NOV 04
Floating lunar ideas
The sixth International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon ( ICEUM6 ) has just come to an end in Udaipur, India.
The conference could definitely not be accused of short sighted vision.
This year ( as in most years so far ) the topic of 3He ‘mining’ came up. Helium 3 is an isotope of helium, but only has one neutron instead of the normal two – so it could be called ‘light helium’. The consensus is that the Moon is a repository for about a million tonnes of it ( compared to Earthly reserves of just a few Kilograms ).
On tuesday, the Indian President, Abdul Kalam, gave a 35 minute presentation describing his vision of the future where it might be possible to ‘mine‘ 3He on the Moon.
He pointed out that only 25 Tonnes of 3He could supply electricity for everyone on Earth for a year ( if used in a ‘yet to be developed’ fusion reactor )
Looking at the practical details – we’ve done a quick back-of-the envelope calculation : To extract a year's worth of gas would involve mining about 3.5 Billion tonnes of moonrock, and then somehow heating it to 800C. The gas could then be collected and compressed , and transported to Earth.
A utopian pipe-dream ? or a realisable vision of the future ? You decide.
Predictably perhaps, the Indian President didn’t mention that 3He can also be used as a handy route to the production of the almost equally elusive gas Tritium ( 3H) - an essential ingredient for any country enthusiastic about developing H-bombs . . .
Some odd factoids about Helium :
The more common variant of Helium accounts for about 23% of the mass of the known visible universe. But there’s very little available on Earth. It’s normally obtained by isolation from natural hydrocarbon gas – but the current estimate is that it will run out somewhere between 2012 and 2035 ( source New Scientist ) . Party balloons could soon be strictly for millionaire’s balls.
comments ?27
NOV 04
The Elders have spoken
The first ever ‘Space Council ’ meeting was held in Brussels yesterday. Enthusiasts of Star Trek™ and Third Rock from the Sun™ will love the terminology – as we do – but what exactly is the ‘ The Space Council ‘ ?
Well, the ESA ( European Space Agency ) has posted a resumé on its website.
If you can figure out what it’s about can you let us know please ?
With phrases like - "Today's first Space Council may not yet be a giant step for mankind. But the fact that we are drawing up a joint European Space Policy is a huge leap forward “
So . . . there’s obviously a subtlety – completely lost on us – between giant stepping and hugely leaping.
We had naively assumed that the European Space Agency was probably linked in some way with the governments of the EU countries – But now we’re not sure anymore. Perhaps the next meeting of The Space Council in spring 2005 will make it all clear?
It’s probably got nothing at all to do with the notion that there are now ten new EU countries, and the ESA might want some cash from them.
Odd factoid : That famous phrase “A
giant leap for mankind” etc was a huge PR embarrassment. Despite
several filmed rehearsals for the ‘spur of the moment’ poetic
phrase – the proponent didn’t manage to get it right. He was
supposed to say “That’s one small step for a man “ – but
he actually said “ that’s one small step for man “ completely
twisting the lunar logic beyond recognition . . . Doh !
comments ?26
NOV 04
$ going up in smoke ?
This might be tempting fate : but Really Magazine loves audits. The
type of audit we have in mind is ‘ Club of Rome ’ style.
i.e. the idea of totaling every conceivable cost of an item from production
to landfill. Or should we say ‘cradle to grave’ ?
The Duke's Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy has just released details of a study into the combined costs of smoking – going back over the data until 1951.
If you’re a smoker, you might want to sit down now.
The full cost to a smoker, over a lifetime, clocks-in at $33 per pack. Their families pay $5.44 and the rest of society pays $1.44.
Here’s a link (via AP)
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/news
( If the same study were to be carried out in the UK, or many other EU countries, the $1.44 would, of course, be more than cancelled-out by the far higher taxes on tobacco. )
As Fritjof Kapra* pointed out a couple of years back, if you have a minor ( or major ) accident in your car, the GDP of the country goes up as a result. Bearing that in mind, where does the $39.88 for a pack of 20 actually go ? Who benefits ? We have no idea.
*The Hidden Connections. ( Harper Collins 2002 )
comments ?25 NOV 04 (late edition)
How entropic is your life (?) . . .
Would you like to interact with your mobile a bit more ? Would you like it to tell you what to do next ? Maybe suggest a date for you ? Does your mobile irritate you enough yet ?
If the answers are yes, yes, yes, and no – then you may be interested a new project from MIT – ‘Reality Mining ’
It’s reported in this week’s issue of New Scientist – which you’ll need to buy if you want to read it in full ( £2.50, $5.95 ).
We can give you a brief overview though. In essence, the project posits the question “ Can we infer the topology of a social network ? “ errrr. . . . well . . .
It’s based around ‘Context ’ , a piece of logging software developed in Finland (<clue>) at the University of Helsinki. MIT’s reality-mining project has tied-in the software with the concept that Bluetooth™ links are becoming almost ubiquitous in some areas. This enables mobiles ( which chirp into local cell-masts at regular intervals ) to work out where you are, who you’re near, who you’re interacting with – and when.
A picture can then be built up of your social habits – which, the designers claim, may “ provide insight into the dynamics of both individual and group behavior ”. It all depends of course, on how ‘entropic’ ( predictable) you are.
Entropic types might find their phone ‘coming up with all sorts of intelligent advice’ – like advising you not to drink too much – or perhaps even suggesting a flirtatious venture.
Currently, 100 students at MIT are subjecting themselves to participating in the study – which will last one year.
Interested parties, who use a Nokia 6600, ( </clue> ) can download the special software here :
http://reality.media.mit.edu/download.php
After that, you should be able to - ‘interact with your data’ – here’s a sample of how that might look - ( Flash file )
http://xnet.media.mit.edu/life/
( Please bear in mind that Really Magazine has no idea how, why, or where it works, or not, so don’t blame us if it doesn’t .)
Oh, by the way, you’ll get prompted by your phone to enter details
of where you are and what you’re doing everytime you move into range
of a new cell-mast . . .
Hey ! Entropic person ! - doesn’t that sound like your idea of fun ?
comments ?25
NOV 04
Tip: If you have a mysterious ability – it might be best to keep quiet about it.
Yet another study has been carried out which involves strapping magnets to pigeons' beaks ‘ to see whether it affects their ability to navigate. ‘
According to Nature magazine “ the latest findings suggest that they are using magnetic cues “ . . . oh really ? Wasn’t that suggested more than thirty years back ? Scientists have been gluing magnets to pigeons since 1971 ( Keeton ) and probably before. Another famous experiment, this time using electromagnets, was carried out in 1974 by Walcott and Green. Similar studies were implemented in 1982, 1991, 1996, 2000 etc etc etc etc & etc blah blah blah.
See: http://www.albertaclassic.com/
The theory is so widespread that pigeon fancier’s suppliers even sell magnetite food supplements.
Exactly how many times does an experiment like this have to be carried out ?
As Nature mag is subscription only, here’s the BBC’s
twee description of the work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/
Let’s get something clear, when the BBC says “Finally, the researchers cut the pigeons' trigeminal nerve (a large nerve carrying optical and other signals to the brain) “ could that by any chance be doublespeak for - ‘ the birds were blinded to see if it made any difference ?’ - If so, why not say so ?
Really Magazine suggests that a university somewhere might like to initiate a study to determine whether ‘ schoolboys pulling the legs off beetles affects the insects’ ability to walk properly ‘.
Just in case we might be able to save any future pigeons getting their trigeminal nerves cut. Here’s the Really Magazine guide to how they navigate :
Partly from visual memory of their surroundings and routes.
Partly by following familiar smells.
Partly by a magnetically implemented sense of direction.
Partly by luck.
In other words, just the same as most other creatures,
including us – only better . . .
comments ?24
NOV 04
The Web
Early last century, a London firm ( sorry, haven’t been able to source the name as yet ) was operating a commercial spider farm. They made a brave attempt at producing fabrics from spiders’ webs. Unfortunately, the production process proved problematic ( spiders are like cats – they do what they want – not what you want ). Also, as you might imagine, the weaving of spiderweb into fabric is very tricky - the company folded.
Since then, there have been hundreds of different projects which have tried to produce artificial spider web. Things moved on a bit when the genes responsible for the web-protein production were identified a few years back. Researchers at various universities immediately embarked on GM projects ( backed by the military - interested in new materials for bullet-proof vests and composite reinforcements etc ) to produce the silk using modified bacteria - and later modified mammals.
Hence the fame achieved by Mille and Muscade, two Nigerian dwarf goats whose home was a disused concrete bunker on a mothballed airforce base in Plattsburgh, New York. They had been GM’d to produce the spider protein in their milk.
http://www.forbes.com/global/2001
Nowadays, there are several companies involved in non-arachnoid production of spider silk, like, for instance, Canadian-based Nexia, who also use GM goats, to produce a product which they call Bio-Steel™
http://www.nexiabiotech.com/en/
According to their website they are “ in the process of developing a commercial spinning process ” . . .
Today’s issue of Current Biology lists yet another research team investigating even more ways to make the silk. This time using GM’d bacteria which they used to infect cell cultures of the appropriately named Fall Armyworm. So what’s new about this method ?
According to the team, the new fibres ‘self-assemble into filaments’ inside the insect cells - instead of having to be extruded. Quite how that happens is a complete mystery to Really Magazine. Also, if they form inside cells, won’t they tend to be – very, very, very short ? So how will they be spun into long fibres for weaving ?
A spokesperson for the researchers says “ even new types of clothing may be envisioned “. Errrr. . . that’s true, in fact, spider-web fabric was being produced as far back as the early 1700’s in France – and was used to make bespoke socks and gloves – presumably bulletproof.
Here’s a site, which has a spectacular picture on its front page showing
how to make spiders webs the ‘traditional’ way. The site also has
a very good selection of links to many spider-related information sources.
http://www.arachnology.org/Arachnology/
Odd fact : South Sea Islanders have been using Nephila spider silk to make fishing nets and rain hats for as far back as anyone can remember.
comments ?24
NOV 04
50% success ? or 50% failure ?
A system which doesn’t waste anything is as impossible as a perpetual motion machine. No matter how cunningly designed, and how carefully operated, something, somewhere will always get wasted. Even in an ideal world, the best an individual, company, or society can do is try to minimise the extent of the wastefulness.
For an example, here’s a new study from the University of Arizona – subject – food waste.
Dr. Timothy Jones , from the anthropology dept, has spent the last ten years quantifying the problem. A lot of very detailed work, from the farms to the landfill sites - and everywhere in between.
His current estimate is that somewhere between 40 to 50% of most foodstuffs ( in the US ) are lost, ignored, or thrown away. The losses can be incurred at any stage, from the producers, the transport system, the wholesalers, to the retailers and, of course, the consumers.
Sometimes the losses are accidental – sometimes deliberate, as a way of price maintenance.
Bearing in mind the current UN estimate that 842
Million of the world’s population don’t get enough to eat – it’s
a very sobering statistic. ( We haven’t been able to find any figures
on the level of food waste in the ‘developing world’, but we’re
guessing that they also would not be very heartening.)
On a lighter note,
We can’t help wondering what the most wasted food product is ? Our nomination is for mustard – the vast majority of which is thrown away uneaten on the side of plates . . .
Anyone one have any other nominations ?
23 NOV 04
Fireworks ahead ?
Pack a lot of energy into a very small space and you’ve created something which could be potentially dangerous. Even a tightly-wound spring in an old clock comes into this category. You’d hardly imagine that a common rechargeable battery could be hazardous - but do a Google search for ‘exploding cell phone batteries’, and you’ll see how widespread the problem is.
But the mobile manufactures’ main concern at the moment is that the modern 2004-style batteries don’t store enough power. The currently favoured solution, if you believe the press releases, is the idea that methanol-powered fuel cells will soon be replacing the NiCads and L-ions in your cellphones and laptops. A small refill of pure ( and ultra-flammable ) alcohol will keep your phone going for a couple of hours – with the added benefit that the ‘re-charge’ time is simply the time it takes you to squirt some more cellphone-juice into it.
Errrrr . . . so . . . Are they potentially hazardous as well ? We recently e-mailed several manufactures of mini fuel-cells and asked them a simple question :
“ Do they get hot ? “
To date, we haven’t received a single reply.
Prediction : In the future, when you buy a cellphone or digital camera, you might have to take out compulsory 3rd party, fire, and personal injury insurance on the spot.
p.s. Under current legislation, a cellphone or any other device powered by methanol would not be permitted in the cabin of passenger aircraft - needless to say, the makers are heavily lobbying the aviation authorities for a change in international regulations . . .
comments ?22
NOV 04
D.O.D. Flash special
" Rockie enlisted in the army fresh out of high school " - now he's made a record, and the US Department of Defense would like you to hear it . . .
We are - completely - lost for words - on this one.
Except to say that it's a fairly heavy Flash file ( 3.3Mb ) , and you must watch it - that's an order.
Here's the link :
http://www.defendamerica.mil/specials/
If it miss-loads, as it does on our system, try this :
http://www.defendamerica.mil/flash
comments ?21 NOV 04
Black Box for cars.
A Russian company, Memsconus, has started production of a ‘black box’ for cars. ( in keeping with tradition, the box, like its namesake aboard aircraft and ships – is not black ).
By modern day standards, the ILUS-3 is a fairly simple device, which might well be a big advantage. It uses a three axis piezo sensor to detect acceleration ( or rather deceleration ) and turning events. It also records the time, date, and vehicle speed. It can be retro-fitted to any make of vehicle.
It
uses only very minimal current from the car’s battery, is completely
sealed, and has a very neat feature - it transmits its info via a radio link,
so that emergency services at the scene of an accident just tune-in to download
the data.
In our opinion though, there does seem to be one problemette with the box. It only has a memory of 15 seconds. In other words, it records its data into a fifteen second solid-state buffer ( no tapes like its ancient aviational cousin ). So, the obvious question is, how does it know when to start and stop recording ? As far as we can tell the company’s website gives no detail on this, so we’ll have to make a wild guess that it stops recording shortly after being subjected to a very rapid deceleration – as in a car crash.
The company points out that their gizmo may well find uses in other fields too. The have in mind examples like :
“ it could be used by sportsmen when polishing vaulting techniques “ , or even, perhaps
“ it will help to operate movement of strange and fabulous creatures in the cinema or attractions – including Disneyland being built now in Moscow.”
Here’s a link to the device’s spec. page ( in Russian )
http://www.memsconus.com/rdp.php
Or you can use this one to AltaVista’s translator for a (very)
roughish English version.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
comments ?20 NOV 04
Oddities of the day.
There are three items in today’s news which deserve Really Magazine analysis. . . but . . .
The first is the news that yet another hugely important ‘ancient hominid’ skeleton has been discovered. We can’t cover that because – frankly, it’s getting to be such a common occurrence it would be like discussing the weather in Manchester.
The second is that a US/Chinese pharma-firm is well underway with clinical trials of exceptionally powerful analgesics based on neuro-active substances derived from pufferfish. The idea, originating from China, is that the drugs apparently offer hope as a substitute for Methadone - to wean opiate addicts off heroin. The pufferfish is the source of a poison that rates in the top-ten most deadly substances known to man - as any Voodoo shaman worth his/her salt will know – powders containing the chemical were allegedly used in the past to create ‘Zombies’ . . . We can’t cover it – wouldn’t want to upset anyone.
The third story is this : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/
A complex of sophisticated underground military bunkers is revealed in Belgrade. What’s so unusual about that ? Every major conurbation worthy of the name ‘city’ has underground military bunkers. London has a fine tradition in this respect . Its got dozens of them. Even as far back as WW2, the US president arranged for the use of a giant bunker H.Q. right in the centre near Goodge St. It’s now called the Eisenhower Centre – and is used as an archival storage depot – about twenty stories deep.
But the point we don’t understand is this. How is it that these huge complexes can get built without anyone noticing ? Tens of thousands of tons of earth, rock, and concrete have to be moved. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of construction workers have to participate for months – possibly years.
Why doesn’t anyone mention anything ? let the public know ? We need more moles.
comments ?19 NOV 04
Running jokes.
Many thanks to today’s Nature magazine for spoiling us for choice in the questionable phrases dept.
The article we’d like to draw attention to is entitled “Distance running shaped human evolution”
The piece points out that when it comes to long-distance running, humans are comparatively adept – here are some of the authors' ideas :
1)“other primates do not share this (long distance) ability ”
No, it’s just that other primates don’t feel ‘minded’ to run competitive and exhausting marathons . . . spot the I.Q.
2) “perhaps early humans used their endurance simply to chase prey to exhaustion ”
Oh yeah ? . . . why not try that sometime ? ( Tip: pick a tortoise or edible slug - not a deer, rabbit, dog, horse, wild boar etc etc.)
3) "Running requires a lot of delicate coordination ”
That’s true. And plenty of other mammals manage it perfectly well – many considerably better than we do – ( think: Mountain Goat )
4) “ running seems to be the only reason that we have prominent buttocks ”
Really Magazine ! . . .
comments ?18
NOV 04
Ten thousand flavo(u)rs of pigeon.
Today the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) has released details of their current assessment for the level at which species are threatened with extinction.
It’s not good news. The IUCN ‘Red List’ currently catalogues 15,589 species. If you think in terms of the vast number of species on the planet ( estimated at around 14Million - excluding bacteria ), then the figure might not seem too alarming at first glance – but looked at another way, the figures equate to :
1 in 8 birds
1 in 4 mammals
1 in 3 amphibians
There’s worse to come unfortunately, as the Red List explains, “only a fraction” of the world’s species have actually been formally assessed so far. So the 15K figure is, of course, just the tip of the iceberg . . .
Most ( but not all ) of the declines can be traced back to direct or indirect activity by humans. Loss of habitat, over-exploitation etc etc.
The real problem, it seems to Really Magazine, is that the Earth is slowly, ( and literally ) being ‘homogenised’ by human activity. Moulded to fit our tastes. Which are largely urban. We don't adapt to environments - we prefer to adapt them to us - it's quicker.
Go to almost any large city in the world and you’ll find the same shops in the malls, the same logos on the billboards, the same cars in the street, and the same brand of coffee in the eateries, and ( depending on latitude ) more or less the same flora and fauna.
So the future, it would seem, belongs to broadly adaptable urban-tolerant creatures - pigeons, rats, flies, and us.
Looking on the bright side though, we do have the technology to store DNA of threatened creatures so that maybe, oneday, possibly, perhaps, they could be made extant again. And maybe, not too far into the future, it will also be possible to genetically ‘design and build’ entirely new creatures from scratch.
But if you happen to be, say, an Orang Utan, it’s not really much comfort to know that your DNA is stored in a university deep-freeze somewhere – because your problem is that your highly specialised habitat, for which your ancestors spent millions of years evolving to perfectly fit – no longer exists - it’s now a cappuccino plantation.
We should also bear in mind that mass-extinctions have happened several times before here on Earth – sometimes wiping out 60% of all life-forms – but, miraculously, new species fairly rapidly evolve to bring the number of distinct creatures back up again . . .
but every time that’s happened so far, there haven’t been any humans around . . .
comments ?17
NOV 04
What can you say ?
It's not technology, it's not science, it's not 'systems', but, as far as we know, nothing like it has ever happened before . . .
It can't, and mustn't, be ignored - so we're linking to it as well. . .
p.s. click on any of the other 450 pages ( so far) to view more . . .
Thanks to Tony at OMF for the link.
P.S.
Don't worry, be happy !
O o o h !
L o o k !
here's a link to Condoleezza Rice's favourite hymn ( source: Christianitytoday.com )
See ? What are you worrying about ? Things aren't so bad really are they !
By the way, despite what you may have heard, ChevronTexaco does not operate a 1,000,419 barrel oil-tanker ( registered in the Bahamas ) which was named the 'Condoleezza Rice' in recognition of her valuable services to the oil industry - it's actually called 'Altair Voyager '.
comments ?16 NOV 04
Noise pollution maps on-line.
Apologies to any French readers : you’ll know all about this. We’re just working on the principle that, until yesterday, we had no idea that this excellent project existed – so maybe there will be others out there who also don’t know . . .
We are talking about the “ Lutte Contre le Bruit “ . . . The battle against noise – in Paris to be precise.
For about a year now, ‘noisemaps’ of the central parts of Paris have been available on-line. It’s a very simple idea – and one which should be implemented by every responsible forward-thinking urban authority on the planet ( so there will be a long wait for other cities to follow suit, we fear )
Teams
of acoustic data-gatherers from the Service for Urban Ecology took
noise measurements all over Paris - using a grid system with a resolution
down to just a few metres. The measurements were taken at various times of
the day and night, and also – importantly – at different heights
above ground.
Vast amounts of data were then complied with CAD building files into a set of maps which show the noise levels – noise pollution if you like - anywhere in the main parts of the city. The resulting original maps are actually 3-D virtual models, so it’s very easy to see, for instance, that noise levels often increases substantially a few floors up – presumably due to reverberations between building blocks which face each other.
The scheme must have cost several million Euros to implement, but the authorities ( unlike their UK counterparts it seems ) are well aware that noise pollution has a very real cost in terms of stress-induced lack-of-efficiency, and adverse health effects. Noise-induced stress has been very well quantified in hundreds of scientific studies over the past few decades. It’s very real, ultimately very costly, and, with a bit of forethought, is largely avoidable.
The Paris Environment Agency has put the maps on-line for anyone to check the noise levels in their area of interest – day or night.
Here’s the links:
http://www.paris.fr/fr/environnement
Then click : Accédez aux cartes > new (Flash) window , click English > wait very p a t i e n t y.
This excellent scheme is, unfortunately, very severely undermined by its appallingly slow and clunky Flash-based interface - compounded by an overloaded server.
Also, frustratingly, only the 2-D versions of the maps are ‘zoomable’.
Tip for the Paris Env Agcy – dump the Flash stuff and get teched-up server-wise tout suite.
comments ?16 NOV 04
You might be contented and just not know it . . . ( or not )
The University of Bath invites you to take part in an on-line ‘Quality of Life’ survey. The research, which is being sponsored by the World Health Organisation, has been ten years in development.
Really Magazine has tried very hard to get a handle on the concept, but so far we haven’t quite managed to pin it down with complete precision. We have managed though, to get a grip on the idea that it’s linked, in some way, with the notion that - feelings of wellbeing can affect the recovery rate from various illnesses . . .
As their website enigmatically explains “ We are interested in whether patients want to know about their quality of life and to tell a health professional about it.”
That’s where we get confused . . . “ whether patients want to know about their quality of life ” ? ? ?
errrrr . . . Do they need to fill in a form to find out ?
Does
not compute
does not com
pute does not compute . . .
One thing we do know, the survey – called the WHOQOL-Bref , is very large - it has already been completed by more than 15,000 people worldwide - in over 40 different languages - and now it's the UK's turn.
So, why not join in regardless, assist the WHO, and complete the survey - here’s the link :
comments ?15
NOV 04
Ikkiirnaqtuq – ( trans: “It’s cold” )
It’s not everyday that the Inuit people get featured in the mainstream news.
You might think that the Arctic would be recognised by the UN as an area considered vulnerable to global warming ? It’s not. The UN is being petitioned though, by the ICC ( Inuit Circumpolar Conference ) , to change things, so that the pole can be included in the listing to the 1992 U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Here’s a link to the story
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news
Also have a look at the ICC’s website.
http://www.inuit.org/
The ICC represents around 155,000 people who, oddly perhaps to our bourgeois
Southern eyes, live in a country which expands and contracts considerably every
year, incorporating parts of Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Russia. Unfortunately,
the contractions are getting stronger.
Odd fact of the day :
Their site is also one of the very few to feature a sample of ‘Inuktitut’ 
-
a writing system which Really Magazine stupidly assumed must be
an ancient script formed from Greenlandic runes. It’s not. It was introduced
in the 1890’s by one Edmund Peck – and it’s based
on shorthand . . .
Here’s a site which will phonetically translate words into Inuktitut for you
http://www.halfmoon.org/inuit.html
Odd link of the day :
Here’s some Inuit mp3's. The composers call them “Games in which
one makes noises" - the best definition of 'Music' we've ever come across.
http://www.ubu.com/ethno/soundings/
comments ?13 NOV 04
England still dragging its butt.
The original inspiration for banning smoking in public places didn’t originate in governmental offices – it came from legal action by workers' unions. The workers were involved in bars and clubs where they had to endure second-hand smoke every day ( or night ).
It was proved decades ago that second-hand and ‘sidestream’ tobacco smoke is responsible for a whole raft of health problems, ranging from sore eyes to lung cancer, but the companies and government departments which organised the research were resolutely shy about publishing the results.
Even today – despite the incontrovertible evidence which has leaked into the public domain – the ‘leaders’ of a country like, say, England, still haven’t passed legislation to ban smoking in public places.
Maybe an article in yesterday’s Lancet magazine might help to nudge the legislators in the general direction of reality ?
The allegations give a breathtaking ( and nauseating ) glimpse behind the mask of big-business 'ethics'. You’ll have to buy a copy of The Lancet to read it in full – but here’s an overview . . .
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle
There are some interesting documents here too :
http://tobaccodocuments.org/profiles/
Update: 15 Nov.
Even the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has got more vision and backbone than Westminster it seems. From the 17th Nov., all tobacco products are entirely banned . . . link
comments ?12
NOV 04
A nasty case of asteroids
Really Magazine has recently stumbled over a couple sites which might appeal to enthusiasts of ‘Earth About to be Hit by Giant Asteroid’ type stories.
The first, from the Armagh Observatory in Northern Ireland, has a regularly updated map of currently known asteroids, including the ones which have orbits which cross the Earth’s. The authors point out that the real number ( of yet-to-be-discovered space rocks ) is probably several hundred times more . . .
http://szyzyg.arm.ac.uk/~spm/neo_map.html
The astonishing map can’t really give an idea of the chaotic nature of the asteroids’ orbits, so the site also provides a short animation. ( It’s a fairly hefty (5Mb) .avi file. )
http://szyzyg.arm.ac.uk/~spm/neostorm.avi
For those readers who’d prefer to see hard facts about asteroids which have actually
hit Earth ( rather than just maybe’s ) there is an excellent site from
the Planetary and Space Science Centre , University of New Brunswick ,
Canada.
http://www.unb.ca/passc/ImpactDatabase
which has a great many highly detailed satellite images of known impact craters across the planet, varying from a few hundred metres to the 300 Km diameter Vredefort site, South Africa . . .
comments ?11
NOV 04
Forecast : FOG
Warning : This piece may contain isolated patches of CAPITAL LETTERS.
<rant>
Some scientific questions, which seem at first glance to be reasonably straightforward, are impossible to answer ( as yet )
Questions like - ‘Where does mass come from’, ‘What is a living thing’, ‘What is intelligence’ etc etc . . .
But there are other questions like ‘Does it rain a lot here or not’ which, frankly, shouldn’t really tax our facility for investigation to its very limits. And yet, this week, a perplexing example has emerged.
Two days ago : A story from the BBC, headlined: “Australia in the grip of water crisis”. There are several quotes from Blair Nancarrow, a water expert from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
Blair, who is based in Perth, Western Australia, says that cities like Perth must get used to living with less rain - "There was a dramatic drop [in rainfall] here in the mid 1970s and again in the mid-90s. It looks like this will now be the norm,"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/
Pretty clear ?
Now, today, from the Sydney Morning Herald, comes a piece quoting Ian Smith, a climate scientist from . . . yep . . . the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
“Year 2000 was the second wettest on record” and “some parts of the desert had 70 per cent more rain than normal in the past eight years.” The piece notes that the increases particularly affect Western Australia.
Errrr . . . so, that's places like Perth then ?
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National
Let’s
put two paras side by side :
BBC: ‘Much of this arid continent is in the grip of one of the driest periods in living memory.’
SMH: ‘Averaged across the country, year 2000 was the second wettest on record’
AAAAAGHHHH !
As far as we can see – and that’s not very far given the adverse climatic conditions – the truth is that the rainfall in most of the country has been going up, but in the East and South East ( where Sydney and Melbourne are ) it’s been going down.
In other words, it's distribution problem. Building reservoirs and laying pipes costs - big time.
WHY NOT JUST SAY SO ! FOR FOUR-X SAKE !
</rant>
comments ?10
NOV 04
Eye hopes.
It’s been known for centuries that you tell quite a bit about a person’s heath by looking into their eyes. We’re not talking ‘iridology’ here – we’re talking 100% tested, utterly reliable methods for gauging serious medical problems.
Problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, liver damage, and even high cholesterol show up very strongly in a quick eye-examination. But now a Virginia-based company has taken things a step further by producing a hand-held eye-scanning instrument which can “- serve as a means of quickly assessing the condition of the entire body - “.
In a news-release yesterday, the company gave details of their invention – which they are calling the OSI ( Ocular Scanning Instrument )
Here’s a link to a USA Today piece about it.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/
For more details on the device, Really Magazine eventually managed
to find the company’s website
http://www.mdbiotechinc.com/tech.html
( Not to be confused with the kit which Dr.Bones of Star Trek had
at his disposal.)
http://maquis.com/cells/sutherland/terms2.html
But, unless we missed it, the site doesn’t seem to have very much in
the way of hard info about their invention. . .
What we had in mind was info along the lines of - ‘Exactly what problems can it detect’ ‘Exactly how does it work’ – that kind of thing ? . . .
There are a few clues on the company’s site though. . . apart from the two very well known eye-diagnostic ‘biomarkers’ mentioned above ( hypertension and diabetes ) it can also help with :
‘occupational toxicology’ and
‘rural telemedicine’
- you might be wondering, like we did, exactly what that means ?
To cut a long story short, here’s the answer - which we found on an external link. The device can spot poisoning by compounds such as organophosphates / anticholinesterases - in other words, ultra-toxic chemicals found in insecticides down on the farm – and also, of course, on battlefields.
In fact, the device was developed to detect damage to Special Operation Forces caused by nerve agents etc etc. That's what it does.
Here’s some of the kind of info we were after :
Any concerned farmers ( or Survivalists ) who want to get teched-up and ready for emergencies could contact the company. Not easy though. We probably missed it, but we couldn’t find any e-mail, phone or fax listed on their site, and their postal address seems to be a PO box in Morgantown . . . Maybe you can get OSI's mail-order ?
comments ?09
NOV 04
Hobbitess : the plot thickens . .
There seems to be a bit of controversy looming about the recently discovered ‘ new
human-like species ‘ a.k.a. ‘Florrie’, a.k.a. ‘Hobbit’ ,
a.k.a. ‘LB1', a.k.a. ‘Ebu’
At a press briefing on Saturday, Indonesian scientist Prof. Teuku Jacob figuratively shone a little more light into the cave where the new hominids were found.
To cut a long story short he makes three points . . . each worthy of a very loud DOH !
In the prof’s humble opinion :
1) The skeletons were simply very small humans from about 1500 years ago
!
2) The main finding, ‘Florrie’, was male not female.
3) The Indonesian team got stitched up, PR–wise.
Dr. Soejono, the head of the National Archeology Institute also had something to say about it. His team had, it seems been working at the site since 1976, but had to stop for lack of funding. When work resumed, and the skeleton was discovered back in September, the Indonesian’s didn’t publicize the finding straight away, because they wanted time to study it in detail first . . .
Hmmmmmm . . . Florrie is beginning to smell decidedly odd . . .
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/
comments ?08
NOV 04
Slightly Inebriated Babelfish
A special new feature for the mag !
Six new language editions ! ( courtesy Alta Vista translation service )
Just select the language you'd prefer from the L.H. menu buttons to translate the entire site ( kind of, vaguely, well, quite a bit of it anyway ).
To give an idea : “ Latest Issue ” translated into Portuguese, becomes “The most delayed issue “
Classic! Fab! and many other superlatives.
Most of the site, even outgoing links, gets translated ( sort of ) . . .
we're probably breaking some unwritten law of cyberspace . . .
So, get it while you can.
Currently featuring: German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese
Coming soon ( maybe ): Albanian, Bengali, Catalan . . . and, eventually, Zulu
Reader's comment, from H, London
As a whole it's a mess. Very few sentences are correct. More frequently, entire sentences are wrong. It's very much a literal translation. The creative effort is all completely lost (and messed up) in translation.
Editor's comment : Doh! If we get any more complaints the BabelFish is going to get fried . . .
comments ?07 NOV 04
Asteroid theory flattened by insect shock.
Apart from some heavy metal bands and newspaper barons there are no dinosaurs alive on Earth today.
The most widely accepted theory for their demise - that they were wiped out by the after-effects of a giant asteroid impact at Chicxulub, Mexico, 65 million years ago – is clearly wrong ( we think ).
What kind of ultra-specific asteroid would ensure that every last one of the dinos perished – but birds, fish, reptiles and even small mammals survived ?
And now there is another nail in the theory’s coffin.
Bees.
Jacqueline Kozisek, of the University of New Orleans, has pointed the simple, but highly pertinent, fact that bees ( or at least their tropical ancestors, Cretotrigona prisca ) survived the so called ‘Nuclear Winter’ which was supposed to have devastated Earth following the impact.
Bees live on pollen. So, for them to survive, there must have consistently been plants in flower – ergo, things weren’t that bad really.
Case closed.
Jacqueline will be presenting her findings to the Geological Society of America annual meeting in Denver, Monday, 8 Nov.
for details see :http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM
( also see the cartoons page )
and our new reader's poll 'What killed the Dinosaurs'
comments ?06 NOV 04
Over the counter myths.
Where you find human activity, you’ll also find myths rumours and legends. No big surprise then that the WWW is liberally interwoven with every kind of oddball idea that you could possibly imagine.
It’s a big problem for high-profile trans-national corporations, which need to maintain a public overview of realism about their products.
So, several companies have implemented special websites specifically to combat scurrilous rumors. Here’s one : The official Coca-Cola Myths and Rumors site.
It’s positively effervescing with interesting details - such as :
“ Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops ”
and
“ we recommend using products specifically designed for cleaning or rust removal.” ( as opposed to fizzy drinks )
Perfectly straightforward advice, we feel. There is one small niggle though. Here’s what they say about caffeine, which has been added to many soft drinks since the 1920’s ‘as a taste enhancer’ . . .
“ Caffeine is not addictive “.
Well, we’re just not at all sure about that. And neither is the Johns Hopkins University. As we reported back in Sept. , the JHU is at the forefront when it comes to caffeine research.
Here’s what they say : ( reprinted from the link below )
“ CAFFEINE ADDICTION (i.e. CAFFEINE DEPENDENCE)
Although caffeine does not produce with(sic) life-threatening health risks commonly associated with the use of classic drugs of addiction such as cocaine, heroin and nicotine, some caffeine users report becoming "addicted" to caffeine in the sense that they report an inability to quit or to cut down their caffeine use, they continue to use caffeine despite having medical or psychological problems made worse by caffeine. and they continue to use caffeine to avoid experiencing caffeine withdrawal symptoms. “
Perhaps then, in the end, it all comes down to how you define the word ‘Addiction’ ? . . .
Here’s what the Oxford English Reference Dictionary says :
“ The condition of taking a drug habitually and being unable to give up without incurring adverse effects “
That's pretty clear, isn't it ?
So, now we're confused . . . When is a myth not a myth ? Is it or isn't it ? Can someone purleese let us know one way or the other ?
Here’s a link to the JHU page which will tell you everything you’ve
ever wanted to know about caffeine ( and more )
http://www.caffeinedependence.org/
comments ?05 NOV 04
Birds keep a beady eye on EU crops.
Earlier this year, ten new member countries joined the EU. Ten new member countries - with lots of framers. These (new) farmers have suddenly seen their market increase dramatically – and of course they also have access to lucrative agricultural grants. Like their counterparts in the ‘old’ EU, they can claim substantial subsides depending on the crops which they grow – and even on the ones which they don’t grow ( so-called 'set aside' ).
There is a lot of money at steak – an astonishing 50% of the entire EU budget in fact. The EU has the notion that some of the new the new farmers might just get the idea that they can be ‘economical with the truth’ regarding the boundaries of their fields and that crops which they’re growing ( or not ).
So, the DG ( Directorate General ) wants to draw the new farmers’ attention to the fact that they have implemented the MARS ( Monitoring Agriculture with Remote Sensing ) project. The EU has been using very high resolution satellite imagery to monitor farms for many years* – and now they’re publicising the fact - big style.
Bearing in mind the 1-metre-per-pixel satellite pics, the EU is hoping that the new farmers will be registering their fields ( oddly termed ‘Land Parcels’ ) to the Land Parcel Identification Systems (LPIS) project – at the rate of 50 Million parcels per year . . .
To encourage things, they’ve organised a conference in Budapest on the 25th Nov. to which journalists ( and possibly others ) are cordially invited. Details here:
Participating media will get the opportunity to see “the level of detail that can be zoomed in”(sic.) – and, presumably, take away stills to publish in their local paper’s agricultural pages. They will also be able to “sample agricultural products” ( we’re not sure what that means – potatoes probably – or maybe tobacco, which is currently subsidised to the tune of €1Billion per year )
Note* As far as we know, the EU doesn’t
have its own monitoring satellites : in the past, it has been renting time
on uber-priced commercial and military ‘birds’ instead : This
may have changed by now, if anyone has any details , please get
in touch and let us know.
comments ?04 NOV 04
As a mark of respect for 'Democracy' worldwide
there is no news today . . .
comments ?03 NOV 04
SMART route to the moon.
The European Space Agency’s SMART-1 probe is due to get ‘captured’ into lunar orbit on the 15/16th Nov.
The probe, which is on 2 ½ year mission, will look for ice at the Moon’s south pole, examine the Moon’s orbit, and generally try to gather clues as to its origin.
After a short hurricane-induced delay, it was launched by Ariane flight 162 on the 27th September ( together with two other comms satellites )
The obvious question : Why has it taken so long to get to the Moon ?
Firstly, the probe is testing a xenon powered ion-drive (SEPP) which gets its electrical power from solar panels. It’s a very weak engine, but has the advantage of being able to operate for very long periods – perhaps even years – so future versions may be very useful on long space missions.
The
second reason is that the probe has taken a very roundabout route. An ‘osculating’ route
in fact. ( See pic ). The fiendishly clever 3-D path has been chosen to take
advantage of the Earth’s and moon’s gravitational fields to ‘slingshot’ the
probe on its way.
There isn’t much choice if your engine only provides 7 grams of thrust.
If you’d like to find out more about future plans for the moon, you might like to go to the 6th ILEWG International Conference on Exploration and Utilization of the Moon, of which the ESA is a co-sponsor.
It’s based in Udaipur, India, and runs from 22nd to 26th Nov. Here’s a link to its somewhat ‘osculating’ website.
http://www.prl.ernet.in/~ILC6/
During the conference , you’ll be able to learn about such things as “The Bush Service Station”, an idea from the University of Tennessee, which wants to set up an H2 and O2 “gas station” on the moon by splitting the water ice ( which may be ) available at the poles.
As they say, “ The time for all this is NOW. Let us get started in earnest TODAY “
In other words, no osculating about please . . .
for main SMART info see :
http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/
comments ?02
NOV 04
Voice recognition down on the farm.
The artist formerly known as 1609 has been in the studio again. 1609 is a punk – actually, we’re making an assumption here, based on the fact that he has his name tattooed in very large letters numbers across one ear. 1609 is also a pig.
He’s been doing some voiceover work at the Bioacoustic Laboratory studios run by the Research Institute for Biology of Farm Animals in Dummerstorf, Germany.
The institute has been using some very advanced neural-net voice-recognition software to analyse digital recordings of pig-grunts and squeals.
It’s not so easy for us humans to understand pig-language – especially the squealing variety. Pigs tend to get very vociferous if they are either: A) enjoying themselves greatly, or, B) are highly stressed-out.
After correlating the noises with cortisol levels ( presumably obtained under – ahem - slightly stressful circumstances ), the lab’s neural net has now learnt to reliably tell which grunt means what – even against an acoustic background of noisy farm machinery.
The institute hopes that its new laptop-based ‘Pig Alarm’ will enable farmers and animal handlers to tell whether their animals are stressed or not.
We’d better print this bit quietly :
especially at the abattoir.
They are also working with cows, sheep and chickens. A glimpse of their progress, entitled “Vocalization of farm animals as a measure of welfare" can be seen here :
comments ?01 NOV 04
Sorry man, I overslept. Am I like, too late to vote or what ?
We’re holding our breath for the results of the voter’s decision this coming Tuesday. No! not that one – the Alaskan one.
Alaska’s voters will be deciding whether or not to legalise cannabis. If they vote ‘yes’, the state will become the first English-speaking zone in the world to do so. ( as far as we know )
Opponents of the move point out that there is already a very high level of ‘substance abuse’ across the state. Well, there would be wouldn’t there ? It’s very cold and dark half the year - they have to have some sort of compensation, don’t they? Globally, alcohol abuse, for example, correlates very closely with latitude.
Proponents, though, have been going to great lengths to publicise their cause, even to the extent of running TV ads. The ads have been part funded by the Marijuana Policy Project – a Washington DC group which, according to Reuters, lists billionaire George Soros as one of its backers.
Some odd facts about Alaska :
It was bought from ‘ His Majesty, the Emperor of all the Russias’ in 1867 for $7.2 Million.
Wales has 4 times the population.
It wasn’t officially a ‘state’ until 1958.
It’s seen a gold rush, a coal rush, a fish rush, and is now experiencing an oil and gas rush.
At the nearest point, it’s just 55 miles away from Russia, hence it’s the location for several ultra high-tech 'secret' establishments.
comments ?01
NOV 04
RESULT : Alaskan's rejected the new proposal by a 57 / 43 percent vote.
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