Couple of interesting stories in this week's Schnews http://www.schnews.org.uk/ ---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Subject: SchNEWS 221, Friday 23rd July 1999 Date: Fri, 23 Jul 1999 13:09:44 +0100 (BST) From: "SchNEWS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This is SchNEWS, the weekly direct action newsletter published by Justice? in Brighton, England. You're subscribed to SCHNEWS-L, our automated mailing list. To unsubscribe, or to get in touch, see the bottom of this message. Email SchNEWS is FREE but we're skint. If you want to make a donation, send a cheque payable to "Justice?" to the address at the bottom of this message. Write "SchNEWS Online" on the back of the cheque. Thanks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [snipped] It may have passed you by, but in 1993 the (non-psychoactive) cultivation of cannabis was legalised. Eventually hemp could well replace cotton, coal and cattle in terms of providing our fibre, fuel and protein needs. It is not only eco-friendly, requiring neither pesticides or fertilisers, but is also three times as strong as cotton, burns hotter than coal if compressed and is arguably the most nutritious foodstuff in the plant kingdom. Web: http://www.thehempcorp.demon.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ AND FINALLY Computers 2, People 0 In what seems like a sinister robot plot to throw humans into chaos, faulty computer systems in drinks machines are inundating Australian emergency services with bogus distress calls. Thousands of Sydney vending machines, programmed to call distributors when they run out of sodas, are calling the emergency services 000 number instead! Hundreds of the calls were made to fire, police and ambulance services by the glorified refrigerators, blocking real emergency calls. Perhaps the poor things are lonely, missing their human stock-checkers. A spokeswoman for the 000 service said the problem is getting worse and spreading to other electronic devices! Meanwhile, Toronto had a scary foretaste of millenium plague last week when a small circuit box fire managed to wipe out 170,000 phone lines, most cell phones and cash points. Systems also crashed at the stock exchange, doctors' pagers and much internet and e-mail. Financial traders could only operate by (horror!) talking to each other face-to-face in the street. Building security systems collapsed, including banks, though this was not made public until later to avoid spontaneous outbursts of wealth redistribution. [end snip] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO SCHNEWS ON PAPER Send us first class stamps (e.g. 20 for the next 20 issues) or donations (cheques payable to "Justice?"). Or £15 for a year's subscription, or the SchNEWS supporter's rate, £1 a week. Ask for "original" if you plan to copy and distribute. SchNEWS is post-free to prisoners. You can also pick SchNEWS up at the Brighton Peace and Environment Centre at 43 Gardner Street, Brighton. HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE OR SUBSCRIBE TO SCHNEWS-L To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with only "unsubscribe schnews-l" (without the quotes) in the body. To subscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED], with only the line "subscribe schnews-l Jo" (without the quotes) below in the body. You can replace "Jo" with your own name if you like. SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 2DX, England Phone/Fax (call before faxing): 01273 685913 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.schnews.org.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ @nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute! SchNEWS Web Team ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) -- Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
