Friday, January 3, 2003
1. TAIKONAUTS? CHINA GETS TO THE STARTING
LINE A LITTLE LATE.
About 40 years late. Yes, the space-race is back...and just in time. Shenzhou
IV is in orbit right now, testing life-support equipment for a manned
mission later this year. Already China is talking about putting humans
on the moon and Mars. "Appropriate in stature, quick in movement and unafraid
of hardship, Chinese astronauts are clearly superior," the head of China's
space program boasted to Chinese reporters. The brilliance of America's
space strategy now seems clear: Lure China into a space race. To compete
in human space flight, China will have to shift energy and resources from
its military adventures to Taikonauts, which will have little or no military
or economic payoff. At least we're now playing on a level field. Toss
in plans to the Space Shuttle and we could cripple China without firing
a shot.
2. LOS ALAMOS: BROWNE QUITS AMID CHARGES
OF THEFT AND CORRUPTION.
In recent years, Los Alamos has survived raging forest fires, a misguided
spy hunt, a capricious hard drive that disappeared and then reappeared,
and mandatory polygraph testing. Could the lab now succumb to credit card
abuse? Two investigators, hired to look into the credit card problems,
were dismissed. They did not go quietly, claiming the lab was engaged
in a coverup. Now, continuation of the University of California contract
to operate Los Alamos since 1943 is in question. Lab director John Browne
and Joseph Salgado, principal deputy director, resigned.
3. STOP CLONING AROUND: CLONAID HAS
STARTED BACKPEDALING.
Last week we reported that the company, founded by Raelians, picked gullible
physicist Michael Guillen to oversee verification of the cloning of baby
Eve (WN 27 Dec 02). He says he's
not being paid to do this, but it is generally believed that he is working
on a book or film deal. But it now seems that the parents (parent?) of
Eve are resisting such a test. We are, of course, shocked, but apparently
a Florida lawyer has filed a suit claiming that Eve is being abused or
exploited and asking the court to take custody. Meanwhile, the vice president
of Clonaid will explain the new cloning technology and discuss investment
opportunities at the Broward County Convention Center on 11 Jan 03 www.money-expo.com.
The workshop is free, but you're gonna need $99 to reserve a seat. Clonaid
is a commercial company, and it's not embarrassed about its goals: it
expects to make a lot of money. Immortality, after all, should be an easy
sell.
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