August 3, 2000
ALTERNA-TV
Local media activists have launched the online Earth
Station TV,
which, they say, is a source of alternative information that mainstream
television won"t give you. "We are an independent group of journalists,
film
makers, artists and concerned citizens," reads their blurb, "our
mandate is to
offer a different perspective of current events which will mostly focus
on
environmental and social justice issues. We look for the truth and will
challenge anyone to prove us wrong." Check it out at
www.earthstationtv.com
for short films about the Elaho Valley, the Great Spirit Bear
Rainforest,
Cannabis Day and Medical Marijuana.
YEAH, OK, WHATEVER...
Sylvester Stallone"s mom Jacqueline is making
the media
circuit rounds with her two psychic Dobermans, who "channel messages
from the
spirit world and telepathically send them to me," she claims. Among her
stupid
celebrity predictions is her claim that within ten years prisoners will
be
sent to Mars and guarded by robots. The dogs have been offered a deal
to start
a psychic dog hotline, but, she says "I"m not going to use them for
nonsense."
Too late, Jackie. (Los Angeles Times)
IN THE FUTURE...
David Criswell, director of the Institute for Space
Systems, is
trying to convince NASA and the American government to begin work on a
Lunar
Solar Power System, which, for around $150 billion dollars, could
supply
enough lunar solar power to meet all the basic human needs of 10
billion
people by the year 2050, he claims. The plan involves large fields of
solar
cells that energize sets of microwave transmitters that would beam
energy to
receivers on Earth. Orbiting reflectors can redirect the energy beams
when
the receivers are not in sight of the moon, and solar sails circling
the moon
would reflect sunlight down to the lunar sites. (www.space.com)
SPACED OUT
44-year-old Brian Walker of Bend, Oregon has spent a
quarter of a
million dollars building himself a rocket, and plans to shoot himself
out
about 30 miles into the atmosphere next year. "I can only go so high,"
he
admits, "when I run out of fuel, I"ll come back down." Good thinking,
Einstein. (Seattle Times)
STORIES WE"RE SORRY TO HAVE MISSED
Thanks to Fortean Times, here are
some
actual headlines from newspapers in Great Britain: "Severed Hand Saved
By
Peas"; "Woman from Mars Says Nothing"; "Diet of Premature Babies
Affects IQ";
"500-year-old Child Found,"; "Woman Fights Giant Radish"; "Celibacy
Could Make
Priests Extinct"; "Rhinos Crash Back to Earth"; "Legal Actions Aim to
Prevent
"Anorexic and Alien Body" Being Built"; "Stealth Fighter Crashes into a
Time
Warp"; and "Tarzan"s Loincloth hid a Big Swinger".
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
A huge setback to mad scientists" hopes that
animals could someday supply spare parts for human surgery has reared
its head
as a new study from Britain"s Natural Environmental Research Council
has
documented experiments that show that pig hearts and kidneys carry
potentially deadly retroviruses. The scientists warned that these
cancer-causing retrovirues can spread easily between species, which
could
trigger a global pandemic of deadly new diseases if transplanting
animal
organs into humans becomes common. For now, a moratorium on
xenotransplant
surgery is in effect, although biotechnology companies are continuing
with
research. (www.observer.co.uk)
BREAKING THE BANK
When a woman in London, England discovered that a
bank
machine was giving out 20 pound notes when 10 pounds were asked for,
she
didn"t call the bank to inform them of the problem. Instead, she called
her
friends, who came down and made transactions for five hours before
police
arrived on the scene. (Reuters)
DON"T DRINK THE WATER
The World Resources Institute has released some
disturbing figures regarding the rapidly declining amount of usable
water for
China"s billion citizens. Half of China"s cities have serious water
shortages;
over 80% of its rivers are too polluted for fish to survive; over 700
million
people in China drink water contaminated with human and animal waste;
over 30
billion tons of urban sewage is discharged each year into China"s
rivers,
lakes and seas, and only 2.7 per cent of that water receives any
treatment
whatsoever. The WRI calls China"s surface water "sources of toxic soups
spiked
with large quantities of parasites, bacteria, viruses, acids, alkali,
nitrogen, phosphate, phenols, cyanide, lead, cadmium and mercury,"
which has
been linked to illnesses ranging from dysentery to stomach cancer, and
is
suspected of impairing the mental and physical development of China"s
children. The study concludes "the worst is yet to come, because water
use and
water pollution are both going up." (Knight Ridder)
Go to:
FREE EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION TO CURIOUS TIMES
BACK TO TOP
CURIOUS LINKS
Copyright 2000 by Andreas Ohrt
(604) 803-7485
Email:aohrt@hotmail.com
Website:www.curioustimes.com