Tea, Thyme and Cozies News, Science and Other Stories

Letter From Tehran: The Black Day In June

2009-06-13T22:44:00.001-06:00

Letter From Tehran: The Black Day In June

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Sarah Palin and the Witchdoctor

2008-09-23T08:08:00.002-06:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26798219#26798219

This video is a scary notion. Sarah Palin praising a preacher is a self confirmed witch-hunter! And she credits this man as the reason she became Governor. I'm sorry, but this woman scares the crap out of me. McCain, I can handle, Palin, uh-uh.

Viking Age Triggered by Shortage of Wives?

2008-09-17T13:02:00.000-06:00

Viking Age Triggered by Shortage of Wives?
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Sept. 17, 2008 -- During the Viking Age from the late eighth to the mid-eleventh centuries, Scandinavians tore across Europe attacking, robbing and terrorizing locals. According to a new study, the young warriors were driven to seek their fortunes to better their chances of finding wives.

The odd twist to the story, said researcher James Barrett, is that it was the selective killing of female newborns that led to a shortage of Scandinavian women in the first place, resulting later in intense competition over eligible women.

"Selective female infanticide was recorded as part of pagan Scandinavian practice in later medieval sources, such as the Icelandic sagas," Barrett, who is deputy director of Cambridge University's McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, told Discovery News.

Although it's believed many cultures throughout world history have practiced female infanticide, said Barrett, he admits that "it is difficult to identify in the archaeological record," so the claim "must remain a hypothesis."

To strengthen the argument, however, Barrett has reviewed and dismissed several other proposed causes for the Viking Age.

Improved seafaring technologies are often cited as the trigger, but he points out that an earlier migration from Scandinavia to Britain took place in the fifth and sixth centuries.

"Thus the development of the Viking ship cannot have been a cause of movements of this kind," he said. "Ships capable of carrying warriors over long distances are a necessary pre-requisite for the Viking Age, but clearly they did not cause it."

What's more, he points out, the sailing time from Norway to Ireland is quite short -- perhaps a week using vessels of the time -- so the Vikings were probably capable of raiding Ireland well before the official start of their reign of terror.

The study is published in the current issue of Antiquity.

Barrett also dismisses other proposed causes of the Viking Age, such as climate change, overpopulation in Scandinavia, economic woes and more.

An intriguing archaeological clue is that much of the bounty plundered from Britain -- particularly from monasteries -- wound up later in the graves of Viking wives. The items included precious metals, fine cloth, jewelry and other handicrafts.

Barrett's analysis of Nordic historical records found that Scandinavian men often served as warriors, frequently forming "military brotherhoods," until they were able to marry and establish their own households, which were key to prestige and power.

According to Barrett, honor and religious fatalism -- the idea that the time and manner of death is predestined -- also fueled the Vikings, helping explain why men were willing to risk death in violent battles and risky seafaring. The Viking religion held that "the cosmos began in the frozen emptiness...and will end in fire with the last battle," said Barrett.

Despite the infanticide, he still believes the Vikings "highly valued" women. Aside from lavishing bridal prospects with plundered goods, they held solemn burials at sea for women. In fact, one of the most important known Viking Age burials, involved numerous goods and two female skeletons encased in a ship called the Oseberg.

Soren Sindbaek, assistant professor of medieval and Renaissance archaeology at Denmark's University of Aarhus, told Discovery News that the new paper "is very right in pointing out the inadequacy" of former explanations for the Viking Age.

"We need indeed to seek for an individual, social motivation behind the fact that a large number of young men chose to set out on extremely risky voyages in hopes of acquiring wealth and esteem in foreign lands," Sindbaek said.

"Barrett points to the wish of disadvantaged young men to acquire resources necessary to set up a family as crucial," he added. "This is the 'marriage imperative,' which I think Barrett succeeds in substantiating within the limitations of the evidence."

Barrett suggested additional studies on the Vikings since would help "to understand how small-scale societies -- and issues of a very human scale -- can have a large impact on world history, positive and/or negative."

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/09/17/viking-women.html

Neanderthals Conquered Mammoths, Why Not Us?

2008-09-12T09:44:00.001-06:00

Neanderthals Conquered Mammoths, Why Not Us?
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Sept. 9, 2008 -- They may have been stronger, but Neanderthals looked, ate and may have even thought much like modern humans do, suggest several new studies that could help explain new evidence that the early residents of prehistoric Europe and Asia engaged in head-to-head combat with woolly mammoths.

Together, the findings call into question how such a sophisticated group apparently disappeared off the face of the Earth around 30,000 years ago.

The new evidence displays the strengths and weaknesses of Neanderthals, suggesting they were skilled hunters but not as brainy and efficient as modern humans, who eventually took over Neanderthal territories.

Neanderthal Vs. Woolly Mammoth

Most notably among the new studies is what researchers say is the first ever direct evidence that a woolly mammoth was brought down by Neanderthal weapons.

Margherita Mussi and Paola Villa made the connection after studying a 60,000 to 40,000-year-old mammoth skeleton unearthed near Neanderthal stone tool artifacts at a site called Asolo in northeastern Italy. The discoveries are described in this month's Journal of Archaeological Science.

Villa, a curator of paleontology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, told Discovery News that other evidence suggests Neanderthals hunted the giant mammals, but not as directly. At the English Channel Islands, for example, 18 woolly mammoths and five woolly rhinoceroses dating to 150,000 years ago "were driven off a cliff and died by falling into a ravine about 30 meters (over 98 feet) deep. They were then butchered."

Villa, however, pointed out that "there were no stone points or other possible weapons" found at the British site.

"At Asolo, instead there was a stone point that was very probably mounted on a wooden spear and used to kill the animal," she added.

Several arrowheads were excavated at the Italian site, but the one of greatest interest is fractured at the tip, indicating that it "impacted bone or the thick skin of the mammoth."

Other studies on stone points suggest that if such a weapon were rammed into a large beast, it would be likely to fracture the same way.

What's For Dinner?

There is no question that Neanderthals craved meat and ate a lot of it.

A study in this month's issue of the journal Antiquity by German anthropologists Michael Richard and Ralf Schmitz found that Neanderthals went for red meat, not of the woolly mammoth variety, but from red deer, roe deer, and reindeer.

The scientists came to that conclusion after grinding up bone samples taken from the remains of Neanderthals found in Germany and then analyzing the isotopes within. These forms of chemical elements -- in this case, carbon and nitrogen -- reveal if the individual being tested lived on meat, fish or plants, since each food group has its own carbon and nitrogen signature.

Richard and Schmitz conclude that the Neanderthals subsisted primarily on meat from deer, which they probably stalked in organized groups.

The researchers say their findings "reinforce the idea that Neanderthals were sophisticated hunters with an advanced ability to organize and communicate."

Villa agrees.

"Neanderthals are no longer considered inferior hunters," she said. "Neanderthals were capable of hunting a wide range of prey, from dangerous animals such as brown bears, mammoths and rhinos, to large, medium and small-size ungulates such as bison, aurochs, horse, red deer, reindeer, roe deer and wild goats."

Enter Homo Sapiens

Fossils suggest that Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted in Western Europe for at least 10,000 years. While there is a smattering of evidence that the two species interbred, most anthropologists believe the commingling was infrequent or not enough to substantially affect the Homo sapiens gene pool.

New evidence supports that notion, while also revealing that the world's first anatomically modern humans retained a few Neanderthal-like characteristics.

Several papers in the current Journal of Human Evolution describe the world's first known people, which shared bone, hand and ankle features with Neanderthals and possibly also Homo erectus.

John Fleagle, professor of anatomical sciences at Stony Brook University, who worked on the early human research, told Discovery News that the shared characteristics "are just primitive features retained from a common ancestor."

Neanderthal Brain Power

It's known that Neanderthals had more robust skeletons than modern humans, with particularly strong arms and hands, but were the two groups evenly matched in brainpower?

A new study in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences provides some intriguing clues.

Marcia Ponce de Leon of the University of Zurich's Anthropological Institute and Museum and her colleagues virtually reconstructed brain size and growth of three Neanderthal infant skeletons found in Syria and Russia.

"Neanderthal brain size at birth was similar to that in recent Homo sapiens and most likely subject to similar obstetric constraints," Ponce de Leon and her team concluded, although they added that "Neanderthal brain growth rates during early infancy were higher" than those experienced by modern humans.

It appears, therefore, that while Neanderthal brains grew at about the same rate as ours, they had a small size advantage.

Trade-Offs in Evolution

But bigger is not always better in terms of brain function. Modern humans evolved smaller, but more efficient, brains.

Ponce de Leon and her colleagues suggest, "It could be argued that growing smaller -- but similarly efficient -- brains required less energy investment and might ultimately have led to higher net reproduction rates."

On the down side for people, however, brainpower efficiency doesn't come without a cost.

"Our new research suggests that schizophrenia is a byproduct of the increased metabolic demands brought about during human brain evolution," explained Philipp Khaitovich of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the Shanghai branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Cards Evenly Stacked

Weighing the pros and cons of each species, Neanderthals and modern humans may have been evenly matched when they shared European land, with more and more scientists puzzling over how such an advanced, human-like being became extinct.

University of Exeter archaeologist Metin Eren hopes the latest findings will not only change the image of Neanderthals, but also the direction that future research on these prehistoric hominids will take.

"It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived," Eren said.

"When we think of Neanderthals, we need to stop thinking in terms of stupid or less advanced and more in terms of different," he added.

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

"House" star Hugh Laurie joins TV's richest list

2008-09-12T09:42:00.000-06:00

"House" star Hugh Laurie joins TV's richest list

By Nellie Andreeva
2 hours, 2 minutes ago
11 September 2008

He is the star of the biggest drama on television. Now Hugh Laurie is poised to become one of the highest-paid actors on TV with a new deal to continue on Fox's "House."

The British actor's salary is expected to rise to about $400,000 an episode, or more than $9 million a year, under a pact with producer Universal Media Studios.

Laurie, 49, who had humble beginnings on "House" with a starting salary in the mid-five figures in 2004, got his first major salary bump in summer 2006 when his per-episode fee was upped to $250,000-$300,000 an episode.

The list of highest-paid actors on drama series is now topped by departing "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" leading man William Petersen ($600,000 per episode) and "24's" Kiefer Sutherland (close to $500,000), who both serve as executive producers on their series.

Just as Sutherland's Jack Bauer is synonymous with "24," curmudgeonly medical genius Dr. Gregory House is at the heart of "House." The role has earned Laurie two Golden Globes and three Emmy nominations.

He also would get some sort of producing credit on the medical drama, which returns for a fifth season Tuesday. The deal also adds another year to Laurie's contract on the series, assuring he will stay on at least through the 2011-12 season.

This past season, the medical drama averaged 16.7 million viewers, the second-highest-rated scripted series behind ABC's "Desperate Housewives."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

Myth of Dwarf Dinos in Dracula Country Confirmed

2008-08-26T14:50:00.000-06:00

Myth of Dwarf Dinos in Dracula Country Confirmed
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 13, 2008 -- In 1900, the sister of an eccentric Austro-Hungarian aristocrat named Baron von Nopsca found a tiny bone on the baron's family estate in Transylvania, a historical region in present-day Romania. The baron, who was a dinosaur buff, identified the bone as belonging to a dwarf dino that likely once lived on an island in the region.

The motorcycle-riding baron's outrageous theories were ridiculed and largely dismissed, but now new evidence suggests his proposed island of dwarf dinosaurs did indeed exist in the land of the mythical, blood-drinking Count Dracula.

"Bram Stoker's [Dracula] tale is without a very sustainable historical background, but that is not the case here," lead researcher Vlad Codrea told Discovery News.

Dwarfed Bones Support the Claims

Codrea, a professor of biology and geology at University Babes-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and colleague Pascal Godefroit recently found several bones belonging to Zalmoxes shqiperorum, an herbivorous dinosaur with forelimbs that were much shorter than its hindlimbs.

The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Comptes Rendus Palevol.

"Obviously it was a dwarf dinosaur," said Codrea, who compared the dinosaur to its Rhabdodon relatives from southern France and northern Spain. Rhabdodon, meaning "fluted tooth," measured just over 14 feet long, which, in itself, is a relatively small size for a dinosaur. Zalmoxes, on the other hand, was only 7 to 10 feet long.

The dwarf dinosaur has been classified as belonging to the iguanodont dinosaur group. These Mid Jurassic to Late Cretaceous animals included duck-billed dinos. Some members of the group could weigh up to eight tons and reach 50 feet in length.

Codrea and Godefroit unearthed the newly found bones in a red clay deposit at the Jibou Formation in Somes Odorhei, Romania.

More Mini Dinosaurs

The small Romanian dinosaur was apparently not a loner.

"Zalmoxes had in Transylvania select dinosaur company," Codrea said. "All were dwarves."

He explained that after the initial discovery on Nopsca's estate, the baron set off on his motorcycle to excavate various parts of his homeland. Over the years he found bones belonging to multiple dwarfed species.

These included a sauropod named Magyarosaurus dacus, which looked like a tiny version of a brontosaurus or diplodocus, and the ankylosaur Strutiosaurus transilvanicus, whose body was covered by many tiny bones that formed a protective shield.

A duck-billed dinosaur called Telmatosaurus transylvanicus was also excavated in the area, along with several carnivorous dinos, such as Velociraptorinae indet, Euronychodon and Paronychodon.

The Island Effect

Although many scientists scoffed at the notion of tiny dinosaurs inhabiting Transylvania, imminent paleontologist David Weishampel, fresh out of graduate school, became intrigued by the baron's finds, which he investigated first-hand in Romania.

Weishampel, who now works in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at Johns Hopkins University, came to the conclusion that Nopsca was right -- very small dinosaurs really did live in Romania during the Late Cretaceous (around 70 to 65 million years ago).

He also agreed with the baron's theory that life in isolation on an island, which Weishampel has named Hateg Island, led to the dino dwarfism.

"Hateg was an eastern European island that existed throughout most of the Cretaceous," Weishampel told Discovery News. "It was colonized by the dinosaurs, turtles, crocodiles and various other animals that lived in subtropical to temperate shallow marine environments."

The new research suggests Hateg Island might have connected to mainland Transylvania at one point on the northeastern side, but scientists are still piecing together the region's geological history.

What is clear, however, is that the dinosaurs must have evolved away from other parts of Europe, since such isolated groups tend to be smaller or larger than normal, due to condensed ecosystems that result in size extremes.

On the Other End of the Scale

A few years ago, two of Codrea's colleagues from Bucharest, along with French paleontologist Eric Buffetaud, described "a new giant pterosaur" from Cretaceous Transylvania that was "remarkable for its very large size and for the robustness of its large skull."

The new pterosaur turned out to have a wingspan of 40 feet or more. Its scientific name, Hatzegopteryx thambema, appropriately means "Hateg Island Monster."

The flying reptile's head alone was nearly 10 feet long. Its skull was so long that Buffetaud's team wondered how the creature could have ever taken flight, but the researchers discovered that thin bones enclosing small air pockets gave the monster "strength and lightness."

Recreations of Hateg Island now therefore take on quite a psychedelic dream-like picture, with dwarf Transylvania dinosaurs living in relative tropical splendor, while flying monstrous reptiles swoop overhead.

Codrea explained that the pterosaur originally came as "an intruder, a visitor arrived from far away areas," and could fly over large distances that prevented it from locking into the island miniaturizing pattern of evolution.

The Baron's Tragic Ending

Baron von Nopsca did not live to see his theories validated.

He embarked on a motorcycle tour of Italy and Europe with his lover and secretary, Bayazid Doda, an Albanian Muslim, seated in his sidecar. The two men ran out of money and cut their journey short in Vienna where, in a rage, the baron drugged Doda's tea to render him unconscious. He then shot Doda before turning the gun on himself in 1933 when he was 56 years old.

Despite the baron's inner demons, other researchers now mostly support his theories, which included not only his work on dinosaurs, but also plate tectonics. Weishampel believes his work was so important that he's taken a year off to study it further and to write a related book.

Codrea and his colleague are also still exploring Transylvania's dinosaurs. They plan to publish information on even more finds there soon.

"I'm sure that Nopsca would be pleased about our discoveries, if he were alive," Codrea said. "He was an enthusiastic paleontologist and he believed in his research."

He added, "Sometimes, when I'm in the field, I have the strange sensation that he is somewhere near…"

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Odysseus' Bloody Homecoming Dated to 1178 B.C.

2008-08-26T14:45:00.000-06:00

Odysseus' Bloody Homecoming Dated to 1178 B.C.
Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

June 24, 2008 -- Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.

It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.

Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.

But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.

"What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the 'Odyssey' and read it again, and ponder," said Magnasco. "And to realize that our understanding of these texts is quite imperfect, and even when entire libraries have been written about Homeric studies, there is still room for further investigation."

Their study potentially adds support to the accuracy of Homer's writing.

"Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about," Magnasco said. "It still does not prove the historicity of the return of Odysseus," he said. "It only proves that Homer knew about certain astronomical phenomena that happened much before his time."

Homer reports that on the day of the slaughter the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. In addition, he mentions more than once that it is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.

Other clues include:

* Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky.
* Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Bootes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset.
* And 33 days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory. This is the researchers' interpretation, anyway. Homer wrote that Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, traveled far west to deliver a message.

"Of course we believe it's amply justified, otherwise we would not commit it to print. However we do recognize there's less ammunition to defend this interpretation than the others," Magnasco said.

"Even though the other astronomical references are much clearer, our interpretation of them as allusions to astronomical phenomena is an assumption," he added in an interview via e-mail.

For example, Magnasco said, Homer writes that as Odysseus spread his sails out of Ogygia, "sleep did not weigh on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, and late-setting Bootes, and the Bear."

"We assume he means that as Odysseus set sail shortly after sunset, at nautical twilight the Pleiades and Bootes were simultaneously visible, and that Bootes would be the later-setting of the two," Magnasco explained. "It is a good assumption because every member of his audience would know what was being discussed, as the Pleiades and Bootes were important to them to know the passage of the seasons and would be very familiar with which times of the year they were visible. Remember the only calendar they had was the sky."

Since the occurrence of an eclipse and the various star positions repeat over different periods of time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in the "Odyssey."

And their result has Odysseus exacting his revenge on April 16, 1178 B.C.

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Odd Story: Cows Use Inner Compass to Point North-South

2008-08-26T14:39:00.001-06:00

Cows Use Inner Compass to Point North-South
Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press

Aug. 26, 2008 -- Talk about animal magnetism, cows seem to have a built-in compass. No bull: Somehow, cattle seem to know how to find north and south, say researchers who studied satellite photos of thousands of cows around the world.

Most cattle that were grazing or resting tended to align their bodies in a north-south direction, a team of German and Czech researchers reports in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

And the finding held true regardless of what continent the cattle were on, according to the study led by Hynek Burda and Sabine Begall of the faculty of biology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.

"The magnetic field of the Earth has to be considered as a factor," the scientists said.

This challenges scientists to find out why and how these animals align to the magnetic field, Begall said in an interview via e-mail.

"Of course, the question arises whether humans show also such a spontaneous behavior," she said, adding, what "consequences does it have for their health."

The study sent Tina Hinchley, who with her husband Duane operates a dairy farm in Cambridge, Wis., to take a new look at an aerial photo taken of their farm a few years ago.

"The cows that were in the pasture were all over the place ... about two-thirds were north-south," Hinchley said.

Two-thirds is close to what the researchers found in their look at 8,510 cattle in 308 pastures. In the study, 60 percent to 70 percent of cattle were oriented north-south, which Begall termed a "highly significant deviation from random distribution."

Hinchley stressed that one factor that must be considered is cow comfort.

"They don't like to get hot. Their body temperature is 102, and they are wearing black leather jackets, literally! If turning north-south would keep them cooler, they would stand that way."

The research team noted that in very windy conditions cattle tend to face the wind, and have been known to seek out the sun on cold days. But they said they were able to discount weather effects in the study by analyzing clues such as the position of the sun based on shadows.

"This is a surprising discovery," said Kenneth J. Lohmann of the biology department at the University of North Carolina. "Nothing like this has been observed before in cattle or in any large animal."

However Lohmann, who was not part of the research team, cautioned that "the study is based entirely on correlations. To demonstrate conclusively that cattle have a magnetic sense, some kind of experimental manipulation will eventually be needed."

Joseph L. Kirschvink of the California Institute of Technology said he wondered if fences around the pastures could affect cattle orientation.

Passive alignment of animals to magnetic fields has been reported in honeybees and termites, he noted. It requires some type of special sensory organ to detect the magnetic field.

"If they have evidence suggesting that mammals are using magnetic fields to orient their movements, this is very cool," said Mark A. Willis, an associate professor of biomedical sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Willis, who was not part of the research team, added, "We have only in the last few years begun to understand the mechanisms underlying magnetic field orientation in birds and other smaller animals."

Indeed, it's small animals that led to this study, Begall explained. They were researching the magnetic field effect on African mole-rats.

"At one point last year the question came up whether large animals could also sense the Earth's magnetic field or not. But of course, it is difficult, or maybe impossible, to do these studies in the lab," she said. "So, the idea arose to look for other large mammals like cattle, and Hynek Burda was fascinated when he recognized that cattle could be found on Google Earth satellite images."

With satellite images they could tell the north-south orientation of the animals, but not whether an individual cow was facing north or south. You have to get closer to tell which end is which.

Now the researchers are moving on to study sheep, goats, horses, wild boar and some further deer species, Begall added.

The current study said red and roe deer also were found to orient in a north-south direction when grazing and resting, but unlike the worldwide cattle study, the deer portion was limited to the Czech Republic.

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Ireland's Sheela-Na-Gigs

2008-08-26T11:46:00.001-06:00

Found a site about Sheela-Na-Gigs in Ireland:

http://www.irelands-sheelanagigs.org/

~~~

Health Advice from Dr. Weil: Eight Ways to Prevent Gallstones

2008-08-24T14:22:00.000-06:00

Eight Ways to Prevent Gallstones

Every year, more than one million Americans discover that they have gallstones – hardened, pebble-like deposits in the gallbladder that can range in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Roughly 50 percent of people diagnosed with gallstones end up in surgery for the removal of the gallbladder.

So how can you prevent gallstones? Since most stones are composed of cholesterol, diet plays a role in their formation. If you are at risk of developing gallstones (risk factors include a family history of gallstones, being overweight, recent rapid weight loss and, among women, pregnancy, using birth control pills, or hormone replacement therapy after menopause), you may be able to prevent them or prevent symptoms from worsening with these measures:

1. If you need to lose weight, do so slowly (crash dieting can lead to gallstone formation).

2. Drink plenty of water throughout the day to keep hydrated – this can help keep the bile in your gallbladder fluid.

3. Make sure you get 1,000 to 1,200 mg of calcium from all sources daily (an intake level that's associated with a lower incidence of gallstones). Women should consider taking 500-700 mg of calcium in supplement form. This can help bind bile acids and decrease the risk of stone formation. However, men should limit calcium consumption to 500 to 600 mg from all sources.

4. Take 300 mg of curcumin (an active component of the yellow spice turmeric) three times a day to increase the solubility of your bile. Choose a product standardized for curcuminoid content.

5. Take 200 mg of supplemental vitamin C daily (in one study women with higher blood levels of vitamin C were half as likely to develop gallstones as those with lower levels).

6. Keep your fat intake to about 25 percent of daily calories. A high-fat diet can trigger the gallbladder to release bile and set off an attack if you already have gallstones. But be wary of very low-fat diets, which can promote the formation of stones by failing to stimulate normal gallbladder contraction and flow of bile.

7. Limit your intake of sugar, which may promote gallstone formation.

8. Increase your fiber intake, and substitute whole soy protein for animal protein in your diet.

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Fetus Mummies Were Likely King Tut's

2008-08-24T11:15:00.000-06:00

Fetus Mummies Were Likely King Tut's
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Aug. 15, 2008 -- Ongoing analysis on the mummified remains of two female fetuses buried in the tomb of Tutankhamun will most likely show that at least one of the stillborn children is the offspring of the teenage pharaoh, a scientist who carried serological analysis on the mummified remains told Discovery News.

"I studied one of the mummies, the larger one, back in 1979 [and] determined the blood group data from this baby mummy and compared it with my 1969 blood grouping of Tutankhamun.

"The results confirmed that this larger fetus could indeed be the daughter of Tutankhamen," said Robert Connolly, senior lecturer in physical anthropology from the University of Liverpool's Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Biology.

The fetuses have been stored at the Cairo University's Faculty of Medicine since archaeologist Howard Carter first discovered them in Tutankhamun's tomb on the west bank of Luxor, Egypt in 1922.

Egyptologists have long debated whether these mummies were the stillborn children of King Tut and his wife Ankhesenamun or if they were placed in the tomb with the symbolic purpose of allowing the boy king to live as newborns in the afterlife.

Never publicly displayed, the two fetuses will soon undergo CT scans and DNA testing to determine possible diseases and their relation to the famous pharaoh, and possibly "identify the fetuses' mother," Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement.

"This is a very important project, as these fetuses have never been fully studied," Swiss anatomist and paleopathologist Frank Rühli told Discovery News.

The smaller fetus, about five months in gestational age, has only been examined by Carter in 1925. The mummy is less than 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in height and is well preserved, according to Rühli.

Rühli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, added that the mummy showed no signs of brain removal or abdominal incision, the umbilical cord was still there, and a funerary mask was still in place.

The older, larger fetus is estimated to be between seven and nine months in gestational age. It is less well preserved than the other and measures 38.5 centimeters (15.16 inches).

"The mummy was subjected to X-rays in 1978 and a number of skeletal malformations were observed," Rühli said

At that time, Connolly and British scientist Ronald Harrison, along with colleagues from Cairo University, suggested that the older stillborn fetus displayed what could have been the earliest evidence of Sprengel's deformity, a relatively rare and congenital skeletal disorder where a scapula sits too high on one side.

Moreover, the female mummy was diagnosed with a vertebral dislocation, spina bifida and scoliosis. Now Connolly is less certain about those conclusions.

"I did publish a paper with Harrison and others in which we suggested Sprengel's disease. However, recently I have concluded that the elevated clavicle was simply a result of manipulation of the baby during mummification," Connolly said.

He is also cautions about the diagnosis of spina bifida, and suggests a more accurate examination of the body could yield other explanations.

So who were these stillborn girls? Why were they buried with King Tut? Was the boy king their dad? And what was their cause of death?

Hawass believes that DNA tests might help solve this riddle and even more mysteries around King Tut. The fetuses might help identify "the lineage and the family of King Tutankhamun, particularly his parents," he said.

Tutankhamun's lineage has piqued the curiosity of Egyptologists ever since his mummy and treasure-packed tomb were discovered.

It is unclear if King Tut was the son of Kiya and the "heretic" pharaoh Akhenaton, or of Akhenaton's other wife, the famously-beautiful queen Nefertiti.

Only a few facts about King Tut's life are known. King Tut-ankh-Amun, meaning "the living image of Amun," ascended the throne in 1333 B.C., at the age of nine, and reigned until his death at about 19. He was a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, probably the greatest of the Egyptian royal families.

He married 13-year-old Ankhesenpaaten, Nefertiti's daughter, on his accession to the throne.

Although many diseases have been attributed to the teenage king, the 2005 CT scan suggests he was a mostly healthy young man with no signs of childhood malnutrition.

"I strongly believe he was fertile," Rühli, a member of the small Egyptian-led research team that examined King Tut's CT scan images in 2005, said.

Indeed, many scholars believe that the fetuses are the stillborn children of King Tut and Ankhesenpaaten, who had changed her name to Ankhesenamun.

If so, DNA analysis on the fetuses could help determine whether Ankhesenamun was King Tut's half-sister or full sister.

"If the fetus DNA matches King Tut's DNA and Ankhesenamun's DNA, then they shared the same mother," Hawass said.

In their 1979 research, Harrison and Connolly also analyzed blood types to try and determine how the fetuses fit into the relationship of King Tut and other Pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty.

According to the 30-year-old analysis, the stillborn children may have been the baby daughters either of King Tut and Ankhesenamun, or Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife (and most likely his daughter) Sitamun, or Pharoahs Tutankhamun or Smenkhkare (a predecessor of King Tut) and Sitamun.

"I am pretty sure the fetuses were Ankhesenamen's," Egyptologist and paleopathologist Bob Brier, one of the world's foremost experts on mummies, told Discovery News.

Connolly agrees: "Since these two fetuses were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, there is no reason to think that they were other than his offspring, a matter supported by my 1979 blood group studies."

The two fetuses will be studied at a new ancient DNA lab opening at Cairo University to supplement research at a similar lab created at the Egyptian Museum, with funding from the Discovery Channel.

The DNA tests and CT scans should be finished by December.

'Iceman' Oetzi's Clothes Suggest Shepherd Life

2008-08-24T10:45:00.001-06:00

A Shepherd's Shoes

'Iceman' Oetzi's Clothes Suggest Shepherd Life
Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

Aug. 22, 2008 -- Oetzi the Iceman walked his last steps on Earth wearing moccasins made from cattle leather, according to German researchers who have disclosed the 5,300-year-old dress code of the world's oldest intact human mummy.

The research, based on a hi-tech method of analyzing proteins, established that the famous Neolithic man did not dress like a hunter, but like a herdsman -- in clothes made from sheep and cattle hair.

Using MALDITOF (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization) mass spectrometry, Klaus Hollemeyer of Saarland University in Germany and colleagues examined "four animal-hair-bearing samples of the accoutrement of the mummy."

"Two samples from his coat, and a sample from his leggings, were assigned to sheep. The upper leather of his moccasins, was made from cattle," the researchers wrote in the September issue of journal Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry.

Exclusively based on the analysis of proteins, the method allowed the researchers to compare the patterns of molecules in fermented proteins present in the hairs of Oetzi's clothing with those found in living animals.

"A main advantage of this method is the high stability of hair proteins compared to the more labile DNA molecules," Hollemeyer told Discovery News. "In archaeological samples, the long storage under suboptimal conditions often destroys the DNA structures, but keeps the structural hair proteins mainly conserved," he said.

The Iceman's clothing is the only Neolithic accoutrement that has been found in Europe so well preserved, yet the animal species used to make these clothing have been often the subject of controversy.

It was suggested that the clothing came from red deer, goats and or even chamois, a goat-like animal native to the Alps.

Finding that the mummy wore a coat and leggings of Neolithic sheep hair helps archaeologists understand the social and cultural background of the Iceman, according to Hollemeyer.

Access to such animals "is an indication for a more progressive pastoral-agricultural society," Hollemeyer said.

On the contrary, if his clothes had been "exclusively made from wild games, this would be a sign for a hunter-gatherer society with no access to domesticated species like sheep, goat or cattle," he said.

The Oetzi mummy has been extensively studied since its discovery in 1991 in a melting glacier in the Oetztal Alps. It is now known that his body froze and mummified after a violent death at about age 45.

The Iceman was shot with an arrow -- the head of which remained lodged in his shoulder -- that fatally severed his left subclavian artery. He also suffered a traumatic cerebral lesion, the consequence of a trauma from a blow or a fall onto the rocks.

It's unclear which wound actually killed Oetzi. "I think the blow to the head is significant but not the ultimate cause of death. On the contrary, the rupture of the artery kills you very fast," Frank Rühli, of the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, told Discovery News.

Rühli, a member of the Swiss-Itaian team who last year discovered the fatal lesion of a close-to-the-shoulder artery, found the new study on the mummy clothes very interesting.

"It particularly shows how much information you can get out of such state-of-the-art methods. Also, it highlights that research on the Iceman is still helpful and will provide more interesting turns in the future," Rühli said.

US Doctors Can Refuse to Provide Abortions

2008-08-24T09:45:00.002-06:00

Okay, this one is going to piss me off. I'm sorry, whatever your own viewpoints are on abortion, and I respect your opinion, NO DOCTOR SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO REFUSE TREATMENT OF A PATIENT BECAUSE OF HIS OWN FAITH BELIEFS!!! A doctor is trained to treat and administer healing practices. He takes an oath, the Hippocratic oath (which is ironic as it is a pagan inspired oath, greek that is) to "First, do no harm"

If the doctor refuses to treat because of his own beliefs, and it causes harm, one way or another, to the patient, then he is breaking his oath. He should then be labeled and "Oathbreaker", which in my mind is quite despicable.

I am not one who stands for "on-demand" abortions, but I am Pro-Choice. I think that a woman, who-after much thought and deliberation-chooses to obtain an abortion has a right to it. It is between her and her deity/God/Creator, not between her and the general public. It is none of their bloody business! The general public has absolutely no idea what the woman has gone thru to get to this point. If she answers to anybody, it isn't the general public!

Now, having said that, I do believe there ought to be restrictions. If a woman is prone to getting one after another, offer her an IUD so she doesn't repeatedly get pregnant. Especially if she is using it as "birth-control"...that in my mind is wrong. However, if she is put in a position that she cannot see going thru with the pregnancy, and there is time, counseling first, and after, and allow her the treatment. And I don't necessarily mean faith-based couselling, but something to help her thru the emotional torment she may or may not go thru at the time or later. If her life is in danger, then there should be absolutely no question. Same with rape, incest, etc. And if the fetus is malformed or inviable, and I don't mean that will be disabled, but essentially lifeless, then allow as well.

But all in all, the issue is the woman's alone to decide. And it should take some thought, because it could come back later and trouble her. But I just don't see how a doctor can willy-nilly refuse treatment on any issue just because of his own faith. It really needs to have more thought than that.

Okay, here is the article:

Thursday August 21, 2008
US Doctors Can Refuse to Provide Abortions

Associated Press

Washington - The Bush administration Thursday proposed stronger job protections for U.S. doctors and other health care workers who refuse to participate in abortions because of religious or moral objections.

Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said that health care professionals should not face retaliation from employers or from medical societies because they object to abortion.

"Freedom of conscience is not to be surrendered upon issuance of a medical degree," said Leavitt. "This nation was built on a foundation of free speech. The first principle of free speech is protected conscience."

The proposed rule, which applies to institutions receiving government money, would require as many as 584,000 employers ranging from major hospitals to doctors' offices and nursing homes to certify in writing that they are complying with several federal laws that protect the conscience rights of health care workers. Violations could lead to a loss of government funding and legal action to recoup federal money already paid.

Abortion rights supporters served notice that they intend to challenge the new rule.

"Women's ability to manage their own health care is at risk of being compromised by politics and ideology," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement.

The group, which had complained that earlier drafts of the regulation contained vague language that might block access to birth control, said it still has concerns about the latest version.

"Planned Parenthood continues to be concerned that the Bush administration's proposed regulation poses a serious threat to women's health care by limiting the rights of patients to receive complete and accurate health information and services," Richards added.

But Leavitt said the regulation was intended to protect practitioners who have moral objections to abortion and sterilization, and would not interfere with patients' ability to get birth control or any legal medical procedure.

"Nothing in the new regulation in any way changes a patient's right to any legal procedure," he said, noting that a patient could go to another provider.

"This regulation is not about contraception," Leavitt added. "It's about abortion and conscience. It is very closely focused on abortion and physician's conscience."

The 36-page rule seeks to set up a system for enforcing conscience protections in three separate federal laws, the earliest of which dates to the 1970s. In some cases, the laws aim to protect both providers who refuse to take part in abortions and those who do.

The regulation is written to apply to a broad swath of the health care work force, not doctors alone. Accordingly, an employee whose task it is to clean the instruments used in a particular procedure would be covered. Also covered would be volunteers and trainees.

The underlying laws deal mainly with abortion and sterilization, but both the laws and the language of the rule seem to recognize that objections on conscience grounds could involve other types of services.

The regulation would take effect after a 30-day comment period.

Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

CNO Visits USS George Washington

2008-08-20T16:52:00.001-06:00

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead speaks to Sailors and Marines during an all-hands call aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) in San Diego.

080819-N-8273J-019 SAN DIEGO (Aug. 19, 2008) Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead speaks to Sailors and Marines during an all-hands call aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) in San Diego. CNO spoke about the importance of the upcoming forward deployment of George Washington to the western Pacific and the role of Sailors as ambassadors for the Navy and the nation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Tiffini M. Jones/Released)

CNO Visits USS George Washington
Story Number: NNS080820-14
Release Date: 8/20/2008 6:01:00 PM
Top News Story - Editors should consider using these stories first in local publications.

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Carlos Gomez, USS George Washington Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, visited USS George Washington (CVN 73) at Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, Aug. 19, to address the crew and take questions as the ship prepares to get underway for Yokosuka, Japan.

Upon deployment to the 7th Fleet area of operations in the Western Pacific, George Washington will become the Navy's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier, replacing USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63), the Navy's last diesel-powered aircraft carrier.

"Now you really are the ambassadors of the United States Navy and ambassadors of the United States," said Roughead, a former George Washington Carrier Strike Group commander. "I know this ship. I know the crew. And you are going to do an absolutely superb job."

More than 500 Kitty Hawk Sailors and 1,800 Carrier Air Wing 5 Sailors have moved aboard George Washington since Kitty Hawk returned to San Diego Aug. 8. Kitty Hawk, the Navy's oldest active-duty warship, will decommission early next year after 47 years of service, 10 of which have been in Japan.

The CNO commended the George Washington crew on their firefighting efforts during a fire May 22, and the subsequent 55,000 man days of repairs performed by crew and the civilian workforce at North Island since the ship arrived here May 27.

"You have done an absolutely incredible job," Roughead said to George Washington's crew during an all-hands call in the ship's hangar bay. "This ship was tested, but you fought valiantly and effectively."

Before leaving, Roughead and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SW/FMF) Joe R. Campa Jr. answered questions from the crew ranging from sea-shore rotations to recent world current events.

Campa fielded a number of questions including one related to a recent newspaper article about the use of shipmate in an unflattering way.

"I think that the term 'shipmate' is something honorable and it's something that each one of you earns. It should be something to be very proud of," Campa said.

The visit is the last stop in CNO and MCPON's 10-day tour world tour, which included stops in Bahrain, Iraq, Afghanistan, Singapore and Hawaii.

For more news from USS George Washington, visit www.navy.mil/local/cvn73/.

http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=39227

China sentences 2 elderly women to labor for seeking to protest (20 August 2008)

2008-08-20T15:14:00.002-06:00

China sentences 2 elderly women to labor for seeking to protest
By Andrew Jacobs
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

BEIJING: Two women in their late 70s have been sentenced to a year of "re-education through labor" after they repeatedly sought a permit to demonstrate in one of the official Olympic protest areas, according to family members and human rights advocates.

The women, Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, had made five visits to the police this month in an effort to obtain permission to protest what they contended was inadequate compensation for the demolition of their homes in Beijing. During their final visit, on Monday, Public Security officials informed them that they had been given administrative sentences for "disturbing the public order," according to Li Xuehui, Wu's son.

Li said his mother and Wang, a former neighbor who is nearly blind, were allowed to return home but were told they could be sent to a detention center at any moment. "Can you imagine two old ladies in their 70s being re-educated through labor?" he asked.

The repeat arrests and detentions of aspiring protesters who appeared to follow official procedures for registering their complaints are perhaps the most striking example of how the Olympics have so far failed to force China to relax political controls, even for the short duration of the games.

A man who answered the phone at the Public Security Bureau declined to give out information about the case.

At least a half dozen people have been detained by the authorities after they responded to a government announcement late last month designating venues in three city parks as "protest zones" during the Olympics. So far, no demonstrations have taken place.

Xinhua, the state news agency, reported that 77 people had submitted protest applications, none of which had been approved. Xinhua, quoting a Public Security spokesperson, said all but three applicants had dropped their requests after their complaints had been "properly addressed by relevant authorities or departments through consultations." The last three applications were rejected as incomplete or violating Chinese law.

But the authorities have refused to explain what happened to applicants who disappeared after they submitted their paperwork. Gao Chuancai, a farmer from northeast China who was hoping to publicize government corruption, was forcibly escorted back to his hometown last week and remains in custody.

Relatives of Zhang Wei, a Beijing resident who was also seeking to protest the demolition of her home, were told she would be kept at a detention center for a month. Two rights advocates from southern China have not been heard from since they were seized at the Public Security Bureau's protest application office last week.

Wu and Wang were well known to the authorities for their persistent campaign for greater compensation for the demolition of their homes. Li said his family had given up their home in 2001 with the expectation that they would get one in the new development that replaced it. Instead, he said, the family has been forced to live in a ramshackle apartment on the capital's outskirts.

"I feel very sad and angry because we're only asking for the basic right of housing, and it's been six years. But nobody will do anything to help them," Li said. He said he and Wang's daughter tried to apply for their own protest permit on Tuesday but the police would not even give them the necessary forms.

The two elderly women were given administrative sentences to what is known as re-education through labor, or laojiao, which seeks to reform political and religious dissenters and those charged with minor crimes such as prostitution and petty theft. Government officials say that more than 200,000 people are detained in re-education centers for terms ranging from one to three years, although detentions can be extended for those whose rehabilitation is deemed inadequate.

Human rights advocates have criticized the system because punishment is handed down by officials without a trial or means of appeal. Last year, the government grappled with revamping the system but backed off in the face of opposition from Public Security officials.

Poet's turbulent marriage remembered in diary

2008-08-11T08:50:00.000-06:00

Poet's turbulent marriage remembered in diary

By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 3 minutes ago

It was a legendarily turbulent union, fueled by adoration, adultery and alcohol.

In the final hours of Dylan Thomas' life, his wife, Caitlin, according to lore, allegedly stormed in and demanded to know if the celebrated Welsh poet — who she described as the "bloody man" — was dead yet.

But like most marriages, it appears there was a different side, and in a diary that is now for sale, Caitlin Thomas wrote sadly about her dead husband.

"Oh God, oh Dylan, it must be cold down there; it is cold enough on top, in November: the dirtiest month of the year that killed you on the ninth vile day. If only I could take you a bowl of your bread, and milk, and salt, that you always drank at night, to warm you up," the diary says, according to notes provided by a London rare book dealer who is selling the collection.

The couple met in a London pub in 1936 and married a year later. Dylan Thomas died in New York on Nov. 9, 1953. Caitlin Thomas died in 1994.

Her writings, contained in a school exercise book, are included in a collection of more than 40 letters, books, and manuscripts and first editions. Rick Gekoski, the dealer who is selling the materials, said Monday that it came from a New York collector and is priced at $480,000.

Also up for sale is a first-edition copy of Thomas' second book, "Twenty-five Poems."

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
Copyright © 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

2008-08-11T08:27:00.004-06:00

I received this in my inbox this morning:

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So I looked up Vel' d'Hiv on Google and I found several things.

Here is first article:

Letters from Drancy

Memorials for the 60th anniversary of the first mass round-up of French Jews in 1942 include the publication of a book of 129 victim testimonials, reports Jon Henley

* Jon Henley
* guardian.co.uk,
* Thursday July 18 2002

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Thursday July 18 2002. It was last updated at 14:23 on July 18 2002.
The operation that became known as the round-up of the Vél d'Hiv began at 4am on Thursday July 16, 1942.

Some 4,500 French policemen took part. The 12,884 victims - including 4,051 children - were held briefly in schools and police stations throughout Paris, then herded into municipal buses and driven away.

Some 7,000 of them, foreign, stateless and French Jews, men women and children, spent five days in the Vélodrome d'Hiver, the winter cycling stadium, on rue Nélaton in the capital's 15th arrondissement, without food and with one water tap between them.

From there, families were sent to two camps in the Loiret district, where the children were separated from their parents. Single adults and couples without children were mostly taken straight to the Drancy transit camp just beyond the Paris ringroad.

Almost all of them ended up in Auschwitz. La rafle du Vél d'Hiv, Operation Spring Wind for the German occupiers, marked the start of the mass round-ups of Jews in France. Of the 33,000 rounded up and deported over the next two months around the country, 2,600 returned.

The Vélodrome d'Hiver itself no longer exists. But nearby, at the place de Martyrs-Juifs, is a monument where the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, will lay a wreath this Sunday in a ceremony also attended by the defence minister, the mayor of Paris, officials from the Jewish community and a handful of survivors.

A special programme on the round-up is being taught this week in Paris schools. Posters have been stuck on all the city's buses: "Sixty years ago, 4,000 Jewish children were arrested, deported and exterminated at Auschwitz. France says no to anti-semitism."

Films and documentaries about the event are being shown on television and at the Forum des Images in Les Halles. Photo exhibitions have been mounted at Montparnasse and St-Lazare main line stations.

A plaque was unveiled yesterday on the rue des Pyrénées in the 20th arrondissement, one of the worst hit in the round-up.

Newspapers have been printing heartrending testimonies and reproducing horrifying letters scribbled on wrapping paper, or pages torn from school exercise books, in the stadium or the subsequent transit camps. A book containing 129 of them, Letters from Drancy, has just been published.

Few guessed what was in store. On the day of the round-up, Paulette Stokfisz-Bronstein wrote to her sister Nana. "The police came and arrested all the Jews in the building, they took me and my two children, I am writing to say we are being taken to the Veélodrome d'Hiver. I ask you to go to my home, 1, passage du Jeu-de-Boules in the 11th, to get the keys from the concierge. Just take all that's there. Take all my things, all you find ... Bring me a few jars of conserves and two skirts so I can change."

Two days later, another letter, this time from the Vél d'Hiv, more concerned. "Take a cushion cover to send me a few blouses and socks and ask Lisa [their sister] to bring them to me here, they'll let her in, but do it quickly because we're moving on from here to an unknown destination ... Bring me some sugar and conserves, because they give us nothing to eat."

On July 31, without news of her sister, Paulette writes again, from the Pithiviers transit camp: "I am perhaps leaving again for an unknown destination. My cousin has already left, her son stayed behind but he is with me. I am going to leave. Jacques and Raymonde [her children] will be left alone. The Red Cross may ask you to take them in.

"I beg you Nana, accept ... Jacques can look after himself. Raymonde goes to school. They won't bother you. Dear Nana, go to my flat and take everything, I give it all to you. I will send you a parcel. There is some money and my jewels. Keep them ... I beg you, have pity on my children. I think this is my last letter ... Keep all I asked you to send. I don't need anything any more."

Paulette Stokfisz-Bronstein was deported to Auschwitz on August 7 1942. Her two children, Jacques and Raymonde, followed on September 2.

Not all the stories of the Vél d'Hiv are so despairing. If they were not dropped from the windows of trains and buses, many of the Letters from Drancy were smuggled out of the stadium or the camps by friendly policemen. And or two testimonies of hope have emerged this week: a 75-year-old woman recounted on the radio this morning how a young policemen escorted her out of the stadium on the day after the round-up.

"He had been looking at me for some time," she said, "and then he just came up to me and asked me to follow him. I did, out of the stadium, sticking right behind him. To everyone who questioned him he said: 'It's alright, she's with me.' He left me at the metro station and said he couldn't go any further. I regret never trying to get in touch with him after it was all over; maybe he got into trouble for what he did."

But the truth remains that it was the French police who implemented - and indeed exceeded - the German plans for Operation Spring Wind. Originally, French Jews and all those under 18 were to have been spared. But, eager to meet the wildly unrealistic Nazi target of 25,000 foreign-born adult Jews, zealous French officials rounded up everyone they could lay their hands on.

It took until 1995 for the French state to acknowledge its role. "Yes," said Jacques Chirac then, soon after he was first elected president of the Republic, "the criminal madness of the occupier was seconded by the French, by the French state, everyone knows it. That day, France accomplished something irreparable."

So in the week that saw an attempt by a lone extreme-right militant to assassinate Mr Chirac, it is only proper that France should make much of the 60th anniversary of a black chapter in its history that it has only recently begun to admit as its own.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/jul/18/worlddispatch.jonhenley

from ask yahoo:

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Hi S.Have you read , Jews In France During WW2 By Renee Poznanski, Nathan Bracher. You can read it on line books.google.com/books? It deals with , La Grande Rafle du Vel d'hiv July 16 1942.Also you should read, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay You should also check out hgs.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/9/1/2... They have journals and accounts of that day.I hope this is of help.Good luck my friend, cathorio.
1 month ago

Asker's Rating:
Asker's Comment:
I am reading Sarah`s Key right now,thats how I became aware of the incident and of how the French police/state were so complicit in the imprisonment and thence deportation of so many Jews to Auschwitz. Your valued input has been very helpful,and five stars are well deserved.

Neanderthal Bone Yields Complete Mitochondrial Genome

2008-08-11T08:24:00.001-06:00

Discovery Channel

Neanderthal Bone Yields Complete Mitochondrial Genome
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

Aug. 7, 2008 -- DNA extracted from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal bone has just enabled scientists to sequence the complete mitochondrial genome for the human-like species, according to a paper that will be published tomorrow in the journal Cell.

The remarkable feat, which has led to at least three major discoveries about the extinct stocky European individuals, represents a breakthrough for studies on the human family.

"This is the first complete mitochondrial genome sequence from an extinct hominid," lead author Richard Green explained to Discovery News.

Mitochondria, which an individual inherits from his or her mother, are cellular powerhouses that possess their own DNA and include 13 protein-coding genes. The researchers sequenced the Neanderthal mitochondria 35 times to ensure their findings were as accurate as possible.

After studying the newly completed genome, Green, a researcher at the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and his team first concluded that the Neanderthal mitochondria falls outside the range of variation found in humans today, offering no evidence that interbreeding occurred between them and us.

The researchers are quick to add that such interbreeding could still have happened and that the Neanderthals' "exact relationship with modern humans remains a topic of debate."

Clearer is the fact that Neanderthals and humans split from a common ancestor around 660,000 years ago. The researchers based this initially upon prior research that determined humans and chimpanzees diverged from each other six to eight million years ago.

They calculated mtDNA sequence changes for both humans and Neanderthals since that time. These accumulated changes then "let us calculate how long ago was the most recent common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals," Green said.

He added, "This common ancestor likely looked something like Homo erectus." This extinct hominid is believed to have been super strong with a relatively large head and brain.

What most surprised the scientists was how little purification acted upon the Neanderthal's DNA, meaning that the elimination of slightly deleterious alleles, or variant gene forms, didn't occur very often within the population.

"One sensible explanation for this could be a very small effective population size," Green said, explaining that only a few thousand Neanderthals may have roamed Europe around 40,000 years ago, close to when they went extinct.

It's unclear if this was a general feature of the Neanderthal population, perhaps explained by the fact that they had to deal with repeated glaciations, or if some population bottleneck "happened late in the game," he said.

Perhaps the biggest modern human revelation to come out of the project is that there was an explosion of certain amino acid substitutions within the human genome after the Neanderthal/human split.

"What we can say is that there was a lot of change in a very short time within modern humans," Green said. "Further work will be necessary to say what the consequences of these changes were."

John Hawks, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told Discovery News that he has "been waiting a long time for this sequence to come out," adding that "all previously reported sequences of Neanderthal mtDNA" were fragmentary when compared to this one.

Geneticist David Reich at the Harvard Medical School also agrees that the newly sequenced genome "is exciting and important."

"The most striking thing about the paper is that it shows that the authors are able to get an extremely reliable DNA sequence out of a (38,000-year-old) Neanderthal fossil especially when they do a large amount of DNA sequencing," Reich told Discovery News, mentioning that it then "becomes obvious that the sequence the authors are obtaining is correct."

Green and his team are already at work on yet another Neanderthal genome project -- sequencing the complete Neanderthal nuclear genome -- that should be finished by the end of the year. It should answer, once and for all, whether or not modern humans and Neanderthals interbred to such a degree that the mixing would have resulted in a Neanderthal genetic contribution to the modern human gene pool.

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Gravity, erosion rob Utah park of popular arch

2008-08-10T11:11:00.001-06:00

Gravity, erosion rob Utah park of popular arch

* Story Highlights
* The arch collapsed sometime Monday or Tuesday, park official says
* Located on Devils Garden Trail, the arch was a favorite stop for shutterbugs
* It is the first arch to collapse since 1991, no one reported seeing it fall
* The 12th-largest in the park, the arch was 33 feet tall and 71 feet wide

The Wall Arch on Devils Garden Trail in Utah's Arches National Park collapsed last week, a park official says.

The arch, seen here before its collapse, was one of the most photographed arches in the park.

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Utah (AP) -- One of the largest and most photographed arches in Arches National Park has collapsed.

Paul Henderson, the park's chief of interpretation, said Wall Arch collapsed sometime late Monday or early Tuesday.

The arch is along Devils Garden Trail, one of the most popular in the park. For years, the arch has been a favorite stopping point for photographers.

Henderson said the arch was claimed by forces that will eventually destroy others in the park: gravity and erosion.

"They all let go after a while," he said Friday.

He said it's the first collapse of a major arch in the park since nearby Landscape Arch fell in 1991. No one has reported seeing it fall.

Like others in the park, Wall Arch was formed by entrada sandstone that was whittled down over time into its distinctive and photogenic formation.

The arch, first reported and named in 1948, was more than 33 feet tall and 71 feet across. It ranked 12th in size among the park's estimated 2,000 arches.

Rock has continued to fall from the remaining arms of the arch forcing the closure of a portion of the trail.

Officials from the National Park Service and the Utah Geological Survey visited the site Thursday, noting stress fractures in the remaining formation. The trail won't be opened until the debris is cleared away and it's safe for visitors, Henderson said.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

All AboutNational Park Service

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More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo

2008-08-05T12:29:00.000-06:00

More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo

* Story Highlights
* Researchers feared only around 50,000 Western lowland gorillas left worldwide
* Now 125,000 primates have been discovered in northern Congo
* Population declining rapidly because of hunting and diseases like Ebola
* Expert: This is the highest-known density of gorillas that's ever been found

(CNN) -- An estimated 125,000 Western lowland gorillas are living in a swamp in equatorial Africa, researchers reported Tuesday, double the number of the endangered primates thought to survive worldwide.

"It's pretty astonishing," Hugo Rainey, one of the researchers who conducted the survey for the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society, told CNN Tuesday.

The last census on the species, carried out during the 1980s, estimated that there were only 100,000 of the gorillas left worldwide. Since then, the researchers estimated, the numbers had been cut in half.

WCS survey teams conducted the research in 2006 and 2007, traveling to the remote Lac Tele Community Reserve in northern Republic of Congo, a vast area of swamp forest.

Acting on a tip from hunters who indicated the presence of gorillas, Rainey said that the researchers trekked on foot through mud for three days to the outskirts of Lac Tele, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the nearest road.

"When we went there, we found an astonishing amount of gorillas," said Rainey, speaking from the International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Though researchers did spot some gorillas, they based their estimate on the number of gorilla nests found at the site, Rainey said. Each gorilla makes a nest to sleep in at night.

"This is the highest-known density of gorillas that's ever been found," Rainey said. VideoWatch a glimpse of gorilla life in African swamp »

Western lowland gorillas are listed as critically endangered, the highest threat category for a species. Their populations are declining rapidly because of hunting and diseases like Ebola hemorrhagic fever, whose symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding. Take a closer look at the Western lowland gorilla »

While the discovery in northern Congo indicates that the gorilla population remains stable in some areas, it is likely that gorillas will remain critically endangered because the threats facing the species are so great, Rainey said. iReport.com: Share photos and video of gorillas in zoos or the wild

"We know very little about Ebola and how it spreads," he said. "We don't even know the animal that spreads it around."

The goal now, Rainey said, is to work with the Congolese government and donors to protect the areas in which the gorillas are known to be living.

Western lowland gorillas, which are found in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Nigeria as well as the Republic of Congo, are the most numerous and wide-ranging of the four gorilla subspecies, each of which is threatened by extinction, the WCS says. See where the gorillas live »

Illegal hunting and habitat loss have also threatened the Cross River gorillas, found in the highlands of Cameroon and Nigeria. Only about 250 to 300 are estimated to remain in the world, the WCS says.

War, habitat loss, poaching and disease are the major threats to the mountain gorillas, made famous by researcher Dian Fossey and the film "Gorillas in the Mist." The mountain gorilla population is starting to recover after decades of conservation work. From a population of around 230 in the 1970s, the mountain gorillas now number around 700, the WCS says.

Poaching and war have also threatened populations of Grauer's gorillas in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire. The WCS estimates their population to be around 16,000.

News of the discovery of the Western lowland gorillas in northern Congo comes the same week as a report that almost 50 percent of the world's primates are in danger of extinction. VideoWatch what gorilla expert thinks of find »

The report, also delivered to the Edinburgh conference, cites habitat loss and hunting as the greatest threats. The situation is especially dire in Asia, where the report says more than 70 percent of monkeys, apes, and other primates are classified as vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered.

Conservation International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature issued the report.

All AboutEbola Virus • Republic of the Congo • Wildlife • Wildlife Conservation Society

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Italian blog

2008-07-27T21:52:00.001-06:00

if you are at all interested in italian politics, this blog: http://italianroots.blogspot.com/ keeps you informed every so often... love the blog!!!

Co-worker drives body in UPS truck

2008-07-27T14:27:00.001-06:00

Sun July 27, 2008

Co-worker drives body in UPS truck
Story Highlights
Co-worker agrees to take body of man who died of cancer to funeral service
Michael McGowan plans to keep picture of deceased co-worker in his truck
Widow describes her husband as having been "the happiest UPS man alive"

CRYSTAL LAKE, Illinois (AP) -- Jeff Hornagold loved being a UPS driver.

So when the suburban Chicago man died this week of lung cancer, longtime co-worker Michael McGowan agreed to take him on one last delivery.

McGowan transported Hornagold's body from Davenport Family Funeral Home to Saturday's funeral services in his UPS truck.

McGowan says he plans to keep a picture of Hornagold in his truck until he retires so that they can keep riding together.

Hornagold was a UPS driver for 20 years, and his wife Judy Hornagold described him as "just the happiest UPS man alive."

She says the special delivery was the perfect tribute.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Rabbi condemns release of purported Obama prayer note

2008-07-27T14:20:00.000-06:00

Rabbi condemns release of purported Obama prayer note
Story Highlights
Prayer note purportedly written by Barack Obama removed from prayer wall
Rabbi who supervises wall condemns its removal
Israeli newspaper prints what it says are the contents of the prayer

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- The rabbi who supervises Jerusalem's Western Wall condemned the removal of a prayer note purportedly written by Sen. Barack Obama, saying the action was "sacrilegious."

Sen. Barack Obama leaves a prayer note in Jerusalem's Western Wall.

The U.S. presidential candidate visited the holy site early Thursday and placed a note in the cracks of the wall -- a custom of visitors.

The note was subsequently removed from the wall, according to the Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, which printed what it said were the contents of the prayer.

Ma'ariv said a seminary student gave the note to the newspaper.

Obama's senior strategist Robert Gibbs told CNN, "We haven't confirmed nor denied" that the note is from the Illinois senator.

"This sacrilegious action deserves sharp condemnation and represents a desecration of the holy site," said Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, who supervises the Western Wall, in a statement.

He said notes are supposed to be removed twice a year, on the eve of Jewish New Year and Passover, and placed in a repository under supervision "to keep them hidden from human eyes."

"Notes which are placed in the Western Wall are between the person and his Maker; Heaven forbid that one should read them or use them in any way," Rabinowitz said.

CNN's Sasha Johnson, who was a part of a pool of journalists who accompanied Obama to the wall, said when reporters asked Obama what he wrote, he declined to share the contents of his prayer.

Obama told the reporters it was a private conversation between him and God, Johnson said.

"Anybody who goes to the Western Wall and places a note there does so under the assumption that it's a private communication between him and God, and therefore once he has that presumption of confidentiality, there are rabbinic decrees against reading anybody else's private communications," said Jonathan Rosenblum, director of the Orthodox Am Ehad think tank.

Obama returned to the United States Saturday night, bringing to an end his eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe.

CNN's Paula Hancocks contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/27/obama.prayer/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Randy Pausch: YouTube's star lecturer dies at 47

2008-07-25T16:47:00.005-06:00

"If I don't seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you," Pausch said.

YouTube's star lecturer dies at 47

Story Highlights
Randy Pausch was computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon

His September 2007 "Last Lecture" became Internet sensation, best-seller

Pausch's lecture celebrated living the life he always dreamed

(CNN) -- Randy Pausch, the professor whose "last lecture" became a runaway phenomenon on the Internet and was turned into a best-selling book, died Friday of pancreatic cancer, Carnegie Mellon University announced on its Web site.

Randy Pausch emphasized the joy of life in his "last lecture," originally given in September 2007.

Pausch, 47, a computer science professor, delivered the lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," at Carnegie Mellon in September 2007, a month after being told he had three to six months to live because his cancer had returned.

The lanky, energetic Pausch talked about goals he had accomplished, like experiencing zero gravity and creating Disney attractions, and those he had not, including becoming a professional football player.

He used rejections he was handed when he applied for jobs at Disney to comment on the importance of persistence.

"The brick walls are there for a reason ... to show us how badly we want something," he said. "Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough. They're there to stop the other people." Watch what Pausch did for his wife »

Starting with a joke about "a deathbed conversion" -- "I just bought a Macintosh" computer -- the educator went on to say that one of his childhood dreams was to write an entry in the World Book Encyclopedia.

"I guess you can tell the nerds early," he added.

An expert in virtual reality, Pausch did go on to write an encyclopedia entry on the subject.

He discussed his fondness for winning stuffed animals at fairs, showed a slide of them, then -- pretending to be concerned his audience would think the image had been digitally manipulated -- produced them onstage.

Donning silly costume items like a vest with arrows sticking out of it and a Mad Hatter's hat, he described working with students as a way to help other people achieve their dreams.

He also played down his own importance, saying that after he got a Ph.D., his mother took to introducing him as "a doctor, but not the kind who helps people."

The lecture has been viewed more than 3.2 million times since it was posted on YouTube in December.

Pausch co-founded the university's Entertainment Technology Center and was known for developing interdisciplinary courses and research projects that attracted new students to the field of computer science. He also spent his career encouraging computer scientists to collaborate with artists, dramatists and designers, Carnegie Mellon said.

The university's president, Jared Cohon, described Pausch as "a brilliant researcher and gifted teacher."

"His love of teaching, his sense of fun and his brilliance came together in the Alice project, which teaches students computer programming while enabling them to do something fun -- making animated movies and games," Cohon added. "Carnegie Mellon -- and the world -- are better places for having had Randy Pausch in them."

Pausch describes Cohon urging him to talk about having fun in his lecture, and telling him it's difficult because it's like asking a fish to talk about water.

"I don't know how not to have fun," he said. "I'm dying and I'm having fun. And I'm going to keep having fun every day I have left."

Pausch is survived by his wife, Jai, and three children.

July 24, 1911: Hiram Bingham 'Discovers' Machu Picchu

2008-07-24T15:27:00.001-06:00

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Science : Discoveries

July 24, 1911: Hiram Bingham 'Discovers' Machu Picchu
By Randy Alfred 17 hours ago

Bingham's expedition photographed Machu Picchu soon after his 1911 arrival.

1911: Exploring in Peru, Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham locates Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. The event will set off a century of controversy.

Bingham was born in Honolulu, the son and grandson of Protestant missionaries in the Pacific. He graduated from Yale University and did graduate work in history and politics at the University of California and Harvard.

Bingham had already made two expeditions to South America -- and published a book on each -- when he returned to Peru in 1911. He located the last Inca capital, Vitcos, and made the first ascent of the 21,763-foot Mt. Coropuma. Then came the find that would make him famous: Machu Picchu.

Bingham eventually left academe for Republican politics, serving as lieutenant governor of Connecticut. He was also governor for one day, before moving on to the U.S. Senate for eight years. The Senate censured Bingham in 1929 for hiring a lobbyist. He died in 1956.

The controversies have not ended:

Did Bingham "discover" Machu Picchu?

Hardly. He was led there by local people who lived nearby and were using Machu Picchu's agricultural terraces. He did, however, conduct the first archaeological excavations there and uncovered the famous structures hidden by four centuries of disuse. He also documented, mapped and photographed the site over several years.

Was Bingham the first European to visit Machu Picchu?

Maybe not. Some claim that the German adventurer and businessman Augusto Berns had visited the site some four decades earlier, with the blessing of the Peruvian government. Others say that two missionaries had trekked there in 1906, five years before Bingham.

Bingham, however, was clearly the first to scientifically explore the place, and he also publicized it. The entire April 1913 issue of National Geographic was devoted to it. Bingham also wrote about it, notably Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru (1922) and Lost City of the Incas, a 1948 best-seller.

What was Bingham looking for?

After locating the capital, Vitcos, he was hoping to find the last Inca stronghold, Vilcabamba, which fell to the Spanish in 1573. Machu Picchu was in the wrong direction from Vitcos to be a likely Vilcabamba, but Bingham was so impressed by Machu Picchu's mountainous impregnability that for the first years of his exploration he thought he must have found Vilcabamba.

What kind of place was Machu Picchu?

For many years, it was uncertain if Machu Picchu was a city, a mountain fortress, a religious shrine, a royal palace or various combinations of these. Continuing archaeological exploration has produced a consensus that it was a highland retreat of the Inca royalty. "Machu Picchu was simply a royal estate," says archaeologist Richard Burger. "You can think of it as the Inca equivalent of Camp David."

Who owns the artifacts Bingham removed from Machu Picchu?

Yale University's Peabody Museum has housed hundreds of museum-quality artifacts (and thousands of fragments) for nearly a century. The government of Peru maintains that these were only loaned to Bingham, and that they belong to Peru and its people.

After years of negotiations, Yale and Peru signed a Memorandum of Understanding in March 2008. Yale acknowledged Peruvian ownership of the collection and pledged to work with Peru to promote an international traveling exhibit of the collection and create a permanent, new museum for it near Machu Picchu. Some prominent Peruvians think the agreement still gives Yale too much control.

The dispute is not alone. A similar controversy rages over Britain's continued control of the Elgin Marbles, decorative pieces removed from the Parthenon in Athens two centuries ago.
Does tourism threaten Machu Picchu?

Some people fear that. Machu Picchu was already a World Heritage Site when it was named one of the Modern Wonders of the World in 2007. That led archaeologist Luis Lumbreras to warn that the influx of tourists was already damaging both the historic site and the fragile ecosystem surrounding it.

This controversy, too, is not alone. Striking a balance between protecting a site and providing access to let people experience it has caused restrictions at England's Stonehenge, France's Lascaux cave paintings and elsewhere.

Balancing preservation and access is also a conundrum in planning for Yosemite and other national parks. Some natural sites, like the exact location of the world's oldest living tree (Methuselah, a bristlecone pine in the eastern Sierra Nevada) or the world's tallest tree (a coast redwood in Northern California) are just plain kept secret.

Source: Various

Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vatican

2008-07-21T21:16:00.004-06:00

Indigenous grandmas nearly kicked out of Vatican

© Indian Country Today July 18, 2008. All Rights Reserved
Posted: July 18, 2008
by: Rob Capriccioso

Photo courtesy Marisol Villanueava --

Thirteen indigenous grandmothers, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, initial greeting at the Vatican was not pleasant. The group was almost kicked out while performing a prayer and waiting to speak with Pope Benedict XVI.

ROME - They went to pray. They went to see Pope Benedict XVI on his home turf. They went to ask that he rescind historic church doctrine that played a role in the genocidal onslaught of millions of indigenous people worldwide.

For 13 indigenous grandmothers, accomplishing only one of their three goals wouldn't have been so bad - had they also not been harassed by several Vatican policemen who claimed the women were conducting ''anti-Catholic'' demonstrations.

The elders, formally known as the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, convened in the morning hours of July 9 at St. Peter's Square. After setting up an altar cloth, candles and sacred objects, including feathers and incense, they began holding a prayer and ceremony circle. Nine-year-old Davian Joell Stand-Gilpin, a direct descendant of Chief Dull Knife of the Lakota Nation, was brought along by one of the grandmothers to participate in traditional regalia.

Soon, however, four Vatican police officials asked the women to stop the prayer ceremony, claiming their prayers were in contradiction to the church's teachings - despite the two crosses on the alter cloth and some of the members being practitioners of the Catholic faith.

The officials told Carole Hart, an Emmy and Peabody award-winning producer and filmmaker traveling with the grandmas, that the group was in violation of Vatican policy. They said a permit Hart had obtained in order to document the prayer gathering was only relevant in terms of filming, but did not allow the women to pray, sing or burn incense.

The police said the actions of the grandmothers were ''idolatrous.''

Through the course of obtaining the permit, Hart had written to Vatican officials explaining that the grandmothers would be conducting a prayer ceremony at the site.

''We stuck to the fact that we were legitimately there with this permit,'' Hart said. ''The grandmas did not back down.''

Still, the police urged the grandmothers to move on; but Hart and the group appealed the decision to a higher authority. Finally, the police brought back a law official who assessed the situation. Upon seeing 13 indigenous elder women and hearing one of their songs, the official concluded there was no problem with the ceremony.

The official also ultimately invited the grandmothers to enter St. Peter's Basilica to rest and pray.

Despite their short-term success, the ultimate goal of the grandmothers - to hand-deliver a statement to Pope Benedict XVI, asking him to rescind several controversial papal bulls that played a part in the colonization of indigenous lands - was thwarted.

Documents from the 15th century, such as the papal bulls, show the papacy played a role in the genocidal onslaught that affected millions of indigenous people on the North American continent. In 1455, for instance, Pope Nicolas authorized Portugal ''to invade, search out, capture, vanquish and subdue all Saracens and pagans'' along the west coast of Africa, enslave them and confiscate their property - which set the tone for European interaction with the indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere.

Just a short time before the grandmothers left for their long-planned journey to Rome, Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would be leaving the Vatican to rest at his summer home, called Castel Gandolfo, in preparation for a trip to Australia.

The pope had originally been scheduled to be in residence July 9. Laura Jackson, the grandmothers' publicist, described the pope's decision to leave the Vatican as a ''sudden cancellation'' and noted that the grandmas held tickets to a scheduled public audience he was to have held that day.

While Castel Gandolfo is less than 20 miles away from the Vatican, the grandmothers ultimately decided not to make the journey to the pope's summer getaway despite some in their inner circle encouraging them to pay an unexpected visit.

Hart believes the grandmothers chose to focus on St. Peter's Square because it's part of the Vatican and is a strong symbol of the pope.

''As women of prayer, I think they felt that bringing their prayer there, on the very ground on which the church as an institution stands, as close as they could get to the heart of the church, would have a great effect on what will happen next,'' Hart said. Additionally, the women had no guarantee that they would even be able to enter the grounds of the pope's summer residence.

Instead, the elders left a package with one of the pope's personal guards at the Vatican. The package contained a written statement the women had sent to the Vatican in 2005 decrying the papal bulls, to which the Vatican never responded. It also contained a new 632-word statement to the pope asking him to repeal three Christian-based doctrines of ''discovery'' and ''conquest'' that set a foundation for claiming lands occupied by indigenous people around the world.

''We carry this message for Pope Benedict XVI, traveling with the spirits of our ancestors,'' the women said in their new message. ''While praying at the Vatican for peace, we are praying for all peoples. We are here at the Vatican, humbly, not as representatives of indigenous nations, but as women of prayer.''

The package was given to the pope's guard via a traditional Lakota manner, by extending it to him three times with him then accepting it on the fourth attempt. The entire process was captured on film, and is expected to be made into a documentary by Hart in the coming year.

It is unknown whether the pope has yet personally received the package, but legal scholars and Native activists in the U.S. have nonetheless been paying close attention to the grandmothers' journey.

''I think the trip is very significant,'' said Steven Newcomb, co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute and author of the book, ''Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery,'' and an Indian Country Today columnist.

''These are women who are very much grounded in their own languages and traditions. They're able to raise visibility of the issue in ways that others are perhaps less effective.''

The grandmothers from the U.S. who sit on the women's council are Margaret Behan, of the Arapaho/Cheyenne of Montana; Agnes Baker Pilgrim, of the Takelma Siletz; Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance and Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance, both Oglala Lakota of Black Hills, S.D.; Mona Polacca, Havasupai/Hopi; and Rita Pitka Blumenstein, Yupik Eskimo.

All of the grandmothers are currently in private council in Assisi, Italy, and are expected to be returning home by early August.

British PM demands end to Israel settlements

2008-07-20T16:59:00.000-06:00

British PM demands end to Israel settlements

Story Highlights
NEW: Brown: "Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve"
Was Brown's first trip to Israel and Palestinian territories as Britain's leader
Brown spoke at news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
He arrived in Israel after visiting Iraq where he met with PM Nouri al-Maliki

BETHLEHEM (AP) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded Sunday that Israel cease settlement construction and promised more money to jump-start the battered Palestinian economy.

In his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories as Britain's leader, Brown repeatedly stressed that economics are key to Mideast peace and said Israel should ease travel restrictions in the West Bank that have hindered commerce.

But his strongest comments were reserved for the settlements: "I think the whole European Union is very clear on this matter: We want to see a freeze on settlements.

"Settlement expansion has made peace harder to achieve. It erodes trust; it heightens Palestinian suffering; it makes the compromises Israel needs to make for peace more difficult," Brown said at a news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Abbas went further in his criticism of Israel's construction in disputed east Jerusalem and the adjacent West Bank, telling Brown that Israel lacks commitment to the "principles and spirit" of Mideast peace efforts. He singled out stepped-up construction of homes for Jews in areas of Jerusalem the Palestinians claim for their capital.

At a joint appearance after meeting Brown later in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged that Israel disagrees with the Palestinians and Britain over the issue of settlements but added, "I am absolutely convinced, Mr. Prime Minister, that this should not stand in the way of an agreement between us and the Palestinians."

Olmert repeated his contention that agreement is "closer than ever" and said he hoped for an accord by the end of the year.

Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks late last year at a U.S.-backed conference in Annapolis, Maryland. Both sides had originally aspired to reach a final peace deal by the end of the year but have backed away from that goal somewhat because of arguments over settlements and whether the Palestinians are capable of enforcing security in areas they control.

Under the first phase of the internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which forms the basis of the negotiations, Israel was to freeze all settlement construction and the Palestinians were to crack down on militant groups.

The international community is trying to bolster Abbas' moderate government, and Brown said Britain would donate $60 million on top of $500 million the British government has pledged to the Palestinians over the next three years.

He spoke of the need to create jobs by building industrial parks, promoting small businesses and putting up desperately needed housing. He announced plans to host an international investment conference for the Palestinians in the fall and promised to help the Palestinians train their security forces.

Peace efforts are also complicated by the fact that the Gaza Strip is ruled by militants from Hamas. Ismail Haniyeh, who heads the Hamas government in Gaza, said Sunday that Brown should visit Gaza to see the "humanitarian crisis" caused by Israel's blockade of the territory, "unfortunately with the participation of several countries, including European countries and the British themselves."

Israel imposed a partial blockade on Gaza in response to rocket fire from the territory on southern Israel. A cease-fire currently in effect has decreased the rocket fire and has led Israel to increase the trickle of goods entering Gaza.

Brown's two-day visit to the region has been overshadowed by a claim from a Shiite militia holding five British hostages in Iraq that one of the captives killed himself.

The British leader arrived in the region after visiting Iraq, where he met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and discussed the plight of the British hostages kidnapped by a Shiite group a year ago. Shortly after his departure, he called the report that one of the men had committed suicide "a very distressing development" and demanded that the Shiite militia "immediately and unconditionally" release the Britons.

The British government has yet to authenticate the group's claim.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/20/brown.israel.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Pictures from a friend

2008-07-20T14:38:00.012-06:00

The birth of a ladybug/ladybird

From my friend Angie in UK

I know some of you enjoy my weird and wonderful photos, so I thought I would share a rather unique experience I recently had. Hands up who has seen the life cycle of a ladybird? Anyone seen one being born? Well here's a little nature lesson for you then First of all, this is how the poor lovely ladybird begins its life. Yes this ugly little critter is in the early stages of becoming what we all know and love

Oh but it gets worse! You see the shell has to harden up next, and they they have to do these rather unflattering yoga poses!

But then comes the big moment, when its time to break loose and get some sun and spots, and here it is happening ...

But then the poor little chap gets a real complex when he sees himself for the first time and realises he got his colours all wrong

Oh well, better luck next time! LOL!

********************************************

A Muslim woman too orthodox for France

2008-07-19T20:52:00.001-06:00

A Muslim woman too orthodox for France
By Katrin Bennhold
Friday, July 18, 2008

LA VERRIÈRE, France: When Faiza Silmi applied for French citizenship she was worried that her fluent French was not quite perfect enough or that her Moroccan upbringing would pose a problem.

"I would never have imagined that they would turn me down because of what I choose to wear," Silmi said, her hazel eyes looking out of the narrow slit in her niqab, an Islamic facial veil that is among three flowing layers of turquoise, blue and black that cover her body from head to toe.

But last month, France's highest administrative court upheld a decision to deny Silmi, 32, citizenship on the ground that her "radical" practice of Islam was incompatible with French values like equality of the sexes.

It was the first time that a French court had judged somebody's capacity to be assimilated into France based on private religious practice, taking laïcité - the country's strict concept of secularism - from the public sphere into the home.

The case has sharpened the focus on the delicate balance between the tradition of Republican secularism and the freedom of religion guaranteed under the French Constitution - and how that balance might be shifting. It comes four years after a law banning religious garb in public schools was reinforced. And it comes only weeks after a court in Lille annulled a marriage on request of a Muslim husband whose wife had lied about being a virgin. (The government subsequently demanded a review of the court decision.)

So far, citizenship has only been denied on religious grounds in France when applicants were believed to be close to fundamentalist groups.

The ruling has received almost unequivocal support across the political spectrum, including among many Muslims. Fadela Amara, the French minister for urban affairs, called Silmi's niqab "a prison" and a "straitjacket."

"It is not a religious insignia but the insignia of a totalitarian political project that promotes inequality between the sexes and is totally lacking in democracy," said Amara, herself a practicing Muslim of Algerian descent.

François Hollande, the leader of the opposition Socialist Party, called the ruling "a good application of the law," while Jacques Myard, the conservative lawmaker elected in the constituency where Silmi lives, demanded that face-covering veils be outlawed.

In an interview, Silmi told of her shock and embarrassment when she found herself unexpectedly in the public eye. Since July 12, when Le Monde first reported the court decision, her story has been endlessly dissected on newspaper front pages and in late-night television talk shows.

"They say I am under my husband's command and that I am a recluse," Silmi said during an hourlong conversation in her apartment in La Verrière, a small town 30 minutes southwest of Paris. At home, when there are no men present, she lifts her facial veil and exposes a smiling, heart-shaped face.

"They say I wear the niqab because my husband told me so," she said. "I want to tell them: It is my choice. I take care of my children and I leave the house when I please. I have my own car. I do the shopping on my own. Yes, I am a practicing Muslim, I am orthodox. But is that not my right?"

Silmi declined to have her photograph taken, saying that both she and her husband were uncomfortable with the idea.

Silmi married Karim, a French national of Moroccan descent, eight years ago and moved to France with him. Their four children, three boys and a girl, aged from 2 to 7, were all born in France. In 2004, Silmi applied for French citizenship, "because I wanted to have the same nationality as my husband and my children." But her request was denied a year later because of "insufficient assimilation" into France.

She appealed, invoking the right to religious freedom. But late last month the Council of State, the judicial institution with final say on disputes between individuals and the public administration, upheld the ruling.

"She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes," said the ruling.

Emmanuelle Prada-Bordenave, the government commissioner who reported to the Council of State, said Simli's interviews with social services revealed that "she lives in total submission to her male relatives. She seems to find this normal and the idea of challenging it has never crossed her mind."

But everything is not as Western cliché might have it in the Silmi household. As she recounts her story, it is her husband who serves a steaming pot of mint tea and chocolate cookies. Silmi herself collected this interviewer from the rail station in her car. She does not wear her facial veil while driving and says that she also lifts it when she picks up her children at the local public school.

"What hurts me most is that people who don't know me judge me like this," she said. Journalists got many facts wrong, she said, starting with the number of her children and ending with the assertion that she refused to take off her veil when she was interviewed for her citizenship. "It is simply not true," she said.

M'hammed Henniche of the Union of Muslim Associations in the Seine-Saint-Denis district north of Paris, fears that the ruling may open the door to what he considers ever more arbitrary interpretations of what constitutes "radical" Islam.

"What is it going to be tomorrow? The annual pilgrimage to Mecca? The daily prayer?" said Henniche. "This sets a dangerous precedent. Religion, so far as it is personal, should be kept out of these decisions."

In one sign of the nature of some of the criteria used to evaluate Silmi's fitness to become French, the government commissioner approvingly noted in her report that she was treated by a male gynecologist during her pregnancies.

The Silmis say they live by a literalist interpretation of the Koran. They do not like the term Salafism, although they say literally it means following the way of the prophet Muhammad and his companions.

"But today 'Salafist' has come to mean political Islam; people who don't like the government and who approve of violence call themselves Salafists. We have nothing to do with them," said Karim Silm, a soft-spoken man with a visible prayer mark on his forehead and a religious beard.

His wife explains that in 2000 she decided to wear the niqab, a dress code typically found on the Arabian Peninsula, because in her eyes her traditional Moroccan attire - a flowing djelaba with head scarf - was not modest enough. "I don't like to draw men's looks," she said. "I want to belong to my husband and my husband only."

She has given herself until September to decide whether to challenge the ruling.

France is home to nearly five million Muslims, roughly half of whom are French citizens. Criteria for granting French citizenship include "assimilation," which normally focuses on how well the candidate speaks French.

Lately, though, President, Nicolas Sarkozy has stressed the importance of "integration" into French life. Part of his tougher immigration policy is a new law to make foreigners who want to join their families take an exam on French values as well as French language before leaving their countries.

Karim, a former bus driver who says he is finding it hard to get work because of his beard, dreams of moving his family to Morocco or Saudi Arabia. "We don't feel welcome here," he said. "I am French but I can't really say that I am proud of it right now."

Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

'It's gonna be a bloodbath,' fallen soldier told father

2008-07-19T11:26:00.002-06:00

updated 9:30 p.m. EDT, Fri July 18, 2008

'It's gonna be a bloodbath,' fallen soldier told father

Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling had a bad feeling about

his final mission in Afghanistan, said his father, Kurt.

First Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom surprised his mother,

Mary Jo, on Mother's Day at his parents' Hawaii home.

Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips had a smile on his face in

every photo from Afghanistan, said his father, Michael.

'It's gonna be a bloodbath,' fallen soldier told father

Story Highlights
U.S. soldiers who died in Afghanistan were a few days from completing deployment
Some wanted money for school; others wanted to start a career in military
Relatives seek to reconcile their grief with their anger toward the military

By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN

(CNN) -- Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling suspected that his days were numbered last week, while he and his band of brothers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team prepared for a mission near Wanat, Afghanistan.

"It's gonna be a bloodbath," he told his father, Kurt Zwilling, on the phone in what would be their last conversation.

Kurt Zwilling braced himself for the worst but held out hope that his son would make it home.
"They were in the most dangerous place on Earth. They were in mortal danger, and there was nothing they could do about it," he said. "But they were soldiers, so they had to do their job."

With just a few days left in their 15-month tour, Gunnar Zwilling and eight of his comrades were killed July 13 in a clash with as many as 200 Taliban militants during a mission to set up an outpost near Wanat. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.
In the wake of their deaths, the paratroopers have become symbols of what many say is a forgotten war, prompting the U.S. military to draw up plans for putting more troops and resources into the war in Afghanistan.

But before they were national heroes, the young soldiers were beloved sons, brothers, fathers and husbands who were drawn to the Army for different reasons.

Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tennessee, joined the Army against his family's wishes with the intention of jump-starting his college education.

Before joining the service in 2006, Hovater was a "man of God" who divided his time between his father-in-law's landscaping company and playing songs of worship with his family.

"Everything that God deposited in that boy came out when he played the piano," said his mother, Kathy Hovater, who home-schooled her son and his three siblings.

Shortly after Hovater joined his combat team in Italy, his sister said, he called home and said he had made a mistake but was committed to following through with his service.

"He was a dedicated soldier. He did what he was supposed to do because he said if he weren't over there, all that horror and torment that was going on in the war, it would be over here," said his sister, Jessica Davis.

Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, North Carolina, also joined the Army as a means to pay for his college education so he could become a teacher, according to Jeff Terrell, the leader of the youth group at the Glen Hope Baptist Church.

"He wasn't going to be a career military guy, but he believed in what he was doing," said Terrell, who knew Rainey since his teen years. "He felt like this would help him. He enjoyed it, but he had other plans.

"He really wanted to teach. He had a good way with kids. Kids flocked to him."

Before joining the Army, Rainey spent his time doing martial arts, a pastime that came naturally to the high school wrestling star, and volunteering for his church's youth ministry.

"The kids loved to jump on him like he was a big bear," Terrell said. "He was a big kid, but he was gentle."

Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Georgia, seemed destined for military service since childhood.

"Jon was just very military since he was 3 years old. He looked at your shoes, and if they weren't perfect, they were no good," said his father, Bill Ayers. "He loved the regiment of the military; he loved order and schedule."

Despite his fastidious tendencies, Ayers' father remembers him as a "cutup" who never failed to amuse with his Jeff Foxworthy impersonation.

"He loved to see people smile and laugh," Ayers said. "He was not a prankster, but he loved to tell jokes."

For the free-spirited Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Georgia, the armed forces satisfied a need for adventure while providing a service to his country.

"Matt had a very individualistic personality. He loved living life," said his father, Michael Phillips. "Even though he was afraid at times, in every photo from Afghanistan, he had a big smile on his face."

Phillips, who left a wife behind, died on the same day his sister gave birth to her first son, whom she named after him.

Like other grieving relatives, Phillips' father is attempting to reconcile his emotions with concerns over how the military handled the situation.

"We're torn between incredible pride and anger. We're having a difficult time reconciling that after 14 months, someone who served his country well and paid his dues, why would he be placed in such a perilous situation?" Phillips said.

"There have to be some answers for the family."

Dean Bogar, the grandfather of Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle, Washington, said he was troubled by the fact that his grandson was fighting in a Taliban stronghold with little reinforcements.

"That's a big question mark," he said.

Even so, he said, he is proud of his grandson for bringing "valor" to the Bogar name.

"He was a nifty boy. He had a great sense of humor and was outgoing and very bright and upfront with everything," he said. "Kind of clever little imp."

In the beginning, Kurt Zwilling said, his son enjoyed the camaraderie, discipline and excitement that Army life offered.

"Everything he did, he did with a passion," Kurt Zwilling said of his son, who graduated from high school in Florissant, Missouri. "That's why he wanted to join the paratroopers: He wanted to go into the toughest thing and be with the best."

Even as the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan became apparent, Zwilling said, his son applied the same determination to his service that had carried him through high school theater, sports and music.

"He walked into the valley of death and didn't flinch. He knew what was going to happen, and he went anyway. That's bravery," he said.

For the parents of 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Aiea, Hawaii, knowing that their son died doing what he felt was right brings some sense of closure.

"He was very happy doing what he was doing, and he wouldn't have had it any other way," said his mother, Mary Jo Brostrom. "That was what he wanted to do, defend our freedom and serve with his brothers."

Brostrom's parents said they are grateful they had the chance to spend time with their son in May, when he showed up unexpectedly at their door on Mother's Day with a bouquet of flowers.
He spent the next few weeks surfing, fishing and spending every waking moment with his parents and his 6-year-old son, Jase.

"When he came home, he would wrestle around and try and make us laugh," Mary Jo Brostrom said. "He had a beautiful smile and a beautiful heart, and that's what we'll miss."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/07/17/airborne.soldiers.family/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

A few "let's piss off Michelle" stories

2008-07-19T11:02:00.002-06:00

Vatican 'regrets' female bishops decision
updated 9:03 a.m. EDT, Tue July 8, 2008

Story Highlights
NEW: Move a rift to apostolic tradition of ordaining only men as bishops, says Vatican
Church of England's General Synod passed resolution allowing female bishops
Some traditionalists threaten to leave Anglican Church for Roman Catholic Church
First consecration of a female bishop could happen in 2015

(CNN) -- The Vatican said Tuesday it regrets the decision by the Church of England's governing body to allow the ordination of women as bishops.

The move by the Anglican Church's General Synod "is a rift to the apostolic tradition" of ordaining only men as bishops, the Vatican said in a statement, and is another obstacle to reconciliation between Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

"This decision will have consequences on the dialogue which had brought good fruits," the Vatican statement said.

The General Synod passed a resolution Monday night that allows women to become bishops, acting over the objections of traditionalists who argued that Jesus only wanted men in leadership positions.

Some traditionalists have threatened to abandon the Anglican Church for the Roman Catholic Church if women become bishops. Several hundred Anglican priests made that move when women were first ordained 16 years ago.

The synod narrowly rejected a proposal for "super bishops," which would have allowed parishes opposed to female bishops to opt out. Opponents argued the plan would be insulting to female bishops.

The Church of England has about 114 bishops. They supervise parishes in Britain.

The final hurdle for the consecration of female bishops is expected in February with a vote on a "code of practice" intended to protect people who as "a matter of theological conviction will not be able to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests."

The first consecration of a female bishop could happen in 2015.

The theological debate over female bishops has centered on the question "What would Jesus do?"

The traditionalists argued that bishops must be men, as were Jesus and his apostles.

Retired Canon Alan Duke, a longtime supporter of women in church leadership posts, said those arguments "simply do not stack up."

Duke said that while Jesus named no female disciples, he used and valued woman in radical and different ways for his time.

"He was hardly going to choose women and send them into a situation where they might have been in grave risk," Duke said.

Christina Rees, with the pro-women lobby Women and the Church, described what was at stake as "an acceptance by the Church of England of women on equal terms as men in the ordained ministries."

David Holding, a traditionalist church member, said he does not object to female bishops, but "there must be a proper provision made for those who can't go along with it."

The lack of a provision to allow traditionalists to choose to be under a "super bishop" instead of a woman raises concern that a schism could develop in the Church of England.

Duke described "an awful lot of bluster" but doubted there "will be a mass exodus."

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/08/women.bishops/index.html

Anglicans seek to prevent church split

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (centre)

stands with bishops at the 10 yearly Lambeth Conference.

Story Highlights
Lambeth Conference, held every decade, brings together Anglican church leaders
Some bishops have boycotted event over gay clergy and female bishops
Conservative Anglican bishops decided last month to form their own movement
Anglican Communion is 3rd biggest church in the world, has 80M members

CANTERBURY, England (AP) -- The world's Anglican bishops turned Saturday to the enormous task at the heart of their once-a-decade summit: trying to keep the Anglican family from breaking apart over the Bible and homosexuality.

With its private prayer phase over, the Lambeth Conference gets down to business but is hobbled by a boycott: about one-quarter of the invited bishops -- mostly theological conservatives from Africa -- are not attending.

The 650 bishops who are here include a mix of traditionalists, moderates and liberals, all with divergent ideas about what Anglicans should believe and how their fellowship should operate.

The conference's opening public worship is set for Sunday in Canterbury Cathedral. The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the Anglican spiritual leader, has led a three-day closed-door session this week focused on the role of the bishops as seen through the Gospel.
Williams designed the entire gathering without any votes or resolutions. Instead, starting Monday, the bishops will hold daily Bible study and small group discussions. They plan to release their collective "reflections" on the meeting when it ends Aug. 3.

Some critics have said the program is an attempt to avoid decisive action. The 77 million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the Episcopal Church, the U.S. Anglican body, consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

Last month, Anglican conservatives -- frustrated that Williams hasn't done more to keep the U.S. church and other liberal Anglicans in line with traditional Bible teaching -- formed a new global church network that circumvents Williams' authority but stops short of schism.

A few leaders of that movement are attending Lambeth, but most have stayed away. They released a statement ahead of the Sunday service condemning "false teaching which justifies sin in the name of Christianity."

"These are not merely matters of different perspectives and emphases," they wrote. "They have led to unbiblical practice in faith and morals, resulting in impaired and broken communion. We long for all orthodox Anglicans to join in resisting this development."

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, head of the Anglican Church of Australia, defended the conference design Saturday as "not backing away from the hard realities we have to face, but nurturing the right spirit" to confront them.

Williams has told bishops they must "call everyone together" instead of aligning with one group or another. He also said bishops must not only listen to the people they lead, but also consider what God wants of them, according to bishops who discussed details of the private talks.

In one session, Williams asked the bishops, seated in the nave of the historic cathedral, to go pray with another bishop who they feel nervous about meeting, according to U.S. Episcopal Bishop George Councell of New Jersey.

Several bishops said as they looked around the cathedral, they were struck by the tombstones of Anglican church leaders who had served hundreds of years ago. It was a good reminder not only of the history of the Anglican fellowship but also of its ability to survive turmoil.

"We've been at this a long time," Councell said.

The Anglican Communion is a global fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the missionary work of the Church of England. It is the third-largest group of churches in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

The communion has long held together different views of ritual and Scripture. But it's biggest and fastest-growing churches are now in Africa and other developing regions where strict interpretation of the Bible is the norm.

The wealthy but much smaller liberal-leaning churches in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe have seen dramatic drops in membership.

Williams barred Robinson and a few other problematic bishops from the Lambeth Conference to ensure broader participation. But he invited U.S. leaders who consecrated Robinson and bishops from other Anglican provinces that accept gay relationships.

Robinson has traveled to Canterbury anyway, hoping to meet with as many overseas Anglican bishops as possible. Advocates for gay and lesbian Anglicans have also set up in Canterbury, planning an opening service of their own in another church on Sunday.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/19/church.anglican.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

____________________________________________________

Sniper targets teen asylum-seekers in Norway

2008-07-18T15:28:00.000-06:00

Sniper targets teen asylum-seekers in Norway

Story Highlights
Police say gunman fires at a Norwegian center for teenage asylum seekers
Gunman used heavy caliber weapon and fired from long range, police say
16-year-old Somali boy was seriously wounded
Police helicopters and sniffer dogs searching for the shooter

ASKER, Norway (AP) -- Several shots were fired at a center for teenage asylum-seekers in Norway on Friday, and a 16-year-old Somali boy was seriously wounded, police said.

Police believe the shots were fired from long range, with a "heavy-caliber" weapon, police spokesman Einaar Aas said, without giving further details.

The boy was in his bed on the top floor of a two-story Hvalstad asylum center in Asker, outside Oslo, when a bullet pierced the wooden wall and hit him in the stomach, asylum center director Ahmed Bozgil told The Associated Press.

Aas said the boy was in critical condition at an Oslo hospital and would undergo surgery.

"It's to early to speculate about motives, but we are taking this very seriously," Aas said. Violence against refugees is rare in Norway, but an influx of immigrants recently has led to calls for tighter immigration controls.

It was unclear exactly how many rounds hit the building in the 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) shooting.
"It's the first time we have had any serious incidents like this here," Bozgil said. He said there were 121 youths from 13 countries at the center at the time of the shooting, but only the 16-year-old was hit.

Police helicopters and sniffer dogs searched the area for suspects, but no arrests had been made by Friday afternoon, the police spokesman said.

Last year about 6,000 asylum-seekers sought refuge in the Scandinavian country, and the number is expected to more than double this year.

The biggest numbers are coming from Iraq, Eritrea, Russia and Somalia.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All AboutNorway

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/18/norway.shoot.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Yusuf Islam wins damages for "veiled women" slur

2008-07-18T13:59:00.003-06:00

Singer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, performs during the Live Earth concert at the soccer arena in Hamburg, northern Germany, July 7, 2007.REUTERS/Christian Charisius

Yusuf Islam wins damages for "veiled women" slur

1 hour, 35 minutes ago

British folk singer Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, accepted libel damages and an apology on Friday from a news agency that reported he had refused to talk to women at an awards ceremony who were not wearing a veil.

The artist, who changed his name after becoming a Muslim in the late 1970s, will donate the "substantial" payout to Small Kindness, a U.N.-linked charity he chairs.

Adam Tudor, the singer's attorney, told London's High Court that the story behind the legal action was published by World Entertainment News Network and was used on Contactmusic.com, a website said to have 2.2 million page views a month.

The article appeared in March last year and suggested that the singer was "so sexist and bigoted that he refused at an awards ceremony to speak to or even acknowledge any women who were not wearing a veil," Tudor said.

"It went on to suggest that Mr. Islam's manager had stated 'Mr. Islam doesn't speak with women except his wife, least of all if they don't wear a headscarf. Things like that only happen via an intermediary."'

Tudor said the article had embarrassed the singer, creating a false impression of his attitude to women and also casting serious aspersions on his religious faith.

World Entertainment News Network issued an apology, saying:
"We now accept that these allegations ... are entirely without foundation, and that Mr. Islam has never had any difficulties working with women, whether for religious or for any other reason."

Islam, 59, is still best known for his hits as Cat Stevens, including "Wild World," "Morning Has Broken" and "Moonshadow."

He sold an estimated 60 million albums as Stevens, but retired from showbusiness in 1978 after converting to Islam. He released his first mainstream pop album since then in 2006.
Reuters/Nielsen

This goes to show how so much misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of other peoples pervades even today's society! I remember that people wanted to destroy his albums a few decades ago when he converted and then again after 9/11. Idiots. If you ever listened to his music you'd know he never sang about anything but life and peace. And a lot of religious symbolism was already there. (I just found it strange going from Greek Orthodox to Islam, nothing wrong with that, but just struck me odd, at the time, welllll to be honest, still)

Windmills coming around again in the Netherlands By John Tagliabue

2008-07-17T11:21:00.003-06:00

Windmills coming around again in the Netherlands

By John Tagliabue
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Karel Streumer, the operator of De Distilleerketel, the only windmill in Delfshaven on the edge of Rotterdam, hoisting its sails. (Dirk-Jan Visser for The New York Times)

AMSTERDAM: The Dutch are building windmills again. Up and down the coast, out from port cities like this one, you can see them: white and tall and slender as pencils, their three slim blades turning lazily in the North Sea breeze.

These ones generate electricity, of course, rather than grinding grain. The government has already built one enormous farm of mills far off the coast, where they are inoffensive to tourists, and plans a second. Yet it is also building, and rebuilding, mills like the squat, homely ones that have seemingly always dotted the Dutch countryside and reflect as much the nature of the country as do tulips or Gouda cheese.

"Revival might be a bit strong," said Leo Endedijk, director of The Dutch Mills, a group that supports mill restoration. Yet last year, the government, concerned that one of the foremost symbols of the Netherlands was about to disappear out of neglect, approved an $80 million program to build or restore 120 mills, of roughly 1,040 still standing. That has created a backlog of work for the country's previously strapped mill restorers.

"We have special companies, very specialized mill makers and restorers," said Endedijk, in an office in the shadow of De Gooyer, a soaring 18th century mill now housing a popular brewery. "They would not have the capacity to restore 120 mills."

The need to find renewable sources of energy is driving the Dutch to build the modern mills, which Endedijk insists be called turbines, not mills.

"We as an organization don't work with modern wind turbines," he sniffed, adding, as if to underscore the gap between the traditional and the contemporary, that while the four blades of traditional windmills turn counterclockwise, the three of modern wind turbines go clockwise.
But the fast pace of change in is reviving interest in the old mills. As immigration changes the face of Dutch cities and globalization spreads its veil of uniformity over life in the Netherlands, many among the Dutch are looking for their roots. "It's a little bit of national pride," said Lukas Verbij, whose company, Verbij Hoogmade, is a leading mill builder and restorer.

Some of the renewed interest in mills is driven by the search for traditional food and drink. Patrick Langkruis, whose bakeshop, Het Bammetje, features 28 kinds of bread and 35 different rolls, uses only flour ground by a traditional mill. "The taste is fuller, there's more flavor," he said. "It's also because the grains are ground slowly."

His supplier is Karel Streumer, who has been grinding ordinary and exotic grains for the past eight years at his mill, De Distilleerketel, or distillery pot, in Delfshaven on the edge of Rotterdam. He uses technology - huge mill stones and enormous wooden gears that make visitors feel they're inside an immense and ancient clock - that has not changed since the mill was built in 1727.

Streumer, 54, his shock of curly white hair perpetually dusted with flour, is one of a growing number of millers who are taking over restored or rebuilt mills. In addition to wheat, he said, counting off his products on a dusty hand, he grinds familiar grains like corn, rye and oats, and some unfamiliar ones, like grain sorghum, or milo, and spelt, a kind of wheat. One customer arrives once a month from Frankfurt to pick up 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, of mashela, or pearl millet, which is widely used in African cooking.

Curiously, though the revival of the mills is a back-to-the-roots thing, many customers are natives of a wide range of countries, Streumer said, including Ethiopia, Morocco and Turkey. "Eighty percent of my customers are not natives of the Netherlands," he said.

One of them is Samson Tesfai, whose restaurant, The Taste of Africa, specializes in dishes of his native Eritrea, which he fled in 1986 because of the fighting between his homeland and Ethiopia.
Each week, he said, he buys mashela, sorghum, ground corn and wheat flour from Streumer to use in the ethnic dishes he prepares. "We can find it elsewhere," said Tesfai, 43. "But this is a good address, with a good product, so why go somewhere else?"

Neither the spread of ethnic restaurants, with increased immigration, nor the return to traditional tastes among the Dutch, is enough to keep millers like Streumer in business. Without a crew of volunteers who help out on weekends, he said, the mill would not be profitable.

"It's hard to make the money to keep the mill in good shape and to pay employees, too," he said. "We are not professionals." So the mills remain a matter of the heart, rather than the pocketbook. Except, of course, for builders like Verbij. Now 48, he represents the fourth generation of his family to run his company, which was founded in 1868 and employs about 20 master wood and metal workers.

"A wave of building is coming" when the government releases its latest round of subsidies, he said. "Every owner could apply. It's a kind of lottery."

He just finished a 1.2 million, or $1.9 million, project to rebuild with traditional technology a mill in the town of Soest that was destroyed in 1930. So attached were the townspeople to their mill, he said, that one woman donated money from the sale of her home.

Not only the Dutch but all the world seems to love a windmill. Verbij has built four in Japan, beginning with one in Osaka in 1989. And despite the crush of work in the Netherlands, he now finds time to work on three mills in the United States, including restoration of the giant Murphy Windmill in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, one of the world's largest, which was built in 1905 and is badly dilapidated.

"It's our biggest project," Verbij said. "It's nice to see all those people happy at the sight of a windmill."

Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

I think this is just cool! I wish the States would invest more in wind and solar power and cut dependency on oil and other lucrative business that aren't ours.

T. Boon Picken's Plan, check it out

2008-07-16T17:42:00.002-06:00

Find more videos like this on PickensPlan

Calif. Firefighters Get Backup From NASA Drone

2008-07-16T13:56:00.001-06:00

Calif. Firefighters Get Backup From NASA Drone
Amanda Fehd, Associated Press

July 15, 2008 -- Fire crews battling nearly 300 blazes burning across California are getting help from a pilotless plane that transmits real-time images of hot spots and flare-ups to commanders in the field.

The unmanned drone developed by NASA scientists discovered a hot flare-up in a canyon near the town of Paradise, prompting fire officials to issue evacuation orders for 10,000 people in Butte County last week. Thick smoke and heat had prevented other aircraft from patrolling the area.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday toured the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, where he credited the NASA technology with saving lives and pushed an initiative to charge homeowners a fee to pay for emergency response equipment.

"This unmanned plane is a true life-saver. But even though we get all this terrific help, California needs more resources, there's no two ways about it," the governor said.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said 288 blazes were still burning around the state, most of them in the mountains ringing the northern edge of the Central Valley.

So far this fire season, flames have blackened about 1,300 square miles and destroyed about 100 homes across California. Most of the blazes were sparked by a June 21 lightning storm across the northern part of the state.

The current complex of fires is "the largest single fire event in history for California," said Kelly Houston, spokesman for the Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

The previous record was set in the October 2003, when wildfires scorched more than 1,155 square miles, Houston said. State record-keeping on wildfires began in 1936.

The state defines a "fire event" as a grouping of blazes that fall within the same location or time period.

While the October 2003 fires killed 24 people and destroyed more than 3,600 homes, Houston said officials point to acreage when quantifying wildfires to point to the strain on firefighting resources.

A massive wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest continued spreading northward and eastward Monday, relieving the danger to the storied coastal town of Big Sur but forcing residents of another community to stay away from their homes for a third day.

Mandatory and voluntary evacuation orders, first issued Saturday morning, remained in place for more than 200 homes in the rural Cachagua community northeast of Big Sur. The blaze, which already has charred 188 square miles and destroyed 27 homes, was about 1 1/2 miles from the residential area, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Firefighters had a strong fire line there that they expected to hold, keeping the flames from reaching the more populated Carmel Valley, said Tacy Skinner, a Forest Service spokeswoman.

On the southwest border of the blaze, which was 61 percent contained, firefighters were in cleanup mode Monday. The Pacific Coast Highway fully reopened ahead of schedule a day earlier, and residents and business owners in Big Sur were settling back in after three weeks of evacuations.

Cooler weather around the state allowed officials to lift evacuation orders in the fire-ravaged towns of Paradise and Concow. The fires in Butte County, which have burned 83 square miles and destroyed 50 homes, weren't threatening any homes and were about 70 percent contained Monday evening, officials said.

"Things still seem to be looking pretty good," said Kevin Colburn, a state fire department spokesman in Butte County, adding that expected triple-digit temperatures never materialized Monday. Highs were in the mid-90s, helping the fight.

At least one person was found dead after the blaze swept through Concow. An autopsy was conducted Monday, but officials have not released the victim's identity or cause of death.

A fire on the southern extension of the Los Padres forest near Santa Barbara County was 90 percent contained by Monday after charring more than 15 square miles, but 55 homes remained under an evacuation warning.

And another blaze in the Sequoia National Forest east of Bakersfield was 70 percent contained after burning about 58 square miles, according to the Forest Service. To make matters worse, the town of Lake Isabella, near the southern end of the Sequoia forest, was tackling a mudslide.
Jim Bagnell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, said Monday night that a mix of ash and mud slid into Lake Isabella and covered one of the town's main streets. He said he is not sure what else was damaged.

Meanwhile, in Inyo County, about 90 miles east of Fresno, crews were working Monday to clear mud and debris from Highway 395 in the town of Independence, said Carma Roper, spokeswoman for the sheriff's department.

A huge mudslide, caused by severe thunderstorms on Saturday over an area ravaged by fire last year, was still blocking all but one lane of the road, and the California Highway Patrol was escorting vehicles through the blocked area, she said.

The mud avalanche damaged about 55 homes, and about 25 of them are uninhabitable because mud had swallowed the structures, Roper said. "There aren't really houses to go back to," she said. "It's not a livable area."

In Washington state, the biggest fire to strike the southern Cascade Range in decades continued to grow Monday, as weather forecasters warned of hazardous fire conditions for most of the east side of the state.

The fire had burned about 9 square miles, or more than 6,000 acres, in south-central Washington near Mount Adams, the state's second-highest peak. The fire was burning in timber, some beetle-killed, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and on the Yakama Indian Reservation. No homes were threatened.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/15/nasa-drone-fire.html

Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women

2008-07-15T20:08:00.011-06:00

From the PBS site of the program: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_amazon/index.html

About The Show:

CASE FILE: Amazon Warrior Women

THE SCENE: Russia and Mongolia

LEAD DETECTIVE: Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball

The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose ten-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing evidence of a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village in Western Mongolia, where her quest for a living link to a long-imagined tribe ended with a startling discovery. There, among the black-eyed Mongols, Davis-Kimball found a blond child, a 9-year-old girl named Meiramgul. Through DNA testing, Davis-Kimball finds that the DNA sequences of the warrior women and those from the girl of Mongolia are identical.

This painting on a Greek vase depicts an Amazon woman warrior on horseback engaged in battle.

Amazons in myth:

History's first mention of a race of warrior women is found in Homer's ILIAD, an account of the Trojan War, probably written in the 8th or 7th century B.C.. Homer's Amazons, a race of fierce women who mated with vanquished male foes and kept only the female children they bore, were believed to occupy the area around the Black Sea. Amazon women also crop up in Greek myths. One of the labors of Hercules, for example, required him to acquire the girdle of the Amazon queen, Hippolyte. The Amazons of Greek mythology most likely had no connection to the women of the steppes, says archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball. "I think the idea of the 'Amazon' was created by the Greeks for their own purposes," she says.

A history of sorts:

The works of the Greek historian Herodotus, written around the 5th century B.C., describe a group of female warriors who lost to the Greeks at the battle of Thermodon. Herodotus' Amazons were taken prisoner and put on ships, but overwhelmed and killed the Greek crew. Unable to sail themselves, the women drifted to the shores of the Black Sea, to the territory of the Scythians, a nomadic culture of Iranian descent. The women, Herodotus says, intermarried with the Scythian men, and convinced their new husbands to move northeast across the flat grassy plains, high mountains, and searing deserts of the Russian steppes, where the group eventually evolved into the Sauromatian culture.

Golden ornaments such as this bead were found in abundance at a recent excavation of an Amazon warrior woman's grave.

Amazons in Eurasia:

The first direct evidence for warrior women of high status on the steppes of southern Russia comes from excavations of burial sites of the Sauromatian culture dating from the 6th to the 4th century B.C. Judging from their grave goods, Sauromatians were nomadic, experts in animal husbandry, and skilled in warfare. Starting around the 4th century B.C., Sauromatian culture evolves into the Sarmatian culture, also a nomadic people that make their livelihood raising animals and versed in the art of war. The culture, which had been expanding its territory, soon shifts its focus. "They become raiders and traders, with forays to the west to interface with the Romans, and they relocate to cities and to areas along large trade routes," Davis-Kimball says. "Their wealth increases. We see that in their burial items. We see strong, powerful women, but their role changes. We find burials of women that still retain cultic artifacts, indicating that they were a priestess of some sort, but there is much more gold and more secular ornamentation -- more golden cups, more golden jewelry, elaborate things -- and less weaponry. This type of evolution is a normal manifestation of culture."

From the 2nd century B.C. to the 2nd to 3rd century A.D., the Sarmatians migrate to the west and north of the Black Sea, and eventually invade Dacia (now Romania). In the 3rd century A.D. the Sarmatians are invaded by the Goths, and in 370 A.D. they are overtaken by Huns and either killed or assimilated. Jeannine Davis-Kimball believes that remnants of the integrated Sarmatian population can still be found in the descendants of that conquering horde of Mongols. The Mongols relocated from southern Russia to western China and western Mongolia 150 to 200 years ago, where they reside today.

This nine-year-old Mongolian girl, Meiramgul, is blond and may share genetic traits with the ancient Sarmations.

Clues and Evidence

To uncover the genetic link between nine-year-old Meiramgul, the blond child of the mountains of western Mongolia, and the long-dead women warriors of the Eurasian steppes, researchers examined snippets of a particular type of genetic information called mitochondrial DNA. Each cell in a plant or animal carries two varieties of deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Within the nucleus of the cell is the full genetic complement, or genome, representing all of the genes that give an organism its particular characteristics and allow it to function. In humans this nuclear DNA is represented by two sets of 23 chromosomes, one set each passed on by the mother and father. One pair of these chromosomes determines the sex of the individual; a nuclear DNA analysis was used to determine the female gender of the warriors unearthed by archaeologist Jeannine Davis-Kimball and her colleagues during the excavations featured in SECRETS OF THE DEAD: "Amazon Warrior Women."

Mitochondrial DNA, however, is separate from these 46 nuclear chromosomes. It is found within the cytoplasm of cells -- the matrix of proteins, chemicals, fluid, and other structures located outside of the nucleus -- and, in particular, within tiny, pill-shaped compartments called the mitochondria. Within mitochondria, a cell's energy-producing reactions take place. (Some lethal poisons, such as cyanide, work by disrupting the biochemical reactions that mitochondria use to power up cells). Each of the 500 to 1,000 mitochondria inside a cell contain several circular pieces of DNA. There are approximately 16,000 base pairs, the chemical building blocks of DNA, along each strand; human nuclear DNA has about 300,000 times as many base pairs. The mitochondrial strand contains thirteen genes, each used to produce proteins that are involved in energy production. Other bits of the mitochondrial, or mtDNA, strand code for molecules called ribosomal and transfer RNA, which are intermediaries in the chemical process that translates the genes into their respective proteins.

A crucial feature that sets mitochondrial DNA apart from nuclear DNA -- and that allows genetic studies like the comparison of the DNA from ancient bones to that of young Meiramgul -- is that the strands are only passed from mothers to their children. This is because the mitochondria present in a fertilized embryo come almost entirely from the egg and rarely from the sperm. The mtDNA strands would normally be passed from mother to child in perfect form, but occasionally one of the individual base pairs will change, or mutate, producing a slight deviation in the sequence. Molecular biologists have mapped the entire sequence of human mitochondrial DNA and also have measured the average rate at which these mutations occur, which allows them to use slight differences in the sequence as a way of determining how closely related individuals are through their maternal ancestors. For this reason, mitochondrial DNA has frequently been used to examine the genetic relationships of families, population groups, and even the entire human species.Mitochondrial DNA studies revealed, for example, that Neanderthals were not direct ancestors of modern humans.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis also showed that all groups of humans on Earth could be mapped back to a single woman, a "mitochondrial Eve" who lived in Africa 200,000 years ago. (That is not to say that every human on Earth descended from the same woman living 200,000 years ago; rather, she was the most recent common ancestor of all humans, through maternal lines of inheritance). Because an individual cell possesses a thousand or so copies of the mtDNA strand, it is useful in the analysis of ancient or damaged tissue, teeth, hair, and bones, for the simple reason that there is much more of the material to locate and extract than there would be of nuclear DNA. Of course, the examination of any ancient DNA samples is fraught with difficulty, and contamination is a constant risk (for more on the isolation of DNA in Egyptian mummies by ancient DNA expert Scott Woodward of Brigham Young University, see the SECRETS OF THE PHARAOHS Web site, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/pharaohs/secrets3.html) so the analyses are only done in the world's best molecular biology laboratories.

An interview with Jeannine Davis-Kimball

Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball

Interview with Jeannine Davis-Kimball

As a graduate student studying Iranian art, Jeannine Davis-Kimball knew basically nothing about ancient nomadic peoples, and she never imagined her career would eventually be focused on the enigmatic warrior women who once wandered the Eurasian steppes some 2,000 years ago and provided a historical basis for the myth of the Amazon. Then she happened across carved stone reliefs in one of the palaces of the Archaemedian dynasty, which ruled Persia from 559 to 330 B.C. The reliefs depicted scenes of nomads paying tribute to the kings. In contrast to others honoring the rulers, these people were distinctively dressed, wearing soft boots and tall hats, and they were leading horses. Davis-Kimball was intrigued by the figures, and she thought she knew where she might look for them. "I suspected that I might be able to find some traces of them if I were to go out to the Eurasian steppes," to the north of the Persian empire, "because that is where you would find nomadism," recalls Davis-Kimball, now the director of the American Eurasian Research Institute and its subsidiary, the Center for the Study of Eurasian Nomadism, at the University of California at Berkeley. "Nomadism is based on animal husbandry, primarily raising sheep and horses, and you don't find that in cities because the animals have to have pasture land, wide open spaces."

At the time, more than twenty years ago, American libraries and museums didn't have much, if any, information on nomadic cultures. At museums in Kazakhstan, however, Davis-Kimball, who had been a nurse and cattle rancher before entering graduate school later in life, gained new insight into nomadism in general and specifically into the people who'd once occupied the southern Russian steppes. She soon began excavations of the kurgans, or burial mounds, of ancient Eurasian nomads, and became the first American woman to collaborate in archaeological investigations in Kazakhstan. "Everything that I excavated was very interesting because it all added to our knowledge, but my first big find was at the 1994 excavation at Porkovka," located in Russia near its border with Kazakhstan, "when we discovered artifacts indicating there were women there who were very important within the culture." Finding warrior women who played a prominent role in the nomadic society came as a total surprise to Davis-Kimball, and it led her to focus her career on the investigation of the warrior women of the Russian steppes and other cultures. "I had no idea that these women existed. In history and in art -- for instance, in the stone reliefs of the Persian Archaemedians -- there is no indication that women have any particular status. In fact, women are sort of invisible, because history is always written by men." But Davis-Kimball has found that in reality, warrior women were quite common among ancient Eurasian societies and also among other nomads. "Our new evidence shows that women have always had a pretty prominent place in nomadic societies," she says.

Despite her stunning discoveries, Davis-Kimball currently has no plans to revisit the warrior women of the steppes and undertake more excavations. "Our work is done at Porkovka," she says. "There are several factors involved in excavating -- you have to have a site you want to excavate that has the potential for new discoveries, and you have to consider the cost. It has become extremely expensive to put together an excavation, and a lot of the focus on research in the Middle East has gone to contemporary issues -- Islam, terrorism -- which don't affect me in archaeology, but decrease the availability of funding."

Resources:

Amazons -- warrior women or ancient myth?
http://tx.essortment.com/amazonswarrior_ryci.htm

Did Amazon warrior women, the Antiope and Hippolyte, belong to an extinct matriarchal warrior society? Or were they simply fictional characters depicted in ancient Greek mythology?

Who were the Amazons?
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/aegean/amazons/amazonwho.html

What is known of the actual Amazons within the Aegean is very little, and yet intrigue about a race of dominant warrior women in the bronze age has flourished from ancient times into the present.

The Amazons
http://www.myrine.at/Amazons/

Is there more behind these famous warrior women than mere fantasy? Join in a virtual archaeological expedition to fathom this mysterious myth.

Homer's THE ILIAD
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html

Read the entire text online.

The Trojan War
http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/troyilium/a/trojanwar.htm

A sequence of major events in the Trojan War.

The Trojan War: The Judgement of Paris

http://www.royalty.nu/legends/Troy.html

According to legend, the chain of events that led to the Trojan War started at a royal wedding.

Credits:

TV Credits:

A production of Story House Productions for Thirteen/WNET New York in association with National Geographic Channels International and ZDF.

Executive Producer, Story House Productions:Andreas Gutzeit

Produced and Directed by:Carsten Oblaender & Jens Afflerbach

Written by:Carsten OblaenderCo-

Written by:Steven Zorn

Coordinating Producer:Kurt Tondorf

Executive in Charge:William R. Grant

Executive Producer:Beth Hoppe

Web Credits:

Producer:Brian Brunius

Art Director:Sabina Daley

Designer:Radik Shvarts

Writer:Kathy Svitil

Lesson Plans:Viki Babcock

HTML Implementation:Brian Santalone

Technical Director:Brian Lee

Executive Producer:Anthony Chapman

Thirteen Online is a production of Thirteen/WNET New York's Kravis Multimedia Education Center in New York City. Anthony Chapman, Director of Interactive & Broadband. Bob Adleman, Business Manager. Carmen DiRienzo, Vice President and Managing Director, Corporate Affairs.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_amazon/about.html

Fibromyalgia: Little understood, often frustrating

2008-07-14T11:53:00.002-06:00

Dana Poole, left, feels aches all over at any given moment from a condition called fibromyalgia.

Fibromyalgia: Little understood, often frustrating

Story Highlights
Nearly 6 million Americans suffer from a chronic illness called fibromyalgia
Symptoms include fatigue, sleep disturbances, depression and headaches
Experts aren't sure what causes it; often misdiagnosed
It's estimated that up to 90 percent of patients are women

By Judy Fortin

CNN Medical Correspondent

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- You wouldn't know it by looking at her, but at any given moment Dana Poole hurts all over.

"It's kind of like a burning, but an ache. It's almost like you have the flu," said Poole, 31, a receptionist from Canton, Georgia.

Poole is one of almost 6 million Americans who suffer from a chronic condition called fibromyalgia.

In addition to widespread pain, patients may complain about fatigue and sleep disturbances, depression, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome and heightened sensitivity.

"Dana is typical of a lot of fibromyalgia patients," said Dr. Jefrey Lieberman, an Atlanta, Georgia-based rheumatologist. "She came into my office complaining of a lot of diffuse pain all over her body and fatigue. She really didn't know why she was getting it."

That's part of the frustration of having fibromyalgia. Experts aren't sure what causes it, but many believe many factors are involved.

Some think the condition, which is not progressive or life-threatening, may be triggered by an emotional or traumatic event.

Lieberman believed it is related to a disordered sleep pattern and poor exercise. "It appears to be more of a neuro-chemical process," he said. "In other words, there really is no inflammation in patients with fibromyalgia."

Health Minute: More on identifying fibromyalgia »

Getting a proper diagnosis can sometimes be just as frustrating as finding out what's behind the disease.

"Fibromyalgia is to some extent a diagnosis of exclusion," Lieberman said. "There are lot of things it can be confused with such as thyroid disorders, metabolic disorders and certain rheumatologic inflammatory conditions."

For almost five years, Poole jumped from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was causing her symptoms. "They were constantly saying I'm a tall, thin female. 'You're getting older -- your body is going to change,' and it was frustrating."

Lieberman understood Poole's frustration. "Sometimes fibromyalgia is used as a wastebasket term if a patient has pain and they don't know what it is from," he said. "It is frequently misdiagnosed. In fact, it is overdiagnosed and it is underdiagnosed."

Specialists such as Lieberman can make a proper diagnosis based on criteria set by the American College of Rheumatology.

"Those criteria are diffuse pain in three or more quadrants of the body and the presence of what are called tender points in the body," Lieberman explained. "There are 18 total tender points, and by definition we like to see 11 of those tender points being present."

It's estimated that up to 90 percent of patients are women. Most of them start feeling symptoms in early and middle adulthood.

Poole remembered that the pain first started when she was 20. It wasn't until she met Lieberman about five years ago that she got some relief.

She took part in a drug study for Cymbalta, one of two medications approved for the management of fibromyalgia. The other drug is called Lyrica.

"Both of them are geared toward the patient's well-being as well as improving their pain," Lieberman said.

He also encouraged Poole to control her condition through a healthy diet, stress reduction, getting enough sleep and regular low-impact exercise.

"We think that aerobic exercise helps to stimulate endorphins and enkephlins from the body which are your own natural pain relievers," Lieberman said.

The doctor is quick to point out that even with proper medication and adequate exercise, fibromyalgia has no cure.

Although Lieberman said some of his patients report the symptoms tapering off in their mid-50s and -60s, others are faced with years of managing the condition.

"For most of my patients, I tell them that I can get you 50 to 75 percent better and many of those patients will jump at that," he said.

Poole is one of them, but knowing that she'll need to follow a careful daily regimen can be daunting, she said. "It wears you out, mentally, physically and emotionally."

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/07/14/hm.fibromyalgia/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Islanders rescued after Alaskan volcano erupts

2008-07-13T21:11:00.003-06:00

Islanders rescued after Alaskan volcano erupts

Story Highlights

Vessel takes family, ranch hands to safety after 3,500-foot volcano erupts
Rescued man: "You could see no daylight in any direction"
Okmok Caldera volcano, on Umnak Island, last erupted in 1997
Airline cancels two flights; ash cloud poses risk to planes

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A fishing vessel rescued 10 people after a volcano erupted, sending rocks and ash down on a cattle ranch on a remote island in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska.

The Tara Gaila picked up the people Saturday evening after receiving an urgent call from the Coast Guard. The fishing vessel brought them to Dutch Harbor about 65 miles away, where they were staying at a hotel on Sunday.

No injuries were reported, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read.

Lonnie Kennedy, who lives on Umnak Island at the base of the 3,500-foot volcano with members of his family and a couple of ranch hands, said all seemed normal until late Saturday morning.

"We heard something that sounded like thunder and went outside and right away realized it wasn't thunder. It sounded like huge rocks rolling or something," he said. "I told everyone it sounds like the volcano is blowing up and we need a plan to get out of here."

Kennedy said they were able to get an emergency call out to the Coast Guard requesting help.
He said he then used a small helicopter to fly people, one or two at a time, to Unalaska Island six miles away. He said the ash started falling so heavily that he was unable to fly one ranch hand and one of his sons across.

"You could see no daylight in any direction. It was pitch black," he said. "I was scared."

The Tara Gaila arrived and picked up the two on Umnak Island and then those on Unalaska Island. The family and the ranch hands arrived in Dutch Harbor at 3 a.m. Sunday.

When the Coast Guard got the call for help Saturday, it sent two cutters to Umnak Island, located in the western Aleutians about 860 miles southwest of Anchorage, but recalled them after the Tara Gaila responded to the emergency call. It also sent a helicopter but it had to land in Dutch Harbor because of the falling ash.

The Okmok Caldera, which consists of a 6-mile-wide circular crater about 1,600 feet deep, erupted with little warning Saturday morning, just hours after seismologists at the Alaska Volcano Center began detecting a series of small tremors.

The explosion flung a large ash plume into the sky.

The volcano erupted at 11:43 a.m. and reached peak activity about two hours later, said Cyrus Read, a geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, which has several seismic stations on the Okmok Caldera. The Okmok Caldera contains more than a dozen volcanic cones. Scientists weren't sure which cone exploded Saturday.

One of the observatory's seismic stations that was placed at the rim of the volcano likely was destroyed in the explosion, Read said. Several others stations were functioning Sunday.
"It continues at this time," Read said. "It is a pretty solid plume."

Trace amounts of ash were being reported in Dutch Harbor on Saturday. There were no new reports of ash falling in the large fishing port.

Ash was expected to continue drifting south. The ash cloud was estimated at 45,000 feet on Sunday and posed a risk to aircraft.

PenAir, which serves southwest Alaska, said it was forced to cancel two flights between Dutch Harbor and Anchorage on Saturday but things had returned to normal on Sunday.

The last time the volcano -- formed about 2,000 years ago -- erupted was in 1997, and it was active for eight months, Read said. But he said there was no way of knowing how long the eruption would last this time.

Kennedy, 46, who grew up in Cordes Junction, Arizona, said he plans to go back to the island with his family as soon as it is safe.

"I've always been a cowboy all my life," he said. "It doesn't bother me. It probably won't blow up again for a long time."

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/13/alaska.volcano.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Comcast Faces FCC Sanctions for Blocking Web Traffic

2008-07-11T16:02:00.000-06:00

By Sam Gustin, Portfolio.com

Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, violated federal guidelines when it blocked and degraded Web traffic, the head of the Federal Communications Commission will announce Friday.

The sanctions would be the first time the commission has come down on an internet provider for denying consumers the right to open, unfettered internet access. It may set a precedent on how the federal government oversees management of internet traffic flows in the future.

Last fall, Comcast reluctantly acknowledged that it had temporarily blocked certain peer-to-peer traffic (file sharing). The cable giant called its actions "reasonable network management."
But consumer rights groups and internet experts accused the company of violating the F.C.C.'s 2005 "Internet Policy Statement," which established four principles intended to guarantee consumers unfettered access to all legal Web content, applications, and services.

The chairman of the F.C.C., Kevin Martin, now agrees.

"The commission has adopted a set of principles that protects consumers' access to the internet," he told the Associated Press on Thursday night. "We found that Comcast's actions in this instance violated our principles."

The consumer advocacy group Free Press trumpeted Martin's decision as a victory for consumers.

"This is going to be a bellwether," said Ben Scott, federal policy chief for Free Press.

The decision, contained in an order to be circulated by Martin, brings the agency's nine-month investigation of Comcast close to completion. Martin, a Republican, is expected to gain support from the two Democratic F.C.C. commissioners for his position, which would ensure the order's passage when the commission meets on August 1.

Comcast has long maintained that the government's standard gives it the right to manage its digital traffic "reasonably" for the sake of "network management."

For almost a year, consumer rights groups have battled Comcast, after an Associated Press investigation discovered that Comcast was blocking legal peer-to-peer traffic.

Comcast faced further public outrage after it admitted to paying people off the street to sit at a public hearing at Harvard, while members of the public were prevented from attending. At the time, Comcast claimed it merely paid people to save spots at the hearing for Comcast employees, but the event's organizer disputed that claim.

http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2008/07/portfolio_0711

Abba quartet at Mamma Mia showing

2008-07-09T21:14:00.001-06:00

Faltskog (centre) and Lyngstad (right) attended with Meryl Streep (left)

Pierce Brosnan had attended the film's world premiere in London on Monday

Abba quartet at Mamma Mia showing

The four members of pop group Abba

have attended the Swedish premiere

of Mamma Mia, the film which features

22 of their songs.

Several thousand fans cheered as Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog walked down the red carpet in Stockholm.

Lyngstad and Faltskog also embraced Meryl Streep, one of the movie's stars.

The group had not met up since the original Mamma Mia musical opened in Sweden in February 2005, Lyngstad said.

And they have not performed in public since 1986, 12 years after shooting to fame by winning the Eurovision Song Contest with their track Waterloo.

Earlier, former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan, who is heard singing hits including Waterloo in the film, said he "kind of rather enjoyed" wearing tight costumes for his role.

"The Spandex was a bit of a challenge and the boots were [too]," he told reporters.

"But I had the time of my life making this movie."

Streep said the prospect of singing had excited her since performing in school musicals such as Oklahoma!.

"That was my beginning so it was kind of like coming home to the thing that I loved very, very much," she said.

But she declined to reveal the Abba song she liked best, saying it was "like saying which of your children is your favourite".

She added: "I don't think of it in sports terms like that."

Ulvaeus praised the actors' vocal talents in the film, which has been adapted from the hit stage musical.

"Most of them don't think they can sing, but they can, I assure you," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/7491246.stm
Published: 2008/07/05 14:07:23 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

Doctor Who Finale Watched by 9.4m

2008-07-09T21:12:00.001-06:00

Doctor Who finale watched by 9.4m

There was speculation about whether Tennant would still be Doctor

The finale to the latest series of Doctor Who was seen by an average audience of 9.4m people on BBC One.

The final 15 minutes of the drama pulled in 9.8m viewers, capturing close to 50% of the entire TV audience.

After the Time Lord was wounded by a Dalek at the end of last week's episode, speculation had mounted that the Doctor would regenerate.

In a closely-guarded storyline, this failed to happen, leaving the way clear for actor David Tennant's return.

Unexpected twists

A fifth series of the show is scheduled for 2010.

In Saturday's episode the Doctor was helped by a small army of his companions to once again defeat the Daleks and their evil creator Davros to save the universe.

In an episode packed with unexpected twists, the Doctor was cloned and current companion Catherine Tate's character Donna Noble absorbed some of his mind to become half-Time Lord.

At the end of the episode the Doctor left his cloned self - who was half-human and as such will age and die - to live with his former companion Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, in another reality.

The Doctor also separated from Donna, who had to have her mind wiped of all memories of their time together, before departing on his own in the Tardis.

Tennant has been confirmed to star in the lead role for a number of BBC One specials next year.
The fifth series, with Bafta-winning writer Steven Moffat at the helm, is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC One early the following year.

Moffat is to take over from current writer and executive producer, Russell T Davies, from 2010.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/entertainment/7491981.stm
Published: 2008/07/06 10:56:19 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

First Welsh law set for approval

2008-07-09T21:07:00.002-06:00

First Welsh law set for approval

The first piece of Welsh legislation in modern times is poised to become law.

Under the Government of Wales Act, the Welsh assembly gained powers to make legislation in some areas without permission from Westminster.

The NHS Redress Measure is set to be approved by the Queen, making it easier and quicker to claim compensation after negligent treatment by the Welsh NHS.

The legislation will also carry the Welsh coat of arms, or Royal Badge of Wales, for the first time.
This will be the first measure, or Welsh law, to complete the process.

The Royal Badge of Wales will also appear on all future Welsh laws.

It is based on the arms of the native princes of Wales, dating back to the 13th Century, and designed by the Garter King of Arms, Peter Gwynne-Jones.

Healthy eating

Assembly Presiding Officer Dafydd Elis Thomas said it was an "historic milestone for Wales and the National Assembly for Wales".

"The passing of the first assembly measure into law heralds a burgeoning confidence in the new law-making constitution of Wales," he said.

"In addition to the NHS measure, three other measures are being considered by the assembly - the Healthy Eating Schools Measure, the Learner Travel Measure and the Learning and Skills Measure.

"Two other measures - the Playing Fields Measure and the Recycling Measure are also awaiting consideration," he added.

The assembly is also due to gain more powers, to standardise charging for home care across Wales.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/wales_politics/7497491.stm

Published: 2008/07/09 13:24:35 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

Wales is 'invisible nation' on TV

2008-07-09T21:04:00.001-06:00

Wales is 'invisible nation' on TV

Wales is the "invisible nation" on UK television screens, according to a Wales Broadcasting Committee report.

The assembly report said broadcasters fail to reflect Welsh lives and issues in their programming across the UK.

The committee was asked to look at issues like content, public service broadcasting, and digital switchover.

It recommended more Wales based production from channels and closer links to be developed between Welsh ministers, broadcasters and regulators.

The report rejected calls for powers over broadcasting in Wales to be devolved, arguing that strengthened accountability is the main issue.

Wales is the UK's invisible nation in terms of its place on TV screens Wales Broadcasting Committee

Established in March of this year, the committee was tasked to look at the future of public service broadcasting in Wales in the English and Welsh languages, assess the impact of the digital switchover and examine the production and availability of programming and digital content from Wales and in Wales.

The document, agreed by a committee of AMs, concluded that: "Wales is the UK's invisible nation in terms of its place on TV screens".

It continued: "No UK network lives up to its boast that it reflects the lives of people throughout the UK.

"Each UK PSB (public service broadcaster) is, in different ways, London-centric and everyday life in Wales is reflected nowhere, in any genre at any time on the schedules".

The report said references to Wales were largely missing across the four main channels, and it added: "Things have to change and it is no longer acceptable and it is no longer sustainable".

Criticism was directed at Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC and the ITV executive chairman Michael Grade saying they had failed in their duties over portrayal of Wales.
The report recommended that industry regulator Ofcom and the assembly government monitor BBC progress towards ensuring 5% of its UK programmes are made in Wales by 2016.

The committee "requests" ITV to "improve the portrayal of Wales on ITV network services and increase the commissioning of productions from Wales".

It added that Ofcom should require Channel 4, as a public service broadcaster, to achieve a minimum target of 5% of network production from Wales by 2012.

As far as the BBC is concerned, the report said growth in Wales should be not confined to in-house production but be spread throughout the independent sector.

'Top-slicing'

The review welcomed the "honesty" of the King report, which graphically highlighted shortcomings in BBC network news and current affairs coverage of Wales, but recommended that Welsh ministers monitor the BBC management's efforts to put things right.

The report urged industry regulator Ofcom to ensure ITV keeps providing its current level of programmes specifically for audiences in Wales until at least digital switchover is completed in 2012.

It recommended a separate ITV licence for Wales be created, with a looser relationship with the ITV network along similar lines to Ulster and Scottish Television.

The report also supported suggestions the licence fee be 'top-sliced' to fund programmes on commercial channels that would not otherwise be made.

The committee also suggested the £130m a year of licence fee income currently being used to help digital switchover be put into a fund for public service programmes across the UK, with an "appropriate proportion" going to a "mainstream service in Wales, similar to Channel Three's (ITV's) present service for Wales".

Emphasising the importance of appointments and accountability to improve the way Wales is served by broadcasters, the report argued that the assembly government should decide who takes up posts such as the BBC Trustee for Wales and chair of S4C.

It also recommended that BBC Wales' controller should sit on the corporation's executive board.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7497905.stm

Published: 2008/07/09 17:58:27 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

Teenager finds bat asleep in bra

2008-07-09T20:57:00.001-06:00

Teenager finds bat asleep in bra

A teenager who thought movement in her underwear was caused by her vibrating mobile phone found a bat curled up asleep in her bra.

Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, had been wearing the bra for five hours when she plucked up the courage to investigate.

When she did, she found a baby bat in padding in her 34FF bra. The hotel receptionist said she was shocked but felt bad for removing the "cuddly" bat. "It looked cosy and comfortable and I was sorry for disturbing it," she said.

She was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to investigate the strange movements in her underwear.

"I put my hand down my bra and pulled out a cuddly little bat. Perhaps I should have left it there and given it a good home" Abbie Hawkins

"That shocked me very much at the time, but it scuttled off under the desk into the dark. I was shaking from head to toe."

"It looked quite cosy and comfortable in there so it was quite rude of me to take it out."

"When I realised it was a bat the first thing that occurred to me was how did it get in there."

"I felt quite sorry for it. Perhaps I should have left it there and given it a good home."

"I did not notice anything as I put my bra on. The night before I had had one or two drinks and I was getting ready quickly."

"The bra was in my drawer but it had been on the washing line the day before."

"When I was driving to work, I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket."

The bat was captured by one of her colleagues and released.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/norfolk/7496923.stm

Published: 2008/07/09 07:53:27 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

**********************

The groups threatening to split the Church

2008-07-08T19:33:00.002-06:00

The groups threatening to split the Church

I first noticed this story while waiting for my pizza at Papa John's. I missed the majority of it then, but ran across this in the BBC News Magazine feed I just put on my blog. What I saw on CNN at the pizza joint remarked more on how the Vatican bemoan's (poor them) the fact that if they allow women to be bishops, the there will continue to be a rift between Rome and the Anglican church. While I am not surprised, it really is pathetic that in 2008 this is still an issue. Ah well, I'm not surprised with the current pope in office. While I did NOT agree with everything John Paul II stood for, I definitely had more respect and admiration for that man than this Benedict. But, as has held true with so many other aspects of "modern" society, we seem to be regressing and oppressive lately. I just hope that soon the pendulum will start to swing in the other direction again.

The groups threatening to split the Church

The debate about whether to allow women bishops in the Church of England has exposed fault lines of feeling within the denomination. But who are the different factions?

It's been portrayed as a fight between traditionalists and modernisers, but the question of whether the Anglican church should appoint women bishops or not is more complex - with several groups fighting for their own interests.

The boundaries of distinction between them are often blurred, but who are the broad groups and what do they stand for?

TRADITIONALISTS

Traditionalists object to female bishops on historical and theological grounds.

They claim the Bible teaches that the leaders of the Church must be men, citing Jesus and his 12 apostles. By that logic, they say priests - who represent Christ - must be male. And they point out that an unbroken chain of male priests and bishops has led the Church since Christ.

Traditionalists, who are mostly conservative Anglo-Catholics - the Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion - insist that they cannot stay in the Church of England unless their ministry is separate from women bishops.

Traditionalists see a code as slippery, and open to change in interpretation Paul Handley Church Times

They say some 1,300 serving and retired clergy could desert the Church if women bishops were introduced without any concessions for them.

They want clergy and parishioners who do not want to be led by a female bishop to have access to a male alternative - in the form of "super bishops" that would work alongside the Archbishops of York and Canterbury.

But on Monday evening the General Synod voted to consecrate women as bishops - without providing these safeguards. However the Synod did approve a code of practice which was aimed at meeting some of the opponents' reservations.

But before the vote traditionalists said they would not be happy with a non-binding code.
"Traditionalists see a code as slippery, and open to change in interpretation," says Paul Handley of the Church Times. "They want a statutory solution which will protect them forever."

Many Anglo-Catholics insist the Church of England must be seen in a wider context - as only part of a worldwide Church which includes Rome and the Orthodox - and which therefore cannot take this decision on its own.

They say it might complicate Anglican relations with the Roman Catholic Church, which does not ordain women, and end any future union.

CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS

Ever since women were first ordained as priests in 1994, traditionalists have found allies among conservative evangelicals.

I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor Timothy 1: 11-14

Although both believe that the Bible contains the core of all Christian faith and thought, traditionalists tend to talk about the tradition of the Church of England, tracing its routes back to the early church, while evangelicals support their view with specific passages from the Bible.

Some evangelicals believe that the Bible teaches a divine order of men and women known as "male headship" - which goes right back to Creation.

For this reason, they think women should not be in a position of leadership over men in the Church.

They use letters, widely believed to be authored by St Paul, to support this:

In 1 Timothy 11-14, Paul is quoted as saying: "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor."

But on the other side of the argument, the Bible has statements of egalitarian principle.

In Galatians 3: 28, Paul is quoted as saying: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

"This conflict is essentially one of authority," says Stephen Tomkins, of Ship of Fools, an online Christian magazine. "Whether authority is derived from tradition or the Bible, [either] is open to interpretation."

The majority of evangelicals support women's ministry. But conservatives were likely to back opt-outs, partly to establish a precedent for them to escape a liberal bishop in the future, says Robert Pigott, the BBC's religious affairs correspondent.

THE ACTIVISTS

Traditionalists and evangelicals claim that their issue with women bishops is not one of equality or gender - even if they do support different roles for different sexes.

But female priests have formed a powerful alliance with the middle ground, arguing there is no reason to exclude women bishops, especially now that women have been accepted as priests.
They said any concessions would create a secondary class of women bishops.

And before the vote they said they would rather wait longer for women bishops than have a two-tier system.

THE UNITERS

Many evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics are just concerned that the Church of England stays intact.

They favour women's ministry, but have strong connections with the conservative strains of their different traditions. For this reason, they have supported plans to keep those opposed to women bishops within the Church of England, but in separate dioceses or provinces, in the belief that the matter will resolve itself over time.

"These are people who might be in favour of women bishops, but they don't want the Church to break up," says Mr Handley.

LIBERALS

Many liberals believe the Church needs to react to its given cultural setting - and take into account the changing modes and structures of society.

For them, it is important to put faith principles in a modern context. That means pushing for female bishops with no concessions.

They, too, refer back to the Bible, citing Jesus's inclusion of women like Mary and Martha among his followers, and arguing that it was only cultural reasons at the time that prevented women having a more prominent role.

For liberals, the issue of women's ordination is a matter of justice.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7494938.stm

Published: 2008/07/08 14:19:12 GMT
© BBC MMVIII

Pompeii's erotic past revealed

2008-07-04T15:19:00.005-06:00

Friday, 27 October 2006

**********

Pompeii's erotic past revealed Hundreds of tourists have been queuing in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, Italy, to gain entry to one of the city's most extravagant brothels.

The 2,000-year-old building, featuring erotic fresco paintings, has been re-opened after a costly restoration.

The Lupanare - from the Latin word "lupa" for prostitute - is regarded as one of Pompeii's main attractions.

The town, by the slopes of Mount Vesuvius near Naples, was destroyed by a catastrophic eruption in AD79.

The eruption helped preserve the city, allowing insights into life under the Romans.

Prostitute specialities

In those times, prostitution was not illegal. Sex workers were often slaves, and many came from Greece.

Some of their names and those of their clients are still visible - scrawled on the walls of the small cubicles where the sex workers took their customers.

The erotic frescoes painted above each door of the two-storey brothel are believed to suggest the prostitute's speciality.

According to archaeologists, sex workers charged the equivalent of the price at that time of eight glasses of red wine.

The BBC's David Willey in Pompeii says the site is attracting considerable interest from tourists.
One guide told him while there was not much to see in the brothel, there were "a lot of things to imagine".

The restoration has cost $250,000 (200,000 euros; £134,000) and taken one year.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6090486.stm
Published: 2006/10/27 10:50:46 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

Italy declares Pompeii emergency

2008-07-04T15:13:00.002-06:00

Italy declares Pompeii emergency

The ancient city of Pompeii has fallen into such disrepair that the Italian government has declared a "state of emergency" in a bid to save the ruins.

Ministers intend to appoint a special commissioner to oversee the site, and have earmarked extra funding for it.

According to analysts, the ruins have suffered from lack of investment, mismanagement, litter and looting.

Pompeii was buried by a volcanic eruption in 79AD and was not rediscovered until the 18th Century.

The volcanic debris preserved many of the city's buildings, frescos, silverware, mosaics and other artefacts.

But experts complain that the relics are now in danger.

"Every year at least 150 sq m (1,600 sq ft) of fresco and plasterwork are lost for lack of maintenance," Antonio Irlando, a regional councillor responsible for artistic heritage, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"The same goes for stones: at least 3,000 pieces every year end up disintegrating," he said.

The ruins are one of Italy's biggest tourist attractions, and the newly-elected government has decided to act.

"To call the situation intolerable doesn't go far enough," Reuters quoted Culture Minister Sandro Bondi as saying.

The "state of emergency" will last for a year.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/7490735.stm

Published: 2008/07/04 18:26:13 GMT

Tunguska blast still a mystery 100 years on

2008-07-04T10:51:00.001-06:00

Tunguska blast still a mystery 100 years on

Story Highlights
100 years after explosion in Siberia, no conclusions what caused it
Theories include meteor, UFO or angry gods
No conclusive evidence to support any theory

By Alina Selyukh

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- It produced a blast hundreds of times stronger than the Hiroshima bomb, was seen hundreds of miles away and narrowly missed obliterating an entire city -- but 100 years to the week after the mysterious explosion in Siberia, no one is any closer to understanding what caused it.

Despite countless investigations, the so-called Tunguska Event remains one of the 20th century's greatest enigmas -- seized upon by mystics, UFO enthusiasts and scientists as evidence of angry gods, extraterrestrial life or the impending threat of a cosmic collision.

But says Stanislav Krivyakov, who has spent the past 35 years investigating the Siberian blast, despite intense interest in the event -- which has featured in several episodes of "The X-Files" -- no conclusive evidence has been found to support any theory.

"There are many people who build their hypotheses based on scanty information," he told CNN.
"But there are many aspects to the phenomenon that don't fit any standards or analogies. In everything about it we find something complicated, problematic, vague. It's truly out of the ordinary."

Deepening the mystery was the delay in a full investigation into the event, which occurred as Russia was entering the years of upheaval that surrounded the communist revolution.

The first expedition to try to find the "Tunguska meteorite" did not take place until the late 1920s when a crater was drained resulting in the discovery of nothing more cosmic than an old tree stump. After World War II, searches resumed, but again proved fruitless.

And even though the effects of the blast wave that destroyed 80 million trees are still visible today, "meteoreticians," as some theorists are know, have found no point of impact to support their claim.

"Up to this day, not a single fragment of the Tunguska phenomenon, no cosmic substance has been found. That's the main reason why there isn't any even fundamental understanding (of the phenomenon) yet," said Boris Mushailov, a professor at the Sternberg Astronomical Institute in Moscow.

Mushailov was one of the organizers of an international conference last week at the Russian Academy of Sciences devoted to the Tunguska Event.

He said he leans toward a "comet theory," explaining that an object could have entered Earth's atmosphere and burst into pieces up to 10 kilometers above the Tunguska river -- causing the giant explosion -- but scattering the object into smaller debris most of which burned up.
So-called "alternativists," however, reject the meteor and comet theories, because of the lack of a major crater or fragments.

Their search for more unlikely explanations has led to the site becoming a Mecca for UFO enthusiasts, spawning a Tunguska meteorite museum and scores of photographs of what are claimed to be parts of extra terrestrial craft discovered in the area.

As the debate rages on, many scientists say the Tunguska event could be a harbinger of a genuine scientific phenomenon that could spell disaster for life on Earth.

Researchers looking at the trajectories of asteroids say that if a large meteorite breached the planet's atmosphere once, then there is no guarantee history won't repeat itself.

"The Earth all along its evolution has collided with various cosmic objects, from 1 millimeter to a kilometer in size," Mushailov said.

"One measuring 10 to a hundred meters causes a local catastrophe. And of course, not a single method of protection exists so far," he said.

Scientists estimate if the Tunguska explosion had happened four hours later over St. Petersburg, the city would have ceased to exist, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
As it was, the village of Vanavara, which at a distance of 70 kilometers was the closest settlement to blast, survived.

To mark the 100th anniversary of its lucky escape, Vanavara has repainted its buildings in vivid "meteoric" colors, and is unveiling a new monument -- a colorful sphere symbolizing a cosmic body.

Not to offend the "alternativists," locals also built a marker by the blast spot resembling a sacred bird or a UFO.

But ordinary Vanavarans say they wish scientists would stop searching for meteors and Martians and instead search for gas or oil that could bring much-needed money to the area.

Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/07/04/tunguska.anniversary/index.html?eref=rss_latest

Canadian fiddler looks for quick payday via eBay By Lionel Perron

2008-07-02T17:46:00.004-06:00

I like his music, have one of his cd's, but not sure of this tactic...hmmmm.

Canadian fiddler looks for quick payday via eBay
By Lionel Perron

1 hour, 50 minutes ago

A Canadian fiddler who is no stranger to controversy has put half his future music earnings up for sale on eBay, the auction website.

Ashley MacIsaac, who says he declared personal bankruptcy in 2000, is seeking a minimum bid of C$1.5 million from an investor who would in turn get half of what the Cape Breton musician earns during the rest of his career.

MacIsaac achieved international prominence and raised a few eyebrows in 1997 when he revealed more than his Celtic dance moves while taping "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." According to media reports, he exposed his private parts on the television show while kicking up his kilt during his performance.

"I'm 33, I have at least a good 40 years of earning power ahead of me and I think it's (C$1.5 million) a reasonable starting point," said MacIsaac during a phone interview.

The eBay auction is a variation on a trend started by British rocker David Bowie in the late 1990s. Bowie teamed up with financier David Pullman to issue bonds using future royalties from his numerous hits as guarantee. The deal enabled Bowie to collect tens of millions of dollars immediately instead of waiting for the royalty checks to dribble in over the years.

Last year, pop singer Madonna signed a similar deal with concert promoter Live Nation Inc., reportedly worth more than $100 million.

"I'm not David Bowie, I'm not Madonna, I'm not Eminem, I'm Ashley MacIsaac, so to set a price at that (C$1.5 million), I thought, was fair market value," he said.

In return, the successful bidder will receive 50 percent of the profits from MacIsaac's album sales, concerts, publishing, movies, DVDs and entertainment-related incomes until the end of his career.

His agent at Courage Artists Inc in Toronto says one bidder has expressed interest, and lawyers are looking into the matter.

Compared with David Bowie, who's sold millions of albums over the past four decades, MacIsaac's earnings potential seems modest.

According to MacIsaac, worldwide sales for his album "Hello, How Are You Today?," released in 1995, are approaching half a million copies. He says it was his most commercially successful album.

MacIsaac released his first 10 albums through labels backed by Universal Music Group, a unit of French media giant Vivendi.

The fiddler says he has regained total creative control over his work, and expects his next album, due next year, to be a commercial success.

(Reporting by Lionel Perron; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080702/music_nm/music_ebay_dc

Nuts Confirm Maori Were First N. Zealanders

2008-07-02T14:43:00.001-06:00

Nuts Confirm Maori Were First N. Zealanders
Anna Salleh, ABC Science Online

June 3, 2008 -- Remains of nuts nibbled by ancient rats is among new evidence that settles a debate over whether Maori people were New Zealand's first inhabitants, say researchers.

Paleontologist Trevor Worthy of the University of Adelaide in Australia and colleagues report their findings in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Worthy says the research settles a controversy triggered in 1996 when researchers reported in Nature they had found evidence for a human presence in New Zealand 2,000 years ago.

He said the report, by Richard Holdaway from the University of Canterbury and colleagues, caused a controversy since most people at the time accepted evidence that Maori were the first humans in New Zealand, and arrived much later.

"The Holdaway paper opened the door to Maori not being the people of the land which is central to their being," says Worthy.

Since then the idea that there were people in New Zealand before the Maori has gained broader acceptance, said Worthy, although scientific debate has raged over the accuracy of the dates reported in Nature.

Holdaway's 1996 paper relied on radiocarbon dating of rat bones, from the species Rattus exulans, which is generally taken as a proxy for early human presence in New Zealand, said Worthy.

"They could only get to New Zealand by human transport," said Worthy, who was involved in the Holdaway excavation in two caves on the South Island, rich with rat bones deposited by owls.

Worthy and colleagues dated bones taken from the same layers of soil excavated in the Holdaway study, as well as digging deeper to recover even older bones.

They found the oldest bones to be just 650 years old.

Worthy and colleagues confirmed their findings using a completely independent line of evidence, by dating 150 tree nuts from other sites, which were attractive food for ancient rats.

"Some of the tree seeds are nearly a centimeter long and you can clearly tell whether they've been chewed by a rat or not," he said.

Grooves in the nut match the width of the teeth of the rats, said Worthy, which were the only gnawing mammal in New Zealand at the time.

"The seeds that were not chewed extended in age back to 3,000 years ago, but there was no evidence of rats prior to about 650 years ago."

Worthy said the findings suggest Holdaway's dates were wrong due to errors in radiocarbon dating.

At the time, he said, radiocarbon dating was not capable of accurately date small amounts of material, which is all Holdaway had.

Worthy said the "cleaner technology" being used today, together with the more numerous samples of bones and confirmation from the chewed nuts all adds up to a more convincing argument.

The date humans -- and rats -- arrived in New Zealand is also relevant to debates over conservation policy.

New Zealand's fauna is threatened by rats and more recently introduced mammals requiring management by conservation authorities.

But, Worthy said, these authorities have adopted Holdaworthy's dates, which suggests destruction of New Zealand fauna by rats occurs slowly.

The latest paper confirms that destruction can happen quite quickly and should emphasize the urgency of controlling fauna destruction by such animals.

Related Links:
ABC Science Online
Discovery News blog: Born Animal
The Hall of Human Ancestors
Early Human Phylogeny

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Earliest Londoners Arrived Earlier, Had Wealth

2008-07-02T14:39:00.001-06:00

Earliest Londoners Arrived Earlier, Had Wealth
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 6, 2008 -- London's Covent Garden district, formerly the Anglo Saxon city of Lundenwic, is at least 100 years older than previously thought, based on analysis of skeletons and objects found in the region's oldest Anglo Saxon cemetery, which was recently discovered.

Instead of being founded in 650 A.D., as was earlier believed, archaeologists now think Lundenwic dates to 550 A.D. or earlier, according to a report published today in British Archaeology.

Lundenwic also appears to have been relatively wealthy and cosmopolitan from its first days, based on the quality of artifacts found in the graves.

"These were not elite or royal individuals, but they would have been middle to high class, as their objects were quite nice," Melissa Melikian, who worked on the project, told Discovery News.

"In the grave of an adult woman, for example, we found a silver disc brooch set with cut garnets," added Melikian, general manager of Britain's AOC Archaeology Group southern region.
She and her colleagues found the cemetery during an excavation underneath the London Transport Museum, which extended its basement in order to put in a new shop and gallery. The archaeologists unearthed 10 cremation burials, most of which were placed in urns.

The scientists also discovered three adults buried together. Radiocarbon testing dates them to between 410 A.D. and 550 A.D., so the newly established 550 A.D. date for Lundenwic's emergence takes the more conservative number.

The bodies all belonged to Anglo Saxons -- a people believed to be descendants of three Germanic tribes who settled in south and east Great Britain during the 5th century A.D. Based on the recent and prior Lundenwic finds, historians think the Anglo Saxons established the city as an industrial trading center on the north bank of the Thames, between what is now Trafalgar Square and Aldwych.

According to Mike Pitts, an archaeologist and publisher of British Archaeology, the Roman town of Londinium was already based to the east of Lundenwic. Both cities were eventually "swallowed up in the vast metropolis" that is modern London.

Items found at the Lundenwic grave, including a fine pair of tweezers and a necklace once strung with 19 amber beads and a colorful, swirled glass bead, provide further evidence of the trade and craft activities that were taking place very early on at the site.

Lyn Blackmore, a pottery and sciences specialist at the Museum of London, who is one of the world's leading experts on early London history, told Discovery News that the tweezers likely belonged to a male, since "Anglo Saxon men tended to be buried with tweezers."

"We don't know why," she added. "Perhaps they were used to groom mustaches, or they could have even been included in the burials for unknown symbolic reasons."

The woman's skeleton in the collective burial, according to Melikian, reveals that this person died between the ages of 25-36, suffered from some arthritis and had healed broken ribs and dental cavities. Her cause of death remains unknown but, Lundenwic's inhabitants were often the targets of raids.

"The city experienced a sharp economic downturn and shrinkage at the end of the 8th century, due to Viking raiders coming down from the north," Blackmore said. "Lundenwic was a completely undefended, open site."

According to both Blackmore and Pitts, most of Lundenwic's residents after that devastating raid likely fled to Londinium, which still had its old Roman walls, "presumably still crumbling a bit," intact, to offer at least some protection.

The ancient city divisions are still evident in the character of England's capital city today. The old Roman town of Londinium became London's business center, otherwise known as the City of London, while Covent Garden is now dominated by shopping and entertainment facilities.

Related Links:
Discovery News blog: Archaeorama
AOC Archaeology Group
London History
The Early Years of Lundenwic
How Stuff Works: Geography of London

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company. -->

Last Neanderthals Were Smart, Sophisticated

2008-07-02T14:35:00.001-06:00

Last Neanderthals Were Smart, Sophisticated
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 23, 2008 -- Neanderthals were hardly a weak group just before their extinction around 30,000 years ago, suggests new research. On the contrary, Britain's last Neanderthals had sophisticated weapons and lived in strategic spots, demonstrating impressive command of their territory.

Archaeologists analyzing 180 flint tools and weapons, which survived an original collection of 2,300 artifacts found in 1900 at a site called Beedings near Pulborough, England, have traced them to the Neanderthals, according to an announcement made today by the University College London Institute of Archeology.

The discoveries were also recently reported in British Archeology magazine.

"The tools we've found at the site are technologically advanced and potentially older than tools in Britain belonging to our own species," said UCL's Matthew Pope.

"It's exciting to think that there's a real possibility these were left by some of the last Neanderthal hunting groups to occupy northern Europe," he added. "The impression they give is of a population in complete command of both landscape and natural raw materials with a flourishing technology -- not a people on the edge of extinction."

Pope is leading the recent excavations after Roger Jacobi of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain Project first linked the tools to others discovered in northern Europe, which dated to between 35,000 and 42,000 years ago. The Beedings collection, however, is more diverse and extensive than any others from the region.

Pope said many of the Beedings tools and weapons "were made with long, straight blades --blades which were turned into a variety of bone and hide processing implements, as well as lethal spear points" that could kill unsuspecting prey in an instant.

Beedings is now the hilltop setting of a retirement estate built for London physician John Harley in 1900. It was during the estate's construction that Harley first recorded the 2,300 tools and weapons, which he described as being "as sharp as when the broken fragments fell from the maker's hands."

"Clearly Neanderthal hunters were drawn to the hill over a long period of time, presumably for excellent views of the game herds grazing on the plains below the ridge," Pope explained.
The artifacts were excavated within a distinctive fissure system that has been identified in other places around southeast England. It's likely, especially given the similarity of the Beedings tools to others from the time period, that similar Neanderthal strongholds once dotted Britain's landscape.

Other studies suggest Neanderthals once flourished between Devon, England, in the west to Nietoperzowa Cave, Poland, in the east. The precise reasons for their extinction remain a mystery.

"This study offers a rare chance to answer some crucial questions about just how technologically advanced Neanderthals were and how they compare with our own species," said Barney Sloane, head of Historic Environment Commissions at English Heritage.

Archaeologist Mike Pitts, the publisher of British Archeology, echoed the sentiment.

Pitts told Discovery News that just "a generation ago, people thought the Paleolithic in Britain was little more than a lot of un-stratified flint hand axes and a few rare fossils, and now we are increasingly finding really well preserved in situ material."

"It was always there, but no one had the confidence to seek it out," Pitts added.

Related Links:
Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal
British Archaeology
The Hall of Human Ancestors
Top 10 Weapons in History

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company. -->
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Grisly Human Sacrifice Revealed at Syria Dig

2008-07-02T14:25:00.002-06:00

Grisly Human Sacrifice Revealed at Syria Dig
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

July 2, 2008 -- Around 2300 B.C., an acrobat was killed during a bizarre sacrificial ceremony in what is now northeastern Syria, according to a new study published in the current issue of the journal Antiquity.

Gory evidence of the entertainer's death -- along with the remains of several rare horse-like animals which appear to have been sacrificed as well -- was found in the remains of a building at a site called Tell Brak, which was once the ancient city of Nagar. The findings suggest some ancient cultures may have sacrificed well-known public figures, as well as animals of great personal and monetary worth.

Joan Oates, lead author of the paper, and her colleagues were struck by the arrangement of three human bodies in the reception and main office portion of the ancient building. They describe the skeletal layout as "unusual, indeed strange."

One skeleton belonged to the acrobat, while another could have been the driver of a cart pulled by the animals. The third individual remains unidentified.

"It's the skeletons of the humans that are strange because they were not 'buried' in the usual sense of below ground level, and the heads were missing," said Oates, of Cambridge University's McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

"They were simply lying on a surface, on which the outline of the body itself was still visible -- that is, they were not buried, but the room was rapidly filled in after their deposition," she added.

Fine silver jewelry, the remains of a dog along with its water bowl, and other animal remains were also found in the building.

The researchers think some kind of natural disaster may have led to a brief abandonment of the area before it was ritualistically closed with the sacrifices and "some propitiation of the gods."
They believe the acrobat was an entertainer known as a hub, or hub ki, words associated with the idea of "always jumping about." Ancient seals depict such individuals with spiky hair and performing contortionist-type tricks.

Oates and her colleagues identify the person as being such an ancient acrobat because his or her knee, tibia, arm and foot bones indicate the person was physically active, having executed jumps and turns "in a very disciplined way with feet pointed downwards during leaps, much as can be seen in some modern dancers."

The scientists compared the skeleton with the anatomy of a modern dancer and found direct similarities.

While they cannot yet tell exactly how the entertainer and the other two individuals were killed, it's likely that the acrobat participated in some kind of ritualistic performance that culminated in his or her own death by beheading.

Aside from bringing this dramatic moment of early history back to life, the findings could reveal information about culture in what may have been the world's oldest city.

Jason Ur, a Harvard University anthropologist, recently led a survey of Tell Brak. He believes it was part of a large city that may have predated Uruk, the world's oldest city. Uruk is thought to have been built by the Sumerian king Gilgamesh.

"Ours is a largely urban society, and the nascent urbanization of Tell Brak tells us about the formation of the very first cities in the world," said Ur.

Related Links:
Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal
Discovery News blog: Archaeorama
The Tell Brak Project
Sacrifices in Ancient Cultures
The Eye Idols of Tell Brak
« back

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company.

Prince William helps bust $80m drug smuggling boat

2008-07-02T11:47:00.003-06:00

Prince William helps bust $80m drug smuggling boat

Story Highlights
Prince William has helped the U.S. Coast Guard bust a drug smuggling boat
Boat carrying cocaine with a street value of at least $80m, officials say
Prince William helped spot the boat hundreds of miles northeast of Barbados

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain's Prince William has helped the U.S. Coast Guard bust a drug smuggling boat carrying cocaine worth a minimum of $80 million.

Prince William has helped bust a speed boat smuggling $80 million worth of cocaine.

William, who is serving in the Royal Navy, helped make the bust last weekend when he spotted a speedboat found to be carrying nearly a ton of cocaine in the Atlantic Ocean, Britain's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

William, 26, was one of the crew members aboard a helicopter attached to the frigate HMS Iron Duke who spotted the ocean-going speedboat hundreds of miles northeast of Barbados, the defense ministry said

The 50-foot-long power boat raised suspicions because it was a small vessel far out to sea and resembled a "go-fast" boat commonly used for drug smuggling, the ministry said. The boat's location suggested it was en route to Europe or North Africa, it said.

The chopper's crew informed the ship's captain about the boat, and U.S. Coast Guard personnel who were on the frigate then boarded the boat. They found 45 bales of cocaine weighing a total of 900 kilograms (just under a ton), the defense ministry said.

The cocaine has a minimum street value of $80 million, the ministry said.

The bust went smoothly with no violence, defense officials said. Navy crew detained the five men on the boat, which was in poor condition and later sank.

William is in the middle of a two-month attachment with the Royal Navy as part of his continued experience with various branches of the military. The prince, who is called sub lieutenant Wales in the navy, is also expected to spend time aboard a mine hunter and submarine during his attachment, which ends August 1.

William's vessel, the Iron Duke, is a patrol boat which supports overseas British territories in the event of a hurricane and carries out counter-narcotic operations.

William completed a four-month attachment with the Royal Air Force earlier this year and received his pilot's wings on graduation in April. He learned to fly three different aircraft during the attachment and is known as Flying Officer Wales within the RAF.

William is already a second lieutenant in the British Army, where he serves in the Blues and Royals regiment of the Household Cavalry.

The attachments are designed to give the prince, who as king will be the head of the armed forces, experience with the military.

Child brides give voice to their defiance in Yemen

2008-06-29T13:00:00.001-06:00

Child brides give voice to their defiance in Yemen
By Robert F. Worth
Sunday, June 29, 2008

JIBLA, Yemen: One morning last month, Arwa Abdu Muhammad Ali walked out of her husband's house here and ran to a local hospital, where she complained that he had been beating and sexually abusing her for eight months.

That alone would be surprising in Yemen, a deeply conservative Arab society where family disputes tend to be solved privately. What made it even more unusual was that Arwa was 9 years old.

Within days, Arwa - a tiny, delicate-featured girl - had become a celebrity in Yemen, where child marriage is common but has rarely been exposed in public. She was the second child bride to come forward in less than a month; in April, a 10-year-old named Nujood Ali had gone by herself to a courthouse to demand a divorce, generating a landmark legal case.

Together, the two girls' stories have helped spur a movement to put an end to child marriage, which is increasingly seen as a crucial part of the cycle of poverty in Yemen and other developing countries.

Pulled out of school and forced to have children before their bodies are ready, many rural Yemeni women end up illiterate and with serious health problems. Their babies are often stunted, too.

The average age of marriage in Yemen's rural areas is 12 to 13, a recent study by Sana University researchers found. The country, at the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

"This is the first shout," said Shada Nasser, a human rights lawyer who met Nujood, the 10-year-old, after she arrived at the courthouse to demand a divorce. Nasser decided instantly to take her case. "All other early marriage cases have been dealt with by tribal sheiks, and the girl never had any choice."

But despite a rising tide of outrage, the fight against the practice is not easy. Hard-line Islamic conservatives, whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it, pointing to the Prophet Muhammad's marriage to a 9-year-old. Child marriage is deeply rooted in local custom here, and even enshrined in an old tribal expression: "Give me a girl of 8, and I can give you a guarantee" for a good marriage.

"Voices are rising in society against this phenomenon and its catastrophes," said Shawki al-Qadhi, an imam and opposition member in Parliament who has tried unsuccessfully to muster support for a legal ban on child marriage in Yemen in the past. "But despite rejections of it by many people and some religious scholars, it continues."

The issue first arose because of Nujood, a bright-eyed girl barely 1.2 meters, or 4 feet, tall. Her ordeal began in February, when her father took her from Sana, the Yemeni capital, to his home village for the wedding.

She was given almost no warning.

"I was very frightened and worried," Nujood recalled as she sat cross-legged on the floor in her family's bare three-room home in a slum not far from Sana's airport. "I wanted to go home."

As she told her story, Nujood gradually gained confidence, smiling shyly as if she were struggling to hold back laughter. Later, she removed her veil, revealing her shoulder-length brown hair.

The trouble started on the first night, when her 30-year-old husband, Faez Ali Thamer, took off her clothes as soon as the light was out. She ran crying from the room, but he caught her, brought her back and forced himself on her. Later, he beat her as well.

"I hated life with him," she said, staring at the ground in front of her. The wedding came so quickly that no one bothered to tell her how women become pregnant, or what a wife's role is, she added.

Her father, Ali Muhammad al-Ahdal, said he had agreed to the marriage because two of Nujood's older sisters had been kidnapped and forcibly married, with one of them ending up in jail. Al-Ahdal said he had feared the same thing would happen to Nujood, and early marriage had seemed a better alternative.

A gaunt, broken-looking man, Ahdal once worked as a street sweeper. Now he and his family beg for a living. He has 16 children by two women.

Poverty is one reason so many Yemeni families marry their children off early. Another is the fear of girls being carried off and married by force. But most important are cultural tradition and the belief that a young virginal bride can best be shaped into a dutiful wife, according to a comprehensive study of early marriage published by Sana University in 2006.

Nujood complained repeatedly to her husband's relatives and later to her own parents after the couple moved back to their house in Sana.

But they said they could do nothing. To break a marriage would expose the family to shame. Finally, her uncle told her to go to court. On April 2, she said, she walked out of the house by herself and hailed a taxi.

It was the first time she had traveled anywhere alone, Nujood recalled, and she was frightened. On arriving at the courthouse, she was told the judge was busy, so she sat on a bench and waited.

Suddenly he was standing over her, imposing in his dark robes.

"You're married?" he said, with shock in his voice.

Right away, he invited her to spend the night at his family's house, she said, since court sessions were already over for the day.

There, she spent hours watching television, something she had never known in her family's slum apartment, which lacks even running water.

When Nujood's case was called on the next Sunday, the courtroom was crowded with reporters and photographers, alerted by her lawyer. Her father and husband were also there; the judge had jailed them the night before to ensure that they would appear in court. (Both were released the next day.) "Do you want a separation, or a permanent divorce?" Qadhi asked the girl, after hearing her testimony and that of her father and her husband.

"I want a permanent divorce," she replied, without hesitation.

The judge granted it.

Afterward, Nasser, the lawyer, took Nujood to a celebratory party at the offices of a local newspaper, where she was showered with dolls and other toys. Nujood lived with her uncle for a time after the ruling but then insisted on returning to her father's house. "I have forgiven him," she said. She swears she will never marry again, and she wants to become a human rights lawyer, like Nasser, or perhaps a journalist.

Despite the victory, Nasser and other advocates say they are worried about the lack of legal means to fight early marriage. Nujood's case only reached the court because she took such a wildly unusual step and happened on a sympathetic judge.

"We were lucky with this judge," Nasser said. "Another judge might not have accepted her in court and would have asked her father or brother to come instead," and Nujood would probably still be married today.

A 1992 Yemeni law set the minimum legal age of marriage at 15. But in 1998 Parliament revised it, allowing girls to be married earlier as long as they did not move in with their husbands until they reached sexual maturity.

That change reflected the triumph of northern Yemen's more conservative Islamic culture over the secular and Marxist south after North and South Yemen united in 1990. In South Yemen, the government had passed a law in 1979 setting the age of marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men. An extensive public awareness campaign, including songs and television spots with titles like "The Victimized Daughter of the Tribe" and "Traditions and Rituals" helped educate people about the dangers posed by early marriage and pregnancy.

But in Yemen, as in Afghanistan - another country where child marriage is common - the fight against Communism ended with the triumph of a hard-line form of Islam. After war between the south and the north broke out in 1994, Ali Abdullah Saleh, then North Yemen's president, sent jihadists to fight South Yemen, and critics say he has become politically indebted to conservative Islamists.

After Nujood's case became public, Nasser said she received angry letters from conservative women denouncing her for her role. But she has also begun receiving calls about girls, some younger than Nujood, trying to escape their marriages.

One of them was Arwa, who was married last year at the age of 8 here in the ancient town of Jibla, four hours south of Sana. As with Nujood's case, Arwa's situation aroused a legal and social outrage.

Standing outside a relative's house here, her hands clasped in front of her, Arwa described how surprised she was when her father arranged her marriage to a 35-year-old man eight months ago. Like Nujood, she did not know the facts of life, she said. The man raped and beat her.

Finally, after months of misery, she ran to a hospital. Employees there took her to a police station, she said. A local judge, on receiving her case, briefly jailed the judge who had approved the marriage contract. Arwa is living with relatives while her case awaits a resolution. But her relatives rarely let her out of the house, fearing that her husband, who has refused the judge's demands that he appear in court, may take her again.

Asked what made her flee her husband after so many months, Arwa gazed up, an intense, defiant expression in her eyes.

"I thought about it," she said in a very quiet but firm voice. "I thought about it."

Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

Which way is north?

2008-06-28T19:42:00.002-06:00

Which way is north?

Whether you're lost in the woods or you're trying to install a sundial in your yard, you're bound to want to find true north from time to time, and chances are when the time comes you won't have a compass. What's more, even if you do have a compass, it will point to magnetic north, which, depending on your location in the world, can vary a great deal from true north. So what's an intrepid explorer to do? Read this article to find several different ways to find your way.

Steps

The Shadow-Tip Method

Place a straight stick straight upright in the ground so that you can see its shadow. Alternatively, you can use the shadow of a fixed object that is perpendicular to the ground. Nearly any object will work, but the taller the object is, the easier it will be to see the movement of its shadow, and the narrower the tip of the object is, the more accurate the reading will be. Make sure the shadow is cast on a level, brush-free spot.

Mark the tip of the shadow with a small object, such as a pebble, or a distinct scratch in the ground. Try to make the mark as small as possible so as to pinpoint the shadow's tip, but make sure you can identify the mark later.

Wait 10-15 minutes. The shadow will move approximately from west to east in an arc which depends on your latitude and the season. Mark the new position of the shadow's tip with another small object or scratch. It will likely move only a short distance.

Draw a straight line in the ground between the two marks. This is an east-west line.

Stand with the first mark (west) on your left, and the other (east) on your right. You are now facing aproximately toward true north.

(Accuracy improves as your location approaches the equator, and as the time of year aproaches either equinox.)

Alternative Shadow-Tip Method for Increased Accuracy

Set up stick and mark first shadow-tip as above. For this method, take your first reading in the morning, at least an hour or so before midday.

Find an object or length of string, etc., exactly the same length as the shadow.

Continue taking measurements of the shadow's length every 10-20 minutes. The shadow will shrink until midday, when it is at its shortest. Then it will gradually grow longer.

Measure the shadow length as the shadow grows. Use the stick or object you used to measure the length of the initial shadow. When the shadow grows to exactly the same length as the stick (and hence exactly the same length as your first measurement), mark the spot.

Draw a line connecting the first and second marks as above. Once again, this is your east-west line, and if you stand with the first mark on your left and the second on your right, you will be facing in the aproximate direction of true north.

(Note: for an exact reading, your two marks need to be made at exact intervals before and after noon where you are, which means when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. Any deviation from this leads to inaccuracy.)

Watch Method: Northern Hemisphere

Find an analog watch (the kind with hour and minute hands) that is set accurately. Place it on a level surface, such as the ground, or hold it horizontal in your hand.

Point the hour hand at the sun. You can use a stick to cast a shadow to aid in your alignment if you wish, but it is not necessary.

Bisect (that is, find the center point of) the angle between the hour hand and the twelve o'clock mark (the number 12 on the watch). The center of the angle between the hour hand and twelve o'clock mark is the north-south line. If you don't know which way is north and which south, just remember that no matter where you are, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. In the northern hemisphere the sun is due south at midday. If your watch is set to daylight saving time bisect the angle between the hour hand and the one o'clock mark instead.

Watch Method: Southern Hemisphere

Use an analog watch as above, and point the watch's twelve o'clock mark (the number 12) toward the sun. If your watch is set to daylight savings time, point the one o'clock mark toward the sun.

Bisect the angle between the twelve o'clock mark (or one o'clock mark if using daylight saving time) and the hour hand to find the north-south line. If you're unsure which way is north, remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west no matter where you are. In the southern hemisphere, however, the sun is due north at midday.

Using the Stars: Northern Hemisphere

Locate the North Star (Polaris) in the night sky. The North Star is the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper constellation. If you have trouble finding it, find the Big Dipper. The two lowest stars in the Big Dipper (the outermost stars of the cup of the dipper) form a straight line that "points" to the North Star. You may also find the constellation Cassiopeia, which is always opposite the Big Dipper. The North Star is located about midway between the central star of Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper (see figure).

Draw an imaginary line straight down from the North Star to the ground. This direction is true north, and if you can find a landmark in the distance at this point, you can use it to guide yourself.

Using the Stars: Southern Hemisphere

Find the Southern Cross constellation. In the southern hemisphere, the North Star is not visible, and no single star always indicates north or south, but you can use the Southern Cross as your guide. This constellation is formed by five stars, and the four brightest stars form a cross that is angled to one side.

Identify the two stars that make up the long axis of the cross. These stars form a line which "points" to an imaginary point in the sky which is above the South Pole. Follow the imaginary line down from the two stars five times the distance between them.

Draw an imaginary line from this point to the ground, and try to identify a corresponding landmark to steer by. Since this is true south, true north is directly opposite it (behind you as you are looking at the point).

Moon Method

Observe the moon. If it is not a full moon and rises before the sun sets, the illuminated side is west. If the moon rises after midnight (standard time) the illuminated side is east. This is true everywhere on Earth.

Approximate north and south based on the rough east-west line of the moon. No matter where you are, if you are standing with the west side to your left, true north will be straight ahead.

Tips

These methods may require practice to perfect, so it's a good idea to try them a couple times when you can check your readings. That way, you'll be able to rely on them if you're in a survival situation.

Warnings

The shadow-tip methods are not recommended in the polar regions, which are latitudes above 60° in either hemisphere.

The watch method is not recommended in lower latitudes, particularly below 20° in either hemisphere.

The North Star becomes higher in the sky the further north you travel, and it is not useful about 70° N latitude.

_______________

Clues from Homer classic help date 'Odyssey' slaughter

2008-06-24T18:43:00.000-06:00

Clues from Homer classic help date 'Odyssey' slaughter

Story Highlights
Scholars may now know the date King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War
They believe the warrior slaughtered his rivals on April 16, 1178 B.C.
Experts use clues from star and sun positions cited by ancient Greek poet Homer
Scholars debate whether Homer's books reflect the actual history of the Trojan War

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.

It was April 16, 1178 B.C., that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.

Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge that they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.

But interpreting clues in Homer's "Odyssey" as references to the positions of stars and a total eclipse of the sun allowed them to determine when a particular set of conditions would have occurred.

"What we'd like to achieve is to get the reader to pick up the 'Odyssey' and read it again and ponder," Magnasco said. "And to realize that our understanding of these texts is quite imperfect, and even when entire libraries have been written about Homeric studies, there is still room for further investigation."

Their study could add support to the accuracy of Homer's writing.

"Under the assumption that our work turns out to be correct, it adds to the evidence that he knew what he was talking about," Magnasco said. "It still does not prove the historicity of the return of Odysseus. It only proves that Homer knew about certain astronomical phenomena that happened much before his time."

Homer reports that on the day of the slaughter, the sun is blotted from the sky, possibly a reference to an eclipse. In addition, he mentions more than once that it is the time of a new moon, which is necessary for a total eclipse, the researchers say.

Other clues include:

• Six days before the slaughter, Venus is visible and high in the sky.

• Twenty-nine days before, two constellations -- the Pleiades and Bootes -- are simultaneously visible at sunset.

• And 33 days before, Mercury is high at dawn and near the western end of its trajectory. This is the researchers' interpretation, anyway. Homer wrote that Hermes, the Greek name for Mercury, traveled far west to deliver a message.

"Of course, we believe it's amply justified, otherwise we would not commit it to print. However, we do recognize there's less ammunition to defend this interpretation than the others," Magnasco said.

"Even though the other astronomical references are much clearer, our interpretation of them as allusions to astronomical phenomena is an assumption," he added via e-mail.

For example, Magnasco said, Homer writes that as Odysseus spread his sails out of Ogygia, "sleep did not weigh on his eyelids as he watched the Pleiades, and late-setting Bootes and the Bear."

"We assume he means that as Odysseus set sail shortly after sunset, at nautical twilight the Pleiades and Bootes were simultaneously visible and that Bootes would be the later-setting of the two," Magnasco explained.

"It is a good assumption, because every member of his audience would know what was being discussed, as the Pleiades and Bootes were important to them to know the passage of the seasons and would be very familiar with which times of the year they were visible. Remember, the only calendar they had was the sky."

Because the occurrence of an eclipse and the various star positions repeat over time, Magnasco and Baikouzis set out to calculate when they would all occur in the order mentioned in the "Odyssey."

And their result has Odysseus exacting his revenge April 16, 1178 B.C.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
All AboutAstronomy

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Orion's Twin Stars Have Their Differences

2008-06-19T19:48:00.000-06:00

Orion's Twin Stars Have Their Differences
Irene Klotz, Discovery News

June 18, 2008 -- Astronomers presumed that stars born at the same time, in the same parent cloud, and with the same mass would, like identical human twins, have the same physical attributes.

So it was a surprise to discover that a pair of twins in the Orion nebula, a popular stellar nursery about 1,500 light-years away, have different temperatures and luminosities. One star is apparently developmentally delayed, relative to its partner.

The twins are known as Par 1802.

"Par 1802 provides direct evidence that birth order in 'identical twin' stars can manifest itself as observable physical differences between the two stars -- at least when they are very young," writes Vanderbilt University astronomer Keivan Stassun in this week's issue of the journal Nature.

Stassun and colleagues found that the twins' surface temperatures differ by about 10 percent, or 300 degrees Kelvin (80 degrees Fahrenheit) and that one star is 50 percent brighter than its sibling. The scientists also strongly suspect one star is up to 10 percent bigger than the other.
"The easiest way to explain these differences is if one star was formed about 500,000 years before its twin," Stassun said. "That is equivalent to a human birth-order difference of about half of a day."

The discovery is more than a curiosity: Par 1802 is an eclipsing binary star system, meaning the twins periodically orbit in front of one another, relative to Earth, temporarily and regularly blocking its partner's light. Such phenomena are yardsticks for measuring stars' basic physical properties and for testing theories about stellar evolution.

"Very young eclipsing binaries like this are the Rosetta stones that tell us about the life history of newly formed stars," Stassun said.

Thousands of young stars may need to have their ages re-adjusted by as much as 20 percent for average-sized stars and 50 percent for low-mass stars like brown dwarfs, the scientists estimated.

"The lack of age synchronization in Par 1802 suggests a precision limit of several hundred thousand years," the scientists concluded.

Eclipsing binaries are very rare -- only about one in 1,000 stars. The researchers made the discovery after 15 years of collecting data on stars in Orion, during which time they found three eclipsing binary pairs.

Par 1802 is the only one of the three with equal-mass stars, and it is the only eclipsing binary ever found anywhere with same-mass stars young enough -- less than a million years old -- for physical differences to still be apparent, Stassun told Discovery News.

"We were pretty surprised when we first discovered the differences in temperature, brightness and diameter, but in truth maybe we should not have been," Stassun said.

"We naively expected stars born at the same time, with the same mass and of the same stuff to look the same, but our current theories of binary star formation don't actually make predictions," he said. "This is really an important new piece of information."

Copyright © 2008 Discovery Communications, LLC. The number-one nonfiction media company. -->

Red wine found to be more potent than thought at extending lifespan

2008-06-19T19:34:00.001-06:00

Red wine found to be more potent than thought at extending lifespan
By Nicholas Wade
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human life span, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs.
The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of some red wines. Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness.
The report is part of a new wave of interest in drugs that may enhance longevity. On Monday, Sirtris, a startup founded in 2004 to develop drugs with the same effects as resveratrol, completed its sale to GlaxoSmithKline for $720 million.
Sirtris is seeking to develop drugs that activate protein agents known in people as sirtuins.
"The upside is so huge that, if we are right, the company that dominates the sirtuin space could dominate the pharmaceutical industry and change medicine," Dr. David Sinclair of the Harvard Medical School, a co-founder of the company, said Tuesday.
Serious scientists have long derided the idea of life-extending elixirs, but the door has now been opened to drugs that exploit an ancient biological survival mechanism, that of switching the body's resources from fertility to tissue maintenance. The improved tissue maintenance seems to extend life by cutting down on the degenerative diseases of aging.
The reflex can be prompted by a famine-like diet, known as caloric restriction, which extends the life of laboratory rodents by up to 30 percent, but is far too hard for most people to keep to and in any case has not been proved to work in humans.
Research started nearly 20 years ago by Dr. Leonard Guarente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed recently that the famine-induced switch to tissue preservation may be triggered by activating the body's sirtuins. Sinclair, a former student of his, then found in 2003 that sirtuins could be activated by a number of natural compounds, including resveratrol, previously known as just an ingredient of certain red wines.
Sinclair's finding led in several directions. He and others have tested resveratrol's effects in mice, mostly at doses far higher than the minuscule amounts present in red wine.
One of the more spectacular results was obtained last year by Dr. John Auwerx of the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France. He showed that resveratrol could turn plain vanilla couch-potato mice into champion athletes, making them run twice as far on a treadmill before collapsing.
Sirtris, meanwhile, has been testing resveratrol and other drugs that activate sirtuin. These drugs are small molecules, more stable than resveratrol, and can be given in smaller doses.
Separately from Sirtris's investigations, a research team led by Tomas Prolla and Richard Weindruch, of the University of Wisconsin, reports in the journal PLoS One on Wednesday that resveratrol may be effective in mice and people in much lower doses than previously thought necessary.
In earlier studies, like Auwerx's of mice running treadmills, the animals were fed such large amounts of resveratrol that to gain equivalent dosages people would have to drink more than 100 bottles of red wine a day.
The Wisconsin scientists used a dose on mice equivalent to just 35 bottles a day. But red wine contains many other resveratrol-like compounds that may also be beneficial. Taking these into account, as well as mice's higher metabolic rate, a mere four 5-ounce glasses of wine "starts getting close" to the amount of resveratrol they found effective, Weindruch said.
Resveratrol can also be obtained in the form of capsules marketed by several companies. Those made by one company, Longevinex, include extracts of red wine and of a Chinese plant called giant knotweed. The Wisconsin researchers conclude that resveratrol can mimic many of the effects of a caloric-restricted diet "at doses that can readily be achieved in humans."
The effectiveness of the low doses was not tested directly, however, but with a DNA chip that measures changes in the activity of genes. The Wisconsin team first defined the pattern of gene activity established in mice on caloric restriction, and then showed that very low doses of resveratrol produced just the same pattern.
Auwerx, who used doses almost 100 times greater in his treadmill experiments, expressed reservations about the new result. "I would be really cautious, as we never saw significant effects with such low amounts," he said Tuesday in an e-mail message.
Another researcher in the sirtuin field, Dr. Matthew Kaeberlein of the University of Washington in Seattle, said, "There's no way of knowing from this data, or from the prior work, if something similar would happen in humans at either low or high doses."
Notes:

Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune www.iht.com

The science of sarcasm (not that you care)

2008-06-19T19:33:00.001-06:00

The science of sarcasm (not that you care)
By Dan Hurley
Thursday, June 5, 2008
There was nothing very interesting in Katherine Rankin's study of sarcasm at least, nothing worth your important time. All she did was use an M.R.I. to find the place in the brain where the ability to detect sarcasm resides. But then, you probably already knew it was in the right parahippocampal gyrus.
What you may not have realized is that perceiving sarcasm, the smirking put-down that buries its barb by stating the opposite, requires a nifty mental trick that lies at the heart of social relations: figuring out what others are thinking. Those who lose the ability, whether through a head injury or the frontotemporal dementias afflicting the patients in Rankin's study, just do not get it when someone says during a hurricane, "Nice weather we're having."
"A lot of the social cognition we take for granted and learn through childhood, the ability to appreciate that someone else is being ironic or sarcastic or angry the so-called theory of mind that allows us to get inside someone else's head is characteristically lost very early in the course of frontotemporal dementia," said Bradley Boeve, a behavioral neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota
"It's very disturbing for family members, but neurologists haven't had good tools for measuring it," he went on. "That's why I found this study by Kate Rankin and her group so fascinating."
Rankin, a neuropsychologist and assistant professor in the Memory and Aging Center at the University of California, San Francisco, used an innovative test developed in 2002, the Awareness of Social Inference Test, or Tasit. It incorporates videotaped examples of exchanges in which a person's words seem straightforward enough on paper, but are delivered in a sarcastic style so ridiculously obvious to the able-brained that they seem lifted from a sitcom.
"I was testing people's ability to detect sarcasm based entirely on paralinguistic cues, the manner of expression," Rankin said.
In one videotaped exchange, a man walks into the room of a colleague named Ruth to tell her that he cannot take a class of hers that he had previously promised to take. "Don't be silly, you shouldn't feel bad about it," she replies, hitting the kind of high and low registers of a voice usually reserved for talking to toddlers. "I know you're busy it probably wasn't fair to expect you to squeeze it in," she says, her lips curled in derision.
Although people with mild Alzheimer's disease perceived the sarcasm as well as anyone, it went over the heads of many of those with semantic dementia, a progressive brain disease in which people forget words and their meanings.
"You would think that because they lose language, they would pay close attention to the paralinguistic elements of the communication," Rankin said.
To her surprise, though, the magnetic resonance scans revealed that the part of the brain lost among those who failed to perceive sarcasm was not in the left hemisphere of the brain, which specializes in language and social interactions, but in a part of the right hemisphere previously identified as important only to detecting contextual background changes in visual tests.
"The right parahippocampal gyrus must be involved in detecting more than just visual context it perceives social context as well," Rankin said.
The discovery fits with an increasingly nuanced view of the right hemisphere's role, said Anjan Chatterjee, an associate professor in the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania.
"The left hemisphere does language in the narrow sense, understanding of individual words and sentences," Chatterjee said. "But it's now thought that the appreciation of humor and language that is not literal, puns and jokes, requires the right hemisphere."
Boeve, at the Mayo Clinic, said that beyond the curiosity factor of mapping the cognitive tasks of the brain's ridges and furrows, the study offered hope that a test like Tasit could help in the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.
"These people normally do perfectly well on traditional neuropsychological tests early in the course of their disease," he said. "The family will say the person has changed dramatically, but even neurologists will often just shrug them off as having a midlife crisis."
Short of giving such a test, he said, the best way to diagnose such problems is by talking with family members about how the person has changed over time.
After a presentation of her findings at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in April, Rankin was asked whether even those with intact brains might have differences in brain areas that explain how well they pick up on sarcasm.
"We all have strengths and weaknesses in our cognitive abilities, including our ability to detect social cues," she said. "There may be volume-based differences in certain regions that explain variations in all sorts of cognitive abilities."
So is it possible that Jon Stewart, who wields sarcasm like a machete on "The Daily Show," has an unusually large right parahippocampal gyrus?
"His is probably just normal," Rankin said. "The right parahippocampal gyrus is involved in detecting sarcasm, not being sarcastic."
But, she quickly added, "I bet Jon Stewart has a huge right frontal lobe; that's where the sense of humor is detected on M.R.I."
A spokesman for Stewart said he would have no comment not that a big-shot television star like Jon Stewart would care about the size of his neuroanatomy.
Notes:

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Scientists discover macaque monkeys in Indonesia that fish

2008-06-19T19:32:00.001-06:00

Scientists discover macaque monkeys in Indonesia that fish
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand: Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist.
Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired primates in Indonesia that fish.
Groups of long-tailed macaques were observed four times over the past eight years scooping up small fish with their hands and eating them along rivers in Indonesia's East Kalimantan and North Sumatra provinces, according to researchers from The Nature Conservancy and the Great Ape Trust.
The species had been known to eat fruit and forage for crabs and insects, but never before fish from rivers.
"It's exciting that after such a long time you see new behavior," said Erik Meijaard, one of the authors of a study on fishing macaques that appeared in last month's International Journal of Primatology. "It's an indication of how little we know about the species."
Meijaard, a senior science adviser at The Nature Conservancy, said it was unclear what prompted the long-tailed macaques to go fishing. But he said it showed a side of the monkeys that is well-known to researchers an ability to adapt to the changing environment and shifting food sources.
"They are a survivor species which has the knowledge to cope with difficult conditions," Meijaard said Tuesday. "This behavior potentially symbolizes that ecological flexibility."
The other authors of the paper, which describes the fishing as "rare and isolated" behavior, are The Nature Conservancy volunteers Anne-Marie E. Stewart, Chris H. Gordon and Philippa Schroor, and Serge Wich of the Great Ape Trust.
Some other primates have exhibited fishing behavior, Meijaard wrote, including Japanese macaques, chacma baboons, olive baboons, chimpanzees and orangutans.
Agustin Fuentes, a University of Notre Dame anthropology professor who studies long-tailed macaques, or macaca fascicularis, on the Indonesian island of Bali and in Singapore, said he was "heartened" to see the finding published because such details can offer insight into the "complexity of these animals."
"It was not surprising to me because they are very adaptive," he said. "If you provide them with an opportunity to get something tasty, they will do their best to get it."
Fuentes, who is not connected with the published study, said he has seen similar behavior in Bali, where he has observed long-tailed macaques in flooded paddy fields foraging for frogs and crabs. He said it affirms his belief that their ability to thrive in urban and rural environments from Indonesia to northern Thailand could offer lessons for endangered species.
"We look at so many primate species not doing well. But at the same time, these macaques are doing very well," he said. "We should learn what they do successfully in relation to other species."
Still, Fuentes and Meijaard said further research was needed to understand the full significance of the behavior. Among the lingering questions are what prompted the monkeys to go fishing and how common it is among the species.
Long-tailed macaques were twice observed catching fish by The Nature Conservancy researchers in 2007, and Wich spotted them doing it two times in 1998 while studying orangutans.
Wich said it wasn't until Meijaard told him about his fishing macaques that he realized he had overlooked the unique behavior altogether.
"I was astonished. I thought it was a normal observation," Wich said. "I was really surprised because it indicated to me that you keep on making these observation about primates but you only discover they are interesting when you compare them with others."
Meijaard said the fishing behavior could be prompted by food shortages, droughts resulting in lower water levels that make it easier to catch fish, or habitat destruction that eliminates a key food source.
"There have been studies on macaques from East Kalimantan in the past showing that during especially dry years they run out of food and switch to alternative food sources such as insects, leaves or even bark, which is not normally in their diet," he said.
Meijaard also said he felt the behavior was not isolated to a few macaques, noting that he observed younger monkeys watching their elders fish and then mimicking their behavior. He also said the behavior occurred in two unrelated groups.
Paul Garber, an expert on primate behavior at the University of Illinois who read the study, said there was not enough information to determine whether it was something that was part of the macaques' culture or an isolated event. But he said it warranted further study.
"What I feel is most interesting about the observations of fishing is the possibility of documenting whether and how this novel behavior is passed or transmitted through the population," he said.
Notes:

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Hair analysis deflates Napoleon poisoning theories

2008-06-19T19:31:00.001-06:00

Hair analysis deflates Napoleon poisoning theories
By William J. Broad
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Was Napoleon poisoned?
For decades, scholars and scientists have argued that the exiled dictator, who died in 1821 on the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic, was the victim of arsenic, whether by accident or design.
The murder theory held that his British captors poisoned him; the accident theory said that colored wallpaper in his bedroom contained an arsenic-based dye that mold transformed into poisonous fumes.
The evidence behind both theories was that scientists had found arsenic in hairs from Napoleon's head, which diminished the idea that he had died of stomach cancer. Arsenic is highly toxic, and its poisoning symptoms include violent stomach pains.
"There is nothing improbable about the hypothesis of arsenic poisoning," wrote Frank McLynn in "Napoleon: A Biography" (Arcade, 2002). "Science gives it rather more than warranted assertibility."
But now, a team of scientists at Italy's National Institute of Nuclear Physics in Milan-Bicocca and Pavia has uncovered strong evidence to the contrary. They conducted a detailed analysis of hairs taken from Napoleon's head at four times in his life as a boy in Corsica, during his exile on the island of Elba, the day he died on St. Helena, at age 51, and the day afterward and discovered that the arsenic levels underwent no significant rises.
Casting a wide net, the scientists also studied hairs from his son, Napoleon II, and his wife, Empress Josephine. Here, too, they found that the arsenic levels were similar and uniformly high.
The big surprise was that the old levels were roughly 100 times the readings that the scientists obtained for comparison from the hairs of living people.
"The concentrations of arsenic in the hair taken from Napoleon after his death were much higher," the scientists wrote. But the levels were "quite comparable with that found not only in the hair of the emperor in other periods of his life, but also in those of his son and first wife."
The results, they added, "undoubtedly reveal a chronic exposure that we believe can be simply attributed to environmental factors, unfortunately no longer easily identifiable, or habits involving food and therapeutics."
A team of 10 scientists reported their results in a recent issue of the Italian journal Il Nuovo Saggiatore (The New Experimenter). The hair samples of Napoleon and his family came from the Glauco-Lombardi Museum in Parma, Italy, the Malmaison Museum in Paris and the Napoleonic Museum in Rome.
The scientists measured the arsenic levels with great precision by inserting the hairs into a nuclear reactor in Pavia, near Milan. The resulting activation let the team identify trace elements but did not harm the hairs, some more than two centuries old.
A basic element, arsenic in small doses can stimulate the metabolism. In 1780, when Napoleon was a boy, it debuted as a fashionable medicine.
"In the 19th century it was regarded as a popular cure-all, a general tonic and an aphrodisiac," writes John Emsley in "Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements" (Oxford, 2002). "It was often prescribed by doctors to aid convalescence."
Scientists say the body can tolerate fairly large doses of arsenic if the poison is ingested regularly. That appears to be the case with Napoleon and his family.
"All the important people in those times received excessive contamination," said Ettore Fiorini, a team member at the University of Milan-Bicocca. "It was widely used in paints, tapestry, medicine and even the preservation of food."
Notes:

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Mediterranean shark populations collapsing, study finds

2008-06-19T19:30:00.001-06:00

Mediterranean shark populations collapsing, study finds
By Andrew C. Revkin
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Headline: Some
Summary: Numbers of five species of sharks in the Mediterranean Sea have declined by more than 96 percent over the last two centuries, a new study suggests.
Some shark populations in the Mediterranean Sea have completely collapsed, according to a new study, with numbers of five species declining by more than 96 percent over the last two centuries.
"This loss of top predators could hold serious implications for the entire marine ecosystem, greatly affecting food webs throughout this region," said the lead author of the study, Francesco Ferretti, a doctoral student in marine biology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
Particularly troubling, the researchers said, were patterns indicating a lack of mature females, which are essential if populations are to recover even with new conservation measures.
"Because sharks are long-lived and slow to mature, they need fully-grown females to keep their populations reproductively healthy," said Heike Lotze, a study author who is also at Dalhousie.
The study is scheduled for publication in the journal Conservation Biology and was posted online on Wednesday at www.lenfestocean.org by the Lenfest Ocean Program, a private group in Washington that paid for the research.
The study focused on five species for which there were sufficient records to chart a long-term trend - hammerhead, blue and thresher sharks and two types of mackerel sharks. The Mediterranean is home to some 47 shark species, and similar declines are presumed to have occurred in many of them.
Sharks take years to reach sexual maturity and, unlike most other fishes, produce small numbers of young, making them particularly vulnerable to overfishing. Populations have declined worldwide, but experts say the Mediterranean - bordered by many countries with diverse rules and fished intensively for centuries - has experienced bigger losses of sharks and other large predatory fish, including tuna.
The long-term decline in the region was revealed by sifting decades of catch records and other scattered sources of data, which showed that over time the Mediterranean ecosystem has been utterly transformed. With top-tier predators removed, the populations of other fish and invertebrates shift in unpredictable ways.
In November, the World Conservation Union warned that more than 40 percent of shark and ray species in the Mediterranean were threatened with extinction because of intense fishing pressure, including the continued use of drift nets. The nets kill many sharks and rays even when they are not the target of the fishing effort.
A ban on fishing in deep waters (more than about 3,200 feet, or 1,000 meters) and on cutting off shark fins, a delicacy in China, could help, but much more enforcement of laws is needed, the conservation union said.
Notes:

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Loyal to its roots

2008-06-19T19:29:00.001-06:00

Loyal to its roots
By Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
From its diminutive lavender flowers to its straggly windblown stalks, there is nothing about the beach weed known as the Great Lakes sea rocket to suggest that it might be any sort of a botanical wonder.
Yet scientists have found evidence that the sea rocket is able to do something that no other plant has ever been shown to do.
The sea rocket, researchers report, can distinguish between plants that are related to it and those that are not. And not only does this plant recognize its kin, but it also gives them preferential treatment.
If the sea rocket detects unrelated plants growing in the ground with it, the plant aggressively sprouts nutrient-grabbing roots. But if it detects family, it politely restrains itself.
The finding is a surprise, even a bit of a shock, in part because most animals have not even been shown to have the ability to recognize relatives, despite the huge advantages in doing so.
If an individual can identify kin, it can help them, an evolutionarily sensible act because relatives share some genes. The same discriminating organism could likewise ramp up nasty behavior against unrelated individuals with which it is most sensible to be in claws- or perhaps thorns-bared competition.
"I'm just amazed at what we've found," said Susan Dudley, an evolutionary plant ecologist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who carried out the study with a graduate student, Amanda File.
"Plants," Dudley said, "have a secret social life."
Since the research on sea rockets was published in August in Biology Letters, a journal of the United Kingdom's national academy of science, Dudley and colleagues have found evidence that three other plant species can also recognize relatives.
The studies are part of an emerging picture of life among plants, one in which these organisms, long viewed as so much immobile, passive greenery, can be seen to sense all sorts of things about the plants around them and use that information to interact with them.
Plants' social life may have remained mysterious for so long because, as researchers have seen in studies of species like sagebrush, strawberries and thornapples, the ways plants sense can be quite different from the ways in which animals do.
Some plants, for example, have been shown to sense potentially competing neighboring plants by subtle changes in light. That is because plants absorb and reflect particular wavelengths of sunlight, creating signature shifts that other plants can detect.
Scientists also find plants exhibiting ways to gather information on other plants from chemicals released into the soil and air. A parasitic weed, dodder, has been found to be particularly keen at sensing such chemicals.
Dodder is unable to grow its own roots or make its own sugars using photosynthesis, the process used by nearly all other plants. As a result, scientists knew that after sprouting from seed, the plant would fairly quickly need to begin growing on and into another plant to extract the nutrients needed to survive.
But even the scientists studying the plant were surprised at the speed and precision with which a dodder seedling could sense and hunt its victim. In time-lapse movies, scientists saw dodder sprouts moving in a circular fashion, in what they discovered was a sampling of the airborne chemicals released by nearby plants, a bit like a dog sniffing the air around a dinner buffet.
Then, using just the hint of the smells and without having touched another plant, the dodder grew toward its preferred victim. That is, the dodder reliably sensed and attacked the species of plant, from among the choices nearby, on which it would grow best.
"When you see the movies, you very much have this impression of it being like behavior, animal behavior," said Consuelo De Moraes, a chemical ecologist at Pennsylvania State University who was on the team studying the plant. "It's like a little worm moving toward this other plant."
Although a view of plants as sensing organisms is beginning to emerge, scientists have been finding hints of such capabilities and interactions for 20 years. But discoveries have continued to surprise scientists, because of what some describe as an entrenched disbelief that plants, without benefit of eyes, ears, nose, mouth or brain, can and do all they are seen to do.
"A lot of the examples of plant behavior are examples in which the phenomena are pretty easy to observe," said Richard Karban, a plant ecologist at the University of California, Davis.
The problem, for many scientists, is that as obvious as the behaviors sometimes are, they can seem just too complex and animal-like for a plant. "Maybe if we understood more mechanistically how it's happening," Karban added, "we'd feel more comfortable about accepting the results that we're finding."
It does not help credibility that scientists in the field often find themselves having to distinguish the results of careful experimental studies from decidedly nonscientific, even kook-fringe, discussions about phenomena like plant sentience and emotion.
Plants are not "sensitive new age guys who cringe when something around them gets hurt and who love classical music and hate rock," Dudley said as she referred to depictions in popular works of plants living tender, emotion-soaked existences, in particular the 1970s "The Secret Life of Plants."
Even mainstream researchers do not always completely agree on which ideas are clearly within the realm of science and which have gone a bit too far.
Recent debates have revolved around a longstanding question: which of the abilities and attributes that scientists have long considered the realm of just animals, like sensing, learning and memory, can sensibly be transferred to plants?
At the extreme of the equality movement, but still within mainstream science, are the members of the Society of Plant Neurobiology, a new group whose Web site describes it as broadly concerned with plant sensing.
The very name of the society is enough to upset many biologists. Neurobiology is the study of nervous systems nerves, synapses and brains that are known just in animals. That fact, for most scientists, makes the notion of plant neurobiology a combination of impossible, misleading and infuriating.
Thirty-six authors from universities that included Yale and Oxford were exasperated enough to publish an article last year, "Plant Neurobiology: No Brain, No Gain?" in the journal Trends in Plant Science. The scientists chide the new society for discussing possibilities like plant neurons and synapses, urging that the researchers abandon such "superficial analogies and questionable extrapolations."
Defenders point out that 100 years ago, some scientists were equally adamant that plant physiology did not exist. Today, that idea is so obviously antiquated that it could elicit a good chuckle from the many scientists in that field.
As for the "superficial analogies," the new wave botanists are well aware that plants do not have exact copies of animal nervous systems.
"No one proposes that we literally look for a walnut-shaped little brain in the root or shoot tip," five authors wrote in defense of the new group. Instead, the researchers say, they are asking that scientists be open to the possibility that plants may have their own system, perhaps analogous to an animal's nervous system, to transfer information around the body.
"Plants do send electrical signals from one part of the plant to another," said Eric Brenner, a botanist at the New York Botanical Garden and a member of the Society of Plant Neurobiology.
Although those signals have been known for 100 years, scientists have no idea what plants do with them.
"No one's asked how all that information is integrated in a plant, partly because we've convinced ourselves that it isn't," Brenner said. "People have been intimidated from asking that question."
The mention of the possibility of plant neurobiology elicits such visceral responses that Brenner said he had at times worried that it could harm his career.
"I see a lot of people waiting on the sidelines," he said, "to see how this all pans out."
Notes:

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Malthus redux: Is doomsday upon us, again?

2008-06-19T19:28:00.001-06:00

Malthus redux: Is doomsday upon us, again?
By Donald G. Mcneil Jr.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
During the last American food-and-gas-price crisis, in the 1970s, one of my colleagues on the Berkeley student newspaper told me that he and his semi-communal housemates had taken a vote. They'd calculated they could afford meat or coffee. They chose coffee.
The decision was slightly less effete than it sounds now the Starbucks clone wars were still some years off, so he was talking about choosing Yuban over ground chuck. But it nonetheless said something about us as spoiled Americans. Riots were relatively common in Berkeley in those days. But they were never about food. (That particular revolution was starting without us on Shattuck Avenue, where Chez Panisse had just opened.)
However, elsewhere on the globe, people were on the edge of starvation. Grain prices were soaring, rice stocks plummeting. In Ethiopia and Cambodia, people were well over the edge, and food riots helped lead to the downfall of Emperor Haile Selassie and the victory of the Khmer Rouge.
Now it's happening again. While Americans grumble about gasoline prices, food riots have seared Bangladesh, Egypt and African countries. In Haiti, they cost the prime minister his job. Rice-bowl countries like China, India and Indonesia have restricted exports and rice is shipped under armed guard.
And again, Thomas Malthus, a British economist and demographer at the turn of the 19th century, is being recalled to duty. His basic theory was that populations, which grow geometrically, will inevitably outpace food production, which grows arithmetically. Famine would result. The thought has underlain doomsday scenarios both real and imagined, from the Great Irish Famine of 1845 to the Population Bomb of 1968.
But over the last 200 years, with the Industrial Revolution, the Transportation Revolution, the Green Revolution and the Biotech Revolution, Malthus has been largely discredited. The wrenching dislocations of the last few months do not change that, most experts say. But they do show the kinds of problems that can emerge.
The whole world has never come close to outpacing its ability to produce food. Right now, there is enough grain grown on earth to feed 10 billion vegetarians, said Joel Cohen, professor of populations at Rockefeller University and the author of "How Many People Can the Earth Support?" But much of it is being fed to cattle, the SUV's of the protein world, which are in turn guzzled by the world's wealthy.
Theoretically, there is enough acreage already planted to keep the planet fed forever, because 10 billion humans is roughly where the United Nations predicts that the world population will plateau in 2060. But success depends on portion control; in the late 1980s, Brown University's World Hunger Program calculated that the world then could sustain 5.5 billion vegetarians, 3.7 billion South Americans or 2.8 billion North Americans, who ate more animal protein than South Americans.
Even if fertility rates rose again, many agronomists think the world could easily support 20 billion to 30 billion people.
Anyone who has ever flown across the United States can see how that's possible: there's a lot of empty land down there. The world's entire population, with 1,000 square feet of living space each, could fit into Texas. Pile people atop each other like Manhattanites, and they get even more elbow room.
Water? When it hits $150 a barrel, it will be worth building pipes from the melting polar icecaps, or desalinating the sea as the Saudis do.
The same potential is even more obvious flying around the globe. The slums of Mumbai are vast; but so are the empty arable spaces of Rajasthan. Africa, a huge continent with a mere 770 million people on it, looks practically empty from above. South of the Sahara, the land is rich; south of the Zambezi, the climate is temperate. But it is farmed mostly by people using hoes.
As Harriet Friedmann, an expert on food systems at the University of Toronto, pointed out, Malthus was writing in a Britain that echoed the dichotomy between today's rich countries and the third world: an elite of huge landowners practicing "scientific farming" of wool and wheat who made fat profits; many subsistence farmers barely scratching out livings; migration by those farmers to London slums, followed by emigration. The main difference is that emigration then was to colonies where farmland was waiting, while now it is to richer countries where jobs are.
Malthus's world filled up, and its farmers, defying his predictions, became infinitely more productive. Admittedly, emptying acreage so it can be planted with genetically modified winter wheat and harvested by John Deere combines can be a brutal process, but it is solidly within the Western canon. My Scottish ancestors, for example, became urbanites thanks to the desire of English scientific farmers (for which read "landlords and bribers of clan chiefs") to graze more sheep in the highlands. Four generations later, I got to mull the coffee-meat dilemma while actually living on newsroom pizza.
So it ultimately worked out for one spoiled Scottish-American. But what about the 800 million people who are chronically hungry, even in riot-free years?
Friedmann argues that there is a Malthusian unsustainability to the way big agriculture is practiced, that it degrades genetic diversity and the environment so much that it will eventually reach a tipping point and hunger will spread.
Others vigorously disagree. In their view, the world is almost endlessly bountiful. If food became as pricey as oil, we would plow Africa, fish-farm the oceans and build hydroponic skyscraper vegetable gardens. But they see the underlying problem in terms more Marxian than Malthusian: the rich grab too much of everything, including biomass.
For the moment, simply ending subsidies to American and European farmers would let poor farmers compete, which besides feeding their families would push down American food prices and American taxes.
Tyler Cowen, a George Mason University economist, notes that global agriculture markets are notoriously unfree and foolishly managed. Rich countries subsidize farmers, but poor governments fix local grain prices or ban exports just when world prices rise for example, less than 7 percent of the world's rice crosses borders. That discourages the millions of third world farmers who grow enough for themselves and a bit extra for sale from planting that bit extra.
Americans are attracted to Malthusian doom-saying, Cowen argues, "because it's a pre-emptive way to hedge your fear. Prepare yourself for the worst, and you feel safer than when you're optimistic."
Cohen, of Rockefeller University, sees it in more sinister terms: Americans like Malthus because he takes the blame off us. Malthus says the problem is too many poor people.
Or, to put it in the terms in which the current crisis is usually explained: too many hard-working Chinese and Indians who think they should be able to eat pizza, meat and coffee and aspire to a reservation at Chez Panisse. They get blamed for raising global prices so much that poor Africans and Asians can't afford porridge and rice. The truth is, the upward pressure was there before they added to it.
America has always been charitable, so the answer has never been, "Let them eat bean sprouts." But it has been, "Let them eat subsidized American corn shipped over in American ships." That may need to change.
Notes:

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Diagnosis: When a strokelike spell isn't a stroke

2008-06-19T19:27:00.001-06:00

Diagnosis: When a strokelike spell isn't a stroke
By Lisa Sanders, M.d.
Monday, June 16, 2008
1. Symptoms
The boy was sitting in his 10th-grade math class at a high school in Atlanta when he had his first attack. He does not remember what happened, but his classmates noticed that he seemed to be in some sort of trance. He stared straight ahead, eyes unfocused. His lips moved, but no words came out just a few jumbled syllables. His face looked strangely lopsided.
As the school nurse hurried into the classroom, her first thought was that as unlikely as it seemed this 15-year-old boy was having a stroke. But as she examined the boy, he began to improve. The color seeped back into his face, and the asymmetry disappeared. His pulse and blood pressure were normal. By the time the boy's mother got to the school, he was back to his usual self.
His mother took him home, but she was worried. Her son had always been healthy. Certainly he'd never had anything like this happen before. At an event that night she described the strange symptoms to some friends. A man she didn't know, sitting nearby, leaned forward. "Your son could have had a stroke," he announced to the group of women. He apologized for eavesdropping but said something similar had happened to the teenage son of a friend. That boy had ended up completely paralyzed on one side of his body before they figured out what was going on.
When she got home that night, the now-terrified mother called Dr. Norman Harbaugh, her son's doctor. "Did my son have a stroke?" she asked after describing the incident. Maybe, he said. If he was all right now, they should come to his office first thing in the morning. If anything else happened, they should go directly to the emergency room.
Harbaugh had been their pediatrician since the boy was 3. The mother was confident that he would know what this was. But the next day the doctor had no answers, only worries. Although the boy's exam was completely normal, Harbaugh was concerned that this might not have been a stroke but a T.I.A. a transient ischemic attack the start of a stroke that somehow repairs itself. If it happened again, the boy might not be so lucky. He sent the boy to a neurologist and a cardiologist that morning. They found no risks for a stroke or evidence that he'd had one.
2. Investigation
Let's watch and wait, Harbaugh advised. Maybe this was just a fluke. And for six months nothing happened. Then in July, the boy had a second attack, and in September, a third. With each attack, the boy was lightheaded and dazed, and there was a new symptom in addition to the facial droop, his right hand and sometimes his right leg would shake. He was taken to the emergency room each time, but when he arrived, the symptoms were gone. Harbaugh sent him to another neurologist, another cardiologist, a nephrologist, a gastroenterologist. Dozens of blood tests were done. An echocardiogram of his heart was normal. The EEG was normal. By every measure, the boy seemed fine.
And yet over the course of that fall, the attacks became more frequent. Once a week, sometimes twice, his mother would get a call from school saying that her son was being sent to the hospital. One neurologist thought these might be seizures and started the teenager on an antiseizure medication. But the attacks kept coming.
Harbaugh was stumped and frustrated, especially after the boy had spent a week in the hospital and was discharged still without a diagnosis. At that point, Harbaugh mentioned to the family that perhaps they might need to find experts outside Atlanta. After much discussion, Harbaugh referred the boy to the Diagnostic Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which specializes in diagnosing baffling illnesses in children. Harbaugh said he thought it seemed extreme to send this family from suburban Atlanta to a group of doctors in Philadelphia. Extreme but appealing. Coming at it with fresh eyes, a different perspective, these doctors might be able to find the answer.
And so, late that fall, the patient and his mother headed to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. They trooped from specialist's office to specialist's office, carrying the thick files of notes and tests that made up the boy's medical history. On their fourth and last day there, the boy and his mother went to see Dr. Rebecca Ichord, a young pediatric neurologist with a specialty in childhood stroke. Ichord greeted them in the waiting room. She was soft-spoken, with a serious but kind face. She sat down with mother and son and went through his thick chart page by page asking about each episode. Initially, Ichord, like the doctors before her, thought these "spells," as the boy called them, sounded like T.I.A.'s ministrokes. But given the extensive work-up that had been done, it seemed clear that this had been ruled out. So what else could this be?
As Ichord went through each of the attacks with the teenager and his mother, she began to notice a pattern. "Were you always sitting down when these spells came on?" she asked. The patient thought for a moment. Yes, at the time of each of these episodes he had been sitting for a long time. They never occurred when he was active. It was the answer she was hoping for. "I think you have something called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome," she told the boy. This is a disorder that has only recently been described, but one she had seen a number of times during her years in practice. POTS, as it's called, is seen mostly in adolescents and is characterized by lightheadedness and confusion, usually upon standing up. Normally when you're sitting, blood pools in the legs. The blood vessels there constrict to help the blood return to the heart and stay in circulation. In patients with POTS, the vessels aren't constricting properly, and so too much blood stays in the legs, causing a decrease in the amount in circulation. An inadequate supply of blood to the brain causes the lightheadedness and confusion.
But what about these strokelike symptoms, the mother asked. That wasn't classic for POTS, but Ichord had seen it before too. She said she thought that in these patients the inadequate supply of blood triggered sensitive regions in the brain to overreact and cause these strange localized symptoms. And these symptoms, like the rest of them, got better when the patient lay down.
3. Resolution
A simple test could help her determine if her hunch was right. She had the lanky youth lie down on the examining table. She checked his pulse and his blood pressure. Both were normal. Then she had him sit up and measured his pulse and blood pressure again. Normally blood pressure doesn't change much and heart rate increases slightly as the body tries to get all the blood from the lower body, where it is pooled, to the rest of the body, which now needs more blood. In this patient, though his blood pressure remained normal, his heart began to race as his body tried to force the blood from his legs all the way up to his brain. Based on this test, Ichord thought it was quite likely that the teenager had POTS. She ordered a study, which confirmed her diagnosis.
POTS is often seen following a growth spurt. The thinking is that the nerves that tell the blood vessels to constrict haven't kept up with the rest of the body. Her patient had grown six inches over the last two years. Adolescents often grow out of this disease. Until then it is treated with a drug that constricts the blood vessels and salt tablets that increase the amount of fluid in the body. The boy was started on this regimen, and two years later, he is doing well.
"What's amazing to me," the patient told me recently, "is that I went to dozens of doctors, had hundreds of tests, had gallons of blood taken, and Ichord made this diagnosis with just one question and a blood-pressure cuff. I couldn't believe it." The difference was that, unlike the other doctors who had seen this patient, Ichord knew what she was looking for.
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A professor's food revolution starts with rice

2008-06-19T19:26:00.001-06:00

A professor's food revolution starts with rice
By William J. Broad
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
ITHACA, New York: Many a professor dreams of revolution. But Norman Uphoff, working in a leafy corner of the Cornell University campus, is leading an inconspicuous one centered on solving the global food crisis. The secret, he says, is a new way of growing rice.
Rejecting old customs as well as the modern reliance on genetic engineering, Uphoff, 67, an emeritus professor of government and international agriculture with a trim white beard and a tidy office, advocates a management revolt.
Harvests typically double, he says, if farmers plant early, give seedlings more room to grow and stop flooding fields. That cuts water and seed costs while promoting root and leaf growth.
The method, called the System of Rice Intensification, or SRI, emphasizes the quality of individual plants over the quantity. It applies a less-is-more ethic to rice cultivation.
In a decade, it has gone from obscure theory to global trend and encountered fierce resistance from established rice scientists. Yet a million rice farmers have adopted the system, Uphoff says. The rural army, he predicts, will swell to 10 million farmers in the next few years, increasing rice harvests, filling empty bellies and saving untold lives.
"The world has lots and lots of problems," Uphoff said recently while talking of rice intensification and his 38 years at Cornell. "But if we can't solve the problems of peoples' food needs, we can't do anything. This, at least, is within our reach."
That may sound audacious given the depths of the food crisis and the troubles facing rice. Roughly half the world eats the grain as a staple food even as yields have stagnated and prices have soared, nearly tripling in the past year. The price jolt has provoked riots, panicked hoarding and violent protests in poor countries.
But Uphoff has a striking record of accomplishment, as well as a gritty kind of farm-boy tenacity.
He and his method have flourished despite the skepticism of his Cornell peers and the global rice establishment especially the International Rice Research Institute, which helped start the green revolution of rising grain production and specializes in improving rice genetics.
His telephone rings. It is the World Bank Institute, the educational and training arm of the development bank. The institute is making a DVD to spread the word.
"That's one of the irons in the fire," he tells a visitor, looking pleased before plunging back into his tale.
Uphoff's improbable journey involves a Wisconsin dairy farm, a billionaire philanthropist, the jungles of Madagascar, a Jesuit priest, ranks of eager volunteers and, increasingly, the developing world. He lists top SRI users as India, China, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam among 28 countries on three continents.
In Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India, Veerapandi Arumugam, the agriculture minister, recently hailed the system as "revolutionizing" paddy farming while spreading to "a staggering" million acres.
Chan Sarun, Cambodia's agriculture minister, told hundreds of farmers at an agriculture fair in April that SRI's speedy growth promises a harvest of "white gold."
On Cornell's agricultural campus, Uphoff runs a one-man show from an office rich in travel mementos. From Sri Lanka, woven rice stalks adorn a wall, the heads thick with rice grains.
His computers link him to a global network of SRI activists and backers, like Oxfam, the British charity. Uphoff is SRI's global advocate, and his Web site (ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/) serves as the main showcase for its principles and successes.
"It couldn't have happened without the Internet," he says. Outside his door is a sign, "Alfalfa Room," with a large arrow pointing down the hall, seemingly to a pre-electronic age.
Critics dismiss SRI as an illusion.
"The claims are grossly exaggerated," said Achim Dobermann, the head of research at the international rice institute, which is based in the Philippines. Dobermann said fewer farmers use SRI than advertised because old practices often are counted as part of the trend and the method itself is often watered down.
"We don't doubt that good yields can be achieved," he said, but he called the methods too onerous for the real world.
By contrast, a former skeptic sees great potential. Vernon Ruttan, an agricultural economist at the University of Minnesota and a longtime member of the National Academy of Sciences, once worked for the rice institute and doubted the system's prospects.
Ruttan now calls himself an enthusiastic fan, saying the method is already reshaping the world of rice cultivation. "I doubt it will be as great as the green revolution," he said. "But in some areas it's already having a substantial impact."
Robert Chambers, a leading analyst on rural development, who works at the University of Sussex, England, called it a breakthrough.
"The extraordinary thing," he said, "is that both farmers and scientists have missed this farmers for thousands of years, and scientists until very recently and then some of them in a state of denial."
The method, he added, "has a big contribution to make to world food supplies. Its time has come."
Uphoff grew up on a Wisconsin farm milking cows and doing chores. In 1966, he graduated from Princeton with a master's degree in public affairs and in 1970 from the University of California, Berkeley, with a doctorate in political science.
At Cornell, he threw himself into rural development, irrigation management and credit programs for small farmers in the developing world.
In 1990, a secret philanthropist (eventually revealed to be Charles Feeney, a Cornell alumnus who made billions in duty-free shops) gave the university $15 million to start a program on world hunger. Uphoff was the institute's director for 15 years.
The directorship took him in late 1993 to Madagascar. Slash-and-burn rice farming was destroying the rain forest, and Uphoff sought alternatives.
He heard that a French Jesuit priest, Father Henri de Laulanié, had developed a high-yield rice cultivation method on Madagascar that he called the System of Rice Intensification.
Uphoff was skeptical. Rice farmers there typically harvested two tons per hectare (an area 100 by 100 meters, or 2.47 acres). The group claimed 5 to 15 tons.
"I remember thinking, 'Do they think they can scam me?' " Uphoff recalled. "I told them, 'Don't talk 10 or 15 tons. No one at Cornell will believe it. Let's shoot for three or four.' "
Uphoff oversaw field trials for three years, and the farmers averaged eight tons per hectare. Impressed, he featured SRI on the cover of his institute's annual reports for 1996 and 1997.
Uphoff never met the priest, who died in 1995. But the success prompted him to scrutinize the method and its origins.
One clear advantage was root vigor. The priest, during a drought, had noticed that rice plants and especially roots seemed much stronger. That led to the goal of keeping fields damp but not flooded, which improved soil aeration and root growth.
Moreover, wide spacing let individual plants soak up more sunlight and send out more tillers the shoots that branch to the side. Plants would send out upwards of 100 tillers. And each tiller, instead of bearing the usual 100 or so grains, would puff up with 200 to 500 grains.
One drawback was weeds. The halt to flooding let invaders take root, and that called for more weeding. A simple solution was a rotating, hand-pushed hoe, which also aided soil aeration and crop production.
But that meant more labor, at least at first. It seemed that as farmers gained skill, and yields rose, the overall system became labor saving compared with usual methods.
Uphoff knew the no-frills approach went against the culture of modern agribusiness but decided it was too good to ignore. In 1998, he began promoting it beyond Madagascar, traveling the world, "sticking my neck out," as he put it.
Slowly, it caught on, but visibility brought critics. They dismissed the claims as based on wishful thinking and poor record keeping, and did field trials that showed results similar to conventional methods.
In 2006, three of Uphoff's colleagues at Cornell wrote a scathing analysis based on global data. "We find no evidence," they wrote, "that SRI fundamentally changes the physiological yield potential of rice."
While less categorical, Dobermann of the rice research institute called the methods a step backward socially because they increased drudgery in rice farming, especially among poor women.
In his Cornell office, Uphoff said his critics were biased and knew little of SRI's actual workings. The method saves labor for most farmers, including women, he said. As for the skeptics' field trials, he said, they were marred by problems like using soils dead from decades of harsh chemicals and monocropping, which is the growing of the same crop on the same land year after year.
"The critics have tried to say it's all zealotry and religious belief," Uphoff sighed. "But it's science. I find myself becoming more and more empirical, judging things by what works."
His computer seems to hum with proof. A recent report from the Timbuktu region of Mali, on the edge of the Sahara Desert, said farmers had raised rice yields 34 percent, despite initial problems with SRI guideline observance.
In Laos, an agriculture official recently said SRI had doubled the size of rice crops in three provinces and would spread to the whole country because it provided greater yields with fewer resources.
"Once we get over the mental barriers," Uphoff said, "it can go very, very quickly because there's nothing to buy."
The opponents have agreed to conduct a global field trial that may end the dispute, he said. The participants include the rice institute, Cornell and Wageningen University, a Dutch institution with a stellar reputation in agriculture.
The field trials may start in 2009 and run through 2011, Uphoff said. "This should satisfy any scientific questions," he added. "But my sense is that SRI is moving so well and so fast that this will be irrelevant."
Practically, he said, the method is destined to grow.
"It raises the productivity of land, labor, water and capital," he said. "It's like playing with a stacked deck. So I know we're going to win."
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Aging: Cue the lights and help dementia

2008-06-19T19:24:00.000-06:00

Aging: Cue the lights and help dementia
By Eric Nagourney
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Researchers who put brighter lights into nursing homes have found that residents with dementia appear to suffer fewer symptoms.
Improvements were modest, but the study showed a simple step that may improve life for many. The study, which appeared June 11 in The Journal of the American Medical Association, also found that giving dementia patients the hormone melatonin could help improve their sleep and mood, but only in conjunction with the increased lighting.
The researchers, led by Dr. Rixt F. Riemersma-van der Lek, spent up to three and a half years studying the effects of light and melatonin on more than 180 patients in 12 residences for the elderly in the Netherlands.
Dementia is often characterized by cognitive decline and changes in mood, sleep and activity levels. Changes in the part of the brain that helps regulate circadian rhythms may play a role.
For the study, the researchers added lights to the ceilings of some of the nursing homes. Some patients experienced brighter light, others were given melatonin, and some had both.
The light appeared to reduce cognitive declines and symptoms of depression.
Melatonin improved sleep and reduced aggression but appeared to make patients more withdrawn, although bright light appeared to take care of this.
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Eyes bloodshot, doctors vent their discontent

2008-06-19T19:23:00.001-06:00

Eyes bloodshot, doctors vent their discontent
By Sandeep Jauhar, M.d.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
"I love being a doctor but I hate practicing medicine," a friend, Saeed Siddiqui, told me recently. We were sitting in his office amid his many framed medical certificates and a poster of an illuminated lighthouse that read: "Success doesn't come to you. You go to it."
A doctor in his late 30s, he has been in practice for six years, mostly as a solo practitioner. But he told me he recently had decided to go into partnership with another cardiologist; his days, he said, will be "totally busy."
"Your days aren't busy enough already?" I asked.
The waiting room was packed. He had a full schedule of appointments, and after he was done with his office patients, he was going to round at two hospitals.
He smiled wanly. "Just look at my eyes."
They were bloodshot.
"This whole week I haven't slept more than about six hours a night."
I asked when his work usually got done.
"It is never done," he replied, shaking his head. "See this pile?"
He pointed to five large manila packages on a shelf above his desk. "These are reports I still have to finish."
As a physician, I could empathize. I too often feel overwhelmed with paperwork. But my friend's discontent seemed to run much deeper than that. Unfortunately, he is not alone. I have been hearing physician colleagues voice a level of dissatisfaction with medical practice that is alarming.
In a survey last year of nearly 2,400 physicians conducted by a physician recruiting firm, locumtenens.com, 3 percent said they were not frustrated by nonclinical aspects of medicine. The level of frustration has increased with nearly every survey.
"It will take real structural change in the work environment for physician satisfaction to improve," Dr. Mark Linzer, an internist at the University of Wisconsin who has done extensive research on physician unhappiness, told me. "Fortunately, the data show that physicians are willing to put up with a lot before giving up."
Not long ago, fed up with what he perceived as a loss of professional autonomy, Dr. Bhupinder Singh, 42, a general internist in New York, sold his practice and went to work part time at a hospital in Queens.
"I'd write a prescription," he told me, "and then insurance companies would put restrictions on almost every medication. I'd get a call: 'Drug not covered. Write a different prescription or get preauthorization.' If I ordered an M.R.I., I'd have to explain to a clerk why I wanted to do the test. I felt handcuffed. It was a big, big headache."
When he decided to work in a hospital, he figured that there would be more freedom to practice his specialty.
"But managed care is like a magnet attached to you," he said.
He continues to be frustrated by payment denials. "Thirty percent of my hospital admissions are being denied. There's a 45-day limit on the appeal. You don't bill in time, you lose everything. You're discussing this with a managed-care rep on the phone and you think: 'You're sitting there, I'm sitting here. How do you know anything about this patient?' "
Recently, he confessed, he has been thinking about quitting medicine altogether and opening a convenience store. "Ninety percent of doctors I know are fed up with medicine," he said.
And it is not just managed care. Stories of patients armed with medical knowledge gleaned from the Internet demanding antibiotics for viral illnesses or M.R.I. scans for routine symptoms are rife in doctors' lounges. Malpractice worries also remain at the forefront of many physicians' minds, compounded by increasing liability premiums that have forced many into early retirement.
In surveys, increasing numbers of doctors attest to diminishing enthusiasm for medicine and say they would discourage a friend or family member from going into the profession.
The dissatisfaction would probably not have reached such a fever pitch if reimbursement had kept pace with doctors' expectations. But it has not.
Doctors are working harder and faster to maintain income, even as staff salaries and costs of living continue to increase. Some have resorted to selling herbs and vitamins retail out of their offices to make up for decreasing revenue. Others are limiting their practices just to patients who can pay out of pocket.
There are serious consequences to this discontent, the most worrisome of which is that it is difficult for doctors who are so unhappy to provide good care.
Another is a looming shortage of doctors, especially in primary care, which has the lowest reimbursement of all the medical specialties and probably has the most dissatisfied practitioners.
Last year, residency programs in family practice took only 1,096 graduating medical students, the fewest in the last two decades. The number increased just slightly this year. Students who do choose internal medicine increasingly are forgoing primary care for subspecialty practices like cardiology and gastroenterology.
"For me it's an endless amount of work that I can never get through to do it properly," said Dr. Jeffrey Freilich, 38, a primary-care physician on Long Island. "I'm a bit compulsive. As an internist, I have to worry about working up so many conditions anemia, thyroid problems and so forth. There is no time to do it all in a day.
"On top of all that, there are all the colonoscopies and mammograms you have to arrange, and all the time on the phone getting preauthorizations. Then you have to track the patient down. And none of it is reimbursed."
Many primary-care physicians have stopped seeing their patients when they are hospitalized, relying instead on hospitalists devoted to inpatient care. Internists have told me that it is prohibitively inefficient to drive to a hospital, find parking, walk to the wards, examine a patient, check laboratory tests and vital signs, talk to a nurse and write orders and a note for just a handful of cases. They cannot afford to leave their offices long enough to do it.
The upshot is that the doctor who knows a patient best is often uninvolved in her care when she is hospitalized. This contributes to the poor coordination and wanton consultation that is so common in hospitals .
"Years ago you had one or two doctors," a hospitalized patient told me recently. "Now you've got so many people coming in it's hard to know who's who."
A 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians is scheduled to take effect on July 1. Further cuts are planned in coming years. Many doctors have told lawmakers that if the cuts go through, they will stop seeing Medicare patients. But reimbursement cuts are only a small part of doctors' woes today.
"I was naïve," Saeed Siddiqui said. "When I was a resident I thought it was enough to take good care of patients. But the real world is totally different."
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Once-fatal cancers now treated as a chronic disease

2008-06-19T19:21:00.001-06:00

Once-fatal cancers now treated as a chronic disease
By Jane E. Brody
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
To see Barry Cooper working out at the YMCA in Brooklyn, New York, every morning before going to work as a patent lawyer, you would be unlikely to guess that he has cancer. Cooper, 63 and a grandfather of two, is one of a small but growing number of patients for whom once-fatal cancer has become a chronic disease.
Through a better understanding of factors that distinguish cancer cells from normal ones and the development of more specific treatments that capitalize on those differences, cancers that just a decade ago would have been rapidly fatal are now being controlled for years while the patients conduct near-normal lives.
Although these cancers may never be curable, they can often be controlled for long periods by a succession of treatments. When one therapeutic approach no longer works, another one that has come along in the meantime might stop the disease from progressing, at least for a while.
Even patients whose cancers were already metastatic - spread beyond the site of origin - at the time of diagnosis are benefiting from this sequential approach. Others like Cooper have cancers of blood-forming organs that previously had a limited response to available therapies.
"We're seeing people being periodically treated and living year after year with advanced disease, with cancers that have spread to the lung, liver, brain or bone," Dr. Michael Fisch, director of the general oncology program at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said in an interview. "In 1997, we wouldn't have guessed this would be possible."
In March 2007, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential hopeful John Edwards, joined this group of chronic cancer patients when she disclosed that the breast cancer she was treated for in 2004 had spread to her bones and, possibly, lung. Edwards described the disease as "no longer curable but completely treatable" and likened the situation to living with diabetes.
Speaking generally, Dr. Francisco Esteva, a breast cancer specialist at the Anderson center, said in an interview: "Our ultimate goal is not to make this a chronic disease, but to keep patients alive long enough until we can find the right treatment for the right patient and cure the disease. Unfortunately, we're not there yet, but meanwhile we try to keep patients alive with a good quality of life for as long as possible."
Fisch calls the new therapy for advanced cancer "the hitchhiker model."
Time is bought by going from point A, the first-line therapy, to point B, the second-line therapy, to point C, the third line of therapy, and so on. The approach can continue indefinitely, as long as new therapies become available and patients remain well enough to withstand the rigors of treatment.
But Fisch noted that adding meaningful years to the lives of patients with advanced cancer depends in part on avoiding the attitude, prevalent among some physicians, that cancer is hopeless after it has metastasized.
In December 2005, at age 61, Cooper seemed hale and hearty, though he was unusually tired. Then a routine checkup resulted in a shocking diagnosis - chronic myelogenous leukemia, commonly called CML. "My initial disbelief was followed by varying degrees of anger and denial," Cooper said. "I found it very difficult to accept my diagnosis."
His doctor reassured him that he was lucky. His disease, once a gradually progressive killer, was still in a chronic stage and of a type, Philadelphia positive, that could now be controlled by a drug, Gleevec, licensed just a year earlier. And if and when Gleevec, taken daily by mouth, no longer worked or caused intolerable side effects, the doctor told him, other drugs were in the pipeline that could take over.
Cooper lost no time from work, and Gleevec kept his cancer's runaway white blood cells in check for more than two years. When he developed resistance to it, he switched to a second-generation drug.
"For a majority of people with CML," Cooper said, "Gleevec is a wonder drug, making the disease something like diabetes - controllable even if not curable."
Although he said not a day went by when he did not think about his cancer, he and his wife, Naomi, are letting no grass grow under their feet. Since the diagnosis, they have traveled abroad several times, they visit their grandchildren often and celebrated their 40th anniversary with a lavish party that Cooper described as "a very life-affirming event."
Max Watson, who has multiple myeloma, a usually deadly blood system cancer, has been able to control his disease for six years through the hitchhiker approach. His succession of treatments has included stem cell transplants, radiation and drug therapies. When one treatment failed, another became available.
Although at first Watson did not think long-term survival was possible, he was quoted in OncoLog, an M.D. Anderson report to physicians, as saying, "Eventually, I realized that this was something I would be dealing with for a long time."
As Elizabeth Edwards's prospects show, some solid tumors in advanced stages are also behaving more like chronic diseases, a result of research that has discovered molecular characteristics of specific cancers and the development of drugs that take advantage of a cancer's Achilles' heel.
Esteva described a breast cancer patient first treated with a mastectomy and the antiestrogen tamoxifen in 1995. Five years later, cancer had spread to her lungs, prompting treatment with a newer anticancer drug, an aromatase inhibitor. When that no longer worked, her cancer was found to possess a molecular factor, HER-2, and she began treatment with Herceptin, a designer drug tailor made to attack HER-2-positive breast cancer.
Herceptin therapy was able to stabilize her metastases for years, "something we had not seen before," Esteva said.
The patient now receives a combination of Herceptin and another drug and enjoys a relatively normal quality of life, the doctor reported.
There has also been progress in prolonging survival in patients with metastatic kidney cancer.
Dr. Nizar Tannir, a specialist in genitourinary cancer at the Houston center, said that before 2005 there was not much to offer patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma. But within two years, three new drugs became available that have resulted in a 50 percent increase in overall survival.
Tannir recommends that patients given a bleak prognosis seek a second opinion from an expert at a major cancer center, in person if possible, or by phone or e-mail through their doctor's office.The New York Times
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