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News Briefs 16-09-04

By Cernigon

Here is the news. Today we have genetics, super weapons, aliens, climate change and more. I picked the Vonnegut quote because of the recent discussions on TDG about the supposedly approaching “singularity”. Many predictions have been made before about world-shattering events that haven’t borne millenialist fruit.

  • The effort to map the Human Genome has hit the halfway map.
  • The President of the Royal Society says Britain needs more nuclear power stations.
  • Genetically modified bio-superweapons: the very next subject for a technothriller novel with a Greek letter in the title.
  • Some time ago, TDG reported on an unexploded nuclear bomb off the Georgia USA coast. Well, someone found it, and it’s radioactive.
  • I firmly believe in lifelong education, as do the Indians who have set up a school to teach the Kama Sutra.
  • Who wants to live forever? A new study on longevity is launched.
  • An attempt to provide low-cost space launches has turns out to not be quite so low cost after all.
  • A new species of dinosaur with an unusual hip structure reinforces the evolutionary link to birds.
  • Seth Shostak, senior SETI astonomer, describes the procedures if ever E.T. does phone.
  • A Cuban rancher claims to have bred a family pet that pays it’s way – a waist high cow.
  • Super-Earths- the next step in planet finding.
  • Yet another black panther is spotted in England.
  • Paint it black: NASA transfers the X-37 hypersonic scramjet plane to DARPA.
  • In Iceland, a WWII bomber is slowly emerging from a melting glacier.
  • DNA tests prove that an Indian people are the decendants of a lost tribe of Israel.
  • Ghostly footprints have been seen at a London haunted house.
  • A sceptic in Southern England has a close encounter with a UFO. This is the second local sighting this week; a shiny cylindrical UFO was seen near Aldershot Army base at the weekend.
  • Ancient Egyptians lavished as much care on animal mummies as on humans. (Remarkably, this story doesn’t mention The Illustrious Egyptian at all.)
  • Experts still disagree on Global Warming’s effect on severe weather such as hurricanes. If there is any doubt, can we afford to be complacent?
  • Men may land on Mars within 30 years if NASA can find water there.
  • Science goes to the top of the US Election agenda as both candidates answer identical questions on scientific issues.
  • The Federation of American Scientists, that most excellent organisation, on the difficulties of cleaning up after a “dirty” bomb.
  • Birds could soon go the way of their dino cousins? One eigth of all bird species are already in danger of extinction.
  • Can curses really kill?

Quote of the Day:


“If all had gone the way a lot of people thought it would, Jesus Christ would have been among us again, and the American flag would have been planted on Venus and Mars.”



Kurt Vonnegut

Cernig

14 Comments

  1. Dirty bomb
    I suggest we address ourselves as a world community to the prevention of such an occurrence, because if it happens, the world will have failed. Not America, not the UK, not Russia; the World. Belarus and the area impacted by the Chernobyl disaster, an area which seems to be growing rather than shrinking, are essentially off-limits for the foreseeable future. Remediation of even a small “dirty” nuclear device seems unlikely if not impossible, especially in an urban area.

    To become reconciled to its inevitability is folly. That said, we stil have to face the unpleasant fact that the free world, and especially America, have enemies without scruples or sensibility. Their radical beliefs and lust for the destruction of infidels does not permit them to acknowledge the inadvisability of using dynamite to rid their own house of mice.

    The inescapable conclusion is that terrorism must be eliminated, wherever it exists. The effort must be global, and there can be no safe haven allowed. Thus far, many nations do not seem actively concerned or involved so long as their own interests are not threatened. When you undertake to rid a house of an infestation, you must hunt down every pest, every egg, and every hiding place. Sometimes you have to go into areas you would rather not, but in order to get the job done, you must. The effort must transcend national boundaries, religious affiliations, and preclude sovereignty. The entire World Community must say “You are either with us, or against us; ambivalence is not allowed.” Nations or interests which do not condemn terrorism in all its forms, and actively participate in its elimination, do not deserve membership in a civilized society.

    Regards,
    khefre

    “Dear God, please save us from the people who believe in you.”
    A prayer scrawled on a wall in Washington DC soon after 9-11, As noted by Maureen Dowd in a column in the New York Times.

    1. Death to All Fanatics!
      Hi khefre,

      I read your comment carefully, and have to say I agree with every single word you wrote. Well put.

      That said, I feel you missed out on stressing one important point. Terrorism is not the sole remit of muslim fundementalists. The wacked-out christian terrorists are just as dangerous. They feel sure the end times are a-coming and are quite happy to help them along. The wacko jewish terrorists are just as bad, as evidenced by the nutters who intended to bomb and shoot their way into the muslim sacred places of Jerusalem as a celebration of the millenium. There are secular psychos who’s justification is politics turned into a religion. Wherever there are fuitcakes with a fundementalist and extremist world-view there will be bombs, gunfire and atrocities. For all these groups, the rest of us must decide on a policy of zero tolerance. For instance, how many American-Irish throw a dollar in the collecting tin on Paddy’s Day that then goes to a paramilitary group of terrorists back in the Old Country? This too must end.

      As an aside, many in the security industry feel the concept of a “dirty bomb” is too complicated to be a cost-effective investment for a terrorist group. For the same time and energy, blowing up a bulk LPG tanker in a populous city’s port would be far more effective, roughly equivalent to a multi-kiloton nuclear explosion without the radiation. Yet most Western nations devote the least of their anti-terrorist resources to port security and ship hijacking. Still, a “dirty-bomb” is more horrible a thought, thus more media-worthy, and maybe that is why it gets the attention. To put “spin” on such an important matter is moral turpitude indeed.

      Regards, C

      1. Hear, hear!
        Exactly so, well said. “Zero tolerance” is the operative phrase, along with “total participation”. Radical terrorist behavior knows no bounds politically, philosophically, or economically. Our goal as a world community must be to eradicate it all, by education and dialogue where practicable, and by economic sanction or forcible constraint where necessary. In this case, though it may sound communistic, “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. It’s not a game, it’s a matter of survival. Time for mankind to acknowledge childhood’s end and put away childish things, once and for all. I hope we can do it peacefully, but so far as we know, mankind has consistently failed at that endeavor over the years.

        Regards,
        khefre

        “Only understanding for our neighbors, justice in our dealings, and willingness to help our fellow men can give human society permanence and assure security for the individual.” Albert Einstein

        1. well said
          Well said Khefre and Cernig,

          As Cernig says we know full well about Muslim terrorism.
          What worries me most apart from those fanatical Jews in Israel who are determined to wipe the Palestinians from the map….are the fundamental Christian groups that are springing up like toadstools in all the dark and dank places.

          There is nothing quite so mad as a rabid Christian and Bush seems to not only tolerate the cults, he approves and takes part….see the Moonies.

          I object strenuously when I see letters to the paper calling Oz “a Christian country”.
          If you count all the religious groups and add the poor old aborigines with their own culture,Oz is about as Christian as my big toe.
          ‘Nuff said!

          When people choose to kill and terrorise in the name of their God, they are really acting as they themselves wish to act,God has nothing to do with it.

          shadows

          1. Radical Christians
            Could you please expand upon your comment about “…the fundamental Christian groups that are springing up like toadstools in all the dark and dank places.” A few relevant details like what their agenda is, where exactly these “dark and dank places” are and who are they killing and why?

            Thanks.

          2. Happy to Oblige
            Hi Anonymous Person,

            Always happy to oblige. You may want to take a look at the following

          3. The case of the Atlanta Olympics bomber.
          4. The Miami terrorist who bombed several abortion clinics.
          5. The anti-abortionist who called for violence as a “religious duty”.
          6. The white-supremacist Texan who was arrested with a real honest-to-God weapon of mass destruction. He sold more to other groups too.
          7. The group Christian Identity, investigated by the F.B.I.’s “Project Megiddo”.

            Or you could do as I did, enter “christian terrorism” into a Yahoo search and browse the 2,170,000 results.

            Regards, C.

          8. Gimme that Olde Time Religion
            Hi shadows,

            Maybe what we need to deal with the fundies is more of that real olde time religion! Now, where did I put that wicker man ? heeheehee.

            Regards, C

          9. Fear of God
            Hi Cernig,
            Now THAT would have put the fear of God into them, the old wicker man, or as I hear from England now, the old wicker woman.
            Christians aver that their God is not a God who asks for sacrifices.
            I dunno about that.
            Every time the pope declares war on birth control,many Catholics in third world countries who slavishly follow the pope have their lives and the lives of their children put at risk.
            Another mouth to feed can make all the difference whether the others get fed or not.
            Not to mention the effect on the mother’s health.
            I have cried for the poor bliddy Irish women who suffered numerous pregnancies because the priest who heard their confessions would know if they contemplated birth control.
            I think things have improved there now, but me own family way back had 14 or 15 children in each family group.
            If that isn’t a sacrifice to their God, I don’t know what is.

            shadows

  2. Can curses kill?
    In Australia they can.
    Anyone who knows any Australian Aboriginal history or people at all knows that when a person has a bone pointed at him he will die.
    He does not need to know about it.
    I firmly believe this as the Aboriginal people are very spiritual and seem to be able to tap into forces about which we know nothing.

    When Lindy Chamberlain wrote her book Through My Eyes, she mentioned in a couple of paragraphs an amazing event.
    After the fruitless search for her baby which was taken by a dingo, the Chamberlains left for the return journey home I think to Alice Springs.
    As they arrived at a service station to fill up with petrol a group of aborigines came out of the bush where they had been hunting for weeks with no contact with anyone else.
    They went to Mrs Chamberlain and expressed sympathy for the loss of her baby, saying that their relatives had told them about it.
    They were too far away from civilisation to have heard it from anyone, they were on foot, and they were hundreds of miles from Darwin. And there were no communication devices in those days.
    Besides which, the aborigines were tribal.
    The aborigines always knew that Mrs Chamberlain was innocent of the death of her baby and when she was in jail in Darwin,they were her greatest supporters.
    I have always felt it a terrible tragedy that the Europeans looked upon the Aborigines here as not human, and did not look beyond the surface to see the depth of spirituality that lies beneath.
    Sadly, it mostly continues today.

    shadows

    1. Aborigines and their Beliefs
      Hi shadows,

      This is a subject I know so very little about. Do you have any links handy? I’m sure it isn’t as portayed in Crocodile Dundee. Are there any parallels with any other cultures beliefs or magical systems?

      regards, C

      1. Indigenous Australians
        C,

        Here’s a site that has what looks like some decent information. I’m not an expert, but I’ve always been interested in the Aboriginals of Australia. Like the Navajo of the American Southwest, I suspect there’s been some corruption of their ways, along with persecution from outside groups, notably “Christians”, who seem to get in everyone’s face sooner or later, but they’re not alone, so I won’t pick on them exclusively. Anyway, have a look. If the western world had a family unit like the Abos, we wouldn’t have a lot of the problems that plague us.

        http://www.dreamtime.net.au/index.cfm

        Regards,
        khefre

        Reporter: “What do you think of Western Civilization, Mr. Gandhi?
        Gandhi: “I think it would be a good idea.”

        1. Excellent
          Thanks khefre,

          On a quick browse that site seems a good starting point. My first impression is that the Rainbow Serpent seems analagous to the ancient British “serpent track” or “dragon track” which has been interpreted as leylines in modern times. I will read more with great interest.

          Regards, C

      2. aborigines
        Hi Cernig,
        I am ashamed to say that I know nothing much about aboriginal culture.Khefre’s link looks to be a good one.
        Growing up as an Australian citizen I, like all other kids at the time had practically nothing to do with aborigines.
        I can remember one in my class in primary school and another one briefly in high school, but I never got to know them.
        With only 1 percent of the population black,it is quite easy to go through life here in certain areas without seeing a black person.
        When I first went to the US I was amazed to see so many black people and had to be told to stop staring at them.
        I worked with a black woman years ago, although she was part Thursday Islander, and she kept all the ashes of her relatives in her little flat, about 35 boxes of them.
        In the days of tribal aborigines the women carried the bones of their relatives in dilly bags.
        One of the most fascinating people I have seen is David Gulpilil the famous aboriginal actor.He is tribal and very black and gives off an incredible vibe as if he actually exudes some sort of spiritual force.
        Looking into his eyes is an experience you could never forget, it is as if you are looking down the years through time itself.
        I have met people from a number of tribes in Kenya,Zimbabwe,Nigeria and elsewhere and I have not seen eyes like Gulpilil’s.
        The separation of Australia from the rest of the world obviously had something to do with the way the aborigines are,their need for family and tribal members around them and their closeness to the land.
        A good easy book to read is Dingo by Sally Dingo.It tells the story of her husband Ernie Dingo the actor and how different and difficult it was for her to marry into an aboriginal family.
        There are few full-bloods left now and mostly in Arnhem Land with the rest living on the fringes of the cities and country towns.
        For years they called them the Fringe Dwellers.
        One of my cousins married a half-caste woman and she would not mix with the family and would sit outside the house under a tree while he visited.I eventually coaxed her in and made a friend of her but since he died I don’t see her.They keep away from the white people and who could blame them.
        When Captain Cook first landed here in whatever year,the physician with him Dr joseph Banks, described them as the most miserable people on earth.
        It goes to show that you should not judge by appearances.

        shadows

  3. DNA
    Isn’t DNA a marvellous thing?
    I have been concerned for a while that the fact that DNA is such positive proof of guilt in a crime that if a crook used someone else’s DNA then they are in the clear.
    Last night I watched Catalyst on the ABC and found that this indeed is going to be a problem in the future.
    Apparently, those who wish can take a DNA sample of someone else, very easily, a hair or from a glass, and in their own kitchen, manufacture a spray which is then used at the scene of a crime.
    Indeed, if it is sprayed over their own blood left on broken glass, it will overcome the DNA of the blood.
    Sounds very scary to me.
    One scientist stated that he didn’t think anyone would bother, but the instructions for manufacturing the spray are on the net, although I couldn’t find them, and it could be made more easily and with less equipment than is presently used in home drug labs.
    I would be interested if anyone can find a link to the subject.

    shadows

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