-Caveat Lector-
SkeptiNews 990403a - - - - - - - - - - - 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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> VIRUS VARIANTS CONTINUE TO MULTIPLY. (CNN) The number of offspring of
"Melissa" continues to grow as a new virus has been discovered: Papa.b.
Called X97M/Papa.b, it works the same as Papa.a, except Papa.b has been
"modified to avoid detection" with Papa.a patches. Papa.b makes "exact
copies of itself using Outlook," sending e-mail to the first 60 names in
multiple address books. Mutating due to 'interaction' with hackers - see
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9904/02/variants.idg/index.html
# 'MELISSA' POLICE WORK LAUDED. Officials heap praise on investigators from
a special division of the FBI created specifically to fight cyber crime.
Their nimble footwork leads to the arrest of a suspect in the "Melissa
virus" case. www.wired.com/news/news/email/tip/politics/story/18935.html
: Were you ever bitten by a sys.virus? Can you write a virus that fatally
jams the Net? What fee would you charge? Can you zap the net.police too?
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# Drug drivers 'pose low risk'. (BBC) People who drive under the influence
of moderate amounts of cannabis may have been unfairly demonised, research
suggests. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_309000/309603.stm
@ Links: DETR - Roads and road safety: http://www.roads.detr.gov.uk/
@ Driving Online - drugs and driving: http://www.driving.co.uk/9drugs.htm
@ Toronto Centre for Addiction and Mental Health: http://www.camh.net/
# And: Plea to halt drug driving deaths:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_183000/183420.stm
# UK Police begin drug testing drivers:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_68000/68571.stm
: Is your driving more warped by cannabis, alcohol, caffeine, testosterone,
adrenaline, cellphones, talkradio, sex, grooming, reading, alien implants?
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# YUGOSLAVIA'S B92 GOES DARK. In a dawn raid, Serbian police shut down
Yugoslavia's last independent news outlet. A few overloaded Internet
links now supply the last source of unbiased news inside Yugoslavia.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/tip/politics/story/18931.html
# B92: http://www.b92.net/ and Help B92: http://helpb92.xs4all.nl/
@ Institute for War and Peace Reporting: http://www.iwpr.net/
# Do-it-Yourself News - Other Yugoslavia/Kosova news sources:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/18754.html
: If you were a dictator, when would you close the dissident press? Would it
be better to feed them disinformation? Are Serb leaders' implants misfiring?
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* Who Knows Where The Time Goes? (WQ) Are people working longer hours and
enjoying less leisure? It's a simple question whose answer, like so many
efforts to understand social and economic life, is obscured by a data smog.
Part of the problem is that the question really isn't so simple. There is no
single set of flawless data one can turn to for an answer, and a host of
difficult methodological issues surround the information that is available.
See http://www.si.edu/organiza/affil/WWICS/OUTREACH/WQ/WQSELECT/LAGER.HTM
: Has your time been sucked away by ruthless corporate masters, evil aliens,
your obsessions/inflexibility/unimaginativeness, spacewarp sinkholes, ants?
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# Nanoharp hits high note. (BBC) First they brought you the world's smallest
guitar, now they bring you world's smallest musical instrument - the nano-
harp. Scientists in America have developed a musical instrument the size of
a red blood cell. The microscopic guitar made by Cornell U. researchers two
years ago was just a whimsical demonstration of new nanofabrication techno-
logy. But the nanoharp is a true stringed instrument that plays real music,
if only we could hear it. It plays a tune too high for even a dog to hear.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_309000/309522.stm
# And: World's smallest pen:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_264000/264596.stm
# World's smallest scales weigh in:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_291000/291143.stm
@ Links: American Physical Society:
http://www.aps.org/meet/CENT99/BAPS/index.html
@ Craighead research group: http://www.hgc.cornell.edu/
: Should nanomusicians be fabricated too? Would they consume liquor, drugs,
groupies on tour whilst trashing nanohotels? Can nanobands be implanted in
your brain? Would this ruin the recording industry? How about nanotheatre?
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# Locating the centre of fun. (BBC) People who have suffered injuries to the
front of their brain do not get sophisticated jokes and prefer slapstick
humour. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_309000/309119.stm
@ Links - Baycrest Centre: www.rotman-baycrest.on.ca/textonly/default.htm
@ Frontal lobotomy:
http://psych.utoronto.ca/~joordens/courses/PsyA01/Chapter13/tsld026.htm
# BANDAGE FEELS YOUR PAIN. Now: smart bandages with built-in sensors that
detect healing. The newly patented technology lets doctors track your
progress. www.wired.com/news/news/email/tip/technology/story/18919.html
@ Links - Biokey: http://www.biokey.com/
: Would a smart bandage over your lobotomy incision feel your mental pain?
Is crude humor a sign of brain damage? Were the 3 Stooges disease vectors?
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*** Russia area bans US Mormons. MOSCOW (AP) 4 American Mormon missionaries
have been banned from Russia's Far East to protest NATO airstrikes on Yugo-
slavia. The unidentified missionaries were due to arrive in Vladivostok, but
local officials decided they would not be admitted. A local gov't statement
called the visit "inexpedient...due to the Yugoslavia events." The report
did not say if the missionaries were coming from the US or another part of
Russia. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559031567-e02
*** Siberia cinema replaces US movies. MOSCOW (AP) Movie fans in a Siberian
city can expect more Yugoslav films as their local cinema says it won't show
US movies to protest NATO airstrikes against Yugoslavia. The main cinema in
the Siberian city of Irkutsk said it had scrapped its current [unidentified]
program of US movies and was showing two Yugoslav features instead. American
feature films are popular offerings at Russian cinemas. Russia has longstan-
ding cultural and historic ties to Yugoslavia. Rambo drowns in borsht - see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2559031733-9b7
: Are Mormons the driving force behind the Kosova flap? Are Yugo films as
exciting as Yugo cars? Do Mormons drive Yugos? Is Irkutsk run by pod people?
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"With rising lust, Zabor Son of Hathora, Prince of the Magador, Lord
Protector of Midax, and Shaman of the Incunabula, eagerly followed the
nubile maiden as she stepped onto the deserted platform, hardly aware of
the sagging brown socks beneath the grimy trench coat." --Charles Goldberg
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