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Thursday, May 08, 2003
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Edward Fröhlich Haskell was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on August 24, 1906 into a large family of well educated Swiss missionaries. ... Haskell was instrumental in the formation of the Council for Unified Research and Education (C.U.R. E., Inc.). This was a private non-profit research organization of scientists committed to the unification of science and education. Their goal was the synthesis of all knowledge into a single discipline. Haskell served as the Chairman of C.U.R. E., Inc., from its inception in 1948 until it was disbanded in the mid 1980s. The scientists of C. U. R. E., Inc. believed that the present universities were really multiversities, with specialists from different fields dividing knowlege into separate preserves with specialized languages and almost no communication between them. They were convinced that this division of knowledge played a large role in the division of the modern world. (05/08/03) | |
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Joseph George Caldwell writes: The title of Hartmann’s book, “Ancient Sunlight,” refers, of course, to fossil fuels, and the “Last Hours” refers to the fact that we will soon exhaust this source of energy. Hartmann observes that human population began to grow to today’s extreme size when mankind began to tap the energy of fossil fuel, about 1650. Prior to that time, the global population of human beings was on the order of 250 million. The six billion people that are now alive owe their existence to fossil fuels, and when those fossil fuels are gone, most of the people alive on the planet at that time will die of starvation (if global war or global warming or some other global catastrophe does not kill them first). Current world reserves of oil are about 1,000 billion barrels, and that amount is expected to be consumed within 45 years. ... The greatest challenge ever to face mankind is now in process. It will not be solved by simple, easy things, such as meditation and prayer ... . As the goddess Athena once observed, “The gods will not do for man what man can do for himself.” God does not want to hear our prayers of supplication for the problem to go away. Do not pray for peace. He wants our action, our emotions, our excitement, our triumphs and tragedies, our agony and our ecstasy, our fear and our grief, our pride of accomplishment in our struggle and victory in the face of incredible odds. Meditation and prayer are wonderful and essential, but meditation should be for insight for the next step in the strategy, and prayer should be for strength to carry on the battle no matter how weary we become. (05/08/03) | |
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CNN World -- In a significant shift in relations in South Asia, Pakistan has matched India's offer to bring back full diplomatic ties and to re-open transport links. Amid new signs of a growing momentum toward peaceful ties between the two neighbors, Pakistan has also pressed for talks that would include discussion of the two countries' nuclear arsenals. ... Encouraged by developments between the two nations, Jamali said Pakistan planned to resume bus, train and air links and normal diplomatic links. "In additional to the exchange of the two high commissioners, we also propose restoration of the full strength of the missions of the two countries in their respective capitals," the prime minister said. Jamali also called for the resumption of sports ties, beginning with cricket and field hockey, and the release of Indian fishermen who were jailed after wandering into Pakistani waters. He also offered to host an upcoming summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Islamabad and listed other measures to make the regional group more effective. (05/08/03) | |
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CNN Health -- A cold virus genetically engineered to help it sneak into cancer cells can kill inoperable brain tumors in mice, U.S. scientists reported on Tuesday. The effects were so stunning that the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are rushing to test the approach in people with brain tumors. If it works, it will be the first treatment for malignant glioma, the deadliest form of brain cancer. Brain tumors affect about 18,000 people in the United States every year, killing 13,000. Gliomas are responsible for about half of all the cases. "The bottom line of gliomas is that they are bad. Everyone dies within a year," said Dr. Frederick Lang of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Lang and colleagues used a genetically engineered form of a common cold virus known as an adenovirus. They weakened it so it could not affect healthy cells, then gave it an added genetic "key" to open the door into cancer cells. (05/08/03) | |
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CNN Health -- The American Medical Association lists Florida as one of 18 states facing a medical liability crisis. In Pennsylvania, several thousand doctors and their supporters gathered Tuesday on the steps of the state Capitol to protest rising malpractice premiums. The rally capped a weeklong protest during which some doctors canceled routine office visits and elective surgeries and pushed lawmakers to pass a $250,000 cap on jury awards for pain and suffering. In January, about two dozen surgeons in far northwestern West Virginia walked off the job to protest high malpractice insurance rates. ... Yesterday, about 100 of Jacksonville's 1,500 doctors stayed off the job to protest the state Legislature's refusal to cap jury awards in medical malpractice cases. The walkout, which started Friday evening, was forcing three of Jacksonville's five largest hospitals to delay elective surgeries and to tell some emergency room walk-ins to seek treatment elsewhere. As of late Monday, 44 patients had been referred to the other two large hospitals. (05/08/03) | |
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New York Times: Business/Enviroment -- Thailand — After decades of growth brought about by the creation of giant, man-made shrimp ponds throughout Asia, and with other countries stepping up production, prices have collapsed. On top of that, the industry faces criticism from environmentalists for clearing forests and destroying wetlands, and American fishermen accuse Asian producers of illegally dumping shrimp below cost. One industry response to the glut is a prediction that with modern production methods and costs falling, shrimp consumption will soar. But that optimism is tempered by diseases that have invaded ponds in some areas. No company feels these pressures more than the Charoen Pokphand Group, the world's largest exporter of frozen shrimp. In good times, the Bangkok-based CP Group, as it is known, racked up fat profits and fed America's growing appetite for shrimp. Now it is under attack on many fronts. For one thing, environmentalists blame it for destroying wetlands. With its profits slumping, the value of the company's shrimp exports plummeted 25 percent last year. Wholesale shrimp prices are down nearly 50 percent over the past few years, to about $5 a pound. (05/08/03) | |
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New York Times: International -- In what environmental activists in India are hailing as a major victory, tons of hazardous waste from an abandoned thermometer factory owned by India's largest consumer products company, Hindustan Lever Ltd., is heading to a recycling plant in the United States for safe disposal. About 300 tons of mercury-contaminated material and waste from the thermometer plant in Kodaikanal town, in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, will be shipped to the United States. A ship carrying the material is expected to dock in New York on May 29. The waste shipment is headed to Bethlehem Apparatus Company, in Hellertown, Pa., the world's largest mercury recycling facility. Ameer Shahul, the corporate campaign coordinator for Greenpeace India, termed the shipment "reverse dumping," referring to a reversal of earlier instances in which hazardous material has been shipped from the developed world to poorer countries. Prolonged protests from environmental activists led to the closing of the Hindustan Lever plant two years ago. Hindustan Lever is a subsidiary of Unilever. "We have forced the company to send back hazardous material from a poor country like India, an event that doesn't happen too often," said V. R. Rajagopal Dorairajah, a member of Palani Hills Conservation Council, one of the conservation groups involved in the dispute. "This is a big win for us." (05/08/03) | |
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Entertainment Tonight -- Crazy, sexy, cool actor ASHTON KUTCHER sat down with Rolling Stone magazine to talk JENNIFER ANISTON, getting "punk'd" and partying with the BUSH twins -- JENNA and BARBARA! ... For the May 29th issue of the mag, on stands tomorrow, Ashton shares tidbits from his sometimes loco life -- including an unforgettable party with the Bush gals. He tells Rolling Stone: "So we're hanging out ... The Bushes were underage drinking at my house. When I checked outside, one of the Secret Service guys asked me if they'd be spending the night. I said no. And then I go upstairs to see another friend and I can smell the green wafting out under his door. I open the door, and there he is smoking out the Bush twins on his hookah." (05/08/03) | |
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CNN Health -- The first detailed study of the spread of the Sars virus in Hong Kong has discovered that the death rate among sufferers was much higher than previously estimated. The World Health Organization (WHO) initially estimated that the death rate from the virus was 5%. But the new study - the first to be based on a statistically sound sample of 1,425 cases - puts the death rate at one in five (20%) of those admitted to hospital. ... The study, based on the first nine weeks of the outbreak in Hong Kong, also shows that older people are significantly more at risk from the virus. The death rate is more than 40% for patients aged 60 or over - but just 13% for those under 60. (05/08/03) | |
7:20:28 AM 
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© TrustMark
2003
Timothy Wilken.
Last update:
6/3/2003; 5:44:46 AM.
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