White House site in a public library,
                 was escorted off by police and banned from the
                 library.)

                 According to White House insiders, White
                 House guidelines for proper computer use by
                 employees prohibit using them for profit, but
                 do not specifically restrict using them to access
                 Internet pornography.

                 Last year an Internet porn policy was submitted
                 to White House lawyers, but was not instated as
                 part of any global policy, sources say.

                 In 1997, Clinton and Gore announced a "strategy
                 for a family friendly Internet" which included
                 proposing the distribution of "E-chip"
                 technology for filtering cyber-porn.

                 "We all know and we've heard the horror stories
                 about the inappropriate material for children
                 that can be found on the Internet," Clinton said
                 during the July 16, 1997, press conference.

                 The event's press release said: "The president
                 emphasized that government (has) an important
                 role to play in achieving the goal of a family
                 friendly Internet."

                 "The President made clear that the
                 administration remains committed to the
                 vigorous enforcement of federal prohibitions
                 against the transmission of child pornography
                 and obscenity over the Internet," the release
                 added, "and the use of the Internet by
                 pedophiles to entice children to engage in
                 sexual activity."

                 Last year, Gore encouraged parents to "restrict
                 their children's e-mail contact to keep the
                 potential predators at bay -- purveyors of
                 pornography."

He said they must be protected from "red light
districts in cyberspace."

                 The White House has resisted requests from
                 Congress, a federal court and other investigators
                 to turn over Internet firewall logs -- which are
                 stored on emergency back-up tapes -- in
                 response to subpoenas for missing e-mail sent
                 to West Wing officials over the Internet.
                 Incoming e-mail also travels through the
                 firewall.

                 White House lawyers have argued that the logs
                 don't include the contents of the e-mail, just the
                 "to" and "from," and therefore would not be
                 helpful to investigators. Besides, they claim,
                 only the past several months worth of firewall
                 logs are stored on back-up tapes; previous tapes
                 of logs are recycled.

                 Besides incoming e-mails, the tapes of the 1998
                 and 1999 firewall logs also recorded the massive
                 volume of porn traffic going into the White
                 House network over that period, sources say.

Paul Sperry is Washington bureau chief for
WorldNetDaily.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_sperry_news/20000809_xnspy_webpor
n_sc.shtml

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Romania Reports New Anthrax Outbreaks Among Cattle
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 08:18:51 -0500

Romania Reports New Anthrax Outbreaks Among Cattle
http://www.centraleurope.com/news.php3?id=187229

BUCHAREST, Aug 9, 2000 -- (Reuters) Romania on Tuesday reported new
outbreaks of anthrax among cattle, after an epidemic killed two men and
dozens of animals in the Danube Delta last month.

The farm ministry said five cattle had been reported infected with the
disease in western, northern and eastern Romania.

Last month, the government gave $230,000 to cash-strapped authorities in the
Delta area to help them contain the epidemic.

The ministry said this year's epidemic had been caused by the severe drought
which has swept Romania since April. It also blamed farmers for their
failure to vaccinate their cattle.

Symptoms of anthrax include high fever, an enlarged spleen and swellings of
the throat in some animals. It kills thousands of livestock in tropical and
sub-tropical areas each year, but outbreaks are sporadic and usually limited
in temperate regions.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Genius of genes
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 10:19:01 -0400

Tuesday, 8 August, 2000, 21:51 GMT 22:51 UK
Genius of genes

              To what extent is one's IQ written in the genes
              By BBC science correspondent Pallab
              Ghosh

              US researchers believe they have identified the
              parts of the human genome involved in
              developing a person's intelligence.

This means scientists could soon test the
potential intelligence of new-born babies.

              The discovery has been seized on by some on
              the Right who claim it backs their view that
              the way people turn out depends more on the
              genes with which they are born rather than on
              the schools they attend.

              Others have warned the discovery gives
              succour to those parents who would wish to
              improve their children through genetic
              engineering.

              The researchers, working for the US National
              Institutes of Health, analysed the DNA of 200
              of the brightest kids in America and compared
              them with the genetic material from ordinary
              children.

              The results are due out next year, but the BBC
              Newsnight programme has learned that key
              differences have been found. In other words,
              the scientists are homing in on the genes for
              genius.

              The team believe more than one gene is
              involved - and that these genes can make a
              big difference to a person's intelligence. The
              research was led by Professor Robert Plomin.

Shift in political thinking

              "I think we need to recognise that genetic
              influences are important and that we will find
              genes for intelligence," he told the BBC. "Each
              may account for a small piece of the action,
              but together they give us a significant source
              of prediction for intelligence."

              The next step will be to
              discover what these
              genius genes do. One
              theory is that they help
              make nerve cells. They
              help transmit signals,
              our thoughts if you like,
              from one part of the brain to another.

              Some fear that this type of research could
              undermine attempts to create a more equal
              society.

              They believe some groups will take the view
              that providing the entire population with
              greater educational and social opportunities is
              a waste of money if human nature is
              predetermined by our genetic inheritance.

              Right-wing thinker Charles Murray, co-author
              of The Bell Curve, believes that the new
              biology will create a seismic shift in political
              thinking.

              "We have had the
              scientific community
              denying the obvious,"
              he said. "We've had
              people saying that IQ is
              virtually all determined
              by the environment and
              we can change it by
              the proper social
              interventions and a whole bunch of other
              things that simply are not true."

              The Nature-Nurture debate has always been at
              the heart of the political battleground with
              some on the Right believing people are born
              good or bad, intelligent or slow-witted. The
              Left believes things depend more on social
              circumstances.

'Eugenics with a smiling face'

              According to Charles Murray, the "new
              genetics" shows that the Right is right and
              that social policies will have to be changed
              accordingly.

              But if there is one thing that has annoyed
              Professor Plomin more than the fact that the
              Right has seized on his work, it is that the Left
              have disowned it.

              He argues that far from challenging left-wing
              policies, his research can help those policies
              become more effective.

              He explained: "Depending on your values, you
              can say 'right, genetic influences are important
              in intelligence, therefore what I'll do is not put
              my money into those kids who are going to do
              good anyway. I'm going to put it into the lower
              end of the distribution to make sure that we
              don't lose our citizens - that they don't fall off
              the end of the curve and feel disenfranchised
              as citizens.'"

              But, according to Jeremy Rifkin, author of The
              Bio-tech Century, the greatest threat comes
              from prospective parents rather than
              tyrannical or misguided governments.

              "Every parent wants the best for their child,"
              said Rifkin. "In the future, the parent could
              become an architect and each child the
              ultimate shopping experience.

              "In the next 10 or 20 years we could have
              eugenics with a smiling face. We will no longer
              require the lower classes to have fewer
              babies; we will just have them have better
              babies as we learn to do gene therapy."

              Professor Plomin believes that nightmare
              scenarios will only come to pass if research is
              suppressed or banned.

              "Some people say this kind of research should
              not be done because of the questions it raises
              and the difficulties it raises are not worth
              having to deal with," he said.

              "You could continue with the comfortable view
              that assumes people are blank slates on which
              the environment writes. But surely it is better
              to know the truth."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_850000/850358.stm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - IDF concerned by sharp rise in Hebron violence
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 10:24:59 -0400

Thursday, August 10, 2000

IDF concerned by sharp rise in Hebron violence

Settlers deliberately provoke brawls, officers say

By Amos Harel
Ha'aretz Correspondent

Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz called Hebron "the most
difficult place" in discussions with Israel Defense Forces paratroopers serving
in the city. "The frictions here can ignite the whole of Judea and Samaria," he
said on Tuesday.

Mofaz knows what he is talking about. In February 1994, when he was
commander of the West Bank, Baruch Goldstein killed 29 Muslims at
prayer. The massacre not only led to massive riots throughout the West
Bank and Gaza Strip, but also spurred the military wing of Hamas to
commence a wave of suicide attacks on buses within the Green Line. But
apparently Mofaz was not relying only on his memories.

In recent weeks, Hebron, the only city divided between areas of Israeli and
Palestinian control, has been the scene of a wave of violent incidents
between settlers and Arabs. The IDF speaks of an atmosphere of growing
extremism which, to a large extent, has been created by settlers in the
Jewish enclave. Many brawls break out because of provocations started
deliberately by the settlers. Street fights (so far, without shooting) have
recently become almost a daily occurrence.

A random selection of events from the last month shows the dimensions of
the phenomenon: a Jewish girl (the daughter of a settler leader) was attacked
by a Palestinian who tried to kiss her. In response, dozens of settlers went
on the rampage, kicking Palestinians and damaging property. Two policemen
were attacked and beaten by settlers. Five IDF soldiers were wounded by
marbles that Jewish children aimed at Arabs. Jewish children shattered
windows of Palestinian cars and the father of one slapped a soldier who tried
to stop his son. And last Saturday, a Jewish girl complained that she was
attacked by Arabs. In response, settlers beat up several Palestinians.

At the same time, an increase has been noted in the number of Molotov
cocktails thrown by Palestinians. A considerable number have been linked to
the brawls with settlers. They were thrown in the same places where
Palestinians were beaten up, sometimes only moments after the incident.

The Palestinian reaction is much more bitter now than it was in the past.
"They're no longer prepared to bend their heads in front of the settlers. It
looks as though they're trying to broadcast a message: You're living here on
borrowed time. They no longer keep silent when stalls are overturned in the
market," a senior officer says.

Apparently it is not a coincidence that yesterday the Palestinian media
reported that Israel and the Palestinian Authority agreed at Camp David to
evacuate the Jews from Hebron. Although the prime minister quickly denied
this, and explained that there was no final agreement, the maps of the
expected permanent arrangement that were leaked to the press were clear:
Ehud Barak intends to do what Yitzhak Rabin before him considered doing
but did not dare to carry out - to dismantle the Jewish enclave in Hebron.

In light of this, it is not difficult to understand the settlers' suspicions and the
hope (at least of some of them) that continuous violence will set off a
confrontation that is large enough to stop the peace process.

Meanwhile, so far the tension in the city has not led to attacks with live
ammunition. (There have been two such attacks near Hebron since the
beginning of the year against Israelis. Five were wounded; no arrests have
been made.) But the violence is now conducted on a one-on-one basis:
curses, blows, sometimes mass brawls. Many of those involved, on both
sides, are youngsters.

Recently, the settler youth have refined their operative methods. They show
up in a kind of "Provocation Patrol": they use a group of girls who go out of
the Jewish settlement to the adjacent Palestinian neighborhood and
immediately complain that they have been sexually harassed by Arabs. Then
the "reserve force" of Jewish youngsters bursts forth and reaches the site.

IDF officers say that these youngsters do not go out to demonstrate, but
deliberately to strike blows. The officers admit that the army and the police
have a hard time enforcing the law as prolonged detention is possible only
when there is a suspicion of crime (terror). Whoever beats up Arabs or Jews
in the morning is detained and released in the evening, at the latest. The
settlers, like the Palestinians during the Intifada, send the youth up front to
riot. It is clear to the security forces that these are well planned operations.

The commander of the Hebron brigade, Colonel Noam Tivon, met with the
settler leaders to discuss the issue, so far without results. When tension
rises, the violence is sometimes directed at the IDF. The settlers did indeed
apologize to a Nahal soldier who was beaten up (in contrast with the well-
reported attack organized against Lieutenant Colonel Baruch Yedid, an
officer of the Civil Administration who was attacked near Elon Moreh at the
beginning of the week). The settlers are much less restrained toward the
police and Border Police and even the Military Police.

The evacuation of the Maon Farm outpost south of Hebron and the
dismantling of the compound around the grave of the mosque murderer
Baruch Goldstein passed without violence. But in recent confrontations with
the IDF, the settlers are already not so careful about keeping their hands to
themselves - and it is no longer a phenomenon of "a lone lunatic."

The IDF has so far made do with lukewarm responses to these incidents.
Just as the chief of staff or the IDF spokesman have not denounced the
beating up of Lieutenant Colonel Yedid and the frequent attacks on Druze
Border Policemen at Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, in Hebron, also, the army
has refrained from broadcasting an unequivocal message.

In light of the reports, the chief of staff ordered that consideration be given to
beefing up the forces within Hebron, including the positioning of a permanent
company in the middle of Shuhada Street. But the most worrying information
was tacked onto the margins of Mofaz's visit. More and more Jews in
Hebron, it is said, are now talking openly of attacks against Palestinians, in
an attempt to derail the peace process. The Shin Bet security service is
already in the picture.

In July 1998, the commander of the Hebron brigade at that time, Colonel
Yigal Sharon, summed up the events in the first half of the year in the city.
The number of attacks was relatively few, but in light of the heating-up of the
atmosphere between Jews and Arabs, Sharon called the situation a "violent
confrontation that is growing wider." This city is boiling, Sharon said then,
and is only awaiting the match to set it alight. Several weeks later, Hebron
underwent a wave of attacks, the largest since the massacre at the Cave of
the Patriarchs, that peaked when a settler, Rabbi Shlomo Ra'anan, was
murdered and dozens of soldiers were wounded by grenades. This week
Colonel Sharon revisited Hebron. He felt the enormous tension. Never before,
he said, has he seen Hebron more ready to go up in flames.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=08/10/00&
id=88597

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Circular argument resurfaces
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 10:07:39 -0500

Circular argument resurfaces

BY ROBIN YOUNG

http://www.the-times.co.uk/ 8/10/2000

IT IS August so, inevitably, crop circles are back.
Whether they are caused by hoaxers equipped with planks, balls of string and
torches, or by little green aliens giving Mother Earth some serious welly in
the vicinity of Wiltshire, crop circles are a recurrent theme in August's
news. This year it is the turn of science to offer an explanation: research
funded by the Rockefeller Institute, no less, has resulted in a claim that
true crop circles are the result of variations in the Earth's magnetic
field.

Colin Andrews, a former local government engineer, who has been on the stump
around the cornfields of England with Rockefeller's money for the past 11
years, claims that his explanation is the first to be backed with scientific
fact.

There is nothing new under the August sun, however. Mr Andrews's
explanation, backed with scientific measurements though it may be, is one
that has already been mooted by serial "cerealogists" (students of crop
circles) several times in the past.

Mr Andrews claims to have proved that true crop circles coincide precisely
with minute variations in the Earth's magnetic forces in the surrounding
area. This applies, he says,only to true crop circles, simple circular areas
of mysteriously flattened corn, and not to more elaborate patterns which, he
says, invariably are man-made.

True to precedent, Mr Andrews's claims are to be published in book form this
year. Mind what you trample as you queue for copies.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Measles alert
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 10:11:41 -0500

August 10 2000 HEALTH

Measles alert
http://www.the-times.co.uk/ 8/10/2000

DOCTORS are frequently accused of being able to rival Job when it comes to
predicting disaster. One of the warnings they have been muttering concerns
the habit of wellmeaning, but misguided, parents refusing to sanction
vaccination against measles. Now an outbreak of measles in Dublin is
confirming the doctors' fears as it provides a picture of what might happen
this side of the Irish Sea if offers of the MMR jab are refused.

Younger parents do not remember the complications of measles, which too
frequently led to pneumonia, deafness and occasionally encephalitis.
Sometimes, years after an attack of measles, a child would develop a most
unpleasant form of brain disorder, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis,
which led to epilepsy and dementia.

When I started in general practice, one or two deaths from measles were
expected each year. Deaths from measles were so common at that time that
Hitler's Government, in an extreme form of medical rationing, used it as an
excuse on death certificates to explain the murder of physically or mentally
disabled children. Parents expected children to die from measles and were
mollified.

The Dublin outbreak has led to 100 people being admitted to hospital and two
deaths. But we are not in a position to criticise Dublin's public health.
Overall vaccination rates in Britain have dropped from 92 per cent to 88.4
per cent in the past three years.

The formerly higher rates of vaccination reduced the number of cases
recorded annually from up to 800,000 to around 100. Research by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) shows that the population can be protected only if
95 per cent of children are vaccinated.

DR THOMAS STUTTAFORD

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Rev 16:21--Iridium
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 16:05:34 -0400

From: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com)

Rev 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone]
about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the
plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

In an earlier post [10/28/98] I sent out some info on Iridium Corp. and their
satellite system with regards to Rev 16:21. Later posts explained how the
company had fallen onto hard times and it seemed as if the whole project
was either on hold or we were waiting for the re-entry of the satellites already
launched (please see list archives http://philologos.org). Last night TLC aired
a program entitled "Space - The Final Junkyard" which adds the following to
the satellite/hail connection:

Narrator:
"...Commercial exploitation of space now threatens to become a major
source of debris. The Iridium Corporation has recently launched scores of
telecom satellites. Some have already failed adding to the junk [so far about
13 of 70 have failed]..."

"...a new constellation of nearly 300 satellites is planned for near-earth orbit.
Teledesic [http://www.teledesic.com], the brainchild of computer mogul Bill
Gates, will provide high-speed internet services world-wide. But will these
commercial ventures accelerate environmental disaster? With so much more
material in space what scientists now fear is a chain reaction--a catastrophic
pile-up with unstoppable clouds of wreckage smashing everything in their
path."

Scientist:
"There are predictions that as objects collide in space they produce, say,
1,000 fragments. Each of those fragments has the potential to go on and
collide with other satellites with each of those producing 1,000 fragments. So
we can get a run-away situation called a cascade. This would lead to a
debris belt forming around the earth..."

[add to this equation the space station and the Narrator continues:]

"If a catastrophic break-up of the space station triggered a major cascade,
vital satellites would be wiped out, manned spaceflight would be suicidal and
the fragments would eventually fall to earth in a rain of burning metal junk.
Orbiting around us would be rings of glinting debris; the shiny new bars of our
planetary prison."

The whole program spoke to the effects already plaguing space flights and
satellites orbiting the earth. They've had to worry about space junk which
includes waste ejected from Mir's "back door," gadgets that accidentally
floated away from astronauts and uranium laced projectiles that supposedly
have already fallen to Earth (landing somewhere in Canada) spewing
radiation into the atmosphere.

From the TLC website:
"Spent rockets, discarded fuel tanks and millions of other fragments, all
traveling at 20,000 mph, litter our solar system. Because a fleck of paint is
capable of shattering a shuttle windshield, scientists fear a collision of
devastating proportions."

Great program!

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Last night's TV schedule
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 16:07:12 -0400

Last night was a great night for TV. Besides the program "Space - The Final
Junkyard" aired by TLC, there were a 3 other programs that I found
interesting.

On the Inside: Hurricane X
Discovery Channel
This program was all about the next giant hurricane. One of the scenarios
described what would happen if NY was to receive a direct hit from a monster
storm. History shows that this area of the US is the target once every 75+/-
years and that the last big one (although I seem to remember others since
then?) being in 1938. The show ended by saying "...the breakdown in
business communications and New York's financial markets [would have]
global ramifications...In one way or another, all the world [would be] affected
by Hurricane X."

Extreme Machines: Ultimate Space Machines
TLC
Rebroadcast: Aug 12th 2am; Aug 13th 3pm
This program had a lot of info on what it takes to be able to work/live in
space. One of the things discussed was how humans could travel very long
distances--distances much longer than the normal life-span. They talked
about freezing embryos and then thawing them out when they reached their
destination. These embryos would be housed in a plastic "womb" and reared
by foster "parents" which were robots. Scary stuff...

Exodus Earth
TLC
This show was all about leaving Earth to go and live somewhere else in the
galaxy. The "evolution" of the human species would entail bodies fit to be
able to live and thrive in zero gravity or on non-Earth planets. These body
forms could include bodies with 4 hands instead of 2 hands and 2 feet and
other gross anomalies which were presented as something "normal" to the
whole process. Also, apparently one of the big drawbacks to setting out on
one of these extended journies would be inbreeding. After about 250 years,
the gene pool would be so corrupted that those offspring would not be
intellectually able to maintain or even understand what they were doing.
Strange science...

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Supercells
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 15:39:24 -0500

Supercells
How to turbocharge the body's defences
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0812/supercell.html

A BIT of genetic tinkering can turn the immune system's sentries against
invasion into crack troops, say researchers in the US.

Dendritic cells have an unrivalled ability to stimulate an immune response
and are already being tested as live "vaccines" in clinical trials. They
pick up foreign proteins and show them to other immune cells, along with
various "co-stimulatory" proteins. Killer T cells then seek out and destroy
any invading cells displaying these foreign proteins.

24So by harvesting dendritic cells from patients and loading them with
proteins from tumours or viruses, researchers hope to develop
immunotherapies for diseases as different as cancer and AIDS.

But Jeffrey Schlom of the National Cancer Institute near Washington DC and
his colleagues wondered if dendritic cells had even greater potential. They
infected dendritic cells from mice with a bird virus called avipox that had
been given genes for three co-stimulatory proteins--B7-1, ICAM-1 and LFA-3.
The engineered cells produced three times as much of these proteins as
normal.

When the team used these cells to immunise mice against a foreign protein,
the result was dramatic. Mice given the genetically engineered cells had
over six times as many killer T cells as mice immunised with normal
dendritic cells, "This shows we can really turbocharge the immune system,"
says Schlom.

"The concept that you can still improve on these cells is very important,"
says Kim Lyerly, a cancer researcher at Duke University in North Carolina.
"It justifies exploring this approach in clinical trials."

Ronald Levy, head of the cancer division at Stanford University, agrees. The
method is very practical, he says. The avipox virus cannot replicate in
human cells, so it is unlikely to spread to other cells in the body. And
many leading clinical labs are already adept at handling avipox. "It's
something we all know how to do," he says.

Schlom says he has produced an avipox virus that carries human versions of
the co-stimulator genes with the help of his collaborators at Therion
Biologics, a biotechnology company based in Cam- bridge, Massachusetts. They
hope to have approval for a safety trial for cancer treatment within a year.

Philip Cohen

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Silicon Bugs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 15:40:08 -0500

Silicon Bugs
They're half bacterium, half microchip . . .
http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0812/silicon.html

A LIVING semiconductor that could sniff out poison gas in a bio-terrorist
attack has been accidentally discovered by researchers in the US and
Northern Ireland. The discovery followed the scientists' failure to
eliminate some particularly persistant bacteria from computer chip
production lines.

The researchers had tried everything to destroy the microbes, from
ultraviolet light to powerful oxidants. But the bacteria survived every
attempt.

"The micro-organisms were protecting themselves against our heroic measures
to kill them," says biophysicist Robert Baier, director of the Center for
Biosurfaces at the State University of New York in Buffalo.

When microchips are cleaned with ultra-pure water, the water can dissolve
some semiconducting materials, such as germanium oxide, which can then
crystallise around the bacteria. The bacteria survive extremely well inside
their crystal homes, impervious to the best human efforts to eradicate them.
But the problem has a silver lining. The microbes have created a "living
cell" out of semiconducting material.

"This is where the imagination runs wild," says physicist John O'Hanlon,
project leader and director of the Center for Microcontamination Control at
the University of Arizona in Tucson. O'Hanlon and Baier believe the
semiconductor-encrusted bacteria can be used for building bio-transistors.

In a normal three-terminal transistor, the current flow between the source
and the drain is controlled by the voltage across the gate terminal. In the
bio-transistor, the gate would be replaced by the bacteria-semiconductor
crystal.

The idea is to tap into biological processes, such as respiration and
photosynthesis, which result in electron transfers, says Baier. The bacteria
could be induced to produce electrons when exposed to light or organic
vapours--which would turn on the bio-transistor. Such an exquisitely
sensitive device could detect poison gas during bio-terrorist attacks, says
Baier.

Michael Larkin, a microbiologist at the Queen's University of Belfast, has
been identifying the bacteria. He declines to name them, as the results of
the research have yet to be published. However, he says that the bacteria
are extremophiles, "capable of growing in areas with very low nutrients,
fixing nitrogen and surviving in clean water".

Meanwhile, Baier's group is making the crystals in the lab by trickling
bacteria-infested ultra-pure water over semiconductor wafers. Bio-crystals
form on the surface of the wafers and can be scraped off. "It looks like
diamond dust. It's absolutely beautiful," says Baier.

The next step is to get the crystals to behave like a transistor, says
Baier. Sandip Tiwari, director of the Cornell Nanofabrication Facility at
Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, says that while the device should
work there's still a lot of development needed.

Anil Ananthaswamy

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (8/10/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 18:16:17 -0400

Insecticide resistant locusts invade Russian farmland

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: CNN

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- More than four million acres of agricultural land have
been sprayed with pesticide in a bid to combat swarms of locusts in
Russia's Volgograd region. A 20-kilometer wide cloud of green Asiatic
locusts, each the size of a sparrow, has swept on to farmland from
neighboring Kazakhstan. Farmers have been unable to protect their crops
with insecticide because the locusts are already too advanced in their
life- cycle.

Arafat, Peres to visit Oslo for talks with Norwegian leaders

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Ha'aretz

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and former
prime minister Shimon Peres are expected in Oslo this weekend for talks
with Norwegian leaders, officials said Thursday. Both Arafat and Peres are
expected to arrive Friday and stay in Norway for around 24 hours. Arafat
is to brief Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Foreign Minister
Thorbjoern Jagland on the Middle East peace process and the situation
after the failed Camp David talks in the United States, and discuss what
Norway can do, said Omar Kitmitto, head of the Palestinian representation
in Oslo.

Volcano in Japan erupts again

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: BBC

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- More than 600 people were forced to evacuate their
homes when a volcano on an island near Tokyo erupted early on Thursday.
The eruption from Mount Oyama - which forms the island of Miyakejima -
sent ash, rocks and smoke flying out, as high as 3,000m into the air. A
200m-high plume of smoke and ash was left after the eruption, which
continued for more than eight hours.

Egypt supports world plan to redistribute Nile river

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Stratfor Report-0107 GMT, 000810

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Officials from 10 African nations met in Khartoum over
the weekend, reported the Panafrican news agency on Aug 7. The second
meeting within the last month between cabinet ministers from Egypt,
Ethiopia, Sudan and the six Great Lakes states, focused on the plans for
the redistribution of the region�s most vital resource – the Nile river.
Backed by the World Bank, the United Nations, several European countries
and Washington, the plan lays the groundwork for the river�s economic
development.

Historically, Egypt has monopolized the longest river in the world and
prevented development throughout the region. Now Cairo is supporting the
redistribution plans. The reason for the change of heart is simple - a
changing economic landscape has spurred a shift in Egyptian foreign
policy. South Africa is pushing for an integrated southern African economy
while building up its military and transforming itself into the world�s
economic gateway to the continent. In response, Cairo now wants to
strengthen its own economic and political position. Cairo is well aware of
the economic impact of the river�s redistribution to Ethiopia.

Pope's Jerusalem proposal may be key

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Weekend Staff
                         Source: MSNBC! Reuters

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- The Pope's proposal for the internationalisation of
Jerusalem would be a way out of the deadlock, if only for a transitional
period, commentator Mohamed Sid-Ahmed said in the state-owned English-
language Al-Ahram Weekly on Thursday. ''It is based on solid legal
grounds, namely the U.N. resolution of 1947 to partition Palestine into
separate, independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem maintained as
an international zone under permanent U.N. trusteeship,'' he wrote.

4,200-strong Ethiopia-Eritrea force proposed by Annan

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Reuters

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan proposed on Thursday
establishing a 4,200-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to monitor an accord
halting a two-year border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The
Security Council on July 31 approved an advance party of up to 100
military observers, called the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE), to maintain liaison between the two sides and help prepare for a
full-scale peacekeeping operation. In a report issued on Thursday, Annan
proposed turning this into a full-scale military force of up to 4,200
personnel, including 220 military observers, three infantry battalions and
support units.

Under the agreement on the cessation of hostilities, UNMEE's main tasks
would be: - to monitor implementation of the accord; - to confirm the
redeployment of Ethiopian troops from positions they took after Feb. 6
1999 and that Ethiopia did not administer before May 6, 1998; - to confirm
that Eritrean troops remain 25 km (about 15.6 miles) -- equivalent to
artillery range -- from the positions to which the Ethiopian troops will
redeploy; and - to supervise a temporary security zone to ensure there is
no military presence from either side.

Russia plans to use military merger savings to fund more ground troops in
Chechnya

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Reuters

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Russia's Security Council will advise President
Vladimir Putin to cut land-based nuclear missiles and merge the rest of
the Strategic Rocket Forces with the air force, a Defence Ministry source
said on Thursday. The source told Reuters the move was part of a
restructuring of Russia's armed forces that would start in 2001 and result
in three branches of the military -- land, sea and air -- rather than
four, including the Strategic Rocket Forces. "We are not talking about
liquidating the Strategic Rocket Forces or denting Russia's nuclear
shield, including its land-based component," the first deputy chief of
General Staff, Valery Manilov, told reporters.

The move, if Putin agrees with it, would lead to much greater emphasis on
the hitherto neglected submarine-based deterrent. "The Strategic Rocket
Forces will be merged with the air force and silo-based missiles which
become obsolete in 2003 will be scrapped," the source said. There will
also be structural changes in the Strategic Rocket Forces -- which are
responsible only for land-based missiles -- and savings will be used to
fund conventional ground forces which have been found wanting in the
Chechnya war.

Abu Ala says summit proved Israel wants to control PA

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Ha'aretz

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Palestinians learned at the Camp David summit that
Israel's demands for security arrangements are not designed to protect it
from external threats. Instead, says veteran Palestinian negotiator Ahmed
Qureia (Abu Ala), PA officials discovered that the purpose of Israel's
security demands is to provide leverage for controlling the Palestinians,
from the outside.

Russia and Iran advise Arafat on peace with Israel

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Middle East Newsline

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is turning
to Russia and Iran for advice and support regarding future peace
negotiations with Israel. Iranian officials said Arafat will meet Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday. A Foreign Ministry statement said
Arafat requested to visit Teheran and will hold "talks with Iran's head of
state Mohammad Khatami who heads the Organization of the Islamic
Conference." Palestinian officials said Arafat will urge Khatami to
convene the OIC to discuss the Islamic position on Jerusalem. From
Teheran, Arafat will fly on Thursday to Moscow. The Palestinian leader
will hold talks on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kuwait forces on alert

                         Weekend News Today
                         Lead: Kelly
                         Source: Middle East Newsline

Thu Aug 10,2000 -- Kuwait has placed its forces on alert in response to
Iraqi threats to again attack the emirate. "As a precautionary move, we
have mobilized part of our armed forces, although they have not yet been
put on maximum alert," Kuwaiti Defense Minister Salim Al Sabah said. On
Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sabah Ahmed Al Sabah informed Arab envoys and
ambassadors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council of
the threat. Earlier, Saddam threatened another Iraqi offensive against
Kuwait and termed Kuwaiti and Saudi Arabian leader "traitors" for
cooperating with Israel and the United States.

http://www.upway.com/cgi/readnews.cgi?day=00_08_10&item=#965941874

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Antimatter Atoms Experiments Planned
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 18:29:26 -0400

Thursday August 10 10:27 AM ET

Antimatter Atoms Experiments Planned

By NAOMI KOPPEL, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) - European scientists searching for answers to some of
science's

most basic questions announced plans Thursday to build atoms of antimatter

and then ``cage'' them for use in experiments.

The researchers at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, or CERN,

said they plan to make atoms of antihydrogen. It would be the first time

that antiatoms have been slowed down enough to be caught and studied,

intensifying global competition between scientists trying to decode the

mystery of antimatter.

Physicists believe that antimatter is the mirror image of conventional

matter in the universe. For every subatomic particle in the universe, there

appears to be another identical in appearance and structure, but with its

electric or magnetic properties reversed.

Scientists have been puzzling for years over the disappearance of

antimatter. The Big Bang should have created the same amount of matter and

antimatter, and in principle the two should have wiped each other out.

But somehow there was enough matter left over to create the universe, and

antimatter only exists now in cosmic rays and particle accelerators.

CERN, famed for its 16 3/4-mile particle accelerator, this time is using a

small decelerator - 616 feet around - to create its ``antimatter factory.''

The CERN scientists plan to test the antihydrogen atoms to see if they

behave in the same way as ordinary hydrogen.

``We are looking at how the universe would look if it was made out of

antimatter. Would there be the slightest difference between our universe and

the universe of antiatoms?'' said Rolf Landua, spokesman for one of three

projects at CERN looking at the issue.

If antimatter differs from matter, even by one part in a hundred billion,

that could explain why the world is made up of matter and why antimatter has

disappeared, he added.

The decelerator takes antiprotons - the opposite of protons- which have been

created in the accelerator, groups them together and then slows them down
to

a tenth the speed of light.

These can then be captured, either in electromagnetic fields or by inserting

them into ordinary atoms, which is possible because antiprotons destroy

normal protons but not other matter.

Then, positrons - antielectrons emitted by a radioactive source - are added

to the antiprotons. Just as one proton and one electron creates hydrogen, so

one antiproton and one positron creates antihydrogen.

The antihydrogen is then stored at very low temperatures and laser beams
are

shot at it to see if it behaves differently from hydrogen. Scientists want

to know if antiatoms have a slightly different attraction to each other

compared with ordinary atoms.

``We hope to have the first antihydrogen atoms by the end of this year, and

we will then have to construct a new type of apparatus in order to trap

them. We aim to give a first analysis by the end of 2002,'' Landua said of

the project, called ATHENA.

``It could give us a clue to why our universe exists, but it isn't clear

what that clue might be. We ask a question, nature gives us an answer, and

if we're clever enough we understand the answer.''

The CERN project is one of three major international efforts trying to solve

the mystery of the disappearance of antimatter. Two projects - BaBar at the

Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in California and Belle, based at KEK, a

Japanese national laboratory - presented their initial results last week.

Those projects do not aim to build antiatoms, but instead to measure how

antiparticles decay to see how this compares with the decay of normal

particles.

Physicists in the United States said the CERN effort to manufacture

antiatoms is the next step to understanding the fundamental properties of an

antimatter world.

``To really understand whether this mirror world is out there, you have to

test its ingredients and see if they behave the way we would expect them to

behave,'' said Kurt Riesselmann, a physicist and spokesman for the Fermi

National Accelerator Laboratory outside Chicago.

When they collide, matter and antimatter release tremendous energy. Some

scientists dream of harnessing this energy to send spacecraft to other solar

systems orbiting distant stars.

However, Riesselmann said antimatter propulsion and other practical

applications of the mirror world is a long way off. The CERN experiments

would trap small amounts of antimatter in magnetic fields for experiments,

but that wouldn't be practical on a larger scale.

``How would you store it?'' he said. ``You couldn't put it in a vessel or a

container made of matter.''

On the Net:

CERN, <underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://public.web.cern.ch/Public</underline></color>

Antiproton decelerator, <underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://psdoc.web.cern.ch/PSdoc/acc/ad/index.html</underline></color>

ATHENA project, <underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://athena.web.cern.ch/athena</underline></color>

BaBar home page, <underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://www.slac.stanford.edu/BFROOT/index.html

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000810/sc/antimatter_factory_2.html

</underline>via: isml@egroups.com<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>

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