CAUTION: Several of the links below have Expired. Sorry! But the Internet is a transient event! I'm leaving the stories here as a record of what was said when...
NEWS FROM THE YEAR 2001
by Dave Thomas : nmsrdaveATswcp.com (Help fight SPAM! Please replace the AT with an @ )
CAUTION: Several of the links below have Expired. Sorry! But the Internet is a transient event! I'm leaving the stories here as a record of what was said when...
NASA: SOME METEORITES NOT SUGAR-FREE...
NASA reports on Dec. 19th that "A discovery by a NASA scientist of sugar and several related organic compounds in two carbonaceous meteorites provides the first evidence that another fundamental building block of life on Earth may have come from outer space. A carbonaceous meteorite contains carbon as one of its important constituents...."
Source: http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2001/01_106AR.html
Yeast Genes quickly surveyed by function insread of sequence...
Johns Hopkins reports on Dec. 27th that "Combining a decade of research advances, scientists have implemented a new method that essentially searches the entire yeast genome in an instant, looking for what the genes do rather than what they look like, say the researchers from Johns Hopkins and Rosetta Inpharmatics, Inc. The scientists mixed more than 4,600 yeast mutants, each lacking a different gene, and put the pooled mutants in an environment that tested their ability to repair DNA. They were then able to sort out how each mutant performed by using microarray technology, according to the report in the Dec. 21 issue of the journal Science...."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/12/011227074858.htm
Santorum Amendment Stripped from Education Bill...
The NCSE reports on Dec. 21st that "The Elementary and Secondary Education Authorization Act which is headed for the President's signature does not contain the antievolution "Santorum amendment", though there is brief mention of the topic of evolution in explanatory materials appended to the law. The good news for teachers is that they will not have to teach evolution any differently as a result of the new legislation....The bad news is that evolution is again singled out but even here creationists got less than they wanted. Whereas evolution was the only controversial scientific topic in the original Santorum amendment, Item 78 includes evolution as a parenthetical example of a controversial issue ... "
Source: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2001/ZZ/263_santorum_amendment_stripped_fr_12_21_2001.asp
But the Discovery Institute claimed success anyway. Bruce Chapman of the Discovery Institute reports on Dec. 21st that "The education bill just passed by Congress calls for greater openness to the study of current controversies in science, notably including biological evolution.What began as the 'Santorum Amendment', named for its originator, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), now resides in report language that says 'Where topics are taught that may generate controversy (such as biological evolution), the curriculum should help students to understand the full range of scientific views that exist..' The new bill represents a substantial victory for scientific critics of Darwin's theory and for all who would like science instruction to exercise thoroughness and fairness in teaching about contemporary science controversies. ..."
Source: http://www.discovery.org/news/congressGivesVictory.html
Alamogordo "Potter" Book Burning gets National Press...
It was picked up by Drudge, who got it from Yahoo: The Dec. 27th Yahoo/Reutoers story says "New Mexico church plans Harry Potter book burning... - A New Mexico church plans to burn Harry Potter books because they are 'an abomination to God,' the church pastor said on Wednesday. Pastor Jack Brock said he would have a 'holy bonfire' on Sunday at the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo in southern New Mexico to torch books about the fictional teen-age wizard who is wildly popular with young people."
Source: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-80672.html
Ken Frazier profiled in Albuquerque Journal
In a Dec. 21st article entitled "Mission of Skeptical Inquirer: Debunk Pseudoscience," the Journal's John Fleck writes "Ken Frazier has spent the last 24 years defending reason against tides of muddy thinking. As editor since 1978 of the Skeptical Inquirer magazine, the Albuquerque science writer has faithfully manned the ramparts against quack 'cancer cures,' faces on Mars and other pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo. Last month, Frazier was honored for that work with the 'In Praise of Reason' award from the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, known simply as 'CSICOP.' ..."
Source: http://www.abqjournal.com/paperboy/text/scitech/545293scitech12-21-01.htm
Anthrax blowing in the wind?
Debora MacKenzie of New Scientist reports on 14 December that "The two 'mystery' cases of anthrax in the US may have been caused by spores blown on the wind from Trenton, New Jersey where anthrax-laced letters were processed in October. If true, the fear that anthrax was carried widely across North America by contaminated mail may be unfounded...."
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991697
Did astrologers predict the WTC attacks?...
YES, says Chris Wright of the Boston Phoenix, dated Dec. 20th 2001..."Jihad terrorists surprised America on September 11, but apparently more than one astrologer saw it coming..."
Source: http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/documents/02048780.htm
GET REAL, says Chris Mooney of the American Prospect on Dec. 18th. "The evidence presented in the article, however, actually seems to prove exactly the opposite -- that astrologers didn't have a clue about September 11 before it happened. But don't tell that to Wright, whose loving citations of vague astrological predictions, without a single skeptical voice to serve as a counterbalance, may represent a new low in journalistic credulousness -- at least among outlets that don't aspire to supermarket tabloid status...."
Source: http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2001/12/mooney-c-12-18.html
NY Times's Anthony Lewis bids "Hail and Farewell," takes parting shot at creationists...
In the December 15 farewell editorial, Lewis writes "...after Sept. 11. Islamic fundamentalism, rejecting the rational processes of modernity, menaces the peace and security of many societies. But the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism is not to be found in Islam alone. Fundamentalist Christians in America, believing that the Bible's story of creation is the literal truth, question not only Darwin but the scientific method that has made contemporary civilization possible. Religion and extreme nationalism have formed deadly combinations in these decades, impervious to reason. Serbs in the grip of religion and mystical nationalist history killed thousands and expelled millions in their 'ethnic cleansing' of Bosnia. Fundamentalist Judaism and extreme Israeli nationalism have fed the movement to plant settlements in Palestinian territory, fueling Islamic militancy among Palestinians. Faith in reason was the foundation stone of the United States. ... Intricate checks and balances, they reasoned,would prevent the abuses of power that tempt all politicians. They put their faith not in men but in law: the law of the Constitution. ..."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/15/opinion/15LEWI.html (registration required)
Chronicle of Higher Education takes on Creationism, Intelligent Design...
Two excellent articles on creationism and intelligent design, plus a public forum, are featured in the Dec. 21st issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Beth McMurtrie writes "When John L. Omdahl teaches a course on biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of New Mexico, he sets aside a portion of his last lecture to explain why he disagrees with a central tenet of evolutionary science: that Darwin's theories of random mutation and natural selection offer a reliable framework for understanding how life developed...."
Source: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i17/17a00801.htm
Richard Monastersky writes "...And if intelligent design is going to win broader support, it must out-compete standard evolutionary theory in the hostile realm of scientific discourse -- where ideas are judged not by their popularity but by their explanatory power. In that world, only the fittest concepts survive."
Source: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i17/17a01001.htm
Wandering Hotspots? Oh my!
Hot spots, such as the one that has produced the Hawaiian Islands, are thought to stay put as continental plates move over them. Not so fast, says one researcher...In the 18 December New Scientist, Betsy Mason writes "But a new study by Robert Duncan of Oregon State University in Corvallis and his colleagues shows that the Hawaiian hot spot has probably shifted....The finding challenges ideas about how the plates have shifted in the past. For example, a prominent bend in the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain that occurred 43 million years ago was thought to have been caused when the Pacific plate suddenly changed direction. Now some geologists are throwing that idea overboard in favour of a moving hot spot...."
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991685
A Better Lie Detector?
ABC News reports on Dec. 16th about new proposals for using Brain Scans to detect lies. " 'I suspect that it may be much harder to manipulate brain blood flow,' [as opposed to conventional devices based on skin resistance, heartbeat, etc.] says Dr. Daniel Langleben, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight/liedetector011216.html
Porno sites grabbing up expired site names from churches, more...
ABC News writes on Dec. 17th that "You won't find any Bible scripture on the Brooklyn diocese website. Instead, visitors will get links to plenty of skin from a pornography operator in Europe. ..." The more popular the expired sites were, the more they are desired by the porn-hustlers...
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/TechTV/techtv_porndomain011217.html
Weird Squid is photographed at last...
ABC News writes on Dec. 20th that "Researchers Discover Huge, Unusual Squid at Deep Ocean Bottom...It's more than 20 feet long, has 10 limbs that drape from its crown like puppet strings and swims by flapping two huge fins above its head...."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/squid011220.html
The Man Who Made Dinosaurs
The Idaho State University web site has photographs of the opening of a museum exhibit about my late father, David A. Thomas, titled "Dave Thomas: The Man Who Made Dinosaurs" on-line at
http://www.isu.edu/departments/museum/
Specifically http://www.isu.edu/departments/museum/opening/opening.htm
Where does Navel Lint Originate?
Garry Barker of the Age (Australia) writes on December 10th that "America may lead the world in IT and Germany show the way in heavy engineering, but when it comes to the careful, scientific study of belly-button lint, Australia is on its own. Our scientists have discovered that lint mostly moves up from the underwear rather than down from the upper body and believe that a pierced navel will not collect fluff. This, they suggest, may be because pierced navels tend to be exposed.... 'Most people have belly-button lint and they want to know why it collects in the navel, what it is composed of and why it is almost always blue,' Dr Kruszelnicki said."
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/2001/12/10/FFX14BZOZUC.html
Area 51 guards go on strike...
It wasn't the aliens or time machines that caused the flap, either. It's all the overtime because of new security restrictions since the September 11th terrorist attacks. Keith Rogers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal writes on Dec. 11th that "A group of 70 security guards known as the 'camo dudes' walked off their jobs Monday in Las Vegas and at the covert military installation known as Area 51, a place they said they can't talk about."
Source: http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Dec-11-Tue-2001/news/17638293.html
Cloned monkey embryos are a "gallery of horrors" ...
Sylvia Pagán Westphal of New Scienctist writes on Dec. 12th that "A high percentage of cloned monkey embryos that look healthy are really a 'gallery of horrors' deep within, says a researcher at Advanced Cell Technology, the company that last month published the first paper on cloned human embryos. ... To try and figure out what was going wrong, Dominko looked at 265 cloned rhesus macaque embryos created by nuclear transfer - plucking out an egg's nucleus and then adding a nucleus from a donor cell. She followed development of the embryos through several divisions, from the two-cell stage until the 32-cell stage. Though they appeared superficially healthy, the cells in the vast majority of Dominko's embryos did not form distinct nuclei containing all the chromosomes. Instead, the chromosomes were scattered unevenly throughout the cells...."
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991679
2.5-year jail sentence given for psychic scam...
Mike Anderson of the Waco Tribune-Herald writes on Dec. 5th that "A Woodway woman who pleaded guilty to taking about $300,000 from callers nationwide in a psychic hot line scam was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison Tuesday."
Source: http://www.wacotrib.com/auto/feed/news/2001/12/05/1007533487.20432.7691.1285.html
"The Mothman Prophecies" are Coming? Is Coming? Help!
In this Dec. 6th story, IGN FilmForce talks with cryptozoologist Loren Coleman about the spooky true-life events that inspired the upcoming Richard Gere film called "The Mothman Prophecies." And what is a Mothman? "On November 15, 1966, four individuals – two married couples – were at what was essentially a lovers lane in Point Pleasant, West Virginia," explains Coleman, who has been researching so-called 'Fortean Phenomena' (from Charles Fort) since 1960. 'These two couples saw two giant red eyes, and it very much scared them...they didn't know what to make of it.' This, then, was the first reported sighting of the 'Mothman,' which Coleman goes on to say 'was described as 6-to-7 feet tall with red eyes and no head, as if the eyes were in the breast area, and with huge wings.'... While Coleman reports that the account was 'ridiculed in the local press,' something very strange began to happen: 'More and more people started seeing this creature. For the next thirteen months, over 200 individuals had some interaction with some strange phenomena'... "
Source: http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/316677p1.html
FTC fines herbal supplement company over false claims ...
The Associated Press writes on Dec. 6th that "Comfrey will not cure what ails you, and a Utah herbal supplement company will have to pay $100,000 for claiming otherwise. Christopher Enterprises, of Springville, sold a diet supplement containing the herb comfrey - which government officials say can cause liver damage if ingested...."
Source: http://www.nandotimes.com/business/story/188875p-1829763c.html
Mayo study puts prayer to the test...
Josephine Marcotty of the Star Tribune writes on Dec. 11 that "Some Mayo Clinic researchers believe that prayer helps patients, but their scientific study into the power of prayer didn't prove it. Cardiologist Dr. Stephen Kopecky and other researchers followed 799 Mayo Clinic heart disease patients. Half of whom were prayed for by others, although they didn't know it, and half of whom were not. After six months, researchers found no significant differences between the two groups in the number of deaths, heart attacks, hospitalizations or strokes. The research is published today in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a journal published by the Mayo Clinic. The findings drew immediate criticism as an attempt to measure God's will. Prayer and faith are deeply personal and the health benefits of prayer depend on the patient knowing about or participating in the prayers, said Dr. Greg Plotnikoff medical director of the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota. 'I don't think we can randomize God,' he said. 'I don't believe we can truly understand God's will. And I don't think that prayer is another pharmaceutical agent.'..."
Source: http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/889185.html
Turns out that the 'Red-faced female' WAS an NMSR member...
Margaret Mavretich writes
Dear Dave: As I read this month's NMSR reports, I noticed on page 7 under Problem #2 you stated that "only one member of NMSR asked a question at Monday's talk" - yourself, and that "the red-faced female and others are not NMSR members." Just so you are not accused of being untruthful, you should be aware that my husband and I (both of us are NMSR members) were in attendance at the Monday night presentation, and I believe I was the alleged "red-faced female". Based on the comments by Massimo Pigliucci regarding Dembski's arguments, we went there to listen and maybe learn somthing, if there was something to learn. We were there for our own edification, not as representatives of NMSR. And, we weren't hankering for a fight, but because of the length of the presentation, we were hankering for a late dinner! I did ask the second to the last question, and because of my complexion, I do turn red easily. But did I as Dembski alleges? I don't know and neither does Bob; the room was dimly lit, and Bob says he didn't notice a color change. In my question I noted that since information theory, as derived from the work of Wiener, and Shannon and Weaver was used in robotics (machines), might it not make more sense to use neural nets or some other discovery procedure that would be more consistent with evolution (in organic systems). I said I thought that it sounded like he (Dembski) was saying that God had created different kinds of robots. I was not shy about using the G word (even though Dembski seemed to be) because as a Catholic graduate, I know that when you talk about design in the universe, a Creator can be inferred whether it is by Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, or whomever. I did not let his statement that my question was a nonsequitor stand unchallenged because I have seen rhetorical devices used elsewhere to silence people asking legitimate questions. If Mr. Dembski thought that my question was unclear he might have asked for me to re-state it. Neither I nor my husband represented ouselves as members of NMSR. We would not and could not represent the group. I was asking the question for my own information. My delivery may have seemed strident; but, I sometimes come across that way. What happened after Mr. Dembski finished his presentation was interesting. As Bob and I rose to leave (we were very hungry!), three young men rapidly approached us from the aisle, and one of them announced that "I (Margaret) was confused." I replied "No I'm not." Two of the individuals then scattered behind us, while one confronted me again. He said "I believe the earth was created in six days." It seemed that he was looking for a confrontation (for myself, I just really wanted dinner!). I replied that it was wonderful that he believed that, and in fact, anything that brought him closer to his Creator was wonderful. As long as he didn't mix religion with science, whatever brought him closer to his Creator was wonderful. I shared with him that I was a Roman Catholic and though I read the Bible differently from him, that was not a problem. After we exchanged a few more similar comments, he tried to get our names and addresses to send us references for a book on Neanderthals, which we refused.to do. I was somewhat uneasy about the three young men who were so determined to tell me that I was confused, but then never told me why. I wonder, however, if both the attack against NMSR by Mr. Dembski, and this incident with the three young men were intended to discourage questions that might challenge any of Mr. Dembski's basic assumptions. In summary, some people may have been looking for a fight, but it wasn't us. We just wanted to go to dinner. Sincerely, Margaret Mavretich
Editor's Comment: Oh well, live and learn. I still think the important thing to focus on is ideas, or (in this case) Dembski's LACK of ideas and compelling arguments. That is more important than who said what to whom. We do thank Margaret for setting us right, and for her writeup of her encounters at the talk.
Phillip Johnson responds to NMSR on "hostile demeanor" at Dembski talk...
In his November 27th, 2001 Weekly Update, Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson responds to NMSR's "Hot News" article of Nov. 21st. Johnson writes "Dave Thomas of the local New Mexico skeptics group has protested that his group was not involved in any of the disrespecful behavior that was described in the report, and I am happy to accept his disclaimer. It would be helpful if he would go further, and make a positive statement similar to Kauffmann's. I am sure this would have a positive effect on the behavior of New Mexico audience members, some of whom seem to have formed the impression that they should be discourteous to anyone who questions Darwinism or materialism."
I have no problem encouraging supporters of evolution and science to be courteous in their comments, even to those who question "Darwinism" or "materialism."
I now call on Phillip Johnson and William Dembski to stop being so pre-occupied with who is being courteous and who is being hostile, and to actually deal with the scientific questions at hand. The issues are not personalities - the issues are evidence and data. For example, Dembski 's claim that genetic algorithms don't demonstrate that reproduction, selection, and mutation can develop "specified complexity" is obviously absurd to anyone who has used or written genetic algorithms. This powerful technique does indeed produce marvelously complex structures, with the only direction from the programmer typically being in the form of fitness functions such as "antennas that radiate uniformly are preferred" or "networks of shorter length are better." Dembski claims that the "designs" are implicit in these fitness functions, and are being snuck in via that route. But it's clear that the "designs" are NOT specified in the fitness function in most applications. Claiming that they are is as ridiculous as claiming that the design of a bird's wing is implicitly hidden in the Designer's specification of "the Sky."
See: http://www.arn.org/docs/pjweekly/pj_weekly_011127.htm
Phillip Johnson accuses NMSR of "hostile demeanor" at Dembski talk...
In his November 19th, 2001 Weekly Update, Berkeley law professor Phillip Johnson discusses the recent appearances of "Intelligent Design" author William Dembski in Albuquerque on November 12th and 13th. Johnson had this to say about New Mexicans for Science and Reason (NMSR): "One extended footnote is worth adding in conclusion. Dembski also spoke at the University of New Mexico the Monday night before his [Tuesday] encounter with Kauffman. ... In attendance at both talks were individuals from the local skeptics group, New Mexicans for Science and Reason (NMSR). During the Monday night presentation, members of this group asked standard questions about imperfect design, vestigial organs, and possible gradual routes to irreducible complexity. Their questions were perfectly legitimate, but the demeanor of those who asked them Monday night was hostile. They laughed and giggled during the talk and gave airs that said that they did not consider Dembski's work to be science. There were other questions such as "who designed the designer" by a person who was clearly agitated during the entire lecture. He kept grumbling under his breath and slapping his notebook as Dembski spoke. Many in the audience were not happy about Dembski's Monday lecture and one person even turned red. Dembski told her that her question was a non sequitur, which she did not like that at all, and those sitting with her were ready for a fight. The difference in the attitudes of the audiences between Dembski's Monday night seminar and the Tuesday Kauffman-Dembski encounter was therefore quite striking. On Tuesday, the NMSR folks were still there in numbers, but they were completely silent during the Q&A. This time the audience was not grumbling but was politely listening to both sides. The questions were very even for the most part and dealt mostly with the theories themselves. What was the crucial difference? I submit the difference was this: Stuart Kauffman went out of his way to state that what Dembski is doing is legitimate science (although Kauffman doesn't agree with it's [sic] application to biology). This set the tone for the audience and forced them to be respectful during the Tuesday encounter. Soon those participating in the hostility against ID will begin to look foolish, even to their own members."
Source: http://www.arn.org/docs/pjweekly/pj_weekly_011119.htm
Readers of this passage will definitely get the impression that many NMSR members asked hostile questions, giggled, grumbled, gave airs and turned red-faced at Dembski's Monday talk, but that NMSR members were strangely silent at Tuesday's debate, shocked into submission by Stuart Kauffman's comment that "design" can be the subject of scientific inquiry. As usual, there are a few problems with Johnson's comments; these provide a microcosm of problems with "Intelligent Design" in general..
PROBLEM #1: QUESTIONERS DID NOT GIVE THEIR AFFILIATIONS AT EITHER TALK. While several individuals did indeed ask Dembski questions on both Monday and Tuesday, and while many of the questioners obviously did not agree with Dembski's ideas, no questioners identified themselves by naming the groups they belonged to. One can only wonder how Johnson, who did not attend, learned of the questioners' affiliations.
PROBLEM #2: THERE WAS NO FLOOD OF HOSTILE QUESTIONS FROM NMSR MEMBERS AT MONDAY'S TALK. The truth of the matter: only ONE member of NMSR asked a question at Monday's talk. That was me, David E. Thomas, asking about "junk" DNA as reflected in the broken genetic sequence for ascorbic acid shared by humans, chimps, and gorillas. (Incidentally, I asked Dembski why this wasn't good evidence for common descent of humans and apes, and Dembski acknowledged that humans and apes might share common ancestry!) While NMSR appreciates Johnson's recognition of our status as one of New Mexico's premier science advocacy groups, it turns out there are a lot more people interested in evolution than belong to NMSR. The notebook banger, the red-faced female and others are not NMSR members. While Johnson does not explicity say that all of the "hostile" questions came from NMSR members, that is clearly the desired impression, delivered with the confidence of a well-practiced attorney.
PROBLEM #3: NMSR WAS NOT "COMPLETELY SILENT" DURING TUESDAY'S Q&A. Indeed, exactly the same number of NMSR members asked questions Tuesday as on Monday - ONE. The NMSR member who spoke up Tuesday, Marshall Berman, did not identify himself as a member of NMSR, nor as president of the New Mexico Academy of Science, nor as founder of the Coalition for Excellence in Science and Math Education, nor as a member of the State Board of Education. All of those affiliations could have been legitimately claimed, but were not. Like all the other questioners, Marshall was just asking his own question, and was not acting not on behalf of any single group. Incidentally, his question was about what ID would be used for if it in fact turns out to be valid. How would you use ID to study AIDS, for example? Dembski completely missed the point of this question, and sidetracked into a discussion of "evil" as a theological question.
CONCLUSION: Phillip Johnson used hearsay evidence from events he did not attend; this "evidence" was supplied by someone who clearly lacked good information. Johnson's effort to portray NMSR as "hostile" on Monday and "silent" on Tuesday does not correspond to real facts or evidence, but is clearly and simply political spin-doctoring employed for political purposes. His article gives other examples of spin-doctoring, such as labeling statements by Kaufmann that he liked as "admissions." (Think about it - the statement "He said he has a dog" doesn't have the negative connotations of the similar statement "He admitted he has a dog.") These examples of spin-doctoring and politicized manipulation of "facts" fall right in line with the rest of attorney Johnson's attacks on evolutionary science. We shouldn't be surprised. After all, what would you expect from a lawyer?
P.S. Many attendees of Tuesday's debate agreed that Kauffman "cleaned Dembski's clock." It wasn't even much of a contest. Stu Kauffman will be talking to NMSR at our February 13th, 2002 meeting.
Did Adam have a belly button? NO, says creationist group...
Gary Parker of Answers in Genesis writes recently "Did Adam have a belly-button? I believe we really have an answer to that, and we can say, ‘No — Adam didn't. Neither did Eve.’ Why? Because your bellybutton (navel), or tummy-button as it's sometimes called, is a sign that you were once attached to your mother. You depended on that life-line— the umbilical cord — for your nourishment from her body as you developed inside her. But our first parents, Adam and Eve, didn't develop that way. I believe that God would not have planted on them a false indication that they had developed in a mother’s womb...."
Source: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/docs/18db1260.asp
Answers in Genesis is coming to Albuquerque on April 25th-26th, 2002
Source: http://www.answersingenesis.org/events/details.asp?Event_ID=359
Global Warming? On MARS? ...
AP's Paul Recer and YAHOO report on Dec. 6th that "Vast fields of carbon dioxide ice are eroding from the poles of Mars, suggesting that the climate of the Red Planet is warming and the atmosphere is becoming slightly more dense...."
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20011206/sc/snows_of_mars_1.html
Dec. 1st Fireballs were from Russian Proton rocket...
NASA reports on Dec. 3rd in detail on the fireballs from the weekend before. Lots of pictures, information. (Thanks to Ken Frazier for the referral).
Source: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast03dec_1.htm?list540577
New Institute at West Virginia U. pushes Junk Science?
Former Albuquerque Journal reporter Scott Smallwood writes in the Dec. 7th Chronicle of Higher Education that "Mind, thought, and consciousness are the cornerstones of the Sydney Banks Institute for Innate Health, a year-old project at this public university's Health Sciences Center that has drawn the ire of many professors and the skepticism of some outsiders. ... 'We might as well establish the Mary Baker Eddy Institute for Christian Science Healing,' says one professor, asking to remain anonymous. ..." (Thanks to John Fleck for the referral)
Source: http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i15/15a00801.htm
Cloning Scientist is Reformed Creationist...
Joannie Fischer, of U.S. News and World Report, reports on the scientist who made stunning progress on cloning human cells. She writes on December 3rd that "Michael West, by his own admission, is 'an absolute obsessive-compulsive' who views life as a mission. A self-described political conservative, he was in his early years a creationist, and he trained as a paleontologist with the goal of proving the Bible's account of God's design. But as he studied the fossil record, instead of finding God's divine plan, he found an endless account of disease and suffering. Out of that bleak vision he developed a new spiritual fervor: 'If God is about love and life,' he says now, 'then we should do everything we can to end suffering and death.' So in his early 20s, West knew his holy grail: to conquer aging and death - a goal so stunning in its scope that many colleagues over the years have discounted him as a quixotic dreamer. 'When I talk about ending aging, I'm not talking about some vain fountain of youth,' he explains. 'I'm talking about ending the suffering of aging: macular degeneration, cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease.'... "
Source: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/011203/misc/3cloning.htm
Briefly...
Did the great masters TRACE? http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/art_clues011204.html
Can robots be made to smell underwater, like lobsters? http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DyeHard/dyehard.html
Can you HEAR Leonid Meteors? Well, YES, sort of...
This NASA article of November 26th explains how we can apparently "hear" something at the very instant it's whizzing by many miles overhead. The phenomenon is called "electrophonics." NASA writes "Colin Keay, a physicist at the University of Newcastle in Australia, not only believes in electrophonic meteors, he's also figured out what causes them. According to Keay, glowing meteor trails give off not only visible light, but also very low frequency (VLF) radio signals. Such radio waves, which oscillate at audio frequencies between a few kHz and 30 kHz, travel to the ground at the speed of light -- solving the vexing problem of simultaneity. Of course, human ears can't directly sense radio signals. If Keay is right, something on the ground -- a "transducer" -- must be converting radio waves into sound waves. In laboratory tests, Keay finds that suitable transducers are surprisingly common. Simple materials like aluminum foil, thin wires, pine needles -- even dry or frizzy hair -- can intercept and respond to a VLF field."
Source: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast26nov_1.htm?list540577
Thanks for Ken Frazier for the tip!
Osama bin Laden got his atom bomb plans... from the Journal of Irreproducible Results!
That's right! The A-bomb plans discovered at one of the terrorist's abandoned Afghan hideouts turned out to be taken directly from the famous comedy science journal. Lycos reports on Nov. 20th that "In a Nov. 15 article in the Times of London, journalist Anthony Loyd writes that next to 'physics and chemistry manuals devoted to molecular matter,' he discovered this document, much of which had him confused: 'The vernacular quickly spun out of my comprehension,' he wrote. But some of it even Loyd could comprehend: 'There were phrases through the mass of chemical symbols and physics jargon that anyone could understand, including notes on how the detonation of TNT compresses plutonium into a critical mass producing a nuclear chain reaction and eventually a thermonuclear reaction.'" That last phrase links the information in bin Laden's hideout to the Journal of Irreproducible Results joke A-bomb article from 1979, which states "The device basically works when the detonated TNT compresses the Plutonium into a critical mass. The critical mass then produces a nuclear chain reaction similar to the domino chain reaction (discussed in this column, 'Dominos on the March,' March 1968). The chain reaction then promptly produces a big thermonuclear reaction. And there you have it, a 10-megaton explosion!"
Sources:
http://news.lycos.com/news/story.asp?section=LycosCulture&storyId=48523
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/17/international/asia/17SPOO.html?searchpv=nytToday (registration required)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11935
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=95001490
http://winn.com/bs/atombomb.html (This is the actual JIR article!)
Article pans "remote viewers" taking advantage of 9-11 attacks...
Lionel Van Deerlin of the San Diego Union Tribune writes on Nov. 28 that "No government agency seems willing to admit dabbling in the occult. But self-identified remote viewers who say they conjured visions for the CIA a quarter-century ago insist they are being used again...."
Source: http://uniontrib.com/news/uniontrib/wed/opinion/news_1e28deerlin.html
Scientists Use Hubble to Detect Atmosphere of Distant Planet...
ABC News reports on Nov. 28th that "In a method that could someday be used to detect life on distant planets, scientists have analyzed the atmosphere of a planet at least 150 light-years away...."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/planet011128.html
NCSE examines Discovery Institute's list of "100 Scientists opposing Darwinism"...
The Nov. 29th article by NCSE's Skip Evans examines how the Discovery Institute slyly misrepresents scientists who think there may be more to evolution than simply Darwinian Natural Selection as being opposed to "evolution" itself.
Source: http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/articles/723_pr87_11292001__doubting_dar_11_29_2001.asp
Dennis Lee loses court battle...
"GEET" is a technology promoted by "Free Electricity" huckster Dennis Lee on this year's tour; GEET supposedly allows you to run your car on 80% water and 20% gasoline. GEET probably doesn't work; but, the original promoter, Paul Pantone, has successfully sued Lee to stop him from peddling GEET classes himself.
Source: http://www.geet.com/
Collapses of WTC buildings were like small earthquakes...
YAHOO and the AP reported on November 15th that "The collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center caused ground shaking similar to a pair of small earthquakes. The collapse of the South Tower at 9:59 a.m., Sept. 11, generated shaking of a magnitude of 2.1. When the North Tower fell at 10:28 a.m. the shaking reached a magnitude of 2.3, according to researchers at Columbia University. The vibrations were similar to those generated by a small earthquake that occurred beneath the east side of Manhattan on January 17. Earthquakes of this magnitude can be felt but rarely cause damage to structures. The researchers, reporting in Eos, the weekly journal of the American Geophysical Union, said the collapse of nearby buildings was probably not caused by the shaking that resulted from the fall of the towers after they were struck by hijacked airliners. Instead, damage to other buildings was most likely caused by falling material from the towers striking them and by the great blast of air pressure and debris that burst outwards when the towers fell, according to the research team at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. The collapse of the towers was measured by several seismographs, one 266 miles away in Lisbon, N.H., according to the 12-member research team, led by Won-Young Kim, Lynn Sykes, Klaus Jacob, Paul Richards and Arthur Lerner-Lam."
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20011115/us/attacks_towers_collapse_1.html
US intelligence agencies recruiting psychics to help find Osama Bin Laden...
The Sunday Times (UK) reports on Nov. 11th that "US intelligence agencies are recruiting psychics to help predict future attacks and to find Osama Bin Laden. The recruits, known as "remote viewers", claim to be able to visualise happenings in distant places by using paranormal powers. The US government established a remote viewing programme, known as Stargate,in the 1970s in an attempt to utilise the skills claimed by psychics to combat communism. The programme, at the Stanford Research Institute in California, was shut down in 1995 after the end of the cold war. Now, however, US intelligence agencies are reactivating some of their old paranormal spies. Prudence Calabrese, whose Transdimensional Systems employs 14 remote viewers, confirmed that the FBI had asked the company to predict likely targets of future terrorist attacks. 'Our reports suggest a sports stadium could be a likely target,' she said."
Our own Bill Fienning has commented that "This is amazing. I would never thought that a sports stadium filled with 50000 people would be a target for terrorists. Obviously, these remote viewers must be psychic."
Source: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/11/11/stiusausa01012.html
Evangelists Say Harry Potter Books Are Evil...
YAHOO and Reuters report on Nov. 15th that "A group of Taiwanese Evangelists said on Thursday that the Harry Potter books were evil and warned parents not to let their children read the adventures of the boy wizard. The Ling-Leung Church posted an essay on its Web site, warning its 7,000 followers off the books.`The Harry Potter books are evil. They teach sorcery and run counter to the Bible' ..."
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011115/od/potter_dc_1.html
Answers in Genesis: "The Earth is ROUND!"
An article by Danny Faulkner of the young-earth creationist group Answers in Genesis attacks Geocentrist creationists: "Some creationists believe that the scientific assault on the Bible did not begin with biological evolution, but with the acceptance of the heliocentric (or more properly, geokinetic) theory centuries ago. These people believe that the Bible clearly states that the Earth does not move, and hence the only acceptable Biblical cosmology is a geocentric one. Modern geocentrists use both Biblical and scientific arguments for their case. We examine these arguments, and find them poorly founded. ..."
Source: http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/magazines/tj/docs/TJ_v15n2_Geocentrism_Creation.asp
Artificial Liver developed...
In a Time report on inventions of the year for 2001, the magazine states "The Bio-Artificial Liver developed by Dr. Kenneth Matsumura has a two-part chamber—patient's blood on one side, live rabbit cells suspended in a solution on the other—with a semipermeable membrane in between. As toxins from the blood pass through the membrane, the rabbit cells metabolize them and send the resulting proteins and other good things back to the other side. Because the rabbit cells never come into direct contact with human blood, the chances of infection or rejection are minimized...."
(Yes, Kenneth Matsumura is indeed married to NCSE's stalwart supporter Molleen Matsumura!)
Source: http://www.time.com/time/2001/inventions/health/inliver.html
Don't want the kiddos to watch MTV? Send them to MSTV (Math and Science Television) instead...
This fascinating series of math/science vignettes has been developed at Marshall Berman's GetSmarter web site. Check it out!
Source: http://getsmarter.org/mstv/flash_index.cfm
Leonids to put on best show in DECADES...
Yes, it's time for Earth's annual trek through the dust of comet Tempel-Tuttle. But this year, conditions are promising for one of the best meteor shows in many years. The peak time here in New Mexico is slated for the wee hours of Sunday, November 18th, around 3:00 AM. Start watching late Saturday night, and stay up for the show! There could be thousands of shooting stars per hour at the peak.
Sources :
http://www.wonderquest.com/meteors.htm
http://www.abqjournal.com/news/508057news11-16-01.htm (subscription required)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51758-2001Nov6.html
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/leonid_watching_011106-1.html
Albuquerque, New Mexico estimates:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/leonids_citytimes-2.html
New form of matter? Standard model violated?
The Washington Post reports on November 9th that "An experiment that involved smashing together certain subatomic particles at great speeds produced an unexpected result, prompting physicists yesterday to announce that they might be on the verge of finding a new form of matter or energy. ... 'It could be a very big deal,' said Kevin McFarland, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Rochester in New York who helped conduct the research. 'It would be very exciting if we find another force.' The scientists, who are associated with the Department of Energy's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, are conducting follow-up experiments with a high-energy particle accelerator to verify and explain the result. ... "
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64283-2001Nov8.html
Saturday Night Live tromps on John Edward...(he sees Dead People...)
Will Ferrell played the popular medium on the Oct. 13th show, while Drew Barrymore played "Fran's Friend" and Maya Rudolph played "Fran."
Here's a sample:
John Edwards: [ sighs ] Okay. I see him working.. with something.. his hands are holding.. a thing.. a.. a lantern.. [ quickly ] No, no, no! I take it back, that was dumb! That was dumb! He did hold a thing.. he did a hold a thing..
Fran's Friend: Yes! He held a book, he was a teacher!
Fran: This is incredible!
John Edwards: A teacher. Okay, he was a teacher.. he was a teacher.. and, for some reason, I'm getting a school. Does that mean anything?
Fran: Yes! He taught at a school!
John Edwards: Yes. Yes, he taught hi-i-i-i.. s-s-s-sc.. he taught.. he was a teacher of f-f-f-.. Physics.
Fran's Friend: No.
John Edwards: Phys Ed?
Fran's Friend: No.
John Edwards: Physiology?
Fran's Friend: No, he taught -
John Edwards: Sshhh! Ssshhh! Sshhhh! Finance? [ no response ] Phonics? [ no response ] Phy-philosophy! Philosophy! [ no response ] He taught people?
Fran's Friend: Yes, he did. He taught a fishing course at the Learning Annex. ....
Source: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/scripts/01cjohnedwards.phtml
Biologists Naive About Terror Threat - Expert ....
ABC and Reuters reported on Nov. 6th that "A scientific adviser to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned biologists Tuesday they should become less naive to prevent the risk of their work being abused for terrorist purposes. 'Our colleagues in the physics community have long understood the application of physics in weaponry,' Dr. George Poste said in an interview during a pharmaceutical conference. Poste, a member of the U.S. Defense Science Board of scientists and industrialists which advises Rumsfeld on scientific developments, said biology should 'lose its innocence.' ..."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20011106_233.html
Move Over, Polygraph... here comes Voice Stress Testing!
Newhouse News Service reports that "Police departments across the country are buying the controversial Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, which its manufacturer claims can tell when a person is lying merely by the sound of his voice. When a suspect speaks, a computer program 'listens' for minute vocal shifts that, in theory, indicate stress. The technology's critics, citing government and university research, say the CVSA is little more than an electronic Ouija board with accuracy rates to match. At best, they say, voice stress analysis scares suspects into confessions; at worst, it can incriminate the innocent. CVSA results aren't admissible in most courts, under the same Supreme Court decisions that generally bar polygraph evidence. ..."
Source: http://www.newhouse.com/archive/story1a110501.html
Creationists drop some flawed arguments!!!!
This could be a First! The Answers in Genesis crew has published a list of "evidences" that sould NOT be used; "some are definitely fallacious, while others are merely doubtful or unsubstantiated."
A partial list:
"Which arguments should definitely not be used?
‘Darwin recanted on his deathbed’. This is almost certainly not true, and there is no corroboration from those who were closest to him. It would also prove nothing about the truth or falsity of evolution.
‘Moon-Dust argument proves a young moon’. The early estimates—by evolutionists—of the influx of moon dust were wrong, so the evidence is inconclusive either way. See also Moon Dust and the Age of the Solar System (Technical).
‘NASA computers proved Joshua’s “long day”.’ Not promoted by major creationist organizations, but an urban myth in wide circulation, especially on the Internet. ...
‘Woolly mammoths were snap frozen during the Flood catastrophe’. This is contradicted by their geological setting. ...
‘The Castenedolo and Calaveras human remains in “old” strata invalidate the geologic column.’ These are not sound examples—the Castenedolo skeletal material shows evidence of being an intrusive burial ....
‘Dubois renounced Java man as a “missing link” and claimed it was just a giant gibbon...."
and MORE!
Source: http://www.answersingenesis.org/Home/Area/faq/dont_use.asp
Killer Asteroid Odds Lowered...
ABC News reported on Nov. 8th that "Scientists say there's at least one thing people can worry less about these days: a giant asteroid obliterating Earth. According to data gleaned from the [New Mexican] Sloan Digital Sky Survey <http://www.sdss.org/>, the chance of a catastrophic collision with an asteroid over the next 100 years is about one in 5,000. That's a much sunnier prospect than previous estimates that concluded the chances were a third greater, or about one in 1,500. ..."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/asteroidrisk011108.html
and http://www.sdss.org/news/releases/20011108.asteroid.html
Seen one sheep, seen 'em all? NOT IF YOU'RE A SHEEP!
ABC News reported on Nov. 7th that "Some furry faces are unforgettable — at least to other sheep. It turns out the animals use similar neural networks as humans to both recognize and remember each other's faces. ..."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/sheep011107.html
Chemical DESIGN???
Nature reports on Nov. 5th that " ... there is no denying it - the patterns in a mixture of chemicals reported by two researchers spell out the letters of the Roman alphabet. Is this a spooky message that our alphabet is a natural phenomenon rather than an arbitrary invention? No. It is simply a demonstration that the patterns that can arise spontaneously in nature have an almost limitless variation. In other words, we can find almost any picture if we try hard enough. ..."
Source: http://www.nature.com/nsu/011108/011108-4.html
DID ASTROLOGERS PREDICT WTC ATTACKS?
Well, ur, um, uh, No!
Check this prediction out!
"Monthly Global Predictions for September 2001
Date Posted: August 31, 2001
Compared to August the month of September is likely to be relatively a lot less stressful for most of the world, especially from natural and man-made accidents, terrorism, and violence standpoints. Also, after the first week of September, expect some relief to the volatile region of Israel and Palestine. ..."
Source:
http://www.astroinsight.com/predictions/2001/sep/1.html
ANTHRAX QUACKERY..
An excellent article on "Anthrax Quackery" by Daniel R. Barnett appears on the Texas skeptics' web site.
The article covers colloidal silver, homepathic, and other "remedies."
See: http://www.ntskeptics.org/2001/2001november/november2001.htm#anthrax
And also:
"Websites targeted for illegal Cipro sales," BBC, 30 October
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1627000/1627194.stm
MEDIUM JOHN EDWARDS WAS SLATED TO TALK TO WTC FATALITIES; SHOW SCRUBBED
Apparently, the prospect of a medium trying to communicate with those killed in the terror attacks was too much, even for sleazy cable TV networks...
In THE STARR REPORT, Michael Starr wrote on October 25, 2001 "Crossing Over' taps into Sept. 11 tragedy ... Broadcasting & Cable magazine is reporting that 'Crossing Over' host John Edward 'will feature attempts to communicate with victims of the Sept. 11 attacks' in several episodes airing next month during November sweeps."
Source: http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/32523.htm
But by the next day, the idea had been scrapped. Lisa de Moraes of the Washington Post wrote on Friday, October 26, 2001 that "John Edward, the medium who hosts the chat-with-the-dead show 'Crossing Over,' has taped segments in which he purports to contact victims of the World Trade Center attacks. But America may never get to hear what they have to say because yesterday afternoon production house Studios USA axed the whole idea after reporters and station execs -- the two least queasy segments of society -- actually cringed. Studios USA Domestic Television President Steve Rosenberg says they scrapped the idea after getting a whiff of the negative reaction."
Source:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53372-2001Oct25.html
HAVE A GOOD IDEA TO FIGHT TERRORISM? GET IT SUBMITTED TODAY!
Yahoo reports on October 25 that "Pentagon Seeks a Few Good Ideas to Fight Terrorism ...WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon appealed to Americans on Thursday to send in bright ideas on thwarting terrorism, announcing an unusual, open competition to speed the winners into use. The Defense Department said it was looking for help in ''defeating difficult targets, conducting protracted operations in remote areas and developing countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction.''
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20011025/ts/attack_pentagon_ideas_dc_1.html
SCIENCE GAINS ON CURE FOR ANTHRAX?
Steve Connor, Science Editor for the UK Independent, writes on 24 October 2001 "Scientists have made two breakthroughs in anthrax research that could lead to a cure for the disease. Anthrax can be easily treated with antibiotics if it is caught early enough, but often it is not. The most deadly form is caused by victims inhaling the bacterial spores. A team of researchers has identified the critical molecule on human cells that allows the anthrax toxin to lock on to and destroy the body's vital tissues. A second team of scientists has revealed the three-dimensional structure of the anthrax toxin. The finds open the way to designing new drugs that can block the poison before it has a chance to kill. Both studies, which were to appear in the scientific journal Nature next month, have been published early on the internet because of the importance that the work will have in developing effective countermeasures against anthrax attacks. A spokesman for Nature said a deeper understanding of the anthrax toxin would point the way to better treatments and vaccines.
Source: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=101161
ICR responds to the PBS Evolution series on their web site:
It's official. The piece, by Ken Cumming, compares "Darwinists" to the terrorists who hit the WTC. A sample:
"...It was about 10 a.m. in the morning of September 11, 2001 when Barbara Olson called her husband Tom from a cell phone on board American Airlines flight 77 to tell him, "We've been hijacked!" Tom told her in turn that he saw on TV along with millions of others that two airliners already had crashed into the World Trade Center an hour earlier. In one grand wakeup call, America heard the cry for "help" from thousands of civilians victimized by Osama bin Laden's god-squad."
"Only 13 days later on Public Broadcasting Stations, a seven-part, eight-hour event of grave importance was also witnessed by millions of Americans, but the pall of New York City, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania airline crashes overshadowed all other news. PBS with the aid of WGBH in Boston and Clear Blue Sky Productions televised one of the boldest assaults yet against our public schools and the millions of innocent victims - our school children."
"Both events have much in common. The public was unaware of the deliberate preparation that was schemed over the past few years to lead to these events. And while the public now understands from President Bush that 'We're at War' with religious fanatics around the world, they don't have a clue that America is being attacked from within through its public schools by a militant religious movement called Darwinists."
source: http://www.icr.org/headlines/pbsevolution.html
Mike Keefe of the Denver Post, 2001-10-12, on Bible/Koran "Codes" and Terrorism...
Go to http://www.intoon.com/cartoon.php
and from left column, click on "Message"
Mormon confesses to WTC attacks...
ROBERT KIRBY of the Salt Lake Tribune writes on September 29, 2001 "Now seems like a good time to confess the part I played in the World Trade Center attack. I am guilty. Come and get me. I offer as proof the fact that I am a Mormon. According to Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, the deaths of thousands of Americans was God's way of getting even with such evil groups. Groups specifically mentioned were homosexuals, Pagans, the ACLU, People for the American Way and feminists. God, who apparently needs to work on his marksmanship, killed more than 6,500 innocent bystanders to make this point. Pat and Jerry didn't come right out and say Mormons were responsible, but since we aren't mainstream Christian enough for them, I thought I might help out by calling in a tip on myself. Falwell has since recanted his list of suspects, saying that he was wrong to pin the cause of the attack on well-dressed men, wood nymphs, and working women, instead of on, well, the people who actually did it. Good idea. If God really wanted to target evil behavior, he might start whacking the proud. And if I recall my New Testament correctly, Christ's severest judgment was reserved for the arrogant religious elite. NOTE TO JERRY AND PAT: Helmets, guys. ..."
Source: http://www.sltrib.com:80/09292001/saturday/136111.htm
Terror-Related Hoaxes and Images Hit the Net...
ABC News reporter Paul Eng writes on Sept. 28 "The image is chilling: A man stands atop the World Trade Center while in the background an American Airlines jet is seen speeding towards his tower, just moments away as he smiles for the camera. The only problem is it's a fraud, one of the many that have been launched into cyberspace along with the flood of other messages about the Sept. 11 terror attacks...."
See the image at: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/WTC_nethoaxes010928.html
This man is getting around, and appears in dozens of images now flowing through the Net...
Speaking of Internet Images, that may be how the terrorists encoded secret messages...
Brian Ross af ABC News reports on Oct. 4th that "The terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks may have communicated over the Internet using a computer version of invisible ink that allows secret messages to be concealed in image and music files...."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/DailyNews/PRIMETIME_011004_steganography.html
Discovery Institute releases list of 100 Scientists who "Challenge Darwinism."
It's on-line at http://www.reviewevolution.com/press/pressRelease_100Scientists.php . The fairly bland statement reads "I am skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."
Before you get too alarmed, however, consider the following: "...After the war, Einstein wanted to rebuild international contact. This decision did not make him very popular either. After a while, people set up an anti-Einstein clan, and a book entitled: "100 Authors against Einstein" was published. His reaction to this was: 'If I am incorrect, one author would have been enough.'..."
Source: http://library.thinkquest.org/C004471/tep/en/biographies/albert_einstein.html
Phil Johnson cites Albuquerque Tribune... and shows creationism IS the force behind the Santorum Amendment!
Top Intelligent Designist Phillip Johnson, recovering from his stroke, says "Determined to preserve its power to promote philosophy as science, and unwilling to concede that there is anything controversial about 'evolution,' the scientific elite is resisting the move towards candor in education with all its might. An editorial in the Albuquerque Tribune for September 5, 2001, attacking the Santorum Amendment, concluded that 'Evolution isn't controversial among scientists, and it isn't just about biology and human origins. It's fundamental to our entire universe and how we see ourselves within it.' ”
Source: http://www.arn.org/docs/pjweekly/pj_weekly_010910.htm
Here's another source showing creationist support for the Santorum amendment:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2001/0623news.asp
And another...http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~idea/senate.htm
And another...http://www-acs.ucsd.edu/~idea/lawedquotes.htm
NCSE posts answers to Discovery Institute attacks on PBS Evolution Series ...
An excellent series of articles counters creationist rebuttals of the PBS/WGBH series. Be sure to check out Ken Millers article entitled "0 for 3", The Discovery Institute Strikes Out ," which shows how the Discovery Institute's most severe charges against evolution don't hold up.
Source: http://www.ncseweb.org/article.asp?category=12
Has a "Language Gene" been found?
ABC News reports on Oct. 3rd that "Scientists say they have discovered the first gene tied to a language and speech disorder a find that may bring the genetics revolution closer to identifying the biological roots of conscious thought and defining what it means to be human. The gene, FOXP2, is not specifically a gene that enables us to talk. Instead, it is responsible for a protein that enables the brain's language circuitry to function. ..."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20011003_1201.html
Dinosaur Embryo Skin Found Inside Fossilized Eggs...
Reuters reports on Sept. 30 that "The remains of dinosaur embryo skin were found inside fossilized eggs discovered in the south of Argentina, paleontologists have said. `If the discovery of these eggs is a rarity, then finding skin is a bombshell because it's the first time that embryonic skin has been preserved in a fossil,' paleontologist Rodolfo Coria said on Friday...."
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010930/sc/argentina_dinosaur_dc_2.html
Sequel to "The Omega Code" is panned...
The "Omega Code" featured the Bible Code mixed with the apocalyptic end of the world on Y2K. That movie was the worst I've seen; the multiple plot threads weren't even tied up, they were simply abandoned as the Rapture enveloped the earth at New Year's Eve of 1999. But now there's a sequel, and Cody Clark of Mr. Showbiz. notes "Megiddo: The Omega Code 2.... The new millennial thriller is not a sequel to the 1999 film, as its title suggests, but something more akin to a big-budget remake. ... And when Beelzebub finally reveals himself (shortly before being banished to a sidesplittingly literal hell in the fiery bowels of the earth) he looks like a CGI insert lifted straight out of Doom or Quake.(The voice of MTV's Butt-head rang out in my mind's ear, scoffing, 'That's the wussiest Satan ever!') About 10 minutes north of the closing credits, [American President] Biehn rolls his eyes heavenward and implores, "Why me, Lord?" He's not the only one who was asking...."
On the Mr. Showbiz rating scale (From the best of 5 "Be first in line" down to 2 "Wait for the video"), "Megiddo" gets an awful 1: "Not even on a plane."
Source: http://mrshowbiz.go.com/movies/reviews/MegiddoTheOmegaCode2_2001/review.html
MORE TERROR ATTACK RUMORS & REACTIONS
Remote Viewers claim to be watching the terrorists...
see http://www.trvinstitute.com/
Kate Nelson of the Trib writes on Sept. 22nd that "Internuts need to get off their butts and do something proactive. If one more person includes me in a mass e-forwarding of 'An Afghani-American Speaks,' I will heave my computer through the nearest window. The same goes for any more malark-E on Nostradamus' 'prediction' of a terrorist attack, any more e-mail petitions for peace, any more e-copies of a 28-year-old Canadian editorial, and any more e-pictures of Satan in the smoke...."
See http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news01/092201_news_nelson.shtml
FlashBack: Remember when John McCain accused Jerry Falwell of "intolerance"?
The headlines read "McCain and Bush clash over Revs. Robertson, Falwell"
On February 29, 2000, Joel Connelly and Ed Offley of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote "The Republican presidential contest erupted into factional warfare yesterday, as Sen. John McCain labeled several Christian conservative leaders as 'agents of intolerance' and Gov. George W. Bush accused his rival of 'needless name calling.'... "
Source: http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/national/gops29.shtml
See also: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/bush_bobjones000228.html
And this: "Falwell debuts the new John McCain voodoo doll."
http://www.robearly.com/EarlyNews/FwllDoll.htm (tongue firmly in cheek for this one..)
PBS "Evolution" Special -- reactions are all over the map.
Judging by the attacks from both the right and the left, it seems PBS's show may have been balanced, after all...
Here is a poorly-written Washington Times editorial by Jonathan Wells slamming the PBS Evolution series:
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20010923-50805100.htm
Here is a sympathetic yet critical review of the PBS Evolution series by Roger Downey of The Seattle Weekly http://www.seattleweekly.com/features/0138/news-downey.shtml
And Slate.com has slammed the series as "an exercise in Creationist appeasement."
Source: http://slate.msn.com/culturebox/entries/01-09-24_115965.asp
Finally, the PBS show has resulted in the intellectuals at Seattle's Discovery Institute calling their creationist colleagues at Answers in Genesis "guitar-playing hillbillies." On September 26, Matt Carter, Tri-Valley Herald (San Francisco area) wrote "...'We wanted to talk about science, and they wanted us to do Sunday school,' said Mark Edwards, a spokesman for the Discovery Institute. 'The final episode paints a picture that the only critics of Darwinian theory are these guitar-strumming hillbillies in Kentucky who are creationists, and that's just not true. We're glad we're not part of that stereotype.' "
Source: http://www.reviewevolution.org/press/fromPress_ScienChalDarwin.php
Summer warm, but not a record...
See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010927/aponline105322_000.htm
NATURE slams "paranormal" stamps...
NATURE calls Nobel Laureate Brian Josephson to task for suggesting that quantum physics could help to explain the paranormal. In Nature 413, 339 (2001), ERICA KLARREICH writes about a new stamp packet issued by the Royal Mail, with words by Josephson suggesting that QM can explain telepathy and other paranormal phemonena. "But few physicists accept that telepathy even exists, says Andrew Steane, a quantum physicist at the University of Oxford. Robert Evans, a physicist at the University of Bristol, says he is 'very uneasy about something from the Royal Mail saying quantum physics has something to do with telepathy,' he says."
Source: http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v413/n6854/full/413339b0_fs.html
(subscription required)
Atlantis found?
See http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991320
TERROR ATTACK RUMORS & REACTIONS
CSICOP SETS UP RUMORS WEB PAGE
In the interest of public service, the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal has created the HoaxWatch Web page at http://www.csicop.org/hoaxwatch .
This is a source for factual information that debunks much of the claptrap circulating in e-mails, the Internet and elsewhere.
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Even the National Review is appalled at Robertson's and Falwell's comments blaming the terror attacks on the ACLU, gays, etc. Rod Dreher, columnist, New York Post, writes " Jerry, Pat, you heartless bastards, your timing is awful."
Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-dreher091601.shtml
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Rob Beeston of the Central Iowa Skeptics has added a page to his site, which is another source for the public and media regarding skeptical issues surrounding the attacks.
It's located at http://www.dangerousideas.net/infowatch.asp
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Kate Nelson of the Trib has sent a long another site at which "More voodoo-babble is debunked."
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/wtcpredict.htm
PBS "EVOLUTION" SERIES AIRS ...
Check the NCSE (National Center for Science Education) website,http://www.natcenscied.org/ , for many resources on the upcoming series to show on PBS the week of Sept. 24th, 2001.
From this page, you can link to the PBS site, a Congregational Study Guide for Evolution (a valuable resource for religious congregations wishing to discuss the PBS series), and to a press release entitled
"CREATIONISTS WRONG AGAIN".
"Once again, the creationists have blundered when it comes to science, this time presenting misinformation about the universality of the genetic code. ..."
The press release can be gotten directly at
http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/news/2001/ZZ/26_press_release_creationists_wr_9_17_2001.asp
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CREATIONIST REACTION TO PBS SERIES ALREADY ON THE WEB
See http://www.arn.org/docs/pbsevolution/cometodarwin.htm
for what colleague Wesley Elsberry describes as "Stomach-turning spin from John Mark Reynolds concerning the PBS Evolution series."
WHALE EVOLUTION: FOSSILS CATCH UP TO MOLECULES
Paleontologists and molecular biologists have been arguing for years over the ancestry of whales. Many paleontologists thought the whales evolved from mesonychians, an extinct group of land-based carnivores, but the molecular folks have long contended that DNA comparisons show that whales are more closely related to artiodactyls -- cows, pigs, and especially hippopotami. New fossils from Pakistan have convinced the paleontologists that they were wrong, and the molecular people had it right.
Reuters reporter Patricia Reaney writes on Sept. 19 that "Fossils recently unearthed in Pakistan show that whales evolved from land animals related to sheep and pigs, and that hippos could be their closest living kin, scientists said on Wednesday.... paleontologists have discovered 50-million-year-old fossils of early whales that lived on land, and ankle and skull bones from primitive aquatic whales that fill in the gaps. 'With these new discoveries the whale fossil record is now so complete,' Hans Thewissen, of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, said. 'It shows us so well how whales became aquatic that it is probably the best, or one of the best, examples of evolution where these major changes are documented with fossils,' he added in a telephone interview. Thewissen and his colleagues uncovered fossils of a fox-size mammal called Ichthyolestes, and Pakicetus which resembled a wolf. The research is reported in the science journal Nature. The ankle bones are seen only in a group of animals known as artiodactyls such as cows, pigs and hippos. But the heads of the creatures have whale-like features. ...
In a separate report in the journal Science, Professor Philip Gingerich, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor described a skeleton of a later aquatic whale that included both ankle and skull bones that he and his colleagues discovered in a different part of Pakistan. The ankle bone was also of an artiodactyl. 'Now I even admit the possibility that hippos are a side line of artiodactyls that might be closer to the whales than any other living animals,' Gingerich said in a statement.
'The paleontologists, and I am one of them, were wrong,' Gingerich said.
Christian de Muizon of the Museum of Natural History in Paris described the discovery of the land whales as one of the most important events in the past century of vertebrate paleontology."
and
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010919/sc/whales__relatives_1.html
REVIEWS OF C/E BOOKS IN NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
The New York Review of Books for October 4, 2001 has an article entitled "Saving Us from Darwin" by Frederick C. Crews. Crews reviews creationist/Intelligent Design books by Phillip E. Johnson, Jonathan Wells, Michael J. Behe, and William A. Dembski, as well as pro-science/evolution books by Robert T. Pennock and Kenneth R. Miller.
Source:http://www.nybooks.com/articles/14581
Falwell and Robertson say ACLU, pagans, others at fault in Sept. 11th Terror Attacks...
The Washington Post reports on Sept. 14th that "Television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, two of the most prominent voices of the religious right, said liberal civil liberties groups, feminists, homosexuals and abortion rights supporters bear partial responsibility for Tuesday's terrorist attacks because their actions have turned God's anger against America. ... Falwell said the American Civil Liberties Union has 'got to take a lot of blame for this,' again winning Robertson's agreement: 'Well, yes.' Then Falwell broadened his blast to include the federal courts and others who he said were 'throwing God out of the public square.' He added: 'The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. ... I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way -- all of them who have tried to secularize America -- I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' ..."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28620-2001Sep14.html
Did Nostradamus predict Terror Attacks?
Not a chance.
See: http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa091101b.htm
Do atmospheric electromagnetic pulses cause Headaches?...
Karla Gale of Reuters reports on Sept. 11th that "Researchers in Germany propose that a small minority of headache patients are susceptible to atmospheric electromagnetic pulses. The pulses, called 'sferics,' are of very short duration and low intensity and frequency. According to a team led by Dr. Harald Walach, of Uniklinikum Freiburg Institut fur Umweltmedizin und Krankenhaushygiene in Freiburg, sferics are generated by electric discharges, such as lightning, during meteorological events...."
Source: http://us.news2.yimg.com/dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010911/hl/headaches_1.html
Bad case of Tooth Decay shows Neanderthals were caring folk...
ABC News reports on Sept. 11th that "New evidence suggests an early Neanderthal living about 175,000 years ago in France had a mouthful of infection. Hollow pockets in its fossilized lower jaw show where severe abscesses ate into the bone. And exposed, worn tips of tooth roots suggest the individual had gummed food, despite feeling what must have been excruciating pain. 'It makes my jaw hurt just to look at it,' said Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a new study on the specimen in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The jaw fragment shows the individual had been missing teeth for some time before death in his or her late 40s. And this suggests that pre-Neanderthals may have been a somewhat caring bunch...."
Source: http://www.abcnews.com/sections/scitech/DailyNews/toothless010911.html
Exorcisms on rise in USA...
ABC News reports on Sept. 11th that "Some methods involve tying people to chairs and trying to scream the demons out of them; others involve holy water and crucifixes. It's a practice many consider archaic — but exorcism is thriving in America...."
Source: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/abc/20010911/ts/exorcism010911_1.html
Nasa asks public for help in stamping out "Boring Acronyms"...
A NASA/JPL press release from Sept. 5th says "To move away from cryptic acronyms, our nation's space agency is asking your help to find a user-friendly name for a new space-based observatory. It is currently called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF for short. The observatory will allow scientists to study objects from within our solar system to the distant reaches of the universe. It will see these objects by looking for the heat they radiate in the infrared wavelength. For example, the mission will look for dusty discs around other stars where planets might be forming. 'We are hoping to tap the creativity of the public to find a name suitable for this important mission that will help enrich our knowledge of the universe.' said Doris Daou, an education and public outreach representative for the mission...."
Source: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2001/release_2001_183.html (Thanks to John Fleck)
British Scientists insist "End of the World is Nigh..."
The Guardian (UK) reports on Sept. 7th that "The end of the world really could be at hand, scientists warned yesterday, and there are a number of ways it could happen, the British Association science festival in Glasgow heard yesterday. A strange subatomic particle produced in an atom-smashing experiment could, in theory at least, tumble to the centre of the planet and start eating the globe from the inside out. Or a random quantum fluctuation in distant space could switch off the machinery that makes matter massive, a step which would trigger off a bubble of destruction that would advance at the speed of light, shutting down all creation in its path. Or a 1km wide asteroid could sweep in from the southern skies, hit Australia at 20kms a second and gouge out a crater 10km across, throwing huge lumps of rock into orbit. Forty-five minutes later, blazing fragments of Australia would begin to reduce Britain to ashes. ..."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/spacedocumentary/story/0,2763,548192,00.html
Life on Mars?
Reuters reports from Budapest on Sept. 7th that "Hungarian scientists claimed on Friday to have found evidence of living organisms on Mars after analyzing 60,000 photographs taken by the Mars Global Surveyor probe. The three-man team said the pictures showed evidence of thousands of dark dune spots, similar to organisms found near Earth's South Pole, in craters in Mars' snowy southern polar region...."
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,46628,00.html
"Altered States" conference coming to Albuquerque in November...
The "Altered States of Consciousness Conference" is slated for November 2-7, 2001, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is billed as "An exploration of Enlightenment, Entheogens, Shamanism and Peak Experiences....Awakening Awareness through Sacred Technologies." You can tell where this conference is headed just by looking over the speaker list. One of the keynote speakers is Victor Sanchez, a self-described "anti-anthropologist from Mexico," and author of The Teachings of Don Carlos and The Toltec Path of Recapitulation: Healing Your Past to Free Your Soul. Other speakers include Russell Targ, former senior research physicist,Stanford Research Institute, who is giving a workshop on "Remote Viewing, Spiritual Healing and Expanded Awareness." You can attend the whole conference for a mere $745.00! My Inner Skeptic is telling me that that's just too much dough...
Source: http://www.bizspirit.com/alteredstates
"Free Electricity" Tour headed to Albuquerque Sept. 17th...
You can catch Dennis Lee's Barnum-style show in just a few weeks. Lee claims to have devices that put out more power than is needed to run them, but it seems he only shows pieces of the device, never a complete standalone generator that needs no wall outlet or gasoline tank. Check out the NMSR page on Dennis Lee at http://www.nmsr.org/denislee.htm. The NMSR page has reviews of Lee's last two stops in Albuquerque, and links to other Lee pages. Check out a recent article about his Spokane visit at
http://spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=082801&ID=s1014397&cat=section
Humphreys joins ICR - read about it in Acts and Facts...
As mentioned last week, Sandia physicist and prominent creationist Russell Humphreys is retiring from Sandia, and is joining the Institute for Creation Research (ICR) full-time. You can download the PDF file of ICR's Acts and Facts August newsletter on Humphreys by clicking this link:
http://www.icr.org/pubs/af/pdf/af0108.pdf
This is NOT a regular Web page; you need to have a PDF file-reader like Adobe Acrobat to open the file. The newest Acts and Facts has an article on how ICR has joined with Answers in Genesis to pass out creation literature at a big NEA conference. Check it out at
http://www.icr.org/pubs/af/pdf/af0109.pdf
New Age Creationists Ready to Clone Humans...
You've probably heard about the Raelian movement. They are targeting Manhattan now, as you can read in the Village Voice of August 29 - September 4, 2001. In an article titled "Clone Ranger," Rebecca Segall writes that "Dr. Brigitte Boissellier, a former biochemistry professor at Hamilton College in upstate New York, brought the Raelians much notoriety last month, insisting that despite heavy opposition to the idea of human cloning among bioethicists and throughout the scientific community, she will persevere in her attempts to clone human beings. Like all Raelians, Dr. Boissellier believes that advanced methods of human cloning will lead to immortality. After all, the Elohim—aliens who created all life on earth—became immortal this way.... As for the scientific community, Dr. Boissellier finds it easy to explain Raelianism's appeal. 'The more scientists look at the human genome and the more we see how sophisticated it is, the harder it becomes to believe that it all happened by chance through evolution,' she explains. 'So evolutionary theory is considered less and less viable among scientists, and more and more are joining the Raelians.' "
Source: http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0135/segall1.php
Read about the Raelian Account of Creation at:
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0135/segall3.php
Bigfoot is Back!
Two articles highlight the return of our favorite abominable snowman. The August 29th PRAVDA declares "BIGFOOT’S FOOTPRINTS FOUND IN KYRGYZIA REPUBLIC," and notes that "The frontier guard of the mountainous Aktalinsky district of the republic of Kyrgyzia found the footprints of the unknown man-like creature...."
See http://english.pravda.ru/fun/2001/08/29/13727.html
But wait, there's more! "Down to Earth" humorists Gavin Chafin and Steve Wood note on August 31st that "The mystery of Sasquatch may finally been solved thanks to a [Myrtle Beach,] South Carolina man who claims he is in possession of a Bigfoot corpse...."
Sharks attacks not really on increase this year...
The BBC reported on August 20th that "George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack Files at the University of Florida, said that the number of attacks this year is actually nothing unusual - if anything, the overall yearly figure is likely to be lower than last year. Instead, he said that two highly publicised cases have fuelled interest in shark attacks, and since then almost every incident, however minor, has been reported. On 6 July, eight-year-old Jessie Arbogast had his arm bitten off by a bull shark in knee-deep water in the Gulf of Mexico. He remains in a coma. And earlier this month, two New York bankers were attacked in the Bahamas, with one, Krishna Thompson, losing his leg. But the other recent incidents have been fairly minor, and while Mr Burgess was quick to extend his sympathy to the victims, he said that according to the statistics, this year is nothing special. 'It's a media frenzy not a feeding frenzy,' he said."
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1501000/1501063.stm
Astrology gets Accreditation in Arizona...
A CSICOP press release from August 30th gives the details...
Amherst, NY (August 30, 2001)-Is the Astrological Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona, a Leo or a Virgo? The school received its new nationwide accreditation from the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT) earlier this month-an apparent first in astrology.
The institute's founder, Joyce Jensen, is elated; science organizations like the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), however, see the recognition as a blow to the integrity of higher education.
The Astrological Institute offers full degrees in this ancient Babylonian art of divination, which is based on the premise that the positions of stars and planets affect people's personalities and fates. Belief in the practice persists despite the lack of any reliable scientific evidence that it actually works, according to Andrew Fraknoi, who is a CSICOP fellow and chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. "Although astrologers like to pretend such evidence does exist," says Fraknoi, "astrology has in fact been tested in dozens of excellent scientific trials, and it has consistently failed them. There's simply no evidence that astrology works-that it predicts anything or categorizes people in any way that can be used to help them."
Commenting on the Astrological Institute's accreditation in a recent Associated Press story, Judith Eaton, who heads the Council for Higher Education Accreditation in Washington, DC, said that the accreditation does not validate astrology, but only recognizes that the school fulfills its promises to students. ... The nationwide accreditation of the institute takes astrology out of the realm of evening workshops at the local high school and "entertainment" horoscopes. In practical terms, as Dr. Fraknoi fears, the recognition elevates the subject to the same level as any other program at any other college or university. Accreditation will open the doors to student financial aid and grants paid for by federal tax dollars. It will also professionalize a lucrative business where, according to Jensen, astrologers charge clients between $100 and $150 per visit. By seeking the stamp of approval for the teaching of a vocation, the Astrology Institute has deftly shifted the question away from the qualifications of astrology to the qualifications of the astrologer.
Source: CSICOP Announcement <CSICOP-ANNOUNCE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
We have more genes than was recently announced...
Figures of a mere 30,000 genes in the human genome may be a little shy. Read about it at Nature,
http://www.nature.com/nsu/010830/010830-4.html, and in the Washington Post,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54050-2001Aug23.html
City/County sued over "carcinogenic electromagnetic fields"...
Former City Councilor Sam Bregman is suing Albuquerque and Bernalillo county because he says they are responsible for his clients' cancers. The alleged culprit? "Electromagnetic Fields" (EMF's).
Read the Albuquerque Tribune's story on Bregman and
EMF's...
http://www.abqtrib.com/archives/news01/073101_news_basement.shtml
Then read NMSR's new feature article on this story:
The Bottom Line: This could be the plot for the re-make of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing."
Doubts plague "Miracle" credited to the late Mother Theresa...
The Observer reported on August 19th that "Until recently she was not even a Christian, let alone a Catholic. She cannot read, does not know her precise age, and comes from one of India's most backward, miserable and downtrodden communities. But Monika Besra - a tribal woman from West Bengal and mother of five - is about to play a starring role in the most compelling posthumous inquiry to hit the Vatican in decades, if not centuries."
Source: http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,539055,00.html
University of Massachusetts scientists develop HIGH-RESOLUTION dating method...
The University Of Massachusetts At Amherst (http://www.umass.edu/) said on August 8th that "A team of University of Massachusetts geologists is exploring a new way to determine the ages of ancient rocks, and refining our understanding of the timing and rates of the geologic events that have shaped the planet. The new method offers greater efficiency, and access to a much more detailed geologic record than current dating methods, the scientists say. ... The new techniques, dubbed 'high-resolution age mapping and microprobe dating,' involve the analysis of monazite, a mineral that is present in many rocks but typically in such small quantities that it is rarely noticed in geologic studies. It is widely used in radiometric dating because it contains significant amounts of the elements thorium and uranium, which decay to the element lead at a known rate. 'Monazite essentially provides us with a ‘stopwatch,’ for timing geologic events in different areas of rocks,' Williams said. One of the project’s major breakthroughs is the recognition that even single crystals of monazite, as small as several hundredths of a millimeter, can grow in increments over time, adding new material when mineral-forming events occur in the Earth’s crust. Using the electron microprobe, the age of each layer can be determined and interpreted in terms of the sample’s history."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010808134545.htm
Were visions at the Oracle of Delphi caused by gases?
The Geological Society Of America (http://www.geosociety.org/) reports on August 7th that "De Boer and colleagues found ethane, methane, and ethylene in spring water near the Oracle. The euphoric effects of ethylene, which had been used as anesthesia in the last century, jibe very well with Plutarch's description of the gas the Pythia inhaled..."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010807075959.htm
Saucer Smear covers Socorro UFO, Doty "Falcon" denial...
NMSR president Dave Thomas appears not once but twice in the latest Saucer Smear (Aug. 4th, 2001), in articles and letters regarding the Surveyor explanation for the 1964 Socorro UFO incident, and Richard Doty's denial that he is the mysterious "Falcon." Hats off to Commander James Moseley!
Source: http://www.martiansgohome.com/smear/v48/ss010804.htm
Conservative Front Page Magazine's Robert Locke endorses the Evolution Deniers...
Locke reviews Michael Denton’s Evolution: A Theory in Crisis and Michael J. Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box, and finds that "Evolution is not a fraud being perpetrated upon the public, but it is a theory that has far too many problems to be treated as something that everyone is obliged to believe in on pain of being classified as a fool, as if it were the claim that the earth goes around the sun. Its credibility will continue to wane (or wax) with additional developments in biology over the coming years..."
Source: http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/columnists/locke/2001/locke08-20-01.htm
and http://64.39.30.79/columnists/locke/2001/locke08-21-01.htm
Has the Taos Hum left New Mexico, and moved to Germany?
Yahoo Asia reports on August 22nd that "Hundreds of people in Germany's southwest are being driven to distraction by a mysterious nocturnal buzzing noise -- seriously enough for the local authorities to decide to investigate the matter scientifically..."
"Piltdown Man" and "Shroud of Turin" Debunker Dies at 77...
The AP reported on August 21st that "E.T. Hall, the Oxford University professor who exposed the hoax of Piltdown Man and joined an international effort to date the Shroud of Turin, died Aug. 11. He was age 77."
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010821/aponline070116_000.htm
Has the CIA found Noah's Ark? Are they covering it up?
Alien Zoo happily reported on August 24th that "the CIA has de-classified what it terms 'an interim release of documents' concerning 'the possible remains of Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat, Turkey'."
Oy.
Source: http://www.alienzoo.com/articles/showarticle.php?article_id=385
Fred Hoyle, who coined the term "Big Bang" but didn't accept it, is dead...
Reuters reported on August 21st that "Fred Hoyle, the English astronomer credited with coining the phrase 'Big Bang' to describe academic theory on the creation of the cosmos, has died, British newspapers reported Wednesday. He was 86....He challenged the belief that a huge explosion 12,000 million years ago caused the cosmos, ironically giving the theory a name which would last, the 'Big Bang.' "