Friday, 11 August 2000
1. ENERGY: DRESSELHAUS FACES BUDGET CHALLENGE AT SCIENCE OFFICE.
Just how serious that challenge is was bluntly stated by Neal
Lane, the President's Science Advisor, at the Monday swearing in
of Millie Dresselhaus as Director of the DOE Office of Science:
Congress has cut $1.8B from the R&D request "precisely at the
moment in history when we can best afford to invest in America's
future." One of the nation's most honored physicists, and the
1984 APS President, Millie took the job because she's needed.
2. BUDGET ALERT: YOU CAN HELP MILLIE.
The final DOE budget will
be determined by a few key legislators. They need your input
immediately. For details see
www.aps.org/public_affairs/.
3. STATE: PAIR-O'-DRIVES LOST.
The State Department is offering a
$25,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of a
laptop containing highly classified information on weapons of
mass destruction. The black laptop escaped from a sixth floor
conference room in January. Has anybody looked behind the copy
machine? And where are the polygraphs? When a hard drive turned
up missing at Los Alamos, the interrogation was so intense the
employees involved were later given two weeks off to recover.
4. DEFENSE: WAITING FOR MORE DOUGH?
Secretary of Defense Cohen
decided to postpone his recommendation to President Clinton on
deployment of a national missile defense system until sometime in
September. The hang up, we learn, is that technical problems
with a new booster could delay deployment by two years.
5. FLORSHEIM: ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FARCES IN THE UNIVERSE.
According to the brochure describing the benefits of MagneForce
shoes: "Magnetism represents one of the most basic powers in the
universe. This force keeps order in the galaxy, allowing the
stars and planets to spin at significant velocities...At the
earth's surface, the magnetic field is relatively weak, but
serves to keep humans attached to the earth. Without it we would
spin off into space." There is much, much more, but this gives
you the flavor. Florsheim says this information is "compiled
from the writings of leaders in the field." This quote, in fact,
is taken directly from "Healing with Magnets" by Gary Null, Ph.D.
6. NULL: THREE DEGREES OF SEPARATION.
"A Ph.D. in what?" I can
hear you asking. Null claims three degrees: an associate degree
from Mountain State College in Parkersburg, WV, a 2-year business
school; a bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State College in
New Jersey, a "non-traditional" school without campus or courses
that awards degrees for "life experiences"; and a Ph.D. in health
from The Union Institute in Cincinnati, where students design
their own programs, and form and chair their own PhD committees.
(Maria Cranor contributed to this week's WN.)
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