BPR Mailing List Digest: 07/17/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
July 17, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | July, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - July 17, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 08:28:08 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

NBC - DATELINE NBC - A man wanders the Australian
outback in a test of his faith.(CC)

HIST - THE TRUE STORY OF MARCO POLO - Historians disagree
over the traveler's existence.(CC)(TVG)

TNT - NUREMBERG - Part 2

9:00

PBS - FINEST HOUR: THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN - "August Through
November 1940" - Battle of Britain; the RAF impresses U.S.
journalists.(CC)(TVPG)

HIST - THE GREAT COMMANDERS - "Alexander the Great: The
Battle of Issus" - Cultural change follows Alexander the
Great's conquests.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

A&E - INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS - "Medical Mistakes" -
Nearly 100,000 Americans die each year due to medical
errors.(CC)

DISC - THREE GORGES: THE BIGGEST DAM IN THE WORLD - The
Chinese plan an enormous concrete dam to combat the Yangtze
River.(CC)(TVG)

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - RE: Powerful Solar Flare Triggers Radiation Storm
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 09:10:45 -0500

The day before a particularly intense lunar eclipse (from the astronomist's
point of view), we have the effects of a solar magnetic storm producing a
Planetary Kp Index @ 9 & aurora borealis seen as low as the equator,
...Signs and Seasons??? What is upcoming/occurring on the Jewish calendar?
What was the observable effects of these events in Jerusalem, does anybody
have info???

-----Original Message-----
From: bpr-list@philologos.org [mailto:bpr-list@philologos.org]
Sent: Friday, July 14, 2000 4:36 PM
To: bpr-list@philologos.org
Subject: [BPR] - Powerful Solar Flare Triggers Radiation Storm

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] - FW: Universe Today Lunar Eclipse Special Report, July 16, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 09:25:14 -0500

Solar Storm/Eclipse/Comet, GOOD CONCURRENT STUFF!

the
U N I V E R S E
T O D A Y

Space Exploration News From Around the Internet, Updated Every Weekday.
July 16, 2000 - Total Lunar Eclipse Special Report
http://www.universetoday.com
info@universetoday.com

T
As promised, here's a final reminder about Sunday's total lunar eclipse,
which begins at Sunday, July 16, 2000 at 1157 Greenwich Mean Time.

Here's a list of start times around the world...
Pacific Daylight Time - 4:57am
Hawaii Standard Time - 1:57am
New Zealand Standard Time - 11:57pm
East Australian Standard Time - 9:57pm
Central Australian Standard Time - 8:57pm
Western Australian Standard Time - 7:57pm

If you live in Western North America, Hawaii, the South Pacific, New
Zealand, East Asia, and Australia, you'll be able to see the eclipse live in your
sky.

But if you live anywhere else, you'll only be able to watch it on the
Internet I'll see you there: http://www.universetoday.com/html/special/le0700.html

And speaking of weather, there's a huge solar storm scheduled to hit the
Earth over the next couple of days. There's a real possibility of seeing an aurora

borealis in more southern latitudes. So, while you're out looking for the
eclipse, keep your eyes peeled for another light show. Find some dark place away from

city lights, and bring some hot chocolate.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast14jul_2m.htm

Next, for those of you with binoculars and telescopes, Comet Linear is in
the night sky as well. To see its exact position read this article, and then
follow the links to various finder charts.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast05jul_1m.htm

Now, I'll be hunched over the computer here in Vancouver during the entire
eclipse, updating weather conditions and camera reports as we go, so if you want to
drop me a note and let me know what you've seen - especially reports of an aurora

- it might keep me awake. Coffee would help too.

You've got your work cut out for you, now get out there and watch that
eclipse!

Live or on the Internet
(http://www.universetoday.com/html/special/le0700.html)

Clear skies!

Fraser Cain
Publisher
Universe Today

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Selling Military Secrets Cheap
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 09:42:43 -0500

Selling Military Secrets Cheap
http://www.russiatoday.com/press.php3?id=178915
Summary
There is a secret enterprise in Yekaterinburg that is reportedly involved in
the development of biological weapons. Victor Talyzin, a low-rank military
officer, served there and lived at the plant. When he was dismissed, the
plant demanded that he should leave the premises and settle in "civilian"
housing. Talyzin did not like the apartment that he was offered and he
decided to take revenge on his offenders. To achieve this, he started to
write letters to newspapers about the "continuing development of biological
weapons". He supplemented his writings with photos and with copies of
financial documents. Thus, Talyzin became a fierce fighter for observance of
the international Convention on prohibition of biological weapons.
Newspapers paid good money for his information. Talyzin even managed to
bring a foreign magazine correspondent to the territory of the enterprise,
where they saw the building where "test tubes" with mortal species were
kept.
When detained by authorities, Talyzin said that he was only protecting
motherland from contamination.
There have been many other cases, where military officers have proposed
newspapers buy information from them. Sometimes they manage to pass the same
offer to foreign intelligence services. Not long ago, Major Dudnik, who
served in the Orenburg Missile Army, was about to sell nuclear secrets to an
American resident for half a million US dollars. He had been collecting
highly classified information on a computer disc for many months. The
counter-intelligence arrested Dudnik, after he boasted to his friends about
a "future large legacy from an aunt in Canada".
Friday, July 14, Komsom, p.4-5.
about K O M S O M O L S K A Y A P R A V D A
(circulation 1.6 million). A former Soviet youth newspaper, it is now a
national daily owned by the UNEXIM Group with the largest circulation of any
Russian newspaper. It has a good network of correspondents throughout the
country but provides little analysis.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - FBI really needs a lesson in branding
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 09:45:07 -0500

GOOD MORNING! Today is July 17,
and this is...InformationWeek Daily!

Business Innovation Powered By Technology
brought to you by InformationWeek magazine
To subscribe, go to http://www.informationweek.com/magazine

** FBI In Serious Need Of Branding Advice

Who knew that anyone would be upset about the FBI unleashing
something called Carnivore to peek into people's E-mail? Not the
FBI, apparently. A bureau spokesman blames protests about the
Carnivore system are on a misunderstanding of technology.

The system, says the spokesman, is nothing more than a way to
"fine-tune the information we can extract" in court-ordered
surveillance. "We have to show a judge reasonable cause for
believing someone is involved in illegal activity, and we only
search for what's been authorized by the court, like E-mails for
john.smith@aol.com or all E-mails from June 1 to June 30. If you
were a friend of John Smith and he E-mails you, we would need
another court order to look at other E-mail addressed to you."

The American Civil Liberties Union already has complained to a
House subcommittee that the system stretches the limits of the
bureau's search-and-seizure rights, and one Internet service
provider has filed--and lost--an appeal to keep Carnivore out of
its system. The bureau says it has used the system less than 50
times in the year it's been available, "mostly for hacking,
intrusion, and some counterterrorism," according to the spokesman.

One assumes he meant to thwart the hacking and intrusion of
criminals. - Cheryl Rosen

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (Fwd) Arutz-7 News: Monday, Tammuz 14, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 14:12:41 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 18:40:24 +0300
To: arutz-7@arutzsheva.org
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Monday, Tammuz 14, 2000
Send reply to: netnews@a7.org

Arutz Sheva News Service
<www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, July 17, 2000 / Tammuz 14, 5760
------------------------------------------------
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. LARGEST-EVER RALLY: LAND OF ISRAEL, SECURITY, UNITY, YOKE OF
  HEAVEN 2. FOUR ISRAELI BUSES TORCHED BY ARABS 3. P.A. REVOLVING DOOR
  POLICY BACK IN FULL SWING 4. NO-CONFIDENCE IN PM 5. CONGRESS UNLIKELY
  TO GRANT AID TO ISRAEL, P.A. 6. CAMP DAVID: CHILDREN QUESTION
  DISCRIMINATION 7. SHORTENED ARMY SERVICE LIKELY 8. IN BRIEF

1. LARGEST-EVER RALLY: LAND OF ISRAEL, SECURITY, UNITY, YOKE OF HEAVEN
Organizers' hopes for the "largest-ever demonstration in Israel" seem to
have been fulfilled last night, although the exact number of protestors
appears to be a matter of dispute among various sources. Ha'aretz
reported 200,000 participants, the Yesha Council gave a figure of
250,000, and the moderator of the event announced "close to
half-a-million." Observers noted that over 4% of the country's
population took part in the protest against the "peace" that Barak plans
to bring back to them - the equivalent of an American protest involving
10 million people.

Speakers at the event, ranging from an 8-year-old boy from Gush Katif to
the Mayor of Emanuel, and from a mother of four residing in the Golan to
NRP head Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, called on Ehud Barak not to give away
Israel's strategic and historic assets, and to stand firm in face of
Arafat's unyielding demands for all of Yesha and eastern Jerusalem.
Tsfat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu led the crowd in the recitation of
"Shma Yisrael" (Hear O Israel, G-d is One) and the acceptance of the
"yoke of Heaven." Other speakers included MK Rehavam Ze'evi, Jerusalem
Mayor Ehud Olmert, MK Natan Sharansky, MK Avigdor Lieberman, and more.

Opposition leader MK Ariel Sharon told the Land of Israel faithful, "We
all want peace - but the peace that Barak appears to be bringing us will
lead to war!" Golan resident Michal Raikin spoke emotionally of the
ties that bind residents of the Golan and of Yesha:
"To the people of Yesha: In the past months, when a thick black cloud
hovered above us, when our dreams were falling apart on various
negotiating tables, you were with us - and sometimes even ahead of us -
in our most difficult hours, in our most torturous moments. You taught
us a lesson in national unity, and in mutual responsibility, and in
family ties, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. At the end
of the day, you must have asked yourselves if we, those who live in the
Golan, would be here for you as the sword nears your own throats. Well,
we are here! We are here on behalf of all of our children! We are
here, because we have no other land! We have no other land!"

Hadera Mayor Yisrael Sadan, a Barak supporter, was pressured by
government officials not to appear at the rally - he received at least
one phone call from Camp David asking him not to do so - but decided to
speak anyway. "I have come not to speak against anything," he told the
crowd, "but rather to speak on 'behalf of' - on behalf of the Land of
Israel and our continued dominion here, on behalf of the glorious
settlement enterprise, and on behalf of a united Jerusalem under
exclusive Israeli sovereignty forever!"

MK Avigdor Lieberman (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) read aloud a
letter to Ehud Barak:
"425 days ago, you won the elections. From then on, I keep asking
myself,
who are you really? You ascended to power as Mr. Security - but you
have turned out to be Mr. Panic [and] a Grade A Peace Now-nik. You
promised not to divide Jerusalem, and to keep the Jordan Valley. You
promised good government, but it turns out that you don't know how to
differentiate between 'capital' and government.' The Knesset has voted
no-confidence in you. You have left your top apologists at home, such
as Chaim Ramon and Yossi Sarid, and your Foreign Minister did not
accompany you, and you rely instead on a group of businessman, some of
whom have chosen the 'right to remain silent' [in the police
investigation against the illegal associations campaign scandal]. Is
this the 'Prime Minister of everyone' that you promised?"

Also present at the demonstration were 22 hunger strikers, now into the
sixth day of their strike, who vow to continue fasting until Prime
Minister Barak returns from Camp David. The Likud Knesset faction
visited the hunger strikers - whose numbers have increased from day to
day - outside the Knesset this morning. Prof. Ron Breiman, one of the
initiators of the strike, was asked today if he thinks that the Prime
Minister is aware of his efforts. "The Americans are keeping him away
from everything that is going on, so that he will be detached from
public pressure," Breiman said, "but even when he is here in Israel, he
is not particularly attuned to what is going on in the public…" Two
strikers are undergoing medical treatment - one at the site, and one in
the hospital - after feeling faint.

2. FOUR ISRAELI BUSES TORCHED BY ARABS
Four Egged bus drivers made a wrong turn on their way out of Jerusalem
last night, and the Arabs of Calandia greeted them by torching their
buses to the ground. The drivers, who were on their way to Beit El to
pick up demonstrators for last night's giant rally, were attacked with
metal rods, hammers, shovels, rocks, and bottles, but managed to gather
together in one of the buses - itself half-burnt - and escape back to
the A-Ram junction. A jeep escorted them to the nearest army camp, from
where they were taken to the hospital, treated, and released. Egged
spokesman Ron Rattner said that his "constructive criticism" for the
army is that better signs should be positioned, and that soldiers
stationed on the roads should be more alert for Israeli drivers who are
not familiar with the area. The road between Calandia and Jerusalem has
been closed by army order until further notice.

3. P.A. REVOLVING DOOR POLICY BACK IN FULL SWING
Palestinian terrorist Jamil Jadallah escaped from a Palestinian
Authority prison three days ago, for the third time in less than two
years. Arutz-7 correspondent Kobi Finkler reports that in this latest
incident, Jadallah escaped together with a fellow Hamas terrorist from a
Shechem jail cell. Jadallah - the murderer of Itamar Doron of Moshav
Orah and Danny Vargas of Kiryat Arba in October 1998 - first escaped
from jail last year, but was caught by PA agents after a month; he
absquatulated again in February of this year, but turned himself over to
PA authorities three days later. Although the other escapee turned
himself in yesterday, Jadallah himself is still at large. Confirming
the report yesterday, Israeli security sources voiced concern over the
danger posed by Jadallah, and also condemned the PA jail system's
"revolving-door" policy.

4. NO-CONFIDENCE IN PM
Two no-confidence motions in Prime Minister Barak were originally
scheduled for a Knesset vote today - but the sponsor of one of them, MK
Avigdor Lieberman, withdrew his shortly before the last moment.
Lieberman understood that the bill had no chance to pass, following the
decision by the Likud, NRP, and Shas not to take part in the vote; the
opposition parties accepted the coalition stance that no-confidence
motions should not be held when the Prime Minister is abroad on a
"national mission." Labor MK Ophir Pines warned that never in the 52
years of the Knesset has a no-confidence vote been held under such
circumstances. Likud MK Michael Eitan laughed out loud when he heard
this claim, and said that Pines himself took part in such a vote against
Netanyahu when the latter was in China in May 1998.

For this and other reasons, Herut MK Michael Kleiner, the sponsor of the
other no-confidence motion scheduled for today, decided not to withdraw
it.
In the end, only a handful of MKs took part in the vote on this motion
-
and it passed with a 4-2 majority, and two abstentions. The opposition
thus fell somewhat short of the 61 MKs needed to topple the government.
MK Lieberman is planning to re-submit his motion next Monday, confident
that then he'll have the required 61, "because then all will see how
Barak behaved and gave in during the summit."

5. CONGRESS UNLIKELY TO GRANT AID TO ISRAEL, P.A.
If a deal is signed at Camp David in the days ahead, the U.S. Congress
will be called upon to fund it. Arutz-7's Haggai Segal asked Yoram
Ettinger, Israel's former liaison to Congress, about the chances of
securing the $15 billion-plus aid package to fund such a deal.
"Somewhere between slim and nil, in my opinion," he said. "We have to
understand that the Congress is currently preoccupied with domestic
budgets, trying to lower taxes, expanding the funds available for social
needs, etc. Asking Congress for massive funding for Israel, the PLO and
maybe even Syria at this point, is not consistent with that body's
present priorities. Furthermore, Congressmen are currently quite busy
with their election campaigns. Their goal is to get elected come
November, and the U.S. public does not particularly favor foreign aid -
especially to the PLO and Syria, still viewed in most circles as
terrorism-sponsoring entities..."

"It is hard to imagine that after a deal is signed, with all the fanfare
that can expected on the White House lawn, that Congress will say, 'No,
we are not part of this celebration,'" Segal suggested. Ettinger:
"Fifteen billion dollars is a conservative estimate of how much this
will all cost - some estimates place the price tag as high as $100
billion for an Israel-PLO deal, including resettling and compensating
refugees. The price does not include an Israel-Syria package, which
would call for another $30 billion for Israel alone! Congress simply
will be unable to explain to its citizens why it is cutting domestic
funding while funneling monies to Israel, the PA and Syria. "

"If what you say is correct," Segal responded, "then it turns out that
Barak's advisors are fooling him when they tell him that he will be able
to secure the necessary funds. Barak seems to be quite confident that
he will get the money!" Ettinger:
"Yes, he was also confident that he could push through the Phalcon
aircraft deal with China, but he received a rude awakening on that
issue, and Israeli interests suffered greatly as a result. Ehud Barak
is sorely lacking when it comes to reading the Washington political
environment..." Ettinger added that US politicians do not understand why
Barak would want to increase his country's dependence on foreign aid.
"I have heard many Congressmen say that by taking this approach, Israel
is digging its own grave in the Middle East," Ettinger said.

Ettinger then addressed a recent news item about advice given by a top
aide of leading Presidential contender George W. Bush to Barak-advisors
several days ago. The aide, Richard Perle, advised them not to sign a
deal at Camp David that does not include an agreement on Jerusalem.
"Look," Ettinger said, "Perle was a key advisor to the former President
Reagan on American-USSR relations, and was a strong believer in
non-capitulation to hostile enemies." This does not mean, however, that
these will be the policies of a new President Bush, Ettinger said. "We
have to be realistic. George W.'s inner circle does not include only
Perle, but also former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft and
others who are not exactly ardent Zionists. On the other hand, Bush Jr.
is close to former Defense Secretary advisor Paul Wolfowitz, and George
Schultz, a good friend of Israel. Best of all from Israel's perspective
is the absence of James Baker in the camp of Bush Jr., due to personal
hostilities between the two."

6. CAMP DAVID: CHILDREN QUESTION DISCRIMINATION
A delegation of Jewish children from Judea and Samaria has departed for
Camp David, to convey the message that their homes are in danger, and
that thousands of families with children stand to be uprooted from their
homes if Barak's plan goes through. Youth from the towns of Eli,
Michmash, Efrat, Tekoa, and Beit El plan to present Prime Minister Barak
with a letter asking him to "look us in the eye and explain by which
criteria you choose to provide for the future of certain children in
Israel, and for other children - not."

MK Avi Yechezkel (Labor) predicted today that Jerusalem will not be
divided: "Modern leaders don't try to dictate to their publics, but
rather listen to them. Barak sees the polls, and sees last night's
rally, which no one disputes was successful and impressive, and realizes
that he cannot give in on Jerusalem. Therefore, either there will be a
partial agreement without Jerusalem, or the entire summit will collapse
because of Jerusalem - in which case we will be in for certain events
which will lead to who knows what - maybe peace, maybe war..."

MK Uzi Landau will join the Likud's anti-Barak information effort in
Washington tomorrow. His party colleague MK Limor Livnat, who recently
returned from a similar effort, complained that U.S. officials attempted
to disrupt her activities there.

Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg noted today "decreasing chances" for the
signing of an agreement in Camp David in the next two days. U.S.
President Clinton hopes for a breakthrough in the talks prior to his
departure to Japan for the G-8 conference two days from now. Burg said
that he spoke with Prime Minister Barak by phone today. Palestinian
spokesmen, too, have now joined the chorus of pessimism being sounded
regarding chances for an agreement.

7. SHORTENED ARMY SERVICE LIKELY
The IDF today officially announced that army service for men will be
shortened by four months - to 32 months - while enlisted women will
serve for an additional three months. Women had served for 24 months
until several years ago, when the service was shortened to 21 months;
the new regulations bring women's service back up to two years.
Maj.-Gen. Yehuda Segev, head of the IDF personnel department, explained
that the move was made possible by the increasing size of recent drafts.
Segev added that a more significant cut would have increased reserve
soldiers' required service. The new policy is set to take effect next
summer, if military and other considerations allow it.

8. IN BRIEF
Bashar el-Assad was sworn in today as President of Syria. In his
inauguration speech, he said that the democratic system is not
applicable to Syria. "There will be no peace with Israel as long as
Syria does not receive 100% of the Golan," declared the new President...

A truck hit the Ramot bridge in Jerusalem today, causing slight damage.
Heavy traffic jams have been caused as a result on the
Jerusalem-Ramot-Nebi Samuel-Givat Ze'ev highway, and will continue for a
number of days...
Two Hizbullah terrorists were killed in a battle in Lebanon with Amal
terrorists yesterday. The Amal killers are expected to be sentenced to
death...
The annual Klezmer festival has opened in Tsfat. Dozens of Jewish
musicians, playing on 13 different stages throughout the city, will
perform various styles of Jewish music today and tomorrow...

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel and Ron Meir

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Fast of Tammuz 17
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 14:39:00 -0400

<color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>> </color>What is upcoming/occurring on the Jewish calendar?

Thursday, July 20, 2000 is Fast of Tammuz 17 which marks the beginning of
3 weeks of mourning that the Jews commemorate because of

all the calamities that befell the nation between the 17th of Tammuz and the
9th of Av (Tisha B'Av/August 10, 2000).

This three week period is called Bein Hametzarim "between the troubles"
and it is customary to refrain from the following:

do not wear new clothes

do not listen to music

do not bathe for pleasure

do not shave

do not cut hair

no weddings

no drinking of wine

no eating meat

no long journeys undertaken

<color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>There are other restrictions (and some of these prohibitions are void on
Shabbat) but I just wanted to give a few so we could get a taste of what is
entailed in keeping this mourning period.

</color>The three weeks begin with the Fast of Tammuz 17. This day is a fast day to
remember five tragedies that befell the Jews:

1. Moses broke the first set of tablets of the law.

2. The daily offering in the first Temple was discontinued for lack of
sheep.

3. Right before the destruction of the second Temple, the walls of
Jerusalem were breached.

4. A wicked Roman ruler named Apostumus burned the Torah.

5. An idol was erected in the Holy Temple.

At the end of the three weeks is Tisha B'Av, the 9th of Av. On this day five
tragedies also occurred:

<color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>1. The spies returned and gave an evil report which discouraged the Jewish
people and ended with them wandering in the desert.

2. The first Temple was destroyed.

3. The second Temple was destroyed.

4. The city of Betar was captured. Tens of thousands were killed. Apparently
the Romans had been fighting against Betar for 3+ years before it fell. The
Talmud (Ta'anit 68:4) says: "Eighty thousand war companies entered the city
of Betar and the Romans were killing men, women and children until their
blood was oozing out from the doors, windows and the pipes. The horse
would drown in the blood to its nose and the blood would cause stones of 40
se'ah to roll away and would proceed 40 miles to the sea...There is a
tradition that the Gentiles fertilized their fields with the blood of Israel for
seven years, not using any other fertilizer."

</color>5. The Romans ploughed over the site of the Temple.

Other things that have happend on this date:

1. First Crusade declared, 1095.

2. King Edward I expels all Jews from England, 1290.

3. Explusion of the Jews from Spain, 1492.

4. Pope Paul IV moves all the Jews into the ghetto, 1555.

5. Start of WWI.

<color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>Jeremiah 1:1-2:3, 2:4-3:4 and Isaiah 1:1-27 are read on the Shabbat before
Tisha B'Av. This Shabbat is called "Shabbat Chazon"-- "Shabbat of Vision."

On July 16, 1994 (Tisha B'Av) the 21 pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
started to hit Jupiter--this continued for a week. Jupiter was thought of by all
nations as a lucky/royal star in the days of </color>Christ's birth (and before).

<color><param>0000,8000,0000</param>Tammuz-17 was the name of the Iraqi nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel in
1981. It was so named because the 17th of Tammuz is the day that
Jerusalem was sieged prior to the destruction of the Temple by
Nebuchadnezzer, and Saddam Hussein is known to fancy himself as the heir
to Nebuchadnezzer's fallen dynasty. (Ask the Rabbi, Ask Aish #25-2000,
July 17, 2000, http://aish.com)

</color>http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Jewish_Feasts/js001.htm

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Saving Mir with a rope trick
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 17:39:57 -0400

SPECTRUM, July 2000

Saving Mir with a rope trick

By James Oberg, Contributing Editor

With commercial backing and an experimental propulsion system, Mir
could stay in business for years to come

Using a fabled "skyhook" of engineering folklore, Russia's ailing Mir
space station may soon lift itself by its own bootstraps into a
higher, more stable orbit. That feat, though, is raising fears at
NASA that the development of its supposed replacement, the
International Space Station (ISS) will be upset.

At present, Mir is orbiting without a crew. The last two cosmonauts
to visit the station returned to Earth in June. The next crew is set
to go up in November, according to MirCorp, the private consortium
that recently agreed to lease the station for commercial purposes.
What's more, in an effort to add years to the station's lifespan,
cosmonauts will begin testing a new propulsion technology some time
later this year or next.

The heart of the new technology is an electrodynamic tether, a long
thin wire that will attach to Mir and draw electrons from Earth's
ionosphere [Fig. 1]. As with an electric motor, this current-carrying
wire will experience a force as it passes through Earth's magnetic
field, a force that will, it is hoped, stabilize Mir's altitude.

With its economy in a decade-long decline, Russia has been hard
pressed to maintain both Mir and the ISS. The Russian-built Zvezda
service module for the ISS, for example, should have been launched
more than two years ago; it is now expected to go up this month.
Schedules for other components promised by Russia have similarly
slipped.

NASA had tolerated Mir's existence as long as terminal breakdown or
euthanasia seemed imminent. And indeed, the Russian government had
promised to de-orbit Mir sometime this year. But in February, the
Netherlands-based MirCorp, backed by two U.S. and British
telecommunications multimillionaires, agreed to sink US $100 million
to $200 million a year in the hobbled space station. The money is
being used to finance new launchings and to upgrade the station for
research and commercial activities, including advertising and space
tourism.

NASA administrator Dan Goldin is not amused. Among other things, he
has charged that Mir's revival is being accomplished using spacecraft
promised to Mir's international counterpart and paid for by the
United States. The Mir-saving tether technology itself is also
largely based on NASA-sponsored research and development.

The U.S. space agency desperately needs Russia's full attention on
the ISS. "Initial manned capability" of the station is set for
November--the same month a crew is scheduled to go to Mir--and ISS
construction is supposed to wrap up by mid-2003. But work on the
station has already been stalled for over a year, and this new
development could shift the timetable months, or even years, into the
future.

Undeniably, Russia has a strong attachment to the 14-year-old Mir, a
lingering symbol of the once-mighty Soviet space program. In fact,
throughout much of last year, a groundswell mounted in Russia to
preserve the station--somehow. Space officials, cosmonauts,
politicians, scientists, and other public figures paraded before the
Russian news media to call for Mir's perpetuation beyond the promised
termination date.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that his Administration is
committed to supporting both space stations. In February, he vowed to
"stand by all existing agreements" on the ISS. Those agreements
include providing the service module, with its crucial life support
systems; docking and airlock modules; a science power platform; and
other research units. Further, Russia is to launch two manned Soyuz
spaceships and four to six unmanned Progress supply vehicles to ISS
every year for at least five years.

On 12 April, the 39th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's mission as the
first cosmonaut in space, Putin restated his commitment to both
projects. But, he added, "national priorities must take precedence."

A firefly for Mir What exactly is this engineering novelty that may
save Mir? Simply put, the electrodynamic tether--nicknamed
Firefly--will attach to Mir and draw electrons from Earth's
ionosphere to flow along its length. This setup will create a
current, which will in turn raise the station's orbit. If successful,
it will be the first practical application of nonrocket propulsion in
space. [For a discussion of how electrodynamic tethers work and other
promising applications, see "The tether solution" ] At present,
regular shipments of rocket fuel are needed to maintain Mir's
altitude, so the tether will make keeping the station in operation
much cheaper.

Much of the technological groundwork for the Mir-saving tether was
sponsored by the U.S. space agency, an irony that experts both inside
and outside NASA have noted. As early as 1996, scientists and
engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Boeing, the
University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Tether Applications
proposed using an electrodynamic tether for keeping the ISS aloft.
The actual design and construction of Firefly was done by a team of
Russian and non-NASA U.S. engineers, working on shoestring budgets
measured in the tens of thousands of dollars. Their work was
sponsored by a California-based group called Finds, the Foundation
for the International Non-Government Development of Space.

To develop Firefly, Finds turned to Joe Carroll, a San Diego, Calif.,
engineer and a veteran of many NASA and U.S. Defense Department space
tether experiments. Carroll teamed up with Russian space engineer
Vladimir Syromyatnikov, who has worked on the hardware for all of
Russia's space stations. Once the MirCorp funding came through,
building the tether took only a few months. In April, it was shipped
to Russia for launch aboard a Progress supply drone later this year.

Firefly, formally known as the Mir Electrodynamic Tether System, or
METS, will consist of a 5-km-long anodized aluminum wire hooked at
the end of the station's Kvant 2 module. The 1-km section farthest
from Mir will be bare metal, with a surplus jet backpack attached at
the very end for ballast, to keep the line pointing straight down
toward Earth. Just outside the module's airlock hatch, an electrical
panel will be installed, and two 48-wire cables will connect the
system to Mir computers and power supply. A few kilowatts of power
from Mir's solar arrays will be channeled to the tether--power that
will be needed to reverse the direction of the current in the wire,
so that the station's orbit is raised, rather than lowered. The total
assembly weighs 150 kg.

Once the tether is reeled out to its full length, the bare metal
strip will begin collecting electrons from the ionosphere. As the
electrons move up the wire toward the space station, a hollow cathode
emitter mounted on Mir will spray them back into space, connecting
the circuit.

To install the tether, Mir cosmonauts will perform a space walk. They
will mount the apparatus on a ladder just outside the airlock,
connect one of the two electrical cables, manually deploy a small
pilot tether (which will later be used to tug the main tether out),
and then attach the main tether to the old jetpack. Following
verification of the space-to-ground data link, the crew will return
to Mir.

Later that day or soon afterwards, the tether unreeling will begin.
At full deployment, which takes about 5 hours, the tether will exert
a force at its attachment point on Mir of about 12 newtons,
displacing the complex's center of mass about 10 meters toward the
ballast end of the tether. After several days of low-power checkout,
the tether will be fully powered on.

There will be inefficiencies, of 25-30 percent, in this unearthly
electrical motor. The main losses will be voltage drops in the
electron collection, conduction, and emission, plus some loss in
boosting the power from Mir's 27-V bus voltage to the 400-1500 V used
by the tether system. Even with these inefficiencies, though, the
numbers are attractive. The most efficient propulsive systems, such
as an ion thruster or a plasma thruster, would consume about 0.25 kg
of propellant per hour per newton of thrust.

Tether experts calculate that each kilowatt of power from the solar
arrays will yield about 0.1 N of thrust. It's a tiny thrust, to be
sure, but it is nearly continuous. Mir's altitude loss due to air
drag is an annual 50-100 km, and the tether's air drag is about
one-sixth that of Mir's. An average power of 1.4 kW would compensate
for all air drag on Mir and the tether. That comes to about 1500 kg
of saved propellant per year, or nearly one full load of a Progress
supply ship, worth about $30 million.

The only nonrenewable part of METS is the 3 kg of xenon gas per year
that will be used in the hollow cathode; the gas is ionized to
stimulate the electron flow. The tether wire itself may also need
replacing from time to time. Experts estimate that the risk of a
Firefly-length tether at Mir's altitude being cut by a micrometeroid
or space debris is 30-40 percent per year. So the plan is to send up
spare parts--especially reels with new tethers--on later supply
flights.

Telemetry will allow the Mir crew and the ground staff to monitor
Firefly's hardware status, voltage, and power converter current
output, as well as a few other parameters. The tether's computer will
keep track of reel turns, temperatures of key components, and xenon
tank pressure, and will provide self-test results plus more detailed
data on any anomalies. Software commands to the Firefly computer will
allow starting, stopping, and modifying control sequences, plus
setting operating power levels and turning heaters on and off. If
needed, the entire tether assembly can be jettisoned from Mir by
either a hard-wired command or software.

So just how much time could Firefly buy Mir? Russian space experts
insist their space station has many years of useful life remaining.
Yuriy Semyonov, director of the Moscow-based Energia Space and Rocket
Corp. (which builds and operates all Russian-manned space vehicles),
estimates that after 14 years, Mir is barely halfway through its
useful life. "We would want Mir to stand by the ISS at least over the
first 15 years of its existence," Semyonov told reporters at the
MirCorp contract signing in February.

Will past be prologue? Of course, the above scenario is the ideal.
But space tethers are not magic, and past trials have been plagued by
unpleasant surprises. The most dramatic occurred in 1996, when the
20-km-long insulated wire of NASA's Tethered Satellite System broke
and sent its Italian satellite payload flying off [see "Spectacle in
the sky"]. The break was later attributed to electrical arcing
through damaged insulation on the wire.

Other problems have occurred on some of the dozen or so space tether
experiments. (Some of these involved nonconducting tethers connecting
two orbiting bodies; through simple momentum exchange, the orbit of
one body can be raised while the other is lowered.) Although the
causes were identified and fixes were straightforward in each case,
tether technology developed a tarnished reputation.

In a Finds-sponsored report, Carroll and Syromyatnikov expressed
confidence that the Tethered Satellite System (TSS) problem will not
doom Firefly. There are three fundamental design differences:
Firefly's wire polarity is opposite that of the TSS; it uses only
half the latter's voltage; and its wire is partially exposed and
partially insulated, which, the report stated, "should generate far
less volatiles [released gases] than the TSS wire did when the
insulation was breached."

These design features, plus more careful fabrication of the tether,
should greatly reduce the likelihood of a short-to-ground, which led
to the TSS break and the loss of the Italian satellite.

Firefly's designers say that the tether could help shift Mir into an
orbit closer to the international station's. Over a two-year period,
the orbits would come to overlap. At that point, inter-station
flights would become feasible. NASA space shuttles or Russian Soyuz
or Progress vehicles could transfer thousands of kilograms of
equipment and supplies. Some of Mir's science modules, mainly the
Priroda earth observation complex, could also fly to the ISS, using
their own rockets under autopilot control.

Rick Tumlinson, a U.S. space expert and an advocate of commercial
space activities, has argued that the Firefly tether on Mir would
actually benefit, rather than hinder, the ISS. He reckons that the
tether would eliminate at least half the logistics support for Mir,
making the station much less expensive to operate. In turn, that
advantage would reduce the impact of prolonged Mir operations on the
resources available for its international counterpart. What's more,
if the tether works, it would be a boon to NASA's own ongoing efforts
to apply the technology to the ISS--to meet its even more urgent need
for altitude control.

The Threat from Mir Such arguments seem to have fallen on deaf ears
at NASA. Tumlinson told IEEE Spectrum that some pro-NASA
congressional staffers had been calling around various government
agencies in Washington, trying to stall the license needed to export
the tether to Russia. Under U.S. law, all space hardware is
categorized as "munitions"--even Firefly, which is "just a reel of
wire," Tumlinson said.

The idea that the tether is technically munitions may seem bizarre.
But from the point of view of the U.S. space agency, a resurrected
Mir is indeed a major threat.

Much of NASA administrator Dan Goldin's wrath has been focused on
Energia. Long-standing NASA plans called for Energia to produce two
Soyuz spaceships for use this year by the International Space
Station. One was to send up the first long-term crew in October; the
other was reserved for an all-Russian crew, which would be deployed
in September in the event of a docking problem between the
Russian-built service module (scheduled for launch this month) and
the rest of the station. To help Energia complete the vehicles, NASA
authorized $60 million in emergency funds last year.

Despite the U.S. agency's plans, the Russians have announced that two
of the three manned Soyuz vehicles they will produce this year will
go to Mir. One of them, Soyuz TM-30, was already used in April to
send up a crew [Fig. 2]. A second Soyuz will take up a new crew in
November.

"It is the director of the Energia company who proudly walked me
through his plant and identified the tail numbers of two Progress and
one Soyuz and thanked us for the support we gave so they could build
them," Goldin told Congress in February. "It is the same person who
without any consultation with NASA pulled those tail numbers to use
to keep the Mir space station up." Tail numbers designate particular
vehicles under construction.

Goldin called the reallocation of spacecraft to Mir "a major breach"
and demanded that Energia return the $60 million. Russian officials
said they would "do their best." Just to make sure, NASA associate
administrator Joe Rothenberg announced he was "quarantining" a $7
million payment that had been planned for another project.

Meanwhile, at least one of the three unmanned Progress supply flights
scheduled for the international station in 2000 has been reassigned
to Mir. The Russians insist that Goldin approved the plan, but nobody
at NASA claims to have heard of the agreement. Should the Mir
reoccupation extend into 2001, the other two Progress vehicles will
probably also be needed there.

Unrealistic plans Diverting supply drones from the ISS means more
than just being unable to restock the astronauts with clean science
gear and underwear. The Progress vehicles were to carry rocket
propellant, to be used to counter the station's orbital decay due to
air drag. Without the propellant, the station has been dropping
dangerously close to the minimum safe altitude.

As a temporary fix, NASA's space shuttles can burn some propellant to
make small orbital corrections in the ISS. This was in fact done in
May, during the space shuttle Atlantis's repair mission. The agency
is also building an interim control module that will carry large
amounts of fuel. So far, though, the module hasn't been scheduled for
launch.

No new work has been done on the ISS since late 1998, when NASA sent
up the first two parts. Russia's Zvezda service module, the key
life-support section, was supposed to follow within a few months, but
the launch schedule continued to slip [Fig. 3]. Without it, the
station remained uninhabited.

Finally, a "firm" date for the service module launch was set: 12
November 1999. NASA inspectors who visited the payload processing
facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan reported that the
module was nearly complete--despite the fact that critical
components, such as a rendezvous guidance radar and flight software
for the German-built control computers, had not yet been delivered.

In the end, bad luck provided a face-saving way out. On 27 October,
at Baikonur a Russian Proton rocket blew up, the same kind of rocket
slated to carry the 20-ton service module into orbit. It was the
second such failure in recent months. All further Proton launchings
were then grounded.

Investigators identified a faulty batch of rocket engines, and
commercial launchings resumed in February. But for Russian program
flights, an entirely new set of engine turbopumps had to be
manufactured. At press time, the service module was set to launch on
8 July.

Some Congressmen who listened to Goldin's laments in February were
furious about the lack of progress. They ripped into the NASA
administrator for years of self-delusion and poor judgment, and for
relying on Russian participation in the international station. Dana
Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics
Subcommittee, thundered: "No other recent problem in our space
program has cost the American people so dearly, both in money and
lost opportunities. Nothing has been so destructive as the naive
assumption that Russia's government would spend its limited resources
to help us build the International Space Station."

In response, Goldin tried to put the best face on it: "I don't want
to sound like Pollyanna but we will somehow, some way, get through
this."

In the meantime, the ISS continues to orbit Earth. Occasionally,
maneuvering rockets are fired to raise the orbit or to dodge pieces
of space junk. Already, equipment has begun breaking down. The space
shuttle crew that visited the station in May devoted almost their
entire trip to repairs.

Limited resources Even if Firefly works and even with MirCorp
support, Russia will have to scramble to build new spacecraft and
launch vehicles. The government must also pay the salaries of key
personnel required for human space operations. Retirements, deaths,
and attrition to jobs with living wages have already thinned out the
staff of the Mission Control Center near Moscow. Most of the space
workers who remain have another family member with a "real job"
elsewhere. If the service module goes up this month, that group is to
be transferred from Mir operations to the ISS.

Another team, from the Khrunichev space factory in southcentral
Moscow, is responsible for controlling the ISS's Zarya module.
Although the manpower of the team has been severely strained, the
factory has had a healthy cash flow from Proton rocket launch sales
and can afford to hire enough specialists.

Elsewhere, the scientific infrastructure needed to plan and operate
research on any space station has all but melted away. At the
Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, for example, medical
experts who study human reactions to spaceflight have all taken other
jobs.

In this environment of fiscal collapse, the Russian government agreed
last year to let Energia seek private funding to keep Mir going. The
government retained ownership of the station, but Energia would now
be its operator--and fund-raiser. At first, Energia estimated that it
needed more than 7 billion rubles (US $200 million) per year to
operate Mir. But that figure gradually fell, as Energia's hunt for
outside funding led to several embarrassing wild-goose chases. One
British investor proved long on promises and short on cash.
Negotiations with China and other countries were rumored but never
substantiated. Some Western research teams expressed interest, but
even combined, their offers failed to approach the funding required.

Last November, the Duma, Russia's parliament, allocated 1.5 billion
rubles (about US $50 million) to keep Mir going, on condition that
the money come out of profits from licensing Russian aerospace
technology. It was a phantom allocation: licensing income totaled
less than $1 million for all of 1999, and no actual cash was ever
transferred to Energia. A charitable fund has also been soliciting
donations from Russian citizens to keep Mir going. By the end of
February, it had raised only 485 000 rubles, barely $15 000 at
current exchange rates.

New lease on life Then along came MirCorp. The consortium grew out
of several individuals' common interest in space commercialization.
Chief among them was U.S. space expert Tumlinson, and he brought in
Walt Anderson, a financier who had made his fortune buying and
selling telecommunications companies after the breakup of AT&T.
Anderson has invested in several other projects dedicated to
introducing new technologies to space operations. His investment
group is called Gold and Appel, named for a fictitious futuristic
organization in Robert Anton Wilson's cult science fiction classic
Illuminati Trilogy.

Through Tumlinson, Anderson met Jeffrey Manber, Energia's U.S.
representative. Along the way, Chirinjeev Kathuria, president of the
London-based New World Telecom LLC, also agreed to invest. Manber
then arranged for the investors to meet with his Russian colleagues,
and after several months of negotiations and mutual assessments,
their new partnership was formalized.

On 17 February, representatives from MirCorp and Moscow's Energia
Corp. gathered in London to sign a joint lease for the space station.
"This isn't a Band-Aid to keep Mir alive," said Tumlinson. He likened
NASA's role in exploring low-Earth orbit to that of Lewis and Clark,
the early explorers of the United States, a role that has now ended.
"This is a history-changing moment--it's the handoff of the frontier
from governments to the people," he said.

Among MirCorp's plans is to set up an Internet portal on Mir, linked
to Earth through relay satellites (which have yet to be launched).
The portal would provide content for terrestrial Web sites. Color
video of Earth from space would also be sold. In addition, MirCorp
believes that individuals will pony up the $20 million for a one-week
tourist trip to Mir (and also complete the requisite three months of
training beforehand).

Andrew Eddy, who used to head ISS commercialization planning for the
Canadian Space Agency, is MirCorp's senior vice president for
business development. At the London signing, he downplayed the notion
that Mir and ISS were competitors or even enemies. "It's very much a
complementary initiative," he told reporters. "Once we start flying
commercial clients on a regular basis to space, that will be very
much to the benefit of the ISS partners." This is because, he
continued, once the international space unit becomes operational,
"there will be a pool of commercial clients who are used to flying in
space, who understand the value of space activity to their business."

Despite the heroic efforts to save Mir and mollify NASA, though, one
troubling fact remains: Mir is not, and never has been, a good
platform for sophisticated research. Its power systems provide
neither adequate wattage nor any guarantee of continuity and
stability; the power needed to run the tether will further tax the
available supply.

Another drawback is that the microgravity environment, critical for
materials processing, is subject to frequent physical shocks and
stresses due to station operations. And with the tether running out
from Mir's airlock, the station's horizontal orientation in relation
to Earth will be fixed. This means some of the station's scientific
instruments, which must be pointed by turning the entire vehicle,
will no longer be usable.

Nor would its tether-enhanced orbit really allow Mir to service other
satellites. To experienced spaceflight experts, many of the promises
from MirCorp seem naive.

Mir awakens Naive or not, with corporate backing, Mir now looks as
if it may go on for at least a few more years--particularly if the
Firefly tether performs as ordered.

On 25 January, 136 metric tons of slumbering space station awoke.
Responding to commands from Earth, the station restarted its main
computer and powered up its precision pointing devices, the
gyrodines. Eight days later, a Progress supply drone reached Mir,
carrying rocket fuel meant originally to de-orbit the station;
instead, the craft nudged it into a higher orbit. Over the course of
a week, the station's altitude lifted from 315 km to 360 km, and
later to 400 km.

The computer was then returned to hibernation until just before the
launch of Soyuz TM-30, carrying cosmonauts Sergey Zalyotin and
Aleksandr Kaleri. They reached Mir on 6 April. Another Progress
vehicle arrived later in the month. After attending to a small but
troublesome air leak and other housekeeping chores, Zalyotin and
Kaleri departed Mir in mid-June.

The crew's visit to Mir ended a successful experiment in running the
station remotely. Mir had been uninhabited since last September.
Shortly before the last crew left, they hooked up a new
high-reliability analog computer to Mir's autopilot. For the next six
months, the computer ran a minimum level of equipment, mainly the
radio link with Earth. It also kept Mir in a slow spin that oriented
its solar arrays more or less toward the Sun, providing adequate
power for the station's hibernation mode.

Over the summer, MirCorp will continue to try to recruit new
investors and customers. The schedule calls for the next manned
flight in November, followed soon after by delivery of the Firefly
tether assembly aboard a supply drone and then installation and
deployment of the tether.

At the London signing in February, Jeffrey Manber, the former Energia
official and now MirCorp's president, was upbeat about the station's
prospects: "We believe the story of the Mir space station and our
efforts to keep it in orbit will be one of the great stories of the
decade and perhaps of the century."

"The tragedy will not be if we fail," he added. "The tragedy would be
if we didn't even try."

To Probe Further

MirCorp's Web site, http://www.mirstation.com, describes the
company's big plans to commercialize the Russian space station.

Space.com carries regular updates on Mir and the International Space
Station at its site at

http://www.space.com/news/spacestation

The Firefly tether is described in a report on the Foundation for the
International Non-Government Development of Space (Finds) Web site at

http://www.finds-space.org/METS.html

Spectrum editor: Jean Kumagai

------
Spectacle in the sky

If MirCorp gets its way, the new Mir will be a monumental engineering
achievement. With its long Firefly tail, it also will be, pure and
simple, a spectacular sight in the dawn and dusk skies of Earth.

This is because the tether will be visible as a white line, extending
down from the already-bright starlike Mir. The idea that something
only as thick as a telephone cord could be viewed from 500 km seems
unbelievable on the face of it. But many viewers on Earth--myself
included--have already seen such a thing.

When the tether on NASA's Tethered Satellite System broke in 1996,
the satellite payload and 20-km-long tether continued to orbit Earth
long after the space shuttle had returned home. Friends elsewhere who
had spotted the tether told me that it was a celestial sight not to
be missed. So, an hour before sunrise, I dragged my family out onto
the dark street in front of our rural home south of Houston to await
a scheduled pass. I still remember that moment four years ago. When I
saw the thin white line moving across the southern sky, I was
stunned. Chills ran down my spine.

The line extended about the diameter of the Moon, as it moved about a
degree per second from west to east. The tether's lower end was bent
slightly backwards, like an umbrella handle, and the satellite itself
was a barely discernible dot.

The Mir tether is set to be deployed later this year. For tether
sighting opportunities, consult the Web site at www.heavens-above.com
or at www.skypub.com/sights/satellites/mir.shtml.

For a real-time display of Mir's location, see:

http://liftoff.msfc.nasa.gov/temp/mir_loc.html.

--J.O.

IEEE Spectrum July 2000 Volume 37 Number 7

via: transhumantech@egroups.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - JVIM Update! items (7/17/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 17:45:25 -0400

U.N. HOLDS U.S. AND OTHERS
         RESPONSIBLE FOR GENOCIDE IN
       RWANDA AND SEEKS REPARATIONS
                                    July 17, 2000

     WorldNetDaily reported: “The United Nations has welcomed a
     report from the Organization of African Unity, holding the United
     States, France, Belgium and the Vatican responsible for the 1994
     genocide in Rwanda and demanding monetary compensation for their
     failure to intervene. Between 500,000 and 800,000 Tutsi Rwandans
     were slaughtered in the spring of 1994, mostly by the Hutus,
     another Rwandan tribe that speaks the same language and has the
     same customs. During this massacre, the U.N. was effectively
     silent, despite what the report calls ‘incontrovertible� evidence
     that Western powers were wary of the dangers before and during the
     slaughter. President Clinton has formally apologized for inaction,
     as have other national and religious leaders, but the Organization
     of African Unity is not satisfied. The report presented to the U.N.
     on July 7 by the OAU's International Panel of Eminent Personalities
     reads, ‘Now the United States, the United Nations, Belgium and the
     Anglican Church have all formally apologized. That seems to us a
     good, small, first step. It is time they ensured that commensurate
     financial reparations back up their solemn words of repentance.�
     The report is considered troublesome by many in the U.S.
     government, not so much because it says the U.S. should have
     intervened when it could have, but because it considers it a vice
     for a country to balk at sending its boys and girls to die when
     there is no national interest involved, and it presumes to put a
     price on human life. An aide to Senate Foreign Relations Committee
     Chairman Jesse Helms, R-N.C., called the report ‘laughable,� and
     ‘indicative of the fact that the United Nations is living in
     another world.�...”

SYRIA SAID TO BE CREATING
CHEMICAL WARHEADS
July 17, 2000

     The World Tribune reported: “A new report by a
     Washington-based think tank, CSIS, said Damascus has
     completed chemical weapons development and has produced
     warheads that can be placed on their ballistic missiles. The next
     step is the development of biological weapons. Anthony Cordesman,
     the author of the report and a leading Washington strategist, said
     Syria has improved its radar and targeting capabilities and has
     developed a significant long-range air strike capability, all of
     which pose a significant threat to Israel. ‘Most experts believe
     that these missiles are armed with VX nerve gas warheads -- joining
     the large number of sheltered Scud missiles with nerve gas warheads
     that Syria already deploys,� Cordesman writes in his report. ‘They
     may well use bomblets to deliver such gas over a wider area. The
     possibility of biological warheads cannot be dismissed, although
     Syria is more likely to use the latter weapons in bombs or a covert
     delivery system.� Cordesman cites an article about biological
     warfare written by Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas that
     recently appeared in an Iranian journal. ‘Syria has a major
     interest in biological warfare, and the fact that [Tlas's] article
     first appeared in public in an Iranian journal may not entirely be
     a coincidence,� Cordesman said. Western intelligence sources said
     Syria has the capability to produce Scud C missiles, with a range
     of 550 kilometers. The missile could strike any part of Israel...”

RUSSIAN PRESIDENT�S EASTERN TRIP
          TO MAKE ALLIES OF CHINA AND
                       NORTH KOREA
                                    July 17, 2000

     The London Times reported: “President Putin flies to Beijing today
     on a bold mission to boost his status and build opposition to US
     missile defense plans before both come under scrutiny at the
     Okinawa G8 summit next weekend. With the West cooler towards Mr.
     Putin's leadership than just three months ago, he has lined up
     potentially historic meetings in Beijing and North Korea with the
     aim of arriving in Japan as a major world figure. His intention
     will be to undermine America's proposed anti-missile shield with a
     joint Russian-Chinese statement condemning it as unwarranted and
     likely to trigger a hugely expensive space-based arms race.
     Preparations for the anti-missile shield suffered a big setback a
     week ago when a US test intercept of one of its own missiles failed
     over the Pacific. With his trip to North Korea, the first by a
     Russian President, Mr. Putin hopes to deepen US embarrassment over
     the botched test by establishing a rapport with precisely the
     ‘rogue state� that Washington cites as its main reason for needing
     an anti-missile shield. More broadly, Mr. Putin intends to demand a
     voice on the world stage even as other leaders there begin to doubt
     whether he deserves one...”

NEW MALE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL SAID
TO BE 100% EFFECTIVE
July 17, 2000

     The BBC reported: “Further trials are continuing in Africa but the
     researchers believe the male pill could be on the market within
     five years. The contraceptive, developed by Dutch firm Organon, is
     being tested in Scotland, China, South Africa and Nigeria. The
     studies in Edinburgh and in the Chinese city of Shanghai are the
     first to be completed and the Scottish scientists leading the
     project say they are delighted with the results. About 30 men at
     each of the centers took the pill over a period of months.
     Edinburgh University's Center for Reproductive Biology said none
     produced sperm without experiencing side effects such as acne and
     high blood pressure which have dogged previous attempts to perfect
     the male pill. The contraceptive works by introducing hormones
     which stop the production of sperm into the blood stream. The most
     effect form of contraception is the female pill...”

IRAQ NOW HAS CAPABILITY TO JAM
U.S. MISSILES
July 17, 2000

     Reuters reported: “Iraq has managed to stop the United States
     from firing sophisticated missiles at it with an $18,000 jamming
     device it bought from Russia, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
     Al-Qabas daily said in a report from Moscow that it had met the
     Russian inventor of the portable device which was designed at a
     university. The daily also published pictures of what it said was
     the device. Baghdad said earlier this year that it had developed
     the capability to neutralise U.S. anti-radar HARM missiles, often
     fired by warplanes enforcing no-fly zones in Iraq, effectively
     forcing them out of the skies. Al-Qabas said the first two of the
     devices were carried to Baghdad as a gift by Russian
     ultra-nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky...”

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Why NEOs are bound to be missed in July & August
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 17:59:44 -0400

WHY NEOS ARE BOUND TO BE MISSED IN JULY & AUGUST

>From David Tholen <tholen@IfA.Hawaii.Edu>

> However, they are concerned that it was found by accident and was
> missed by the half dozen professional minor-planet surveys currently in
> operation.

I don't understand the concern. It's "monsoon season" in the southwest U.S.,
where LINEAR, LONEOS, Spacewatch, and the Catalina Sky Survey all
operate, and NEAT only recently came back on line. If there is a time of year
when objects are most likely to go unnoticed by the professional minor-
planet surveys, it's July and August. By locating most of these surveys in the
southwest, we've put too many eggs in one basket. Objects are bound to be
missed in those months when the weather will cut way down on sky
coverage.

--Dave

Cambridge Conference Network
Letters to the Editor
17 July 2000
http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cccmenu.html

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