~e; Electromagnetic News & Views - Issue 1
From
human being <human@electronetwork.org>
Date
Sat, 28 Sep 2002 00:38:05 -0500
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Electromagnetic News & Views -- Issue 1 beta
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1) Links to EM News and Views (9/28/2002)
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1) Links to EM News and Views
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electromagnetic health and medicine
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// top story... and, common sense. mind & matter, both
// electromagnetic, are foundations of a new empiricism...
How Does Human Consciousness Work?
"In a paper published in the latest issue of the Journal of
Consciousness Studies, awareness is said to be generated by
the brain's electromagnetic field, which is a product of the
over 100 billion electrically active neurons in the brain."
...
"For humans, he believes that information taken in from the
outside world through our senses passes through the brain's
electromagnetic field to neurons in the brain and then back
again to the field, creating a self-referring loop that could
be the key to consciousness."
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20020909/brain.html
---
// electromagnetic auras and migraine headaches...
Research Offers Clues to Migraine Pain
"These changes in calcium channels most likely lead to an
increased release of excitatory chemicals in the brain,
"making the brain hyperexcitable and favoring the slowly
spreading abnormal electrical activity that causes the
migraine aura and headache," Pietrobon told Reuters Health.
A drug that makes it harder for calcium channels to open
may treat migraine, she said.
Pietrobon and her colleagues plan to study the effects of
FHM mutations in living mice, but the current findings
raise an interesting hypothesis about what causes migraine
and the aura that sometimes accompanies the headache.
About 20 to 40 minutes before migraine pain begins, some
people experience a visual aura. The signs of an aura vary,
but they may include seeing spots or lines, or in some cases,
hallucinations." "
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/reuters20020909_529.html
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electromagnetic trash & treasure
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// one of the biggest issues of the early 21st century
// may arise with the transfer of analog to digital TV
// sets and each of the television sets being thrown out
// with the 5 lbs of lead in each cathode-ray tube, to be
// recycled, shipped offshore, or wherever. what is known
// is that US landfills will bury this future e-waste.
China Refuses U.S. Electronic Trash
"BEIJING (AP) - Bristling at being used as a dump for scrap
electronics, China has moved to send back more than 400 tons
of computers and office equipment that it said arrived from
the United States and went unclaimed for more than two weeks..."
http://apnews.excite.com/article/20020926/D7M9K5BO0.html
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U.K. backs cell phone recyclers
"Under the plan, phones, chargers and accessories that can't
be reused will be recycled. Rather than simply being thrown
into landfill sites, handsets--which include precious metals
such as platinum and silver, as well as lithium and in some
cases cadmium--are carefully broken down and their constituent
parts recovered for later use."
http://news.com.com/2100-1033-959223.html?tag=dd.ne.dtx.nl-sty.0
---
// i believe the ACCRC was mentioned here a few months ago. in
// addition, there have been similar efforts to ship computers
// to places like Cuba and elsewhere, for similar reasons...
Building the underground computer railroad
"Anti-globalization activists in Oakland, Calif., are recycling
old machines, loading them with free software and shipping them
off to Ecuador."
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/23/antiglobal_geeks/
---
// this should be in the 'security' category, too. i have seen
// government agencies on e-mail lists giving away old computers
// and have been at warehouses which sell old 5.25 equipment and
// hardrives (in bulk, it seems) which most likely retain data,
// potentially top-secret, which could be recovered with software.
// having written to a bureaucracy about this, the reply was that
// if it were a problem the military wouldn't be doing it. uh-oh.
Junked PCs Offer Data for Taking
"Many security experts agree that "dustbin computer" data poses
a legitimate threat, if not to the fate of the nation, then to
individuals' privacy rights."
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,54986,00.html
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security and surveillance
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// this may be the issue that makes the computer industry more
// like the automobile industry with quality-control issues...
Hand-Held Devices Are 'Weak Link' in Internet Security, Experts Says
"OMAHA, Neb. (Omaha World-Herald) - Erik Laykin is an Internet
security expert who readily admitted Thursday that his Blackberry,
the one clipped to his belt, needs no password to get to his e-mail,
his client list and his company's contracts...
[? nothing about unencrypted computer networks & data transmission?
& lack of strong-encryption for e-commerce, chat, WWW, e-mailing ?]
"Laykin, founder and president of Onlinesecurity.com, a Los Angeles-
based international firm, listed six global threats to Internet
security: state-sponsored terrorism, anti-globalization activists,
mercenary hackers, cyber vandals, internal theft and corporate spying."
http://www.slb.com/ba.cfm?baid=3&storyid=583261
---
Transparent token is cryptographic key
"A transparent token the size of a postage stamp and costing just
a penny to make can be used to generate an immensely powerful
cryptographic key."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992828
---
// beyond the difficult repeated imagery of a child-beating on
// US TV recently, it has brought the capacity of surveillance
// to become multi-use and have mission-creep, for better & worse.
// what is also noticeable is the expontential growth of a small
// cadre of traffic cameras, over a period of 10 years in this
// area, to massive installations along many roads, off of city
// streets and main highways, and into onraps, intersections, and
// elsewhere. so too, even store labeling goes discrete with its
// monitoring as shoplifting countermeasures, as a sticker was
// located on the inside of a sealed package, a stamp with an
// electromagnetic circuit of sorts, for info-tracking, in addition
// to the more benign magnetic bar to set off store alarms. next
// time i will photograph one the next time one reveals itself...
Mall surveillance under spotlight
"Few areas are watched as closely these days as shopping centers
and their parking lots, including in Charlotte and the Carolinas.
Mall managers and retailers have made surveillance a key tool in
their fight against shoplifting, auto theft and protection from
frivolous lawsuits. And in the wake of the terrorist attacks,
surveillance will only increase, experts said."
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/nation/4140996.htm
---
// imagine driving an 18-wheeler, going 60mph on a freeway, and
// making a wrong turn in dense traffic, with a satellite monitor
// then turning off the ignition with hazardous waste as payload:
// this would be a very serious terrorist threat just by itself.
// then, to deploy fleets of hazmat trucks with this capability...
Hazmat Haulers Keep on Truckin'
"One is the system's ability to create a virtual fence. Basically,
when a truck veers from its route or tries to enter an area it
shouldn't, the engine automatically shuts down."
http://www.wired.com/news/gizmos/0,1452,55223,00.html
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electromagnetic power, energy...
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// a recurring thought, and i forget if this has been mentioned
// besides the Hindebergh (sp) side-effect of fuel-cell systems,
// is i wonder if they became mass deployed if they would have
// a significant effect on the humidity levels in cities, which
// might turn arid places more moderate, and moderate climates,
// more tropical, even if it is snow-country. secondly, the way
// fuel-cells could play out, and why markets and energy trading
// may never be totally off the table, is that it would be one
// technology where trading is beneficial at some limited scale,
// without using massive transmission systems (and losses) which
// could facilitate the transformation through incentives. this
// is just a curiosity, yet small-scale cooperatives or trading
// at a small scale could bring all elements of the electromagnetic
// matter, energy, and information into one common infrastructure.
Hydrotopia
"Say goodbye to fossil fuels. Author and environmentalist
Jeremy Rifkin explains why hydrogen is the next great
power source."
http://salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/24/hydrogen/index.html
---
// included for the scale of this installation...
Giant Congo hydroelectric project is a 'betrayal'
"The biggest, strongly backed by Mbeki, is the creation of an
Africa-wide electricity grid. At its hub would be the world's
largest hydroelectric scheme, at Inga Falls on the Congo.
Here the river drops 100 metres, promising huge amounts of
energy for powering turbines. The $6 billion Grand Inga
hydroelectric project, the brainchild of South African
energy conglomerate Eskom, would generate 40,000 megawatts
of electricity.
That's three times as much as any existing hydroelectric dam
and more than twice that of China's controversial Three Gorges
scheme. Inga could meet the current electricity demands of the
entire continent, which is admittedly tiny by comparison to,
say, Europe's."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992839
---
// there is a lost tradition in architecture of working
// for houses that unite many new features and aspects into
// a well designed and manufactureable and-or do-it-yourself
// affordable homes. most notable being FLlW's Usonian homes.
// the same could happen with solar, fuel cell, wind, water
// recycling, e-commerce, etc. if architecture began to lead...
Contest Seeks to Focus Interest on Solar Energy
"NEW YORK (Reuters) - However unstable the oil-producing regions
of the world become, an alternative energy source like solar power
can't seem to shake the perception that it's too expensive."
http://www.slb.com/ba.cfm?baid=4&storyid=583623
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electromagnetism and current affairs
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// California Power Crisis: file under Enronomics...
In Broad Daylight
By PAUL KRUGMAN
" And that's the real mystery of the California crisis:
how could a $30 billion robbery take place in broad daylight?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/27/opinion/27KRUG.html
---
// a footnote to war: oil power & EM energy
Russia fears US oil companies will take over world's second-biggest
reserves
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=336691
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// a quote of the week
"Just on the material aspect - I love it when people darkly describe the
coming intervention as "blood for oil", or equivalent gibberish.
Does this mean what it appears to mean, namely that oil is not worth
fighting over?"
-- HITCHENS: WE MUST FIGHT IRAQ by Christopher Hitchens
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/
page.cfm?objectid=12227453&method=full&siteid=50143
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cartography & geography | space, time, & place
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A New Way to Read, Not See, Maps
By Mark Tosczak
"When the cursor passes over land, the sound of horses galloping
comes from the computer's speakers. Move it over water and the
sound of waves breaking on a beach emanates."
http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54916,00.html
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// two things of note: one, the title made me wonder if this was
// an offensive weapon system, like directing lightning strikes,
// which probably is possible or could be, eventually. secondly,
// it is interesting that the old instruction on counting the
// time (in seconds, one mississippi, two mississippi is how it
// is taught here) between lightning strikes and thunder to estimate
// the distance is now put to work in complex EM systems, using the
// most expert analyses of air density to measure the speed of sound
// and triangulation to locate strikes, the old reinventing itself...
NASA Invention Pinpoints Lightning Strikes
"When a lightning bolt strikes within SOLLO's range, an
electrical sensor registers the event and its precise time
- and where there's lightning there's also thunder --
a sound that's hard to miss.
Since sound travels several orders of magnitude slower than
the electrical impulse from the bolt to the computer, SOLLO's
ring of microphones pick it up at different times."
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/
lightning_strikes_020925.html
---
Computer Pings May Measure Light Speed
"A centuries-old endeavor has leapt into the computer age with a
novel new method to measure the speed of light proposed by physics
educators at Youngstown State University.
"The approach is simply to reflect small data packets -- ping signals
-- between two computers that are connected with Ethernet cards and
cables, and record the round-trip time," method author and physics
professor Michael Crescimanno explained in his recent paper on the
topic."
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19513.html
-{and}-
Computer Signals Size Up Earth
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=75&ncid=75&e=7&u=/nf/
20020919/tc_nf/19454
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electromagnetic warfare and warfighting...
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// this story was widely derided and yet is of cultural
// interest for public descriptions of developed yet not
// yet deployed technologies, of future war fighting...
Newsweek sees potential war between Taiwan and mainland
"Taking a note from recent reports coming out of the Pentagon,
the article sees the PRC using electromagnetic-pulse weaponry
to wreak havoc on Taipei.
Electromagnetic pulse weaponry, or electromagnetic bombs, is
currently being researched as a means of paralyzing an enemy's
chain of command and communications.
Pulses of high power microwaves have been shown to be able to
damage or destroy electrical and electronic equipment such as
computers, radio and radar without causing human casualties.
At the end of July, reports have suggested that the PRC is
working on developing this sort of technology and will be
capable of launching an e-bomb by as early as 2010.
At present, discussion of e-bombs envisions payloads being
delivered via missiles or bombers."
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=30494&GRP=B
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// a strange parallel to Dr. Strangelove: gamers as rocket-jockies...
Video system can redirect stray missiles
"The new system, confusingly known as automatic target acquisition
(ATA), allows a human to intervene if the missile appears to be
going astray. It is already being fitted to the US Navy's SLAMER
missiles, which in many respects work like a smaller version of
a cruise missile."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992841
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trends and inventions...
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Smart alarm clock lets you lie in
" A smart alarm clock that will allow you a lie-in or
wake you up early depending on traffic conditions has
been invented by researchers at Brunel University in
southern England."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2269144.stm
---
// the global image sensor market
Japan's 'Electronic Film' Pioneers Brace for Rivals
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=581&ncid=581&e=2&u=/
nm/20020926/tc_nm/tech_microchips_image_dc
---
// drive-by-electromagnetic-wire, with fuel cells...
GM's Hy-Wire Brakes Driving Mold
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55390,00.html
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Sharp's U.K. Lab Develops 3-D Flat Screen
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=581&ncid=581&e=1&u=/
nm/20020927/tc_nm/tech_japan_sharp_dc
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