Monday, November 5, 2007

In the 1980’s and the 1990’s there were multiple allegations of sexual abuse of children or non-consenting adults in the context of Satanic rituals that has come to be known as The Satanic Panic. In the United States, the Kern County child abuse cases, McMartin preschool trial and the West Memphis 3 cases garnered worldwide media coverage. One case took place in Jordan, Minnesota, when children made allegations of manufacturing child pornography, ritualistic animal sacrifice, coprophagia, urophagia and infanticide, at which point the Federal Bureau of Investigation was alerted. Twenty-four adults were arrested and charged with acts of sexual abuse, child pornography and other crimes related to satanic ritual abuse; only three went to trial with two acquittals and one conviction. Supreme Court Justice Scalia noted in a discussion of the case, “[t]here is no doubt that some sexual abuse took place in Jordan; but there is no reason to believe it was as widespread as charged,” and cited the repeated, coercive techniques used by the investigators as damaging to the investigation.

One of the most visible Satanic organizations—though one that was never a suspect or charged in any of the Satanic Panic cases—is the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey. Members of the Church, such as Peter H. Gilmore, Peggy Nadramia, Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, Diabolos Rex, and musician King Diamond, were active in media appearances to refute allegations of criminal activity and the FBI would later issue an official report debunking the criminal conspiracy theories of this time.

Gilmore feels Satanists are often misunderstood or misrepresented. LaVey’s teachings are based on individualism, self-indulgence, and “eye for an eye” morality, with influence from Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand; while its rituals and magic draw heavily from occultists such as Aleister Crowley. They do not worship—nor believe in—the Devil or a Christian notion of Satan. The word “Satan” comes from the Hebrew word for “adversary” and originated from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally applied to an angel. Church of Satan adherents see themselves as truth-seekers, adversaries and skeptics of the religious world around them.

On a windy October day in Central Park, Wikinews reporter David Shankbone sat down with the High Priest of the Church, Peter H. Gilmore, who has led LaVey’s congregation of Satanists since his passing in 1997 (he became the High Priest in 2001). They discussed the beliefs of the Church, current events, LaVey’s children and how Satanism applies to life and the world.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued proposed calorie labeling rules requiring most retail food vendors to display the calorie counts in items on their menus and menu boards. The proposed rules, issued Friday and expected to be finalized in 2012, would apply to most restaurants, snack bars, vending machines, coffee shops, drive-through restaurants, and convenience and grocery stores.

The US Congress required the rules in the health-care reform law passed in 2010. The rules proposed by the FDA must undergo a public comment period before they are finalized and take effect, said Michael R. Taylor, Deputy Director for Foods at the FDA.

The proposed regulations pertain to businesses devoting more than 50 percent of their floor space to the sale of food or that consider themselves restaurants, specifically food-selling chains with at least 20 stores nationally. Included are candy stores, bakeries, and ice-cream parlors.

The FDA’s proposed guidelines specify that chains post the calorie counts of foods and drinks on menus and menu boards or next to the food item, such as at a salad bar. The menu is to prominently exhibit the calorie content of each item in a way customers can see easily, giving them the same information packaged foods prepared at home currently provide. The information must be displayed in “clear and conspicuous” print and colors.

Many cities and states have passed laws requiring calorie labeling on menus, beginning with New York City in 2008. California implemented a similar law in January, although many counties are waiting for the release of the federal guidelines before they begin enforcement. Some fast-food chains there, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, are displaying calorie counts on menus in some of their stores.

The rules are intended to curb the national obesity epidemic since, according to FDA estimates, one third of the calories people consume yearly come from food eaten out. In a statement issued yesterday, Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services said, “Giving consumers clear nutritional information makes it easier for them to choose healthier options that can help fight obesity and make us all healthier.”

Excluded from the rules are businesses whose primary product is not food sales but that sell it, such as bowling alleys, airports and airplanes, amusement parks, hotels and movie theaters. Alcohol is also excluded.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Chemotherapy is usually associated with a collection of side effects ranging from digestive problems to hair loss, but a study published this week in Human Reproduction demonstrated that female cancer patients may find they have something in common with much younger women in one specific area — their ovaries.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh examined donated ovarian tissue from fourteen female cancer patients, most of whom had Hodgkin lymphoma, and compared it to tissue from healthy women. They found the samples from women who had been treated with a specific chemotherapeutic regimen known as ABVD not only contained greater numbers of dormant ova — egg cells — than those from women treated with harsher regimens but also more than samples from healthy women. ABVD is named for combining several drugs known as adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine.

These reproductive cells were not merely more plentiful in ABVD patients. They also appeared immature, “new” in the words of lead researcher Evelyn Telfer. This challenges the conventional belief that girls are born with all the ova they will ever have and the numbers can only go down as the cells are either used up by the reproductive cycle or succumb to damage or natural aging. However, further research is needed to confirm this. The study covered relatively few patients by scientific standards, and David Albertini of the Center for Human Reproduction in New York has suggested the cells may not actually be freshly grown. Instead, they may have always been there and were merely rendered more detectable by ABVD treatment.

The ability to grow new egg cells may have significant implications for women in Western societies, many of whom postpone childbearing to establish careers, sometimes into their late thirties or forties. However, Telfer warns against making use of these findings too soon: “There’s so much we don’t know about the ovary. We have to be very cautious about jumping to clinical applications.”

The experiments had been discussed earlier this year at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The instant messaging (IM) and VoIP communications company Skype has suffered from an unexpected outrage across Europe since 10:00 AM UTC today. Users were not able to log in and Skype did not announce a cause of the problem.

Skype initially left a message on its website and Twitter which reads, “A small number of you may have problems signing in to Skype. We’re investigating the cause, and hope to have more details to share soon.”

It was suggested by many users that Microsoft might be related to the Skype behaviour, however the purchase of Skype by Microsoft is not yet completed — Microsoft do not currently have any operational control over the Skype servers.

Skype investigated a similar issue two weeks ago, its solution for which included an automatic update. This update deleted a file called “shared.xml” on users’ computers. While it seemed to resolve the issue, the reason for this was not clear. Online newspaper The Register reports that today’s issue is not dissimilar from that experienced previously.

Further investigation by Skype showed that the event was caused by “configuration problems”, but Skype has not published further details. The situation was claimed to be “stabilizing” by Skype later in the evening.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Final August unemployment data was released yesterday with states indicating continued nonfarm payroll contraction going into the fall.

The Labor Department indicated an overall increase in unemployment in 27 states, a decrease in 16 and no change in 7. Record high jobless rates were reached in California (12.2%), Nevada (13.2%) and Rhode Island (12.8%); the highest since widespread state data was first reported in 1976. California’s rate was influenced by the state budget passed in July which closed a US$24 billion shortfall by cutting many state-provided programs which included many state jobs. Michigan, again, had the highest unemployment rate in August at 15.2% which is nearly double its August 2008 unemployment rate of 8.6%. North Dakota, again, had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.3%. The current national unemployment rate is 9.7%.

On the jobs-front, forty-two states lost jobs last month led by Texas, Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio, totalling over 216,000 jobs; eight states recorded increases in job positions. The biggest job gains were in North Carolina and Montana. Since the recession began in December of 2007, there have been nearly 7 million jobs lost nation-wide.

Data for September will be released in the first week of October.

Monday, November 28, 2005

SpaceX called off the much-delayed inaugural launch of their new Falcon 1 rocket on Saturday from Kwajalein’s Omelek Island launch site. The intent was to launch the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat 2 satellite, which will monitor plasma interactions with the Earth’s upper atmosphere and magnetosphere.

The launch was delayed, then finally cancelled after an oxygen boil-off vent had accidentally been left open. The oxygen was unable to cool the helium pressurant, which then proceeded to evaporate faster than it could be replenished. A main computer issue, probably serious enough to cause a scrub on its own, was also discovered.

This long-anticipated flight was originally expected to be launched in January 2005, however a series of setbacks forced a series of delays, with the flight most recently scheduled to be in early 2006. It was intended to be launched from the Kwajalein atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The maiden voyage was originally intended to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite and a Space Services Incorporated space burial payload.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

South America, the current hot-spot for describing new frog species, may be in danger of seeing population declines due to an epidemic. A recent scientific paper has found the mysterious fungal disease, chytridiomycosis, has begun to establish into eastward Panama, heading across the Panama Canal boundary towards Colombian amphibian populations. The publication predicts that at the current rate, the fungus will spread into Tortí (Panamá Province) before 2012. The chytrid fungus is believed to be the leading cause of population mortality of amphibians. Species like the common rocket frog (Colostethus panamensis) are succumbing to the effects of the pathogen at an alarming rate. For the last 30 years, the infection has decimated amphibian communities, mostly because of increased temperatures resulting from climate change.

The culprit skin fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, is still not fully understood. It can be transmitted by touch, including contact with other amphibians and even rocks and water. Not only has it decimated frogs, salamanders and caecilians in the Americas, but has affected tropical Australia and Asia as well. Scientists think that the fungus may have come from an African clawed frog (Xenopus sp.), because of its worldwide popularity in the pet trade.

Captive breeding programs, like Amphibian Ark are preparing for the worst. There are still many species in the jungles of Central and South America that have not been properly documented, and could be fated to be studied after extinction.