BPR Mailing List Digest: 07/12/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
July 12, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | July, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Growing multiculturalism is redefining American religion
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:36:54 -0400

Melting pot: Our growing multiculturalism is redefining American religion

By Mary Rourke
Los Angeles Times

With almost no fanfare, the United States is experiencing its most dramatic
religious transformation in this century. What has been a nation steeped in
the Judeo-Christian tradition is fast becoming the most spiritually diverse
country in the world.

"More religions are being practiced in the United States than anyplace else,"
says Paul Griffiths, professor of philosophy of religions at the University of
Chicago. At least 200 denominations coexist here, and the numbers
continue to grow.

The impact promises to be as far-reaching as the rise of the Roman Catholic
Church in the mid-1800s. Brought about by immigration, geographic mobility,
intermarriage and a growing disenchantment with some of our oldest
religious institutions, this shift is redefining the nation.

The United States is home to almost 4 million Muslims, five times as many
as there were in 1970. Close to half of these are black. At this rate, by the
year 2000, Islam is likely to outpace Judaism, which has leveled off at 5.5
million members.

Two million Americans identify themselves as Buddhists, a tenfold increase
since 1970.

Hindus have grown from 100,000 to 950,000 in the same period, Sikhs from
1,000 to 220,000.

"Cultural pluralism is changing America's religious life," says Diana Eck, a
professor of World Religions at Harvard University. "It is making our spiritual
tradition much richer and broader."

Although the United States remains predominantly Christian -- 85 percent of
Americans claim this faith -- the same forces that have broadened the
nation's religious base are remaking many of Christianity's institutions.

Only about half of Americans, for example, die in the denomination they were
born in. More than three quarters claim a religious identity but have little to
do with any organized religion.

Once dismissed by demographers as "other," Mormons, Jehovah's
Witnesses and Pentecostals represent the most vigorous sector in all of
American religious life at the turn of the millennium.

As membership in the once dominant Episcopal, Presbyterian and
Congregational churches declined at the rate of 20 percent to 40 percent
during the past 30 years, Mormons grew by 90 percent, Jehovah's
Witnesses by 162 percent, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of God church
by 267 percent.

Once the churches that served the rural South or the remote West, they are
outstripping such mainstream Protestant congregations as the
Presbyterians, Episcopalians and United Methodists.

Losses for the United Methodist and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would be
even greater if not for the recent addition of Asian immigrants. Korean-
Americans now account for close to 1 percent of the Methodist and nearly 2
percent of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

With 60 million adherents, Roman Catholicism remains the country's largest
denomination, but there, too, expansion has been largely dependent on
immigration. Latinos make up more than 30 percent of membership. At the
same time the Southern Baptist Convention, the country's second-largest
denomination with 16 million members, has seen its ethnic congregations,
particularly Asian and Latino, grow by more than 50 percent. They make up
about 3 million members of the church.

None of this accounts for the most startling challenge to America's oldest
religious structures: the rise of the nondenominational megachurch. In 1970,
there were 10. Now, there are close to 400.

"The old-line churches, by that I mean Presbyterian, Episcopal and
Congregational, won't disappear soon," says Wade Clark Roof, a religion
professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But their position of
dominance won't hold. The old line is becoming the side line. The direction is
away from history and doctrine, toward a generic form of religion."

With so many new elements influencing the nation's spiritual life, a growing
segment of Americans has started to custom-blend faith. Although the
numbers remain small, these home-grown innovations are exerting a
disproportionate influence on American religion.

There are, for instance, millions of mainline Protestants and Roman
Catholics who regularly attend Pentecostal-style services.

"It used to be that people died in whatever religion they were born into," says
Martin Marty, a historian of American religion at the University of Chicago.
"Today, you're much freer to shop." Defecting from one church to another
once carried the emotional baggage of abandoning home; now, such loyalty
carries far less weight. Marty likens America's religious life to a spiritual
marketplace.

Other scholars, however, think such imagery belittles a profound shift. "I
strongly object to the shopping metaphor," says Harvard's Diana Eck. "We
are becoming a nation shaped by more than one tradition."

Hybrid religion, though, offends many because it ignores fundamental
contradictions between one belief system and another. After all, Judaism
embraces a single God; Buddhism embraces none. Christianity teaches one
life, death and resurrection, Hinduism teaches reincarnation.

"What is at stake is the identity of a religious denomination," says Lanier
Burns, chairman of the department of theology at Dallas Theological
Seminary. "Christ is the center of Christianity. When you cease to have a
Christ center, you are not Christian. You make your choices, and you have
to live with the consequences."

By some estimates, those who identify strongly with the faith they were born
into, but do not belong to any church or synagogue make up the fastest-
growing religious group in the country.

Demographers refer to them as the "unaffiliated," a term also used for
registered voters who do not join any political party. According to a recent
Gallup poll, 96 percent of Americans believe in God and 98 percent pray
regularly, but only 29 percent attend a religious service every week.

"The unaffiliated represent a huge number of people," says Marty. "They may
be very tenacious about their denomination and fight like crazy over it, but
they see church as only one means of gathering people of like mind into a
community."

http://www.pastornet.net/staff/culture/melting_pot.asp?id=65654&area=

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - U.S. lawyers mull commission to set [global] Internet rules
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:41:40 -0400

U.S. lawyers mull commission to set Internet rules

Updated 3:11 PM ET July 10, 2000

  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A study of cyberspace legal issues
  released by an American Bar Association committee Monday
  suggested a multinational commission needs to be created to set
  global Internet rules.

  The two-year study, which was released at the ABA's annual
  meeting in New York, examined a range of topics including
  consumer protection, privacy, banking, securities, taxes and
  gaming.

  The report also reviewed how regulatory agencies in the United
  States and abroad must change to adapt to a new world of
  electronic commerce that is not dependent on physical location.

  The report's conclusions have not been adopted by the ABA.
  Industry leaders were expected to offer formal comments on the
  report on July 17 at the London session of the ABA's annual
  meeting.

  "Anyone doing business in cyberspace needs to know what laws
  to obey, whether it be a question of what taxes are due and
  where, or what consumer protections apply to the sale of their
  products or services," Thomas Vartanian, chair of the ABA
  Global Cyberspace Jurisdiction Project, told a news conference.

  He said rules were needed to maximize the efficiency of
  electronic commerce and said government cannot write and
  approve laws fast enough to keep up with the changing
  technology.

  Vartanian said the study underscored the limited ability that any
  one state or nation may have in bringing greater certainty to
  cyberspace and thus the need for a multinational commission that
  could work with governments to establish rules.

  "It's as if we've landed on Mars and we're constructing a
  commercial and business setting," he said. "We have to establish
  new rules of engagement and we have to get people used to
  dealing with those new rules."

  The study offered a menu of solutions a global commission could
  undertake. Among the suggestions was the creation of a
  cybertribunal and voluntary industry councils to develop private
  sector methods of resolving e-commerce disputes.

  Another suggestion was that global industry regulatory authorities
  be encouraged to reach agreement about how laws will be
  applied to financial products and services offered in an electronic
  environment.

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000710/15/lawyers-cyberspace

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - HOLY SMOKE! Legalise the weed, say church officials
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:45:36 -0400

Thursday, July 6, 2000

HOLY SMOKE! Legalise the weed, say church officials

AT LEAST one prominent official of the Jamaican Christian community has
called for the legalisation of drugs -- starting with marijuana -- and
he has received cautious support from other religious leaders.

The widely respected Rev. Oliver Daley of the United Church in Jamaica
and the Cayman Islands, says it's illogical, hypocritical, and
oppressive to regard ganja as an illegal substance while the jury is
still out on whether it's addictive or dangerous.

At the same time, he notes, it is perfectly legal to smoke cigarettes
and drink alcohol, both of which are not only addictive, but "natural
born killers".

He emphasises that neither he nor the church is suddenly condoning the
use of drugs, and notes that the drug trade is the single greatest
threat to the fabric of society.

He argues, however, that we cannot legislate morality. Not everything
that is a sin should also logically be a crime, he adds.

Adultery, for example, is a sin but the Reverend says it would be
impractical to make it illegal, a lesson that the church has learnt over
the years, and a lesson the politicians need to learn now about drugs.

Bishop Robert Foster of the Moravian Church, in a guarded response to
Rev. Daley's proposal, concedes that the drug war has failed, and adds
that anything that would diminish the value of drugs and the related
greed around it would be welcome. He concludes that the case for
legalising drugs is one that should be "carefully considered."

"Willing to discuss it," is the response of former Jamaica Council of
Churches (JCC) President Rev. Stanley Clarke, who says he would be
reluctant to legalise all drugs but would consider ganja. He says "in
the current Jamaican environment it is senseless to arrest someone for a
spliff or for growing a plot of weed for personal use -- making a
criminal out of someone for a harmless activity."

In the 1999 Synod Papers of his church, Rev. Daley states the following,
among other points:

In spite of all the draconian laws drugs are available at any street
corner in any of our communities.

More people seem to die from the trade than from the use.

All public officials -- courts, customs, law enforcement agencies -- are
vulnerable to the corruption of the drug lords, and our society has
become more dangerous to live in.

Our prisons and legal system are overtaxed with the consequence of
prohibition.

Prohibition did not work at the start of the 20th century, and it surely
is not working at the close. When things are prohibited, but retain an
economic value, we tend to behave more like the beasts than like the
gods.

We are losing the war on drugs and a new approach must be found, one
which includes using the billions of dollars being wasted on policing
drugs for health, education, and rehabilitation instead. This is not
only more logical, but more humane, he figures.

It is also somewhat illogical, he agrees, that the very people employed
to stamp out the drug trade are themselves in effect sustained by the
trade. "If illegal drugs were to disappear these law enforcement
officials would be rendered irrelevant and out of a job."

This situation diminishes the moral authority of many of those employed
to wage war against drugs.

Rev. Daley concedes, however, that it might be difficult for Jamaica to
legalise cocaine without the collaboration of other countries, since we
are only a small part of the trade and the politics around it.

But, "where ganja is concerned, where we are a major supplier, and where
it is a substance bearing cultural and religious relevance to some in
our society," he believes we would be well within both rights and reason
to free up the weed.

� Tony Morrison

http://www.go-jamaica.com/gleaner/20000706/News/News2.html

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - `Nonsense DNA' mystifies geneticists
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:57:06 -0400

Published Tuesday, July 11, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News

`Nonsense DNA' mystifies geneticists

Genome challenge: to understand bits of random coding

BY SETH BORENSTEIN
Mercury News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTONTHE HUMAN genome, the 3.15 billion-letter instruction book
for our cells, seems pretty elegant. But it turns out to be chock-full of typos,
gibberish, repetitions and redundancies, and scientists don't know why.

``Junk DNA,'' some call the residue, and it takes up an amazing 97 percent
of our genome.

So the recent announcement that the human genome was fully mapped is
tempered by a monumental mystery: What is this so-called junk doing in our
DNA?

It's suddenly a hot topic in genomics, splitting the field into scientists who
think the mystery material is useless and those who say it has some not-
understood-but-vital purpose.

Stuff of controversy

``This is something we tend to talk a lot about after we've had a lot of beers,''
said Rick Wilson, professor of genetics and co-director of the Genome
Sequencing Center at Washington University in St. Louis. ``You want to
believe that the system is designed to be as efficient as possible. So why
does it have all this other stuff?''

``I think of it as the comparison of trash and junk,'' said Roy Britten, the
California Institute of Technology biologist who's the ``father'' of junk DNA.
``Trash you throw away. Junk you keep in case it may be useful.''

The DNA that gene-mapping scientists study is called a coding sequence. It
instructs a cell to build a particular protein. Proteins, which do most of the
work in cells, can serve a structural purpose, such as forming collagen fiber,
or cause a chemical reaction, such as metabolizing a nutrient.

But the DNA needed to produce the proteins that do all the cell's work
amounts to only 3 percent to 5 percent of the human genome, biologists
say.

``There's a lot more going on than that,'' said Ken Dewar, a research scientist
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute in
Cambridge, Mass.

The rest of the genome is technically called non-coding, or, because it gets
in the way of decoding, ``nonsense.'' Cells themselves delete it when they
reproduce DNA.

Scientists say there are two major types of junk DNA. One is expressed as
a repetitive sequence that keeps popping up in the DNA strand.

``For the life of me, I can't figure out why it's anything like a benefit'' to have
all these repetitions, said Steven Scherer, director of mapping at Baylor
College of Medicine's Human Genome Sequencing Center in Houston.

The other type of junk is the intron, a seemingly random repetition in the
middle of real protein instructions. It's as if in this sentacgtcaaagtcaaaence,
the letters ``acgtcaaagtcaaa'' were stuck in the middle of the word
``sentence.'' When the DNA replicates, the cell edits out the
``acgtcaaagtcaaa'' and just copies the word ``sentence.''

``The cell has to go to a lot of trouble because the introns are there,'' said
Rex Chisholm, professor of cell and molecular biology at Northwestern
University in Chicago.

Introns seem tied to evolution, Chisholm said. The more highly evolved
species, such as humans, tend to have more and longer introns than less-
evolved life forms, such as yeast.

And many of the genetic differences between species occur in introns. For
example, chimpanzees and humans are about 1.6 percent different in their
junk DNA, but only 0.5 percent different in their protein-building instructions,
said Morris Goodman, professor of anatomy and cell biology at Wayne State
University in Detroit.

Scientists who think of non-coding DNA as garbage simply say that cells are
inefficient. Junk DNA, especially introns, may have been relevant in earlier
evolutionary stages or it could have been a harmless mistake. ``They are not
useful and also not very harmful,'' said Rudolf Raff, director of the Indiana
Molecular Biology Institute in Bloomington.

Raff compares the junk DNA to someone adding empty file folders with blank
paper to a filing cabinet. ``It doesn't matter, and that's the way I think our
genome is to a large part,'' he said.

A hidden purpose?

Others think it has a purpose that hasn't been discovered.

``I don't think there's anything that's junk DNA,'' said top government
genomics researcher Ari Patrinos, associate director for biological and
environmental research at the Department of Energy. We just don't know the
use for it, he said. ``For us to be arrogant about making presumptions about
what is and what isn't necessary is pretty human.''

So the push is to find out what this stuff does.

Scientists theorize that stretches of junk DNA could be space holders in the
genome or spare parts that become useful in mutating DNA.

Early research is finding that when the seemingly nonsense parts of DNA are
removed, cells multiply a bit, but don't function as well as they do with full-
length genomes.

This is why biologists who have mapped the human genome are only on ``the
beginning of a wonderful voyage,'' Patrinos said. ``The clicks and whirs of the
human cell, it's a fascinating mechanism. The reality is, we don't understand
much of it.''

http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/scitech/docs/junkdna11.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Popular Mechanics Magazine First To Use Digimarc MediaBridge
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 08:58:28 -0400

Popular Mechanics Magazine First To Use Digimarc MediaBridge To Link
Editorial Content to Web Site

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 11, 2000--

August issue of Popular Mechanics Instantly Transports Readers to

www.popularmechanics.com

Digimarc Corporation (Nasdaq:DMRC), the world leader in digital
watermark technology and applications, announced today that the August
issue of Popular Mechanics is the first magazine to use Digimarc
MediaBridge to link editorial content to relevant information on the
Internet.

Editorial and advertising pages in Popular Mechanics featuring a
Digimarc
`D' symbol in the lower outside page corner are Internet-enabled. These
pages contain an inconspicuous code which when held up to an
image-capture device such as a Web camera, launch a browser and
instantly connect readers to a dedicated URL.

Digimarc MediaBridge first became available to consumers in the July

issue of Wired Magazine. Publishing groups scheduled to launch magazines
containing Digimarc MediaBridge this year include Time Inc., Ziff Davis,
Hearst Corp., Smithsonian, and Primedia Special Interest Group.

Digimarc `D' symbols in the August issue of Popular Mechanics' Table
of
Contents page denote the digitally coded editorial pages. Readers are
instantly transported from the printed page directly to specific URLs
with more information that is relevant to each story. For example, an
article about NASCAR driver Jeff Burton, when held up to a Web camera,
launches a page with previous and current stories about NASCAR races,
motorsports and general automotive topics.

"Digimarc MediaBridge allows our readers to gather information or
even
buy products immediately," said Jay McGill, publisher of Popular
Mechanics Magazine. "It is the kind of revolutionary technology that
Popular Mechanics is all about."

Digimarc's system embeds an inconspicuous code, known as a "digital
watermark," in magazine page images during pre-press using standard
image-editing software. Without the use of search engines, directories,
or portals, consumers can simply hold the magazine page in front of a
Web camera and instantly access opportunities to purchase online,
participate in promotions, or view multimedia presentations.

"Digimarc MediaBridge provides magazine publishers and advertisers
with
an interactive way to reach their respective audiences through the
Internet," said Digimarc CEO Bruce Davis. "Editors and writers can
provide background information, links to previous stories, even notes
from interviews related to the story. Likewise, advertisers can offer
further product information or the option to buy the product directly
over the Internet. This system provides a new and better way to access
information and initiate commerce on the Web."

Digimarc MediaBridge applications are the latest example of the
company's expertise in digital watermark technology.

About Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics is published by Hearst Magazines, a unit of The
Hearst Corporation, and the world's largest publisher of monthly
magazines, with 16 U.S. titles and 98 international editions distributed
in more than 100 countries. Of these, Hearst publishes ten monthly
magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, the
National Magazine Company Limited.

About Digimarc

Digimarc (NASDAQ:DMRC) is the world leader in digital watermark
technology and applications that allow inconspicuous digital code to be
embedded in any analog or digital media content. Using its proprietary
technology, Digimarc has created a fundamentally new way to access the
Internet. Digimarc MediaBridge makes magazines and other printed media a
direct bridge to relevant information on the Internet. Advertisements
and editorial pages contain a digital code, which when shown to a Web
camera on a computer running the Digimarc MediaBridge reader software,
will launch a browser, instantly connecting readers to opportunities to
learn more and buy directly on the Internet, as specified by the
advertiser or the editor. Internet-enabled pages are identified by a
Digimarc `D' symbol in the lower corner of the page. Readers merely show
the page to the camera and are instantly transported to the related
Internet destination. Digimarc's technology has been licensed for use in
over 150 U.S. magazines reaching over 150 million readers. Digimarc also
provides image commerce technologies to leading stock photo agencies and
major corporations and anti-counterfeiting solutions to the world's
leading central banks. For more information about Digimarc, please visit
our Web site at www.digimarc.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to

risks and uncertainties. Although Digimarc Corporation believes that the
expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable,
actual results could differ materially from those expectations.
Important cautionary statements and risk factors that would affect
actual results are discussed in materials filed by Digimarc Corporation
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Digimarc is a registered trademark and MediaBridge is a trademark of

Digimarc Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000711/ny_digimar_2.html

via: Third_Watch@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Omega: world's most powerful laser
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:26:35 -0400

Zap!

The world's most powerful laser imitates the turmoil of the

cosmos on a very small scale

By David L. Chandler, Globe Staff, 7/11/2000

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - It doesn't matter whether you're talking about

a star, which can be about a million miles across, or a galaxy,

which is about a trillion times bigger - or a speck of

plastic no bigger than a grain of dust. Blasted with enough

power, they all blow up pretty much the same way.

That's the concept behind a series of experiments being carried

out at the world's most powerful laser facility, located at the

Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester. By

zapping tiny samples with a powerful laser beam, scientists can

reproduce the unimaginable violence of stellar-scale collisions

and explosions, events that cannot be studied directly in any

other way.

Out of these microscale laser bursts, astronomers hope to learn

about everything from planets and exploding stars to star-gobbling

black holes.

''It's a sea-change in the way we do astrophysics,'' says University

of Rochester astronomer Adam Frank, an enthusiastic proselytizer for

the new technology. ''Now, for the first time, we have a chance to

bring stellar conditions down to Earth.''

The amazing power of a blast from the Rochester laser, called Omega,

only lasts for a billionth of a second, but, during that ultra-brief

flash, its power is almost 100 times greater than the total energy

consumption of the United States. That stunning power makes it the

only facility on Earth that can realistically simulate the effects

of anything from the relatively puny blast of a nuclear bomb to the

explosion of a star - an event so violent that it briefly puts out

as much energy as the light of hundreds of billions of stars.

That means scientists can now observe in the lab violent interactions

that before could only be observed from thousands of light years away,

unfolding seemingly in slow motion over a period of many years - and,

in some cases, millions of years. The only other choice, until now,

has been simulations in the most powerful supercomputers.

''We can recreate the conditions of radiative blast waves in space,''

said Frank, referring to the energy and debris hurtling outward from

cosmic explosions and slamming into interstellar gas. ''This has never

been possible in the lab before.''

The field is so new, even most astronomers and astrophysicists are

not yet familiar with its potential. Bruce Remington of Lawrence

Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., a physicist

and one of the pioneers of the new research, said that at a recent

international meeting of astrophysicists, ''people would stare at

us'' as if to say, ''`What are you doing here?''' They were initially

skeptical when he discussed his research, but, by the meeting's end,

he said, they recognized the new method's potential.

But laser simulations of space have already demonstrated the power

to reveal important information that cannot be garnered any other

way. For example, during the nearest stellar explosion ever observed

by astronomers, called Supernova 1987A, matter from the dying star's

center reached its outer edges more than twice as fast as theories

had predicted. Now, laser experiments have enabled scientists to

study new calculations of how the process may really work.

''It's a debate that we're still in the middle of,'' Remington said,

but the laser experiments allow scientists to reproduce the conditions

and seem to confirm that there was ''a fundamental flaw in how people

think a star explodes.''

Closer to home, it turns out that astronomers' theoretical understanding

of the gases inside of the giant planets Jupiter and Saturn was also

off-base. Equations describing how hydrogen gas behaves when it is

squeezed under the colossal pressures of Jupiter's interior were wrong,

neglecting a kind of atomic ''softening'' under pressure that allows

it to be compressed more densely than astronomers had thought.

Laser simulations in Rochester revealed the unusual behavior of

pressurized hydrogen, suggesting that Jupiter and Saturn contain

layers in which the gas is compressed more densely than had been

thought possible. This will change the whole picture of what goes

on in the densely-packed deep layers of these gas giants, Remington

said, including where different layers form and how the planets'

magnetic fields are generated. Theorists are still struggling to

adapt the equations and revise their understanding of what really

goes on in these planets' depths.

While the celestial objects and phenomena being simulated are

gigantic, the laser experiments themselves take place on a tiny

scale. The apparatus that generates the world's most powerful laser

beam is housed in a special building as big as a football field,

and produces 75 teraWatts of power (75,000,000,000,000 watts), or

nearly 100 times the total US electric power consumption at a

given moment.

But all that power, split into 60 separate beams that are directed

from all sides into a soccer-ball-shaped chamber, ends up being

concentrated on a target that usually is the size of a grain of

sand or less.

''You need both a telescope and a microscope to do this research,''

said Frank, because the details of an experiment's results are often

literally too small for the naked eye to see.

You also need some cooperative spiders. After careful research, the

laser's designers found that the best way to suspend the tiny targets

at just the right place in the target chamber was to use a strand

of spider silk. Inch for inch, silk is stronger than steel, and,

unlike steel, it doesn't get brittle in the supercold temperatures

used for the experiments.

Any special kind of spider? Nope. Once, just before an important

experiment, the team of scientists found that their spider had died.

One of them just raced home and found another in his cellar, brought

it back, and the experiment went off as planned.

The entire expanse of the laser facility is kept under clean-room

conditions, because even stray dust could explode under the laser's

intense light. When the facility makes a ''shot,'' which happens

about once an hour, everyone is evacuated from the beam and target

rooms, and the visitor's gallery as well, because the energy released

as a byproduct of firing the laser is so dangerous - a lethal burst

of neutrons, and an instantly-blinding flash just from stray light

that leaks from the beam tubes and mirrors.

But, surprisingly, because the flash is so brief, the direct effects

are much less dramatic than even the laser from a typical James Bond

movie. In fact, Bond might scoff at the modest danger from absorbing

a direct shot from this awesome laser. ''If it was the back of your

hand, it would probably singe the hairs right off,'' said David

Meierhoffer, group leader for research at the laser lab.

''It could cause a severe burn. It would really hurt,'' added the

lab's director, Robert McCrory. ''But it wouldn't blow your hand off

or anything like that.'' That surprisingly mild outcome is because

the 60 powerful beams in the facility produce their devastating power

for only a very short burst.

The lasers that are used in industry to cut through solid metal, or

used by movie villains to try to slice Agent 007 in half, by contrast,

are ''continuous wave'' lasers that emit a constant beam. Those

beams have a far lower power output than the giant Omega, but achieve

their cutting abilities by concentrating that power steadily over time.

New, even more powerful lasers are being built in at least four places

around the world, including England and Japan, Remington said. Like

the Omega laser in Rochester, these are all being built primarily for

the purpose of research on fusion power, which some scientists hope

will someday supply nearly limitless electricity by harnessing the

same power that makes the sun shine.

In fact, most of the Omega laser's research time is still devoted

to fusion-related research. A fraction of its time is also spent for

classified research simulating the effects of nuclear blasts. It is

the combination of these laser experiments with supercomputer

simulations that may allow the world to maintain reliable nuclear

arsenals without the need for any actual weapons testing.

The new generation of more powerful lasers expected within the next

few years will enable astronomers to simulate even more violent events,

such as the collisions of matter and antimatter that some think are

the cause of mysterious events called gamma-ray bursts, one of

astronomy's greatest current enigmas.

Paul Drake, an astronomer at the University of Michigan who has been

doing experiments at the Rochester laser, said that laser research

allows scientists to ''probe never-before-observed mechanisms that

matter for astrophysics,'' such as what happens when matter is

ejected into the surrounding gas and dust when a star is being born

or is undergoing its death throes.

''What we produce in a scaled experiment,'' he said, ''tests both

the theory and the simulations.''

Frank added that, with this new research, ''we're just beginning. ...

The potential is limited only by our imaginations.''

This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 7/11/2000.

<underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://www.boston.com/daily=
globe2/193/science/Zap_+.shtml</underline></color>

The Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester

Web site URL:

<underline><color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>http://www.lle.rochester.ed=
u/

</underline>via: <color><param>0000,0000,8000</param>transhumantech@egroup=
s.com<color><param>0100,0100,0100</param>

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pay dirt from the human genome
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:56:02 -0400

. .
. RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY #702 .
. ---July 6, 2000--- .
. HEADLINES: .
. PAY DIRT FROM THE HUMAN GENOME .
. ========== .
. Environmental Research Foundation .
. P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403 .
. Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: erf@rachel.org .
. ========== .
. All back issues are available by E-mail: send E-mail to .
. info@rachel.org with the single word HELP in the message. .
. Back issues are also available from http://www.rachel.org. .
. To start your own free subscription, send E-mail to .
. listserv@rachel.org with the words .
. SUBSCRIBE RACHEL-WEEKLY YOUR NAME in the message. .
. The Rachel newsletter is now also available in Spanish; .
. to learn how to subscribe, send the word AYUDA in an .
. E-mail message to info@rachel.org. .

PAY DIRT FROM THE HUMAN GENOME

The human genome -- the blueprint for making a human being -- has
been almost completely cataloged. "Today we are learning the
language in which God created life," said President Clinton,
announcing the accomplishment June 26.[1] Under a banner headline
on page 1, the NEW YORK TIMES called it "an achievement that
represents a pinnacle of human self-knowledge."

The 3 billion genetic instructions that form a blueprint for
human life have now been cataloged, but the meaning of most of
those instructions remains unknown. Therefore, the practical
significance of deciphering the book of human life remains murky
except in one area: many new pharmaceutical drugs will soon be
possible. Unfortunately, this is a mixed blessing. A raft of new
drugs may benefit those humans who need and can afford them, but
new drugs make serious trouble for the natural environment and
for many of the non-human creatures living there. Even for
humans, drugs already represent a major environmental challenge
-- arguably the most difficult chemical challenge that we face.
The environment is already heavily polluted with drugs and
personal care products that have passed through humans, entered
sewage treatment plants and then been discharged into waterways.
(See REHW #614.) Increased drug pollution of our waterways --
including our drinking water -- is one of the dark sides of the
human genome project -- a dark side that few acknowledge.

News reports of the human genome achievement have been dominated
by "gee whiz" predictions of accelerating pharmaceutical
advances, with no hint of any problems. The NEW YORK TIMES said,
"The successful deciphering of this vast genetic archive attests
to the extraordinary pace of biology's advance since 1953, when
the structure of DNA was first discovered and presages an era of
even brisker progress."[1] The TIMES went on to quote Dr. Gillian
R. Woollett, representing the Pharmaceutical Research and
Manufacturers of America, a drug manufacturers' trade
association: "The rate of change is absolutely incredible. It's
actually changing the way drug development is even conceived,"
said Dr. Woollett.[3]

The next day the business section of the TIMES explained how
companies are "finding gold in scientific pay dirt: ...Genomics
companies are using different methods to build businesses out of
the genome," the TIMES said, offering three examples: "Incyte
Genomics Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., sells access to a database
about genes to drug companies. Millennium Pharmaceuticals of
Cambridge, Mass., is using genomics to understand disease
processes to develop drugs. Human Genome Sciences of Rockville,
Md. is developing drugs and selling its information," the TIMES
wrote.[5] Notably, all three examples of commercial exploitation
of the genome involve new drugs.

Last December two scientists -- Christian G. Daughton and Thomas
A. Ternes -- writing in ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES, a
respected, peer-reviewed journal, pointed out the relationship
between the human genome project and new drugs: "The enormous
array of pharmaceuticals will continue to diversify and grow as
the human genome is mapped. Today there are about 500 distinct
biochemical receptors at which drugs are targeted.... The number
of targets is expected to increase 20-fold (yielding 3000 to
10,000 drug targets) in the near future...."[6] Daughton and
Ternes go on to say, "Escalating introduction to the marketplace
of new pharmaceuticals is adding exponentially to the already
large array of chemical classes, each with distinct modes of
biochemical action, many of which are poorly understood."

Daughton and Ternes say that the quantity of pharmaceuticals and
personal care products entering the environment each year is
roughly comparable to the amounts of pesticides used each year.
Huge quantities of prescription drugs and biologics, diagnostic
agents, "neutraceuticals," fragrances, sun-screen agents and
numerous other classes of compounds enter the environment each
year, without any government agencies taking notice. As daughton
and Ternes point out, these chemicals tend to have several
worrisome characteristics:

** Many are very long-lived, many break down into other
long-lived compounds with their own peculiar chemical
characteristics, and almost nothing is known about their movement
in the environment;

** Pesticides tend to enter the environment in seasonal pulses.
In contrast, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs)
enter the environment continuously via domestic and industrial
sewage systems and via wet-weather runoff (for example, from
confined animal feeding operations such as hog factories).

** Unlike many pesticides, most drugs and personal care products
have not been examined for adverse environmental effects.
Daughton and Ternes comment, "This is surprising especially since
certain pharmaceuticals are designed to modulate [change]
endocrine and immune systems and cellular signal transduction and
as such... have obvious potential as endocrine disruptors in the
environment."[6,pg.908]

** Many of these chemicals are designed to have profound
physiologic effects, so it would not be surprising if they were
found to affect fish, shellfish, birds, worms, frogs, insects,
and other forms of life.[6,pg.925]

** With pharmaceuticals, unpredicted and unknown side effects are
often the norm: "The possible actions and biochemical
ramifications on nontarget aquatic biota are even less
understood; many are totally unknown," Daughton and Ternes say.

** "It is important to recognize that for many drugs, their
specific modes of action even in the target species are also
unknown. For these drugs, it is impossible to predict what
effects they might have on non-target organisms." [6,pg.923]

** Most drugs don't cure illnesses, they control symptoms -- they
lower cholesterol levels or blood pressure, or they alleviate
pain or depression, or they revive limp libidoes. However, to
achieve these results, they must be taken continuously, often for
many years. Therefore, even relatively short-lived PPCPs can
cause chronic exposures because they are continuously infused
into the environment;

** Aquatic organisms are captives of their aquatic environment so
must endure perpetual exposure;

** The bioaccumulation/bioconcentration potential for at least
some PPCPs matches that of organochlorine compounds;[6,pg.910]

** Some PPCPs show "very high acute aquatic toxicity" while
others "can elicit constellations of significant but subtle
effects across numerous species."[6,pg.910]

** It must also be recognized that even though individual
concentrations of any drug might be low, the combined
concentrations from drugs sharing a common mechanism of action
could be substantial."[6,pg.925]

** Most chemical researchers don't have the tools needed to look
for these chemicals in the environment. Researchers use gas
chromatography (GC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The signals
produced by such analytic equipment are compared to "spectral
libraries," allowing unknown chemicals to be identified. But the
standard spectral libraries available from U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) do
not include most pharmaceuticals. Therefore typical researchers
are not prepared to identify pharmaceuticals in the environment.

** Daughton and Ternes list 66 classes of pharmaceuticals,
including antidepressants; cancer chemotherapy drugs;
tranquilizers and psychiatric drugs; pain killers of many kinds;
anti-inflammatory drugs; many kinds of antihypertensives (blood
pressure reducers); antiseptics; fungicides; anti-epileptics;
bronchodilators (such as albuterol); many lipid regulators or
anti-cholesterol agents; chemicals to increase the contrast in
x-rays; muscle relaxants; anti-psychotic drugs; oral
contraceptives; anorectics (diet pills); antibiotics; and
synthetic hormones (estrogen and thyroid). Details about the 200
most popular prescription drugs in the U.S. in 1999 can be found
at www.rxlist.com/top200.htm. These 200 reportedly account for
two thirds of all the prescriptions filled each year in the U.S.

** Most exposure to drugs and personal care products occurs in
the aquatic environment, but it also occurs on land: "...the
primary source for terrestrial exposure is probably from disposal
of biosolids [sludge] from [sewage treatment plants] and from
animal wastes both applied to land and stored in open-air pits
(waste lagoons)..." [6,pg.925]

** Daughton and Ternes say, "Theoretically, [pharmaceuticals and
personal care products] in sewage sludge applied to crop lands
could be taken up by plants."[6,pg.921] Surely everyone can agree
that this problem should be examined carefully BEFORE allowing
sewage sludge to be mixed with soil.

Is this a new problem? Daughton and Ternes show that, "It
therefore was clearly recognized over 20 years ago that the
continual, daily introduction of kilogram quantities of drugs
from a given [sewage treatment plant] into receiving waters could
result in sustained concentrations with the potential to lead to
exposures in aquatic organisms." [6,pg.925]

But for 20 years regulatory officials and drug corporations have
pretended that the problem does not exist, perhaps because they
have no idea what to do about it. Now the problem seems about to
get worse for three reasons: (1) The genome-induced gold rush to
produce new drugs, mentioned above; (2) the Internet, which is
allowing people to purchase drugs that they previously could not
get their hands on; and (3) recent public hearings by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider allowing many
prescription drugs to be sold without a prescription. The last
time FDA held such hearings, in 1972, 600 drugs switched from
prescription to non-prescription status.[7]

Christian Daughton, a scientist with U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, is aggressively urging environmental
scientists to pay more attention to this problem. However
Daughton acknowledges that the problem may already be too large
for detailed scientific analysis: "In the final analysis, given
the vast array of mechanisms of drug action and side effects, the
total number of different toxicity tests possibly required to
screen the effluent from a typical [sewage treatment plant] could
be impractically large." [6,pg.923]

In June of this year, Daughton and others organized a scientific
conference in Minnesota.[8] There, Glen R. Boyd, a civil engineer
from Tulane University in New Orleans reported finding drugs in
the Mississippi River, in Louisiana's Lake Ponchetrain, and in
Tulane's tap water. In all the waters tested, Boyd and his team
found low levels of the anti-cholesterol drug clofibric acid
along with the pain killer naproxen and the hormone estrone. In
Tulane's tap water, estrone averaged 35 parts per trillion with a
high of 80 parts per trillion.

Naturally, the water-dwelling creatures will bear the brunt of
all this because they cannot escape civilized peoples' habit of
urinating and defecating in all the available fresh water. At the
Minnesota meeting in June a team of scientists reporting finding
male carp and walleyes producing "sky high" quantities of
vitellogenin, an egg-yolk protein normally made only by females.
In 1998, Environment Canada, Canada's federal environmental
agency, reported high levels of estrogens and birth control
compounds in the effluent of sewage treatment plants nationwide.
Chris D. Metcalfe of Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario
created laboratory conditions similar to those found by
Environment Canada and he reported in June that those conditions
cause some fish to become intersex -- having the characteristics
of both males and females. Metcalfe has found intersex white
perch in the Great Lakes.

** Daughton and Ternes say, "A major unaddressed issue regarding
human health is the long-term effects of ingesting via potable
waters very low subtherapeutic doses of numerous pharmaceuticals
multiple times a day for many decades." [6,pg.923] What will it
mean to raise our babies on water contaminated with low levels of
birth control drugs and athlete's foot remedies plus Viagra,
Prozac, Valium, Claritin, Amoxicillin, Prevachol, Codeine,
Flonase, Ibuprofen, Dilantin, Cozaar, Pepcid, Albuterol,
Naproxen, Warfarin, Ranitidine, Diazepam, Bactroban, Lotrel,
Lorazepam, Tamoxifen, Mevacor, and dozens of other potent drugs,
along with hair removers, mosquito repellants, sunburn creams,
musks and other fragrances? No one knows, but evidently we're
going to find out, learning by doing.
--Peter Montague

============

[1] Nicholas Wade, "Genetic Code of Human Life is Cracked by
Scientists," NEW YORK TIMES June 27, 2000, pg. 1.

[2] Nicholas Wade, "Now the Hard Part: Putting the Genome to
Work," NEW YORK TIMES June 27, 2000, pg. D1.

[3] Kenneth Chang, "Incomplete, Project Is Already Paying off,"
NEW YORK TIMES June 27, 2000, pg. D1.

[4] Andrew Pollack, "Is Everything for Sale?" NEW YORK TIMES June
28, 2000, pg. C1.

[5] Andrew Pollack, "Finding Gold in Scientific Pay Dirt," NEW
YORK TIMES June 28, 2000, pg. C1, C12.

[6] Christian G. Daughton and Thomas A. Ternes, "Pharmaceuticals
and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Agents of Subtle
Change," ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES Vol. 107
Supplement 6
(December 1999), pgs. 907-938.

[7] Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "U.S. May Ease Sale of Drugs Over the
Counter," NEW YORK TIMES June 28, 2000, pg. A1.

[8] Janet Raloff, "Excreted Drugs: Something Looks Fishy,"
SCIENCE NEWS June 17, 2000, pg. 388.

################################################################
NOTICE
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes.
Environmental Research Foundation provides this electronic
version of RACHEL'S ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH WEEKLY free of charge
even though it costs the organization considerable time and money
to produce it. We would like to continue to provide this service
free. You could help by making a tax-deductible contribution
(anything you can afford, whether $5.00 or $500.00). Please send
your tax-deductible contribution to: Environmental Research
Foundation, P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403-7036. Please do
not send credit card information via E-mail. For further
information about making tax-deductible contributions to E.R.F.
by credit card please phone us toll free at 1-888-2RACHEL, or at
(410) 263-1584, or fax us at (410) 263-8944.
--Peter Montague, Editor

via: isml@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 12, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 09:59:31 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

TLC - EXTREME MACHINES - "Adrenaline Junkies" - Extreme
athletes thrive just one step away from
disaster.(CC)(TVG)

9:00

DISC - THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT: IT STANDS FOR ALL - A
history of the monument includes restoration
efforts.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - JUNKYARD WARS - "Cannons" - Chemists and military men
compete to build cannons.(CC)(TVG)

9:30

TBN - JACK VAN IMPE PRESENTS

10:00

ABC - 20/20 WEDNESDAY - John Stossel examines
parental responsibility for crimes by
children.(CC)

A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "In the Line of Fire:
The Protectors" - Highly trained bodyguards protect the lives
of world leaders.(CC)

CNN - CNN NEWSSTAND - Child modeling and
acting.(CC)

DISC - BEHIND ENEMY LINES: THE SCOTT O'GRADY STORY -
Interviews, radio recordings and film footage chronicle the
rescue of the American pilot in Bosnia.(CC)

HIST - AMERICAN STEEL: BUILT TO LAST - The U.S. steel
industry faces decline in the '70s, rebounds in the
'90s.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - JUNKYARD WARS - "Amphibious Vehicles" - Teams compete
to build and race amphibious vehicles.(CC)(TVG)

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Abortion-Suicide Link
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 13:15:52 -0400

The Abortion-Suicide Link

Dateline 7/7/00

                     A conspiracy of silence seems to surround the
                     well-documented excess of suicide deaths among women
                     with a history of abortion.

                     One study, STAKES, the statistical analysis unit of
                     Finland's National Research and Development Center for
                     Welfare and Health, pulled the death certificate records
                     for all the women of reproductive age who died between
                     1987 and 1994. They then searched the national health
                     care data base to identify pregnancy-related events for
                     each of these women in the 12 months prior to their
                     deaths. They found that after abortion, women were
                     found to be seven times more likely to die by their own
                     hand than were women who gave birth. Birth seemed to
                     offer a protective period, since this was the only
                     pregnancy outcome that showed a lower suicide risk than
                     the general population in the year following the end of
                     pregnancy.

                          Figure 2: Deaths By Suicide
                          Graphic by Elliot Institute and linked back to their
                          source.

                     In terms of suicide rates per 100,000 women, this
                     translates to a general rate of suicide for women of
                     childbearing years of 11.3 per 100,000. Among women
                     who have had an abortion the suicide rate is 34.7 per
                     100,000. Women in that age group who have given birth
                     have a suicide rate of 5.9 per 100,000.

Suicide Risk Tripled in Abortion Patients

                     After the STAKES findings were published, researchers
                     at the South Glamorgan Health Authority in Great Britain
                     to examine their own data on admissions for suicide
                     attempts both before and after pregnancy events. After
                     their pregnancies, there were 8.1 suicide attempts per
                     thousand women among those who had abortions,
                     compared to only 1.9 suicide attempts among those who
                     gave birth.

Other Evidence

                     Dr. Barry Garfinkel, head of the University of
                     Minnesota's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
                     Department, surveyed teenagers to determine what
                     factors contributed to depression, stress, and thoughts of
                     suicide. The study found that girls who had abortions
                     were four times as likely to attempt suicide as girls who
                     had not aborted.
                     "Suicide More Likely Among Aborted Teens" National Right to
                     Life News 4 Apr. 2, 1987

                     Dr. Carl L. Tishler found that post-abortion teenagers are
                     more likely to commit suicide on or near the anniversary
                     of their abortions than at any other time.
                     Carl L. Tishler, Ph.D., Adolescent Suicide Attempts Following
                     Elective Abortion: A Special Case of Anniversary Reaction
                     Pediatrics 670-671 Nov 1981

David Reardon's survey of post-abortion women found a
propensity to weeping and suicidal thoughts:

More:
http://prolife.about.com/newsissues/prolife/library/weekly/aa070700a.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - JVIM Update items (7/12/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 18:06:30 -0400

CHINA FIGHTS PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The London Telegraph reported: =93An army of 700,000 specially
     trained ducks and chickens has been mobilized to help fight
     China's biggest locust plague in 25 years. The birds, which are
     taught to pursue and eat locusts at the sound of a whistle, are
     part of a national campaign that includes 280,000 people
     backed by crop-dusting planes and special locust-killing
     micro-organisms imported from Britain. Swarms of locusts have
     destroyed more than 4.1 million acres of crops in 11 provinces in
     the north and east of China, and 9.6 million acres of grassland in
     the far western region of Xinjiang. The insects are now close to
     Beijing, with scientists finding up to 5,000 locusts per square
     yard in badly hit areas of the neighboring municipality of
     Tianjin...=94

BRITISH ISP=92S CONSIDER MOVING
       OUTSIDE BRITAIN IF NEW INTERNET
            SURVEILLANCE LAW PASSED
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The BBC reported: =93The government's =91snooping bill=92 is making
     internet companies consider moving their business overseas. This
     week, four internet service providers said they were contemplating
     relocating outside the UK to ensure that the e-mail messages and
     surfing histories of customers are not spied upon. The Regulation
     of Investigatory Powers bill also came under fire from web luminary
     Esther Dyson, who said that if it becomes law it will turn Britain into
     a police state. The attacks come as the RIP bill reaches a key
     stage in the House of Lords and the Government hints at
     concessions to head off the growing chorus of criticism...=94

NEW =91MORNING BEFORE=92 PILL TO BE
                 TESTED DOWN UNDER
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The Sydney Morning Herald reported: =93Australian women will be
     the first in the world to test a controversial morning-before-sex pill.
     Melbourne's Monash University scientists have found a way to
     block conception for up to 24 hours with a single pill. Buoyed by
     promising early results, the researchers are planning a major trial
     which could involve dozens of Australian women by the end of this
     year. Other countries may follow suit when details are revealed to
     the research world this weekend in the British Journal of Family
     Planning. But the scientists face a major hurdle before launching
     human trials =96 a tough ethics committee, church leaders and
     health ethicists. The morning-before pill is the brainchild of in-vitro
     fertilization expert and Family Planning Association president
     Gab Kovacs. The main ingredient of the pill is a hormone called
     progestogen, which prevents fertilization by stopping sperm
     reaching the egg=85He also said the new method could be seen
     as =91more morally acceptable=92 because it prevented conception,
     rather than destroying a fertilized egg...=94

NEW PERVASIVE COMPUTERS TO BE
             UNSEEN BUT EVERYWHERE
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The South China Morning News reported: =93Technology is about to
     become largely invisible, as personal computers are displaced by
     small but powerful computing devices embedded in just about
     everything, according to consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers
     (PWC). Transistors are shrinking so much that every 18 to 24
     months, the number that can be squeezed on to a semiconductor
     doubles. This pattern has held true since the early 1960s - so long,
     in fact, that the smallest features on semiconductors are now
     measured in atoms instead of microns. Extreme compactness
     makes it possible to put computing devices just about everywhere
     and spells the end of the personal computer era as we know it,
     according to PWC in its =91Technology Forecast=92. Computers will no
     longer appear as discrete devices with keyboards and displays.
     When this happens - and Terry Retter, a director at PWC's Silicon
     Valley-based Technology Centre, predicts it will begin happening
     this year or next - personal computing will give way to =91pervasive
     computing=92...=94

ID MICROCHIPS TO BE IMPLANTED IN
               ANIMALS IN LOS ANGELS
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The LA Daily News reported: =93After years of debate and study, the
     Los Angeles Animal Services Department announced Monday
     that it plans to begin implanting microchips in all animals adopted
     from any of its six shelters starting Aug. 1. Animal Services
     Director Don Knapp said the chips are expected to help owners
     identify lost pets, an advance that has been a long-sought goal of
     the agency to reduce the number of animals put to death each
     year. It's one of the first programs of its kind in the nation. Under
     the program, all animals that are adopted will have the chips
     implanted at a cost of $15, Knapp told the City Council's Public
     Safety Committee. Other pet owners who want a chip for their
     animal will be charged $25...=94

PALESTINIANS HAVE HEAVILY ARMED
                ARMY DIVISION IN GAZA
                                                                July 12, 2000

     IsraelWire reported: =93Senior officials in Israel=92s security
     establishment report the PA has a military division (3 brigades) in
     Gaza, which is preparing for warfare. The PA in Gaza has outfitted
     its troops with anti-aircraft missiles; transport helicopters, heavy
     and light machineguns, and armored vehicles. PA forces are
     preparing for war, conducting military exercises including
     simulating overrunning a Jewish community in Yesha. Officials
     point out that at least fifty percent of the military hardware in the
     PA=92s possession is illegal, in violation of the agreements signed
     with Israel...=94

RUSSIA ALMOST READY TO DELIVER
            SECOND WARSHIP TO CHINA
                                                                July 12, 2000

     The Washington Times reported: =93Russia has completed work on
     a second cruise-missile ship for China and started sea trials for
     the new vessel two weeks ago, The Washington Times has
     learned. According to Pentagon intelligence officials, the ship is
     the second Sovremenny-class advanced warship purchased by
     Beijing. It was spotted in the Gulf of Finland during the last week
     of June undergoing sea trials. The exercises are expected to
     include at least one test launch of an SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship
     cruise missile, the officials said. The ship is likely to be sent to
     China toward the end of this year. It is the second cruise-missile
     ship purchased from Russia and will give the People's Liberation
     Army new capabilities against U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups.
     =91The SS-N-22 is the most dangerous anti-ship missile in the
     Russian, and now the Chinese, fleet,=92 said Rep. Dana
     Rohrabacher, California Republican. =91Our Navy admittedly has
     scant ability to defend against this 200-kiloton nuclear-capable
     weapon.=92...=94

     LIBYA DEVELOPING INTERCONTINENTAL
                   BALLISTIC MISSILES
                                                                     July 12, 2000

    The World Tribune reported: =93The United States says Libya is
    developing intercontinental ballistic missiles. U.S. intelligence
    sources said North Korea is aiding the Libyans and has offered
    Tripoli the Taepo Dong-1 missile. U.S. Defense Secretary William
    Cohen referred to the Libyan threat last week in explaining that the
    U.S. missile defense system is not designed to counter Russian or
    Chinese missiles. =91It's not designed to pose a threat to the Chinese
    strategic systems,=92 Cohen said, =91but rather to counter the proliferation
    of missile technology that is taking place in areas such as North
    Korea, with Iran, with potentially Iraq again, Libya and other countries
    that are seeking to acquire long range missile capability as well as
    developing weapons of mass destruction.=92...=94

http://www.jvim.com/cgi-bin/update.cgi

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - PCs aren't cheap. Why not make them work for their keep?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 18:20:26 -0400

Money for nothing

PCs aren't cheap. Why not make them work for their keep?

FORGET buying shares in ailing dotcoms. You will soon be able to earn
money without lifting a finger--just by leaving your PC switched on overnight.

A new breed of companies is set to pay computer users for their machines'
spare time. All you need is an Internet connection. And you might help make
a medical or scientific breakthrough into the bargain.

The US-based companies Parabon, Distributed Science and United Devices
plan to divide up corporate computing tasks and farm them out to tens of
thousands of PC owners via the Internet. To join their efforts, you just
download some software, connect to the Net occasionally and wait to get
paid.

How much you'll get paid for doing nothing is still under wraps. Steve
Armentrout, founder of Parabon, says he will be announcing pay scales in
the autumn. Individuals will be paid for their computers' work, which will be
calculated in megahertz-hours. "We estimate an average PC will earn at
least $10 a month," says Jim Albea, chief operations officer for Distributed
Science.

United Devices, based in Austin, Texas, was founded by David Anderson,
the computer scientist who launched the SETI@home project (New
Scientist, 25 July 1998, p 46). SETI@home amassed 300 000 years of
computer time during its first year--so it's no surprise that Anderson believes
there's money in idle processors.

Distributed Science, based in Huntsville, Alabama, plans to run massively
parallel programs over the Internet to model protein folding, test integrated
circuit designs, run fluid dynamics studies and render 3D graphics in a
fraction of the time possible using a single supercomputer. "We believe our
distributed networks have twice the computer power of IBM's latest
supercomputer, ASCI White," says Albea. Distributed Science claims over
39 000 individuals, with 77 000 computers, have signed up so far. On
average, 300 individuals register 500 more computers each day. "People are
dragging old PCs out of the cupboard to get connected to the project," says
Albea.

The systems work in a similar way to the SETI@home screen saver. Big
programs will be chopped up into thousands of small, manageable units that
are then farmed out to subscribers. The program only kicks in when the
computer is left idle. "Unlike SETI@home we are not restricted to a single
project," explains Albea. "Our networks can be applied to any problem."

Distributed Science has guarded against hackers by using 128-bit encryption
on all communications. Armentrout claims Parabon's systems are also
secure. But not everyone is satisfied. "I'd be very surprised if a
pharmaceuticals company would farm out its data processing," says
Matthew Woodwark, head of bioinformatics for AstraZeneca UK, which
models protein folding for drug development. "We'd love to use the Internet in
this way, but we can't run the risk of our data being copied. But we are
considering running distributed solutions internally to increase computer
power."

And while the private sector shares data around domestic PCs, government-
funded scientists in Britain are working on distributed networks of
supercomputers. The High-End Computing (HEC) initiative is developing a
network of supercomputers called The Grid. It will connect monster
machines in Edinburgh, Manchester and Daresbury, Cheshire, to give
researchers undreamed-of number-crunching power. The Grid will later go
international.

David Cohen

From New Scientist magazine, 15 July 2000.

http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0715/pc.html

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

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 13, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 12 Jul 2000 18:22:54 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

DISC - PRISON TECH - The science, technology and psyche of
prison life.(CC)

TLC - UNTAMED EARTH - "Wild Winds" - Weather watchers track
dangerous storms; hurricanes; tropical cyclones;
tornados.(CC)(TVPG)

9:00

DISC - SCIENCE MYSTERIES - "King Arthur" - Proof of King
Arthur's existence may have been found.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

PBS - AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY: A CENTURY OF IMAGES -
          "The Developing Image, 1900-1934" - In the early 20th
          century, technological innovations make photography part of
          everyday life.(CC)(TVPG)

TLC - GIANTS: THE MYSTERY AND THE MYTH - Evidence may
support the existence of giants and giant
races.(CC)(TVG)

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

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