-Caveat Lector-
SkeptiNews 990629a - - - - - - - - - - - All The News That's Fit To Question
: Passages starting with ':' are editorial comments to provoke discussion.
: Nothing contained herein is ever endorsed for truth, accuracy or meaning.
: No cardiac patients were fibrillated during production of this bulletin.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# NASA nixes comet landing. LOS ANGELES (AP) A $240 million NASA mission to
land a probe on the surface of a comet for the first time and drill into
its surface was scrapped - tight budget. The mission was axed to pay for
other projects' cost overruns. SpaceTech4/Champollion's demise means it
may be more than a decade before a robo-explorer lands on one of the huge
icy snowballs that sometimes collide with Earth with devastating impact.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2560107853-bd0
# NANOROVER BOUND FOR ASTEROID. NASA's next rover can leap small buildings
in a single bound but weighs just a bit more than Superman's cape. Unlike
its Mars-touring cousin Sojourner, the latest rover, called a nanorover
because it is so small, is designed to hop around an asteroid measuring a
kilometer, or about 1/2-mile, in diameter. The red planet is about 6,774
kilometers, or 4,200 miles across. How to drive on an asteroid? Very very
carefully: http://cnn.com/TECH/space/9906/28/asteroid.probe/index.html
: Would you rather explore asteroids, comets, planets, stars, sexuality, me?
How much are you willing to spend? What if aliens get there first? Which is
most likely to hit the Earth? Do planet-busters have budget cuts? Why not?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
@ The Case for Colonizing Mars (On an Affordable Budget!) In 1989, NASA put
together a plan to send a manned expedition to Mars, with a price tag of
$450 million. Is it possible to get there for considerably less? Yup.
http://xnewsnetwork.com/Headlines/Colonizing_Mars/colonizing_mars.html
# Mars Lander And Possibly Life Sites Eyed. Scientists gathered last week to
choose a landing site for a planned 2001 Mars flight amid rumors that NASA
budget cuts might scuttle the mission. They agreed on 5 categories for a
2001 landing: Mars' ancient highlands; layered deposits in the Valles Mar-
ineris (the so-called "Grand Canyon of Mars'); sites known to have iron;
ancient lakebeds; and ancient hydrothermal, or hot spring, regions. Hot
springs favored: http://discovery.com/news/briefs/brief4.html?ct=37780d5e
: Would you like to vacation at a Martian spa? Are Martian mud baths better
than those on Earth, Venus, Mercury, Uranus? Will/do aliens monopolize them?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# Space station mock-up opened in Holland. (BBC) A full-scale model of a
laboratory that will form part of the International Space Station (ISS)
has been opened at Noordwijk in the Netherlands. A really fun toy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_380000/380942.stm
@ Links: European Space Research & Technology Centre: http://estec.esa.int/
@ Int'l Space Station User Centre: http://www.worldonline.nl/sites/space/
: Will space stations make good theme-park attractions? Will you pay to go?
Do you prefer roller-coasters, ferris wheels, videogames, pinball, torture?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# World's oldest telescope? (BBC) If one Italian scientist is correct then
the telescope was not invented in the 1500s by Dutch spectacle makers, but
by ancient Assyrian astronomers nearly 3000 years earlier. A rock crystal
lens could rewrite the history of science and explain why the ancient
Assyrians knew so much about astronomy. Or maybe aliens taught them well.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_380000/380186.stm
@ Links - British Museum - Treasures from Assyria:
http://www.natmus.dk/pp/saer/nimrud/assyrgb.htm
@ The Assyrians:
http://relphil.hkbu.edu.hk/rp1080/intro_ot/Bible00000020.html
@ Who really invented the telescope?
http://www.honors.unr.edu/~fenimore/wt202/apple/
@ History of the telescope:
http://www-isds.jpl.nasa.gov/cwo/cwo_54ga/html/cd/telescop.htm
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# Are Eclipses Just Coincidence? - In the sky, the Sun and the Moon appear
to be the same size. The Moon is the perfect size and the perfect distance
from the Sun to create total eclipses. Earth is the only planet in our
solar system to experience eclipses even though there are 64 known moons.
A researcher offers an explanation that ties together these conditions
with the emergence and existence of intelligent life.
http://www.newscientist.com/ns/19990619/newsstory10.html
# Foucalt Pendulum to Test Eclipse Mystery. On August 11, during the last
total eclipse of the 20th century, two NASA scientists will be studying a 50
year-old mystery. http://xnewsnetwork.com/Headlines/Foucault/foucault.html
# Eclipse memories from 1927. (BBC) People who saw the total eclipse of 1927
recall their experiences, except for those gone totally dotty of course. See
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/specials/eclipse99/newsid_355000/355059.s
tm
: Do you perform special rituals to prevent the sun from being devoured by
lunar dragons? Do these rituals always work? If you fuck up, where are we?
Do you bribe gods/aliens/CIA to bring the sun back? Suppose they don't care?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
# How the Pyramids Were Built. It took 10 years, an average force of 13,200
men, 111 million jugs of beer and 126 million loaves of bread to build the
Great Pyramid at Giza, sez an international engineering and construction
management firm. http://discovery.com/news/briefs/brief2.html?ct=3773e0cd
# Egyptian Architect Says Shapes Can Heal - An Egyptian architect has been
studying the effects of geometric shapes in the healing process. He cites
the Great Pyramid of Giza as an example. Ibrahim Karim views the body as a
complex electrical energy field. By channeling energies through prisms of
varions shapes, the energy field can be healed. His method, with roots in
ancient Egyptian science, is built upon the concept of using vibrations
and energy sources beyond the physical senses to obtain data and facilit-
ate healing. http://cnn.com/HEALTH/alternative/9906/17/egypt.healer.reut/
: Do you sharpen razor blades in pyramid energy fields? Do you cut yourself?
Do you heal the cuts with pyramid power? Does pyramid power cure AIDS, flu,
dysentery, appendicitis, depression, epilepsy, sadomasochism, Alzheimer's?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Nothing compares to the complicated futility of ignorance." --Kurt Vonnegut
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://www.sonic.net/~ric * ICQ# 19633976 *
email INFO or SUBSCRIBE SKEPTICHAT to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
SkeptiChat archives: http://www.sonic.net/~ric/sc/files.htm
* UFO/ET/PSI * Conspiracy * Faith * Science * Fringe * Mind-Control *
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic
screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters
and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright
frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL
gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers;
be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and
nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
