Yahoo! News Message Boards World News: "AL QAEDA IS FULL OF CONSERVATIVES
by: cat00012000 (47/M/Missouri) 10/29/05 11:35 am
Msg: 497 of 497

They want to go back to the old way of life. They are fundementalists. How does it look on someone else? They're just like us except we use conventional forces and collateral damage "

Yahoo! News Message Boards World News: "TERRORISM, THE NEW WAY TO PEACE
by: cat00012000 (47/M/Missouri) 10/29/05 11:29 am
Msg: 436 of 436

You see conservatives saying it all the time. The way to peace is to prepare for war. Terrorism just makes armies obsolete. It takes the war home to the people that actually wage it, not their sons and daughters "

Robots May Allow Surgery in Space - Yahoo! News: "'We think this is going to replace open surgery,' Dr. Dmitry Oleynikov said at a Wednesday news conference. Oleynikov is a specialist in minimally invasive and computer-assisted surgery at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha"

The views from the camera-carrying robots are better than the naked eye, Oleynikov said, because they send back color images that are magnified.

A robot capable of doing biopsies is in the works and another is being designed that can be inserted into a person's stomach via the esophagus.

The robots themselves currently cost about $200 each, Farritor said.

Initial plans call for each robot to be used once and then disposed of.

Eventually, Oleynikov said, the tiny robots may enable surgeons to work without ever placing their hands in patients' bodies.

"That's the goal," Oleynikov said. "It's getting easier and easier. We can do even more with these devices."

Technorati Search: robot: "Meet Dr. Robot: About the size of a lipstick case, it's able to drive around inside your body and serve as the eyes or hands of a surgeon who could be thousands of miles away"

Drug Action Network: "'Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.'

- Abraham Lincoln Speech, 18 Dec. 1840 "

Good News For The Medical Marijuana Movement: pot Proliferates Brain Cells And Boosts Mood: "Most drugs of abuse decrease the generation of new neurons in the brain, but the effects of marijuana on this process, called neurogenesis, had not been clear. In a paper appearing online on October 13 in advance of print publication of the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Xia Zhang and colleagues from University of Saskatchewan show that a potent and synthetic cannabinoid promotes neurogenesis. This drug also exerts anti-anxiety and antidepressant-like effects. "

Google News - World: "BERLIN - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Director Mohamed ElBaradei and his organisation were announced Friday as joint winners of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize - a move which ElBaradei said came as 'an absolute surprise"

Help for Info Age Have-Nots: "Computing and calling devices are only part of the efforts. Yahoo and Google (GOOG ) are in an arms race to expand the availability of services and information available online. On Oct. 3, Yahoo announced that it would follow Google's lead in indexing books with its own program, the Open Content Alliance.

Yahoo will fund a nonprofit group called the Internet Archive to scan the University of California's entire collection of American literature -- some 18,000 texts. Starting in October, the first of those texts will be available for search and download as PDF files on the Open Content Alliance Web site. In addition to funding the American literature component of the product, Yahoo will also power the search for all text and video that the Internet Archive aggregates for the library on Open Content Alliance site.

LET A MILLION BOOKS BLOOM. The project will do more than just give everyday Internet users full access to some of the world's classic works, says Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle. In addition to being available online, the digital books will be included on all of the archive's 'Bookmobiles' -- Internet-enabled trucks that print and bind books on demand for the poor and underprivileged.

Kahle says those trucks, which have been deployed as far away as Egypt and Uganda, are just the beginning. Using this print-on-demand technology, 'we want every school, and every neighborhood library to be a million-book library,' says Kahle.

Unlike Google's comparable Print for Libraries program, this scanned content won't sit on Yahoo's servers, and all search engines will be able to index the Open Content Alliance books. That stifles any chance of giving Yahoo a competitive edge in search. Yahoo hopes the Open Content Alliance will demonstrate its "

Yahoo hopes the Open Content Alliance will demonstrate its commitment to providing users with helpful services.

ONLINE ONE-UPMANSHIP. The project gives Yahoo an opportunity to show up archrival Google, argues Chris Charron, vice-president at Forrester Research. Google's Print program ruffled feathers of authors and publishers alike by saying it would scan copyrighted texts (see BW Online, 9/22/05, "For Google, Another Stormy Chapter"). Yahoo will stay out of the fray by scanning only out-of-copyright texts in the public domain.

Both Google and Yahoo, says Charron, "need to create a brand that is in sync with [their audience's] broader social motivations...and both are trying to one-up each other across a variety of different segments."

That's just one example of the way Yahoo's and Google's innovation war is benefiting the Net. Closer to home, Google is bidding to equip San Francisco with free, high-speed Internet access via Wi-Fi. It submitted a formal proposal in late September, along with several other companies, for a project estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars.

In April, 2005, Google teamed up with wireless startup Feeva to sponsor a Wi-Fi hot zone in San Francisco. The search giant likely has big plans: Analysts expect it might bankroll several Wi-Fi access points around the country, so it can better serve local advertising. If Google knows where a user is sitting while searching for, say, a restaurant, it can better target its advertising -- and charge restaurants within a certain radius a premium for such a qualified lead.

ALWAYS CONNECTED. Efforts like these take aim at a different type of Digital Divide than MIT is focusing on with its $100 laptop

A New Measure of Well-Being From a Happy Little Kingdom - New York Times:
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
Published: October 4, 2005
What is happiness? In the United States and in many other industrialized countries, it is often equated with money.
Economists measure consumer confidence on the assumption that the resulting figure says something about progress and public welfare. The gross domestic product, or G.D.P., is routinely used as shorthand for the well-being of a nation.

A Plateau of Happiness
The Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness
Discussion Papers on Gross National Happiness (from Center for Bhutanese Studies)
World Values Survey (from umich.edu) But the small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has been trying out a different idea.
In 1972, concerned about the problems afflicting other developing countries that focused only on economic growth, Bhutan's newly crowned leader, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, decided to make his nation's priority not its G.D.P. but its G.N.H., or gross national happiness."

sundaytimes.co.za :: Home of the Sunday Times :: South Africa's best selling newspaper ::: "PSYCHOLOGISTS and psychiatrists in South Africa have reported an alarming increase in the number of cases of teenagers mutilating themselves.
A counsellor for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, Janine Shamos, said child abuse and neglect in situations where Aids decimates families, anxiety about exams and jobs, and peer pressure are among the triggers that provoke teenagers to try to escape their emotional pain by drawing blood.
Self-cutting is also a warning sign of underlying illnesses, such as personality and mood disorders and depression, said University of Cape Town psychologist Dr Helgo Schomer.
While stress fuels self-cutting and suicide � the fastest growing cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds in South Africa � self-mutilation is distinct from suicide.
Wits University psychologist Vanessa Hemp explained the motivation behind self-cutting as an attempt to feel better � not to end everything.
Hemp said increasing numbers of children with self-mutilation problems, were coming to the Tara/Alexandra Outpatient�s Clinic in Johannesburg, where she is based. �We see more and more girls and boys doing self-mutilation. This is generally about an inability to deal with difficult feelings ... Cutting is a form of release and control,� she said.
Although there are no figures to indicate how widespread such
self-harming behaviour is in South Africa, international studies indicate that about 18 out of 1000 people aged 15 to 35 harm themselves, and roughly half of all teenagers who are admitted for psychiatric treatment have injured themselves.
Shamos said: �When the emotional pain becomes immense, it is easier to deal with the physical pain. The cutting almost has a calming effect and can be addicti"

sundaytimes.co.za :: Home of the Sunday Times :: South Africa's best selling newspaper ::: "PSYCHOLOGISTS and psychiatrists in South Africa have reported an alarming increase in the number of cases of teenagers mutilating themselves.
A counsellor for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, Janine Shamos, said child abuse and neglect in situations where Aids decimates families, anxiety about exams and jobs, and peer pressure are among the triggers that provoke teenagers to try to escape their emotional pain by drawing blood.
Self-cutting is also a warning sign of underlying illnesses, such as personality and mood disorders and depression, said University of Cape Town psychologist Dr Helgo Schomer.
While stress fuels self-cutting and suicide � the fastest growing cause of death for 15 to 24-year-olds in South Africa � self-mutilation is distinct from suicide.
Wits University psychologist Vanessa Hemp explained the motivation behind self-cutting as an attempt to feel better � not to end everything.
Hemp said increasing numbers of children with self-mutilation problems, were coming to the Tara/Alexandra Outpatient�s Clinic in Johannesburg, where she is based. �We see more and more girls and boys doing self-mutilation. This is generally about an inability to deal with difficult feelings ... Cutting is a form of release and control,� she said.
Although there are no figures to indicate how widespread such
self-harming behaviour is in South Africa, international studies indicate that about 18 out of 1000 people aged 15 to 35 harm themselves, and roughly half of all teenagers who are admitted for psychiatric treatment have injured themselves.
Shamos said: �When the emotional pain becomes immense, it is easier to deal with the physical pain. The cutting almost has a calming effect and can be addicti"

Kathy”, an advertising agency employer in Johannesburg who has been cutting herself for 12 years, confirmed this.

“The first time was when I was 13. I had had a fight and wanted to cry but I didn’t want to be weak. I went to the garage, saw a blade, and cut myself. Seeing blood gave me such relief.”

Kathy, whose father is an alcoholic, said: “I usually carry around a razor blade. When it is tucked away in my bag, I feel safe.”

Now in intensive therapy and on anti-depressant treatment, Kathy has stopped cutting for the past three months. She has been treated for depression, anxiety and, in the past, eating disorders.

Psychiatrist Dr Rykie Liebenberg said that those practising self-cutting try to cover it up.

“Self-cutting is very much hidden. There is a lot of stigma around it, as society can’t deal with it,” said Liebenberg.

Makhado student “Iris”, 16, agreed with this, saying that she had lied about her scars — even to a close friend. “I’m a Tsonga person and I’m too scared to speak up,” said Iris, who slices her hands with a razor blade about three times a week.

“I just feel so angry sometimes and want to hurt somebody else. Instead I hurt myself.

“Sometimes little things set me off, especially now with the stress of exams coming,” she said.

Iris confided in a social worker from her church but would not trust teachers with her secret.

Shamos said that adults should watch out when teenagers:

•Isolate themselves;

•Neglect personal hygiene;

•Start performing badly at school; and

•Wear long clothing in warm weather.

Some Johannesburg schools are aware of the problem, and have approached the South African Depression and Anxiety Disorders Support Group.

With the group’s assistance, Kathy started a support initiative for self-cutters in Johannesburg about a year ago.


The danger of self-cutting is that it distances people from their painful feelings and, in the long-term, makes it even harder to deal with them.



•The South African Depression and Anxiety Disorders Support Group can be contacted on (011) 783-474 or (011) 884-1797.

On world stage, France's role is audience favorite | csmonitor.com: "In the survey of people in 23 countries across the globe, a majority or plurality in 20 described France as exerting a positive influence on world affairs. The US, by comparison, is seen as having a negative impact by majorities in 15 countries.
'France is seen as a countervoice to the US,' says Steven Kull, director of PIPA. 'It becomes a rallying point for all those who don't want to follow America's lead.'
Certainly, Paris appeals in part precisely because it is not Washington. But it goes beyond that. From the streets of Shanghai to Berlin, Monitor interviews found that the French flair for the finer things in life has a special cachet.
French movies are admired worldwide for their subtlety and depth; French fashion houses dress the rich and powerful worldwide; and the lure of French art and cuisine fascinated foreigners long before Paris stood up to Washington politically"

France is so admired because "many people think France is a country that tries to correct the imbalances of today's world, such as the excessive power of the United States