BPR Mailing List Digest: 09/22/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
September 22, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | September, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sept 22, 2000 TV Programs
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 08:34:29 -0400

8:00 PM Eastern

A&E - BIOGRAPHY - "Pol Pot: Secret Killer" -
Interviews and film clips profile Pol Pot, infamous leader of
the Khmer Rouge.(CC)(TVG)

DISC - ON THE INSIDE - "The U.S. Mint" - Money
production.(CC)(TVG)

PAX - Secrets of the Bible Codes Revealed

9:00

DISC - DISCOVERY NEWS - (CC)

HIST - THIS WEEK IN HISTORY - The Warren Commission
   report; integration of Central High School, Little Rock,
   Ark.; Shroud of Turin dated; ice cream cone
   controversy.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - ATLANTIS: THE LOST CONTINENT - Computer graphics and
digital video explore the lifestyle and environment of the
lost island.(CC)(TVG)

10:00

DISC - STORM WARNING! - "Jetstream Turbulence" - Variance in
the jet stream.(CC)(TVG)

TLC - LOST SHIPS: WHITE GOLD - A smuggler is caught trying
to leave Vietnam with ancient artifacts.(CC)(TVG)

10:30

PBS - FOTO-NOVELAS - "Seeing Through Walls" - Prisoners
receive surgical implants in 2005.(CC)(TVPG)

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel presses for UN role on Temple Mount
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 08:40:27 -0400

Friday, September 22, 2000

Israel presses for UN role on Temple Mount

By Aluf Benn
Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent

Israel is pushing an initiative to hand sovereignty on the Temple Mount to
permanent members of the UN Security Council, in the latest effort to break
through to a final status agreement with the Palestinians.

Among those involved are the governments of the United States and Egypt,
who proposed the idea, French President Jacques Chirac, and UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak asked the French President to participate in this
effort because of the important position of France, both as current president
of the European Union and a permanent member of the Security Council.
Another unspoken reason for the French role is that, unlike the United
States, Paris would not be "suspected" of favoring Israel.

During a long telephone conversation with the French President several days
ago, Barak explained that the Temple Mount issue was blocking the
achievement of a final status agreement with the Palestinians. He also
emphasized that the problem involved the unwillingness of the Palestinians
and the Muslim world to recognize the special claim the Jewish people
historically have on the Temple Mount.

Barak said even the Western Wall is considered holy for Islam, and Muslims
are unwilling to recognize the rights of Jews and Israel to the site, and will
merely concede their right to pray there.

As a result, Barak said, Israel rejects out of hand the claim of Palestinian
chairman Yasser Arafat for Palestinian or Muslim sovereignty over the
Temple Mount. The prime minister told Chirac that in any future arrangement
the status quo over the holy sites would be preserved, and the Temple Mount
would remain in the hands of the Jerusalem waqf.

Israel now believes bringing the Temple Mount under the aegis of the
international community could be the best way to safeguard the rights and
interests of both faiths, while retaining the status quo on the ground.

The French president expressed his willingness to help and said the French
government coordinates its positions on the peace process with Washington.

Chirac and Israel's acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben- Ami met on
Tuesday for what appeared to be talks focused on the idea of international
sovereignty over the Temple Mount. The next day Chirac spoke with
Chairman Yasser Arafat and Annan on the telephone.

The idea of international sovereignty over the Temple Mount was first raised
by U.S. President Bill Clinton during the latter part of the Camp David
Summit in July as one of several possible options to solve the question of
Jerusalem. Egypt later presented an updated version of the idea, placing
control in the hands of the Security Council's five permanent members.

Responding to the reports, the Prime Minister's Office said "this is all
speculation. Barak is not willing to discuss the proposal until Arafat agrees
to discuss it."

In Israel and the Palestinian Authority officials are waiting to see what
President Clinton's next steps in the peace process might be, and it is still
not clear if the U.S. will present the sides with a bridging document.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=09/22/00&
id=94446

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Sydney Prostitutes Offer Own Version of Olympics
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 08:43:12 -0400

Thursday September 21 4:24 PM ET
Sydney Prostitutes Offer Own Version of
Olympics

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Sydney prostitutes are offering customers ``Sprints!
Relays! and Marathons!'' in an advertising drive to cash in on the Olympic
Games (news - web sites).

One brothel in the Lidcombe area near the Olympic complex insists in an
advert in the Daily Telegraph tabloid
that it has ''gold medal specialists'' to entertain clients.

Another near the Olympic Homebush Bay venues says: ``Go for gold! -- We
always go the distance.''

Several others simply boast of ``gold medal services.''

Brothels are legal in Sydney and the rest of the state of New South Wales.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000921/od/prostitutes_dc_1.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel Fights Modern-Day Plague of Virus
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 08:48:17 -0400

Thursday September 21 9:08 AM ET
Israel Fights Modern-Day Plague of Virus

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An Israeli rabbi is seeking Divine intervention to
smite a modern-day plague -- the West Nile virus (news - web sites) that has
already killed 13 Israelis.

Rabbi David Batzri, a spiritual leader in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox
community, said he would lead a midnight ''anti-mosquito'' prayer at the
mountaintop grave of a Jewish saint, the Maariv newspaper reported
Thursday.

Batzri also asked synagogue-goers to recite a prayer which Jewish tradition
says dates back to Moses and
wards off the Angel of Death in times of plague, the paper said.

Meanwhile, worried Israelis jammed municipal switchboards on Thursday
with requests for mosquito-spraying
as officials tried to calm concern over what the Health Ministry described as
an epidemic.

The ministry tried to prevent panic by assuring the public the mosquito-
borne virus had not suddenly claimed
large numbers of victims. Thirteen people, all of them aged over 54, have
died of the virus since the start of the
epidemic in early August.

``Remember that the West Nile virus has always been in Israel. Remember
that we didn't suddenly get 180 sick
people in the last week,'' Health Ministry Director Shuki Shemer told Israeli
radio.

``Over two months, the number of diagnosed sick people has accumulated
and has by now reached 180,''
Shemer said.

But a spokesman for Israel's umbrella council of local governments said
calls for exterminators were coming in
fast and furious.

``For the Y2K bug we got 550 calls (for assistance) in three or four days.
Now we're getting more than a
thousand a day -- you make the comparison,'' the spokesman, Hilik
Goldstein, told Reuters.

He said some of the callers had telephoned simply to report they had seen
a mosquito near their home.

``We respond to almost every call since we have a lot of teams and saw this
coming. There are still more
mosquitoes than extermination teams, but it is under control,'' he said.

The virus can cause brain disease like encephalitis and meningitis and lead
to paralysis and death. It killed seven
people in the United States last year.

Blood-sucking mosquitoes spread the virus from infected birds to people.
The start of the epidemic in early
August coincided with the migration of thousands of birds over Israel on their
way from western Asia and
Europe to Africa for the winter.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000921/od/epidemic_dc_1.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Million Family March features music artists
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 09:04:50 -0400

*** Million Family March features music artists

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Mary J. Blige and Macy Gray are among those
confirmed to perform at the Million Family March in Washington, D.C.
Organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, the event will
take place Oct. 16, on the fifth anniversary of the Million Man
March. Other performers will include Kelly Price, Reverend Run of
Run-DMC and Erykah Badu. Russell Simmons, founder of 360HipHop.com,
is leading an effort to bring the hip-hop community to the rally. "I
believe this march will have a dramatic effect on race relations,"
Simmons said. "It's a march about the human family, rising above
color and religion, symbols and creed." Simmons and his wife, Kimora
Lee, are heading a committee to encourage entertainment industry
support of the event. Also serving on the committee are Will Smith
and Jada Pinkett-Smith, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, Vanessa L.
Williams and her husband Rick Fox (Los Angeles Lakers), Sean "Puffy"
Combs, Queen Latifah, University Music Entertainment CEO/President
Haqq Islam, and actor/comedian Chris Tucker.

In addition, Simmons announced a list of entertainers - including
DMX, Isaac Hayes, Joe, Eve, Dead Prez, Jay Z, D'Angelo, Snoop Dog,
Badu, Gray and Blige - who will create public service announcements
"to further promote the spirit of the march and encourage
attendance." The Million Family March will kick off a national voter
registration effort and candidate and issue education agenda.

Infobeat News

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (9/22/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 09:21:59 -0400

LIFE-SIZE ANTI-SEMITISM IN CLEVELAND

A large anti-Semitic mural, painted on a building in Cleveland, Ohio, has
raised the ire of local Jews. The mural quotes a "prophecy of [18th century
American statesman] Benjamin Franklin" with the words, "Jews Appreciate
Nothing and Expect Everything." The pictures amidst the words show a
series of Jews "squeezing" the world for dollars. Atop the pictures appears a
phone number for contributions, and the words "In Loving Memory of Pvt.
Esmiel M. Ayad." The local Jewish Defense League chapter (jdl@jdl.org),
which reported on the pictures, stated that the building is owned by
Cleveland Arab businessman Abe Ayad. The mural also depicts a Jewish
Holocaust survivor walking around with a back-pack of dollars.

"This is more than an outrage," writes the JDL, "and this abomination cannot
be allowed to remain in public view. The message sent by this
public painting transcends any principle or spirit of freedom of speech."

ELON'S PETITION TO BE HEARD ON MONDAY

The Supreme Court has agreed that MK Benny Elon's petition last night
against Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg must be "rushed," and will hear the
case as soon as this Monday. The Knesset convenes for a special mid-
recess session the next day.

Elon has proposed legislation that would stop a minority government from
signing or even initialing agreements on issues such as the country's
borders. He demands that Burg not be allowed to use his position to prevent
the Knesset from debating the bill, which has received preliminary support
from 61 Knesset Members. MK Elon, head of the National Union-Yisrael
Beiteinu Knesset faction, told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson that 9 of the 12
members of the Knesset presidium also support his bill. "This number
includes MK Maxim Levy (Gesher-One Israel|), who was unable to sign
because he is abroad - but he told me he supports it," said Elon.

Elon said, "I am not asking the Court to rule on the merits of my proposal,
but merely on the fact that Burg is acting in defiance of the majority will in
not allowing the bill to be brought for debate." Elon added that although its
final passage into law will probably have to wait until early November, when
the Knesset returns from its recess, it is possible that a special vote will be
held on it beforehand.

U.S. AND BARAK: SOVEREIGNTY ON MOUNT TO THE "SECURITY
COUNCIL"

The latest plan for the Temple Mount in Jerusalem: Sovereignty will be
granted to the five permanent members of the United Nations Security
Council - the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France, and China. The
Prime Minister's Office has not responded directly to reports that Barak is
attempting to garner international support for the above proposal. Barak's
aides say only that their boss is not willing to discuss the idea until Arafat
agrees to discuss it. Arafat is against the plan, even though it calls for
continued Waqf control over the Mount.

In a speech last night to tank corps soldiers at Latrun, Prime Minister Barak
repeated that which he said immediately after the Camp David summit: "In
any agreement with the Palestinians, we will make sure to stand firm for
three principles: the security of Israel, the unity of Israel, and that which is
sacred to Israel."

At least two internet petitions are being circulated for supporters of a united
and Israeli Jerusalem to make their opinions known. The two can be read
and signed at "http://pages.about.com/ourjerusalem/index.html" and
"http://www.onejerusalem.org."

HERZLIYAH MAYOR DEFIES RUBENSTEIN, SHABBAT

Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein stated last night that opening a
shopping mall in downtown Herzliyah on the Sabbath is against both national
and local laws. Herzliyah Mayor Yael German said that she will act to
change the local zoning law in time to open the mall for this coming Rosh
HaShanah holiday - eight days from now. She did not explain how opening
the mall would jibe with the national Work Hours and Rest Law. Justice
Minister Yossi Beilin called on German to adhere to Rubenstein's guidelines
on the matter.

WAQF BUILDS ON MOUNT

Despite reports that Israeli authorities were holding up the delivery of
construction materials to the Temple Mount, the illegal Waqf construction
there continues. The materials are being brought in through Tribes Gate,
next to Lions Gate, from where they are taken by tractor to the Temple
Mount area. Rabbi Chaim Richman, of Jerusalem's Temple Institute, told
Arutz-7 yesterday that at present, the Moslems are only paving the top level.
He added, however, that "whether they are working on the top level or
building a mosque underneath the surface, their intentions are the same: to
totally wipe out any trace of Jewish identity and history on the Temple
Mount."

TRAFFIC-FREE TEL AVIV

Tel Aviv is joining a world-wide anti-traffic day. Until 3 PM today, cars will not
be allowed to enter the center of the city, and only taxis, buses, and
bicycles are allowed to travel the streets. Out-of-town drivers were forced to
leave their cars at parking centers, and were provided with free public
transportation.

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 / Elul 22, 5760

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - In case of disabled pope, church needs new canon law, expert says
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 09:24:20 -0400

September 21, 2000

In case of disabled pope, church needs new canon law, expert says

NEW YORK (AP) -- Roman Catholicism needs the equivalent of the 25th
amendment to the U.S. Constitution, specifying what to do if the pope is ever
incapable of governing, an expert in church law said.

The lack of rules is ``a rather serious vacuum'' in church law, according to the
Rev. James H. Provost of Catholic University, who wrote an article for the
current America magazine shortly before his death Aug. 26.

By definition, a pope suffering a severe stroke or mental illness cannot
simply step down, because canon law specifies a person must be of sound
mind to resign a church office.

Some think the Holy Spirit wouldn't allow such a crisis, Provost wrote, but
the mental illness of Pope Urban VI (1378-89) forced cardinals to elect a
second pope, causing the disastrous Western Schism. He said new law is
needed ``to avoid cries of foul play or even another schism.''

A bishop designates an aide who takes over if he is impeded. With a pope,
Provost suggested, this might be his vicar who runs the Rome diocese or the
chamberlain the pope chooses to administer the Vatican after he dies.

Who decides when a pope must be sidelined? Provost thought the
chamberlain is the logical person.

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 47 NATIONS PARTICIPATE IN BABYLON FESTIVAL IN IRAQ Sept. 21, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 09:10:56 -0500

47 NATIONS PARTICIPATE IN BABYLON FESTIVAL IN IRAQ
Sept. 21, 2000

Agence France Press reported: "More than 47 countries will take part in the
10-day Babylon cultural festival which opens on September 22 in
sanctions-hit Iraq, Information Minister Human Abdel Khaleq said Wednesday.
'Several artistic groups representing more than 47 friendly countries will
take part in the Babylon festival,' the official INA news agency quoted
Khaleq as saying. Their participation in the festival bore 'witness to the
solidarity of several countries with Iraq in its struggle to get the embargo
lifted and put a stop to the plots by the US and British administrations,
supported by the Saudi and Kuwaiti regimes,' he said. According to the
festival organizers, the Arab countries participating include Algeria,
Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. The
annual festival in the historic city of Babylon, some 90 kilometresmiles)
south of the Iraqi capital, was launched in 1987. Last year, 38 countries
took part..."

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Turning Down the Heat
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 12:40:39 -0400

Turning Down the Heat
September 21, 2000 07:18 CDT

Despite a growing awareness of global warming, and more and more people
participating in programs to control it, there is already too much CO2
in the air and things are going to keep getting hotter.

In order to combat the current warming, researchers have some startling
new ideas. If you can't plug the flow of carbon into the atmosphere,
they argue, then cool the planet by blocking some of the light from the
Sun.

Over the past few years, they've come up with a host of bright ideas for
how to install a dimmer switch on daylight. Such as putting a giant
mirror in space. Or letting loose a layer of dust, a giant metal mesh or
trillions of tiny silver balloons into the atmosphere. Anything to give
us a global thermostat, to pull down the temperature when things get too
hot.

Other scientists find this prospect disconcerting. Ken Caldeira, a
climate researcher from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
California, is terrified by the whole idea. So he set out two years ago
armed with a global model to try to prove that it wouldn't work.

To his dismay, everything he thought would go wrong when he ran his
model went right. His work did more to support planetary geo-engineering
than to shoot it down. Yet, like many other researchers, he's still
disenchanted with the whole idea. And they have plenty of reasons to be
concerned.

The idea of geo-engineering the planet by regulating our daily dose of
sunlight has been around for a while. Ways to deflect sunlight range
from the bizarre-- like setting a styrofoam continent adrift in the
Pacific--to the mundane, such as painting all our roofs white. And in
1993, Russia successfully diverted a few of the Sun's rays with an
orbiting mirror.

The appeal of such schemes lies in their potential to bail us out of a
future environmental crisis. If our climate starts to run out of
control, some argue, incremental reductions in greenhouse gas emissions
won't be nearly enough. Instead we'll need something that has an
immediate dramatic impact. And geo-engineering could supply just that.

Scientists predict that in fifty years' time the amount of CO2 in the
Earth's atmosphere is expected to reach twice the pre-industrial value.
The expected warming from that doubling is predicted to be something
like 2.5�C. To counter that, a reflective shield would only need to
block about 1.8 per cent of the Sun's light. The further you get from
the planet, the smaller and more efficient that shield can be, but the
harder it is to put it there.

The most ambitious option, first proposed by James Early in a Lawrence
Livermore National Lab report in 1989, is a 2000-kilometre-wide solar
shield in orbit about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The satellite
would sit in a sweet spot known as the Lagrange point--a place where the
gravitational pulls from the Earth and the Sun, and the centripetal
force of the satellite's orbit, all cancel each other out. Best of all,
the angle of the shield could be tweaked, making for an adjustable
thermostat.

More recently, some of Caldeira's colleagues at Livermore updated the
details to see how we could actually go about diverting the sunlight.
Edward Teller, the founder of the Livermore labs, worked with Lowell
Wood and Roderick Hyde to recalculate the details of releasing particles
into a near- Earth orbit, with modern engineering in mind.

Surprisingly, they found it could cost a mere billion dollars a year, a
hundred times cheaper they say, than the costs associated with
drastically reducing our use of fossil fuels. There are materials, they
claim, that could be used with minimal effect on the environment, but
maximum reflection of the Sun.

These include small metal plates, organic dyes, tiny helium-filled
silver balloons or even potassium-filled buckyballs. And, they add, the
scheme has the added benefit of not requiring the kind of ongoing
political or social effort that a massive reduction in fossil fuels
might entail.

"Teller and Wood are technical optimists, and pessimists about human
behavior," says Caldeira, who saw Wood present their work in 1998, and
was disturbed by the re-emergence of these Sun-blocking proposals. "My
hope was to show that it wouldn't work," he says, "so people would give
up on it."

But aside from the science, there are other issues to consider. Caldeira
and others point out that all the proposed solutions are costly and
difficult to implement. Putting 50,000 little mirrors in near-Earth
orbit would cost about $120 billion a year to launch and maintain,
according to the NAS. Once they're up there, you'd be hard pressed to
get them down. And the challenge of preventing them from colliding with
each other as they whiz around would be considerable.

As for particulate matter in the atmosphere, this is at least relatively
cheap at less than a billion dollars per year. And since the stuff would
fall back to Earth in a few months to 10 years, the act is not
permanent. But it would be difficult to prevent the particles from
reacting chemically, destroying ozone in particular, and could have the
unsettling effect of turning the sky white.

The least disruptive option is the solar shield in orbit at the Lagrange
point. That's so far away no one would really notice it. But this option
involves an astronomical up front cost-anything from $1 to $10
trillion-and would probably entail putting a manufacturing plant for its
construction on the Moon.

But there's a more fundamental problem with this whole approach, says
Caldeira. "The big concern with the satellites, aside from the
ridiculous cost, is catastrophic failure. What happens if this thing is
out there and the mechanism fails?" Then we're left with a
carbon-overloaded atmosphere and no way to counteract the heating.

For some, geo-engineering looks like the fix that will save us from
destroying our own planet. For others it's just another way to dig a
deeper grave. To the most pessimistic, geo-engineering is a runaway
technology that we won't be able to control, with devastating side
effects and catastrophic consequences if it fails. But in the end,
there's more than one thing to be scared of. "In a sense we're already
doing as big a change to the atmosphere by adding carbon dioxide in the
first place," says Caldeira. "That's kind of frightening too."

Source: New Scientist

http://www.cosmiverse.com/space092101.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Life-mending or mind-bending?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 12:22:07 -0500

Published on Thursday, September 21, 2000

Life-mending or mind-bending?

SHERRY LEE

One breezy sunday night, Ah Fai walked out of Mody Road's Chinachem Golden
Plaza building without a care in the world. The 36-year-old lorry driver had
just finished a five-day, personal-growth training course. He felt empowered
and full of hope.

He was emerging from a Life Dynamics seminar, which aims to teach
self-awareness, responsibility and communication skills. Life Dynamics
seminars, which combine lectures, exercises and discussions, are said to be
able to transform ordinary lives into success stories.

But for Ah Fai, the effect was shattering. His nascent confidence of that
Sunday evening soon crumpled and turned to confusion (see next page for his
diary). By Wednesday, he had decided to end his life. ''The trainer said I
could be whoever I wanted to be. But I couldn't sleep, my brain spun very
fast with all my ideas. Sometimes I thought I would have a lot of
girlfriends . . . sometimes I thought I could replace my boss . . .
sometimes I wanted to be [tycoon] Li Ka-shing,'' he says. ''I was very
tired, but I couldn't rest. As I closed my eyes, the thoughts spun in my
brain again, it was very painful. I thought, 'If I die, I don't need to
think, and I won't be in pain anymore'.'' Far from feeling empowered, he
felt his life was a failure.

At least three companies now offer Life Dynamics seminars in the SAR, of
which ARC International is by far the largest. Ah Fai, who was not sent on
the course by his company, is one of more than 20,000 Hong Kong people in
the past nine years who have attended ARC's $5,950 basic seminar of three
evenings and two full days. An advanced five-day seminar is available at
$9,950.

Persuaded by a friend who had attended the course, he went to a briefing in
ARC's spacious offices in early May. There he heard Life Dynamics success
stories from enthusiastic trainers and dozens of volunteers, many of whom
were graduates of the programme. Insurance brokers sold more policies,
secretaries were promoted to managers, quarrelling couples made up and
single men found girlfriends, he was told. ''I really wanted to get a
girlfriend, so I thought this was right for me,'' says Ah Fai, who split up
from his last girlfriend seven years ago. Finding love and wealth seemed
great ideals, and if the course could help him, he thought, it would be
worth it.

Instead, the day after he finished the course, he couldn't go to work.
Rather than feeling invigorated and inspired, he was numb and listless. ''I
felt that I was being controlled, I felt like a dead person,'' he says.

The next day he went back to work, but deliberately failed to make his lorry
deliveries and drove around aimlessly. At the end of the day, Ah Fai told
his boss that he had been unable to control himself.

The next morning, he decided to commit suicide, and went as far as leaning
out over the 23rd-floor roof of his block. ''Just when I wanted to jump,
another thought came to my mind: I thought maybe I could find a doctor to
help me,'' he recalls. His family took him to the Hong Kong Baptist
Hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from psychosis - a disorder
which distorts sufferers' grip on reality and can cause delusions.

His private psychiatrist, Dr Chan Cho-mao, says Ah Fai had no history of
mental illness before he took the course. ''After he took the course, he
heard voices telling him, 'You are useless, you had better die','' says
Chan.

ARC International's president, Mitch Feig-enberg, defends the Life Dynamics
course. ''While our seminars can be intense, the experience is no more so
than many life events such as marriage, divorce, work or school in which
people can feel stress,'' he says. ''Can you say the course made people
crazy, have a nervous breakdown, or stressful? Not exactly. I don't think
the course can cause people to have mental problems.''

Thousands of people have done Life Dynamics in Hong Kong, with no apparent
adverse effects. Many clients are satisfied and claim great benefits. One of
these is Danny Mak, 43, the owner of an engineering company. He says that
after he went through Life Dynamics in June, he could communicate better
with his employees, motivating them to be more active and hard-working.
Another, Lao Sai-tak, 25, attended Life Dynamics a year ago, and says she
became more positive and earned promotion from administration clerk to
senior manager.

Ah Fai is not alone in his experience, however. Psychiatrists and social
groups have seen a small but significant number of people needing
counselling and psychiatric treatment after attending Life Dynamics
seminars. These patients suffer disorders ranging from depression, anxiety
and sleep problems to more serious psychiatric problems such as neurosis and
psychosis, says Chan.

Since 1996, Yang Memorial Methodist Social Service alone has seen 10 such
patients � most of them with no prior history of mental illness, the group
says. This year, it has already received three cases, including one who
attempted suicide. Susan So Suk-yin, the family service division supervisor,
worries that these cases are only the tip of the iceberg: many people refuse
to admit to having mental problems because of the social stigma it would
entail, so they would not seek help, and it becomes impossible to draw a
true picture of the number of people affected, she says.

Every year, Kowloon Hospital psychiatrist Dr Chan Sai-yin and colleagues he
knows at other hospitals each receive one or two patients who have been to
Life Dynamics. Most suffer from psychosis.

''They lose contact with reality, as shown by delusions and disorganised
behaviour,'' says Chan. ''They would suddenly refuse to go to work and to
eat, [they] lock themselves in their room, go out on the streets at
midnight. They did not respond to questions.''

Feigenberg says ARC's Life Dynamics courses do not have a psychologist on
hand to give help in an emergency, but he stresses that such situations are
rare. ''If, during the course, we notice that people need assistance that we
can't provide, we refer them to qualified professionals,'' he says.

American Robert White founded ARC International in Japan 25 years ago, and
Life Dynamics reached Hong Kong in 1991. From its headquarters in Japan, ARC
runs seminars in eight cities, including Sydney, Las Vegas, Taipei and
Guangzhou.

In Hong Kong, Life Dynamics has recently enjoyed a resurgence. Formerly
viewed as an offbeat activity for expats and middle-class locals, it has
become a magnet for market hawkers, housewives, clerks, hairdressers,
construction workers, chefs and high school students who borrow money from
banks, friends and relatives to pay for the course. Some say its new-found
popularity is a symptom of Hong Kong's stressful lifestyle. Nowadays it
seems people are as likely to attend a course as take their problems to a
counsellor.

Consumers are nonetheless in the dark when they sign up. They join Life
Dynamics courses without knowing the specific content of the seminars, which
the company keeps a closely-guarded secret to preserve the ''spontaneity''
of activities, Feigenburg says. Participants are required to agree not to
reveal what goes on.

It is apparent, however, that the basic seminar has a session on the second
day where students are asked to ''discover'' themselves by recalling
unhappiness in their past, a technique which psychiatrists agree can be a
trigger point for psychological problems.

...more...

http://www.scmp.com/News/Features/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleID-20000920234
458759.asp

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Atlantis The Lost City-Found!
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 12:56:26 -0500

Atlantis The Lost City-Found!

http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?id=2206

From Cerbranetics Institute
Thursday, September 21, 2000

HONOLULU - Florida has a very rich history!
Atlantis is a legendary city that many people believe sank into the Atlantic
Ocean thousands of years ago. Researches at the Cerbranetics Institute have
found the exact location of Atlantis and put enough information on the World
Wide Web to guide you to the lost city. According Dennis Brooks, the lead
scientist, Plato was quite accurate in describing the landmass next to
Atlantis. In his writing, "Timaeus and Critias"(which is available on the
web-site), substitute "Florida" for the word "Plain" and substitute the
following words wherever you think they will fit: Appalachians and
Everglades. You will be amazed at how well he described Florida's coastline.
According to Plato, "Atlantis" was near Miami. He describes peninsula in
detail. The road to the temple of Poseidon is still visible to divers and
can be seen on the bottom of the ocean. Divers have also found columns on
the ocean floor that were explained away as concrete from barrels of cement.
All of the islands in the region were part of Atlantis' empire. North
America was the continent of Atlantis. The city sank! The continent didn't.

Find the full explanation at: http://www.atlantis-lostcity.com or
http://www.cerbranetics.com

ENGAGING THE MIND IN ACTIVITIES THAT STIMULATE LEARNING
Cerbranetics Institute 1114 Wilder Ave., Honolulu, HI 96822
21 September 2000
Contact: Dennis Brooks: (808) 566--0654
E-mail: read@cerbranetics.com, Web-site: http://www.atlantis-lostcity.com
###

For more information, contact:
Dennis Brooks
Director
Cerbranetics Institute
808 5660654
read@cerbranetics.com
Web site: http://www.cerbranetics.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (9/22/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 18:17:27 -0400

*** Rabbis put religious talks in peril

VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican was forced to cancel an Oct. 3
symposium on dialogue between Christians and Jews because two rabbis
dropped out to protest a recent Vatican document asserting the
primacy of the Roman Catholic faith. The symposium was a Holy Year
event and was to include speeches by three cardinals and two Italian
rabbis: Elio Toaff, chief rabbi of Rome, and Abramo Piattelli. Elan
Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, expressed
support for the stand taken by the Italian Jewish leaders. Steinberg
also said he was concerned by what he called other "troublesome"
signals coming from the Vatican, including the recent beatification
of Pope Pius IX, a 19th century Italian pope considered anti-Semitic
by some Jews. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570035779-07e

*** Tight security for Jewish settlers

NETZARIM, Gaza Strip (AP) - In this isolated Jewish settlement, a
tiny dot in a Palestinian sea, traveling to schools and workplaces in
Israel means signing up for an armored convoy that leaves every 40
minutes. When times get especially tense, settlers are bundled into
bulletproof trucks once used to transport Israeli soldiers in and out
of southern Lebanon, the scene of an 18-year guerrilla war. In the
event of a peace treaty, Netzarim's 60 families will likely be
evicted, along with thousands of other settlers living in tiny
outlying communities. Israel has led the Palestinians to believe that
in establishing their state, they can expect territorial continuity -
an impossibility if small enclaves remain. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570027158-7d9

*** Iraq Christians told to seek asylum

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) - U.N. officials urged about 150 Iraqi men,
women and children to seek asylum in Mexico in order to expedite
their release from a shabby Tijuana hotel where they've been held for
two days. The Iraqi Chaldeans, who are Christian, have been gathering
the past few months in Tijuana and had planned to seek asylum in the
United States, fearing religious persecution if they returned to
their homeland. They were being detained as part of what Mexican
authorities called an investigation into immigration violations. The
number of applications from Iraqi Christians seeking asylum at the
San Ysidro, Calif., border crossing has increased from virtually none
last year to 172 in the past two months, said Robert Looney, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service's director of regional asylum.
Chaldeans number about 800,000 worldwide, about half of whom are in
Iraq. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570030280-8f9

*** Hospital introduces computers

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Scott Banke is heading for a month of isolation
after he receives a bone marrow transplant, and at any other hospital
he would likely be cut off from the outside world. But at
Doernbercher Children's Hospital, the sixth-grader, who has bone
cancer, will be able to keep in touch with family and friends using a
state-of-the-art computer installed in his and other patient rooms in
the pediatric oncology ward. "Yeah, it's pretty cool," Scott said,
using a wireless mouse and keyboard to work his way around the
Internet on a crisp flat panel screen that swivels across his
hospital bed. Like many of the young patients at the state's medical
research hospital, drugs and chemotherapy will a toll on 11-year-old
Scott. The least the hospital can do is keep him and other youngsters
from being bored, Dr. Gary Jones said. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570030345-f83

*** 1-stop gov't Web site debuts

WASHINGTON (AP) - Want to track your Social Security benefits? Need
to apply for a federal student loan? Having trouble surfing the
Internet to find the nearest veterans hospital? Want to reserve a
campsite at a national park? Now, Americans can do all these things
by logging on to a single U.S. government Web site www.firstgov.gov.
The one-stop Internet site consolidates 20,000 government Web sites -
some 27 million web pages - into one. President Clinton gave the
agency 90 days to have a Web site up and running. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2570035335-ada

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Weekend News Today (9/22/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 18:37:05 -0400

Pentagon report: ''large numbers'' of rocket launchers deployed on
demilitarized zone by N. Korean army

EU now says 230,000-strong military force needed

Flight to Iraq sends 'wrong signals': U.S. State Department

Russia to send third plane to Iraq

118 Lebanese return after fleeing Israel

Syrian presence in Lebanon is legal and serves our strategic interests says
Lebanese president

More on Barak and Security Council's sovereignty plan for Temple Mount

PA launches creation of foreign ministry

Report: Israel seeks initiative to hand Temple Mount to UN permanent
members

EU officials get G-7 backing for euro intervention

European Central Bank intervenes to support euro

Plane from France lands at Saddam International Airport

North Korea's torrential rains & typhoons hit hard

Russian built anti-tank weapon used in London spy HQ attack

Iranian army begins three-day war games near Iraqi border

Madrid stocks recover as intervention helps euro

Mixing human and goat genes

Ozone hole could be deepest on record also!

5.8 quake jolts Indonesia

Quake shakes S. Russia

New India flood update: some 10 million marooned!

Southeast Asian Flooding Menaces 4.5 million

Floods Paralyze Nigerian City

India flooding kills 59 & maroons tens of thousands

SW Ohio tornado rated very destructive F-4!

9th Named Atlantic Storm-T.S. Isaac strengthens

http://www.upway.com/cgi/readnews.cgi?day=00_09_22&item=#969651726

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians threaten to use oil weapon
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 18:46:02 -0400

Palestinians threaten to use oil weapon in an effort to pressure the US and
Israel.

Sources said several PLO leaders have raised this prospect amid a deadlock
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority over such issues as the future
of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

PLO political department chief Farouk Khaddoumy was the most specific of
senior Palestinian officials during a news conference on Wednesday in
Tunis. "We thank god that the oil begins to take a new position from which it
will be possible to use in that war," Khaddoumy said. "World demand for oil
is increasing. Therefore it becomes possible to use oil to exert pressure."

Palestinian leaders said the oil weapon could be more palatable than threats
of war. They said the best candidate to lead such a campaign is Saudi
Arabia. Earlier this month, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah hinted that oil could
be used as a political weapon against Israel.

http://www.menewsline.com/headline10.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - U.S. leads worldwide snooping drive
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2000 18:48:48 -0400

Report: U.S. leads worldwide snooping drive

September 22, 2000
Web posted at: 2:10 PM EDT (1810 GMT)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States has led a worldwide drive to
build the groundwork for expanded snooping in the digital era, two civil rights
groups alleged in a new survey.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Privacy International
highlighted what they called a push led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation toward wiretap-friendly international communications standards.

Washington also has sought to curb the development and sale of hardware
and software featuring strong encryption, the communications-scrambling
know how aimed at securing data from prying eyes, the survey said.

"The U.S. government has led a worldwide effort to limit individual privacy and
enhance the capability of its police and intelligence services to eavesdrop on
personal conversations," the report, "Privacy & Human Rights 2000," said.

Full Story:
http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/09/22/snoop.reut/index.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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

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