Skeptic News - Tuesday #2
ric carter
: Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
: Nothing contained herein is ever endorsed for truth, accuracy or meaning.
: No telephones were disconnected during the production of this bulletin.
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# China working on cloning panda. BEIJING (AP) Scientists have taken a step
toward cloning giant pandas by growing a embryo containing a dead animal's
genes, which China hailed as a possible breakthrough in efforts to save
the endangered species. Scientists grew the embryo by squirting cells from
a dead female panda into egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit. The embryo
was nurtured over 10 months & will be implanted in a host animal's uterus.
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560017900-72e
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_374000/374616.stm
@ Links: World Wildlife Fund: The threat to the panda:
http://www.panda.org/resources/publications/species/threatened/index.htm
@ Roslin Institute: http://www2.ri.bbsrc.ac.uk/library/research/cloning/
# And: Giant pandas follow Dolly - fewer than 1000 in wild:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/asia-pacific/newsid_135000/135979.stm
: Is the cloning of endangered species more convenient than preserving their
habitats? Would you rather be free-range, or cloned and zoo-bound? Would you
rather clone pandas, humans, aliens, condors, dinosaurs, pigeons, dogs, me?
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# Colombian shaman now 'fashionable'. BOGOTA (AP) Taxis honk on the avenue
below and venetian blinds block the glare of street lamps in the midtown
loft where urbanites gather for a ritual until recently practiced only in
the Amazon jungle. Candles and incense are lit, and disciples take seats
as an aging Indian medicine man starts hissing, spitting, chanting and
stabbing at the air with a dried branch. One by one, jean-clad men and
women kneel before the shaman. Each downs a cup of bitter brown tea, then
awaits its psychedelic effects to set in. For decades, intrepid westerners
trekked to the Amazon to find the reclusive men who made yage (ya-hey), a
tea brewed from a jungle vine, Banisteriopsis Caapi. Beatnik writers Alan
Ginsburg and William Burroughs published a book, The Yage Letters [City
Lights Books, 1971.] Nearly a half-century later, the shamans are reaching
out to the West, taking their healing rites to urban living rooms. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560019468-1ec
: Do you favor belief systems that use hallucinogens? Is your belief system
so psychotic that hallucinogens would be redundant? Are you psychedelic???
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# INSURERS COULD PAY UP TO $35 BILLION IN Y2K COSTS IF FORCED TO:
http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9906/21/y2k.insurers.reut/index.html
# U.S. says world better prepared for Y2K than it was 6 months ago:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560023874-d44
# Fearing Y2K Panic, Venezuela Hires Psychiatrists - feed your head:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/990622/01/international-millennium-venezuela
# UN tackles millennium bug - hopefully with better results than in Rwanda:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_374000/374872.stm
: Who'll pay insurance claims after armageddon? Is Y2K panic justified, not
insane? Are you prepared for obliteration? Are you insured against Rapture?
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# Colder climate may stifle volcanoes. WASHINGTON (AP) Do ice ages suppress
volcanoes? Scientists have long known that the gases blasted into the air
by volcanoes can cool the climate. This may be a 2-way street. A study of
volcanoes in east California shows that over millions of years, eruptions
occurred in between cycles of colder climate; researchers say that glacial
conditions may have suppressed the volcanoes. "The correlation between
volcanic outbursts and climate suggests that the two are linked;" see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560022389-2c6
# Philippine Volcano Spews Ash, Smoke - no immediate reports of casualties:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/990622/06/international-philippines-volcano
# Mexico Quake Rattles Nerves, Damages 700 Homes, Overturns Shrines:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/990622/01/international-quake-mexico
: Will global warming stimulate volcanic/tectonic activity, as well as raise
sea-levels to drown coastal areas? Do aliens/deities control earthchanges?
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# Remote desert city takes the heat. LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (AP) There is
just no reason for this city to exist. It's you-must-be-kidding hot, it's
in the middle of nowhere, yet it's booming. The main reason is Lake Havasu
itself. http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560019933-1e2
# Ultra-Orthodox platoon on patrol. NIRAN, West Bank (AP) In the blistering
heat of the Jordan Valley, soldiers with black skullcaps and white fringes
hanging out from under their khaki shirts stood guard at a base along the
border with Jordan. In addition to guard duty, foot patrols and training,
these soldiers pray three times a day and receive daily Torah lessons from
a rabbi. The unit - the first consisting entirely of ultra-Orthodox Jews -
is part of an test program aimed at defusing the bitter draft controversy
between secular Israelis, who must serve in the military, and the ultra-
Orthodox, who have been exempt since the state was founded in 1948. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560020708-f08
: Would you rather patrol near Lake Havasu or the Dead Sea? Does your belief
system make you wear a black skullcap under the desert sun? Would you rather
pray at day, dusk or night? Do your deities have good tans? All over? How?
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SkeptiLinks:
@ Treaty of Versailles (and Why We're There Now)
http://ac.acusd.edu/History/text/versaillestreaty/vercontents.html
@ False rumors about Proctor & Gamble: http://www.pg.com/rumor
# BILLIONAIRES' CLUB - 3 of the 4 richest guys on Earth are Microsoft execs.
http://www.wired.com/news/news/email/tip/business/story/20314.html
@ Cassini Project: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/Spacecraft/
# Columbine memorial ideas pour in - mass catharsis:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560026118-cee
# Artist's Wake Ends In Nightclub Inferno - party 'til you burn:
http://news.excite.com/news/r/990622/08/odd-dutch-funeral
# Russia In Biggest Military Exercise Since Cold War - who pays?
http://news.excite.com/news/r/990622/07/international-russia-military
# Oswald files called a breakthrough
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560023167-b5a
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"Gnawing sleep from his foggy brain like a cat scratching for the last clean
spot in a sandbox, he threw his feet to the cold bare floor." --C.M.Blount
* r...@sonic.net * http://www.sonic.net/~ric * ICQ# 19633976 *
email INFO or SUBSCRIBE SKEPTICHAT to: majo...@lists.sonic.net
SkeptiChat archives: http://www.sonic.net/~ric/sc/files.htm
* UFO/ET/PSI * Conspiracy * Faith * Science * Fringe * Mind-Control *
ric carter
: Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
: Nothing contained herein is ever endorsed for truth, accuracy or meaning.
: No mental patients were taunted during the production of this bulletin.
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# Does 'Dark Energy' Pervade Empty Space? WASHINGTON It sounds more like
"Star Wars" than real science, but astronomers are taking seriously new
evidence that a mysterious "dark energy" pervades empty space. You can't
see or feel it, but this strange force is so powerful that it counteracts
gravity and makes stars and galaxies fly apart faster than scientists
previously thought. Without it, the universe would have caved in ages
ago. http://www.sltrib.com:80/1999/jun/06241999/nation_w/3573.htm
: When do you expect the universe to collapse? If your energy is low, do you
endanger the universe? Does dark energy brighten your day? Is the dark side
more powerful? Is the universe held together with duct tape, photons, love?
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# HACKERS ATTACK ARMY'S MAIN INTERNET SITE. Computer hackers defaced the US
Army's main Web site in the latest digital attack on a federal system.
Pentagon workers noticed it early Monday and repaired it. An Army flack
said administrators said hackers altered the www.army.mil site between 8
p.m. Sunday and 5 a.m. Monday, but no damage was done. "There were no sec-
urity breaches." http://cnn.com/TECH/computing/9906/28/AM-ArmyHacked.ap/
: What federal/military/other sites would you like to attack? Do you prefer
to target gov't, corporations, schools, charities, armies, hospitals, me??
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# Transplants could treat Parkinson's. NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists may have
found a way to generate unlimited supplies of brain cells to transplant
into Parkinson's disease patients. The source of those cells is for res-
earch and treatment is problematic. Getting them from aborted fetuses is
controversial; taking cells from animals raises fears of introducing new
diseases into people. The new work focuses on brain cells called neural
stem cells. These cells, which can be grown in batches in the lab, can
give rise to a variety of specialized brain cell types. Customized produc-
tion: http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560105936-62f
: How many brain cells would you like? Would you like to grow new areas on
your brain? Would you rather use brain cells from animals, aliens, deities?
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# Silicon Valley full of single men. SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) Silicon Valley has
earned a dubious distinction: it is now home to more unattached men than
any other major US metro area. High-tech professions have traditionally
attracted more men than women and the study highlights the disparity in
America's technology capital. Men here complain they outnumber women
3-to-1 in bars and restaurants some nights. Gay nerds are happy, though.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560105999-5fb
: Is Silicon Valley a good place to run social experiments on massed males?
Are such experiments currently under way? Do you mind being experimented on?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
@ Shroud of Turin & Other "Holy Relics". In its quest to create a religion
to gain power and wealth, the Church forgery mill did not limit itself to
mere writings but for centuries cranked out thousands of phony "relics" of
its "Lord," "Apostles" and "Saints." There were at least 26 "authentic"
burial shrouds scattered throughout the abbeys of Europe, of which the
Shroud of Turin is just one. The Shroud of Turin is not consistent with
Gospel accounts of Jesus' burial, which refer to multiple cloths and a
separate napkin over his face. http://konformist.com/blasphemy/shroud.htm
@ Information on international Shroud research: http://www.shroud.com/
@ The Shroud of Turin - An X-Ray? http://earthfiles.com/earth025.html
@ The Shroud of Turin - Blood Tests: http://earthfiles.com/earth026.html
@ Turin Shroud - Body Dematerialization? http://earthfiles.com/earth024.html
@ The Cloth of Oviedo: http://earthfiles.com/earth042.html
: What's your favorite holy relic? Is it real or faked? Have you made many
holy relics? Do you try to carve at least one god out of wood each day? Why?
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SkeptiBriefs:
@ Anomalies & the Birth of New Theories. Here are some constructive insights
on the value of anomalies in the search for deeper understanding of the
world. http://www.xnewsnetwork.com/Headlines/Anomalies/anomalies.html
# British breast milk 'highly contaminated' (BBC) As many as 350 pollutants,
including many known poisons, have been found in breast milk given to UK
babies: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_380000/380948.stm
# Seahenge removal on again. (BBC) Attempts to move a Bronze Age monument
are due to resume following a deal between archaeologists and protesters.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_380000/380649.stm
# THE Y2K BUZZ - LITERALLY. Y2K fallout is affecting all kinds of industries
- but who expected the millennial panic to reach such a buzz? Honey sales
rise with millennial panic.
http://wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/culture/story/20438.html
# BRAIN WAVES KEY TO MEMORY. Researchers have located the brain waves that
seem to play an important role in how humans navigate. The discovery could
lead to treatments for epilepsy and other disorders.
www.wired.com/news/news/email/explode-infobeat/technology/story/20440.html
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SkeptiLinks:
@ URANUS & NEPTUNE: http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/urnepplu.html
@ PLUTO: http://www.skypub.com/sights/moonplanets/plutochart99.html
@ An array of articles concerning Aleister Crowley from a wide variety
of sources: http://www.broon.demon.co.uk/media/crowley.htm
@ "The Kennedy Assassination: The Nixon-Bush Connection":
http://www.livelinks.com/sumeria/politics/kennedy.html
@ George W. Bush Jr. and the JFK assassination:
http://www.konformist.com/1999/bushjr.htm
@ On the credibility of various conspiracy writers:
http://www.umsl.edu/~skthoma/offline.htm
# The Academic Path to Pariah Status - how to ruin your career:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v45/i43/43a01201.htm
# PUBLIC TV MORE CORPORATE, LESS PUBLIC THAN EVER:
http://www.fair.org/reports/pbs-study-1999.html
# REPUTED CIA PROPRIETARY NSI HAS INTERNET MONOPOLY:
http://www.konformist.com/skolnick/1999/ss062799a.htm
http://www.konformist.com/skolnick/1999/ss062799b.htm
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"And death will be our darling, and fear will be our name." --Richard Farina
Terry Smith
> # Transplants could treat Parkinson's. NEW YORK (AP) - Scientists
> may have found a way to generate unlimited supplies of brain cells
> to transplant into Parkinson's disease patients. The source of
---------8<--------------------
> http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560105936-62f
Better may be: Kempermann, G. & Gage, F., H. (1999) New nerve cells for
the adult brain _In_ Rennie, J. [Ed.] Scientific American Vol:280-5.
pp;38-43. Scientific American, N.Y.
Terry
--
The `Future' is M-S-packer on Web-TV, and that phone won't parse Linux.
Alston and Harradine might not like that.
Goodnight Irene. Adelaide, 10th. May, 1999.
ric carter
: Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
: Nothing contained herein is ever endorsed for truth, accuracy or meaning.
: No Bilderbergers were assassinated during the production of this bulletin.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# Suspect in shooting spree kills self, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560194809-a35
# Also: Thumbnails of shooting victims, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560191934-4e7
# Also: Reconstructing the shooting spree, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560192576-afd
# And: Shooting suspect's church criticized, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560193097-bc3
# Motive sought in shooting spree, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560194464-371
# Also: Victim says gunman had 'predator' look, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560184791-19c
# Also: Alleged gunman had racist bent, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560187444-367
# Also: Israel shocked by Chicago shooting, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560178506-a15
# And: Gunman linked to anti-minority group, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560184788-a1b
: Does your belief system promote murder? Would you mind being killed your-
self? If you're a Caucasian, should you go back to Caucasia? Soon, I hope?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# Supremacist group's Web site closed. (AP) The official Web site of a white
supremacist group linked to the weekend Midwest shootings has closed, but
an associated site declares the attacks weren't hate crimes. The World
Church of the Creator's Web site was accessible after Benjamin Nathaniel
Smith committed suicide and included discussions of the drive-by shootings
which left 2 dead and 8 wounded. Later attempts to access the site were
met with a note that simply said, "Forbidden. You don't have permission to
access on this server." An affiliated Web site that itself hosts Internet
links to Church of the Creator sites from around the world has a message
that sought to defend "White Racialism" "in light of what is going on in
the news." http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560191952-bf7
: Do you promote racialism, murder, mayhem, because of deeply-held beliefs,
or for fun, profit, madness, alien implants, CIA mind-control rays, disease?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# Study: Internet feeds delusions. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) The Internet appears to
have infiltrated yet another aspect of modern life - the delusions of the
actively psychotic. Researchers cited evidence that fears of the Internet
are replacing Communists, the CIA and the controlling power of radio waves
as a frequent delusion of new psychiatric patients. Every case of Internet
delusion documented by the researchers involved people who actually had
little experience with computers. Clueless newbies run amok - see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560188540-cf2
: Does the Net control your mind? Does your mind control the Net? Is synergy
at work? Does everything partially control everything else, while nothing/
nobody controls everything completely, successfully? Are you totally out of
control? Are we all un-indicted co-conspirators? Does the Web enmesh you???
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
@ ELECTRONIC MIND WEAPONS - ABUSE PREVENTION. The first step toward preven-
tion of illegal mind manipulation with these electronic weapons is to make
their existence public knowledge and to document misuse wherever it occurs
so that the public can be on guard for perpetrators and symptoms of abuse.
Establishing the existence of the technology is step number one. Unfortu-
nately, it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, fact from
fraud. This is one factor making the exposure of the conspiracy so diffi-
cult, making it so easy for conspirators to succeed with their deceptions.
http://x45.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=489253212.6&CONTEXT=931283438.645202035
: Do you use electronic mind weapons for illegal manipulation? Are they fun?
Whose minds are you controlling right now? Mine too? Why am I thinking this?
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SkeptiLinks:
# Branch Davidian suit will continue - charges US gov't responsible:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560160509-46a
# Confederate heritage group rejects Ku Klux Klan support:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560194644-e6b
# Pres. Clinton authorized CIA to overthrow Yugoslav Pres. Milosevic:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560185356-c37
# "Father of H-bomb" pans nuke lab spy probes - Congress blabs more:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560184718-154
@ The Sage's 10 Facts in Respect to Alien Abductions:
http://x39.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=497193868&CONTEXT=931207465.1060241415
@ How to be a professional UFO-proponent in just a few EZ to follow Steps!!
http://x36.deja.com/getdoc.xp?AN=497188653&CONTEXT=931283122.704446492
# IS DONATING BLOOD A GOOD WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT? No, not really:
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/DeanFullTextTopics.cfm?ID=11609
# Embassy bomber Bin Laden may have new Afghan base - Taliban denies:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560178095-59d
# Kurdish suicide bomber injures 17 in Turkey - holy war continues:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560193182-887
# Greek anarchist bomber goes on trial - more attacks on US expected:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560191876-f27
# Also: Greece pressured to tackle terrorism, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560191697-cdc
@ GOV'T FILES!! GOV'T FILES!! TONS & TONS OF GOV'T FILES!!
http://www.foia.ucia.gov/scripts/popdoc.asp?docType=ufo
http://www.fbi.gov/foipa/ufo.htm
http://www.nsa.gov:8080/docs/efoia/released/ufo.html
http://www.blackvault.com/Main/main.html
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/
http://www.geocities.com/~pjctsign/sign-psfrms.htm
# Russia-Belarus merger may be near - Soviet empire being rebuilt:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560185812-1cf
# Judge hands over Princess Diana case to French prosecutors:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560189912-56a
# S. Africans demonstrate against Gore, AIDS - "Gore Greed Kills":
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560190525-ed3
# Iran museum houses Hitler paintings - two watercolors by Adolf:
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560188475-770
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Pray, n. To ask the laws of the universe be annulled on the behalf
of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy. --Ambrose Bierce