News Briefs 28-02-2008

Let me pick your brain. Don’t worry, I’m certified!

• The Lobotomist: A PBS tv program, which aims to remind us that “miracle” cures of yesteryear, are nothing but today’s charlatanry (caution: some extreme graphic content)
• Difficult teens have different brain structures. Know what those darn kids need? A good ol' Lobotomy ;-)
• The truth about autism: scientists reconsider what they think they know.
• Drug-Resistant TB Rates Soar in Former Soviet Regions.
• Victim of its own success: ‘Life Encyclopedia’ Debut Too Popular to Stay "Live".
• England Hit by 5.2 Quake, Biggest in U.K. Since 1984. Meh! Ya bunch of sissies, that’s nothing!
• False Doors for the Dead Among New Egypt Tomb Finds. “Thanks for playing anyway, now Greg will show you your consolation prize!”
• Tall, blonde, & HOT. Viking Women Wore "Sexy" Outfits.
• Field Museum anthropologist unlocks mystery of ancient Maya blue. Because the red is easy: it was blood!
• A (cartoony) History of Violence [video]
• Indecipherable ancient books found in China (with pic)
• Pollution turns Chinese river red. Look guys, I’m really flattered here, but QUIT IT!
• Decades After Korean War, Families of American POWs May Finally Have Answers.
• I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours first. The US is ready to accept "binding international obligations" on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, officials say, if other nations do the same.
• The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.
• Florida beaches closed because of migrating sharks. Where the hell is Richard Dreyfuss when you need him? (Video)
• Mmmm… Jet fumes! Virgin Atlantic Flies 747 on Biofuel From Coconuts & Babassu.
• Special Ops manual describes UFO, ET situation. If the little guy takes out a flashy thing and grins… start panicking.
• Klaatu…Varada…Nikto: The Retro UFO Convention is coming. Quick! Go get your tinfoil hat and ask Greg Bishop, Nick Redfern & Paul Kimball for an autograph.
• If UfOs are just not your thing, then go watch the performances of R.E.M., The Cure, and Modest Mouse at this year’s ‘Sasquatch Music Festival’. Do the Patty dance!
• Cetaceans, Sex & Sea Serpents. Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the Bermuda Triangle, doesn’t it? [Caution: not for the easily offended… or envious men with low self-esteem]
• The Face on Mars and Pareidolia, by Mac Tonnies.
• On his latest journal’s entry, Whitley Strieber says: Let’s do it! (I hope he doesn’t get sued by the people of Nike)
• Which Extraterrestrials Landed First? I believe that would be the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Kodos.
• Who you gonna call? There’s some buzz around about an upcoming ‘Ghostbusters III’ movie (YAY!), with confirmation by Dan Aykroyd on a recent interview, although Sigourney Weaver doubts it —and wants no part in it anyway— Oh well, at least we have the certainty of the new Ghostbusters video game, coming out this fall.
• Desiree Palmen's photos of camouflaged people. Eat your heart out, DARPA!!
• Not just in America: The most spied upon people in Europe.
• Killer Military Robots Pose Latest Threat To Humanity, Robotics Expert Warns. When the time comes, I think I’m siding with the robots, man.
• First the americans destroyed a spy satellite. Now they aim for a bigger target: NASA plans to smash spacecraft into the Moon. Maybe they think that if they cannot keep it for themselves, then nobody else will? ;-)
• Polar map of the moon is the best yet. NASA officials will use it to scout the rugged terrain for landing sites… and Nazis’ secret bases .
• US team wins Asteroid competition. No, it was not a video-game contest… this was serious, people!
• Copyright this: Intellectual property’s social value may trump copyright law.
• The Wikileaks case, which Rick brought to our attention some days ago, is due back in court.

A big round of applause for Rick, who's hard at work trying to win the title of "Editor of the Year". Take a bow, man!

Quote of the day:

"It doesn't take a great leap of faith to imagine science a few thousand years into the future will be very different from what it is today. Down the line, I imagine what we intuitively feel or describe as spiritual will fall into the domain of science, but it will be a type of science that in today's terms we wouldn't recognize at all."

Dean Radin