Monday, April 14, 2003

The Garden of Simplicity Duane Elgin writes: A quiet revolution in living has been underway for the past few decades in the United States (and in a number of other "post-modern" nations around the world). Surveys done in the U.S. show that as much as a quarter of the adult population has made significant changes in living and working in an effort to shift away from consumerism and toward simpler ways of living. Perhaps because of their commercial bias, the mainstream media have largely overlooked this historic shift. To the extent that simpler ways of living are considered, they are generally equated with a life of material sacrifice and then portrayed with images of people who are recycling, buying used clothing, and planting gardens. While these may be a few of the outward expressions of the simple life, this narrow portrayal misses much of the joy, meaning, and purpose of this approach to living. In contrast to this superficial stereotype, in the two decades since my book Voluntary Simplicity was published, I have seen the simplicity movement blossom into a rich diversity of expressions with great relevance for our future. (04/14/03) What is Smart Heuristics? Gerd Gigernezer writes: What interests me is the question of how humans learn to live with uncertainty. Before the scientific revolution determinism was a strong ideal. Religion brought about a denial of uncertainty, and many people knew that their kin or their race was exactly the one that God had favored. They also thought they were entitled to get rid of competing ideas and the people that propagated them. How does a society change from this condition into one in which we understand that there is this fundamental uncertainty? How do we avoid the illusion of certainty to produce the understanding that everything, whether it be a medical test or deciding on the best cure for a particular kind of cancer, has a fundamental element of uncertainty? (04/14/03) Irish Coffee Treatment for Stroke? New Scientist -- A caffeine and alcohol cocktail similar to an Irish coffee could prevent severe brain damage in stroke victims, new research has revealed. The experimental drug, called caffeinol, has the potency of two cups of strong coffee and a small shot of alcohol. When injected into rats within three hours of an artificially stimulated stroke, brain damage was cut by up to 80 per cent. Neurologist James Grotta and colleagues from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School have also now demonstrated the safety of caffeinol in a small pilot study in patients who suffered ischaemic strokes, when the artery to the brain becomes blocked and cuts off the blood supply. "Our goal was to see if we could safely achieve the same blood levels of caffeinol that we achieved in our animal studies," Grotta said. "We discovered that we could use even lower doses than we used in the animal studies and still achieve the blood levels that were neuroprotective in animals." (04/14/03) The Road to Damascus The Moscow Times -- Who's next to feel the mailed fist of liberation? At the moment, all signs point to Syria. Iran, of course, would be a more glittering prize -- not to mention a more remunerative one for the unholy trinity of Oil, Arms and Construction, whose mephitic spirit broods over the rising American Empire. But Iran is a big beast; first Iraq must be chewed, swallowed and digested before there is sufficient room in the imperial gut -- and sufficient loot in the imperial treasury -- for another sumptuous banquet. Syria, however, would make a tasty snack -- rough fare gulped down on the long, circuitous march to Persia and Cathay. What's more, a dose of shock and awe for Damascus would secure the rear for any eventual push on Teheran. And once recalcitrant Syria is brought to heel, the juicy olive of Lebanon would surely fall of its own ripe weight, without any need of brutal plucking. Then, with the equally cowed Jordan, it could serve as a -- what should we call it? repository? refuge? -- yes, a refuge for the troublesome hordes of Palestine, transferred -- humanely and happily, of course -- from the newly cleansed lands of Judea and Samaria. ... Syria is currently being sized up as a prospect. Unsubtle hints are being floated in the press: Damascus "aided and abetted" Saddam, Damascus is sheltering Hussein's minions, Damascus might be hiding Hussein's vast storehouses of weapons of mass destruction, which the cluster-bombing liberators failed to find. Damascus has its own weapons of mass destruction, supports terrorism, has invaded neighboring countries, and might, conceivable, possibly, one day threaten the United States in some hypothetical fashion -- just like Hussein. And last week, Bush courtiers suddenly began trumpeting the fact that the repressive Syrian regime -- a Baathist Party state, just like Iraq! -- sadistically tortures its prisoners, who are often snatched in secret arrests and held without charges or trial. This fact has hitherto been conveniently overlooked by the Bushist Party state, which has been sending some of its own Guantanamo zeks -- often snatched in secret arrests and held without charges or trial -- to Syria's torture chambers for "special interrogation." (04/14/03) Radiation Makes Me Horny! New Scientist -- Worms contaminated by radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident have started having sex with each other instead of on their own. ... Gennady Polikarpov and Victoria Tsytsugina from the Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas in Sevastopol studied the reproduction of certain sedimentary worms that are vital to aquatic ecosystems. They compared the behaviour of three species in a lake near Chernobyl with the same species in a lake 20 kilometres away. The lakes had similar temperatures and chemical composition, but the worms in the Chernobyl lake had received 20 times as much radiation as those in the other lake. The researchers found some remarkable changes in the worms' sexual habits. Two species had switched from asexual to sexual reproduction, as they are capable of doing. (04/14/03) A Russian-Iraqi Connection? The Telegraph UK -- Top secret documents obtained by The Telegraph in Baghdad show that Russia provided Saddam Hussein's regime with wide-ranging assistance in the months leading up to the war, including intelligence on private conversations between Tony Blair and other Western leaders. Moscow also provided Saddam with lists of assassins available for "hits" in the West and details of arms deals to neighbouring countries. The two countries also signed agreements to share intelligence, help each other to "obtain" visas for agents to go to other countries and to exchange information on the activities of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qa'eda leader. The documents detailing the extent of the links between Russia and Saddam were obtained from the heavily bombed headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service in Baghdad yesterday. (04/14/03) Global Warming Threatens Bangladesh New Scientist -- Arguments over the causes of global warming will bring little succour to the people of Bangladesh. Flooding in the country is set to increase by up to 40 per cent this century as global temperatures rise, the latest climate models suggest. Each year, roughly a fifth of Bangladesh is flooded, and climate change is forecast to exacerbate the problem as sea levels rise, monsoons become wetter and more intense cyclones lead to higher tidal surges. To make things worse, heavier rainfall triggered by global warming will swamp Bangladesh's riverbanks, a previously unforeseen effect, flooding between 20 and 40 per cent more land than today, says Monirul Qader Mirza, a Bangladeshi water resources expert now at the Adaptation and Impacts Research Group at the University of Toronto. (04/14/03) SARS Still Uncontrolled New Scientist -- There is no sign of the global SARS outbreak abating, with a worrying surge in new cases in Hong Kong on Friday, and a senior Chinese health official warning that the outbreak is not under control. Epidemiologist Zhong Nanshan, director of the Respiratory Disease Research Institute in the Guandong province where SARS originated, disputed the Chinese government's claims to have controlled SARS. "Looking at this from a medical point of view, this disease has not been effectively controlled at all," he said. "The origin of this disease is still not clear, so how can you say it has been controlled?" He said "contained" might be a better description. (04/14/03) 5:24:07 AM

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