Wednesday, December 11, 2002

GEODESIC DOMES -- A History The first contemporary geodesic dome on record is Walter Bauersfeld's, who realized the utility of projecting the constellations on the inner surface of an icosasphere, Omnimax-style, thereby creating a breakthrough planetarium in Jena, Germany, in 1922. Buckminster Fuller derived his geodesic dome from general principles independently of Bauresfeld, just as he derived the octet truss without knowing of Alexander Graham Bell's implementation of this same naturally occuring phenomenon. (12/11/02) Comparative Ethics Donivan Bessinger, MD writes: The enterprise of making correct decisions is confounded by the profound changes that are taking place in civilization at large. All of the forces of the ethical field are intensifying rapidly, as evidenced by extraordinary growth in scientific information, technologic capability, entanglements of law, and complexity of the socioeconomic order, the last compounded by ethnologic diversity and philosophic heterogeneity. The philosophic heterogeneity is a special challenge to consensus on ethical issues. The history of philosophy gives quite a shopping list of concepts intended to govern right action. These concepts have their own hierarchy, and have been variously taught as theories, principles, and rules of conduct. Any concept claiming the attention of decision makers must compete vigorously and strongly in a diverse marketplace of ideas. A natural ethic is no exception, even when (especially when) it claims the distinction of being based in a 'new' world view. Even the claim to being based in a worldview seems strange in today's market, for today's metaphysical and positivist ethical systems seem to define their worldview according to their philosophy, not vice versa.  (12/11/02) French Save Money With Russian Booster ? Washington Post -- The French-made Astra-1K was rendered useless following its Nov. 26 launch on a Russian proton rocket, when a Russian-made booster unit failed to push the satellite into its intended orbit. Its owners later established partial control over the satellite but said it would never be able to fulfill its main mission of handling signals for radio, television, mobile telephones and the Internet. The failure marked another setback for Russia's satellite-launching program, which Moscow sees as a potential cash cow for its depressed space industry. It followed the Oct. 15 explosion of a Russian Soyuz-U rocket, also carrying a satellite, half a minute after liftoff. The Astra-1K, manufactured by France's Allocate Space corporation for Society European Des Satellites of Luxembourg, weighed nearly six tons and was the largest communications satellite ever built. (12/11/02) New Micochip Allows the Blind to See BBC Science -- Scientists are developing an electronic eye implant which they believe could help millions of people to see again. The microchip works by stimulating cells around the retina. This in turn stimulates cells in the brain, helping people to see once more. Tests on animals have shown that the tiny microchip can restore sight. ... The 4mm microchip is attached to a type of silicone called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This substance is flexible and can conform to the curved shape of the retina without damaging surrounding tissue. Researchers at the University of California, who are also involved in the project, have already successfully tested the implant on three dogs. They are now working with scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop a microchip that could be used on humans. ... The prototype implants contain 16 electrodes, allowing patients to detect the presence or absence of light. The artificial retina project's "next generation" device would have 1,000 electrodes and hopes to allow the user to see images. (12/11/02) Belgium Dumps Nuclear Energy BBC Science -- The lower house of the Belgian parliament has voted to phase out nuclear energy by 2025, following months of debate on nuclear safety. The bill orders the shutting of the country's seven reactors after 40 years of use and bans the construction of new ones.  The measure - part of the election manifesto of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt's centre-left coalition government - is expected to be approved by the Senate within weeks. The legislation makes Belgium one of five European Union nations committed in principle to abandoning nuclear energy, along with Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden. (12/11/02) Cork Stoppers Are Environmentally Friendly BBC Science -- The World Wildlife Fund is warning that many parts of the Mediterranean are facing an environmental crisis as wine makers stop using traditional cork stoppers for their wine bottles, and have begun to use plastic and screw-top alternatives instead. ... More than 17 billion cork stoppers are made for the wine industry each year - but not a single tree gets harmed in the process. Contrary to popular belief, harvesting cork is 100% environmentally friendly, leaving the forest and its wildlife intact. But recently, wine growers have begun to opt for synthetic plastic and screw top stoppers for their bottles, meaning demand for cork has slumped. It has prompted local people either to leave the countryside, or, in a bid to find alternative incomes, to cut down the forests and plant more profitable crops. Many of these new plants however take too many nutrients from the soil, causing widespread ecological damage. The WWF warns that if the cork forests of the Mediterranean are not properly managed, they will eventually become deserts.  (12/11/02) California Government Facing Bankruptcy New York Times -- LOS ANGELES, Dec. 8 — When times were good and billions of dollars in income tax payments were pouring in from high-tech millionaires, California lavished raises on state employees, expanded health care benefits for the poor, cut taxes on car licenses and invested heavily in education and transportation. Those days are over. With its huge economy stalled and state revenues plunging, California has descended into its worst budget crisis in a decade and is now facing an excruciating round of budget cuts and possible tax increases. State officials are proposing deep reductions in education, health services and other programs to deal with a budget shortfall that could total $25 billion in the next 18 months. "That's a hole so deep and so vast that even if we fired every single person on the state payroll — every park ranger, every college professor and every Highway Patrol officer — we would still be more than $6 billion short," said the Assembly speaker, Herb J. Wesson Jr., a Democrat. ... The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office projects that revenues are so far short of spending that the state will run deficits of $12 billion to $15 billion for the next five years even if the economy recovers. (12/11/02) Rolling Back the Forest Protection Laws New York Times -- The Bush administration's anti-environmental agenda has been gathering steam since the November elections. First it weakened rules governing industrial air pollution. Then it proposed a major revision in the rules governing management of the national forests. The revision could undermine protections for fish and wildlife. The administration provided the same benign rationale for the forest rules as it did for the air pollution rules. Existing regulations, it said, had become too prescriptive, too costly and too cumbersome. But in the name of regulatory efficiency, the administration would also eliminate mandatory environmental reviews. The only obvious beneficiary would be the timber interests and others who use the forests for commercial purposes. As such, the rules depart from both the spirit and the letter of a bedrock environmental law, the 1976 National Forest Management Act. That law was a response to decades of abuse by managers in the country's 155 national forests and by their bosses in Washington, who were mainly interested in harvesting timber. The law and the subsequent regulations written to give it muscle were designed to make sure that the health of the forest and its wildlife was valued at least as much as the interests of the timber companies. (10/11/02) Clone of the Attack Just in case you needed a smile today! 5:59:16 AM

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