SkeptiNews

Friday, March 31, 2000 02:51 p.m. P.S.T.

SkeptiNews 000331c - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question * Yesterday's bulletins: http://web.pitas.com/skeptinews/30_03_2000.html * Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion. * PLEASE do NOT include the ENTIRE bulletin when you reply; cut/paste, eh? * NEW path to notices, excuses, sightings etc: http://skeptilog.pitas.com * No robot-driven vans were crashed during production of this bulletin. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ @ ROUNDUP! http://ufoinfo.com/images/misc/blkjuru3lg.jpg _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # UGANDA DECLARES SECT DEATHS "MASS MURDER" - clandestine military force? # UFO TERRORIZES WOMAN MOTORIST IN COLORADO - appeared confrontational: # CYLINDRICAL ORANGE UFO SIGHTED IN PUERTO RICO - not a burning satellite: # FIVE ORANGE-SPHERE UFOs RETURN TO PENRITH, N.S.W. - best beer around: # HOVERING WHITE UFO SEEN IN THE NETHERLANDS - site of mysterious ice fall: # USAF CRUISE MISSILE GOES HAYWIRE AND CRASHES IN THE UTAH DESERT - ETs? # 1936: PANAMA RED - the sighting, not the cannabis - probably unrelated: all from UFO ROUNDUP: http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/v05/rnd05_13.shtml # NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD! PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A distraught US tourist has told authorities that she watched in helpless horror as her sister was set upon by a real-life zombie -- and the shambling, raggedly dressed man carried the screaming victim off into the woods! A widespread manhunt has failed to locate her: http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/stories/1447.html @ Artist rendering: http://www.weeklyworldnews.com/story_images/1447_1.jpg : Are you plagued with UFOs, zombies, cultists, vampires, UFOlogists, lice? D'ya pray for relief; apply repellents; drink a lot; stick your tongue into electric sockets; post y'r experiences on the Net/Web; accept inevitability? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ @ UFOs, NAZIs & the OCCULT. The reclusive Gerry Vassilatos, author of an intriguing alternative look at HAARP (Secrets of Cold War Technology: Project HAARP and Beyond, Borderland, http://www.borderlands.com/catalog) postulating that HAARP is an energy generator rather than a weapon) and ground communications experimenter (see An Introduction to the Mysteries of Ground Radio, http://borderlands.com/newstuff/research/ground-myst.htm and <http://borderlands.com/newstuff/research/ground-ant.htm> Experiment: Ground Antennas), will make a rare public appearance. [Via Wes Thomas.] Gerry Vassilatos: UFOs, Nazis and Beyond. A look at evidence from the last World War that the Nazi Regime made some progress in designing & building 'flying saucers' based on the subtle energy principles of Vrill and Viktor Schauberger. He also describes the Nazi preoccupation with the occult. Laura Lee will make him TELL ALL!! http://www.lauralee.com/vassilat.htm # BAT BOY. A half-human "bat boy" captured in West Virginia last spring has escaped from the research facility where he was taken for observation -- and is still running free! http://weeklyworldnews.com/batboy/batboy.html : Are you plagued by batboys, Nazis, ETs, talkshowhosts, experimenters, me? Are you any of the above? Have you escaped recently? Are you still at large? Is there a massive hunt for you? Does anybody care? Are you neglected? Why? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Ky. OKs Ten Commandments Bill. FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Ten Commandments could be displayed in schools and on Statehouse grounds under a measure passed by the Kentucky Senate that now heads to the governor. http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000329/20/ten-commandments-ky # Ten Commandments Leadership Award Presented to Adams County OH: http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0327-103.html # Profiles of Leaders of Movement for Restoration of Ten Commandments of God: http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000331/14/uganda-cult-leaders # Uganda Death Toll Rises To 924, surpassing the 1978 Jonestown tragedy: http://news.excite.com/news/ap/000331/12/int-uganda-cult-deaths : If Decalogues are posted in public schools, will students be incited to join doomsday cults, commit mass-murder, set new records? Do fundy jeezoids all share the same hidden agenda? Should they be rooted out, purged, burnt? # A Ugandan Police Officer Watches as prisoners carry a body from a compound belonging to the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments: http://news.excite.com/photo/img/ap/uganda/cult/deaths/20000329/rug101 # A Young Girl Holds a Leaf to her Nose as Prisoners Bring out bodies from a house belonging to the Movement for Restoration of the Ten Commandments: http://news.excite.com/photo/img/ap/uganda/cult/deaths/20000328/rug108 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # ROBOT DRIVES CAR. The car robot "Klaus", developed by carmaker Volkswagen (VW), drives a VW Multivan during a press presentation. One of the aims of the robot is the development of an intelligent transport system, including an examination into electronic co-pilots to help drivers in critical situations. http://news.excite.com/photo/img/r/ehra/lessin/20000331/ehr02d @ Question of the Day: Q. I live in Barstow, Ca. When will I be able to get DSL? A. Remember when they used to predict we'd have nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners & hover cars? Flushed with the success of those predictions, 'they' are now predicting we'll have DSL -- Digital Subscriber Line service, which delivers data at super-fast speeds over existing telephone lines -- any day now... http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/surfschool/guru/guru000329.html : When do you expect technological miracles to totally transform your lonely existence? Would you rather have robot cars, DSL, atomic vacuums, a personal helicopter, a cloned dog, intelligent food, sex, me? How long can you wait? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 31 Mar 00 Washington, DC # ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: "CONSUMER DEMAND" DRIVES NIH PROGRAM. It felt like a post-game celebration. Arlen Specter (R-PA) & Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair & ranking member of the Senate Labor, HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, held a hearing this week devoted to self-congratulations on having created the new National Center of Complementary and Alternative Medicine at NIH, with a budget of $68.7M. It's "for the people," they exulted, 42% of whom spend some $27B yearly for therapies ranging from magnets to herbal supplements. No mention was made of the growing number of fatal reactions to untested supplements (WN 24 Mar 00).The Center replaces the Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine that was headed by homeopath Wayne Jonas. The new Director, Stephen Strauss, an NIH virologist, is reputed to be a serious researcher. In addition to such CAM gurus as Dean Ornish and Andrew Weil, there was the usual parade of grateful patients: "I was a shattered woman" one testified, "angry at God." Then she discovered Herbert Benson's Mind- Body Institute and had a baby. Benson wants studies of the placebo effect, to show how the mind heals the body, but Harkin wants to discard the term "placebo effect." "It's real medicine," he insisted. The next Specter- Harkin goal? Complementary and alternative medicine in the curriculum of every medical school. :: By federal mandate? Why not creationism too? :: # WARP DRIVE: BRITS ALSO PURSUE PROPELLANTLESS PROPULSION. If the laws of physics are standing in the way of progress, it's time to change the laws of physics. Clearly, spewing out rocket propellant isn't getting us to the stars. So BAE Systems, formed by merging British Aerospace with Marconi Electronic Systems, created "Project Greenglow," patterned after NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program (WN 20 Nov 98). Like BPP, BAE wants to replicate the Podkletnov gravity shield (WN 15 Aug 97). If you can build a gravity shield, of course, you can build a perpetual motion machine thus defeating the First Law of Thermodynamics. It won't be the first war the Brits have lost. :: Ah, nothing ventured, nothing gained. :: THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.) _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Spitwads are not free speech." --Bart Simpson * Rev.R.Carter, ULC * http://skeptilog.pitas.com * FAX: 603-415-3736 * SkeptiNews bulletins now *ONLINE* at: http://skeptinews.pitas.com/ * Fringes of Thought, Experience, Behavior, Knowledge, Foreboding...

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Friday, March 31, 2000 11:36 a.m. P.S.T.

SkeptiNews 000331b - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question * Yesterday's bulletins: http://web.pitas.com/skeptinews/30_03_2000.html * Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion. * PLEASE do NOT include the ENTIRE bulletin when you reply; cut/paste, eh? * NEW path to notices, excuses, sightings etc: http://skeptilog.pitas.com * No hackers were harmed to produce this bulletin. But we surveilled'em! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ @ Volcanic: http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/695000/images/_696953_ring300.jpg _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Dramatic Change Coming In View Of The Universe. Astronomers looking at the very cold, far-infrared universe have barely glimpsed what's there. They had to make do with imaging systems that survey the cosmos a few pixel points of light at a time. http://unisci.com/stories/20001/0331002.htm # THEY'RE EVERYWHERE - Some black holes are small enough to swallow - so shut your mouth: http://newscientist.com/features/features_22323.html # Closing In on Sunspot Origins: http://newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9613043 # Sun has strange 'spin cycle' http://www.newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9612597 # Solar "Heartbeat" Discovered: http://www.newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9612579 : Have you uncovered the details of the operation/construction/design of the universe lately? Is one universe too small a sample to adequately represent the totality of reality? Can you explain everything, even what you haven't seen yet? How much more is there to see? Do Logos or Mythos describe it all? @ The philosophical import of a unified theory of everything should either be passed over entirely, or dwelt on with utmost seriousness: http://www.booksunlimited.co.uk/lrb/articles/0,6109,149730,00.html _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Hackers Confab in Israel. JERUSALEM (AP) - Hackers from around the world overcame interrogations, censorship and an all-around bad image to hold Israel's first hacker convention, wrapping up the 2-day meet without a glitch. The 350-strong gathering was the first of its kind since major commercial sites were crippled in February, reminding firms across the globe of the dangers hackers can pose. Politicos quailed; Israeli police had considered banning the conference, but Attorney General Eliyakim Rubinstein gave the go-ahead. One of the original hackers, John Draper [Cap'n Crunch], said hackers wanted to put a better face the practice. See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2565314768-7f0 # Napster: friend or foe? http://salon.com/tech/col/rose/2000/03/30/napster/ # Marc Andreessen, Prodigal Hacker: http://upside.com/Ebiz/38e0f6630.html : Have you hacked/cracked/jammed any notable systems lately? Are defenses up and stronger, thwarting your attempts? Have you tried to put positive 'spin' on your efforts, claiming to be harmless? Are you harmless? Is anyone? Eh? # Vendor Reports New Worm Viruses. Two new software programs circulating on the Internet could damage computer files, a software vendor said Thursday. Buy a fix, eh? http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20000330S0016 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Protein Shown To Help Build Body Maps In Brain. A single gene expressed in the brain can change a long-standing icon of basic neuroscience that was until now thought to be shaped mostly by neural input from the body's periphery. Getting internal: http://unisci.com/stories/20001/0331004.htm # Genes Or Environment: What Shapes The Sensory Homunculus? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000331084002.htm # Brain imaging reveals less medication just as effective in treating schizophrenia: http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/uoto-bir033000.html # Software Pinpoints Brain Areas: www.unisci.com/stories/20001/0331005.htm : Have you explored your brain lately? Is there any 'there' there? How much of your brain is devoted to mapping, sports, sex, food, fear, programming, meditation, conniving, self-improvement, self-aggrandizement, demagoguery? # Nut source for cancer drug: http://www.newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9608127 # Life force - How protein pumps powered the first cells - little angels squirt juice around: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news_223236.html # US AgSec Glickman seeks biotech seeds probe - defends "terminator" http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2565303247-ed1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # GPS Tracks Grannies in Tokyo. (Wired) The Japanese government gives transmitters to seniors who frequently lose their way. The satellite- based system will help monitor Japan's growing elderly population. Gotcha: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,35333,00.html @ "Effective Microorganisms" http://emtech.org/naturefarming/sld001.htm (slide show) - http://209.153.214.27/ - http://emtech.org/toc.htm - re: pollution of waters by excess organic matter-OM-, and chemicals, and helping farmers to wean off chemical fertilizers, and chemicals in general, thereby decreasing amounts of same in our waters. via Dave Hartley http://www.asheville-computer.com/dave : What's your favorite use of tracking technology? Have you tracked or been tracked lately? Would you rather track elders, chemicals, money, aliens, me? Do you cover your tracks wherever you go? Why not? Are you worth tracking?? # PlayStation2: Your Own ATM? Home banking via game machine, TV: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/games/cgg163.htm # LAPD intensifies eBay investigation - simple scam, or vast conspiracy to subvert e-commerce? http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1597731.html # Feds probe Yahoo! http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cth644.htm _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ SkeptiWinks: # Nuclear Physicists Hit Broadway. (Wired) An unusual new play dramatizes the famous 1941 meeting between physicists Werner Heisenberg and Neils Bohr. Its success bodes well for a developing genre: science-based theater. GoGo: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,34839,00.html # New meaning to strip searches? Police urge female officers to keep clothes on: http://www.freep.com/news/locway/strip31_20000331.htm # TV airing more sex, foul language - Report: Violent, prurient material triples in decade: http://cnn.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/30/tv.sex.violence/ # College to students: Take 'gay' plunges - Trips required to homosexual bars, black churches for white pupils - cross-cultural exposure, or conspiracy? http://208.246.212.80/national/default-2000331225657.htm # Astronauts Have Headaches, Too. (Wired) Oh no. Have the thrusters failed, has the heat shield fallen off? Should we call Tom Hanks? Not at all. The intrepid crew of the shuttle Endeavour faces a crash of a different kind. MicroShit: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,35259,00.html # PEACE WALL: France unveils of its Peace Wall 2000 beside the Eiffel Tower, a 17-meter long, 9-meter high wall covered in the word "peace" in 32 lang- uages. The artist says the wall was inspired by Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, with "holes for members of the public to place their own personal wishes." http://infoculture.cbc.ca/archives/visart/visart_03302000_peacewall.phtml _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. Pull my finger." --Flatulus of Borg [OK, OK, so that's an old one - so sue me] * Rev.R.Carter, ULC * http://skeptilog.pitas.com * FAX: 603-415-3736 * SkeptiNews bulletins now *ONLINE* at: http://skeptinews.pitas.com/ * Fringes of Thought, Experience, Behavior, Knowledge, Foreboding...

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Friday, March 31, 2000 09:25 a.m. P.S.T.

SkeptiNews 000331a - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question * Yesterday's bulletins: http://web.pitas.com/skeptinews/30_03_2000.html * Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion. * PLEASE do NOT include the ENTIRE bulletin when you reply; cut/paste, eh? * NEW path to notices, excuses, sightings etc: http://skeptilog.pitas.com * No UFOlogists were harmed to produce this bulletin. They self-destructed. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ @ Weight-loss secrets of the Mythological Monsters! http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/7221/myth4.gif _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Presidential Candidate Issues Formal UFO Statement - "UFOs exist and have always existed. You must only view the Nazca Lines in Peru as proof. No amount of Government denial will change my beliefs." Vote for Dr. H.A. Harder: http://www.sightings.com/general/ufopres.htm # NASA Shuttle (STS 75/63) Videos Show ET Craft: www.caus.org/pn033100.htm # Excellent Daytime UFO Photo: http://www.sightings.com/general/braz.htm # New Futures Ahead: Genetics or Microvita? The future might be just what we think it will be. Transformation: http://www.ru.org/93inaya.html : Are UFOs in your past/present/future? Do UFOs exist independent of space/ time/reality? Are UFOs our future/past/transdimensional selves, monitoring/ guiding/draining us? Are UFOs in your dreams? Are your dreams in UFOs? Does your political system embrace UFOlogy? Do ETs devour your politicos? Where? @ Dreams are like the color of blood, or a heart beating. They're like the space between two arches in a cathedral. Or dancing the tango: http://www.nationalpost.com/artslife.asp?f=000328/244323&s2=life _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # JUDGE DISMISSES UFO LAWSUIT. A federal judge in Phoenix has granted the government's request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of UFO activists for information about a very unusual triangular-shaped aerial object. In Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) v. Department of Defense (DoD), Chief U.S. District Court Judge Stephen M. McNamee, in an 8-page decision, has ruled that the DoD had conducted a reasonable search even though it did not find any information. http://www.caus.org/pn033100b.htm # LAPD PROBE EXTENDS BEYOND RAMPART STATION - corruption rampant, legal system in shambles: http://CNN.com/2000/US/03/31/police.corruption.ap/ # The Red Chinese Secret Police in the United States - corporate plot: http://www.sightings.com/general/red1.htm via www.skolnicksreport.com # Model 12 Yr Old Student Defends 2nd Amendment - Flagged As Violence Risk - Shoot everyone, let God sort'em out: www.sightings.com/general/flagged.htm : Have your police/legal/govt systems been subverted by foregn/alien/demonic powers? Do you trust in judges/cops/agents/deities to dispense truth/justice /righteousness? Can/should/must justice/power/truth be bought/sold/marketed? Is power only sustainable via weaponry? D'ya prefer physical/mental weapons? @ Preserving high culture is not just to the benefit of the right wing. There's radicalism in Shelley, Tolstoy, and Brecht. But not in Mozart? www.booksonline.co.uk/booksol?ac=002551196250955&pg=/00/3/11/boidea11.html _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # NBC cancels "God, the Devil and "Bob" cartoon . LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NBC has canceled its lame new animated comedy "God, the Devil and Bob" but insisted the show was done in by deservedly poor ratings, not the boycott by affiliates or religious groups condemning the cartoon as sacrilegious. http://news.excite.com/news/r/000330/17/television-bob # 'GOD' IS DEAD: http://CNN.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/30/television.god.reut/ @ When Kansas voted to reject evolution, free thinkers got a taste of their own skeptical medicine. After all, if religion is a mere preference, why not science? http://firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0003/opinion/harvey.html : Are knowledge and belief systems equivalent? Have you tested your beliefs lately? Are your knowledge/beliefs televised, cinematic, animated, tawdry? Do you encode secret information in your publicly-viewable emanations? Do you prefer secrecy, publicity, suppression, disclosure? Are you viable? How? @ Taking A Crack At Cracking The Aiwass Code. This week we're going to look at one of the great mysteries Aleister Crowley left for us to ponder and we'll speculate on a connection between that mystery and the idea of levi- tation by sound frequency. No science lessons here. Just some cryptonumer- ology and a pinch of synchronicity. http://www.caus.org/cz033100.htm _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Cosmonauts To Re-Open Mir: http://www.newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9613044 # Software Error Crashed Rocket - programmers to be scourged, burnt: http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2565310118-46f # SMOOTH SAILING, ROUGH LANDING FOR 'SPACE LIFEBOAT' - but it doesn't crash: http://CNN.com/2000/TECH/space/03/30/x38.tests/index.html # UA Mars-Mapping Project Archived in Smithsonian Information Technology Collection. The Smithsonian Institution is adding a University of Arizona Mars-mapping project to its permanent research collection on information technology in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. @ 2000 Computerworld Smithsonian Collection: http://innovate.si.edu @ U.Ariz. Lunar and Planetary Lab: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu : Have you visited/mapped/conquered/drained any planets lately? What planets would you most like to envelop/devour? Do you have trouble getting there and back safely? Do demons/aliens/robots interfere with your manipulations? Are you interfering with human aspirations? Are your alien masters satisfied?? # JAPAN'S MOUNT USU VOLCANO ERUPTS - Earth/Fire Demons Spew Death: http://www.CNN.com/2000/ASIANOW/east/03/30/japan.volcano.04/ # Why volcanoes explode: http://www.newshub.com/cgibin/rd.cgi?9612962 # LEANING LESS, TOWER OF PISA TO REOPEN - gravity thwarted, fuming: http://www.CNN.com/2000/WORLD/europe/03/30/italy.leaning.tower.ap/ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ # Roman erotica for public view - Successive rulers kept the works under wraps. (BBC) A famous collection of ancient Roman erotica closed to the public for many years is to go on view in Naples next month. Hubba-hubba: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_695000/695800.stm # VOYEUR TV ENTRANCES EUROPEANS, ENTICES AMERICANS - live sex boosts ratings: http://CNN.com/2000/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/30/everyone.is.watching/ # Dalai Lama: Nonviolence necessary - "Oppose the action, but not the person" - www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2565314932-df8 : What's your favorite erotic image/thought/artifact/action? Are peace/love/ truth/beauty erotic? How about war/hate/bogosity/terror? Do all reproductive entities gain stimulation from the same sources? Are we too complex for that or just too bored? Are you bored? D'ya watch TV, live-action, dreams, me?? @ Idle rich ladies, off-duty cab drivers, and local eccentrics debate truth, beauty, and the meaning of life as part of the Philosophy Café Movement. Yow: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/original/article/0,5744,4922,00.html [ via http://cybereditions.com/aldaily/ -- as is much other recent stuff ] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth." --H.L. Mencken * Rev.R.Carter, ULC * http://skeptilog.pitas.com * FAX: 603-415-3736 * SkeptiNews bulletins now *ONLINE* at: http://skeptinews.pitas.com/ * Fringes of Thought, Experience, Behavior, Knowledge, Foreboding...