BPR Mailing List Digest: 03/03/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
March 3, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | March, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - IBM unveils Blue Eyes technology
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 05:22:14 -0500

IBM Unveils Tech to Enable Computers to Perceive Human Feelings
http://www.nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com/wcs/leaf?CID=onair/asabt/cover/958
04

March 2, 2000 (TOKYO) -- IBM Corp. unveiled its Blue Eyes
technology to equip a computer with an ability to perceive
human feelings, and it released a robot designed for
demonstrating the new technology.

The Blue Eyes robot is equipped with a computer capable of
analyzing a person's glances and other forms of expressions
of feelings, before automatically determining the next type
of action.

The U.S. computer giant has been conducting research on
the Blue Eyes technology at its Almaden Research Center
(ARC) in San Jose, Calif., since 1997. The ARC is IBM's
main laboratory for basic research.

The primary objective of the research is to give a
computer the ability of the human being to assess a
situation by using the senses of sight, hearing and touch.

"This will be a new method of operating the computer,
following those by characters, graphic user interface
(GUI), and voice," said Myron D. Flickner of the ARC.

Examples of the technology now under study are to have a
computer read the expression of the operator and to take
necessary steps, to monitor the pulse, body temperature,
smoothness of actions, and other symptoms through a
computer mouse, before determining the user's state of
mind. Also, a computer with this technology could move the
cursor by following the direction of the user's eyes.

This type of technology will enable the computer to
automatically transmit information related to the screen
that the user is gazing at. Also, it will enable the
computer to determine, from the user's expression, if he or
she understood the information on the screen, before
automatically deciding to proceed to the next program.

The research on this type of technology is still in an
initial stage, and it is not certain when the technology
will be put into commercial use.

IBM has released a robot called PONG, which is equipped
with the Blue Eyes technology. PONG is capable of
perceiving the person standing in front of it, smiles when
the person calls his name, and expresses loneliness when it
loses sight of the person.

IBM is showing this robot to the public at the company's
exhibition called "IBM Fair 2000" at the Japan Convention
Center (Makuhari Messe) in Chiba prefecture, March 1-3.

(BizTech News Dept.)

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Data storage enters the 3rd dimension
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 08:59:20 -0500

Holographic storage boasts that it can save vast amounts of data on material
the size of a sugar cube.

http://foxnews.com/vtech/030200/holog.sml

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinian leader issues threat
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 09:09:01 -0500

09:35 PM ET 03/02/00

Palestinian Leader Issues Threat

By MARK LAVIE
Associated Press Writer

           JERUSALEM (AP) _ Palestinians will send their police in to take
over disputed West Bank land if Israel refuses to carry out land
transfer agreements, a Palestinian leader threatened Thursday.
           Negotiations over implementing an interim peace accord broke
down last month in disagreement over which territories the Israelis
would hand over. Talks on a peace treaty are also frozen.
           Ahmed Qureia, speaker of the Palestinian parliament, said Israel
must turn over 93 percent of the West Bank under the interim
accords. He charged that Israel is trying to evade its obligations.
``We will deliver it to ourselves and we will put our Palestinian
police there'' if the delays continue, he said.
           The disputed territory is now under Palestinian civilian
control, but Israel is in charge of security. A unilateral move by
uniformed Palestinian forces would probably spark an Israeli
response. Gadi Baltiansky, Prime Minister Ehud Barak's spokesman,
refused to comment on Qureia's remarks.
           Anticipating a tough Israeli reaction, Qureia said the
Palestinian move would not be easy, but ``the Palestinian people
must be prepared for any developments.'' Qureia was a key
Palestinian negotiator in reaching the first accord, signed in
1993.
           According to interim accords, Israel is to turn over all
territory in the West Bank and Gaza to Palestinian control, except
for Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and specified military locations.
The Israelis dispute the Palestinian claim that this amounts to
more than 90 percent of the territory.
           The Palestinians suspended contacts with Israel on all levels
over a dispute concerning a scheduled Israeli turnover of 6.1
percent of the West Bank. The Palestinians demanded that this
include one or more Palestinian villages next to Jerusalem, but
Israel refused.
           Qureia insisted that Israel carry out the final pullback under
the interim accord, though Israel prefers to fold that into the
final territorial arrangements under a peace treaty.

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564701367-fc0

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Microbots
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 13:32:19 -0500

Source: Michigan State University (<http://www.msu.edu>)
Date: Posted 3/3/2000

Robotics Team Goes "Micro" To Combat Crime, Aid Rescue Efforts

The gunman is barricaded in a small room with hostages. As he
calculates his next move, he fails to notice that he is not
alone--not by a long shot. A handful of robots the size of
Palmetto bugs move in on him, navigating floors and furniture,
scaling walls and ceilings, tunneling through the ventilation
system. Before he realizes what is happening, the SWAT team
storms into the room...

The above sounds like a scenario dreamed up by Steven
Spielberg, but is actually created by a multidisciplinary team
out of Michigan State University's College of Engineering. The
team of six is collaborating on a three-year, $1.6 million grant
from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, DARPA for
short, to design and build adaptable, reconfigurable micro-
robots for use in law enforcement, intelligence gathering, and
search and rescue.

Lal Tummala, professor of electrical engineering and
manufacturing, and project coordinator, says that in a scenario
such as the one described above, law enforcement officials have
only a few seconds between the moment they open the door and the
time in which they act. Obviously, he says, the more information
they have at the time of entry, the better off they are.

The U.S. Department of Defense wants to develop a means for
safe and efficient fact-finding when the environment is
dangerous or inaccessible to humans. The idea is that if very
small robots--no bigger than five centimeters in diameter--are
equipped with cameras, thermal and infrared sensors, and
microphones, they can obtain and transmit useful information
about a situation before a person is required to enter the scene.

"Possibly," says Tummala, "the robots could be dropped by
helicopter or shot like bullets into a building. From there,
they could go about their business, gathering information
without notice."

More....

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
Michigan State University for journalists and other members of
the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story,
please credit Michigan State University as the original source.
You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:
<http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000303080559.htm>

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Printer fined for homosexual snub
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 13:35:06 -0500

Friday, March 3, 2000

Printer fined for homosexual snub
By JAMES WALLACE -- Toronto Sun

A born-again Christian printer who refused to produce
letterhead for a gay and lesbian group has been fined $5,000 by
the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

The Toronto printer, Scott Brockie, argued his religious
beliefs -- that homosexuality is a sin -- preclude him from
promoting the homosexual lifestyle, and so he refused work from
the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in April 1996.

A Commission Board of Inquiry ruled it was a "reasonable limit
on Mr. Brockie's religious beliefs" to require him to provide
services to gays and lesbians.

"It is important for every business in Ontario to know that
when they offer services to the general public, they cannot
exclude some clients," Chief Commissioner Keith Norton said in a
statement yesterday.

"The Code clearly prohibits discrimination in the provision of
services and this decision simply recognizes this important
reality," he said. Brockie is appealing the decision to the
Divisional Court of Ontario.

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Digital scent devices to his shelves by Christmas
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 13:35:17 -0500

Digital scent devices to hit shelves by Christmas, company says
By Associated Press, 3/3/2000 09:25

SINGAPORE (AP) Want to smell burning rubber when playing that racing
game? Soon, you might be able to.

Equipment that produces scents to go with computer games, videos and e-
mail is scheduled to go on sale to the public by December, U.S. company
Digiscents Inc. said Friday.

The company's ''iSmell'' machine, a device slightly smaller than a
telephone, will add a whole new dimension to computer games and other
electronic products, Digiscents' chief executive officer Joel Bellenson
said.

''If you're playing a computer game and exploring a forest or a dungeon, you
can smell your environment. You can smell your enemy, you can smell
gunfire,'' Bellenson said.

''We're planning on the mass consumer release of the device by the
Christmas season this year,'' he said, adding that a digital scent ''developer's kit''
for computer games makers was set to hit the market in San Jose, California
next week.

The company's technology turns smells into digital codes that can be stored
on laser discs or as computer files, and can even be e-mailed.

''You might be able to e-mail the smell of flowers or chocolate to your wife
if you can't get them delivered on time,'' Bellenson said.

The iSmell device reads a digital scent file, creates a smell from a
''palette'' of 128 chemicals stored in a cartridge, and then wafts into the
air with a small fan.

The company is compiling a database of ''digital scent objects,'' which it
hopes to sell to Internet companies, computer game makers, video producers
and others, Bellenson said.

Digiscents is currently in discussions with companies including Eidos, maker
of the popular ''Tomb Raider'' computer game, and with food and beverage
companies interested in the company's advertising potential, he said.

The Boston Globe,
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/063/economy/Digital_scent_devices_to_hit
_s:.shtml

via: isml@onelist.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - REAL WORLD NEWS 03/03/2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 13:37:53 -0500

From: Real World News <real_world_news@usa.net>
REAL WORLD NEWS 03/03/2000

COHEN PUSHES FOR MORE BASE CLOSINGS
Even as Defense Secretary William Cohen presses Congress to authorize
more military base closures, some of the service chiefs are sounding a
less enthusiastic note.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000302/pl/base_closings_2.html

CIA: BEIJING 'NOT CAPABLE OF TAIWAN INVASION'
China does not have the military capability to sustain an invasion of
Taiwan, CIA director George Tenet said this week. "The Chinese cannot
take Taiwan militarily," Mr Tenet said, but he added that China's
mobilisation, particularly of short-range ballistic missiles opposite
Taiwan, could not be ignored.
http://www.scmp.com/News/China/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20000303
025417
773.asp

JUDICIARY PANEL GIVES APPROVAL TO 'CIVIL UNIONS' BILL
A committee of five Republicans, five Democrats and one Progressive
gave its strong endorsement Wednesday to a bill to expand civil rights
in Vermont by allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into "civil
unions," which would carry many of the legal protections and benefits
of marriage. http://timesargus.nybor.com/Story/4605.html

PHARMACIES BECOMING CENTER OF THE ABORTION DEBATE
Wal-mart has won the support of pro-life organizations and,
subsequently, upset pro-choice organizations by refusing to carry the
FDA approved Preven product in its stores. Pro-choice groups refer to
the product as a form of emergency contraception. Pro-life advocates
argue that it is basically an over-the-counter abortion.
http://www.ashevilletribune.com/walmart.htm

SCIENCE TEACHERS UNDER FIRE FOR CRITICIZING EVOLUTION THEORY
Two Northwest educators continue to battle school board members,
colleagues and the ACLU over whether or not they have the right to
criticize the theory of evolution in their classrooms.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000303_xnfoj_unnat
ural_.
shtml

CHURCHES TOLD TO CLAM UP
Several churches on California's central coast have been told by their
county tax assessor's office they are breaking the law by displaying
pro-Proposition 22 signs on church property, prompting a press
conference yesterday during which attorneys pointed to tax laws
specifically permitting the practice. To be voted on this Tuesday,
Proposition 22, also known as the "Defense of Marriage Act" consists
of 14 words: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or
recognized in California." The initiative has received nationwide
attention and has already been adopted in 31 states.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_fosterj_news/20000303_xnfoj_churc
hes_t.
shtml

OREGON CHURCH LOSES PERMIT BATTLE
The Jacksonville city council has voted to uphold a decision denying a
Presbyterian church a building permit for a sanctuary in another clash
between church and state. The city granted a permit to build a
400-seat sanctuary and an education building on conditions there be no
alcohol, funerals or weddings and the church closed its doors by
certain hours during the week and all day Saturday. After the city's
attorney said the wedding and funeral ban would probably not hold up
in court because of constitutional issues, the city council met
Thursday night to try again. It didn't work.
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000303/us/church_dispute_2.html

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 13:39:51 -0500

HUSSEINI JERUSALEM DECLARATION "IN VIOLATION OF OSLO"

The Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed "dismay" last night at Feisal
Husseini's statement yesterday that meetings between foreign visitors and
Palestinian representatives will be held from now on in the Husseini
family-owned Orient House or other locations in eastern Jerusalem. The
Ministry notes that under the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, the
PLO obligated itself not to establish Palestinian Authority offices in
areas in which the PA has no authority, and to refrain from any foreign
affairs activity there. As Jerusalem, in its entirety, is not within the
areas of PA authority, the announcement by Husseini constitutes a flagrant
violation of the agreements with Israel, said the Ministry statement.

Palestinian sources said last week that they would no longer concede to
Israeli demands that no diplomatic VIPs meet with PA representatives at the
Orient House, because of "Israel's unilateral measures in Jerusalem at Har
Homa and Ras el Amud... [and the] new situation of crisis between the Barak
administration and the Palestinian leadership." The new Palestinian
position appears to place Jerusalem, once again, in the center of the
dispute between Israel and the PA.

POPE CHANGES SCHEDULE

Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau announced last night that Pope John Paul II
and the Vatican have agreed to change the schedule of his visit later this
month in Israel in order to avoid massive Sabbath desecration by Jewish
security personnel. It was agreed that the Pope would stay over in
Nazareth on Friday night, March 24, thus saving a Sabbath trip from
Jerusalem to Nazareth and the resultant need for hundreds of Jews to
accompany and protect him.

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Friday, March 3, 2000 / Adar Aleph 26, 5760

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Ruins Of Unrecorded Imperial Palace, Ancient Tombs Found
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 17:24:53 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------

Inside China Today

Ruins Of Unrecorded Imperial Palace, Ancient Tombs Found In China

BEIJING, Mar 3, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Chinese archeologists
have discovered the ruins of a 2,200-year-old imperial palace in
northwest Shaanxi Province never recorded in any historical document,
Xinhua said Thursday.

The 800,000 square meters (yards) site in Zhaojiawa Township,
Chengxian County was built during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.).

A number of earthen structures were found scattered around a main
building. Two palaces built of packed earth were buried underground on
the southern side of the ruins.

The hundreds of delicate tiles and other building materials collected
from the ruins all show beautiful designs, Xinhua quoted a witness as
saying.

Archeologists believe the site was a headquarters or a military center
during the warring states period (475-221 B.C.) and later became a
palace for the emperor's short stay while he was away from the
capital.

The archeologists also discovered the ruins of a temple frequently
visited by Liu Xun, the seventh emperor of the Western Han Dynasty
(206 B.C.-24 A.D.).

The temple, in the southeastern suburb of Xi'an, was used for holding
sacrificial rites by all emperors in the Han Dynasty, it said.

Xinhua also reported the discovery of 95 ancient tombs, some of them
dating back 1,700 years, in the southern town of Shenzhen on the
border with Hong KOng.

The tombs, dating from the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 A.D.) to the
Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), were unearthed by workers building a section
of freeway in the city's Bao'an District.

Also found were more than 150 cultural relics, and archeologists are
especially interested in two bricks inscribed with parts of the annals
of the early Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Archeologists said they were a rare find for Guangdong Province and
would provide help in researching the history of the region. ((c) 2000
Agence France Presse)

------- End of forwarded message -------

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sound Waves May Replace Needles
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 18:48:47 -0500

Friday March 03 05:01 AM EST

Sound Waves May Replace Needles

If you get squeamish at the sight of a needle used to draw blood, take heart:
Technicians have developed an alternative to blood tests that relies on high-
frequency sound waves.

A report in Nature Medicine says a vacuum extracts fluid painlessly through
the skin. The fluid isn't blood, but does have the same concentrations of
glucose and other substances experts use in blood tests. A device built by
scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology increases the
permeability of skin. The device disorganizes the "bricks" of dead cells and
"mortar" of fatty layers, leaving a pathway for molecules.

"Blood tests for any number of things could be replaced with this technique,"
says Robert Langer, the study's lead author. It may be particularly useful for
diabetics, who may need to draw blood as often as four times a day to test
glucose levels.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/3a/20000303/co/20000303003.html

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