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HEADLINES & SUMMARIES
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>> PODCASTS FROM SINGULARITY SUMMIT 2007 - In the coming
decades, humanity will likely create a powerful artificial
intelligence. The Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
(SIAI) exists to confront this urgent challenge, both the opportunity
and the risk.
THE
10 MOST POLLUTED PLACES ON PLANET EARTH -
Sumgayit, Azerbaijan; Sukinda, India; Tianjin, China;
Chernobyl, Ukraine; Dzerzinsk, Russia; Norilsk, Russia;
Vapi, India; Kabwe, Zambia; Linfen, China; La Oroya,
Peru.
>> CORRUPTION
IN IRAQ IS CLASSIFIED - The scope of this
prohibition is breathtaking... it means that unless the
Committee agrees to keep the information secret from the
public, the Committee cannot obtain information from officials
in the Office of Accountability and Transparency, about
whether there is corruption within the Iraqi ministries,
how extensive the corruption is, or whether the corruption
is funding the insurgency and undermining public confidence
in the Iraqi government. The Committee also cannot obtain
information about whether Mr. Maliki himself has been involved
in corruption or has intervened to block corruption investigations
of Iraqi officials close to Mr. Maliki.
STUDY
TIES CERVICAL & TESTICULAR CANCER TO INCREASED DIVORCE
RATE - People who develop cervical or testicular cancer may
face another harsh reality: they are more likely to get divorced
than those without the disease, a new study says.
THE DAY BURMA WAS SILENCED -
Burma’s generals silenced
the Buddhist monks yesterday morning. For a week and a half,
the monks had been on the streets of Rangoon in their tens
of thousands, and their angry calm gave courage to the people
around them. But overnight, they were beaten, shot and arrested,
and locked in their monasteries.
>> IRANIAN UNIVERSITY CHANCELLORS ASK BOLLINGER 10 QUESTIONS - Seven chancellors and presidents of Iranian universities
and research centers, in a letter addressed to their counterpart
in the US Colombia University, denounced Lee Bollinger's insulting
words against the Iranian nation and president and invited
him to provide responses for 10 questions of the Iranian academicians
and intellectuals.
>> VATICAN REJECTS WOMAN'S VIRGIN MARY CLAIM - A woman who
claims that the Virgin Mary has been appearing in a pine tree
at her Surrey home for over 20 years has been dismissed as
a fraud by the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI regards the rise
of such charismatic visionaries as a risk to Church unity because
they create sects at odds with the local bishops.
>>>> DAN RATHER STANDS BY HIS STORY - Dan Rather's lawsuit
will attempt to show that CBS tried to suppress the report
on Bush's National Guard Service and the Abu Ghraib abuses.
JENNA BUSH'S FIRST TV INTERVIEW -
Jenna Bush... sat down with Diane Sawyer to discuss her work
with UNICEF, her engagement to Henry Hager that made headlines
around the world and her first book, "Ana's Story."
>> WASHINGTON CHANGES ITS TUNE ON CLIMATE CHANGE - The
world must cut emissions or sacrifice the planet, Condoleezza
Rice, US secretary of state, told a meeting of governments
on Thursday, in the most strongly worded statement on global
warming yet made by the US administration.
>> NEW SYSTEM MAKES ANY DIGITAL CAMERA TAKE MULTIBILLION-PIXEL
SHOTS - Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University,
in collaboration with scientists at NASA’s Ames Research
Center, have built a low-cost robotic device that enables any
digital camera to produce breathtaking gigapixel (billions
of pixels) panoramas, called GigaPans.
>> MIXING THE OCEANS PROPOSED TO REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING - Could mighty pumps be installed in the ocean to mix up the
waters and cool the planet? At least some scientists and businessmen
believe so -- but the idea is controversial.
'ECO-TOWNS' TARGET DOUBLED BY BRITISH PRIME MINISTER -
Gordon Brown has promised to double the number of "eco-towns" to
be built across the UK from five to 10.
DALAI LAMA STATEMENT ON BURMA PROTESTS - His Holiness the
Dalai Lama conveys his sincere appreciation and admiration
to the large number of fellow Buddhists monks for advocating
democracy and freedom in Burma.
BOTTLES & STRAWS
THAT MAKE DIRTY WATER DRINKABLE -
The way fresh water is supplied to disaster-hit regions
could be revolutionised after an Ipswich-based businessman
invented a £190 bottle that makes foul-smelling water
drinkable in seconds...
>> BURMA: INSIDE THE SAFFRON REVOLUTION - Close to the
Shwedagon pagoda, the golden gleaming monument in central Rangoon
that has been the focus of protest for nine days, at least
10 monks were beaten up by police as thousands once again defied
the authorities and tried to enter the holy shrine. Next, the
police fired tear gas at them, and scores of the men in saffron
robes were arrested and dragged away. From then on things only
got worse.
>> VIDEO SHOWS HACKER HIT ON U.S. POWER GRID - A government
video shows the potential destruction caused by hackers seizing
control of a crucial part of the U.S. electrical grid: an industrial
turbine spinning wildly out of control until it becomes a smoking
hulk and power shuts down. The video was produced for top U.S.
policy makers by the Idaho National Laboratory, which has studied
the little-understood risks to the specialized electronic equipment
that operates power, water and chemical plants.
>> DAN RATHER MAY CALL BUSH TO TESTIFY -
Former CBS "Evening
News" anchor Dan Rather choked back tears on several occasions
today when discussing his decision to file a lawsuit against
CBS and he left many audience members with a sense that he
may call President George W. Bush as a witness should the lawsuit
proceed to trial (and Rather said he hoped it would).
>> GORE CALLS FOR 'GLOBAL MARSHALL PLAN' -
Al Gore, the former US vice-president, on Wednesday called
for a “Marshall
plan” to make job creation and measures to address climate
change compatible and urged President George W. Bush to commit
to mandatory cuts in carbon dioxide emissions.
>>>> STUDY INDICATES PARALLEL UNIVERSES EXIST -
Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical
discovery by Oxford scientists described by one expert as "one
of the most important developments in the history of science".
>> GLOBAL MAJORITY WANTS ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE -
Almost two-thirds of the world's people say there must be urgent
action to tackle global warming, a poll for the BBC World Service
showed on Tuesday. Overall, 65 percent of the 22,000 people
polled in 21 countries said there was a need "to take
major steps very soon" ranging from 91 percent in Spain
to 37 percent in India.
>>>> CMU PROFESSOR GIVES HIS LAST LESSON ON LIFE -
Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic
cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007,
before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," Pausch
talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students
on how to achieve their own career and personal goals.
>> DEMOCRACY IN RETREAT AROUND THE WORLD - Democracy and good
governance are on the retreat in a number of countries around
the world, a wide-ranging report says on Tuesday.
>> NUCLEAR
PLANT GUARDS ASLEEP ON THE JOB - They're
on duty and fast asleep, security guards that are supposed
to be protecting a major terrorist target in the United States.
CBS 2 HD's three-month investigation into the security gap
at our nation's nuclear facilities yielded some shocking information
and video, and now officials have told CBS 2 first that the
contract with the major security firm that hired the guards
will be terminated.
>> UN HOLDS UNPRECEDENTED SUMMIT ON CLIMATE CHANGE -
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an unprecedented summit
on climate change Monday that "the time for doubt has passed" and
a breakthrough is needed in global talks to sharply reduce
emissions of global-warming gases.
>> GREENPEACE PUBLISHES LATEST GREEN GUIDE - The latest
edition of our quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics shows
that major electronics firms have made large, green strides
since the guide was first launched in August 2006. Nokia still
leads, closely followed by Sony Erricson, Dell and Lenovo.
The Greener Electronics Guide has been our answer to getting
the electronics industry to face up to the problem of e-waste.
>> POPE TO MAKE CLIMATE ACTION A MORAL OBLIGATION -
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United
Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change
in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause
for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
BIZARRE GENDER-BENDER BUGS BAFFLE SCIENTISTS - Scientists
have discovered a real gender-bender of a bug, a species in
which most females impersonate males.
BABOONS BLAMED FOR CRIME SPREE - The chacma baboons, which
live wild in the Cape peninsula, have been raiding people's
homes for food and causing thousands of pounds in damage.
>>>> KEN
WILBER & DEEPAK CHOPRA:
'BUDDHA: A STORY OF ENLIGHTENMENT' - I just finished listening
to a two-part discussion between Ken Wilber and Deepak Chopra.
While their talk revolved around Chopra's new book on Buddha,
it also discussed some of the fundamental tenants of Buddhism,
including the nature of life, self and suffering. A significant
part of the interview also dealt with the growing war between
atheists and people who believe in spiritual, supernatural
forces of various kinds. Chopra recounted attending a conference
at TED (in April of 2002) in which he was scheduled to speak
about creativity after famed evolutionary biologist, author
and atheist Richard Dawkins. According to Chopra's account,
after listening to what Dawkins had to say he felt compelled
to publicly challenge Dawkins...
>> TOP
MILITARY RECRUITMENT LIES (& COUNTERRECRUITMENT
MOVEMENT) - Anti-war activism is changing. The familiar sights
and sounds of large protests are giving way to quieter, but
far more resonating, one-on-one work in classrooms, career
centers, and communities. Whenever you hear people decry the
lack of large-scale protest in the United States, even as the
latest polls show more than 60 percent of people are opposed
to the current war in Iraq, remember that the model for effectively
challenging war is taking a different shape.
>> GOVERNMENTS AGREE TO ACCELERATE END
OF HCFCS - Governments of almost 200 countries have agreed
to speed the elimination of a major greenhouse gas that depletes
ozone, U.N. and Canadian officials said Saturday, describing
a deal they said was a significant step toward fighting global
warming.
EYES
CAN'T RESIST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - Whether
we’re looking for someone to date or sizing up a potential
rival, our eyes irresistibly lock on to good-looking people,
a new study finds.
>> LIGHTS
OUT SAN FRANCISCO - Tyler happened
to be Down Under during Earth Hour, an annual event in which
Sydney residents switch off lights for 60 minutes as a symbolic
gesture to cut energy use and help reverse global warming.
The former Google spokesman returned home to launch Lights
Out San Francisco, an ambitious grass-roots campaign. For one
full hour -- between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Oct. 20 -- he wants
the people of this city to turn off all unnecessary lights
as a way to reduce carbon emissions and preserve natural resources.
>>>> RISING SEAS LIKELY TO FLOOD U.S.
HISTORY - Ultimately, rising seas will likely swamp the first American
settlement in Jamestown, Va., as well as the Florida launch
pad that sent the first American into orbit, many climate scientists
are predicting. In about a century, some of the places that
make America what it is may be slowly erased.
GLAMOROUS BAVARIAN PROPOSES 7-YEAR MARRIAGE
LAW - Bavaria's most glamorous politician -- a flame-haired motorcyclist
who helped bring down state premier Edmund Stoiber -- has shocked
the Catholic state in Germany by suggesting marriage should
last just 7 years.
>> ARTIC ICE WITHDRAWAL 'SHATTERS RECORD' - Arctic sea ice shrank to the smallest area on record this
year, US scientists have confirmed. The researchers at NSIDC
judge the ice extent on a five-day mean. The minimum for 2007
falls below the minimum set on 20-21 September 2005 by an area
roughly the size of Texas and California combined, or nearly
five UKs.
>> HUMAN ANCESTOR HAD MIX OF PRIMITIVE,
MODERN TRAITS - The earliest-known human ancestors to migrate
out of Africa possessed a surprising mix of human-like and
primitive features, according to scientists who studied remains
dug up at a fossil-rich site in the former Soviet republic
of Georgia.
JAPANESE HEAVYWEIGHTS PANIC AS WOMAN
DIVES FOR SUMO RING - A woman invaded a sumo ring -- a sacred arena from
which females are banned -- in Tokyo during a major tournament,
domestic media said on Thursday, then was pulled down by a
referee and one of the sport's huge wrestlers.
>> KEN BURNS' 'THE WAR' HITS HOME SUNDAY
ON PBS - Burns is not producing a textbook but "an epic poem," and
he's tried to distinguish "The War" from other World
War II films by focusing on the interplay of home front and
war front, using Sacramento; Luverne, Minn.; Mobile and Waterbury.
In "The War," he has done away with the professorial
types who have provided insight, but also distance, in his
other films. Here, only those who lived the events get airtime,
such as Katharine Phillips of Mobile, who volunteered at a
Red Cross canteen after her brother joined the Marines.
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