Scientists have created the ultimate GM crop: contraceptive corn.
Waiving fields of maize may one day save the world from
overpopulation. The pregnancy prevention plants are the handiwork
of the San Diego biotechnology company Epicyte, where researchers
have discovered a rare class of human antibodies that attack sperm.
By isolating the genes that regulate the manufacture of these
antibodies, and by putting them in corn plants, the company has
created tiny horticultural factories that make contraceptives. "We
have a hothouse filled with corn plants that make anti-sperm
antibodies," said Epicyte president Mitch Hein.
http://www.answers.com/topic/compulsory-sterilization
United States of America
The first significant country to undertake compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics was the United States of America. The principle targets of the American program were the mentally retarded and the mentally ill, but also targetted under many state laws were the deaf, the blind, the epileptic, the physically deformed, and even orphans and the homeless.
http://www.cwluherstory.com/CWLUArchive/cesa.html
Sterilization abuse first gained national attention in 1973 with the revelation that two black sisters, the Relf sisters, aged 12 and 14, had been deemed mentally incompetent by an Alabama physician who subsequently sterilized them using Federal funds to pay for the procedures.14 Their mother, who could not read or write, had been deceived into signing her "x" on the consent forms. A federal lawsuit followed; one result being that a Federal judge ordered DHEW to stiffen its then newly formed guidelines in order to prevent such abuse from occurring again.
Then there is the case of the South Carolina physician who refused to deliver a black welfare mother's fourth child unless she agreed to be sterilized postpartum. He subsequently sterilized 28 women in three months, all of them Black.18
According to The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, the Buddhist leader also likes to have the BBC world service playing in the background when he is meditating.
Nintendo wins dismissal of Uri Geller suit over Pokemon card
By Joyzelle Davis / Bloomberg News
LOS ANGELES -- Uri Geller, a psychic who says he can use his mental powers to bend spoons, couldn't persuade a judge to let him to sue Nintendo Co. in the U.S. over his claim that the company used his likeness on a Pokemon card.
Geller in 2000 sued the company over a character in Japanese- language Pokemon cards described as a psychic possessing the ability to give others headaches by emitting "alpha waves" and is depicted holding a bent spoon. A federal judge said Nintendo didn't import the cards into the U.S. and must be sued in Japan.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German man's severed finger traveled 60 kilometers by rail after its owner trapped his hand in the door trying to board a train at the last minute, police said Tuesday.
Passengers traveling from Freiburg to Cologne Sunday noticed the finger lying on the carriage floor and alerted police.
Officers collected it at the next station.
Doctors said they were confident they could reattach the finger to its 34-year-old owner after it was rushed back to Freiburg in an ambulance.
http://itemonline.com/articles/2005/08/05/ap/headlines/d8bq31880.txt
The United States and Britain sent unmanned underwater rescue vehicles called Super Scorpios, and Japanese ships also rushed to the area.
It was the first time since the World War II era that a U.S. military plane has been allowed to fly to the peninsula, home to numerous Russian military facilities.
The British Scorpio, being carried on a Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane, was expected to arrive at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at about 7 p.m. Saturday local time, or 2 a.m. EDT.
The U.S. plane was expected to land about 10:30 p.m. local time, or 5:30 a.m. EDT.
Green goods scam -- any con game involving counterfeit money
In a green-goods operation, circulars are mailed out which offer counterfeit banknotes that are guaranteed to be undetectable. The explanation offered is that they have been produced on genuine plates stolen from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing by an employee who had been cheated out of his pension. With the circular is a fake newspaper article relating how the government had failed to convict the miscreant because Treasury officials could not swear that the bills were not produced from government plates.
Accompanying this persuasive material is a code name and number which the prospect is to use in wiring his reply. If he is hooked, he will be instructed to bring his purchase money (cash, of course) to a meeting with the supplier. There he will be "turned"—tricked out of his money.
A common method of turning involved the "envelope switch." Say the sucker has brought $100 with which to purchase $1000 in counterfeit bills. The con man counts out the $100, places it in an envelope, seals it, writes a code number on it, and gives it to the victim to hold. The mark is told that the $1000 will be delivered the next day in an envelope marked with the same code. Only when the purchaser is satisfied with his merchandise is he to hand over the envelope with his purchase money. Delivery of the $1000 in banknotes never arrives. When the victim opens the envelope to retrieve his $100, he finds only blank paper cut to the size of bills.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/golf/2002565388_webwie16.html
Then, the 16-year-old Wie no sooner had signed for a 74 to finish fourth — $53,126 — that LPGA Tour officials took her out to the seventh hole to discuss a drop she took the day before.
■■ ４位の賞金５５０万円がフイに。
Nearly two hours later, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
Because Wie dropped the ball closer to the hole — by 3 inches according to her, by about a foot according to the rules officials — she should have added two strokes to her third-round 71.
■■ ホールに近い方に落としたから罰則で＋２する必要があった。
Michael Bamberger, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, told tour officials Sunday afternoon that he was concerned about the drop.
Rules officials Jim Haley and Robert O. Smith reviewed tape from NBC Sports before taking Wie and caddie Greg Johnston to the seventh green after the tournament ended Sunday.
■■ 通告したのは記者。 翌日になってから通告するなよ。
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/golf/2002565388_webwie16.html
Nearly two hours later, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard.
Because Wie dropped the ball closer to the hole — by 3 inches according to her, by about a foot according to the rules officials — she should have added two strokes to her third-round 71.
■■ ホールに近い方に落としたから罰則で＋２する必要があった。
