BPR Mailing List Digest: 05/11/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
May 11, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | May, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Homosexual Group Threatens Parent with Legal Action
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:37:30 -0400

Homosexual Group Threatens Parent With Legal Action

BOSTON, MA (CNS -- The Boston chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight
Education Network has threatened to take legal action against a
Massachusetts parent if he publishes a tape he made at a homosexual
issues seminar in which state educators allegedly used graphic sexual
language to describe homosexual sex to minors.

Scott Whiteman, a parent and the executive director of the Parents
Rights Coalition in Waltham, Massachusetts, secretly taped a seminar on
"What They Didn't Tell You About Queer Sex and Sexuality in Health
Class," a workshop for youth ages 14 - 21 at Tufts University on March
25.

Whiteman told CNSNews.com that during the event, which was funded by the
state Department of Education, educators gave children as young as 14
explicit descriptions of homosexual acts, complete with demonstrations
and diagrams.

As proof of the graphic "Teach Out" event - which was run by the Boston
chapter of GLSEN - Whiteman, a law student, tape-recorded two sessions
and promised to distribute the recordings to parents around the country.

Whiteman also transcribed the tape and used extracts from it in a sworn
affidavit he sent to Massachusetts district attorney, Martha Coakley,
detailing what he witnessed and asking that the public servants in
question be investigated for their alleged corruption of children.
Whiteman has not received a reply from Coakley and calls to Coakley's
office by CNSNews.com were not returned.

After Whiteman played the tape at a news conference given by Americans
for Truth About Homosexuality at the National Press Club in Washington
on April 27, a representative from GLSEN handed Whiteman a letter
threatening legal action if he continued to distributed the tape.

"This letter is to appraise you of the fact that GLSEN intends to ensure
full enforcement of relevant Massachusetts law and strongly urges you to
desist from any further distribution of the unlawfully obtained
audiotape," the letter said.

Peter LaBarbera, director of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality,
told CNSNews.com that GLSEN should not seek to suppress the tape, but
should stand behind its work as an official consulting group at
taxpayer- funded schools and publish the tape itself.

"GLSEN should make everything it does public, including the contents of
this conference, unless they're afraid of what everybody's going to
learn. Right now they're just trying to do damage control," LaBarbera
said.

"It looks like GLSEN is more concerned with protecting its image than
protecting children," he added.

At the National Press Club press conference, LaBarbera said: "We have a
right to question the impact that homosexual and transsexual activism
are having on the next generation. When gay activists pose as protectors
of youth, parents have a duty to ask: what are they teaching the kids?
And can we trust gay and pro-gay adults - not to mention homosexual
activists - with our children?"

These are questions the media and education establishments seem
reluctant to ask because they're committed to portraying the issue of
homosexuality as one of "civil rights" and not behavior, LaBarbera said.

At the state Board of Education meetings on April 25, Whiteman presented
the board with "a lot of evidence" to support the claim that minors were
criminally corrupted "and they didn't even want to deal with it," Brian
Camenker, president of the Parents Rights Coalition of Massachusetts,
told CNSNews.com.

"It's not like anybody is claiming it didn't happen. They're so in tight
with the gay movement, they don't want to do anything," he added.

The state Department of Education told the press it will investigate its
employees' role in the event. The department denied reports it
co-sponsored the daylong event for teens. One department employee who
oversees the state's school HIV/AIDS programs and two consultants
volunteered their time to lead discussions on gay and lesbian issues,
allegedly including graphic talk about sex.

"We have an internal investigation going," deputy commissioner Alan
Safran told The Boston Globe. "[W]e want to look at the specifics of the
conference, with a concern about the graphic context. We want to assure
the public that these kinds of conversations do not happen in our
regular programs."

GLSEN said it was illegal for Whiteman to tape the event, but it did not
deny the authenticity of the content.

The conference workshops were open only to registered participants, a
GLSEN official said in a letter to Whiteman. Participation was
explicitly contingent upon agreeing to keep confidential any statements
made during the workshop, and anyone who didn't agree to keep all
communication confidential could voluntarily leave at the beginning of
the workshop.

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000509d.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Go Ahead Given To Build Creationist Museum
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:41:28 -0400

May 11, 2000 -- 8:39 am

Go Ahead Given To Build Creationist Museum

FLORENCE, KY (MCNS -- A creationist ministry has the green light to
build a museum that will feature the biblical account of creation and
dinosaurs. Earlier this month, a Boone County, Kentucky judge approved
rezoning of land in the city of Florence for a 95.000-square-foot, $8
million facility.

"What we really are about is biblical authority, telling people that the
Bible is God's word and the Book of Genesis is the true history of the
world," project founder Ken Ham told Associated Press.

Ham, a retired science teacher from Australia, envisions the world's
largest collection of dinosaur replicas and a walk-though history of the
world from the Garden of Eden to the tower of Babel. He already has 16
semi-trailer loads of exhibits obtained from a museum in Baltimore.

"A lot of people misrepresent what we stand for," Ham said. "We're not
anti- science. We believe in science. There's nothing an evolutionist
observes in this world that I would disagree with. We observe the fossil
record; we observe natural selection; we observe mutation. We agree on
all those things. The difference is the past."

Ham contends that most scientists incorrectly date fossils by millions
of years and asserts that records should inserted trace back Noah's Ark.
"I believe God created all the animals virtually instantaneously," Ham
adds.

AIG, with a staff of 55 and an annual budget of $5.5 million, is in the
process of purchasing 47 acres south of Cincinnati, Ohio in Northern
Kentucky where the museum will be built. AIG gets about two-third of its
funding from donations, and the rest from book sales, seminars and
magazine subscriptions.

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000510d.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Abortion Group Prompts Police Probe Of Pro-Life Group
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:43:44 -0400

May 11, 2000 -- 8:41 am

Abortion Group Prompts Police Probe Of Pro-Life Group

STAFFORD, VA (CHAR -- Abortion activists prompted a police investigation
of a pro-life Christian teen-age movement with a nationwide fax alert.
Rock For Life (RFL), a division of American Life League, received calls
from the Alabama and Maryland state police departments, who were
inquiring about forthcoming concerts after hearing from the National
Abortion Federation (NAF). NAF's fax to police departments across the
country detailed upcoming Christian youth events, including RFL's
concert schedule, and was preceded by articles about violence and the
FBI's most-wanted list. The move was "obviously intended to make the
police think that these events were violent in nature," said RFL founder
Bryan Kemper. The concerts were being staged to raise money for
crisis-pregnancy centers and other pro-life projects. "To compare the
efforts of these kids to anthrax threats or bombings is ludicrous. It is
absolutely shameful that the NAF would waste the police departments'
time and money with scare tactics like this." Alabama and Maryland
officers called RFL wanting to know if they needed to field extra
officers for local events. "After finding out the truth, the police were
actually more concerned with protecting [our] kids from the pro-abortion
side," Kemper said. "I can't believe an organization that cries 'choice'
and 'freedom' would try to hinder a kid who is willing to stand up for
something he or she believes in and raise money for a crisis-pregnancy
center."

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000510e.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Central Europe Session On Russia's Suspension
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:48:01 -0400

Foreign Minister Ivanov To Attend Central Europe Session On Russia's
Suspension

MOSCOW, May 10, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov travels to Strasbourg Wednesday for a tense session
that will see Council of Europe ministers deciding on Russia's suspension
from the European organization.

The council of ministers, currently headed by Irish Foreign Minister Brian
Cowen on a rotational leadership, will take two days to consider last month's
resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to
suspend Russia's membership because of alleged human rights abuses in
Chechnya.

PACE last month also suspended Moscow's voting rights in the pro-
democracy body, which have not yet been reinstated.

Diplomatic sources in Strasbourg had said they were skeptical about the
executive complying with the assembly's request to suspend the Russian
delegation. One source said the vote would require a unanimous decision by
the ministerial council, and that there were enough governments who were
unwilling to suspend Russia.

Aside from Chechnya, Ivanov plans to raise the question of the
"unsatisfactory situation with the Kosovo settlement" and "grave human
rights abuses in Latvia and Estonia" at the session, ITAR-TASS said, citing
a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry source.

Ivanov is scheduled to meet with several officials including the CE Secretary
General Walter Schwimmer and Romanian and Croatian foreign ministers,
the news agency reported.

On Thursday, Ireland will hand over its CE leadership to Italy. ((c) 2000
Agence France Presse)

http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=158062&text

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Global Terrorism Centers Shift
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:54:25 -0400

Global Terrorism Centers Shift

Dateline: 5/2/00

In its latest report on international terrorism released
yesterday, the U.S. Department of State says that for the
first time the locus of terrorism has shifted from the
Middle East to South Asia. Titled Patterns of Global
Terrorism -- 1999, it reserved a great deal of criticism
for Pakistan and Afghanistan, accusing both of providing
safe haven and support to global terrorist groups.

Following are some of the report's highlights:

• "Terrorists seek refuge in 'swamps' where government
control is weak or governments are sympathetic," reads the
report, continuing, "We seek to drain these swamps....Our
goal is to eliminate terrorist safe havens, dry up their
sources of revenue, break up their cells, disrupt their
movements, and criminalize their behavior."

• In addition to geographical shifts of terrorist centers,
another trend is from "well-organized, localized groups
supported by state sponsors to loosely organized,
international networks of terrorists." Increasingly these
networks and groups are turning to private sponsorship,
narcotrafficking, crime, and illegal trade to fund their
efforts.

• Religiously or ideologically motivated terrorism seems
to be unseating traditional politically motivated acts of
terrorism.

• Terrorists "find refuge and support in countries that
are sympathetic to their use of violence for political
gain, derive mutual benefit from harboring terrorists, or
simply are weakly governed." Since 1993, the same seven
nations have continued to occupy the Department's list of
states that sponsor terrorism. They are: Cuba, Iran, Iraq,
Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. This designation
allows the U.S. to automatically apply tough sanctions
against the countries in order to "isolate [them] from the
international community, which condemns and reflects the
use of terror as a legitimate political tool." If any of
the seven wish to get off the list, they must follow steps
delineated by the U.S. government to end their support for
terrorism.

• Among the "encouraging signs" cited by the Department
that some countries are addressing ways in which to
distance themselves from terrorism include North Korea's
"positive statements condemning terrorism in all of its
forms." In addition, Syria would be considered for removal
from the above list if a Middle East peace agreement were
ratified since it would "necessarily...address terrorist
issues." North Korea recently agreed to a summit meeting
with its foe South Korea.

• Many Middle Eastern governments have strengthened their
counterterrorist response, leading terrorists and their
organizations to seek refuge "in areas where they can
operate with impunity." Increasingly these areas can be
found in South Asia, most notably in Afghanistan. Primarily
controlled by an Islamic fundamentalist group called the
Taliban, Afghanistan, the Department says, "continues to
harbor Usama Bin Laden and a host of other terrorists
linked to Bin Ladin, who directly threaten the U.S. and
others in the international community."

• Traditionally an American ally, Pakistan was also
criticized for sending "mixed messages on terrorism" with
its support of violent groups that are trying to wrest
control of the Himalayan territory of Kashmir from India.
The Department stopped short of adding Pakistan and
Afghanistan to its list of states that sponsor terrorism,
though, to avoid the imposition of sanctions.

• In the Middle East, Iran and Syria continue to support
regional terrorist groups that seek to destroy the hotbed's
peace process. To this end, the Syrian Government harbors
terrorists, allows their free movement and provides
resources, thus maintaining "a crucial link in the
terrorist threat emanating from this region this past
year." The Lebanese government was also faulted for not
exercising control over many parts of its territory where
terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas operate, often
under Syrian protection.

• Secretary of State Madelaine Albright designated 28
Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or groups that are
"foreign, engage in terrorist activity, and threaten the
security of U.S. citizens or the national security of the
United States.

• Members and representatives of both states that sponsor
terrorism and Foreign Terrorist Organizations are
ineligible for U.S. visas and can be excluded from the U.S.
In addition, American financial institutions are required
to block the funds of these groups and of their agents. It
is also a criminal offense for Americans within U.S.
jurisdiction to knowingly provide support or resources to
these groups.

• While the number of international terrorist attacks
increased to 392 in 1999 from 274 the previous year, the
number of deaths and casualties from such attacks
experienced a sharp decline: 223 were killed and 706
wounded in 1999, compared to 741 killed and almost 6000
wounded in 1998. Last year, five Americans were killed in
terrorist attacks, says the report. Three were killed by
guerrillas in Colombia and two in Uganda by Hutu rebels
from Rwanda.

• "Terrorism will be with us for the foreseeable future.
Some terrorists will continue using the most popular form
of terrorism--the truck or car bomb--while others will seek
alternative means to deliver their deadly message,
including weapons of mass destruction or cyber attacks."

Link: Patterns of Global Terrorism--1999
http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/1999index.html

http://usnews.about.com/newsissues/usnews/library/weekly/aa050200a.htm

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tracking cell phones
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 08:57:51 -0400

[This is part of a thread on another list regarding GPS and cell phones.--
Moza]

I came across this in my local newspaper and figured it might be of some
interest. Earlier...I received an email regarding Motorola's patents and the
government using that information to track cell phones. It seems they have
expanded their power a bit:

"Manufacturers of cellular telephones, who will be required by the Federal
Communications Commission next year to make sure all cell phones are
capable of revealing their positions, will benefit from the increased accuracy
as well."
-Baltimore Sun (Monday, May 8, 2000)

The article mentioned accuracy is now around 48 to 60 feet of resolution due
to the decrypting of civilian GPS signals.

via: transhumantech@onelist.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Coronal mass ejection/Fatima
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 09:16:44 -0400

Space Weather News for May 11, 2000

Material from a coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on May 8 is
expected to pass by our planet late on May 11 or early May 12. Depending
on the characteristics of the magnetic field within the disturbance, it
could trigger minor geomagnetic storms on Earth. There is a slim chance of
aurorae at mid-latitudes, but auroral activity will more likely be concentrated
over high latitude regions including northern Europe, Canada and Alaska.

Visit http://www.spaceweather.com for more information and updates.
-----------------------------

[Another list sent info on this and also talked about the pope's upcoming visit
to Fatima, Portugal on Saturday, May 13, 2000. The children who saw the
apparition in Fatima were given "three secrets" with the first one mentioning
a reddening of the sky that was considered fulfilled when the aurora borealis
of January, 1938 lit up the sky. Other "Marys" over the years have expanded
on these three secrets with special emphasis on the last one that has yet to
be revealed by the Vatican. One of the phenomena to watch for, according to
these demonic entities, is another reddening of the sky that should be seen
by all on earth. Just something to watch.--Moza]

Pope to beatify Fatima shepherds

VATICAN CITY, May 10 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II will on Saturday beatify
two child shepherds, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, who are supposed to
have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal, on May 13, 1917.

The pope will beatify the pair on his third visit to the shrine since the
beginning of his pontificate in 1978. It will be his 92nd trip outside Italy, his
48th out of Europe and his 229th as pontiff.

The pope's visit will take place 83 years to the day after the virgin's apparition
and 19 years after he survived an assassination attempt on Saint Peter's
Square on May 13, 1981.

The pontiff has always said that the virgin of Fatima intervened on that day to
save his life by deflecting the bullets fired by the Turkish terrorist Ali Agca.

The beatification ceremony had first been programmed at the Vatican for
April 9 last as part of the millennium celebrations, but it was moved to
Fatima at the insistence of the Portuguese hierarchy, who did not not want
to disappoint the hundreds of thousands of believers expected at the shrine.

Beatification of the two children will constitute a precedent in the history of
the Roman Catholic church, with Francisco and Jacinta becoming the
youngest saints apart from those who died as martyrs. Aged nine and seven
when they had their first vision, they died soon afterwards -- Francisco in
1918, his sister Jacinta a year later -- of an influenza epidemic.

The story of Fatima began on May 13, 1917, when the virgin appeared to
three children, Lucia dos Santos, and Francisco and Jacinta, promising them
that she would reappear on every 13th of the month, in front of the Cova de
Iria (grotto of apparitions).

According to tradition, Mary bestowed three secrets on the children. Her last
apparition was recorded on October 13, 1917.

Francisco and Jacinta -- the third witness, Lucia, cannot be beatified
because she is still alive -- will be made blessed because the church has
recognised "the heroism of their Christian virtue."

They were imprisoned, threatened and pressurised to reveal the secrets, but
refused to do so.

In the early 40s, Lucia, who had become a nun, passed the secrets on to the
Vatican. The first two spoke of hell, wars and blamed Russia and atheism for
the conflicts of the world. The third secret was never divulged, but has been
much written about, with some authors saying it contained apocalyptic
prophecies, which has been denied by the Vatican.

The beatification process began in 1979, after hundreds of letters were
received from priests and cardinals from all over the world.

A decree recognising the authenticity of a miracle attributed to the two
children, obligatory for sainthood, was promulgated by the Vatican in June
1999.

The miracle in question concerned a Portuguese woman from Leiria, near
Fatima. Maria Emilia Santos, aged 69, was cured of paralysis after 22 years,
after she prayed to the two shepherds.

The pope is due to arrive in Lisbon on Friday in the late afternoon, and will
travel to Fatima in central Portugal where he will spend the night, after talks
with Portuguese Preesident Jorge Sampaio.

The pontiff will pray in the small chapel of apparitions, in the sanctuary of Our
Lady of the Rosary, before going to a residence for pilgrims, where he will
spend the night.

On Saturday at 0830 GMT, the pope will preside over the beatification
ceremony, after a private meeting with Sister Lucia dos Santos. Aged 92,
Lucia lives in a Carmelite convent in Coimbra, near Fatima.

The pontiff is due to return here on Saturday evening.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 09:28:51 -0400

*** Chinese bishop has Rome's approval

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Four months after China's state-controlled
Catholic church ordained five bishops in defiance of the Vatican, a
new bishop for China has been named with Rome's approval, the
Vatican's missionary news agency said Wednesday. The ordination
Sunday of Zhao Fengchang, 66, in Yanggu contrasted with the ceremony
organized in January without the approval of Pope John Paul II.
"Before the sacramental ordination began (Sunday), the approval of
the Holy See was announced in public," Rome-based Fides said. China
and the Vatican broke formal relations in 1951, when the Communists
kicked out missionaries and forced Catholics to sever ties with Rome.
China's officially sanctioned church does not recognize papal
authority. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566421879-ae5

*** 360-degree movie to debut on Net

LOS ANGELES (AP) - When you're riding in the front seat of a car and
someone in the back says something, you might turn around or glance
in the rearview mirror. But if you're watching a movie and a
character shouts something off-screen, unless the director turns the
camera on the speaker, all you'll get is the disembodied voice. Until
now. A four-minute film made exclusively for the Internet uses new
technology to offer a running, 360-degree look at the world, with
action in every direction, every second. There's no such thing as
"off screen" in "The New Arrival," where all the action is on screen
all the time. In the film's first scene, the camera is pointing out
the window of a moving car. Voices come from the back seat, and by
pointing and dragging the picture with the computer mouse, the
audience can see who is talking, or focus on the driver or any other
character for a reaction. The plot makes use of the technology by
planting visual clues throughout, many of which aren't seen unless
the film is viewed several times from different angles. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566418168-7bb 150

*** Some become human lie-detectors

(AP) - Some brain-injury victims who lose the ability to understand
speech develop a talent that could come in handy during an election
year: an uncanny ability to tell when someone is lying. Neurologists
realized decades ago that people who suffer a stroke or other trauma
to the speech-recognition region in the brain's left hemisphere seem
adept at spotting liars by reading facial expressions. In his 1985
best seller "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat," neurologist
Oliver Sacks recalls watching a ward full of such patients laughing
uproariously while watching a televised address by Ronald Reagan.
They were picking up on lies amid the Great Communicator's smiles,
Sacks writes. Now, scientists have experimental proof of Sacks'
observation. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566428348-b38

*** UK plans cyber spy center

LONDON (AP) - To civil libertarians, it smacks of Big Brother.com.
The British government plans to set up a multimillion-dollar spy
center capable of tracking every e-mail and Internet hit in the
country - a move it says will help fight cybercrime, but which civil
libertarians contend heralds the arrival of an Orwellian state. The
cyber-snooping base, which will bear the unassuming title of
Government Technical Assistance Center, reportedly will be housed
within the fortress-like London headquarters of the MI5 spy agency.
It will be established as part of the Regulation of Investigatory
Powers Bill, expected to become law this fall. "We regard it as an
outrageous piece of legislation," said Yaman Akdeniz, director of the
watchdog group Cyber-Rights and Cyber Liberties. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566415271-a3f

*** 3 giant new icebergs born

WASHINGTON (AP) - Three giant icebergs have broken off the Ronne Ice
Shelf in Antarctica and are adrift, the National Ice Center reported
Wednesday. Iceberg A-43 was detected by satellite May 5, having
broken free May 4. Iceberg A-44 broke loose May 6, at about the same
time as A-43 broke in half, forming A-43A and A-43B. The center said
A-43A measures 107 miles by 21 miles; A-43B is 53 miles by 23 miles
and A-44 is 41 miles by 20 miles. When an iceberg is first sighted,
the National Ice Center in Suitland, Md., documents its point of
origin and assigns a letter, dividing Antarctica into quadrants. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2566413815-cc9

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - A droid for all season
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 10:41:52 -0500

A droid for all seasons

http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0513/droid.html

No job is too unusual for a breed of robots that reinvent
themselves IMAGINE an automaton that can design itself,
assemble itself and even kill itself. No, it's not the
liquid metal robot from Terminator 2--but this droid can
certainly build itself to perform a particular task, melt
itself down and recycle itself, say researchers in
Massachusetts.

The scientists have developed what they call a polymorphic
robot--a machine that can change its shape to suit the job
in hand. Shape-shifting robots could be used as planetary
explorers, or for search-and-rescue missions, changing
their shape to meet each new challenge and adapting to
strange and unpredictable environments.

The researchers have produced a simple thermoplastic-
framed robot, says Hod Lipson, who developed it with Jordan
Pollack at Brandeis University, near Boston. "All the robot
has to do is find a way to move," he says. The prototype is
very basic and has no sensors, so it is unaware of the
world, though sensors could be added at a later design
stage.

The idea is that a task will be set for the robot, such
as: "Figure out how to move using only one leg and one
motor." A computer will then attempt to design a body that
will help it to meet this challenge most efficiently. At
present, the robot's body is built using the "rapid
prototyping" technology common in the car industry, which
can produce complex three-dimensional structures very
quickly. A device called a 3D printer uses a nozzle to
build up progressive layers of thermoplastic, slowly
creating the required structure

Although 3D printers are large and cumbersome, says
Lipson, much smaller ones could one day be built into a
robot, allowing it to change parts of its body, for
example, to reshape an arm to produce a new tool for a
novel situation. Mark Yim of the Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center (PARC) in California says this is one area in which
polymorphic robots could be most useful. There's no point
in taking an entire toolkit into space, he says, when you
don't know which tools you'll need: a single robot arm can
be shaped to do the job of all of them.

It is also conceivable, says Lipson, that the 3D printing
technology will allow several materials to be printed,
including conductive, nonconductive and even semiconductive
materials. "Wires, motors and logic circuits, as well as
structure, could be printed in one pass without the need
for assembly," Lipson predicts.

With each new task, the look of a polymorphic robot is
impossible to predict, because each design is "evolved"
using a genetic algorithm. The physical structure, and the
neural network that will be the brains of the proposed
robot, are treated like genetic information that can be
combined and mutated in simulation to produce entirely new
designs. The "fitness" of these offspring is then evaluated
and the best are "bred" to produce more offspring. This
process is repeated many times until the design has evolved
to do the best job.

To keep things simple, Lipson allowed the algorithm only
basic components with which to design the prototype robot:
straight plastic bars of varying lengths and electric
motors that can extend or shrink the length of a bar.
Joints are all ball-and-socket designs, as these are easily
created by a 3D printer. From these basic parameters a host
of complex--sometimes lifelike--structures have been
evolved.

Some versions push themselves along on one leg, while
others produce a hinge-like motion and crawl about like a
fish out of water. Yet another moves sideways like a crab.
"The robot is ready to move when it comes out of the
printer," says Lipson. Its motor, however, must be inserted
by a person. But the aim is to make the robots totally
independent, much like the vengeful shape-shifter in
Terminator 2.

When the robot has performed its task, it offers itself up
to be melted down, so its thermoplastic components can be
recycled into another useful droid by the 3D printer.

The idea of building and melting down robots is novel,
says Yim, who makes modular robots that reshape themselves
by fitting smaller robots together. "I've never seen
anything like it." But he warns that to make truly useful
robots, stronger plastics and more materials are needed.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (5/11/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 13:25:44 -0400

THE MAP THAT THE P.A. TURNED DOWN
Ma'ariv newspaper provides details today of the map that Israel
presented in the latest round of talks between the sides. The map was
rejected by the Palestinians. Ma'ariv reports that some 66% of Yesha
would be given over to Palestinian control by the end of the interim
period, and that another 14% of Yesha would be forfeited for the
permanent arrangement. The remaining 20% - Jewish settlement blocs and
a narrow strip of territory in the Jordan Valley - would be annexed by
Israel. Like the original Oslo plan, this "Barak Map" consists of three
areas: 20% "white," 14% "green," and 66% - a future Palestinian state -
"brown."

The "white" Israeli area takes three forms, according to Ma'ariv: the
settlement blocs; two east-west strips separating the three main cantons
of the Palestinian state; and another narrow "white" strip running along
the Jordan River. This strip will run west of and parallel to the 14%
"green" north- south strip in the Jordan Valley. The Barak Map's
"brown" area will constitute the sprawling Palestinian state over 66% of
Yesha, with its three cantons to be linked by a series of roads and
tunnels. Jericho will be connected to Ramallah, north of Jerusalem, by
a road running through what would be sovereign Israeli territory.
Several dozen Yesha communities will find themselves within the
Palestinian state.

Beit El Mayor and Yesha Council member Uri Ariel told Arutz-7 today that
the information he has jibes well with the Ma'ariv figures: "Foreign
reports also go into detail about plans to effectively divide Jerusalem
by handing over Abu Dis to the PA, with a corridor running to the Temple
Mount through sovereign Israeli territory, and the forfeiture of the
Temple Mount to the PA... We intend to protest this situation in a very
big way on Tuesday, in a demonstration at Zion Square in Jerusalem under
the motto, 'No more free withdrawals.'... Retreats in general just
increase the Arabs' appetite, and could well bring on more terror
attacks."

RABBIS TO MEET ON ABU DIS
An unusual meeting will be held in the home of Shas spiritual leader
Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef tomorrow. He will meet with former Chief Rabbis
Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu, who represent the
religious-Zionist public, as well as with two leading hareidi rabbis,
the Grand Rabbis of Boston and Erloy. All four of the guests are
strongly against the transfer of Abu Dis to the Palestinian Authority.
Rabbi Menachem Porush organized the meeting.

Housing Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (NRP) said that he is happy about
the meeting "of these Torah leaders and giants, and I hope that it will
bring blessing to the People of Israel." He said that the talk of a
Palestinian corridor to the Temple Mount "shows that we have given up on
any hope of regaining sovereignty over the Mount, since if we were
planning to, now would be the time to demand it, instead of talking
about a corridor for them..."

Over 1,500 people took part in a Zo Artzeinu march yesterday afternoon
from Abu Dis - situated some 1,000 meters directly south-east of the
Temple Mount - to the Temple Mount area. The marchers began in Abu Dis,
passed by Ras el-Amoud and Yad Avshalom as they descended to the Kidron
Valley, and then turned back up to the Temple Mount.

Prime Minister Barak hopes to garner the necessary Cabinet and Knesset
support for the transfer of full control to Abu Dis and two other
Jerusalem- area villages by next week. A mass demonstration is planned
by the Yesha Council and nationalist groups in Zion Square this coming
Monday night against the division of Jerusalem, the implementation of
further "purposeless withdrawals," and the uprooting of settlements in
Yesha.

The next round of Israeli-Palestinians talks will take place in Egypt -
probably in Cairo, but possibly in Sharm a-Sheikh or Taba. So reports
the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram today. The paper quotes a senior
Egyptian Foreign Ministry official, who says that for the talks to be
resumed, "they must first be rescued from their dead end… Israel must
agree to retreat to the June 4, '67 [pre-Six Day War] borders."

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Thursday, May 11, 2000 / Iyar 6, 5760

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 2 stories related to pesticides
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 16:04:34 -0500

------- Forwarded messages follow -------

via: <hblondel@tampabay.rr.com>

BBC News
11 May, 2000, 11:40 GMT 12:40 UK

Locusts warning in Kazakhstan

A top official in Kazakhstan has warned of the renewed threat of an
invasion of locusts.

Bakhtyly Asainova, who's the agricultural head of the key
grain-producing region of Pavlodar, told Reuters news agency that the
region had received only half the pesticides needed to treat land
infested with locust eggs.

She said nearly two million hectares of the worst affected land in
Pavlodar needed to be treated in order to save this year's harvest.

Swarms of locusts hit Kazakhstan last year, and the problem has been
steadily increasing since the collapse of the Soviet Union because of
a drop in spending on pesticides.

----

[Moderator: According to the person that passed this message along,
Malathion has been widely used for the last 40 years in home gardens and
farms, and in 1999 and 1998, was used in aerial spraying against medflies in
Florida.]

May 11 10:17 AM ET

EPA Finds Malathion a Suspected Carcinogen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists
have determined that malathion, a pesticide widely used to fight
mosquitos, may cause cancer, an EPA source said on Thursday.

The agency was expected to make an announcement later on Thursday
finding malathion a suspected carcinogen.

"The EPA scientists' risk assessment finds that malathion is a suspected
carcinogen. The risks are fairly small but acceptable compared to other
substances," the agency source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

New York City used malathion late last summer to spray neighborhoods and
kill mosquitos carrying the deadly West Nile Virus. The disease, which
can cause brain-swelling and diseases such as meningitis, was blamed for
seven U.S. deaths and 60 infections.

Last month, city officials said they would spray insecticides only as a
last resort this summer, and omitted malathion from the list of
potential chemicals to be used.

"We were told it was safe in emphatic language by state authorities, the
federal authorities," New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told reporters on
Wednesday. "Of course we wouldn't have used it if we had been told
anything different."

The EPA source said the announcement would be part of the agency's risk
assessment of malathion, and would not have any immediate impact on the
sale or distribution of malathion.

"This is not any kind of rulemaking or regulatory action. This is just
putting the science together," he added.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Yeast cells offer themselves on a plate to avert famine
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:50:02 -0400

Yeast cells offer themselves on a plate to avert famine

SINGLE-CELLED organisms are capable of altruism, says a German
microbiologist. He has found that individual yeast cells commit suicide
so that their starving neighbours can cannibalise their nutrients.

In multicellular animals, dangerously mutated or infected cells
frequently kill themselves for the greater good of the organism. When
these cells die, through programmed cell death or "apoptosis", they are
careful not to harm nearby cells. The suicidal cells reduce themselves
to neat packages of membrane-bound detritus containing chopped-up pieces
of DNA and other cell components. This ensures that neighbouring cells
aren't exposed to damaging enzymes.

In the case of single-celled organisms, however, there is no obvious
greater good to be served by suicide, says Kai-Uwe Fröhlich of the
University of Tübingen in Germany. Yet when researchers put mammalian
genes that activate apoptosis into brewer's yeast, Saccharomyces
cerevisiae, the yeast died, apparently through apoptosis. Yeast genes
seemed to be playing an active part in this, and the process could be
turned off by anti-apoptosis genes from mammals. "The basic mechanism
was there, without all the controls that have evolved in animals," says
Fröhlich.

Similar events have been seen in other single-celled organisms,
including the parasites Trypanosoma and Leishmania (New Scientist, 18
November 1995, p 22), the dinoflagellate Peridinium, the ciliate
Tetrahymena, and the slime mould Dictyostelium. "The idea of programmed
cell death in unicellular organisms is so new, and seems so
non-constructive, that people haven't really thought about why they do
it," says Martin Zörnig of the University of Frankfurt.

Fröhlich now thinks he has the answer. He argues that yeast cells commit
suicide for altruistic reasons, specifically to prevent others from
starving. "If a cell becomes damaged, it must kill itself quickly.
Otherwise it could take a long time to die, depriving its neighbours of
nutrients," he says. This is understandable because the yeast's
neighbours are likely to be its clones-- so it is, in effect, helping
them to promote its own genes.

And in work to be published shortly, Fröhlich believes he has found the
clincher: wild strains of yeast that commit mass suicide when nutrients
are in short supply. "In normal yeast environments, say on a grape,
nitrogen is often lacking," he says. "The yeast will benefit if many die
but some live, and eat the dead yeast." Apoptosis chops potentially
dangerous enzymes in dying yeast into usable nutrients, and because it
is under genetic control, can remain inactive in certain cells.
Depending on the strain of yeast, says Fröhlich, mass suicide can allow
between 1 in 10 or 2 in a million cells to survive a famine.

Such altruism may go even farther back in evolution, to bacteria, says
Zörnig. "The good thing about finding this in yeast is that we can study
it, and find drugs that control it," he says. Failure of normal
apoptosis in humans causes some tumours, while diseases such as
Alzheimer's and AIDS happen when apoptosis is unleashed in the wrong
cells.

Debora MacKenzie

From New Scientist magazine, 13 May 2000.

http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0513/yeast.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Cloth keyboard
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 18:52:25 -0400

Cloth keyboard

The next laptop you buy could be closer to your lap then you'd imagine. A
keyboard made out of a smart fabric could be sewn into your trousers or
skirt. To use it, you would just sit down and start tapping away on your lap.
Made by the British company Electrotextiles as a demonstrator for its
Elektex material, it consists of conductive fibres woven into nylon. The
keyboard will be washable, ironable and shockproof. For its next trick,
Electrotextiles is planning a necktie that functions as a mouse.

From New Scientist magazine, 13 May 2000.

http://www.newscientist.com/nl/0513/keyboard.html

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Onetime Fanatical Menace Now Savior to Many Lebanese
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 17:57:33 -0500

Onetime Fanatical Menace Now Savior to Many Lebanese

By JOHN DANISZEWSKI, Times Staff Writer

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20000511/t000044473.html

KFAR ROUMMANE, Lebanon--These are happy days for the
militant Islamic guerrilla movement Hezbollah, which has
spearheaded the fight against Israeli forces from places
like this picturesque village in southern Lebanon, with its
cedar-shaded streets and olive groves stretching invitingly
along the hillsides.

Two fortified military positions, one belonging to the
Israel Defense Forces and one to its militia proxy, the
South Lebanon Army, loom over the bucolic setting. But the
residents below, many of whose homes bear scars from the
fighting, say the enemy's proximity no longer seems quite
so forbidding.

"It is the Israelis who are afraid now," Amal Saieh
exults. The town's petite English teacher is planning to do
the traditional folk dance known as the dabke on that
historic day, coming soon, when the Israelis finally
withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years.

Ask Saieh whom she credits for the withdrawal, and the
answer comes quickly: "Hezbollah. Here the people love
Hezbollah because they are the ones doing the fighting, and
they help us in so many ways."

It has been a strange transformation for an Iranian-backed
group with about 2,000 fighters and perhaps 10 times that
number of party members.

In the eyes of many Lebanese, Hezbollah has gone from
being a foreign, fanatical menace that blackened the
country's image with its bombings, assassinations and
kidnappings to a mainstream, indigenous, political-
humanitarian organization, one whose steadfastness has
restored wounded Lebanese and Arab national pride.

Not only has Hezbollah gained what it regards as a
military victory in its war of attrition against Israel,
but Hezbollah claims to be riding high in the polls and set
to expand its presence in the Lebanese parliament in a few
months.

Even its media are doing well. Hezbollah's television
station, Al Manar (The Lighthouse), is rapidly becoming one
of the most watched in Lebanon and is preparing for
worldwide telecasts via satellite from new $15-million
marbled headquarters tucked into the slums of south Beirut.
The group also has two radio stations.

Sheik Naim Kassem, co-founder of Hezbollah and its deputy
secretary-general, doesn't rule out the idea that the
group, whose name means Party of God, might one day be the
most powerful in the country. "Isn't that what any party
would want?" he asked during an interview.

-- more --

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

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