-Caveat Lector-
SkeptiNews 990225a - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question
: Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
: Nothing contained herein is ever endorsed for truth, accuracy or meaning.
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> SPACE ROCKETS DAMAGING EARTH'S ENVIRONMENT. Pollution from space rockets
is a major source of damage to the Earth's ozone layer and toxic rocket fuel
is a growing threat to peoples' health in many areas. 50 percent of the
shrinking of the ozone layer can be attributed to the growing number of
rockets sent in to space with satellites and other cargo. Rockets causing
air pollution - www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9903/24/space.pollution.ap/index.html
@ See: ELPC - Environmental Law and Policy Center: http://www.elpc.org/
@ United States Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/
@ The Moscow Times: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/24-Mar-1999/homepage.htm
: Is getting off Earth worth fouling the air? Would you rather pollute the
atmosphere while leaving Earth, traveling on Earth, or staying in one place?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> DISPUTED STUDY CONCLUDES SOME DANGER IN SECOND-HAND SMOKE. A combined ana-
lysis of 18 studies dealing with the possible dangers of second-hand smoke
concluded that the smoke from another person's cigarette can increase a non-
smoker's risk of heart disease by 25 percent. The increase is "small," but
because of the widespread use of cigarettes, "the public health consequences
of passive smoking with regard to coronary heart disease may be important."
Controversial - www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9903/24/passive.smoking.reut/index.html
And see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_303000/303540.stm
: Do you prefer to poison to be poisoned; directly or indirectly? Do you
think evidence against tobacco is weak, strong, bogus, alien, irrelevant?
Would you rather be poisoned by tobacco, rockets, fastfood, heroin, ants?
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# VR 'rooms' aid design teams. (IDG) Engineers, industrial designers, and
researchers are using mega-dollar virtual reality systems to make "immersive
visualization systems" that let collaborators see and manipulate 3D models
of their work projected in space. The newest product, Fakespace's Immersive
WorkWall, uses a wall display of up to 8 by 24 feet to create the illusion
of a VR room. It is said to be the first system that lets non-techies handle
3D models: http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9903/24/vrdesign.idg/index.html
# Also: Virtual Realities: http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9809/30/vpn.idg/
# Ultimate 3D world, Earth: www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9811/24/3dearth.idg/
@ SITES: Fakespace: http://www.fakespace.com/
@ Panorama Technologies: http://www.panoramtech.com/
@ Pyramid Systems: http://www.pyramidsystems.com/
@ Trimension: http://www.trimension-inc.com/
: Is this the next step towards a Holodeck/Holosuite? Would you rather live/
work here than in the RealWorld? Should RW or VR property taxes be higher?
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# Thinking and typing. (BBC) Now, a computer system that enables people who
are completely paralysed to communicate by interpreting brainwaves. See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_303000/303589.stm
# Also: Thinking on screen:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_254000/254621.stm
@ Links: ALS Association (US): http://www.alsa.org/
@ Motor Neurone Disease Ass'n (UK): www.businessconnections.com/mnd/
@ Int'l Alliance of ALS/MND Ass'ns: http://www.alsmndalliance.org/
@ Diving-Bell & Butterfly: www.thei.aust.com/isite/btl/btlbauby.html
@ Inst. for Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology:
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/tci/
: Is this the next step towards telepathy? Do you need to be quadriplegic to
be telepathic? Does it help? Would you swap mobility for telepathy? Why?
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*** Israeli ceramic burial boxes shown. JERUSALEM (AP) - Ceramic faces of
death sculpted 6,500 years ago to adorn burial boxes were displayed after
their discovery in northern Israel. Carved on melon-sized heads, each face
is different - some have open round mouths and long noses, others sport with
beards and black and red eyelashes. One figure with a round, bald head and
protruding nose is affectionately referred to as "Homer Simpson" by the
pottery restoration team. The figures were found in the form of shards
scattered inside a cave discovered by a bulldozer constructing a new road.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2558926043-538
: Would you like to be immortalized as a ceramic miniature? What would they
call YOU? Should some of your DNA be stashed in the ceramic, so researchers/
dictators/aliens could reconstruct you in the future? Would that be a good
way to travel across vast expanses of time and space? Is it easier to fly?
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# Y2K GUN RUSH - Annie, Got Your Gun? WASHINGTON -- Mark Raso dreads coming
to work in the morning. Business is so brisk at his Powell Butte OR firearms
business that he and his partner can no longer keep up with the new orders.
"I didn't think this was going to happen until the second half of the year,"
Raso says. "But it's already begun." He's talking about Y2K jitters. Boom
boom boom boom - http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18716.html
: Will you need weaponry to face the new millennium? Would you rather have a
shotgun, Uzi, howitzer, raygun, nuke, particle-beam weapon, war-axe, taser?
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SkeptiLinks:
# Kosovo Crisis Center: www.stratfor.com/crisis/kosovo/Default.htm
> AIRSTRIKES ON YUGOSLAVIA SUSPENDED; MORE LIKELY:
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9903/25/kosovo.strikes.01/
# NATO warns Yugoslavia: 'Comply or be destroyed'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_303000/303672.stm
# Free 'Trojan horse' program stealing passwords:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_302000/302753.stm
> GOP PUSHES FLAG BURNING AMENDMENT again & again & again:
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/24/flag.burning/
> ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL PAPERS COME ONLINE - Nat'l Digital Library:
http://cnn.com/books/news/9903/24/bell/index.html
# Mapping Mars - Mars Global Surveyor reveals a range unusual features:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_302000/302758.stm
# Scientists solve snoring riddle - men have fleshier necks:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_301000/301313.stm
# 'Natural marijuana' may ease brain disorders - schizophrenia, Parkinson's:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_303000/303438.stm
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"As he finished off the last of his bourbon, Sidney realized that he was
in for another evening of dancing rodents and flying elephants; God, how
he hated working the night shift a Disney Studios." --James Dainis
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