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4,992 |
Uh, why do they have to ask a state commision? Unless the state's buying...
Such a process will only increace the overhead to the power company
of selling different types of light, and will decreace the likleihood
that they will do so. And any efficient lights they might have been
planning in the future, go down the drain.....
You could order it special. If enough people did so, it would be
low cost. Last I checked, you could use UPS to buy stuff in Arizona
before going there.
Finally, I'm sure your state has things like small factories and
machine shops. You could go into business making lights that are
cheaper to use (thanks to their higher efficiency and the
fact that they aren't wasting energy on broadcasting to space)
and therefore _better_ than the old style...
Five year plans have to be enacted or the planning for the economy
will fall apart.
As if the clean air act really cleaned up the air...
_MY_ *experience* seems to suggest that you're trying too hard
to *educate* them (with the same methods used in American schools
to make any subject whatsoever as relevant and boring as Proto-Ugric)
instead of *selling* them on the idea.
...
Well, wake up. Space is becoming a field of human endeavor
instead of just something we can look at from a long long
way away. There are practical space projects that could conceivably
(although probably not) cause lots of light pollution, and
have been argued against on those grounds, even though they
might open up such possibilities, that people could vacation on
Mars if they wanted really dark skies...
| 1 |
7,527 |
Henry, if I read you correctly, you may be asking "If I put a blackbody
in interstellar space ('disregarding the Sun and nearby large warm objects'),
what termperature will it reach in thermal equilibrium with the ambient
radiation field?"
If that's the case, let me point out that interstellar dust and
molecules provide many instances of things that are, well, not-too-far
from being blackbodies. Many different observations, including IRAS
and COBE, have determined that interstellar dust grain temperatures
can range from 40K to 150K. You might look in a conference proceedings
"Interstellar Processes", ed. D. J. Hollenbach and H. A. Thronson, Jr.,
published in 1987. Try the articles by Tielens et al., Seab, and
Black.
Inside the disk of the galaxy, the temperature varies quite a bit
from place to place (how close are you to the nearest OB association,
I would guess). Outside the galaxy, of course, things aren't so
varied.
I hope this is what you were looking for....
| 1 |
7,444 |
There are companies (one in Canada, as I recall) which specialize in
analyzing chips to understand process technology, design rules,
... to understand the probable yield of the assembly line making them,
and therefore the probable current cost and possible future cost curves,
given design shrinks, statistical quality control -> better yields, etc.
Taiwanese, Japanese and especially Korean semiconductor manufacturers
have all (korea continues) reverse-engineered foreign chips and
produced the chip. Taiwan and Japan have signed intellectual
property treaties, and now at least extract the gate/transitor level
design before laying the chip out again. The koreans still
use mask-level copying, I believe. At least, they are under a lot
of pressure to pass laws to meet international intellectual property
standards.
All this despite lots of attempts to hide the designs. There are lots
of techniques to do so in both hardware and software design.
For a complex chip, there will be real intellectual effort extracting
the gate design from the transistor design, and the algorithm from
the gate design. But it won't take two smart guys even 6 months, working
40 hour weeks. Koreans work 60 or more 8)
Lew | 1 |
3,292 |
Actually, David, I don't think it's any more intellectually honest to
say there are no backdoors than to say there are backdoors, unless you've
had a chance to examine the algorithm and the silicon closely. For all
we know, skipjack could be easily broken, or impossible to break. And
clearly, if skipjack is not secure, then the clipper chip is not worth much. | 1 |
4,000 |
Well pat for once I agree with you and I like your first idea that you had.
IT probably is the gamma ray signature of the warp transitions of interstellar
spacecraft! :)
Well it makes as much sense as some things. I was at the first Gamma Ray
Burst conference here at UAH and had great fun watching the discomfiture
of many of the Gamma Ray scientists. Much scruitiny was given to the
data reductions. I remember one person in particular who passionately declared
that the data was completely wrong as there were no explanation for the
phenomena of the smooth sky distribution. (heck it even shoots down the
warp transition theory :(. The next conference is soon and I will endeavour
to keep in touch with this fun subject. | 1 |
2,680 |
This is factually incorrect. There was at least one message that said that
Waco and Clipper justified "anything" in response.
David | 1 |
3,784 | I have two quations to ask:
1) Does it cause the body any harm if one picks one's nose? For example,
might it lead to a loss of ability to smell?
2) Is it harmful for one to eat one's nose pickings? | 1 |
2,982 | I would appreciate any thoughts on what makes a planet habitable for Humans.
I am making asumptions that life and a similar atmosphere evolve given a range
of physical aspects of the planet. The question is what physical aspects
simply disallow earth like conditions.
eg Temperature range of 280K to 315K (where temp is purely dependant on dist
from the sun and the suns temperature..)
Atmospheric presure ? - I know nothing of human tolerance
Planetary Mass ? - again gravity at surface is important, how much
can human bodies take day after day. Also how does the mass effect
atmosphere. I thinking of planets between .3 and 3 times mass of the
earth. I suppose density should be important as well.
Climate etc does not concern me, nor does axial tilt etc etc. Just the above
three factors and how they relate to one another.
Jonathan
-- | 1 |
1,621 | It should be noted that the US benefitted not only from German science and
technology after WW2 but also from British science and technology. From the
discovery and manufacture of penicillin to jet engines, swing wing aircraft,
the hovercraft etc etc. all were shipped lock-stick-and-barel across the
Atlantic. We still are suffering from this sort of thing because of some of the
more parochial aspects of US procurement policy. Meiko, a British
parallel computer company, for example, has now moved most of its facilities to
the US since that was the only way it could sell stuff over there.
| 1 |
6,940 |
[Text Deleted]
I have, my thesis was on Sun Tzu.
More to the point:
Those who are called the good militarists of old, could make opponents
lost contact between front and back lines, lose reliability between
large and small groups, lose mutual concern for the welfare of the
different social classes among them, lose mutual accomodation between
the rulers and the ruled, lose enlistments among the soldiers, lose
coherence within the armies. They went into action when it was
advantageous, stopped when it was not.
Today it is. Sitting on your hands will get you nowhere in this battle.
[email protected] | 1 |
6,318 | It is my intent to cut the government off at the knees with the pen
(and keyboard). True, the lawyer and the lawbook only go so far, but
I agree that it is best to use those resources to the maximum extent
before seriously contemplating anything more... disruptive.
| 1 |
2,537 |
There can be. But depression is not diagnositic of thyroid deficiency.
Thyroid blood tests are easy, cheap, and effective in diagnosing thyroid
deficiencies. | 1 |
2,198 |
Me too. A tendency on the part of some people to hide their head in
the sand.
How many people do you want jailed for their convictions, for their
insistence on real privacy? Why sit by quietly while the preconditions
for a real civil war are put in place by a short-sighted government.
The terminal is mightier than the pen :)
Really? I guess you mean the U.S. revolution. How about England,
India, Mexico, France, Holland....
You are misinformed. But this whole issue is off the topic.
When the cops kick in your door for using PGP, tell them that. All
we're doing here is exercising our (so-called, rapidly narrowing)
right to free speech.
Perhaps you should talk to the government about that. Or are you a
disciple of David "The cops are our FRIENDS" Sternlight?
The implied threat of the illegalization of private crypto, the
not-so-subtle subtext of the clipper announcement, is what worries me.
I don't want my children growing up in a police state.
-Rens
**Disclaimer: all opinions herein are mine and mine alone, and do not
necessarily represent those of any organization with
which I may be affiliated. | 1 |
4,633 |
Unless the patient has a very short life expectancy, the possible complications
from a hernia that hasn't been repaired far outweigh the risks of surgery.
The risks of surgery, anyway, are minimal. Unless they are exceedingly large,
hernias can be fixed under local anesthesia.
Don't forget that hernias are one the leading causes of small bowel obstruction.
And the smaller the hernia is, the higher the chances that a loop of bowel will
become incarcerated or strangulated.
=============================== | 1 |
2,994 | [email protected] (Alejo Hausner) Pontificated:
To split a split hair, I believe that teflon (-CF4- monomer) was
"discovered" by accident when someone I don't remember
found what he thought was a liquid (or gas?) had turned to a
solid...
It just happend to fit the bill for the above use...
I'm crossposting to sci.materials so perhaps someone in the know
might elaborate...
| 1 |
5,612 |
Khufu and Khafre are both patented (#5003597). Biham and Shamir showed
that differential cryptanalysis can break 16-round Khafre with a chosen-
plaintext attack using 1500 different encryptions. Khafre with 24 rounds
can be broken with the same attack using 2^53 different encryptions.
(There are probably more efficient differential cryptanalytic attacks, if
someone wants to take the time to look.)
Khufu has key-dependent S-boxes, and is immune to differential cryptanalysis.
Source code for this algorithm (and Khafre) are in the patent.
Snefru is a public-domain one-way hash function. The version of Snefru
that produces a 128-bit hash is vulnerable to differential cryptanalysis
(vulnerable means that the attack is more efficient that brute force) for
four passes or less. Given that, SHA and MD5 are much more efficient.
Oh yes, anyone interested in licensing the patent should contact Dave Petre,
Director of Patent Licencing for Xerox, (203) 986-3231. | 1 |
6,777 | The *security* of the system does depend only on the secrecy of the keys.
The ability to tap is an inherent *insecurity* which depends fundamentally on
the secrecy of the algorithm. To spell it out, because so many people seem to
miss the point, if the algorithm were published, anyone could create a chip
which would work correctly with the Skipjack chips but which would not have
its key registered.
I believe there is no technical means of ensuring key escrow without the
government maintaining a secret of some kind. For example, the secret could be
the private keys of the escrow agencies; their digital signatures would be
required before a key could be used. In this case, the NSA/NIST/whoever has
decided that protecting the entire algorithm is easier/cheaper/more secure than
other possible protocols.
| 1 |
6,922 |
Its bogus. See the sci.skeptic FAQ (I edit it).
You can diagnose some things by looking at the eyes. Glaucoma is the
Classic Example, but there are probably others.
Iridology maps parts of the body onto the irises of the eyes. By
looking at the patterns, striations and occasional blobs in the irises
you are supposed to be able to diagnose illnesses all over the body.
The two questions to ask any alternative therapist are:
1: How does it work?
2: What evidence is there?
The answer to question 1 takes a little knowledge of medicine to
evaluate. I don't know about iridology, but I've read a book on
reflexology, which is a remarkably similar notion except that the
organs of the body are mapped onto the soles of the feet. There are
supposed to be channels running down the body carrying information or
energy of some sort. Anatomists have found no such structures.
(Always beware the words "channel" and "energy" in any spiel put out
by an alternative practitioner.)
The answer to question 2 is rather simpler. If all they have is
anecdotal evidence then forget it. Ask for referreed papers in
mainstream medical journals. Ignore any bull about the conspiracy of
rich doctors suppressing alternative practitioners. Studies are done
and papers are published. Some of them are even positive.
The word "licensed" in the flyer is an interesting one. Licensed by
whom? For what? It is quite possible that the herbology is real and
requires a license: you can kill someone by giving them the wrong
plants to eat, and many plants contain very powerful drugs (Foxglove
and Willow spring to mind). It is not clear whether the license
extends to the iridology, and I suspect that if you ask you will be
told that it means "(Licensed herbologist) and iridologist".
BTW, the usual term is "herbalist". Why use a different word?
| 1 |
4,892 |
Yes there is, the patent can be classified as secret. I recently
saw a patent from 1947 (dealing with nuclear weapons technology)
that was only declassified in the last couple of years. There
is of course the problem of enforcing the patent.
This is absolutely right. | 1 |
2,550 |
Money probably has a lot to do with keeping the practice of routine
circumcision alive... It's another opporitunity to charge a few hundred
extra bucks for a completely unnecessary procedure, the rationale for
which until recently has been accepted without question by most
parents of newborns.
One could also imagine that complications arising from circumcision
(infections, sloppy jobs, etc) are far more common than the remote chance
of penile cancer it is purported to prevent.
| 1 |
338 |
Am I correct in assuming that the science instruments buffer their acquired
data in onboard RAM, which is then downloaded upon receipt of the MRO command? | 1 |
958 | Need info on Circumcision, medical cons and pros
I'm very surprised that medical schools still push routine circumcision
of newborn males on the population. Since your friend is not a man, she
can't imagine what it's like to have a penis, much less a foreskin. I
guess if American medicine did an artistic job of circumcising every
male, then the visual result would be somewhat more natural in
appearance... | 1 |
7,351 |
Sounds great. But how would something like this be done? Start up a
news group for discussions of things like lobbying tecniques and how to
get non-computer geeks as pissed-off as we are? | 1 |
4,273 |
1. Please take this out of sci.space.
2. Ayn Rand was not only born in Russia, but educated there. A lot
of her philosophy reflects not only a European education but a
reaction against certian events in Russia while she lived there.
I've heard that to the extent there is a division of modern philosophy
between the "Continental" and British/American schools, Rand belongs in
the former in terms of methodology et al, even though she was trying to
say things that would belong in the latter school.
I.e. she was trapped in the language of Kant and Hegel, even though
she was trying to say (at times) much different things.
| 1 |
6,171 |
The aperture door will be shut during reboost. Using the shuttle
means that there will be someone nearby to pry the door open again
if it should stick.
| 1 |
2,568 |
Considering the magnitude of loss of life in both the Moro Castle
and Titanic disasters, I can't believe you can be so blithe
there fred.
Besides if a LNG tanker breaks up in a close harbor, you can kiss
off quite a lot of population. same thing for any chemical
tankers.
I know the coast guard makes mandatory safety equipment
checks on all watercraft. they use this as an excuse to
make narcotics searches, without warrants.
I suspect, that commercial craft need a certificate at least similiar
in scope to an air worthiness certificate from the DOT. | 1 |
1,908 |
Hmm... there must be two towns with the same name. Kaliningrad,
located just North of Moscow is correct. It is the home of several
Russian space enterprises, including NPO Energia, Krunichev, Fakel,
and Tsniimach. The main Russian manned spacecraft control facility
is also located here.
Kaliningrad is easily reachable by auto from Moscow, and tours
can be arranged. Call ahead though, there are still armed military
guards at many of these facilities -- who don't speak English,
aren't well paid, and are rather bored.
It's a very popular destination with Western space industry
types at the moment.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Wales Larrison Space Technology Investor | 1 |
4,041 |
well it seemed to work for the Mac II installation I was talking about.
Oh yeah there is something I forgot to mention :
even though you're not suppposed to have water around, there IS
some condenstion d
dripping from the roof of the plane make sure that your hardware is covered.
Make also sure that your keyboards are protected from the two-phase flow
coming out of sick people. It happened to us.....
Good luck.
| 1 |
1,664 |
Point 1:
I'm beginning to see that *part* of the disagreements about the whole
"yeast issue" is on differing perceptions and on differing meanings
of words. Medical doctors have a very specific and specialized "jargon",
necessary for precise communication within their field (which I'm fully
cognizant of since I, too, speak "jargonese" when with my peers). For the
situation in sci.med, many times the words or phrases used by doctors can
have a different and more specific meaning than the same word used in the
world at large, causing significant miscommunication. One example word,
and very relevant to the yeast discussion, is the exact meaning of "systemic".
It is now obvious to me that the meaning of this word is very specific, much
more so than its meaning to a non-doctor. There is also the observation of
this newsgroup that both doctors and non-doctors come together on essentially
equal terms, which, when combined with the jargon issue, can further fan
the flames. This is probably the first time that practicing doctors get
really "beat up" by non-doctors for their views on medicine, which they
otherwise don't see much of in their practice except for the occasional
"difficult" patient.
Point 2:
I understand the viewpoint among many practicing doctors that they will not
prescribe any treatments/therapies for their patients unless such treatments
have been shown to be effective and the risks understood from well-constructed
clinical trials (usually double-blind), or that such treatments/therapies are
part of an approved and funded clinical trial. To these doctors, to do any
differently would, in this belief system, be unethical practice. And it
follows that any therapy not on the "accepted" list is therefore a non-
therapy - it does not even exist, nor does the underlying hypothesis or
theory have any validity, even if it sounds very plausible by extrapolation
of what is currently known. Anecdotal evidence has no value, either, from
a treatment point-of-view.
And by and large, as a scientist myself, I am glad that medical practice/
science takes such a rigorous approach to medical treatment. However, as
also being a human being (last I checked), and having been one of those people
that has been significantly helped by a currently unaccepted treatment, where
"standard" medicine was not able to help me, has caused me to sit back and
wonder if holding such an extreme and rigid "scientific" viewpoint is in
itself unethical from humanitarian considerations. After all, the underlying
intent of the "scientific" approach to medicine is to protect the health of
the patient by providing the best possible care for the patient, so the
patient should come first when considering treatment.
What we need is a slightly modified approach to treatment that satisfies both
the "scientific" and the "humanitarian" viewpoints. In an earlier post I
outlined a crazy idea for doing just that. The gist of it was to give any
physician freedom and encouragement by the medical community to prescribe
alternate, not yet proven therapies (maybe supported by anecdotal evidence)
for patients who *all* avenues of accepted therapies have been exhausted
(and not until then). The patient would be fully informed that such
therapies/treatments are not supported by the proper clinical trials and that
there are real potential risks with real possibilities of no benefit derived
from them.
This approach satisfies the need for scientific rigor. It also satisfies
the humanitarian needs of the patient. And the reality is that many patients
who have reached a dead-end in the treatment of their symptoms using accepted
medicine *will* go outside the orthodox medical community: either to the
doctors who are brave enough to prescribe such treatments at the risk of losing
their license, or worse, to non-doctors who have not had the proper medical
training. This approach also recognizes this reality and keeps the control
more within orthodox medicine, with the benefits that the information gleaned
could help focus limited resources towards future clinical trials in the most
productive way. Everybody wins in this admittedly rose-colored approach - I'm
sure there are real problems with this approach as well - it is presented
more as a strawman to stimulate discussion.
Hopefully what I write here may give the sci.med doctors a better idea as to
why I am "open" to alternative therapies, as well as why I have real
difficulty (read "apparent hostility") with the "coldness" of the 99.9% pure
"scientific" approach to medicine. I believe the best approach to medical
treatment is one where both the "humanitarian" aspects are balanced with and
by the "scientific" aspects. Anything else is just not good medicine, imho.
Just my 'NF' leanings, I guess. :^)
Comments?
Jon Noring
--
Charter Member --->>> INFJ Club. | 1 |
1,430 |
I've been reading this board passively for a while now and find the
subject absolutely fascinating, especially from the point of view of
a civil rights nut like myself. My problem is that I'm new to the field
and paragraphs like the above keep popping up. I'm sure what Mr.
Bellovin is writing about is both fascinating and important, but I have
NO IDEA what it means. :-)
Anyway I'm keen to learn and will read anything I can get my hands on
that explains this stuff in lay terms (I have a decent CS background, but
not a huge amount of hyper-advanced math). Can anyone point me to a FAQ
or a decent source of information about the guts of current cryptography and
maybe a little history as well? I read the piece in this month's WIRED, can
anyone tell me how much I should trust the references they suggest?
Thanks in advance,
Steve.
| 1 |
3,137 |
Let's put it this way, they have a charter and several executive orders
to obey, among other things which *explicitly* prohibit sharing this
information (unless things have changed withing the last little while).
I suppose they could ignore it, if they choose. But I doubt they would.
For an authoritative look at the NSA, get Bamford's "The Puzzle Palace".
That's all I can say.
| 1 |
48 | : I have seen various references to 'triple des' recently. Could anyone
: tell me what it is ? From context, I would guess that it means
: encrypting each block 3 times, with a different key each time, but
: I'd like to be sure.
: Replies by email preferred - our news is unreliable.
Could people replying to the above question post their responses here
as well, as I'm sure others (including myself) would like to hear them.
Thanks.
Jon | 1 |
4,312 | Hi. Does anyone know the possible causes of nasoparynx carcenoma
and what are the chances of it being hereditary?
Also, in the advacned cases, what is the general procedure to
reduce the pain the area as it prevents the patient from eating
due to the excessive pain of swallowing and even talking?
Thanks. | 1 |
3,289 |
A harmonic of the Earth's gravitational field? What IS a harmonic of the
Earth's gravitational field?
14:1 resonance with WHAT? It's not like there's any wavelength or frequency
to the Earth's gravitational field. Now, there' might be some interesting
interactions with the Moon's tidal effect--is that what you're talking about?
What are the physics of the situation? The only way I can see gravitational
effects being useful in adding energy to an object orbiting Earth is some
sort of interaction with the moon. | 1 |
4,626 | [email protected] (Hans Erik Martino Hansen) writes
Arthur C. Clarke was way ahead of you on this one... he wrote a short story
(title?) in the 1950s describing exactly your proposal! | 1 |
461 | =Having read in the past about the fail-safe mechanisms on spacecraft, I had
=assumed that the Command Loss Timer had that sort of function. However I
=always find disturbing the oxymoron of a "NO-OP" command that does something.
=If the command changes the behavior or status of the spacecraft it is not
=a "NO-OP" command.
Using your argument, the NOOP operation in a computer isn't a NOOP, since it
causes the PC to be incremented.
=Of course this terminology comes from a Jet Propulsion Laboratory which has
=nothing to do with jet propulsion.
Of course, the complaint comes from someone who hasn't a clue as to what he's
talking about.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: [email protected] | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL | 1 |
1,021 | [email protected] Pontificated:
One of the sci.space FAQ postings deal with this. It's archived
somewhere. Perhaps someone can post where it is (I don'
remember).
| 1 |
7,028 |
I don't think mr. Clinton can even understand the technical details of
the clipper encryption scheme. So, his "assurances" are of no value at
al, if he gives them he just says what a panel of experts(?) told him.
If I lived in the USA, I would hope those experts were not paid by the
<fill here you favorite 3-letter combination>. | 1 |
3,086 | Could anyone give me information on Umbilical hernias.
The patient is over weight and has a protruding hernia.
Surgery may be risky due to the obesity.
What other remedies could I try?
Thanx in advance | 1 |
1,167 |
However, he said on his radio show today that he won't read anything
from the two alt groups. He simply deletes them without reading them. He
says that some of the people in the two groups are vicious. | 1 |
2,576 | Has someone scanned in an artist's rendering of Aurora? If so, is the GIF
available somewhere?
Please reply via email.
Thanks,
Craig | 1 |
5,181 | The "low radiation" claims one sees on monitors these days pertain to
allegedly harmful electromagnetic emissions, which does not necessarily have
anything to do wtih TEMPEST security.
(I think the alleged hazard is BS, but that's another topic.)
| 1 |
6,126 | : I've seen people in their forties and fifties become disoriented and
: demented during hospital stays. In the examples I've seen, drugs were
: definitely involved.
: My own father turned into a vegetable for a short time while in the
: hospital. He was fifty-three at the time, and he was on 21 separate
: medications. The family protested, but the doctors were adamant, telling
: us that none of the drugs interact. They even took the attitude that, if
: he was disoriented, they should put him on something else as well! With
: the help of an MD friend of the family, we had all his medication
: discontinued. He had a seizure that night, and was put back on one drug.
: Two days later, he was his old self again. I guess there aren't many
: medical texts that address the subject of 21-way interactions.
I saw the same thing happen to my father, and I can more or less validate your
take on hospitals. It seems to me that medical science understands precious
little about taking care of the human machine. Drugs are given as a
response to symptoms (and I guess that makes sense since all the studies that
validate the effectiveness of those drugs are based on a narrow
assessment of the degree of particular symptoms). But there seems
to be very little appreciation for the well-being of a person
outside of the numbers that appear on a test. I watched my dad
wither away and lose huge amounts of body fat and muscles tissue
while in the hospital. There is something a little crazy about a
system in which there is more attention paid to giving you every
latest drug available than there is attention paid to whether you
have had enough to eat to prevent loss of muscle tissue. It is
really, really bizarre.
| 1 |
5,234 | This is to followup my previous reply on this topic, which it has been
pointed out to me might have been dangerously misleading in two spots.
1. I stated that psychotherapy (meaning talking therapy and so on) was used
to treat Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which though sometimes true is
misleading. It is not often found effective, particularly by itself.
Primary treatment today usually consists at least in part of drug
therapy. The most current theories of this condition attribute
it to more to biological causes than psychological, in places where this
distinction becomes important.
2. I mentioned that the DSM-IIIR mentions 'impulses' as a possible
diagnostic marker. However, this might look like something
people associate with psychotic conditions, uncontrollable or
unpredictable behaviors, which is NOT the case with OCD.
One of the diagnostic criteria of OCD is that the individual
can and does suppress some of their 'impulses,' although they
are an unending source of anxiety.
The obsessive thoughts and ritualistic actions usually associated with
OCD are most frequently very mundane and predictable, closer to
a superstitious nature than a dangerous nature for the most part.
Some references (one non-technical and several technical)
that someone was kind enough to supply for me
but was unable to post themself :
(technical refs) :
And thanks very much to those who supplied constructive
criticism to my first post on OCD. I hope this helps clarify
the parts that were misleading.
kind regards, | 1 |
837 |
... So how about this? Give the winning group
(I can't see one company or corp doing it) a 10, 20, or 50 year
moratorium on taxes.
You are talking about the bozos who can't even manage in November to
keep promises about taxes made in October, and you expect them to make
(and keep!) a 50-year promise like that? Your faith in the political
system is much higher than mine. I wouldn't even begin to expect that
in Australia, and we don't have institutionalised corruption like you
do. | 1 |
6,377 |
This definitely had nothing to do with the entry of the government into
the support of science; some of it is relevant in technology. There
was little involvement of federal funds, or except through support of
state universities, of state funds, for scientific research before WWII.
The US research position had been growing steadily, and the funding was
mainly from university and private foundation funds. There were not that
many research universities, but they all provided their researchers with
low teaching loads, laboratories, assistants, and equipment, and funds for
travel to scientific meetings. Not that much, but it was provided, and a
university wishing to get a scholar had to consider research funding as well
as salary.
During WWII, the military and the defense departments found that pure
scientists could do quite well with their problems, even though they
were not exactly in the areas of the scientists' expertise. This is
probably because of the "research mind" approach, which is not to try
to find a solution, but to understand the problem and see if a solution
emerges. This works in stages, and as research scientists were used to
discussion about their problems, the job got done.
The military realized the importance of maintaining scientists for the
future, and started funding pure research after WWII. But Congress was
unwilling to have military funds diverted into this investment into the
future supply of scientists, and set up other organizations, such as
NSF, to do the job. It also set up an elaborate procedure to supposedly
keep politics out. Also, the government did a job on private foundations,
making it more difficult for them to act to support research.
The worst part of the federal involvement is that in those areas in which
the government supports research the university will not provide funding,
and in fact expects its scholars to bring in net government money. Suppose,
as has been the case, I have a project which could use the assistance of
a graduate student for a few months. What do you think happens if I ask
for one? The answer I will get is, "Get the money from NSF." Now the
money at the university level is a few thousand, but at the NSF level it
comes to about 20 thousand, and is likely to keep a faculty member from
getting supported. So the government is, in effect, deciding which projects
get supported, and how much.
Also, the government decided that the "wealth" should be spread. So instead
of having a moderate number of universities which were primarily research
institutions, the idea that more schools should get into the act came into
being. And instead of evaluating scholars, they had to go to evaluating
reseach proposals. As a researcher, I can tell you that any research proposal
has to be mainly wishful thinking, or as now happens, the investigator conceals
already done work to release it as the results of the research. What I am
proposing today I may solve before the funding is granted, I may find
impossible, or I may find that it is too difficult. In addition, tomorrow
I may get unexpected research results. Possibly I may bet a bright idea
which solves yesterday's too difficult problem, or a whole new approach to
something I had not considered can develop. This is the nature of the beast,
and except for really vague statements, if something can be predicted, it
is not major research, but development or routine activity not requiring
more than minimal attention of a good researcher.
I believe that at this time less quality research is being done than would
have happened if the government had never gotten into it, and the government
is trying to divert researchers from thinkers to plodders. | 1 |
7,201 |
Better yet: act.
John | 1 |
901 | There have been a few postings in the past on alleged pathological
(esp. neurological) conditions induced by playing video games
(e.g. Nintendo). Apparently, there have been reported several cases of
"photosensitive epilepsy", due to the flashing of some
patterns and the strong attention of the (young) players.
One poster to comp.risks reported some action from
the British Government.
A quick search in a database reported the following two published
references:
1. E.J. Hart, Nintendo epilepsy, in New England J. of Med., 322(20), 1473
2. TK Daneshmend et al., Dark Warrior epilepsy, BMJ 1982; 284:1751-2.
I would appreciate if someone could post (or e-mail)
any reference to (preferably published) further work on the subject.
Any pointer to other information and/or to possible technical tools
(if any) for reducing the risks are appreciated.
Many thanks, | 1 |
951 | Speaking of educational systems, I recently had a colleague
tell me that the reason one of our fifth grade students is so
physically developed is because she was sexually abused as a younger
child. This, she went on to say, kicks the pituitary gland into
action and causes puberty.
| 1 |
1,472 |
Direction-finding and directional monitoring receivers. Can you say "little
black bakery truck"?
:-)
David
| 1 |
1,932 |
Yow! Am I ENCRYPTING yet?
Didn't we go over this guns'n'crypto discussion a few months ago? Must
we go over it again? | 1 |
4,116 | I need information on the medical (including emotional :-) pros and
cons of circumcision (at birth). I am especially interested in
references to studies that indicate disadvantages or refute studies
that indicate advantages. A friend who is a medical student is
writing a survey paper, and apparently the studies she has run into
are all for circumcision, the main argument being a lower risk of
penile cancer.
Please email responses as I am not a frequent reader of either group.
I will summarize to the net.
******************************************************************
* Gunnar Blix * Good advice is one of those insults that *
* [email protected] * ought to be forgiven. -Unknown *
****************************************************************** | 1 |
6,208 | Please post your results, a close friend has this condition and
has asked these same questions.
| 1 |
2,698 |
"Let's make a deal!" If you're going to put up a billion, I'd want to budget
the whole sheebang for $450-600 million. If I have that much money to throw
around in the first place, you betcha I'm going to sign a contract committing
to volume production...
| 1 |
5,600 |
This effect disappears if you clean your apparatus after you kirlianed
the whole leaf and before kirlianing the leaf part.
| 1 |
4,973 |
If I prescribe itraconazole for a patient's sinusitis neither the AMA,
FDA, State Licensing Board, nor ABFP will be knocking on my door to ask
why. This is a specious argument.
Among other things, how to evaluate new theories and treatments.
Funny, I thought it meant "one who fraudulently misrepresents his
ability and experience in the diagnosis and treatment of disease or
the effects to be achieved by the treatment he offers" (Dorland's
27th). Certainly more precision than conveyed by "chronic yeast".
The inability to discriminate between fraudulent or erroneous
representations is far more frightening. It is fraud to promote a
treatment where the evidence for it is either lacking or against it
and the quacksalver knows so, or error if the honest practitioner
doesn't know so. Failure to speak out against either bespeaks
incompetency.
May I reply - seriously - that if the practitioners and proponents of
non-scientific medicine have left their minds so open that the parts
of their brains that do critical evaluation have fallen out, they should
learn to edit their newsgroup headers to conform to the existing
hierarchy and divisions.
| 1 |
2,823 | You might look for an allergy doctor in your area who uses sublingual
drops instead of shots for treatment. (You are given a small bottle of
antigens; 3 drops are placed under the tongue for 5 minutes.) My
allergy to bermuda grass was neutralized this way. Throughout the treatment
process I had to return to the doctor's office every month for re-testing
and a new bottle of antigens. After the allergy was completely neutralized
a bottle of maintenance antigens lasts me about 4 months (the sublingual
drops are then taken 3 times per week), and costs $20. So the cost is
less than shots and it is more convenient just to take the drops at home. | 1 |
4,555 | The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element sets are
carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are updated daily (when
possible). Documentation and tracking software are also available on this
system. As a service to the satellite user community, the most current
elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below. The Celestial
BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using
8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
Element sets (also updated daily), shuttle elements, and some documentation
and software are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.afit.af.mil
(129.92.1.66) in the directory pub/space.
STS 55
1 22640U 93 27 A 93119.24999999 .00041555 00000-0 12437-3 0 90
2 22640 28.4657 249.3697 0008512 260.9747 152.1416 15.90732913 425 | 1 |
4,750 | Arthur Melnick posts an interesting first-hand message about his NEA
algorithm. Though I have no reason to disbelieve anything he says, I want to
clarify one point:
He says he has no connection with the NSA. If he was part of an "NSA plot",
of course he'd say that.
Now I don't think he is. But the level of some discussion here is of that
sort, and very quickly we reach the point where it's impossible to continue
rationally discussing some issues.
"I am not a crook"
"Well, if you were, of course you'd say that"
or the ever popular favorite:
"Please prove the following negative."
I don't know what to do with such messages, so I have taken to ignoring
them.
Comments?
David | 1 |
6,051 |
Is the U used in the law enforcement field from the phone which placed the
call, from the unit whose 'start secure session' button was pressed first,
or does each phone transmit its own law enforcement field? Even assuming
one of the first two choices, the FBI is going to get a fresh N,U for its
own database about every other phone call, eventually accumulating keys for
all the phones used to connect to the line they are monitoring, not just
the 'suspects' key. (Assuming the ever-thrifty FBI doesn't forget each key
after its wiretap permission has expired.) Not quite a pyramid, but not
bad, either. | 1 |
7,158 |
I saw this a few years ago on "Tomorrow's World" (low-brow BBC
technology news program). The patient is lowered into a bath of
de-ionized water and carefully positioned. High intensity pressure
waves are generated by an electric spark in the water (you don't get
electrocuted because de-ionised water does not conduct). These waves are
focused on the kidneys by a parabolic reflector and cause the stone to
break up. This is completely painless.
Of course, you then have to get these little bits of gravel through
the urethra. Ouch!
Paul.
| 1 |
5,833 |
I seem to recall Rush saying that he has a CompuServe account. If anyone
wants to E-mail him, all we need is his account number (i.e.: 12345,6789)
and then we could e-mail him via gateway by using a dot instead of a comma
like so: "[email protected]". (THIS IS *NOT* HIS ADDRESS.)
So, does anyone know his e-mail address? He *says* he uses it all the time.
(I wonder if he reads alt.fan.rush-limbaugh... His ego is big enough!) | 1 |
6,626 | I like to know how effective ProHibit is to prevent spiral meningitis
for a child who is five years old. I heard it's from Canada.
What sort of side effects , etc. | 1 |
4,606 | Hi Stephen
Ear wax is a healthy way to help prevent ear infections, both by preventing
a barrier and also with some antibiotic properties. Too much can block the
external auditory canal (the hole in the outside of the ear) and cause some
hearing problems. It is very simple, and safe, to remove excess wax on your
own, or at your physician's office. You can take a syringe (no needles!) and
fill it with 50% warm water (cold can cause fainting) and 50% OTC hydrogen
peroxide. Then point the ear towards the ceiling ( about 45 degrees up)
and insert the tip of the syringe (helps to have someone else do this!) and
firmly expell the solution. Depending on the size of the syringe and the
tenacity of the wax, this could take several rinses. If you place a bowl
under the ear to catch the water, it will be much drier :-). You can buy
a syringe with a special tip at your local pharmacy, or just use whatever
you may have. If wax is old, it will be harder, and darker. You can try
adding a few drops of olive oil into the ear during a shower to soften up
the wax. Do this for a couple days, then try syringing again. It is also
safe to point your ear up at the shower head, and allow the water to rinse
it out.
Good Luck
-heather
| 1 |
5,324 | A bright light phenomenon was observed in the Eastern Finland
on April 21. At 00.25 UT two people saw a bright, luminous
pillar-shaped phenomenon in the low eastern horizont near
Mikkeli. The head of the pillar was circular. The lower part
was a little winding. It was like a monster they told. They
were little frightened. Soon the yellowish pillar became
enlarged. A bright spot like the Sun was appeared in the middle
of the phenomenon. At last the light landed behind the nearby
forest. Now there was only luminous trails in the sky which were
visible till morning sunrise.
The same phenomenon was observed also by Jaakko Kokkonen in
Lappeenranta. At 00.26 UT he saw a luminous yellowish trail in
the low northeastern horizont. The altitude of the trail was
only about 3-4 degrees. Soon the trail began to grow taller.
A loop was appeared in the head of the trail. It was like a
spoon. This lasted only 10 seconds. Now the altitude was about
five degress above horizont. He noted a bright spot at the
upper stage of loop. The spot was at magnitude -2. The loop
became enlarged and the spot was now visible in the middle of
the loop. A cartwheel-shaped trail was appeared round the bright
spot. After a minute the spot disappeared and only fuzzy trails
were only visible in the low horizont. Luminous trails were still
visible at 01.45 UT in the morning sky.
The phenomenon was caused by a Russian rocket. I don't know if
there were satellite launches in Plesetsk Cosmodrome near
Arkhangelsk, but this may be a rocket experiment too. Since 1969
we have observed over 80 rocket phenomena in Finland. Most of
these are rocket experiments (military missile tests?), barium
experiments and other chemical releases. During these years we
have observed 17 satellite launches.
Leo Wikholm | 1 |
1,966 |
This is actually more like the stuff from Phase A and MOL....Phase B ended
with a "Power Tower" approach.... | 1 |
6,498 | 1 |
|
7,406 |
("like most good ideas,..." please, people!)
_Five Weeks in a Balloon_. Not a good idea unless you have helium.
Verne's protagonists didn't. They just got increadibly lucky.
And yes, I knew the title of the movie too, just didn't want to start
talking about it. Except to bring up the image of a team of S. African
Bushmen showing up at a launch site with spears and flint knives
to stop the launch (anyone want to bet on their success in doing so?
especially since they could probably stop a shuttle launch by sneezing
too hard within a couple miles of the launch site). | 1 |
2,806 |
The best thing to do is leave it, it will work its own way out to the surface.
Anything you stick up there to try and clean it is just going to push the wax
up against your eardrum and pack it on there solid, thus impairing your
hearing . | 1 |
6,683 | Dear netters:
I have been scanning this news group for a while but has not found a FAQ.
Could someone enlight me where to find the FAQ if there is a one. Also,
could someone recommend a few good books about encription and decription,
about patent information, goverment regulation on this science/technology.
I will appreciate any of your help very much.
Sincerely | 1 |
7,301 |
I disagree. It think the average joe is interested/curious about spaceflight
but sees it as an elitist activity. Not one which he is ever going to
participate in.
Why is the general public going to be interested in the technical details
of long term space habitation? I like the idea of the study, but it should
be released to other scientists and engineers who will be able to use it.
If you want a general public document, you'll need a more general publication.
As one working on Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems, engineering
the microworld isn't the problem. The problem is understanding the basic
chemical, biological and medical factors to be able to engineer them
efficiently. For example, the only way we know how to produce food is from
plants and animals. Food synthesis is not very far advanced. So we have
to orbit a farm. Well that's obviously not very efficient, so we use
technology to reduce the mass and grow plants hydroponically instead of
using dirt. This is where the engineering comes in. But new technologies
bring new basic questions that we don't have the answers to. Like, in
dirt we can grow tomatoes and lettuce right beside each other, but in
hydroponics it turns out that you can't do that. The lettuce growth is
stunted when it's grown in the same hydroponic solution as tomatoes. So
now you have to consider what other plants are going to have similar
interactions. This means some basic applied scientific research. And that's
what needs to be done with all technologies that have been developed so far.
We also need to find out how they interact together. That's where we are now.
First you need to do the literature search. There is a lot of information
out there. Maybe we should just pick a specific area of long term habitation.
This could be useful, especially if we make it available on the net. Then
we can look at methods of analyzing the technologies.
Unless there is an unbelievable outpouring of interest on this on the net,
I think we should develop a detailed data base of the literature search
first. Then if we accomplish that we can go on to real analysis. The data
base itself could be useful for future engineers.
That's my response Ken, what do you think? | 1 |
6,049 | Idea for repair of satellites:
Warning I am getting creative again:
Why not build a inflatable space dock.
Basically deploy one side of the space dock (using a scissor shaped structure,
saw it on beyond 2000), then maneuer the side to next to the satellite and then
move the rest of the dock around the satellite and seal it..
The inflate the dock with a gas (is does not have to be oxygen, just neeeds to
be non-flameble, non-damaging to the satellite and abel to maintain heat),
thenheat the space dock (for the astronaut who will be working onthe satellite
to be able to not have to wear the normal bulky space suit, but a much striped
down own)..
I know this might take a slot of work or not??? Or just to plain wierd, but
ideas need to be thought of, for where is tomorrow, but in the imagination of
the present.. | 1 |
4,909 |
Ron, you are absolutely right. Not all kidney stones have calcium and not
all calcium stones are calcium-oxalate. But the vast majority are calcium-
oxalate. Calcium is just one piece of the puzzle. I cited that NEJM article
as a way of pointing out to some of the physicians in this group that
conventional wisdom is used in medicine, always has been and probably
always will be. If one uses conventional wisdom, there is a chance that
you will be wrong. As long as the error is not going to cause a lot of
damage, what's the big deal(why call a physician who gives anti-fungals to
sinus suffers or GI distress patients a quack?).
On the kidney stone problem. I'd want a mineral profile run in a clinical
chemistry lab. Balance is much more important than the dietary intake of
calcium. I know that you use an electrical conductance technique to
measure mineral balance in the body. I know that you don't think that the
serum levels for minerals are very useful(I agree). If I can get a good
nutritional assessment lab setup where I can actually measure the tissue
reserve for minerals, I'd like to do a collaborative study with you to see
how your technique compares with mine.
| 1 |
253 |
Hello. I am the David Sternlight keeper of the FAQ. Unfortuantely I cannot
find it at the present time.
From the original FAQ:
Question: Does anyone take David Sternlight serious?
Fact: No one takes David Sternlight serious. They review his opinions and
in most cases immediately discard them or jerk them over to
alt.fan.david-sternlight which actually should be alt.flame.david-sternlight.
A photograph of David Sternlight for the curious:
|\/\/\/\|
| |
| (o)(o)
C _) David Sternlight
| ,___| Net.Police
| / a.k.a. PROUD
_0--------/\/----\/\-------0_ DICK OF
/ /0 \----/ 0\ \ THE INTERNET
/ | \ \||/ / | \
/ /|DAVID || POLICE|\ \
_/_____/ || ] || | [#] || \_____\_
|_______/ |\____/ || \__*_/| \_______|
Question: Why does David continue to relate mis statements regarding
encryption and other topics?
Fact: David Sternlight has a chemical imbalance of the right side of his
brain.
| 1 |
1,742 | Could some please refer me to someone who can perform PRK (Photo Refractive
Keratostomy) in Canada (preferably eastern portion). I've looked in
the yellow pages with little success, and if someone has had a good (or
bad, for that matter) experience, that would be especially helpful if you
could please let me know. | 1 |
6,642 |
Qualcomm had spare cycles in the DSPs for their new CDMA digital
cellular phones. They wanted to put strong crypto into them since they
had the capacity. The government decided to "discourage" them.
Really, none of this stuff is especially hard. All you need for a true
private phone is an ISDN codec, a vocoder (either a chip or
software), an encryptor (a chip is fine, but software is more than
fast enough), a V.32 or V.32bis modem module, and maybe a
microcontroller to run the whole thing. Its easy to do, its cheap. And
any "normal" company trying to put one out will likely get a visit
from the boys in the dark suits from Washington, just like Qualcomm
did. I suspect that companies like Cylink are tolerated because their
products are too expensive.
However, no law yet stops one from building really private phones, in
spite of the hints the administration has made when discussing the new
"crime bill" and in connection with the Clipper/Skipjack Big Brother
chip. Someone out there WILL build a unit to do all this. Better yet,
prehaps someone will produce a package that turns any 486 box with a
sound card into a secure phone.
--
Perry Metzger [email protected] | 1 |
2,495 | About three weeks ago on the SPACE list, someone was quoting a source on the
relative traffic and rankings of this listserv. A figure of 88th in
traffic(?) was given. Unfortunately I did not clip the message and I would
like to know the source of the rankings list. If anybody still has that
discussion on their disk or knows the source (or is the poster himself!)
I'd appreciate getting that reference. Being on the road I have temporarily
unsubscribed to the list to cut down mail box stuffing <g> so please reply
via e-mail to [email protected] OR [email protected] or I won't get your
answer! | 1 |
3,028 |
That may change next month; at least I hope it will. A couple of hundred
journalists have requested press passes for the test flights. Sustaining
that publicity however, will be a problem.
Allen
| 1 |
1,850 | : >: I'd really like to see such a thing developed so that interactive
: >:internet talk radio could be done. Ideally, though, it should be a general
: >:purpose device. It should be a general purpose enough device that nobody
: >:should be able to balk at its widespread use. Obviously, to make it easy
: >:for homebrewers, it should use pretty common hardware.
:
: Why don't we move down even further toward the masses by setting this
: up on an IBM PC clone(probably needs to be a 386 or a 486) with a
: sound blaster and a V.32bis modem. Those components are very widely
I concur for a PC to PC version. BUT for a interactive thing like
internet talk radio?!?! It makes me cringe at the amount of hogging such
a thing would do to the bandwidth of the internet. I mean 15 meg files getting
floated around for internet talk radio is bad enough. I have a solution; use
the phone system; take your electronics and use them on point to point
conversations through the phone and thats it. If you need to tell someone
something secret and very important wouldn't it make more sense to write it
out concisely? And if it's just a quick "YO" then use a code word and spend
your twenty cents.
Those good ol analog systems like Shortwave, Telephones, and TV's have
a use don't gunk up a nice digital packet network trying to emulate them! | 1 |
3,076 |
The patents don't apply in Canada. I think the free trade agreement may
provide for recognition of new patents, but not old ones.
| 1 |
6,407 |
I would have to say that the "greatest philosopher" title would have to
go to Plato since the whole enterprise of philosophy was essentially
defined by him. Although he got most of his answers wrong, he did
definitively identify what the important questions are. I think it
was Descartes who said that "All philosophy is just a footnote to Plato."
If I were to choose which philosopher made the most important advances
in human knowledge over his lifetime, that's simple...it is Aristotle.
This is so much the case that many simply refer to him as "the philosopher".
Regarding Nietzsche, he's one of the most entertaining, although since his
ideas were so fragmented (and since his life was cut short) it is doubtful
that his influence as a philosopher is likely to be very extensive 500 years
from now. They'll probably still be reading him in 500 years though.
As for "modern" philosophers, I would have to say that Kant was the most
influential since he had such a strong influence on almost everyone who
came after him (and unfortunately, they maintained his errors and
amplified them over time).
I would say that the most influential "american" philosopher would have to
be Dewey.
But as to the question of what philosopher will be most highly regarded in
500 years, it may very well be Ayn Rand (who in every important respect
was "American", but was born in Russia). But I guess that remains to be seen. | 1 |
4,729 | <
< Some countries have laws about importing crypto gear--I believe the U.S.
< does. Without a license the above scheme won't work (at least not legally)
< in such countries, including at least France and the U.S.
<
< David
<
<BZZT!
<
<Wrong. The US does NOT have crypto import laws.
I'd not be so sure about that:
Are there any MUNITIONS import laws, and could those be used against
importation of crypto hardware/software as well as firearms?
Importing so-called 'assault weapons' for use by commoners come to mind....
NOTE - talk.politics.guns added to Newsgroups for possible feedback...
| 1 |
2,848 |
No. It's called "not wiping off the apparatus after taking a picture of the
whole leaf." | 1 |
344 |
Heck, I seem to feel like that *every* time I eat out. Including
in the cafeteria at work. About half the time, the headache intensifies
until nothing will make it go away except throwing up. Ick.
As you might imagine, I don't eat out a lot. I guess my tolerance
for food additives has plummeted since I switched to eating mostly
steamed veggies. They're easy to fix, that's all.
I won't even mention what happened the last time I ate corned
beef. (Oops. Too late.)
| 1 |
1,380 | I have several isolation amplifier boards that are the ideal interface
for EEG and ECG. Isolation is essential for safety when connecting
line-powered equipment to electrodes on the body. These boards
incorporate the Burr-Brown 3656 isolation module that currently sells
for $133, plus other op amps to produce an overall voltage gain of
350-400. They are like new and guaranteed good. $20 postpaid,
schematic included. Please email me for more data. | 1 |
6,742 |
This is a good question. There are major blind spots in our understanding
of what makes the earth habitable. For example, why does the earth's
atmosphere have the concentration of oxygen it does? The naive
answer is "photosynthesis", but this is clearly incomplete. Photosynthesis
by itself can't make the atmosphere oxygenated, as the oxygen produced
is consumed when the plants decay or are eaten. What is needed
is photosynthesis plus some mechanism to sequester some fraction of
the resulting reduced material.
On earth, this mechanism is burial in seafloor sediments of organic
matter, mostly from oceanic sources. However, this burial requires
continental sediments (in the deep ocean, the burial rate is so slow
that most material is consumed before it can be sequestered).
This suggests that a planet without large oceans, or a planet without
continents undergoing weathering, will have a hard time accumulating
an oxygen atmosphere. In particular, an all-ocean planet may have a
hard time supporting an oxygen atmosphere.
There is also the problem of why the oxygen in the earth's atmosphere
has been relatively stable over geological time, for a period at least
2 orders of magnitude longer than the decay time of atmospheric O2 to
weathering in the absence of replenishment. No convincing feedback
mechanism has been identified. Perhaps the reason is the weak
anthropic principle: if during the last 500 MYr or so, the oxygen
level had dropped too low, we wouldn't be here to be wondering about
it. | 1 |
4,703 |
I'm not sure if this is a big issue, but it seems to me like it
might be -- up till now, all >1g forces applied to the mirror and
its mounting (and nearly all =1g forces) have been applied along the
telescope's optical axis, and against the mirror's base. Reentry
would apply forces along roughly the same axis, but tending to pull
the mirror away from the mount, and the landing would apply on-edge
forces to both the mirror and mount. It could be that one or both
of these would not survive.
greg
-- | 1 |
7,130 |
About six years ago my ears clogged up with wax, probably as a
result of to much headphone use. Anyway, the clinic that cleaned
them out used the following procedure:
1. Inject olive oil into ears.
2. Prevent leakage of oil with cotton.
3. Come back in an hour.
4. Rinse ears with warm vater, forcefully injected
into ear (very strange sensation).
5. Done.
They had special tools to do this, and were evidently quite
familiar with the problem: Very large steel syringe. Special
bowl with cutout for ear to take the grime coming out without
spillage.
Seconded, | 1 |
6,380 | I just posted this reply to comp.risks (answering RISKS DIGEST 14.53).
Summary: Re: [14.53 Mark Seecof] "key escrow"
It is tempting (albeit chauvinistic) to believe that we have a new situation
here, thanks to our pet computers. This is not true. David Kahn's "The
Codebreakers", a history of cryptography, makes two things obvious:
1. Cryptography is a spontaneous invention of private human individuals
and has been going on for thousands of years. [Teen-age slang and
cipher inventions provide a modern example of this spontaneous
creation.]
2. The systems people created on their own were roughly as secure as (and
sometimes more secure than) those used by military and diplomatic
users *of that time* (although they seem very simple and insecure
today). [e.g., In places, the Bible used a more complex simple
substitution than Caesar did for his military dispatches, but before
Caesar.]
I commend Kahn's book to all who might be interested.
| 1 |
6,996 | I have osteoarthritis, and my huband has just been diagnosed with diabetes
(type II, I guess--no insulin).
I've been trying to read up on these two conditions, and what really
surprises me is how few experiments have been done and how little is known.
Losing weight appears to be imperative for diabetes and advisable for
arthritis (at least, for -women- with arthritis), but, of course, the very
conditions that make weight loss advisable are part of the reason for the
weight gain.
For myself, I'm almost afraid to lose weight, because no matter how gentle
and sensible a diet I use (the last one was 1800-2000 calories, in about
eight small meals), the weight won't go off gradually and stay off.
Instead, it drops off precipitously, and then comes back on with much
interest, like bread on the waters.
With this experience, it's hard to be encouraging to my husband. All I can
suggest is to make it as gradual as possible.
Meanwhile, some experts recommend no sugar, others, no fat, others, just a
balanced diet. It's almost impossible to tell from their writings -which-
parts of their recommendations are supposed to help the condition, and
which are merely ideas the expert thinks are nifty.
Is it my imagination, or are these very old conditions very poorly
understood? Is it just that I'm used to pediatrician-talk ("It's strep;
give him this and he'll get well.") and so my expectations are too high?
| 1 |
2,180 | Well, you better not get the shuttle as your launch vehicle.
and most ELV's have too far of a backlog for political messages.
If during the campaign season, the candidates for president had
launched one, right around now we'd be getting a launch
for PEROT 92.
and if they had used the shuttle, we'd be seeing launches
for NIXON now more then ever. | 1 |
747 | >I wouldn't think so. Asking people to trust a secret algorithm seems
>unsound to me.
Maybe so, but it's quite common. There are millions of Macintosh users who
have no idea what's in Apple's patented ROMs. Many have modems connected.
How do you know all your business secrets aren't being stolen? Answer:
1. Because you trust Apple;
2. Because if any such attempt, however sophicsticated, came out, it would
destroy Apple's credibility forever.
Then there's also
3) Because it's NOT SECRET. If I want to, I CAN go look at Apple's
copyrighted ROMs in a Mac, so they're not keeping any secrets.
You don't even have to pry the top off the chip and use an electron microscope,
you just have to read the data in memory and see if you can figure out what it means.
(Motorola object code isn't all *that* obscure!)
Yes, it's copyrighted, so I can't go selling copies, or using the copy myself,
but I CAN see it, and disassemble it.
4) They're not asking me to trust their honesty. They're asking me to
trust the quality of their assembly language programming :-),
but I can see for myself what the performance, price, and crashes/day are.
NSA, an organization not known for its honesty or openness,
is asking me to trust them with my privacy, but they won't trust me. Feh! | 1 |
5,808 | Sorry, my news reader doesn't seem to know how to copy a subject header.
This tracks the thread "why people don't need strong crypto....."
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 expressly forbids *thinking* about building
nuclear devices. While I was in grad school, a friend of mine got a
security clearance to work on the defense for the Progressive magazine.
He found lots of articles which were public domain *removed* from the
local engineering library (Madison Wisconsin). So the lawyers sent him
all over the states to other libraries to show that the information in
the article was already public. What pissed everyone off was a local
underground paper went and published the article anyway (it had been
precensored by the feds, that's what this was all about) so the judge
declared the case moot.
The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 has never been tested in court. From my
discussions with several people familiar with the case, only 2 other
times has this preemptive clause been used. In every case the people
simply did what they felt like and courts tossed the cases out.
For all intents and purposes, the government *does* have precidence for
declaring things classified *after* it has been published. While I was
working on Star Wars this happened to me: my clearance was in the works
and I developed a method for tracking particle beams. It was good enough
to classify, so I was no longer allowed to work on it. A friend from
Canada was in the same boat: he developed a method to compute stripping
cross sections, but because the subject was classified *he was not allowed
to present his own paper at a conference!*. He later published it in an
open journal without problems.
When the going gets wierd, the wierd turn pro. The feds can do whatever
they want whenever they feel like it, and they will make up rules to let
themselves get away with it. Since the mass media can't tell the difference
between a joke and the real thing (like "ranch appocolypse" for the Waco
massacre) don't count on them to help spread the word about their loss
of freedom. The government *can* make strong crypto illegal. SO WHAT?
Since the government does not obey any of its own rules, why should we? | 1 |
2,579 |
A good source of information on Burzynski's method is in *The Cancer Industry*
by pulitzer-prize nominee Ralph Moss.
Interesting. What book got Moss the pulitzer nomination? None of the
flyers for his books mention this, and none of the Cancer Chronicle
Newsletters that I have mention this either.
Also, a non-profit organization called "People Against Cancer,"
which was formed for the purpose of allowing cancer patients to
access information regarding cancer therapies not endorsed by the
cancer industry, but which have shown highly promising results (all
of which are non-toxic).
Moss is People Against Cancer's Director of Communications. People
Against Cancer seems to offer pretty questionable information, not
exactly the place a cancer patient should be advised to turn to. Most
(maybe all) of the infomation in their latest catalogue concern
treatments that have been shown to be ineffective against cancer, and
many of the treatments are quite dangerous as well.
sdb | 1 |
1,160 | Voting for creation of the newsgroup misc.health.diabetes ended at
23:59 GMT on 29 Apr 93. At this time, the total response received
consisted of 155 votes for newsgroup creation and 14 votes against
newsgroup creation. Under the Guidelines for Usenet Group Creation,
this response constitutes a passing vote.
There will be a delay to allow time for the net to respond to this
result, after which the newsgroup misc.health.diabetes should be
created.
Please check the vote acknowledgement list to be sure that your vote
was received and properly credited. Any inconsistencies or errors
should be reported to [email protected] by email.
I want to thank everyone who participated in the discussion and vote
for this newsgroup proposal.
The following is the voting summary:
Votes received against newsgroup creation:
[email protected] Ernest A. Cline
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The charter for misc.health.diabetes appears below.
--------------------------
Charter:
misc.health.diabetes unmoderated
1. The purpose of misc.health.diabetes is to provide a forum for the
discussion of issues pertaining to diabetes management, i.e.: diet,
activities, medicine schedules, blood glucose control, exercise,
medical breakthroughs, etc. This group addresses the issues of
management of both Type I (insulin dependent) and Type II (non-insulin
dependent) diabetes. Both technical discussions and general support
discussions relevant to diabetes are welcome.
2. Postings to misc.heath.diabetes are intended to be for discussion
purposes only, and are in no way to be construed as medical advice.
Diabetes is a serious medical condition requiring direct supervision
by a primary health care physician.
-----(end of charter)----- | 1 |
7,044 | [...]
OK Steve, here's a sketch of an alternative that I believe addresses
most of the objections to the Clipper scheme.
Notation:
+ concatenation
^ exclusive or
E(M,K) message M encrypted by key K
D(M,K) message M decrypted by key K
H(M) hash (digest/signature) of message M
Important Values:
U0[X] local chip unit key from escrow agency X
U1[X] remote chip unit key from escrow agency X
N[0] serial number of the local chip
N[1] serial number of the remote chip
A number of escrow agencies
K[0],K[1] "session keys" agreed upon external to this protocol
F "family key", need not be secret
Protocol:
Choose K0[1],...K0[A] such that K[0] = K0[1]^...^K0[A]
Remote chip does same for K[1],K1[1],...,K1[A].
Compute the following:
L0[1] = E(K0[1], U0[1])
...
L0[A] = E(K0[A], U0[A])
L[0] = N[0] + E(N[0] + L0[1] + ... + L0[A], F)
Remote chip does the same for L1[1],...,L1[A],L[1]
Send L[0] to remote chip and receive L[1] from remote chip
Compute:
KE[0] = H(K[0] + N[0] + L0[1] + ... + L0[A]
+ K[1] + D(L[1], F)
KD[0] = H(K[1] + D(L[1], F)
+ K[0] + N[0] + L0[1] + ... + L0[A]
Note that D(L[1], F) = N[1] + L1[1] + ... + L1[A]
Remote chip does the same for KE[1] and KD[1]
User data is encrypted (decrypted) with keys KE[0], KE[1]
(KD[0], KD[1])
Assumptions:
No trap doors in E(), D() and H(). H() is not invertible.
Algorithms for E(), D() and H() are secret. Otherwise a software
implementation (bogus chip) could communicate with a real chip.
The chip only supports the following operation:
1) Return N[0]
2) Load K0[x]
3) Return E(K0[x], U0[x])
4) Return E(N[0] + L0[1] + ... + L0[A], F)
5) Given E(N[1] + L1[1] + ... + L1[A], F),
return N[1],L1[1],...,L1[A]
6) Load K[1]
7) Given E(N[1] + L1[1] + ... + L1[A], F),
compute KE[0], KD[0]
8) Given M, return E(M, KE[0])
9) Given M, return D(M, KD[0])
Anything programmed into the chip can be determined by destroying
the chip (U[1],...,U[A],F,N[0]).
U[1],...,U[A] can not be determined except by destroying the chip.
(Unfortunately this may not be true in reality. I suppose it's
possible to determine how a chip has been programmed with a
sophisticated[sp?] x-ray machine to look for blown fuses.)
The U's are programmed independantly by the escrow agencies.
Notes:
For tapping escrow agency Y is given N[0], E(K0[Y], U0[Y]), N[1],
E(K1[Y], U1[Y]) and returns K0[Y], K1[Y].
LEA's must contact all escrow agencies with the serial numbers from
both chips and the encrypted partial keys. This allows the agencies
to record that both chips were tapped.
LEA's only get the session key, not the key to all conversations
of a particular chip. This precludes real-time decrypting of a
conversation but that isn't one of the STATED requirements.
Observation:
In order for any secure by "tap-able" communication scheme to work,
the active parts need to share a secret. And if this secret is
revealed, communications by those that know the secret can be made
"un-tap-able". Obvious candidates are the cryptographic algorithm
and the master (family) key. Relative size and complexity suggests
that the key can be obtained from a silicon implementation of the
scheme a LOT easier and faster than the algorithm.
rsbx
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raymond S. Brand [email protected] | 1 |
3,690 | ANP is secreted by the atria in response to increases in fluid volume
and acts to facilitate sodium and water excretion from the kidneys.
Can someone tell me the molecular mechanism by which this is done?
Please email your response
Thanks
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Po'g Mo Thon | 1 |
2,258 | Analog SF magazine did an article on a similar subject quite a few
years ago. The question was, if an alien spacecraft landed in
Washington, D.C., what was the proper organization to deal with it: The
State Department (alien ambassadors), the Defense Department (alien
invaders), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (illegal aliens),
the Department of the Interior (new non-human species), etc. It was
very much a question of our perception of the aliens, not of anything
intrinsic in their nature. The bibliography for the article cited a
philosophical paper (the name and author of which I sadly forget; I
believe the author was Italian) on what constitutes a legal and/or moral
person, i.e., a being entitled to the rights normally accorded to a
person. The paper was quite interesting, as I recall.
I think you'd have to be very careful here if the answer is yes. The
human track record on helping those poor underpriveleged cultures (does
underpriveleged mean not having enough priveleges?) is terrible. The
usual result is the destruction or radical reorganization of the
culture. This may not always be wrong, but that's the way to bet.
| 1 |
7,032 | The War on some drugs has already turned alot of police into
criminals. This is yet another nail in the constitution's coffin.
| 1 |
1,458 | "The Forever War", one of my favorite SciFi books, had a passage devoted to
breathing fluids. The idea was to protect people from the high accelerations
required for interstellar travel by emersing the passengers in dry-cleaning
fluid saturated with oxygen. Plenty of very imaginative ideas is this book.
I would certainly recommend it (won the Hugo and the Nebula awards). | 1 |
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