PLEASE NOTE:
*
Date sent: Fri, 06
Feb 1998 09:48:15 -0500 (EST)
From:
Benny J Peiser B.J.PEISER@livjm.ac.uk
Subject: CC
DIGEST, 6 February 1998
To:
cambridge-conference@livjm.ac.uk
Priority: NORMAL
CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE DIGEST, 6 February 1998
--------------------------------------------
(1) WAVE OF GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR SIR ARTHUR C CLARKE, THE
HUMANIST,
SCIENCE VISIONARY AND PATRON OF SPACEGUARD UK
b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk
http://www.Sunday-Times.co.uk:80/news/pages/Times//frontpage.html?1617548
(2) NEW EVIDENCE FOR GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTER AT ~8200 BP
http://www.spacer.com
(3) ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE & THE RISE AND FALL OF AN ANDEAN
CIVILISATION
M.W. Binford et al., Harvard University
(4) POSSIBLE METEORITE DROPPING FIREBALL OVER GERMANY
Bernd Pauli bernd.pauli@lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
(5) THE POWER OF THE BULL
Phil Burns pib@nwu.edu
(6) A COUPLE OF CORRECTIONS
Bob Kobres bkobres@uga.cc.uga.edu
====================================
(1) WAVE OF GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR SIR ARTHUR C CLARKE, THE HUMANIST,
SCIENCE VISIONARY AND PATRON OF SPACEGUARD UK
I am sure that all of you are just as appalled as I am about
the
current press campaign by the Sunday Mirror (London) against
Arthur C Clarke. Unfortunately, the recent events have
somwhat overshadowed the international delight and joy about the
decision by the British Government to award Arthur C Clarke a
knighthood for his visionary contribution to British and world
culture. While the Prince of Wales, on a state visit in Sri
Lanka and not a friend of tabloid innuendo, had planned to
formally knight Sir Arthur last Wednesday, the ceremony has been
postponed for the time being at the request of Arthur C Clarke.
By
laudly voicing our support for a fellow science writer and
comrade-in-arms, we should make sure that the official award
ceremony will take place as soon as possible.
I have attached today's report from Colombo by Christopher
Thomas
of The Times.
Benny J Peiser
-------------------
From THE TIMES , 6 February 1998
http://www.Sunday-Times.co.uk:80/news/pages/Times//frontpage.html?1617548
Reporters chastised by writer at royal banquet
From Christopher Thomas in Colombo
ARTHUR C. CLARKE denied last night that he had ever paid for
sex
with boys, describing it as "one of the most revolting
charges
ever laid against anybody - that is why I am so upset by
it".
Sipping an orange juice at a state banquet in Colombo, he talked
briefly to the Prince of Wales, exchanging pleasantries and
smiling.
His arrival at the banquet at President's House, where the
Prince
was guest of honour, surprised everybody, including the British
High
Commission, which has been trying since Sunday to track him down
after the
Sunday Mirror accused him of having sex with boys in the 1980s.
"I didn't
expect you lot to be here," he told journalists who
approached him. "This is
not Arthur C. Clarke. It's a clone." He added, laughing:
"I am not supposed
to say anything to you bastards."
Sir Arthur, 80, suffering from post-polio syndrome, arrived in
a
wheelchair as dignitaries from more than a dozen countries
gathered
amid intense security for the last big event of a week of events
celebrating Sri Lanka's 50th anniversary of independence from
Britain. "I am
not saying anything because I am taking legal advice," Sir
Arthur declared
initially, but went on to talk briefly of his disgust at the
accusation.
The exchange with the Prince happened in the greeting line
before
dinner began. They shook hands and the Prince stooped to talk to
him.
The Palace is believed to have favoured going ahead with plans
for the
Prince formally to knight Sir Arthur two days ago, but the
science fiction
writer asked for a postponement, saying he did not want to
embarrass the
royal visitor.
Sir Arthur was too frail to travel to London after the award
of his
knighthood in the New Year's Honours List. He issued a statement
last
night, dimissing as "nonsense" the Sunday Mirror
allegation that he had
admitted to two of its reporters that he had sex with boys.
"Having always
had a particular dislike for paedophiles, few charges could be
more
revolting to me than to be classed as one," the statement
said. It was
signed Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
He reiterated that he was seeking legal advice on the report.
The
Sunday Mirror journalists who wrote the story, and who are still
in
Colombo, claim to have his confession on tape after identifying
themselves to him as reporters and asking him if he had ever had
sex with boys. Sir Arthur said the allegations had triggered a
wave of
support for him from friends all over the world, "some of
whom I never knew
I had". He added: "Indeed, the accusations are such
nonsense that I have
found it difficult to treat them with the contempt they deserve.
My
conscience is perfectly clear. In any event, I categorically
state that the
Sunday Mirror article is grossly defamatory and contains
statements which in
themselves and by innuendo are quite false, grossly inaccurate
and extremely
harmful."
Sir Arthur has lived in Sri Lanka for 42 years. He came
initially to
pursue his love of diving, and fell in love with the island,
proclaiming it decades ago as his permanent home. Copyright 1998,
Times Newspapers Ltd.
============================
(2) NEW EVIDENCE FOR GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTER AT ~8200 BP
From: SPACER.COM http://www.spacer.com
Abrupt Cold Events Cause Rapid Change
San Francisco, Calif - February 2, 1998 - About 8,200 years
ago, the
world climate suddenly got colder and stayed that way for a few
hundred
years before temperatures returned to normal, according to a team
of
paleoclimatologists.
"This event, which we are calling the 8K event, was short
compared to
other, more distant events, " says Anna Maria Agustsdottir,
graduate
student in geosciences, Penn State. "We see it in the
Greenland ice
cores as one of the biggest dips during the Holocene."
The Holocene is the geologic period beginning about 10,000
years ago at the
end of the last glaciation and continuing up to today. Unlike
other events,
the 8K takes place in what for geologists is the very recent
past.
"Temperatures abruptly decreased about 11 degrees
Fahrenheit during the 8K
event," said Agustsdottir at the fall meeting of the
American Geophysical
Union in San Francisco in late December.
The change in climate during this period can be seen not only
in the
temperature record from the Greenland ice cores, but also in ice
accumulation, in the indicators of forest fires and in the
amounts of
methane found in the atmosphere.
"Methane is not just an indicator of local climate
change," says
Agustsdottir. "But it indicates a global change in
climate."
The researchers, who include Agustsdottir; Richard Alley,
professor of
geosciences, Penn State; and Peter J. Fawcett of the University
of New
Mexico, note that during the 8K, Greenland became cold, dry and
windy,
Canada became cold and the North Atlantic Basin cold and fresh.
Asia and
Africa also showed colder, dryer climate while South America and
North
America were wetter.
"This event appears to be very similar to, if some what
shorter than,
the Younger Dryas event that occurred about 12,000 years
ago," says
Agustsdottir. "We are trying to find the underlying cause
for these
sudden temperature drops."
The researchers believe that these events occur when the ocean
conveyor
system shuts down. This system is a series of currents that
normally move
warm water from the equatorial zone to the north. This water
cools as it
moves northward and the colder, saltier water sinks and flows
back toward
the equator to replace water moving north. Temperature, water
density and
salinity control ocean currents. When the ocean conveyor shuts
down, deep,
cold water formation stops in the north and the cyclical flow of
water
halts, cooling Europe and its surroundings.
"We do not know what shuts down the conveyor, but one
possibility is an
increase in fresh water in the North Atlantic that would decrease
salinity
and prevent the water from sinking," says Agustsdottir.
Using a climate simulation model called GENESIS, the
researchers are
trying to model events leading up to the 8K event to simulate an
ocean
conveyor shut down and temperature decline. The Penn State
researchers have
used this method on the Younger Dryas event with some success.
"Using conditions similar to today's oceans, the model
response to a
conveyor shutdown does not match data from the 8K event,"
says
Agustsdottir. "However, shutdown from an ocean with a more
vigorous
conveyor does match observations. This indicates that things were
different in the early Holocene."
She considers the mechanism behind these sudden cold spells
important
because the climate changes are so rapid. While we cannot predict
the
future, we can learn from events in the past and see how they
occurred.
"If change is gradual, animals, plants and humans can
adapt to
the new environment," Agustsdottir says. "If change is
abrupt,
crops fail, rains do not come or come too frequently and people
do
not have time to adjust." Copyright 1998, Spacer.Com
=================================
(3) ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE & THE RISE AND FALL OF AN ANDEAN
CIVILISATION
M.W. Binford*), A.L. Kolata, M. Brenner, J.W. Janusek, M.T.
Seddon,
M. Abbott, and J.H. Curtis: Climate variation and the rise and
fall of an
Andean civilization. QUATERNARY RESEARCH, 1997, Vol.47, No.2,
pp.235-248
*) HARVARD UNIVERSITY, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGN, 48 QUINCY
ST,
CAMBRIDGE, MA, 02138
Paleolimnological and archaeological records that span 3500
years from Lake
Titicaca and the surrounding Bolivian-Peruvian altiplano
demonstrate that
the emergence of agriculture (ca. 1500 B.C.) and the collapse of
the
Tiwanaku civilization (ca. A.D. 1100) coincided with periods of
abrupt,
profound climate change. The timing and magnitude of climate
changes are
inferred from stratigraphic evidence of lake-level variation
recorded in
C-14-dated lake-sediment cores. Paleolake levels provide
estimates of
drainage basin water balance. Archaeological evidence establishes
spatial
and temporal patterns of agricultural field use and abandonment.
Prior to
1500 B.C., aridity in the altiplano precluded intensive
agriculture. During
a wetter period from 1500 B.C. to A.D. 1100, the Tiwanaku
civilization and
its immediate predecessors developed specialized agricultural
methods that
stimulated population growth and sustained large human
settlements, A
prolonged drier period (ca. A.D. 1100-1400) caused declining
agricultural
production, field abandonment, and cultural collapse. (C) 1997
University of
Washington.
=======================================
(4) POSSIBLE METEORITE DROPPING FIREBALL OVER GERMANY
From: Bernd Pauli bernd.pauli@lehrer1.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de
Jürgen Rendtel's homepage: http://aipsoe.aip.de/~rend/rnl-p.html
1998 January 25, 19h 13m 50s +-15s UT = 20h 13m 50s +-15s MEZ
Possible meteorite dropping fireball
A fireball of about -8 mag apparent brightness was observed
visually
(Manuela Trenn, Potsdam; Sven Näther, Potsdam; Sabine Wächter,
Alberice/Czech Republic) and photographed by five photographic
camera
stations of the European Network (EN). One of these stations is
located in Potsdam (#33), the others are in the Czech Republic.
There
is a network of camera stations for detecting bright meteors,
covering parts of Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands
and
Slovakia. The fireball of January 25 was not exceptionally
bright. So
it was thought to be a mere `routine event'. A closer look at the
trajectory as obtained from the different stations showed, that
the
terminal point of the luminous trail was as low as 24 km above
the
Earth's surface. Furthermore, the trajectory was almost vertical,
thus keeping the length of the luminous trajectory relatively
short.
These circumstances indicate that there MAY BE a little material
left, and a small meteorite MAY HAVE FALLEN south of Cottbus.
Meanwhile we received a few further reports. Witnesses closer to
the
terminal point of the trajectory saw the bright fireball and
reported
sounds some time after the fireball disappeared. All this
information
is collected and will be used to reduce the size of the potential
search area. The image shown above is a part of the Potsdam
camera
photograph. The long curved parallel trails are from the stars
during
the exposure (from 16h 54m UT to 22h 01m UT), the one curved
trail is
from an airplane and the straight line close to the southern
horizon is the
fireball.
Best Wishes, Bernd
============================
(5) THE POWER OF THE BULL
From: Phil Burns pib@nwu.edu
Michael Rice is the author of a recent book entitled "The
Power of
the Bull" (Routledge, 1998) which discusses the role of bull
cults in
many ancient societies. Members of the Cambridge list may be
interested in Rice's invocation of astronomical referents for
some of
the mythology involved with bull cults, including
quasi-precessional
phenomena.
Rice offers a most intriguing statement on page 110:
"It is surely more likely that the persistence of icons
such
as the lion-bull combat in the Near East, as was especially
the case in south-western Iran, was the result of the
observation of some otherwise unrecorded event, most probably
some form of dramatic cometary activity. Even this
possibility does not, however, answer the question of why the
lion
and bull should have been thus identified."
Rice provides no footnote or other reference for this
statement.
I know that Elizabeth Chesley Baity was working on this very idea
at
the end of her life. Unfortunately she passed away before
publishing
her research in this area.
============================
(6) A COUPLE OF CORRECTIONS
From: Bob Kobres bkobres@uga.cc.uga.edu
First, it was pointed out to me by Nick Martin, who works as a
microbiologist, that I misused the term `autoimmune' in my most
recent comment. I should have wished for us to behave as an
IMMUNE
SYSTEM, as I did correctly about a decade ago. See:
http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/discd.html#immune
Anyway, since Benny has posted my gaffe THREE times I decided
that it
was worth noting that the term autoimmune relates only to an
immune
response by the body against one of its own tissues or types of
cells. Unfortunately, as Nick pointed out, that term is actually
more
descriptive of our present behavior than the mode of activity I
think
we are capable of: A Properly functioning IMMUNE SYSTEM for
Life on
Earth.
Also, Victor Noto conveyed to me that he erred on predicting
the date
for `Armageddon'--the movie is actually due to be released this
summer.
Later.
bobk
Bob Kobres
bkobres@uga.cc.uga.edu
http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk
706-542-0583
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