...this Day...

The Pub
184

#123

May 26th

Anti-social behaviour ‘inherited’

Last Updated: Tuesday, 24 May, 2005, 23:56 GMT 00:56 UK

Anti-social behaviour in some children could be the result of their genetic make-up, a study says.

UK research on twins suggests children with early psychopathic tendencies, such as lack of remorse, are likely to have inherited it from their parents.

These young children may also display inherited anti-social behaviour, the Institute of Psychiatry team found.

But environmental factors are also important and, if favourable, could act as a buffer, they stressed.

And anti-social behaviour in children with no psychopathic tendencies is likely to be down to mainly environmental factors, they believe.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4575551.stm

185

#124

May 27th

Amazon loggers clash with lost tribe

Friday, May 27, 2005 Posted: 5:10 AM EDT (0910 GMT)

PORTO VELHO, Brazil (Reuters) – A Brazilian Indian tribe armed with bows and arrows and unseen for years has been spotted in a remote Amazon region where clashes with illegal loggers are threatening its existence.

The tiny Jururei tribe numbers only eight to 10 members, and is the second “uncontacted” group to be threatened by loggers this month, after a judge approved cutting in an area of the jungle called Rio Pardo. …

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/05/…reut/index.html

 

186

#125

May 27th

‘Japan soldiers’ found in jungle

Last Updated: Friday, 27 May, 2005, 10:19 GMT 11:19 UK

Japanese officials are investigating claims that two men living in jungle in the Philippines are Japanese soldiers left behind after World War II.

The pair, in their 80s, were reportedly found on southern Mindanao island.

They had equipment which suggested they were former soldiers.

According to Japanese media reports, the pair had been living with Muslim rebel groups and at least one of them has married a local woman and had a family.

 

The BBC’s Tokyo correspondent says the likelihood is that they are well aware the war is over but have chosen to stay in the Philippines for their own reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4585287.stm

187

#126

May 27th

Brain downloads ‘possible by 2050’

CNN-Monday, May 23, 2005 Posted: 10:06 AM EDT (1406 GMT)

London, England – By the middle of the 21st century it will be possible to download your brain to a supercomputer, according to a leading thinker on the future.

Ian Pearson, head of British Telecom’s futurology unit, told the UK’s Observer newspaper that the rapid advances in computing power would make cyber-immortality a reality within 50 years.

Pearson said the launch last week of Sony’s PlayStation 3, a machine 35 times more powerful than the model it replaced, was a sign of things to come.

“The new PlayStation is one percent as powerful as the human brain,” Pearson told the Observer. “It is into supercomputer status compared to 10 years ago. PlayStation 5 will probably be as powerful as the human brain.”

Pearson said that brain-downloading technology would initially be the preserve of the rich, but would become more available over subsequent decades.

“If you’re rich enough then by 2050 it’s feasible. If you’re poor you’ll probably have to wait until 2075 or 2080 when it’s routine,” he said.

“We are very serious about it. That’s how fast this technology is moving: 45 years is a hell of a long time in IT.”

 

Pearson also predicted that it would be possible to build a fully conscious computer with superhuman levels of intelligence as early as 2020.

“You need a complete global debate,” he said. “Whether we should be building machines as smart as people is a really big one.”

…

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/05/23/brain.download/index.html

188

#127

May 28th

FDA eyes blindness as Viagra side effect

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-hsviag0…s-leadheadlines

By Kathleen Kerr, staff writer, Newday.com, May 28, 2005

The Food and Drug Administration is investigating 43 reports of sudden partial blindness in men who used three impotence drugs – Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.

However, the FDA said it is not clear whether the drugs played a role since conditions that lead to the erectile problem can themselves cause vision loss.

 

The number of blindness cases – 38 for Viagra, 4 for Cialis and one for Levitra – is minuscule compared with the more than 28 million men who have used the drugs.

The vision loss – nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy or NAION – is essentially a stroke of the eye. NAION can occur in patients with diabetes or heart disease, conditions that can lead to impotence.

 

In the past, some men have experienced a blue haze after using the drugs, but that side effect is not what occurred in the 43 men. And manufacturers caution men with heart problems or those who take other drugs containing nitrates not to use the impotence pills because the combination could cause a fatal blood pressure drop.

More than 23 million men have used Viagra since the baby blue pill made its 1998 debut. About 5 million men have used Cialis since its approval in 2003. Levitra also became available in 2003. Levitra’s maker could not provide prescription figures Friday.

189

#128

May 28th

Intel Launches Dual-Core Chips for PCs By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

Fri May 27, 7:43 AM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050527/ap_on_…WRqBHNlYwN0Yw–

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Intel Corp. unveiled its first mainstream home PC microprocessor with two computing engines on a single chip Thursday and vowed to sell millions of them by the end of the year.

The Pentium D processor and supporting chips will target home computer users, particularly those who run more than one program at once or have software that is designed to take advantage of the extra computing horsepower of the chips’ dual cores. [OCC:Great time for Multi-taskers..he he ]

 

The Pentium D is not Intel’s first dual-core chip. Earlier this month, Intel started shipping its Extreme Edition Pentium for PC enthusiasts and gamers. But its steep price tag ? as high as $1,000 per chip ? has kept it from the reach of most home users.

When purchased in volume, Pentium D prices range from $241 to $530 with speeds from 2.8 gigahertz to 3.2 GHz. Supporting chipsets range from $38 to $42.

190

#129

May 28th

Surfing the long wave

Last Updated: Friday, 27 May, 2005, 11:26 GMT 12:26 UK

There is more to computing awareness than knowing how to use a mouse, argues technology analyst Bill Thompson, but it is a start.

“…computer revolution has failed in one of its key goals: we have not yet made computers for everyone…”

“…the fact remains that we do not have enough simple ways to do straight-forward tasks like getting onto the internet, looking at web pages or reading e-mail…”

Simpler, better-designed interfaces are vital, but not enough. Because as well as knowing how to use computers, there is an increasingly urgent need to understand more about how things like networks and databases work beneath the hood.

"…there will be a continuing need to ensure that all of us, wherever we live, whatever we do and however old we are, understand the implications of new computer systems. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4586525.stm

191

#130

May 28th

Teen pregnancy: Why are rates rising?

Last Updated: Friday, 27 May, 2005, 10:54 GMT 11:54 UK

The debate on how best to tackle teenage pregnancy has arisen again as latest figures show the rate in under-16s in England and Wales has increased.

The government says it can do no more without the help of parents, while others are again calling for a broadening of sex and relationship education in schools.

 

The UK has the highest teenage birth rates in Western Europe - twice as high as in Germany, three times as high as in France and six times as high as in the Netherlands. Why are the figures on the increase?

One thing that is lacking in the UK is a consensus on how to deal with the problem of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among teenagers.

While there is often broad agreement on the root causes, there are differences over the “cure” that range, in their simplest terms, from promoting abstinence and traditional family values to encouraging more openness about sex and relationships.

…

Low expectations of education and employment opportunities for some young people, ignorance about contraception, and mixed messages about sex from the adult world are all cited.

Good comprehensive sex and relationship education, better access to young people-friendly services, and a more open attitude to sex, she says, lead to young people making different decisions.

…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4584175.stm

 

 

192

#131

May 29th

MEN REACH EVEREST SUMMIT:

May 29, 1953

At 11:30 a.m. on May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa of Nepal, become the first explorers to reach the summit of Mount Everest, which at 29,035 feet above sea level is the highest point on earth. The two, part of a British expedition, made their final assault on the summit after spending a fitful night at 27,900 feet. News of their achievement broke around the world on June 2, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, and Britons hailed it as a good omen for their country’s future.

 

Mount Everest sits on the crest of the Great Himalayas in Asia, lying on the border between Nepal and Tibet. Called Chomo-Lungma, or “Mother Goddess of the Land,” by the Tibetans, the English named the mountain after Sir George Everest, a 19th-century British surveyor of South Asia. The summit of Everest reaches two-thirds of the way through the air of the earth’s atmosphere–at about the cruising altitude of jet airliners–and oxygen levels there are very low, temperatures are extremely cold, and weather is unpredictable and dangerous.

http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.js…94&cat=10272946

193

#132

May 29th

Experts: Petroleum May Be Nearing Peak

By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer

1 hour, 47 minutes ago

Could the petroleum joyride ? cheap, abundant oil that has sent the global economy whizzing along with the pedal to the metal and the AC blasting for decades ? be coming to an end? Some observers of the oil industry think so. They predict that this year, maybe next ? almost certainly by the end of the decade ? the world’s oil production, having grown exuberantly for more than a century, will peak and begin to decline.

 

And then it really will be all downhill. The price of oil will increase drastically. Major oil-consuming countries will experience crippling inflation, unemployment and economic instability. Princeton University geologist Kenneth S. Deffeyes predicts “a permanent state of oil shortage.”

According to these experts, it will take a decade or more before conservation measures and new technologies can bridge the gap between supply and demand, and even then the situation will be touch and go.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/oil_gone;_ylt=A…HVjBHNlYwNtcA–

194

#133

May 29th

Kenya scientists plant trial GMO pest-proof maize

Reuter, Fri May 27, 2005 9:28 AM ET

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan researchers on Friday began a trial planting of maize genetically modified to resist insects, saying it was a step toward reducing the 20 percent of crop lost every year because of pests.

 

The Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) says it hopes the variety will resist the Stem Borer larvae which is blamed for the east African country dependence on maize imports, hitting the incomes of farmers and reducing food security.

 

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle…MO-KENYA-DC.XML

 

OCC : Well,… Last year, in Thailand, there was a leakage of the GMO papaya from a joint US-Thai research plot and Thai people were really alarm on the incidence. While US is pressing hard on Thai government to approve the GMO, farmers are still very much in doubt that they will have to buy seeds from US forever…, and those who buy the engineered seeds will have to also buy the sepcific fertilizer, and on, and on… Is there any such similarity in your country, guys???

195

Personally, i don’t mind eating GM food, but there are a lot of people here who do.

196

Personally, i don’t mind eating GM food, but there are a lot of people here who do.

Ever heard that the scientists are aiming for “vaccine” vegetable, when we eat GM veg, we are vaccinated in the same time…what about their side effects..or after effects…what if some batch are toxicated…?

Ever heard that GM veg may open a new channel of “Biological colonization”…?

Ever heard that GM food also alter some of our genes …leaving problems for our grand children to bare or to solve…?

Ever heard some more wierd stories…?

 

…Considering the very very complicate genes those make up vegetables or animal, or even human,… We’d better be sure those scientists know what really they are doing.. cutting and editting a characteristic may alter others which current GM technique is not aware of…

 

Am I thinking too much??

197

JOAN OF ARC MARTYRED:

May 30, 1431

At Rouen in English-controlled Normandy, Joan of Arc, the peasant girl who became the savior of France, is burned at the stake for heresy.

198

#134

May 30th

French Voters Reject First EU Constitution

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer, 39 minutes ago

PARIS - French voters rejected the European Union’s first constitution Sunday, a stinging repudiation of President Jacques Chirac’s leadership and the ambitious, decades-long effort to further unite the continent.

 

With votes counted in all of France and its overseas territories, the “no” camp had 54.87 percent, with only 45.13 percent voting “yes,” the Interior Ministry said.

The treaty’s rejection in France ? the architect of the European project ? could set the continent’s plans back by years and amounts to a personal humiliation for the veteran French leader.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050530/ap_on_…TFjBHNlYwN0cw–

199

#135

May 30th

MSN Fighting Spam Through New Postmaster Service

May 29, 2005 (AXcess News) Redmond WA - MSN, which boasts 200 million Hotmail users, said Friday that it was launching a new service dubbed Postmaster that provides bulk mailers and ISPs a safe way to send e-mail to Hotmail users.

 

ISP’s can now check a range of IP addresses with the new service to determine the amount of mail coming from one location. This is done by measuring the amount of spam that the IP address sends to Hotmail accounts.

Hotmail stops about three billion spams a day and has over 200 million active users, Microsoft says.

http://www.axcessnews.com/technology_052905a.shtml

200

#136

May 30th

What next for EU constitution?

CNN, Monday, May 30, 2005 Posted: 1122 GMT (1922 HKT)

LONDON, England – Several European countries said they would proceed with their own referendums on the EU constitution despite France’s rejection, while Britain called for a period of “reflection” before deciding whether to press ahead with a vote.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called on voters to approve the new European constitution in a referendum in the Netherlands on Wednesday despite the French “No” vote.

Ireland said it very much regretted the French decision but that it would proceed with its own referendum by a target date of November 2006.

A government spokesman in Dublin said it was important the EU move forward in a “considered and united way.”

Portuguese Foreign Minister Diogo Freitas do Amaral said his country also would go ahead with a planned October referendum.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the EU needed time to reflect on the French result and that it was too soon to say if Britain would press ahead with a referendum.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said France’s rejection was “very regrettable” but does not mean an end to the French-German partnership in Europe.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, however, said the French vote would not affect Ankara’s plans to begin long-delayed EU entry talks in October.

Former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, who helped draft the EU constitution, suggested that some of the treaty’s key provisions be adopted separately, including the new position of European foreign minister.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/0…france.eu.reax/

201

#137

May 31th

 

World No Tobacco Day - May 31th.

 

http://www.wntd.com/org_2002_fd.cfm

 

http://www.pharmacist.com/articles/h_ts_0295.cfm

 

202

#138

May 31th

…watching lived..Miss Universe 2005…he he…now 8AM in Thailand…

203

#139

May 31th

59% Dutch voters against EU Constitution: poll

BRUSSELS, May 30 (Xinhuanet) – The latest opinion polls in the Netherlands show that 59 percent of Dutch voters will vote againstthe European Union (EU) Constitution, casting a shadow on the upcoming Dutch referendum on the charter on Wednesday.

The French rejection of the EU charter appears to be bolsteringthe opposition against it in the Netherlands, and the figure is two percent more than on the day before the French referendum, Radio Netherlands reported on Monday

 

However, right after the French “no”, Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said the French rejection is a further reason forthe Dutch to vote for the charter in Wednesday’s referendum.

An official result issued by the Interior Ministry will be released on June 6, Boer said.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-05/…ent_3023792.htm