BPR Mailing List Digest: 07/14/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
July 14, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | July, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - France floats idea of single Europe nuclear force
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:41:56 -0400

France floats idea of single Europe nuclear force

Updated 5:25 AM ET July 12, 2000

  ROME, July 12 (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Hubert
  Vedrine said in an interview published on Wednesday that
  Europe someday may need a single nuclear power to speak as a
  deterrent force for whole continent.

  But in the interview with Rome's La Repubblica newspaper, he
  said it was still too early to say what role France and Britain, the
  European Union's only nuclear powers, would have in it.

  Vedrine, whose country just took over the rotating EU
  presidency, was asked if France would be willing to renounce its
  nuclear military power in the name of a united Europe.

"Nuclear weapons are an extreme guarantee of survival," he was
quoted as saying.

  "To assure the credibility of dissuasion, there is a need for a
  single dissuader who can affirm in a convincing way: 'If you
  threaten the vital interests of my country, you will in turn expose
  yourself to a vital risk'," he said.

  "Peace is guaranteed by this mechanism. To transfer this position
  to a European level there is a need that the dissuader be credible
  and therefore speak in the name of a single European people,"he
  said.

  "Maybe one day this question will formulate itself in these terms.
  Today it is not this way. Neither France or Great Britain have a
  place in this logic."

  Vedrine also spoke of President Jacques Chirac's recent call for
  a "pioneer group" of states forging ahead with closer integration
  before other EU members.

Asked if Franco-German agreement on the proposal could
alienate other countries, Vedrine said:

  "(Chirac) has made proposals. Nonetheless it would not be up to
  France or Germany to decide by themselves. In the ongoing
  debate, there are proposals that regard the entire Union and
  others that aim at the idea of an engine group, a core group or a
  group of pioneers..."

Asked if he felt it was impossible for Britain to take part in this
group, Vedrine said:

  "I think in effect it would be impossible to exclude any country 'a
  priori' ... The debate must continue and we will need time before
  everything become clear."

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000712/05/europe-nuclear-vedrine

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

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pressurized water could be source of Atlantic tidal waves
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:44:42 -0400

Pressurized water could be source of
Atlantic tidal waves

  By LEE BOWMAN
  Scripps Howard News Service
  July 13, 2000

  - Pressurized water rather than gas could be the source of undersea
  landslides that may produce tidal waves off the mid-Atlantic coastline,
  researchers report in a new study.

  Earlier this year, scientists based at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
  Institution reported cracks in the continental slope off Maryland, Virginia
  and North Carolina, and later found signs that gas seeping from sediments
in
  ancient river deltas might have caused the instability.

  But a Pennsylvania State University analysis of similar terrain about 100
  miles off northern New Jersey found that water trapped in the sediments is
  highly pressurized and could escape with enough force to cause undersea
  slides. Those, in turn, would produce tidal waves. "We found potential for
  water trapped there under pressure to surge out and cause landslides or
  seep out slowly. We think this offers a new, alternative explanation for
  expulsive events not only off New Jersey, but around the world,'' said Peter
  Flemings, leader of the research team that is publishing its findings Friday in
  the journal Science.

  The continental slope is a narrow region of steeply angled terrain that
  connects the continental shelf, where the water is hundreds of feet deep,
  to the seafloor, which may lie thousands of feet deep. As recently as
  10,000 years ago, at the height of the last ice age, the slopes were
  actually the edge of the coastline since sea level was hundreds of feet
  lower.

  While the team at Massachusetts-based Woods Hole used undersea
  mapping and sediment samples, Flemings, an associate professor of
  geosciences, and doctoral candidate Brandon Dugan used data gathered by
  Flemings and others in 1997 during a core sampling expedition studying sea
  level changes over millions of years.

  They also used a computer simulation they developed along with techniques
  and formulas commonly used to help the oil industry predict where drilling
  crews might strike water trapped under high pressure. The crews try to
  avoid those zones, since they can cause blowouts that damage equipment
  and impede reaching oil and natural gas.

  In their analysis, the researchers report that the slope off New Jersey may
  be only marginally stable due to the water trapped in sediments. Even a
  small shaking - from a mild earthquake, for instance - could release those
  pockets of water and produce significant landslides. They speculate that
  the pressurized water might even erupt suddenly without an earthquake,
  triggering the landslides with virtually no warning.

  All the new East Coast landslide research has excited geologists, who had
  long assumed the mid-Atlantic was a pretty stable pond as far as landslide
  and tsunami potential went.

  But all the researchers, as well as the U.S. Geological Survey, stress that
  there's no evidence in coastal geology or geography that any devastating
  tidal waves have visited the coast for thousands of years, although there is
  evidence of some submerged slides off North Carolina.

  This is in contrast to the seismically active Pacific Northwest coast, where
  the ocean has left its signature from a number of tsunamis, some as
  recently as a few centuries ago.

  Flemings said Dugan and he "have not tried to predict the probability of a
  significant failure'' of the offshore slope, but simply are offering another
  explanation for why the slope is unstable.

  Dugan also noted that the trapped water can just as easily seep out slowly
  rather that gush. Such undersea springs "may be rich in nutrients and
  provide energy for a variety of undersea life.''

On the Net: http://www.sciencemag.org.

http://shns.scripps.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=TIDALWAVES-07-13-00&cat=AN

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Extreme weather returns to Europe
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:50:53 -0400

Extreme weather returns to Europe

                  July 13, 2000
                  Web posted at: 12:42 p.m. EDT (1642
                  GMT)

In this story:

Fall arrives early in France

Sunshine rare in Britain

More forest fires hit parched Greece, Bulgaria

RELATED STORIES, SITES

LONDON (CNN) -- Extreme weather conditions have revisited much of
Europe this week, with cold and rain descending on the British Isles, snow
falling on parts of France, and sweltering heat stifling parts of Bulgaria,
Turkey and Greece.

Forecasters say the problem is high and low pressure systems that were
stalled on Thursday over most of Europe and the Atlantic Ocean.

The weird weather comes a week after Southeastern Europe was scorched
by a heat wave that resulted in at least 38 deaths, until strong winds brought
a dip in temperatures on July 7.

Fall arrives early in France

It was more like fall in the French Alps on Thursday, as snow fell at lower
than usual altitudes, about 1,800 meters (5,940 feet), on the mountain range
in the eastern Savoie region.

Two mountain passes were closed to traffic on Wednesday, but one, the Col
de Galibier, was reopened Thursday.

In much of the rest of the country, wet weather threatened to put a damper
on plans for "The Incredible Picnic," a gargantuan Bastille Day banquet that
will stretch from northern Dunkirk to the town of Prats-de-Mollo, close to
France's border with Spain.

In the north of France, temperatures hovered around 18 degrees Celsius (64
Fahrenheit) Thursday, only reaching the high 20s Celsius (70s Fahrenheit)
on the Riviera.

Sunshine rare in Britain

The cold and rain stretched north to England and Scotland, where excessive
rain nearly washed out a music festival and turned the venue into a sea of
mud.

The sun in Britain has been out just 2.77 hours in July, according to official
meteorological statistics, shattering the old record set in 1944 of a little more
than three hours.

British meteorological officials say residents have been spoiled during the
past decades by better than usual weather.

"It is just the perception that we (had) nice summers in the early '80s and
'90s," said weather forecaster Ewan McCallum. "We got used to that, and
now we have reverted back to the typical British type."

British retailers report selling fewer sunglasses this summer and more coats
and umbrellas, while other residents have decided against braving the
elements and, passports in hand, choose to flee to less inclement climates.

In Southeastern Europe, a heat wave has returned. In Turkey and Greece,
temperatures have soared to the mid-40s Celsius (110 degrees Fahrenheit).

Last week's heat wave prompted Romania to shut down a nuclear power
plant after heat inside the building rose so high it set off fire sprinklers.

More forest fires hit parched Greece, Bulgaria

More than 100 new forest fires broke out on Thursday in Greece, fanned by
strong winds that hampered efforts to extinguish fires raging since the heat
wave caused tinderbox conditions across the country.

Several local authorities declared states of emergency as hundreds of
firefighters battled to extinguish forest and brush fires on the mainland and on
resort islands. Swirling winds hampered efforts and prevented firefighting
planes and helicopters from flying.

The mainland prefectures of Corinthia, west of Athens, and Achaia, in the
Peloponnese, were among the worst hit, with remote houses and villages
under threat from the wildfires.

Smoke, carried by winds, drifted as far as Athens.

The latest fires to hit Greece come as the devastating forest fires on the
eastern Aegean island of Samos were finally brought under control by nearly
1,000 firefighters and 70 fire engines. The Samos fires had raged for a week.

Meanwhile, authorities in southern Bulgaria declared a state of emergency
Thursday as gusting winds fanned fires that had been smoldering since last
week, state radio reported.

The government sent soldiers to put out wildfires that spread to 10 villages
around the town of Haskovo, 145 miles southeast of Sofia, the report said.
Fires caused by the protracted heat wave destroyed or damaged 40 homes
near Haskovo last week.

The CNN London Bureau Chief Tom Mintier, The Associated Press and
Reuters contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/WEATHER/07/13/euro.weather/index.html

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

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - FW: SpaceDaily Express July 14, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 08:49:43 -0500

-----Original Message-----
From: Clarence Oxford [mailto:express@spacer.com]
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 6:21 AM
To: spacedaily@spacer.com
Subject: SpaceDaily Express July 14, 2000

------------------------------------
SPACEDAILY HEADLINES - JULY 14, 2000

----------
SKYNIGHTLY

Longest Lunar Eclipse For 1000 Years Graces South Pacific Sky This Sunday
http://www.universetoday.com/html/special/le0700.html

Sydney - July 12, 2000 - A stunning lunar eclipse will grace
the sky's of the Pacific this Sunday. The eclipse is said to
be the longest since 1859, and the longest this millennium.
Centered virtually over Sydney's zenith, mid eclipse occurs
at 11.56pm Eastern Australian Time Sunday, with full moon a
bare minute earlier at 11.55pm. Full eclipse will last 1 hour
and 49 minutes with the intensity of atmospheric refracted
sunlight upon the moon changing throughout the eclipse. The
evening's entertainment for those far from city lights, will
gradually be set to a Milky Way backdrop, with the moon on
the cusp of Sagittarius and Capricorn. Enjoy!

- Comet Linear Reaching Naked-Eye Brightness
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/comet-00e.html

Washington - July 12, 2000 - The brightest comet of the year
has grown a tail and on Saturday, July 15, will become bright
enough to see with the naked eye from dark locations in the
Northern Hemisphere.

------------
SPACEWAR.COM

- Top Clinton Allies Urge Postponement Of Missile Defense Plan
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/bmdo-00zzl.html

Washington (AFP) July 13, 2000 - The Republican-led US Senate
Thursday rejected raising testing standards for missile defense
technology, while top Democrats urged President Bill Clinton
to let his successor decide the fate of a proposed anti-missile
shield.

--------------
SPACE-SHIP.COM

- Cluster Cleared For Countdown
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cluster2-00e.html

Moscow - July 12, 2000 - The launch of the first pair of
Cluster II spacecraft was given the final go-ahead yesterday
in a series of reviews to assess the readiness status of
all components.

- Engine In Japan's Next Generation Rocket Fails
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/japan-h2a-00a.html

Tokyo - July 12, 2000 - The main engine of Japan's next-generation
H-2A rocket failed during a test but the rocket's maiden launch
would still go ahead next February, NASDA said Wednesday.

-------------
SPACE SCIENCE

- Dust Gets A Charge In A Vacuum
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/dust-00a.html

Boulder - July 14, 2000 - A small layer of dust suspended
several feet above the moon's surface that was first
photographed by the Lunar Surveyor spacecraft in the 1960s
and later observed by Apollo astronauts has been a puzzle
to some planetary scientists.

- Exploring Titan From A Helicopter
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/future-00i.html

London - July 15, 2000 - Way out beyond the icy rings of Saturn
there's a mysterious world called Titan. The cloud-shrouded
surface of this huge moon is one of the largest unexplored regions
in the Solar System. Somewhere here, in the icy soup of organic
molecules that coats its surface, scientists believe they will
discover primitive proteins, or better still, living cells that
could help them solve once and for all the mystery of the origin
of life.

--------------
TERRADAILY.COM

- UCSD Chemists Dig Up A Rocky Anomaly
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/earth-00d.html

San Diego - July 14, 2000 - Chemists at the University of California,
San Diego have discovered an isotope anomaly previously thought
unique to meteorites and other extraterrestrial rocks in sulfate
minerals on Earth.

- Did Life Rain Down From The Sky
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-00zm.html

Cambridge - July 14, 2000 - Life may have begun not in the sea but
in tiny water droplets drifting high in the sky. Thrown up by ocean
waves, these droplets could have provided just the conditions needed
for complex molecules to form.

----------
TECH SPACE

- Spectrolab Moves To Next-Generation Solarcell Production
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/solarcell-00f.html

Sylmar - July 12, 2000 - Spectrolab Inc. has once again set a new
world record by manufacturing satellite solar cells able to convert
29 percent of the sun's rays into spacecraft power.

--------------
SPACE MEDICINE

- Zero-G Could Seriously Impact Living Cells
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacemedicine-00e.html

Brussels - July 15, 2000 - The skeletons within living cells may not
form properly in zero gravity, say researchers in France. This could
dent human ambitions to live in space -- at least without artificial
gravity. Their work also proves that, contrary to received wisdom,
gravity can influence chemical reactions.

- Understanding Post-Flight Fainting
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/spacemedicine-00f.html

Irvine - July 14, 2000 - Fainting after extended bed rest or by
astronauts after space flight may be caused by changes in the
levels of a molecule known for its role in regulating blood
pressure, a UC Irvine College of Medicine research team has found.

-----------
DEPARTMENTS

- Daily News Roundup - Military Space
http://www.spacedaily.com http://www.spacewar.com

- General Industry News - Rockets and RLVs
http://www.spacemart.com http://www.space-ship.com

- Space Stations - Earth Science News
http://www.space-travel.com http://www.terradaily.com

- Earth Invades Mars - Asteroid 433 Eros
http://www.marsdaily.com http://www.erosdaily.com

- Desktops & ScreenSavers - Feedback & Suggestions
http://www.spaceart.com email: feedback@spacer.com

- Get Free Space Mail
http://www.spacedaily.com/spacemail.html

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Stoning the devil
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 12:35:22 -0400

I want to follow-up on the story sent through the list yesterday re:

-----begin-----

*** Palestinian writer defends stoning

JERUSALEM (AP) - Edward Said, a New York-based Palestinian writer,
has acknowledged throwing stones at Israel's border fence - but he
says it was a harmless act of joy. Said - whose writings excoriate
Western stereotypes that diminish Arabs as primitive and violent -
was photographed among Lebanese who show up daily to celebrate
Israel's troop withdrawal from south Lebanon by stoning the new fence
between the countries. Israel has complained the stonings violate the
U.N. resolutions that mandated the end of its 18-year occupation of
south Lebanon. Since the troop withdrawal in May, several soldiers
and others have been injured in the stonings.

-----end-----

It reminded me of the ritual performed at the end of the hajj (pilgrimage to
Mecca) where Muslims go out and stone three pillars that supposedly
represent the devil (which they call "stoning the devil."). I've seen many
instances where there are chants of "kill the Satan" (although it's usually
addressed to the US?) by those of the Islamic faith and wondered if this has
any bearing on the recent stonings in Lebanon.

Another interesting parallel concerns the last thing done to complete the hajj--
everyone goes to Mount Arafat.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mass delusions and hysterical outbreaks
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 11:47:43 -0500

Mass Delusions and Hysterias
Highlights from the Past Millennium
http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-05/delusions.html
Over the past millennium, mass delusions and hysterical outbreaks have taken
many forms. Sociologists Robert Bartholomew and Erich Goode survey some of
the more colorful cases.
Robert E. Bartholomew and Erich Goode
The turn of the second millennium has brought about, in the Western world at
least, an outpouring of concern about cosmic matters. A major portion of
this concern has taken a delusional, even hysterical turn, specifically in
imagining an end-of-the-world scenario. "The end of the world is near,"
predicts Karl de Nostredame, supposedly the "last living descendent" of
Nostradamus; "White House knows doomsday date!" he claims (Wolfe 1999, 8).
Against this backdrop, it seems an appropriate time to survey a sample of
social delusions and group hysterias from the past millennium. Given the
enormous volume of literature, we will limit our list to the more colorful
episodes.
The study of collective delusions most commonly falls within the domain of
sociologists working in the sub-field of collective behavior, and
psychologists specializing in social psychology. Collective delusions are
typified as the spontaneous, rapid spread of false or exaggerated beliefs
within a population at large, temporarily affecting a particular region,
culture, or country. Mass hysteria is most commonly studied by psychiatrists
and physicians. Episodes typically affect small, tightly knit groups in
enclosed settings such as schools, factories, convents and orphanages
(Calmeil 1845; Hirsch 1883; Sirois 1974).
Mass hysteria is characterized by the rapid spread of conversion disorder, a
condition involving the appearance of bodily complaints for which there is
no organic basis. In such episodes, psychological distress is converted or
channeled into physical symptoms. There are two common types: anxiety
hysteria and motor hysteria. The former is of shorter duration, usually
lasting a day, and is triggered by the sudden perception of a threatening
agent, most commonly a strange odor. Symptoms typically include headache,
dizziness, nausea, breathlessness, and general weakness. Motor hysteria is
prevalent in intolerable social situations such as strict school and
religious settings where discipline is excessive. Symptoms include
trance-like states, melodramatic acts of rebellion known as histrionics, and
what physicians term "psychomotor agitation" (whereby pent-up anxiety built
up over a long period results in disruptions to the nerves or neurons that
send messages to the muscles, triggering temporary bouts of twitching,
spasms, and shaking). Motor hysteria appears gradually over time and usually
takes weeks or months to subside (Wessely 1987; Bartholomew and Sirois
1996). The term mass hysteria is often used inappropriately to describe
collective delusions, as the overwhelming majority of participants are not
exhibiting hysteria, except in extremely rare cases. In short, all mass
hysterias are collective delusions as they involve false or exaggerated
beliefs, but only rarely do collective delusions involve mass hysteria as to
do so, they must report illness symptoms.
Many factors contribute to the formation and spread of collective delusions
and hysterical illness: the mass media; rumors; extraordinary anxiety or
excitement; cultural beliefs and stereotypes; the social and political
context; and reinforcing actions by authorities such as politicians, or
institutions of social control such as the police or military. Episodes are
also distinguishable by the redefinition of mundane objects, events, and
circumstances and reflect a rapidly spreading folk belief which contributes
to an emerging definition of the situation.
Middle Ages, France
During the Middle Ages, dozens of outbreaks of hysterical fits and imitative
behaviors were reported among repressed nuns in cloistered European
Christian convents. "Volunteers" were often forced by their parents into
joining religious orders against their will and to lead celibate lives that
included vows of poverty and demanding physical labor (Madden 1857). During
this time it was widely believed that humans could be possessed by certain
animals, such as wolves. In France, cats were particularly despised as they
were considered familiar with the Devil (Darnton 1984). It was perhaps this
context that triggered an unusual episode of collective behavior, described
in the passage below.
I have read in a good medical work that a nun, in a very large convent in
France, began to meow like a cat; shortly afterwards other nuns also meowed.
At last all the nuns meowed together every day at a certain time for several
hours together. The whole surrounding Christian neighborhood heard, with
equal chagrin and astonishment, this daily cat-concert, which did not cease
until all the nuns were informed that a company of soldiers were placed by
the police before the entrance of the convent, and that they were provided
with rods, and would continue whipping them until they promised not to meow
any more. (Zimmermann cited in Hecker 1844, 127)
Fifteenth Century Germany
A nun in a German nunnery fell to biting all her companions. In the course
of a short time all the nuns of this convent began biting each other. The
news of this infection among the nuns soon spread, and it now passed from
convent to convent throughout a great part of Germany, principally Saxony
and Brandenburg. It afterwards visited the nunneries of Holland, and at last
the nuns had the biting mania even as far as Rome. (Zimmermann cited in
Hecker 1844, 127)
Milan, Italy, 1630
British journalist Charles Mackay (1852, 261-265) described a poisoning
scare that terrorized Milan, Italy, in 1630, coinciding with pestilence,
plague, and a prediction that the Devil would poison the city's water
supply. On one April morning people awoke, and became fearful upon finding
"that all the doors in the principal streets of the city were marked with a
curious daub, or spot." Soon there was alarm that the sign of the awaited
poisoning was at hand, and the belief spread that corn and fruit had also
been poisoned. Many people were executed. One elderly man was spotted wiping
a stool before sitting on it, when he was accused of smearing poison on the
seat. He was seized by an angry mob of women and pulled by the hair to a
judge, but died on the way. In another incident, a pharmacist and barber
named Mora was found with several preparations containing unknown potions
and accused of being in cahoots with the Devil to poison the city.
Protesting his innocence, he eventually confessed after prolonged torture on
the rack, admitting to cooperating with the Devil and foreigners to
poisoning the city and anointing the doors. Under duress he named several
accomplices who were eventually arrested and tortured. They were all
pronounced guilty and executed. Mackay states that "The number of persons
who confessed that they were employed by the Devil to distribute poison is
almost incredible," noting that "day after day persons came voluntarily
forward to accuse themselves" (264).
Lille, France, 1639
Mackay (1852, 539-540) reports that in 1639 at an all-girls' school in
Lille, France, fifty pupils were convinced by their overzealous teacher that
they were under Satanic influence. Antoinette Bourgignon had the children
believing that "little black angels" were flying about their heads, and that
the Devil's imps were everywhere. Soon, each of the students confessed to
witchcraft, flying on broomsticks and even eating baby flesh. The students
came close to being burned at the stake but were spared when blame shifted
to the headmistress, who escaped at the last minute. The episode occurred
near the end of the Continental European witch mania of 1400 to 1650, when
at least 200,000 people were executed following allegations of witchcraft.
Salem, Massachusetts, 1691-1693
In 1692, Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts) was the scene of a moral
panic that spread throughout the region and involved witchcraft accusations
which led to trials, torture, imprisonment, and executions. Others died in
jail or during torture. At least twenty residents lost their lives. Social
paranoia was such that two dogs were even accused and executed! All
convictions were based on ambiguous evidence. The witch mania began in
December 1691, when eight girls living in the vicinity of Salem exhibited
strange behaviors including disordered speech, convulsive movements, and
bizarre conduct. Explanations for the "fits" range from outright fakery to
hysteria to ergot poisoning of the food supply. By February 1692, the
affected girls had accused two elderly women and a servant from Barbados
named Tibula of being witches, and they were arrested. Soon hundreds of
residents were accused of witchcraft, and trials were held. In May 1693, the
episode ended when Governor Phips ordered that all suspects be released
(Nevins 1916; Caporael 1976; Karlsen 1989).
London, England, 1761
On February 8, 1761, a minor earthquake struck London, damaging several
chimneys. When another tremor occurred on the following month on the exact
day as the first (March 8), the coincidence became the subject of widespread
discussion. According to Mackay (1852), a lifeguard named Bell then
predicted that London would be destroyed in a third quake on April 5. "As
the awful day approached, the excitement became intense, and great numbers
of credulous people resorted to all the villages within a circuit of twenty
miles, awaiting the doom of London" (259). People paid exorbitant fees to
temporarily board with households in such places as Highgate, Hampstead,
Islington, Blackheath, and Harrow. The poor stayed in London until two or
three days before the predicted event before leaving to camp in fields in
the countryside. When the designated time arrived, nothing happened.
Leeds, England, 1806
In 1806, a panic spread through Leeds and the surrounding communities that
the end of the world was at hand. The "panic terror" began when a hen from a
nearby village was said to begin laying eggs inscribed with the message,
"Christ is coming." Large numbers flocked to the site to examine the eggs
and see the "miracle" first-hand. Many were convinced that the end was near
and suddenly became devoutly religious. Mackay (1852, 261) states that
excitement then quickly turned to disappointment when a man "caught the poor
hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs" and soon determined
"that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced
up again into the bird's body."
Worldwide, 1835
During the summer of 1835, a series of six newspaper reports appearing in
the New York Sun caused a worldwide sensation. Created by journalist Richard
A. Locke, the paper claimed that astronomer Sir John Herschel had perfected
the world's strongest telescope in a South African observatory, and had
discovered various life forms on the Moon: a two-legged beaver, a horned
bear, miniature zebras, and colorful birds among them. His most astonishing
observation was that he could see human-like forms on the Moon flying about
with bat-like wings. The creatures were given the scientific name of
"Vespertilio-homo" meaning bat-man. These beings were described with angelic
innocence, peacefully coexisting with its fellow creatures in an environment
apparently absent of carnivores. The delusion began on Friday, August 21,
with an ambiguous story about new astronomical discoveries. Great excitement
prevailed in New York City and spread around the world; most newspapers had
been hoodwinked, including the New York Times. Locke published the articles
in a pamphlet and sold sixty thousand copies within a month. The New
York-based Journal of Commerce newspaper eventually unmasked the hoax
(summarized from Griggs 1852; Bulgatz 1993).
British South Africa, 1914
In the war scare setting of British South Africa in 1914, local newspapers
erroneously reported that hostile monoplanes from adjacent German South West
Africa were making reconnaissance flights as a prelude to an imminent
attack. The episode coincided with the start of World War I. Despite the
technological impossibility of such missions (the maneuvers reported by
witnesses were beyond those of airplanes of the period and their capability
of staying aloft for long periods), thousands of residents misperceived
ambiguous, nocturnal aerial stimuli (stars and planets) as representing
enemy monoplanes (Bartholomew 1989).
Island of Banda, Indonesia, 1937
During March 1937, the first Indonesian Prime Minister, Soetan Sjahrir, was
living on the Moluccan island of Banda, where he described a head-hunting
rumor-panic which swept through his village. The episode coincided with
rumors that a tjoelik (someone who engages in head-hunting for the
government) was operating in the area and searching for a head to be placed
near a local jetty that was being rebuilt. According to tradition,
government construction projects will soon crumble without such an offering.
Sjahrir (1949) said that "people have been living in fear" and were "talking
and whispering about it everywhere" (162), and after 7 p.m. the streets were
nearly deserted. There were many reports of strange noises and sightings.
Sjahrir stated: "Every morning there are new stories, generally about
footsteps or voices, or a house that was bombarded with stones, or an attack
on somebody by a tjoelik with a noose, or a cowboy lasso. Naturally, the
person who was attacked got away from the tjoelik in a nick of time!" (164).
Sjahrir described the scare as an example of "mass psychosis."
USA, 1938
On Halloween Eve 1938, a live fictional radio drama produced by Orson Welles
was broadcast across much of the United States by the CBS Mercury Theatre.
It depicted an invasion by Martians who had landed in Grovers Mill, New
Jersey, and soon began attacking with heat rays and poison gas. Princeton
University psychologist Hadley Cantril (1940) concluded that an estimated
1.2 million listeners became excited, frightened, or disturbed. However,
subsequent reviews of Cantril's findings by sociologists David Miller
(1985), William Sims Bainbridge (1987), and others, concluded that there was
scant evidence of substantial or widespread panic. For instance, Miller
found little evidence of mobilization, an essential ingredient in a panic.
Hence, it was a collective delusion and not a true panic. Cantril also
exaggerated the extent of the mobilization, attributing much of the typical
activity at the time to the "panic." In short, many listeners may have
expressed concern but did not do anything in response, like try to flee,
grab a gun for protection, or barricade themselves inside a house. Either
way one looks at this episode, it qualifies as a collective delusion. If, as
Cantril originally asserted, many listeners were frightened and panicked, it
is a mass delusion. Conversely, if we are to accept the more recent and
likely assessments that the "panic" was primarily a media creation
inadvertently fueled by Cantril's flawed study, then erroneous depictions of
a mass panic that have been recounted in numerous books and articles for
over six decades constitute an equally remarkable social delusion.
Mad Gasser of Mattoon, 1944
During the first two weeks of September 1944, residents of Mattoon,
Illinois, were thrust into the world media spotlight after a series of
imaginary gas attacks by a "phantom anesthetist." On Friday night, September
1, Mattoon police received a phone call that a woman and her daughter had
been left nauseated and dizzy after being sprayed with a sweet-smelling gas
by a mysterious figure lurking near their bedroom window. The woman also
said she experienced slight, temporary difficulty in walking. Despite the
ambiguous circumstances and lack of evidence, the following evening the
incident was afforded sensational coverage in the Mattoon Daily
Journal-Gazette ("Anesthetic Prowler on Loose"). After seeing the story, two
other Mattoon families recounted for police similar "gas attacks" in their
homes just prior to the incident.
Before the reports ceased (after September 12), police logged over two dozen
separate calls involving at least twenty-nine victims, most of whom were
females. University of Illinois researcher Donald Johnson (1945)
investigated the episode, concluding that it was a case of mass hysteria.
Their transient symptoms included nausea, vomiting, dry mouth, palpitations,
difficulty walking, and in one instance, a burning sensation in the mouth.
Given the influential role of the Mattoon news media, it may be that victims
were redefining mundane symptoms such as a panic attack, chemical smell,
one's leg "falling asleep," and the consequences of anxiety such as nausea,
insomnia, shortness of breath, shakiness, dry mouth, dizziness, etc. as
gasser-related.
"Miracle" in Puerto Rico, 1953
At 11 a.m. on May 25, 1953, an estimated 150,000 people converged on a well
at Rincorn, Puerto Rico, to await the appearance of the Virgin Mary as
predicted by seven local children. Over the next six hours, a team of
sociologists led by Melvin Tumin and Arnold Feldman (1955) mingled in the
crowd conducting interviews. During this period, some people reported seeing
colored rings encircling the Sun, and a silhouette of the Virgin in the
clouds, while others experienced healings, and a general sense of
well-being. Others neither saw nor experienced anything extraordinary. A
media frenzy preceded the event, and a local mayor enthusiastically
organized the visionaries to lead throngs of pilgrims in mass prayers and
processions. Tumin and Feldman found that the majority of pilgrims believed
in the authenticity of the children's claim, and were seeking cures for
conditions that physicians had deemed incurable. Various ambiguous objects
in the immediate surroundings (clouds, trees, etc.) mirrored the hopeful and
expectant religious state of mind of many participants.
Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic, 1954
On March 23, 1954, reports appeared in Seattle newspapers of damaged
automobile windshields in a city eighty miles to the north. While initially
suspecting vandals, the number of cases spread, causing growing concern. In
time, reports of damaged windshields moved closer to Seattle. According to a
study by Nahum Medalia of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Otto
Larsen of the University of Washington (1958), by nightfall on April 14, the
mysterious pits first reached the city, and by the end of the next day,
weary police had answered 242 phone calls from concerned residents,
reporting tiny pit marks on over 3,000 vehicles. In some cases, whole
parking lots were reportedly affected. The reports quickly declined and
ceased. On April 16 police logged forty-six pitting claims, and ten the next
day, after which no more reports were received.
The most common damage report involved claims that tiny pit marks grew into
dime-sized bubbles embedded within the glass, leading to a folk theory that
sandflea eggs had somehow been deposited in the glass and later hatched. The
sudden presence of the "pits" created widespread anxiety as they were
typically attributed to atomic fallout from hydrogen bomb tests that had
been recently conducted in the Pacific and received saturation media
publicity. At the height of the incident on the night of April 15, the
Seattle mayor even sought emergency assistance from President Dwight
Eisenhower.
In the wake of rumors of radioactive fallout and a few initial cases
amplified in the media, residents began looking at, instead of through,
their windshields. An analysis of the mysterious black, sooty grains that
dotted many windshields was carried out at the Environmental Research
Laboratory at the University of Washington. The material was identified as
cenospheres-tiny particles produced by the incomplete combustion of
bituminous coal. The particles had been a common feature of everyday life in
Seattle, and could not pit or penetrate windshields.
Medalia and Larsen noted that because the pitting reports coincided with the
H-Bomb tests, media publicity seems to have reduced tension about the
possible consequences of the bomb tests-"something was bound to happen to us
as a result of the H-bomb tests-windshields became pitted-it's happened-now
that threat is over" (186). Secondly, the very act of phoning police and
appeals by the mayor to the governor and even President of the United States
"served to give people the sense that they were 'doing something' about the
danger that threatened" (186).
Phantom Slasher of Taiwan, 1956
For a two-week period in 1956, residents in the vicinity of Taipei, Taiwan,
lived in fear that they would be the next victim of a crazed villain who was
prowling the city and slashing people at random with a razor or similar type
weapon. At least twenty-one slashing victims were reported during this
period, mostly women and children of low income and education. Norman Jacobs
was teaching in Taipei at the time, and conducted a survey of local press
coverage of the slasher. Jacobs concluded that those affected had
erroneously attributed mundane slash marks to a dastardly slasher (Jacobs
1965).
Rumors amplified by sensational press coverage treating the slasher's
existence as real served to foment the scare by altering the public's
outlook to include the reality of a daring slasher. Police eventually
concluded that the various "slashings" had resulted from inadvertent,
everyday contact in public places, that ordinarily would have gone
relatively unnoticed. For instance, one man told police in detail how he had
been slashed by a man carrying a mysterious black bag. When a doctor
determined that the wound was made by a blunt object and not a razor, the
"victim" admitted that he could not recall exactly what had happened, but
assumed that he had been slashed "because of all the talk going around." In
another case, it was not the supposed victim but physicians who were
responsible for creating an incident. An elderly man with a wrist laceration
sought medical treatment but the attending doctor grew suspicious and
contacted police when the man casually noted that a stranger had
coincidentally touched him at about the same time when he first noticed the
bleeding. A more thorough examination led to the conclusion that the "slash"
was an old injury that had been re-opened after inadvertent scratching.
On May 12 police announced the results of their investigation: they
concluded that the episode was entirely psychological in origin. Of the
twenty-one slashing claims examined by their office, they determined that
"five were innocent false reports, seven were self-inflicted cuts, eight
were due to cuts other than razors, and one was a complete fantasy" (Jacobs,
1965, 324).
First Flying Saucer Wave, 1947
On June 24, 1947, Kenneth Arnold was piloting his private plane near the
Cascade mountains in Washington state when he saw what appeared to be nine
glittering objects flying in echelon-like formation near Mount Rainier. He
kept the objects in sight for about three minutes before they traveled south
over Mount Adams and were lost to view (Arnold 1950; Arnold and Palmer 1952;
Gardner 1988; Clark 1998, 139-143).
Worried that he may have observed guided missiles from a foreign power,
Arnold eventually flew to Pendleton, Oregon, where he tried reporting what
he saw to the FBI office there. But the office was closed, so he went to the
offices of The East Oregonian newspaper. After listening to Arnold's story,
journalist Bill Bequette produced a report for the Associated Press. It is
notable that at this point, Arnold had described the objects as
crescent-shaped, referring only to their movement as "like a saucer would if
you skipped it across the water" (Gardner 1957, 56; Story 1980, 25; Sachs
1980, 207-208). However, the Associated Press account describing Arnold's
"saucers" appeared in over 150 newspapers.
The AP report filed by Bequette was the proto-article from which the term
"flying saucer" was created by headline writers on June 25 and 26, 1947
(Strentz 1970). Of key import was Bequette's use of the term "saucer-like"
in describing Arnold's sighting. Bequette's use of the word "saucer"
provided a motif for the worldwide wave of flying saucer sightings during
the summer of 1947, and other waves since. There are a few scattered
historical references to disc-shaped objects, but no consistent pattern
emerges until 1947, with Arnold's sighting. There have only been a handful
of occasions prior to 1947 that a witness has actually used the word
"saucer" to describe mysterious aerial objects. Hence, the global 1947
flying saucer wave can be regarded as a media-generated collective delusion
unique to the twentieth century.
Zeitoun, Egypt, 1968-1971
From April 1968 to May 1971, more than 100,000 people reported observing
Virgin Mary apparitions above a Coptic Orthodox Church at Zeitoun, Egypt.
Witnesses' descriptions varied between two main types: small bright,
short-lived lights nicknamed "doves," and more enduring, less intense,
diffuse patches of glowing light (Johnston 1980). Canadian neuropsychologist
Michael Persinger of Laurentian University and his American colleague John
Derr (1989) analyzed seismic activity in the region from 1958 to 1979, and
found an unprecedented peak in earthquakes during 1969. They state that "The
'narrow' window of significant temporal relationship between luminous
phenomena and earthquakes is within the classic time frame of more
acceptable antecedents (e.g., microseismic activity) of imminent earthquake
activity." It appears that the Marian observers were predisposed by
religious background and social expectation to interpreting the light
displays as related to the Virgin Mary.
The Hispanic Goatsucker, 1975 to Present
Between February and March 1975, reports circulated in Puerto Rico of a
mysterious creature attacking domestic and farm animals, draining their
blood and scooping out chunks of their flesh. Residents claimed that they
heard loud screeches and/or flapping wings coinciding with the attacks.
Academics and police examined the carcasses, blaming everything from humans
to snakes to vampire bats. Locals referred to the attacker as "The Vampire
of Moca." This incident may have been spurred by the better known "cattle
mutilation mystery" (Ellis 1996, 3). In November 1995, similar attacks were
reported on the island. Called chupacabras or goatsucker, (named after a
crepuscular bird that steals goat's milk), the bizarre being was described
as a "bristly, bulge-eyed rat with the hind legs of a kangaroo, capable of
escaping after its crimes in high speed sprints" (Preston 1996). It also
exuded a sulfur-like stench. Stories described the bodies of animals
disemboweled and drained of blood. One member of a Civil Defense team in a
small city in the affected area says he spends half his time responding to
chupacabras calls. Some people, he reported, have been so distraught "that
they have had to be taken to the hospital" (Navarro 1996). Interest in the
creature ran so high in May 1996 that a chupacabras Web site received enough
hits to be ranked in the top 5 percent of all Web sites (Ellis 1996, 2). By
March 1996, goatsucker stories had spread to Hispanic communities in
Florida; by May, accounts of chupacabras attacks began to circulate in
Mexico and soon after, to the Mexican-American community in Arizona. The
chupacabras flap ended abruptly in mid-1996, and almost nothing has been
reported on it since.
Indonesian Borneo, 1979
For several weeks in late 1979, a kidnapping rumor-panic suddenly broke out
on the island of Borneo. Anthropologist Richard Drake was studying the
Mualang peoples living on the Belitang Hulu River in Kalimantan Barat when
the episode broke out (Drake 1989). Soon guards were posted around the
village, rubber tapping ceased, and a local school closed for insufficient
attendance. A variety of ordinarily mundane events (such as noises and
rustling in the jungle) and circumstances were defined as kidnapper-related.
The scare was triggered by rumors that the government was constructing a
bridge in the region and needed a body to place in the foundation to
strengthen it. The episode is related to periodic kidnapping and headhunter
scares in the region dating back to the seventeenth century coinciding with
real or rumored government construction projects and a local belief that
such developments require a head or body to be laid in the foundation or on
a special pillar nearby to make for an enduring structure (Forth 1991;
Barnes 1993). Drake argues that such episodes reflect antagonistic
tribal-state relations characterized by distrust and suspicion of a distant,
central government.
West Bank, Jordan, 1983
Between March and April 1983, 947 mostly female residents of the
Israeli-occupied Jordan West Bank reported various psychogenic symptoms:
fainting, headache, abdominal pain, and dizziness (Modan et al., 1983). The
episode was precipitated by poison gas rumors and a long-standing
Palestinian mistrust of Jews. The medical complaints appeared during a
fifteen-day period, amid rumors and intense media publicity that poison gas
was being sporadically targeted at Palestinians. The episode began in, and
was predominantly confined to, schools in several adjacent villages. In one
incident on March 27, sixty-four residents in Jenin were rushed for local
medical care after believing that they had been poisoned when thick smoke
belched from an apparently faulty exhaust system on a passing car. In all,
879 females were affected. Following negative medical tests, it became
evident that no gassings had occurred, the hypothesis was discredited, and
the transient symptoms rapidly ceased.
Mass Delusion by Proxy in Georgia, 1988
A rarely reported form of what could be described as mass delusion by proxy
occurred at a Georgia elementary school near Atlanta in 1988. It involved
the re-labelling of mundane symptoms that were instigated and maintained by
erroneous beliefs among hypervigilant parents. The episode began during a
routine social gathering of parents and students at the school cafeteria in
early September. A student's mother commented that, ever since the term
began, her child had experienced numerous minor health problems and looked
pale. Other mothers at the meeting noted similar signs and symptoms in their
children since the beginning of the school term: pallor, dark circles under
the eyes, headaches, fatigue, nausea and occasional vomiting. They soon
suspected that something in the school building was to blame, a view
confirmed on October 11 when the school was evacuated after a minor natural
gas leak occurred during routine maintenance. When intermittent minor gas
leaks continued over the next month, concerned parents picketed the school
and appealed to the local media, which highlighted their fears. After
negative environmental and epidemiological studies, Philen et al. (1989)
concluded that mothers had almost exclusively redefined common and
everpresent childhood illnesses, while the children in question neither
sought attention nor were overly concerned with their symptoms, maintaining
high attendance levels throughout the term.
Kosovo, 1990
On March 14, 1990, at least four thousand residents in the Serbian province
of Kosovo, in the former Yugoslavia, were struck down by a mystery illness
that persisted for some three weeks. According to Dr. Zoran Radovanovic
(1995), the head of the community medicine faculty at Kuwait University, the
symptoms were psychogenic in nature and prompted by ethnic Albanian mistrust
of Serbs. The transient complaints were almost exclusively confined to young
adolescent ethnic Albanians, and included headache, dizziness,
hyperventilation, weakness, burning sensations, cramps, chest pain, nausea,
and dry mouth. The episode began at a high school in Podujevo, and rapidly
spread to dozens of schools within the province. An outbreak of respiratory
infection within a single class appears to have triggered fears that Serbs
may have dispensed poison. Influential factors included rumors, the
scrutinization of mundane odors and substances, visits by health authorities
that served to legitimate fears, ethnic tension between Serbs and Albanians,
and mass communication. The dramatic proliferation of cases across the
province on March 22 coincided with the implementation of an emergency
disaster plan whereby ethnic Albanians seized control of public health
services.
Nigerian Genitalia Vanishing Epidemic of 1990
During 1990, an episode of "vanishing" genitalia caused widespread fear
across Nigeria. Native psychiatrist Sunny Ilechukwu (1992) said that most
reports of attacks involved male victims. Accusations were usually triggered
by incidental body contact with a stranger in a public place, after which
the "victim" would feel strange scrotum sensations and grab their genitals
to confirm that they were still there. Then they would confront the person
as a crowd would gather, accusing them of being a genital thief, before
stripping naked to convince bystanders that their penis was really missing.
Many "victims" claimed that the penis had been returned once the alarm had
been raised or that, although the penis was now back, "it was shrunken and
so probably a 'wrong' one or just the ghost of a penis" (95). The accused
was often threatened or beaten until the penis had been "fully restored,"
and in some instances, the accused was beaten to death. Ilechukwu (1992, 96)
described the scene in one city:
Men could be seen in the streets of Lagos holding on to their
genitalia either openly or discreetly with their hands in their pockets.
Women were also seen holding on to their breasts directly or discreetly by
crossing the hands across the chest. It was thought that inattention and a
weak will facilitated the "taking" of the penis or breasts. Vigilance and
anticipatory aggression were thought to be good prophylaxis.
Social and cultural traditions contributed to the outbreak as many Nigerian
ethnic groups "ascribe high potency to the external genitalia as ritual and
magical objects to promote fecundity or material prosperity to the
unscrupulous" (Ilechukwu 1988, 313). The belief in vanishing genitalia was
not only plausible but institutionalized; many influential Nigerians
expressed outrage when police released suspected genital thieves. A
Christian priest even claimed that a Bible passage where Jesus asked "Who
touched me?" because the "power had gone out of him," referred to genital
stealing (101-102).
Concluding Remarks
The next one thousand years will yield a new batch of social delusions and
hysterical outbreaks that will reflect the hopes and fears of future
generations. While it is not possible to know the exact nature of these
episodes, we can confidently predict one of the first delusions of this
period. For at the start of the second Christian millennium, we should be
mindful that the millennial notion is itself a social delusion. The concept
does not exist in nature but is a human creation-a product of history and
circumstance. It has no significance beyond the meaning that humans attach
to it. Yet, students of history know well that the consequences of beliefs
can enormously influence the course of history.
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* Bainbridge, W.S. 1987. Collective behavior and social movements. Pp.
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* Wolfe, R. 1999. Weekly World News, September 28:8-9. l

About the Authors
Robert E. Bartholomew is a sociologist at James Cook University in
Townsville 4811, Queensland, Australia (e-mail: art-reb2@jcu.edu.au
<mailto:art-reb2@jcu.edu.au>).
Erich Goode is professor of sociology at The State University of New York at
Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794 (e-mail: Egoode2001@aol.com
<mailto:Egoode2001@aol.com>).

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Friday, July 14, 2000 / Tammuz 11, 5760
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. CONCERN OVER SECRET CAMP DAVID TALKS
  2. FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR HUGE RALLY
  3. ATOP THE TEMPLE MOUNT
  4. QUOTES, MISQUOTES, AND IMPLICATIONS
  5. DOCTORS STRIKE ENDS
  6. SPECIAL PRAYER

1. CONCERN OVER SECRET CAMP DAVID TALKS
"Without far-reaching concessions by Israel, there will not be an
agreement," a senior Israeli delegation member at Camp David said
today.
The Likud demands that Prime Minister Barak return to Israel from Camp
David, and report to the nation on the concessions that are being
referred to. Despite the media blackout on the talks, Israeli papers
report that Barak has offered Arafat free passage from Abu Dis to the
Temple Mount, free of any Israeli presence. Arafat, it is reported,
has
turned down the offer, and insists on full sovereignty over the Old
City. Likud MK Limor Livnat said today this is the first time that
the
issue of Jerusalem is on the negotiating table.

Other issues being discussed include a transfer of almost 100% of
Judea
and Samaria to the Palestinians; the sides are entertaining the
possibility of exchanging certain heavily-populated Jewish areas in
Yesha - particularly around Jerusalem - for other areas within
pre-1967
Israel.

2. FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR HUGE RALLY
All Jewish stores in Judea and Samaria will be closed Sunday
afternoon,
to enable their workers - and customers - to attend Sunday night's
giant
demonstration in Tel Aviv against the give-away of Judea, Samaria, and
parts of Jerusalem. The Bnei Akiva youth movement has canceled its
Saturday night activities, so that members may plan for the rally.
Volunteers are making house-to-house rounds, reminding residents of
the
demonstration, signing them up for organized transportation, and
asking
them to encourage their relatives and friends to attend. The Likud
has
called upon all its supporters to attend the event.

3. ATOP THE TEMPLE MOUNT
Damage to the Temple Mount caused by illegal Moslem construction
continues - although at a reduced pace. A stretch of land dozens of
meters long has been dug out, tiled, and turned into steps leading
down
into Solomon's Stables; the dirt there, containing artifacts never
uncovered from the times of the Holy Temples, was hauled off by
Palestinian Authority trucks and disposed of. Photographs of the
damage
can be viewed at <www.har-habayt.org>. Israel Antiques Authority
director Amir Drori said that the government has basically turned a
blind eye to the Waqf's construction works, while preventing the
Antiques Authority from acting against them.

4. QUOTES, MISQUOTES, AND IMPLICATIONS
An article by Associated Press Writer Ron Kampeas entitled, "West Bank
Settlers Divided," quotes several Jewish West Bank settlers - who
maintain that they were misquoted. The article claims that "a
division
has arisen in the settler movement between those who know they are
likely to keep their homes, and those [who are likely to be
uprooted]."
Kampeas quotes "settler pioneer" David Zohar as saying, "The idea of
one
settlement movement is over… We're split." As an example of this
"split," Kampeas quotes long-time Ma'aleh Adumim resident Shmuel
Bar-Shalom as saying, "Small settlements, 10, 20 families, were
created
as provocations… They have no right to exist.''

Both of the above "spokesmen" deny the quotes attributed to them.
Bar-Shalom told Ron Meir on Arutz-7's "Now Until Midnight" program
last
night that he "categorically denies" the quote, and that the word
'provocations' "never passed my lips." Kampeas, who also spoke with
Meir last night, stood by his quote, but minutes later, the second
"settler" quoted - David Zohar - also appeared on the show and
similarly
denied saying that which was said in his name: "I said that the
nation
is split - if he understood from this that the settlement movement is
in
trouble, then he is mistaken… he took the words out of context." The
interviews with Kampeas, Bar-Shalom, and Zohar can be heard at
<http://www.israelnationalnews.com/engclips/140700/ap-ron-kampeas.ram>
.

Meir Indor of the Terror Victims Association - whose researchers
brought
the AP article to Arutz-7's attention - said today, "What made us sit
up
and take notice is that these two people [Zohar and Bar-Shalom] are
well-known in the settlement movement, and we knew that they would not
make statements of this nature. We can only wonder how many misquotes
there are that we *don't* notice!… We have had bad experience with
foreign news agencies who assume that Israelis don't read their
foreign
reports and don't check the accuracy of their quotes. Now, however,
the
internet helps us keep tabs on this much more easily."

In a related item, Reuters has been cited for implying that a Yesha
resident said something he did not. Megan Goldin wrote this week that
Beit El resident Baruch Gordon "said that if Barak brings a peace deal
back from the Camp David summit, then settlers will wage the sort of
protests that tore Israel apart in 1995, the year a right-wing Jew
shot
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin dead for agreeing to trade land for peace
with the Palestinians." Upon reading the article, Gordon said that he
was "incensed at the connection made between my words and the
assassination of Rabin. I said only that settlers would in fact
respond
with strong protests, similar to those held when Rabin was Prime
Minister, and nothing more. I am disappointed that the writer chose
to
make other, more sinister implications."

5. DOCTORS STRIKE ENDS
The Israel Medical Association and Finance Ministry officials finally
agreed to end the four-month old doctors strike last night, and signed
an agreement of principles to that effect. Doctors' wages will be
decided by a binding arbitration committee if negotiations fail to do
so, while the doctors agreed not to strike during the next decade.
Among other conditions agreed upon is that doctors' wages will
increase
by 13.2%.

6. SPECIAL PRAYER
According to a ruling by the Rishon Letzion and former Chief Sephardic
Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, the following special prayer should be added
to
the Shome'a Tefillah blessing in the daily Amidah: "Respond to us, O
G-d, respond to us, and preserve the Land in the hands of the People
of
Israel; and all those who plan to give away even a small part of the
Land to foreigners, thwart their plans and frustrate their plans, for
You hear the prayers of all..."

In addition, Rabbi Eliyahu said that two extra candles should be lit
during pre-Shabbat candle-lighting, and the following prayer recited:

"May it be Thy will, our G-d and the G-d of our fathers, that You
will
have mercy upon us and our children and on the nation that dwells in
Zion and in the Holy Land, on the holiness of the People of Israel, on
the holiness of the Land, on the wholeness and security of the nation
and the Land - especially at this time, when a great danger hovers
over
us in the Holy Land. Master of the Universe: Act for Your sake, and
not for ours. Act so that Your great and awesome Name shall not be
desecrated among the nations, and bring us deliverance.
"And all those who plan evil against Your nation, the House of
Israel -
frustrate their counsel and spoil their designs, and may they be the
subject of the fulfillment of the verse, "Fear and dread shall fall
upon
them, by the greatness of Thy arm they shall be stilled as a stone"
(Ex.
15,16). And let the verse be fulfilled, "Scatter them, and a wind
shall
carry them away, and a storm shall disperse them, and you [Israel]
shall
rejoice in the L-rd, and be praised in the Holy One of Israel" (Isaiah
41,16). May our eyes behold Your return to Zion with mercy, Amen, may
it be Thy will."

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Powerful Solar Flare Triggers Radiation Storm
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:36:25 -0400

Space Weather News for July 14, 2000

This morning an X5-class solar flare, one of the most powerful flares of
the current solar cycle, triggered a proton storm in the neighborhood of
our planet. Just after the eruption, coronagraphs on board the ESA/NASA
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded a full halo coronal mass
ejection heading toward Earth at greater than 1000 km/s. Please visit
http://www.spaceweather.com for details and updates on this developing
story.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Space.com items (7/14/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:43:54 -0400

Satellite Squadron to Investigate Solar Bursts
http://www.space.com/cgi-
bin/email/gate.cgi?lk=T2&date=000714&go=/scienceast
ronomy/planetearth/cluster_science_000711.html

Spacesuit Problem Should Not Delay Shuttle Flights
http://www.space.com/cgi-
bin/email/gate.cgi?lk=T3&date=000714&go=/news/space
agencies/nasa_contam_000714.html

European Space Agency Report Raises Ethical Questions About Space
Exploration
http://www.space.com/cgi-
bin/email/gate.cgi?lk=T4&date=000714&go=/news/space
agencies/space_ethics_000714.html

DISH Network Satellite Arrives in Earth Orbit
http://www.space.com/cgi-
bin/email/gate.cgi?lk=T5&date=000714&go=/missionlau
nches/launches/atlas_echostar6_launch_000714.html

Scientists Look to Moonbeams for Earth Energy
http://www.space.com/cgi-
bin/email/gate.cgi?lk=T6&date=000714&go=/businesste
chnology/technology/lunar_power_000712.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Individuals' "human thermal plume" to be analyzed
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 17:57:05 -0400

July 10, 2000

Patents

By SABRA CHARTRAND

ACH human body generates a column of slightly warm air that originates at
the tops of the feet, swirls and rises, gathering speed and increasing in
volume, staying with us as we move through the day and ascending the
length of our torsos until it flows from the tops of our heads in an invisible
geyser of air altered by movement and body temperature.

As this envelope of warmer air surrounds us and rises, it carries with it the
skin particles that are continuously shed from our bodies.

Gary Settles has named this phenomenon the "human thermal plume." Mr.
Settles, a scientist at the Penn State Research Foundation, says all people
produce such an air column. And he has patented a system for sampling
each person's plume to detect the presence of illegal drugs, or chemicals
that might be used in weapons or explosives.

He has designed a portal similar to the metal detectors common at airports
and courthouses. As people pass through, a sample of the air from each
thermal plume would be analyzed to see if the person was carrying a bomb
or other contraband.

Mr. Settles says his invention produces a socially acceptable, equal-
opportunity inspection because it can sample molecules around every
passenger in an airport without singling out individuals according to race or
other characteristics. The system makes it practical to inspect everyone, he
says, instead of selecting only a random number of travelers. That's because
everyone continuously sheds microscopic flakes of skin.

"It has been found that the entire outer layer of skin is shed every one or two
days," his patent application explains. "It turns out that some millions of skin
flakes are shed by the average person every minute."

The flakes, he says, are tiny enough to pass through the weave of clothing
and light enough to be swept up immediately into the air plume. "The air
heated by the skin, being warmer and less dense than the surrounding air,
rises naturally according to Archimedes' Principle," he says. "This generates
a human boundary layer. For a standing person, the boundary layer begins
at the ankles and travels up the legs and torso, growing thicker and faster as
it moves." By the time it reaches the chest area, this layer of air is several
centimeters thick and moving quickly. It forms the same way regardless of
height, weight, or the amount or style of clothing, and every surface of the
body contributes skin flakes to the moving air.

"Thus, any location where explosives might be concealed, such as the
ankles, legs, thighs, waist, arms," he says, "all contribute about equally to
the buoyant airstream which eventually rises above the body to form the
thermal plume."

Mr. Settles' detector is a partly enclosed structure with a funnel-shaped
collector above the heads of people who pass through and pause a few
seconds. A fan or blower would draw the human thermal plume into a filter or
particulate separator, where it would be analyzed in an ion mobility
spectrometer, a device measuring electrons, for the presence of explosive
molecules.

The sensor would be able to detect minute traces of plastic explosives that
are imperceptible to metal detectors. Currently, specially trained dogs can
sniff those small amounts, and hand-held wands or treated cloths wiped
across a suspect surface can also isolate them.

But Mr. Settles thinks that neither wipes, wands nor dogs can realistically
inspect the great number of travelers in an airport. He says his system would
not require any contact with people being tested.

Mr. Settles says his invention could also be used to detect smuggled
money, narcotics, chemical or biological warfare agents, nuclear substances
like uranium, or other hazardous material. And he maintains that the skin
flakes could provide samples of human DNA, though his patent says nothing
about the privacy concerns that would be raised by such a feature. Mr.
Settles received patent number 6,073,499

http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/071000patents.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today items (7/14/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 18:14:51 -0400

Millennium World Peace Summit: U.N. plans to bring together 1,000 world
religious leaders

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Weekend Staff
                         Source: Washington Times

Fri Jul 14,2000 -- A global summit will bring 1,000 religious leaders to
the United Nations on Aug. 28-29. The "working list" will be be issued
Tuesday. The participants will be given no more than five minutes to make
remarks at the United Nations. The Millennium World Peace Summit of
Religious and Spiritual Leaders is organized by an "independent coalition"
of interfaith leaders, and is being held in a year when nongovernmental
organizations, or NGOs, are seeking use of the General Assembly chamber
more than usual. NGO use of the chamber averages about four times a year,
but this year it will be roughly 10 times.

The Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders opens
Aug. 28 with an afternoon procession into the General Assembly and
sessions all the next day. It moves for two more days to the nearby
Waldorf Astoria hotel.

The religious leaders are expected to issue a Declaration for World Peace
and agree to some form of a permanent International Advisory Council of
Religious and Spiritual Leaders. Mr. Turner, the summit's honorary
chairman, has promised full live coverage by CNN. Funding comes from 11
sponsors, which include the Better World Fund of Mr. Turner and the
Templeton, Carnegie and Rockefeller Brothers foundations.

Gush Shalom activists will travel to Abu Dis and Ras el-Amud

                         Weekend News Today
                         By Andra Brack
                         Source: IsraelWire

Fri Jul 14,2000 -- On Saturday, a group of Gush Shalom activists will
arrive at Abu Dis and at Ras el-Amud in eastern Jerusalem. In Abu Dis the
activists will be the guests of the local leadership, and after a
reception by the governor, will be shown the campus of the Al-Quds
University and the building which the Israeli media likes to call the
"Palestinian Parliament" and from whose roof one can view the Mosques on
Temple Mount of Jerusalem�s Old City.

Under the slogan "Camp David Starts Here" and "Moskowitz Out of Here"
protest vigils will take place on that part of Abu Dis which the
millionaire Dr. Irving Moskowitz of Miami Beach intends to turn into
another Jewish neighborhood, and also at his settler enclave in Ras
el-Amud. Left-wing activists explain the action is intended to remind
Prime Minister Ehud Barak of his not yet implemented promise to
transfer Abu Dis to full PLO Authority (PA) control.

http://www.upway.com/cgi/readnews.cgi?day=00_07_14&item=#963600171

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arafat Talked Out of Quitting Summit
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 18:19:01 -0400

Friday July 14 5:08 PM ET
Arafat Talked Out of Quitting Summit
-Source

By Wafa Amr

THURMONT, Md. (Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat threatened
to walk out of a Middle East summit in anger over U.S. bridging proposals
but President Clinton calmed him down, a source close to the talks said on
Friday.

As an official news blackout continued for a fourth day, Israeli and
Palestinian sources both said the United States had put forward its own
ideas for the first time on Thursday night, aimed at narrowing differences on
the core issues.

But those ideas, which the Israeli source said were only presented verbally,
prompted the summit's first reported crisis.

One source told Reuters that Arafat was so angry at the ideas presented by
U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross that he ordered his delegation to pack
their bags.

``There was a crisis during the talks yesterday and Arafat ordered his
delegation to pack their bags to leave Camp David in anger at American
proposals which were identical to the Israeli position,'' the source said.

``President Clinton calmed Arafat down and the Palestinian leader agreed to
stay only after the Americans withdrew their proposals. They are expected to
submit new proposals,'' the source added.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment but White House
spokesman Joe Lockhart said earlier the talks had been tense at times
because of the vital issues at stake.

``These are intractable issues, these are issues that go to the vital interests
of both of the parties, so this is very serious. At times discussions are tense,
but that should be no surprise to anyone,'' he said.

Arafat Said To Reject Map

A Palestinian source said the U.S. ideas covered Palestinian refugees, the
fate of Jerusalem and borders of a future Palestinian state.

He also said Arafat had rejected a redrawn map of the disputed city of
Jerusalem proposed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's delegation.

Clinton returned to the summit on Thursday evening after leaving Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright in charge of the talks while he honored prior
speaking engagements.

Lockhart said the president was expected to remain at Camp David until he
is due to leave for a major summit in Japan next Wednesday.

``I think you can assume he will be here indefinitely. I think everyone knows
the outer parameters of his schedule,'' he told a news briefing.

Clinton is due to leave next Wednesday for a Group of Eight summit in
Japan. Some Israeli officials have said the negotiations could continue in his
absence.

Asked if the atmosphere was positive, Lockhart said he would prefer to stick
to the word ``informal''. The talks had split into working groups on each of the
core issues, he said.

A senior Israeli source said: ``The negotiations are difficult. These are
subjects that are hard to solve. If there will be an agreement, Israel will have
to pay a heavy price.''

Albright Meets Palestinian Visitors

Albright left Camp David on Friday morning and met a group of Palestinian
leftist opposition leaders in the nearby town of Emmitsburg, Maryland, after
the U.S. hosts refused to allow them to confer with Arafat at the summit
venue.

Struggling to keep a lid of confidentiality on the talks, Lockhart said: ``Given
the spirit of the ground rules that we've put down, we indicated that we prefer
that meeting not happen.'' But he did not entirely rule it out, saying delegates
were free to leave Camp David if they wished to confer.

The thorniest issue of all is the status of Jerusalem, a city holy to both sides
and which each claims as its capital.

Two senior cabinet ministers told reporters in Israel this week that a swap of
West Bank land for sovereign Israeli territory would also be on the table.

Lockhart said the Albright meeting was intended to take the place of a
session with Arafat in Camp David requested by the three Palestinians at the
invitation of the PLO leader.

One of the three Palestinians who flew in to see Arafat, Tayseer Khaled of
the radical Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, refused to meet
Albright, charging that the Americans were interfering in Palestinian affairs.

With Barak preparing to negotiate on Jerusalem, one of his domestic
opponents, Limor Livnat of the Likud Party, visited the summit media center
to warn against erecting a ``Berlin Wall'' in the city, which Barak has vowed
to keep undivided.

U.S. officials promptly asked her to leave, as they did a Palestinian official
attempting to brief reporters two days ago. ``Symmetry has been restored,'' a
U.S. official said.

Israel wants to keep Arab East Jerusalem, captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli
war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians
demand East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Israeli and Palestinian officials warn that if the summit fails, the region might
be consumed by violence much worse than the seven-year Palestinian
Intifada or uprising which began in 1987 against Israel's military occupation of
the Gaza Strip and West Bank, lands captured 20 years previously.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000714/ts/mideast_leadall_dc_41.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Harpazo News items (7/14/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 18:22:55 -0400

Iran Readies New Arms Shipments to Hizbullah, Hamas
Iran is preparing to resume weapons shipments to both Hizbullah and the
Hamas. Western intelligence sources in London said security officials loyal
to Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei are taking steps to renew shipments
stopped around April as a result of pressure by Turkey and the United
States. Turkey refused to allow Iranian planes to use Turkish air space to fly
weapons to Damascus for Hizbullah. Intelligence sources in Washington told
World Tribune.com the Khamenei regime has also pledged weapons and aid
for the Hamas organization. Teheran is interested in disrupting peace not
only near Israel's northern borders but in the West Bank, they said. The
sources said Iran has not yet renewed arms shipments. They said Syria has
also been under pressure from Washington to end the use of Damascus as a
transit point for the weapons. The weapons, including surface-to-air missiles,
Katyusha rockets, mortars and ammunition, were sent from Damascus to
Lebanon in convoys protected by Syria. world tribune

Russian General Blasts U.S. Defense Plan
A senior Russian general well known for his sharp-worded criticism of the
West Thursday dismissed the Clinton administration's arguments for building
a new National Missile Defense (NMD) shield as "fairy tales." Col.-Gen.
Leonid Ivashov, who heads the Russian Defense Ministry's international
cooperation department, said Washington's statements that several so-
called rogue states with the capability of launching missiles pose a threat to
the U.S. was unsupportable. UPI

China Blasts Cancellation of Phalcon Deal
China yesterday issued a harsh statement protesting the cancellation of the
Phalcon advanced airborne radar system, directing most of its anger at the
US but also taking a swipe at Israel for failing to honor a contract. "No other
country has the right to interfere in the bilateral cooperation that China has
with other countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said,
indicating Washington's heavy pressure on Israel to cancel the deal. Turning
to Israel, he added that "any agreement and understanding between states
should be honored. This is the basic understanding of state-to-state
relations." Meanwhile, officials in Wash-ington said that Israel has not asked
for any direct compensation for canceling the sale, but is hoping the US will
help facilitate more Israeli cooperation with US firms as an alternative source
of revenue. Jerusalem Post

Internet Site Closed Down Showing Barak as Hitler
An Internet site that presented Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Hitler's uniform,
and that invited Internet surfers to "kill" him by shooting him in the head, was
closed down on Tuesday by the Yahoo Company, which was the network
hosting the site. Israel Wire

Was Christ A 'Communist'? Castro Thinks So
Cuba's Catholic-educated President Fidel Castro, one of history's most
famous communists, believes Jesus Christ shared his political faith. "Christ
chose the fishermen, because he was a communist," Castro said in
comments carried by state media Friday, referring to Christ's choice of
humble fishermen from the Sea of Galilee to be his first disciples. Castro,
whose once-stated atheism is believed to have possibly mellowed in recent
years, made the comment during a National Assembly debate on the local
fishing industry. His brother Raul Castro -- second-in-command in the ruling
Communist Party headed by Fidel Castro -- concurred entirely. "I think that's
why they killed Jesus, for being a communist, for doing what Fidel defined as
Revolution ... that is to say, changing the situation," he said. Reuters

http://www.harpazo.net/news.html
FYI, goto the above url for individual links if you want access to the original
stories.

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - JVIM Update! items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 18:32:24 -0400

CNN FOUNDER TED TURNER MAY CREATE FOUNDATION TO TRY TO
REDUCE NUCLEAR WEAPONS THREAT
July 14, 2000

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported: “Two of
Georgia's most prominent citizens -- Atlanta billionaire
Ted Turner and former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn -- are teaming up
in a major effort to create a foundation dedicated to
reducing the threat of nuclear weapons and materials around
the world. The two men will announce today they are
launching a study "to determine the impact that a private
organization with significant resources could have on
reducing the nuclear threat." The study, which will last
through December, will be supervised by Nunn and will cost
Turner between $400,000 and $1 million. But the goal is
much larger than a study. If Nunn's inquiries show that a
private organization could play a useful role, the most
likely outcome would be the creation of a well-funded
foundation paid for by Turner and run by Nunn. ‘That's
certainly a possibility that Ted and I have discussed,�
Nunn said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Monterey,
Calif., where he was attending an international conference
on nonproliferation. Turner has long been known for the
bold philanthropic stroke. In 1991, he created the Turner
Foundation, which grants tens of millions of dollars a year
to organizations concerned with protecting the environment
and reducing population growth. In 1997, Turner announced
he would give $1 billion over 10 years to United Nations-
related projects. So far, that effort has awarded more than
$275 million to projects around the world dealing with
children's health, population and women's issues, peace and
security, and the environment...”

LIVING IN SPACE WITHOUT GRAVITY WOULD BE DANGEROUS TO
HUMAN BODY
July 14, 2000

The BBC reported: “Scientists have uncovered a compelling
reason why the dream of colonizing space may be a non-
starter. It seems that the skeletons within living cells
may not form properly in zero gravity. This means that it
may be impossible to live in space over the long-term
without creating a form of artificial gravity...Professor
Brian Anderton, an expert in cell structures at the UK
Institute of Psychiatry, said microtubules played a vital
role in the successful division of cells. Malformation of
microtubules would therefore hinder the process. This could
blunt the function of the immune system, which relies on
rapid production of white blood cells to fight off invaders
when the body is infected. It could also cause problems
with the renewal of epithelial tissues which line organs in
the body...”

NORTH KOREA DEMANDS FROM U.S. $1 BILLION TO STOP SPREADING
MISSILE TECHNOLOGY
July 13, 2000

Agence France Presse reported: “North Korea on Wednesday
demanded one billion dollars from the United States in
return for suspending its missile exports, as three days of
talks ended here. The United States immediately rejected
the demand, saying it would not reward bad behavior. But US
officials reiterated that they would be prepared to move
towards full political and economic relations if the North
addressed security concerns. The two sides expect to meet
again within the next few months, US officials said. Jang
Chang Chon, North Korea's director-general for US affairs
at the foreign ministry, said the negotiations at the US
embassy focused on the suspension of the North's missile
exports. ‘We clarified we will continue our discussions on
condition that the US side is willing to make concessions
on political and economic losses to be incurred in case we
suspend our missile exports,� Jang told reporters. ‘Our
position is that the US should make cash compensation,� he
said in answer to questions. ‘In our estimation, we propose
about one billion US dollars.�...”

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

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Edupage items (7/14/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 22:03:19 -0400

CAMPUSES MAKING ADVANCES WITH INTERNET2
Universities involved in the Internet2 project, a test-bed for
advanced applications, are experimenting with technologies such
as virtual reality and distance medicine that would be impossible
on the commercial Internet. The University of Pennsylvania, is
creating an integrated database for digital mammograms allowing
doctors to view a patient's mammogram taken years earlier in a
different city. At Northwestern, researchers this summer expect
to launch a technology that will allow students to view
high-quality videos of professors' lectures from PCs in their
dorm rooms. Meanwhile, several Internet2 universities have
teamed with the National Tele-Immersion Initiative to develop
virtual reality tools that would allow professors wearing 3D
goggles to take part in roundtable discussions with colleagues
around the world. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 2000 July 13)

EARTHLINK SAYS IT WON'T INSTALL DEVICE FOR FBI
Major Internet service provider EarthLink says it has rejected
the FBI's attempt to install Carnivore, the bureaus' new
sophisticated surveillance device, on its network due to privacy
concerns and service disruptions it causes. EarthLink executives
pledged to provide help when possible to authorities in criminal
investigations, but said installing Carnivore would force
technical adjustments that could bring part of its network down
and affect service for thousands of customers. The ISP also
claims that Carnivore poses large liability issues for it
because there is no way to determine whether Carnivore's
monitoring is limited to the criminal investigation, or is
practicing a less discreet surveillance. (Wall Street Journal,
2000 July 14)

WEBSITES FACING 'PRIVACY STORM'
At a forum held by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) this
week, industry members said consumer privacy fears could very
well spark a wave of privacy legislation. Online privacy is now
the top issue in the Internet industry, according to John Kamp,
Washington representative for the IAB. Kamp also warned the
industry that the Wall Street Journal's recent poll on consumer
privacy concerns has likely been read by policymakers in
Washington. Dave Steer, communications director for TRUSTe, said
that conditions are ripe for the "perfect privacy storm" thanks
to recent privacy flaps by DoubleClick, Toysmart, and other
Internet companies. (Wired News, 2000 July 13)

SENATOR ADVOCATES ELECTRONIC GOVERNMENT
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) has called upon all levels of
U.S. government to collaborate on efforts to make government
services available to citizens in cyberspace. The federal
government's Chief Information Officer Council and the
National Partnership for Reinvention of Government are already
working on the task, but Lieberman says these groups are
"often not well coordinated." Efforts to ramp up e-government
services start with the need for a federal CIO or IT czar with
real power, according to Lieberman. A bill to create such a
position is set for introduction by October, but Lieberman does
not anticipate any movement on the bill during this session
of Congress. Other keys to improving e-government efforts are
one-stop shopping for citizens, interoperability standards, an
apparatus for inter-agency funding, and a need for immediate
action. (InfoWorld.com, 2000 July 12)

EDUPAGE@LISTSERV.EDUCAUSE.EDU

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