Bacterial Integrated Circuits

[Robert Seeberger]

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/10jun_bbics.htm?list1119125


Like a canary in a mine, a microbe can often sense environmental
dangers before a human can. It's easy to see a canary's reaction. But
how can you can you tell what a microbe's feeling? How can you coax a
microbe to communicate?
One way is to interface it to a silicon chip.
University of Tennessee microbiologist Gary Sayler and his colleagues
have developed a device that uses chips to collect signals from
specially altered bacteria. The researchers have already used these
devices, known as BBICs, or Bioluminescent Bioreporter Integrated
Circuits, to track pollution on earth. Now, with the support of NASA's
Office of Biological and Physical Research, they're designing a
version for spaceships.

Sayler's group, which includes Tennessee researchers Steve Ripp, Syed
Islam and Ben Blalock, as well as collaborators at JPL and the Kennedy
Space Center, has bioengineered microbes that glow blue-green in the
presence of contaminants. Then they joined those bacteria to
microluminometers--chips designed to measure the light.

What BBICs offer, explains Sayler, is a low-cost, low-energy way to
detect pollutants. They're tiny: each BBIC is about 2 mm by 2 mm, and
the entire device, including its power source, will probably be about
the size of a matchbox, and they monitor their surroundings
continuously.

NASA is interested in sensing contaminants because spaceships are
tightly sealed. Unseen fumes from scientific experiments or toxins
produced by molds and other biofilms can accumulate and pose a hazard
to astronauts. BBICs can be crafted to sense almost anything: ammonia,
cadmium, chromate, cobalt, copper, proteins, lead, mercury, PCBs,
ultrasound, ultraviolet radiation, zinc--the list goes on and on.

The system is surprisingly rugged. Microbes thrive in a wide range of
environments, so it's possible to design BBICs that can survive in
extreme or highly contaminated surroundings. "They can actually do
their job sitting in things such as jet fuel-water mixtures," marvels
Sayler.

Although the microbes can protect themselves from toxins, they still
have a variety of needs--food, for example. Keeping them alive, Sayler
says, "is a significant portion of the work."

One problem is that microbes must be immobilized so that they remain
right next to the chip. The challenge, says Sayler, is trying to
figure out how to immobilize the microbes in such a way that they
survive as long as possible.

The researchers are testing various substances that will keep the
microbes in place. Something with good optical transparency is
critical, of course, so that if the microbes light up, the chip can
perceive that. The immobilant has to be porous, so that any
contamination can flow in, and reach the microbes. It has to contain
nutrients for the microbes to feed on. It has to allow the microbe
enough, but not too much, room. "We're basically trying to feed the
immobilized organisms in the matrix without them growing. We really
don't want them to grow very much, if at all. If they grow, it changes
the total amount of cells in the system, and it confounds the issue of
how much light corresponds to how much contaminant."


Sayler hopes to develop gels in which the microbes can be kept
functional for several months. The sensors would probably be attached
to the spaceship walls, continuously monitoring the ship's atmosphere.
They'd monitor themselves, too, to make sure that the microbes were
still viable. "We can electrically induce cells to make light, so we
can pulse the system every once in a while to see if the organisms are
still physiologically active."

"After, say, six months, the chip would send a signal that says,
'oops, time to replace your bug sensor.' An astronaut would go and get
a freeze-dried package of seed microbes, add a little moisture, and
stick it in the sensor." Nothing more has to be done until the next
time the signal goes off, six months later. It's a low maintenance
system.

These BBICs are useful on Earth, too. They can detect formaldehyde
emitted by pressed wood furniture or hard-to-detect molds often
implicated in sick building syndrome. "If this device works as
planned, it could turn out to be a very inexpensive kind of monitoring
system," says Sayler. "You could go to your corner drugstore, buy one
of these, take it home and stick it up on your wall. It could tell you
whether your carpets are degassing, or whether you've got problems
like black mold."

Advanced BBICs could serve as bioterrorism monitors for Homeland
Security, as a means to detect DNA radiation-damage in astronauts, or
as a diagnostic tool for doctors. An example: Sayler envisions BBICs
as part of a treatment program for diabetics. An implantable BBIC
equipped with an on-chip radio transmitter could monitor blood glucose
levels and communicate with a remote insulin delivery system. Such
devices could also scan body-fluids for certain proteins that signal
tumors--in other word

Conservative Author Rails Against Colleges

[Robert Seeberger]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&u=/ap/20040610/ap_on_re_us/campus_conservative_book_1&printer=1


http://tinyurl.com/2z4r8


Ben Shapiro isn't the only conservative railing against liberalism on
America's college campuses. But right now — thanks to a marketing
campaign taking place mostly in cyberspace — he's the one getting the
most attention.



At 20, Shapiro graduates later this month from UCLA, where he has been
best known for caustic columns in the campus paper.


But Shapiro also took careful notes in class, chronicling what he
viewed as a pervasive liberal bias by professors who fed mostly
unwitting students a steady diet of anti-Americanism.


Now, Shapiro has assembled those notes in "Brainwashed: How
Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth" — a book that has won
attention even amid the flood of political tracts from both left and
right that is saturating the best-seller lists.


The publisher, WND Books, will not release sales figures, and the book
has not cracked any overall best-seller lists. But despite little
mainstream publicity, it has been among Top 25 hardcover non-fiction
best-sellers on Amazaon.com lately, spiking after appearances by the
author on conservative talk radio shows.


Shapiro said the big book chains have shown less interest, though
several stores said Thursday they have been ordering copies for
customers.


On Amazon, customer reviews have been polarized: Fans have called it
witty and eye-opening, critics say it is exploitive and unfair.


In some ways, Shapiro is following in the footsteps of William F.
Buckley's "God and Man at Yale" (1951) and John LeBoutillier's
"Harvard Hates America" (1978). Both, like Shapiro, delighted
conservative readers by sharply criticizing the faculties at the elite
universities from which the authors had recently graduated.


But in other respects, Shapiro is emblematic of a new generation of
sharp-tongued and increasingly confident campus conservatives, many of
whom troll Web sites like World Net Daily, freerepublic.com and
townhall.com, and write for conservative campus publications.


Intellectually precocious and extremely confident, Shapiro counts
better-known columnist and author Ann Coulter as a friend, says he is
himself far to the right of Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) on Israeli
politics, and — in his book — calls some of his professors "as red as
overripe tomatoes."


"He's fearless," said David Horowitz, a conservative intellectual who
has extensively criticized colleges and universities for bias against
conservatives. "Usually, there's peer group pressure when you come
into a university — you're just a student — that would intimidate most
people. He's part of a new generation that you can't intimidate."


Some academic groups say criticism such as Shapiro's is nothing new,
though it has perhaps intensified in the recent era of blogs and
exceptionally divisive politics.


Still, they say it is troubling, and they worry that conservative
students are mistaking professors' attempts to teach critical thinking
for propaganda.


Some students "feel they should be essentially spoon-fed a line that
is recognizable to them," said Ruth Flower, director of public policy
and communications at the American Association of University
Professors.


An Orthodox Jew, Shapiro grew up in the Los Angeles area, skipping
grades three and nine and entering UCLA at 16. He jumped quickly into
campus politics, earning a column in the Daily Bruin campus paper.


That ended in the spring of 2002, after a dispute over a column that
criticized campus Muslim groups for supporting terrorism. When the
paper wouldn't run it, Shapiro took his case to the air on a local
talk-radio show and was suspended by the newspaper.


He later began writing a syndicated column that is now picked up by a
handful of outlets and Web sites. His parents had to sign his first
contract, since he was only 17 at the time.


Shapiro insists his pages of footnotes prove his book is serious
research, not vitriol. Still, some readers are likely to question the
objectivity of some sources. And after the book came out this spring,
the Daily Bruin reported that there were a number of citation errors,
and that several UCLA professors claim they were misquoted.

Shapiro acknowledged a "couple of punctuation errors as far as
paraphrasing," which he said would be corrected in the next edition,
but said he stands by the material.

Profits from the book will help pay Shapiro's tuition next year at
Harvard Law School, several of whose faculty members he has already
criticized in print.

"That should be fun," he laughed. But he insists he is genuinely
looking forward to learning at an institution that — despite a fairly
large contingent of conservative students — is viewed by some on the
right as the b

Ray Charles Dies

[Robert Seeberger]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040610/D834E06O0.html

Ray Charles, a transcendent talent who erased musical boundaries
between the sacred and the secular with hits such as "What'd I
Say,""Georgia on My Mind" and "I Can't Stop Loving You," died
Thursday. He was 73.
Charles died of acute liver disease at his Beverly Hills home at 11:35
a.m., surrounded by family and friends, said spokesman Jerry Digney.

Blind by age 7 and an orphan at 15, the gifted pianist and saxophonist
spent his life shattering any notion of musical categories and defying
easy definition. One of the first artists to record the "blasphemous
idea of taking gospel songs and putting the devil's words to them," as
legendary producer Jerry Wexler once said, Charles' music spanned
soul, rock 'n' roll, R&B, country, jazz, big band and blues.

He put his stamp on it all with a deep, warm voice roughened by
heartbreak from a hardscrabble childhood in the segregated South.
Smiling and swaying behind the piano, grunts and moans peppering his
songs, Charles' appeal spanned generations.

His health deteriorated rapidly over the past year, after he had hip
replacement surgery and was diagnosed with a failing liver. The Grammy
winner's last public appearance was alongside Clint Eastwood on April
30, when the city of Los Angeles designated the singer's studios,
built 40 years ago, as a historic landmark.

Aretha Franklin called Charles "the voice of a lifetime."

"He was a fabulous man, full of humor and wit," she said in a
statement. "A giant of an artist, and of course, he introduced the
world to secular soul singing."

"People remember the big hits and the visual image of him, but they
forget what an innovator he was in the 1950s as a jazz musician," said
country music singer Marty Stuart. "He made inroads for all of us when
he did 'I Can't Stop Loving You.' It took country music to places it
hadn't been before."

"I lost one of my best friends and I will miss him a lot," Willie
Nelson said in a statement. "Last month or so, we got together and
recorded 'It Was a Very Good Year,' by Frank Sinatra. It was great
hanging out with him for a day."

Charles won nine of his 12 Grammy Awards between 1960 and 1966,
including the best R&B recording three consecutive years ("Hit the
Road Jack,""I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Busted").

His versions of other songs are also well known, including "Makin'
Whoopee" and a stirring "America the Beautiful." Hoagy Carmichael and
Stuart Gorrell wrote "Georgia on My Mind" in 1931, but it didn't
become Georgia's official state song until 1979, long after Charles
turned it into an American standard.

"I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know
of," Charles said in his 1978 autobiography, "Brother Ray."

Charles considered Martin Luther King Jr. a friend and once refused to
play to segregated audiences in South Africa. But politics didn't
take.

He was happiest playing music, teaming with such disparate musicians
as Chaka Khan and Eric Clapton. Pepsi tapped him for TV spots around a
powerfully simple "uh huh" theme, and he appeared in movies including
"The Blues Brothers."

"The way I see it, we're actors, but musical ones," he once told The
Associated Press. "We're doing it with notes, and lyrics with notes,
telling a story. I can take an audience and get 'em into a frenzy so
they'll almost riot, and yet I can sit there so you can almost hear a
pin drop."

Charles was no angel. His womanizing was legendary, and he struggled
with a heroin addiction for nearly 20 years before quitting cold
turkey in 1965 after an arrest at the Boston airport. Yet there was a
sense of humor about even that - he released both "I Don't Need No
Doctor" and "Let's Go Get Stoned" in 1966.

He later became reluctant to talk about the drug use, fearing it would
taint how people thought of his work.

"I've known times where I've felt terrible, but once I get to the
stage and the band starts with the music, I don't know why but it's
like you have pain and take an aspirin, and you don't feel it no
more," he once said.

Said John Burk, who worked recently with Charles as producer of the
upcoming duets album "Genius Loves Company": "There were a couple of
times where he would say, 'I'm not feeling well today but I'll take a
stab at it ... I can come back to it later.' And he never had to come
back to it later."

He said Charles' gift was "finding and communicating the human emotion
in a song. ... That's what we strive for in the recording process, i

Re: Archbishop Chaput of Denver

[Robert Seeberger]

- Original Message - 
From: "Deborah Harrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: Archbishop Chaput of Denver


> > Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
>
> > Take the philosopher survey:
> > http://selectsmart.com/PHILOSOPHY
> >
> > me - 1.  Kant (100%)
> > 2.  John Stuart Mill (95%)
> > 3.  Jean-Paul Sartre (76%)
> > 4.  Epicureans (75%)
> 
>
> Weeell, my results weren't what I expected (except
> that Nietzsche & Ann Rand were low on my list, and no
> matches to Hobbes):
>
> 1.  Aquinas   (100%)
> 2.  Aristotle   (85%)
> 3.  Spinoza   (78%)
> 4.  St. Augustine   (73%)
> 5.  Nel Noddings   (68%)
>

  1.  Jeremy Bentham   (100%)
  2.  John Stuart Mill   (99%)
  3.  Kant   (95%)
  4.  Aquinas   (81%)
  5.  Aristotle   (74%)


Before I took the test, I'd never heard of Bentham.

xponent
List Weirdo Maru
rob


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Re: Riemann hypothesis

[Ronn!Blankenship]

At 11:12 AM 6/10/04, Julia Thompson wrote:
"Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
>
> At 11:05 PM 6/9/04, Julia Thompson wrote:
> >Louis de Branges de Bourcia of Purdue University claims to have proven
> >the Riemann Hypothesis.  It still has to be peer-reviewed.
> >
> >Article at
> >http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5229702.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed
> >
> >Paper in PDF format at
> >http://www.math.purdue.edu/ftp_pub/branges/apology.pdf
>
> So, presuming you have read the paper, what do you think?  Can he tell us,
> do you truly confess?
I have not read the paper.  I found out about it and figured that I
should share now, rather than waiting however long it might take for me
to get the time to get through the paper.  :)
Julia
with someone screaming at me even as I type

That would indeed make it difficult to concentrate on mathematical 
reasoning of any sort, as having forgotten your functional analysis would 
be an impediment to reading that particular paper.

(I, too, passed it along to others, including at least one who ought to be 
able to make some intelligent comments, presuming he finds the time to do 
so . . . )


-- Ronn!  :)

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RFID-enabled license plates to identify UK vehicles

[The Fool]

<>

RFID-enabled license plates to identify UK vehicles

Thursday, June 10 2004
The UK-based vehicle licence plate manufacturer, Hills Numberplates Ltd,
has chosen long-range RFID tags and readers from Identec Solutions to be
embedded in licence plates that will automatically and reliably identify
vehicles in the UK.

The new e-Plates project uses active (battery powered) RFID tags embedded
in the plates to identify vehicles in real time. The result is the
ability to reliably identify any vehicle, anywhere, whether stationary or
mobile, and - most importantly - in all weather conditions. (Previous
visually-based licence plate identification techniques have been hampered
by factors such as heavy rain, mist, fog, and even mud or dirt on the
plates.)

The e-Plates project has been under development for the past three years
at a cost of more than £1 million, and is currently under consideration
by a number of administrations. It is hoped that e-Plate will be one of
the systems trialled by the UK Government in its forthcoming study of
micro-chipped licence plates. 

Chipped plates
The plates are the same shape and size as conventional plates, and are
permanently fitted to the vehicle in the same way. But each e-Plate
contains an embedded tag with a unique, encrypted identification number
that is transmitted by the tag for detection by RFID readers. Multiple
tags can be read simultaneously by a single reader at speeds of up to
320km per hour (200mph), up to 100 metres (300 feet) away.

The reader network, which includes fixed location readers (for use on the
roadside) and portable readers (for use in surveillance vehicles and
handheld devices), sends the unique identifier in real time to a central
system where it is matched with the corresponding vehicle data such as
registration number, owner details, make, model, colour, and
tax/insurance renewal dates.

Identities secured
A key benefit of the e-Plate is that the tag provides an encrypted and
secure ID code which is registered in the UK Ministry of Transport's
vehicle database. This code prevents tampering, cloning, or other forms
of fraud that can currently happen with camera-based systems.
Additionally, the e-Plate is designed to shatter if anyone tries to
remove or otherwise tamper with it, and the tag can be programmed to
transmit a warning if any attempt is made to dislodge the plate.

Surveillance applications
The system is expected to be used to identify vehicles for applications
such as security, access control, electronic payment, tracking and
processing, traffic management, and customer service. Commercial
applications could include car dealerships, rental companies, insurance
companies, fleet operators, and parking garages. In the public sector,
the main applications would include enforcement (compliance with road
tax, insurance, and mechanical checks), access control to restricted
areas, combating vehicle theft and associated crime, and traffic flow
counting and modelling.

According to Richard Taffinder, operations director for Hills
Numberplates, the e-Plates were developed to provide companies and public
authorities with a more reliable way to positively identify and capture
information on a vehicle.

For additional information:

Visit Hills Numberplates at http://www.e-plate.com
Visit Identec Solutions at http://www.identecsolutions.com


--
"If evil could be branded, its emblem would be the Wal-Mart logo."
-Inthesetimes article

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Re: Brin-l chat room

[William T Goodall]

On 9 Jun 2004, at 11:28 pm, Alberto Monteiro wrote:
Crap! Now that I have 1 hour to kill, I am using an Internet Cafe that 
does
_not_ support telnet :-/

Where is that Java interface? [this is a rhetorical question]
http://wtgab.demon.co.uk/~brinl/mud/
Uses the Cup-O Mud client.
Worked fine with Safari/Mac OS X. Didn't work with Mozilla or Camino 
for some reason when I tried them. Haven't tried any other OS's.

Maybe Steve can add the URL to his handy MUD page...
--
William T Goodall
Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
"It is our belief, however, that serious professional users will run 
out of things they can do with UNIX." - Ken Olsen, President of DEC, 
1984.

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Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out

[Travis Edmunds]

From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 18:22:20 -0500
- Original Message -
From: "Travis Edmunds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 10:53 AM
Subject: Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out
>
> >From: "Robert Seeberger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Subject: Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out
> >Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 18:09:42 -0500
> >
> >
> >- Original Message -
> >From: "Travis Edmunds" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> >Sent: Tuesday, May 11, 2004 10:43 AM
> >Subject: Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out
> >
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >  Organized religion is hypocrisy at it's finest.
> >
> >There is some truth to that, but I must say that pointing it out
seems
> >to make things worse for the most part.
There would appear to be some truth to that as well.
-Travis "just pointing it out" Edmunds
_
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Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out

[Travis Edmunds]

From: "Dan Minette" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: New Hate-Mongering Chick Tract is out
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 20:24:40 -0500
The last Vatican financial statement that I have is for the year 2002.  In
this statement, given at
http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=38649
I have obtained the following numbers: (all in euros)
giving 85,385,000
real estate 19,082,000
financial -16,308,000
misc 5,000,000
total 93,159,000
Thanks for that Dan.
-Travis
_
Free yourself from those irritating pop-up ads with MSn Premium. Get 2months 
FREE*  
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Re: Archbishop Chaput of Denver

[Gary Denton]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 11:12:13 -0700 (PDT), Deborah Harrell
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> > Take the philosopher survey:
> > http://selectsmart.com/PHILOSOPHY
> >
> > me - 1.  Kant (100%)
> > 2.  John Stuart Mill (95%)
> > 3.  Jean-Paul Sartre (76%)
> > 4.  Epicureans (75%)
> 
> 
> Weeell, my results weren't what I expected (except
> that Nietzsche & Ann Rand were low on my list, and no
> matches to Hobbes):
> 
> 1.  Aquinas   (100%)
> 2.  Aristotle   (85%)
> 3.  Spinoza   (78%)
> 4.  St. Augustine   (73%)
> 5.  Nel Noddings   (68%)
> 
> I've never heard of that last: "Traditional western
> ethics has oppressed female voices...We should look to
> traditional women's practices as a way of determining
> our ethics...We should use an ethics of care:
> emphasizing loving others, meeting needs, and
> nurturing."
> 
> OK, that kinda fits...  :)
> 
> I really object to the Augustine part, as the blurb
> goes:
> "Happiness is a union of the soul with God after one
> has died.
> Bodily pleasures are relatively inferior to spiritual
> pleasures.
> Philosophical reasoning is not the path to wisdom and
> happiness.
> A love of God and faith in Jesus is the only path to
> happiness.
> God is the one to allow people to practice the love of
> God.
> One must love God in order to fulfill moral law.
> People are inherently evil; only the grace of God (or
> is it merit to be saved?) can save them."
> 
> I _so_ disagree with each one of those statements! >:/
> 
> 'after death' "only path" "inherently evil" "must"...
> Bah!!!
> 
> Debbi
> whose favorite St. Augustine quote is "Lord, make me
> chaste - but not yet"  ;)


That is odd that they have you are ranked 85% following Aristotle.  I
have heard other people complain that they have one philosopher ranked
higher or lower than another which they disagreed with but in your
case it seems like some questions  scored opposite.

If I wasn't so busy I would check into their scoring system.

Gary Denton  - This is only a test Maru

#1 on google for liberal news digest
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Re: Moon Over Washington

[Deborah Harrell]

> The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> <>
> 
> Moon Over Washington
> Why are some of the capital’s most influential power
> players hanging out
> with a bizarre Korean billionaire who claims to be
> the Messiah? 


> The Centers for
> Disease Control briefly announced that another Moon
> foundation was the
> only group qualified to receive another, no-bid
> grant for HIV education
> in Africa. Only after a competitor raised objections
> did the CDC cancel the grant program entirely


Keep the flippin' fanatics outta the public health
care sector...they have no bloody business trying to
impose their version of morality on the world. 
Education, research and utilization of those
therapies/preventatives that *work* are the keys to
controlling and eventually eliminating (we hope) such
illnesses.

Debbi
"Just Say No!" Works Until They Become
Three-Year-Olds...And Sometimes Not Even Then Maru   >:P




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Re: Archbishop Chaput of Denver

[Deborah Harrell]

> Gary Denton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 
> Take the philosopher survey:
> http://selectsmart.com/PHILOSOPHY
> 
> me - 1.  Kant (100%)
> 2.  John Stuart Mill (95%)
> 3.  Jean-Paul Sartre (76%)
> 4.  Epicureans (75%)
 

Weeell, my results weren't what I expected (except
that Nietzsche & Ann Rand were low on my list, and no
matches to Hobbes):

1.  Aquinas   (100%)  
2.  Aristotle   (85%) 
3.  Spinoza   (78%)  
4.  St. Augustine   (73%)  
5.  Nel Noddings   (68%)  
 
I've never heard of that last: "Traditional western
ethics has oppressed female voices...We should look to
traditional women's practices as a way of determining
our ethics...We should use an ethics of care:
emphasizing loving others, meeting needs, and
nurturing." 

OK, that kinda fits...  :)

I really object to the Augustine part, as the blurb
goes:
"Happiness is a union of the soul with God after one
has died.
Bodily pleasures are relatively inferior to spiritual
pleasures.
Philosophical reasoning is not the path to wisdom and
happiness. 
A love of God and faith in Jesus is the only path to
happiness. 
God is the one to allow people to practice the love of
God. 
One must love God in order to fulfill moral law. 
People are inherently evil; only the grace of God (or
is it merit to be saved?) can save them."

I _so_ disagree with each one of those statements! >:/

'after death' "only path" "inherently evil" "must"...
Bah!!!

Debbi
whose favorite St. Augustine quote is "Lord, make me
chaste - but not yet"  ;)




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Earth About to Shrink to the Size of a Pea?

[Gary Denton]

Fermilab may be on verge of massive finding 

For years, scientists have been searching for the "holy grail of
physics," a subatomic particle called the Higgs boson.

The Higgs particle plays a critical role in the prevailing theory that
explains how the universe works. Without the Higgs, the theory goes,
nothing in the universe would have any mass.

Now, an experiment at Fermilab could point the way to finding the Higgs. 
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-fermi10.html

Discussion
http://www.physicsforums.com/archive/t-16078

News
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&edition=us&ie=UTF-8&q=Higgs+boson&scoring=d

How the World Ends, Lexx Style:

790: It makes little difference whether or not you destroy this
planet. It is a classic type 13 planet, which typically destroys
itself at this stage of its development.

Xev: How?

790: Sometimes through war, often through environmental catastrophe.
But more commonly, a type 13 planet is inadvertently collapsed into a
pea-sized object by scientists attempting to determine the mass of the
Higgs boson particle.

http://home.tiscali.cz:8080/lexxsubtitle/Lexx%204_01%20-%20Little%20Blue%20Planet.htm

Gary Denton  - Yo Way Yo Maru

#1 on google for Easter lemming
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Re: Brin Appearance

[Gary Denton]

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 19:52:38 -0400, Gary Nunn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> 
> Just ran across this from a Michael Whelan newsletter.
> 
> SCIENCE FICTION MUSEUM OPENING
> 
> You are cordially invited to join Paul Allen, Michael Whelan, Greg Bear,
> David Brin, Dennis Murin, and surprise guests from science fiction
> publishing, movies, and TV at
> 
> The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
> 325 5th Avenue North
> Seattle, WA
> (next to the Space Needle)
> 
> Grand Opening Ceremony
> Friday June 18 * 10 am
> AND
> Advisory Board Signing
> Your chance for autographs from SF Authors, Scientists, Filmmakers,
> Artists
> Friday June 18 * 1 pm
> 
> Call toll-free 1-877-SCI-FICT or please visit www.sfhomeworld.org
> for tickets and membership information.


Yes, I had noticed that but I have three conventions coming up, this
weekend games - San Con, next weekend politics - Texas Democratic
State, the following weekend Science Fiction, Fantasy and Games at the
new Houston Con - Apollo Con.

Gary Denton  - Con Man Maru

#1 on google for Easter Lemming
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Re: Dirty Bomb Would Be a Dud

[Gary Denton]

On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 11:00:56 -0500, Horn, John <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> > From: Robert Seeberger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > The Justice Department didn't respond directly when asked this
> week
> > whether it had consulted with experts and knew that uranium
> wouldn't
> > make a dirty bomb.
> >
> > Instead, spokesman Mark Corallo said Padilla's statements, in view
> of
> > his al-Qaida links, made clear that he was "willing to cause
> > devastating harm to innocent Americans."
> 
> Being stupid doesn't get a criminal out of being prosecuted for his
> crimes, why should it in this case?  It's intent that counts, isn't
> it?
> 
> - jmh
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> 
I forget if it was Wolfowitz or Perle who thought he shouldn't be
prosecuted because Padilla wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. 
Not that I would trust anything they say. The real argument in this
case is what the Supreme Court is deciding, should he have been thrown
in jail for years without charges, without contact with his family,
and without a lawyer?

Not according to the Constitution is obvious but this stacked court
sometimes has problems with the obvious.

Gary Denton - Civil Rights Maru

#1 on google for liberal news
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Torture and balance of power

[Robert J. Chassell]

On Monday, 7 June 2004, the `Wall Street Journal' published an
unclassified, redacted copy of a memo dated 6 March 2003.  The memo
tries to justify torture.  The claims made are unconstitutional.

The memo is in:

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/military_0604.pdf

On page 20, in the section entitled

Legal doctrines under the Federal Criminal Law that could render
specific conduct, otherwise criminal, not unlawful

the memo says that "... the President enjoys complete discretion in
the exercise of his Commander-in-Chief authority including in
conducting operations against hostile forces."

This is false.  Although the United States Constitution says

   The President ... shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons
   for offenses against the United States, except in cases of
   impeachment.

   United States Constitution, Article II, Section 2

it also says

   ... he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed 

   United States Constitution, Article II, Section 3

A US president can set aside the judgement of a court, but only do so
*after* the court has passed sentence.  Moreover, a court passes
judgment based on

...this Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made


   United States Constitution, Article III, Section 2.

Put another way, the United States government is based on a balance of
power among the Congress, the Courts, and the Executive.

(Incidentally, this analysis suggests that President Ford's pardon of
Richard Nixon had no legal validity, since Nixon had not been tried
and convicted.)

The US Constitution was written by men who took seriously the old
Christian notion, that `Man is fallen'.  They were afraid that if one
person or one group held power, that person or group would learn
tyranny.  Consequently, the constitutional design depends on different
groups, with different motivations.

-- 
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
As I slowly update it, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I rewrite a "What's New" segment for   http://www.rattlesnake.com
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Re: Moon Over Washington

[Julia Thompson]

"Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
> 
> At 11:14 PM 6/9/04, Julia Thompson wrote:
> >William T Goodall wrote:
> > >
> > > On 10 Jun 2004, at 2:07 am, The Fool wrote:
> > >
> > > > <>
> > >
> > > Rats! Not hang-gliding nudists then...
> >
> >That would be a lot more palatable, yes.  :)
> >
> >How about nude people playing with fire?  That's quite entertaining.
> 
> As is nude people operating a deep-fryer.
> 
> Ouch Maru
> 
> -- Ronn!  :)

If you've taken proper precautions regarding body hair, playing with
fire is probably safer than frying.

That is, if you know what you're doing.  (Practice with non-flaming
objects a lot before introducing flame.)

Julia
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Re: Riemann hypothesis

[Julia Thompson]

"Ronn!Blankenship" wrote:
> 
> At 11:05 PM 6/9/04, Julia Thompson wrote:
> >Louis de Branges de Bourcia of Purdue University claims to have proven
> >the Riemann Hypothesis.  It still has to be peer-reviewed.
> >
> >Article at
> >http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5229702.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed
> >
> >Paper in PDF format at
> >http://www.math.purdue.edu/ftp_pub/branges/apology.pdf
> 
> So, presuming you have read the paper, what do you think?  Can he tell us,
> do you truly confess?

I have not read the paper.  I found out about it and figured that I
should share now, rather than waiting however long it might take for me
to get the time to get through the paper.  :)

Julia

with someone screaming at me even as I type
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RE: Dirty Bomb Would Be a Dud

[Horn, John]

> From: Robert Seeberger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> The Justice Department didn't respond directly when asked this
week
> whether it had consulted with experts and knew that uranium
wouldn't
> make a dirty bomb.
> 
> Instead, spokesman Mark Corallo said Padilla's statements, in view
of
> his al-Qaida links, made clear that he was "willing to cause
> devastating harm to innocent Americans."

Being stupid doesn't get a criminal out of being prosecuted for his
crimes, why should it in this case?  It's intent that counts, isn't
it?

 - jmh
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Re: Moon Over Washington

[Erik Reuter]

On Wed, Jun 09, 2004 at 10:41:52PM -0700, Doug Pensinger wrote:

> I thought the nude bike riding sounded particularly uncomfortable
> myself.

Two words: recumbent bicycle.



-- 
Erik Reuter   http://www.erikreuter.net/
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Re: Riemann hypothesis

[David Hobby]

Julia Thompson wrote:
> 
> Louis de Branges de Bourcia of Purdue University claims to have proven
> the Riemann Hypothesis.  It still has to be peer-reviewed.
> 
> Article at
> http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104_2-5229702.html?tag=zdfd.newsfeed
> 
> Paper in PDF format at
> http://www.math.purdue.edu/ftp_pub/branges/apology.pdf
> 
> Julia

The paper is just an overview.  I have my doubts about this one,
since his writing style reminds me of that of a crank.  This
could be an artifact of his foreign upbringing, but the 
inclusion of too much biographical material leads me to 
believe that he is deluding himself about the successfulness
of his research.
---David

Waiting to hear the referee's report on the actual paper...
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