Wednesday, April 23, 2003

Understanding Gravity Dirk Laureyssens writes: Gravitation is the main problem to come to the Unifying Theory. Gravitons are - following the latest particle models - the smallest particles of the Universe. Gravitons only pull, never push. Since they affect everything it's logic to bring them at the outside. The existence is never proved but the gravitational effects are seen in our daily life and in the star constellations. In our Big Tube theory one single Graviton membrane (GM) surrounds the total Universe. The fabric of this membrane is very, very flexible and in principle unbreakable. Under certain conditions at least one expanding tube is growing and moving under internal pressure, making 'snaky' moves. This will lead to several possible inter-connections, and one is the pelastrating action. (04/23/03) Rewriting History Tim Shorrock writes: On the Sunday before US troops seized the city of Baghdad, Paul Wolfowitz went on television to sell his vision for a future Middle East. A free Iraq, he said, would serve as a democratic beacon for the region just as Japan was the model for Asia. "The example of Japan, even in countries that had bitter memories of the Japanese, inspired many countries in East Asia to realize that they could master a free-market economy, that they could master democracy," he told Fox News Sunday. Wolfowitz, who was President Reagan's Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, is turning history on its head. Japan was not the inspiration for the democratic upsurge that swept through East Asia in the 1980s. Instead, it was the junior partner to the United States during the cold war, when Washington created an alliance of anticommunist dictators who supported American foreign policy while repressing their own people. Those policies didn't inspire democracy in Asia; if anything, they helped to stifle it. The symbiotic relationship between Washington and Tokyo was forged in 1948, when the United States "reversed course" in its occupation of Japan to focus on the containment of communism. Almost overnight, US policy shifted from punishing Japanese bureaucrats and industrialists responsible for World War II to enlisting them in a global war against the Soviet Union and China. The shift was symbolized by Nobusuke Kishi, who was prime minister from 1957 to 1960. Kishi was minister of commerce and industry in the wartime Tojo Cabinet and labeled a "Class A" war criminal for helping run Japan's colonial empire in Manchuria. (04/23/03) You Only Get One Chance! BBC Science -- "You only get one chance to eradicate something like this - once it's established, you've got a real problem", says Dr Adrian Mockett, a vaccine specialist. ... The virus thought to cause Sars is constantly changing form, say scientists - which will make developing a vaccine difficult. The Beijing Genomics Institute reported that the virus is "expected to mutate very fast and very easily". Other experts have warned that, once established, it could be particularly hard to stop the Sars virus causing problems. (04/23/03) A Dog's Life Ananova -- A dog in California has survived being hit by a car, being shot in the head and being stuck in a freezer for two hours - all in the one day. (04/23/03) Healing Yourself CNN Health -- Heart failure patients who got injections of their own bone marrow cells got better, and may have grown new heart tissue or blood vessels, U.S. and Brazilian researchers reported on Monday. Their findings could offer a way to treat a hopeless and deadly condition, the researchers said. "If our findings are confirmed in larger trials, this procedure could lead to an effective treatment for severe heart failure, and perhaps to a new form of gene therapy," Dr. James Willerson, president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, said in a statement. (04/23/03) Protecting America from SARS CNN Health -- Top North American infectious disease specialists said Monday that they face an uphill battle to stem the spread of SARS in their countries, and said they were considering tightening travel restrictions to countries where it has become entrenched. The United States is in a better position than many other countries to stem the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, but it is still not possible to predict how broadly the illness will extend, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. "One of the advantages we have is that of time," Dr. Julie Gerberding told CNN. "We have been able to see what's going on in Canada, and, more importantly, see what's going on in Asia and pre-emptively take the steps here to really do everything possible to contain this. "We also have a public health system that's been gearing up for terrorism and other threats, and really stood pointed and ready to engage in this effort." (04/23/03) Waste not, Want not! New York Times: Environment --  "I wouldn't do this to a $30,000 car unless I was confident that it would work." With that, John Lin, owner of a Los Angeles fast-food franchise, opened the door of an opulent white Ford Excursion. ... Normally, a restaurateur like Mr. Lin would have to pay someone to haul off the 10 gallons of vegetable oil used each day in his fryers. The oil would be dumped in a landfill, or perhaps used in animal feed. Instead, Mr. Lin will filter his oil and pour it into a heated auxiliary tank on the Excursion. He will then start the vehicle on regular diesel, and after a few minutes, when the vegetable oil becomes more viscous in the heater, a manual switch will direct it to the diesel engine. From there, the only detectable difference will be the faint odor of French fries, and a noticeable lack of diesel stench. The change in odor, however, is not the only benefit to be gained. In 1998, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory released a study on a fuel called biodiesel. Essentially vegetable oil with methanol and lye added to aid cold-weather flow and remove glycerin, biodiesel results in fewer harmful emissions than petroleum-based diesel. Carbon monoxide emissions are reduced by 43 percent, hydrocarbons by 56 percent, particulates by 55 percent and sulfurs, a particular problem with petroleum diesel, are reduced by 100 percent. (04/23/03) Dammed if you do, Damned if you don't New York Times: Environment -- KHARO, Pakistan — Abbas Baloch gazed ruefully at a wide, shallow bay of the Arabian Sea. "This used to be our land," he said. "And now it's covered by the sea." ... The dams and canals were built in India and other parts of Pakistan to provide irrigation and power. But little thought was given to the consequences downstream. Here at the mouth of the Indus, the river has dried up and sea water has rushed in to replace its flows, inundating 2,000 acres of the Baloch family's land. (The family has received no compensation, said Mr. Baloch, who is now trying to make a living in the overcrowded business of coastal fishing.) And for millions of smaller-scale landowners, tenant farmers and river fishermen, the losses of land and the water shortages caused by water diversions upstream have been even more devastating. Many have moved to the slums of nearby Karachi; others remain in desolate villages, stunned by the sight of empty canals. ... Once more than 850,000 acres, the area of mangrove swamps in the Indus delta has shrunk to less than 500,000. Trees are stunted in many of the remaining forests, and the number of species has dropped to three from eight. Fisheries have suffered accordingly, with catches of some of the most valued species nearly disappearing. Overfishing is another problem: driven out of farming by the absence of water, thousands of people have switched to offshore fishing, putting enormous pressure on the stocks. (04/23/03) 5:47:55 AM

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